Nature's Little Helper

Welcome to my new followers! 

So after looking over all the ongoing projects, HAED's Nature's Little Helper won out by a slim margin.  Here's the full picture:



HAED Nature's Little Helper
Jim Warren



I began this one October 2010 and there are only 28 pages to this one.  I'm working it on mushroom 25 count Lugana 1 X 1.  I just started on page 5 Sunday night, but haven't made much progress.  I'm looking forward to getting to that block of bright green in the tree today (shhhh...I'm skipping over to there because I can't wait until I finish the stitching in between, lol).



Nature's Little Helper
08/31/2011

 Happy Stitching!
Tamara

Farewell Irene and A Finish

Irene pounded us for 19+ hours, dumping 10+ inches of rain with tropical force winds.  Not much damage here in my neighborhood, but scattered damage throughout the area.  Thankfully, I never even lost my power, though it did flicker several times. 

Thanks to Irene, I got a couple of unexpected days off and managed to finish my Majestic Peacock from the August 2009 Cross Stitch Gold magazine.

Majestic Peacock
08/28/2011

Now to go decide what to work on next.

Tamara

Thar She Blows!

Irene is on her way.  Now we wait.  We have been getting a few rain squalls today and we will be getting more rain and wind overnight.  The bulk of the storm will hit mid-day to early evening sometime.  I expect we will be without power for an extended time.  Once the anxiety over the storm passes, I might be able to get some stitching done, hopefully.  It will be too nerve wracking while the storm is here to concentrate on much of anything except the noise of the storm.  Thankfully, she has been downgraded slightly this afternoon and is not expected to re-strengthen at this time.

Hurricane Irene
08/26/2011
6:00 PM EDT

I did pick a new Shepherd's Bush kit Sweet Stitcher's Fob:

Hopefully, when next I write, it will be a stitch-related post and life will be back to normal.  For everyone in the path of Irene, stay safe.

Tamara

A Page Finish and A UFO

WooHoo!!  Page 9 is finished!  Only 33 more to go.  *sigh*

Dress of Day Dreams
Page 9/42
08/25/2011

And now, instead of diving back into a HAED, I am going to try of force myself to finish a UFO (no, I'm not seeing little green guys flying through the sky;  that's code for UnFinished Object).  This is the Majestic Peacock from the Cross Stitch Gold magazine August 2009.  I'm down to the $%#@^& metallic thread and that's why it's a UFO.  But it's 3/4 of the way done and needs to be completed so I can start something new without as much guilt, lol. 

Majestic Peacock
08/25/2011

Sorry for the poor picture quality on these;  a photographer I am not.  But at least you get the general idea.

Hurricane Irene continues to wend her way toward us.  It's looking like the eye will stay slightly to the east of us and we can expect gale force (30-60 mph) to tropical force (60-80) sustained winds with hurricane force gusts (75+).  It's still a watch and wait situation, though, as these things can go away completely or turn very nasty very quickly.  I hope everyone in the path stays safe!

Battening down the hatches.
Tamara

An Earthquake and a Hurricane...Oh my!

Well, this week is certainly starting out with a bang!  Or at least an undulation, lol.  We felt the effects of a 5.8 magnitude earthquake at 1:51 PM.  I was in a location about 120 miles southeast of the epicenter.  Quite the experience for someone who has never had the pleasure.  Certainly has been the talk of the town all afternoon!  I thought a big gust of wind had blown through, but then the walls and the floor kept undulating.  There is no other word to describe it.  It did not shake or rattle.  It was like being on a boat in rough seas.  Your brain knows you are supposed to be sitting still, but your eyes and inner ear are telling quite a different story!  Quite disconcerting when the floor is moving and you know you are on a large concrete slab that should not be moving!  Just weird. 

Now we will be looking southward to watch where Hurricane Irene will be heading.  As of now, the forecast has it making a beeline right for us.  Thankfully, we still have plenty of time to prepare and for her to turn farther east and miss us completely! 

On the stitching front, I have gotten more done on Dress of Day Dreams.  I'm hoping to have this page done by the end of the week.  Here's the lastest.



Dress of Day Dreams
08/23/2011

Happy Stitching!
Tamara

Weekly Update

Hello!  It's so exciting to see I have my first follower!  Welcome!  Now, I don't have to feel like I'm talking to myself so much, lol. 

I've gotten quite a bit done on the Dress of Daydreams since last week's update.  I've also started doing something a little different.  It may sound silly, I don't know, but it's working well for me on this piece.  Usually, when there is so much confetti (which is about all this project is!) I don't feel like I get much done at the end of the day.  I usually use the same color highlighter, but I decided to switch things up a bit and use a different color for each day's stitching.  It's been interesting to see how much I actually get done, and I've been pleasantly suprised on a couple of days!  I've now gotten about 3/4 of the way done with this page and I'm hoping to have it completely done in two or three more weeks.  Here she is:



Dress of Daydreams



And the other thing I did today...well, who can resist a sale?  You can't beat a $0.20 DMC floss sale.  Sooooo,  I went down to AC Moore and bought the floss for Curl Up With A Good Book.  Now I just have to resist starting it.  I will be good.  I will be good.  Yeah, right.  Especially when I look at all the lovely solid blocks of color on the pattern.  But that would make HAED #5 on the go and I'm thinking it would not be a good idea to put another one in the pile when I don't feel like I can work on the other 4 enough as it is.  *sigh*

Happy Day!
Tamara

Stash!

I picked up a couple of new kits this week.  The new Shepherd's Bush Tiny Garden Needle Roll and Mill Hill's Buttons and Beads Holiday Stocking.  Sweet!

Now all I have to do is find a few extra decades to start stitching all that I have collected, lol!  Dress of Daydreams is still on the go.  I have accomplished a few more stitches and should have an update on Wednesday. 

Happy Stitching!
Tamara

One Stitch At A Time

Progress on this piece is so slow because of the heavy confetti stitching (areas with a lot of color changes).  I stitch for hours and, if I'm lucky, end up with an area approximately the size of a postage stamp to show for my efforts.  I had a spot of 13 stitches grouped together with 11 color changes!  A lot of stitchers "park" their thread, but that doesn't work for me.  I'm too easily confused, lol.  So, it's one needle and one color at a time for me. 

On HAED type patterns, I generally work the 10 X 10 blocks across the page from left to right, top to bottom.  This week I did finish a row of blocks, about 750 stitches.  Yesterday I was getting the urge to put it away again, but I would really like to finish this page;  it's been languishing unfinished since April.  Here's the latest picture:

This puts me just past halfway with this page.  With any luck, I just may finish it before caving and moving back to something less frustrating!  Stay tuned!

Tamara

Introducing A Fair Lady

This is my progress on Dress of Daydreams, pattern by Heaven and Earth Designs (HAED), art by Josephine Wall.  This was started April 2008 and I am working on page 9 of 42 pages.  I have multiple projects going, so when I get frustrated with the slow progress in all the confetti stitching I switch off to something that moves a little quicker.  I'll leave you in suspense regarding the other projects for now, since I will need something to talk about later on! 

With temps here in the high 90's and heat indices of 100+, I will be inside and getting a little stitching done this week! 

Happy stitching!

Tamara

An Experiment in Blogging...

Hello!  I love seeing others' stitching projects and I thought I would finally poke my head out and share mine in the hopes I can enable, encourage, and inspire others as I often am.  How this experiment will work is questionable, as I have never been one to keep up with a journal, so this may win the prize for the most boring blog ever created! 

So if someone out there in cyberworld is reading this, thanks for stopping by and hopefully I will be back on a regular basis to share the joy that is stitching!

Tamara