Slow Stitching For Me

This was the year I was really going to concentrate of getting more projects done.  Cross stitching, quilting, beading, I had it all covered.  Then unfortunately reality set it.  I've been having trouble with my left thumb for several months.  It might be tendonitis from over use.  Yep, that's the hand I hold my tablet in.  I finally got a lapstand for it and the pain has been reduced to a dull roar.  Then I got a new puzzle game from my favorite designer and spent so much time using the mouse that I got basically what is trigger finger on my right index finger.  Both hands are giving me a lot of problems.  I did talk to my doctor about this and I now have a prescription for a topical form of Advil.  It's been very slow working but I suppose it would work better if I stopped using my hands.  Let's face it, that's just not going to happen.  So I work through the pain, stretch my fingers more often, use my stand for my tablet and just stop using the mouse.  So far it's all been working.  I just never realized just how much abuse for poor hands take.

A Brand New Beginning

Okay I know I said this last year but I really do want to get back to blogging on a regular basis.  I have no excuse why I didn't get into it last year.  But I can honestly say that my attitude has done a 180 turnaround.  In the last few years my cross stitch/needlework/knitting/crochet/beadwork mojo has just disappeared.  Oh, I kept plugging on, I just didn't have the passion for it that I have had in years past.  But for some reason, I have begun this year with a renewed sense of what I want to accomplish.  I've made goals for my crafts and have a plan in place to actually finish more than one piece.  I've already finished a baby blanket that I was working on.  I did make and finish in time for Christmas 3 afghans for my grandkiddies.  I also finished a year-long SAL from The Frosted Pumpkin called In The Jungle.  There was a different animal for each month and I actually finished it on New Year's Eve.  Okay, I pushed it a little there but I did finish it in 2018.  I didn't sign up for this year's stitch along because I have at least 3 of their patterns that I want to stitch so I didn't feel it necessary to add to the pile I have waiting for me.

In the Jungle

The Frosted Pumpkin

Speaking of piles, I have also been reducing the size of my stash.  There is only so much storage room in the basement so I'm passing on a lot of stuff.  I'll tell you more about that later.

It really feels good to be blogging once again.  There's so much stuff I've missed in the last few years.  So if you want to hear about my stitching, my knitting/crocheting or just my everyday life, please join me on my blogging journey.  

Getting Back to Basics

Well, I promised myself last year that I was going to get back to blogging on a regular basis.  That didn't happen!  I finally figured it out that all my electronic devices were sucking the time out of my day.  So I have cut back on the time I spend on my tablet and on Facebook and Instagram.  I have gone so far as to delete a couple of games from it that were real time suckers.  Since I did all this, I have found I have so much more time to do the things I really want to do.  I am actually working on a jigsaw puzzle, I've been devoting a lot more time to cross stitching (I actually finished a WIP that I had started last year.  More on that in my next blog post.) and I been crocheting a lot more lately.  I started a baby afghan for a lady in our church and, believe it or not, I'm almost finished with it.  I even plan on getting back to exercising again.💃💃💃  So I'm doing a happy dance about all I've been accomplishing lately.

It's FINALLY Done!

My daughter Sherrie got married 1 year ago this coming June.  When she got engaged I promised to stitch her a wedding sampler.  Well, she chose 1st Corinthians 13 from My Big Toe.  I finally finished it earlier this week.  I hadn't realized that it would take me a year and a half to stitch it.  I stitched it over one on 25 count ivory lugana with the suggested Weeks Dye Works threads.  I had to be extra careful not make any mistakes because ripping them out caused a shadow of the wrong stitch to show up on the fabric.  So I marked up my chart like crazy and counted the border stitches several times to make sure everything lined up perfectly.  I also had to chart their names and the date and then figure out how it worked in the border.  I even hid a little capitol A in the center medallion.  I am so pleased with how it turned out. 

Completed Wedding Sampler for Sherrie & Eric

Secret A

Perfectly Centered Personalization ;-)

I'm really quite proud of how this all came together.  I had my doubts that I could add the personalization so that it was centered in the border but it turned out just as I planned. 

I'm So Over This!

 I am so over winter.  These photos were taken today out my front and back doors.  It's the middle of May, not January.  I am so sick of snow.  I want my sunshine and my heat.  I want flowers and birds and bunnies.  I'm a hot weather kind of gal.  On Monday I was wearing shorts; today I'm out trying to save my trees from losing limbs due to the wet, heavy snow.  All I got for my efforts was big clumps of snow plopping down on my head.  I have been babying a rose bush in the back yard for almost three years now.  Last year it actually had buds before a tremendous hail storm stripped it of both its buds and leaves.  I had a stick bush for most of the summer.  Yesterday it actually had two blooms on it before all this heavy snow was dumped on it.  I know we need the moisture but rain works too.  Oh well, I think I'll go stitch something.

Who Knew?

Now I've lived here in Colorado for almost three years.  I've heard it said that it has a high desert climate.  I never believed it because I was used to the desert in Arizona.  The Sonoran Desert to be exact.  Now there's a desert!  But much to my surprise, I discovered something today.  We have cacti in Colorado! 

It was such a beautiful day (compared to last week when we had a snowstorm in April - I don't think I'll ever get used to that!) that Dave and I decided to take a hike.  Now I'm not a mountain climber.  I like my hikes on flat, stable ground.  Our favorite place to hike here in the Denver area is at a park called Platt River Park in Littleton.  They have a trail that both hikers and bikers can use together but they also have a trail that's strictly for hikers.  It winds through the wetlands and it's like a peaceful oasis in the middle of town.  It travels by the river and you can often see birds and beavers in their natural habitat.  We saw a beautiful little mallard duck just a swimming along and lots of butterflies.   Even the dandelions are pretty here.  I like to think of them as wildflowers but Dave just calls them weeds.  Today I noticed something I had not seen before.  In one area of the park were these lovely little patches of cacti.  They may be prickly pear cactus but don't quote me on that.  It was like having a little piece of Phoenix here.  Here's a couple more photos of our wonderful day.

Dandelions Along the Trail

Dandelions and Butterfly

How Tastes Change

I mentioned in my last post that I had found a new-to-me designer whose patterns I just fell in love with.  That got me to thinking how my tastes have changed over the years.  For a while in the 90's, I stitched every Just Nan that came out.  Then there was my Drawn Thread phase.  I went through Bent Creek and Lizzie Kate as soon as they came out.  But eventually all their designs began to look alike.  If I had stitched one Just Nan, I had stitched them all.  Of course, she has changed what she is doing but they don't appeal to me at all.  A little too fiddly for my tastes.  I'm really not picking on Just Nan, just using her as an example.  But what appeals to me now would never have found a home in my stash before.  I guess my tastes have changed.  Of course, that means I have a bunch of stash that I will never stitch.  I guess I need to find someone to give it a good home. 

But all this means is that I've found designers that are new to me whose patterns I love.  With Etsy and Facebook, a person can find it much easier to market their own patterns than it used to be.  Before you had to find a distributor and they would then sell to the shops.  Now you can search on Etsy for cross stitch and find all kinds of designers.  And most of the patterns can be paid for and downloaded with no waiting.  One of these has become a new favorite of mine.  The Frosted Pumpkin has some of the cutest designs I've seen in a long time.  I love their use of color and I especially like the way they design their little people.  I'm not usually a fan of using people in my samplers.  I have never liked the way the stick-figure people look.  It's a little too primitive for me.  But I love these little guys.  They make me feel good when I look at them.  I'm finishing up their tribute to the National Parks and I have two more waiting in the wings.  They were both SAL's from the past few years and I plan on working them into my rotation.  I just can't decide which to do first.
I'm leaning towards the Woodland sampler but I reserve the right to change my mind.

Passport to Adventure SAL 2015

Woodland Sampler