January stitch from stash

January: $ 25 budget
Spent: $ 17.20
Balance: $ 2.80

Hi everyone! It's a beautiful sunny day! It's cold, but at this point I can handle anything as long it's sunny. :-) Can you tell that I have been struggling with the winter blues? ! :-)

Not a whole lot of stitching going on this month. I have been working on my Momma Cardinal ornament and a Valentine's piece. In fact the pattern for the valentine's piece is one of the things that I spent money on. I bought another chart, but it is a gift for a friend and she reads the blog, so I will have to wait to show you that. :-) I would have finished the valentines piece yesterday, but then we decided to pull out a puzzle and work on it together. Well, let's just say that I am a bit obsessive when it comes to puzzles. :-) So, not much else got done yesterday afternoon and evening. But we did make lots of lovely memories together. :-)

I hope to control my obsessive tendencies and finish the piece and finish it and my February Calendar girl before Sunday. I'm going to be giving away the pattern for both of them, so if you are interested in either of these, check back in a few days. :-)

I have pulled out a pattern that has been in my stash for many years, and I am working on finding all of the DMC for it. I love everything about tea and have wanted a tea tray for a long time, so I am going to stitch this and purchase the tray that it fits in. I am hoping that darling husband will get it for my birthday in February, but if he doesn't I will just save for it. :-) Hopefully in my next stitch from stash update, I will have made a nice start. 

Well, there is a puzzle calling my name, so I had better finish up some chores. :-)

Happy Stitching!

Love, Heather

 

Mama Cardinal by The Victoria Sampler 

 

Joyful Journal: February by Heart in Hand 

 

 My current project bag by Impie, Hattie and Bea

 

 

My puzzle obsession :o)

 

 

My next stitching project by Sudberry House 

Happy new year and a WIP of a different kind

Happy new year! I hope that this year is the best one yet! :-)

Have I ever told you that I am a crazy bird lady? Well, I am! :-) As I am writing this, I can look out my dining room window and see several birds in queue, waiting for an open space at one of the feeders. Now, that all of the leaves are gone, I can catch glimpses of other birds down at the end of our yard in the wooded area. We are blessed to have lived in some of the best birding areas in the world. The American Birding association moved their headquarters about 5 blocks down the road from us. When we lived in the country of Panama, we saw Toucans quite frequently! I love birds! :-)

I have bird tea things, a table cloth, pictures, figurines, stationery. ...etc. :-) You get the picture, I am sure. :-)

So, I had been thinking that every crazy bird lady needs a bird Christmas tree! Right? ! We had a smallish Christmas tree that we were not using and I already had quite a few bird ornaments and our family tree was getting really full, so it was meant to be! So, my stitching goal this year is to make as many new bird ornaments as possible. :-)
I am keeping it up through January, since it is more wintery and It makes me smile every time I see it. :-)

Without any more rambling, here are some pictures of my bird tree. :-)

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a blessed new year! I hope that your day is filled with everything you love.

With love,
Heather

Stitch from Stash update #12

It's just me and little man today, hubby and daughter are out Christmas shopping and then going to see the new Hobbit movie, so I thought that I would pop on here and give my final update for this year's stitch from stash.

I finally got around to making up some of my stitching pieces into ornaments and a pillow. I am so happy with how they all turned out. :-) I once ruined a piece completely while trying to make it up, so I have been a little hesitant. I decided to just put my big girl panties on and get it done!
:-) :-) :-) The funny thing is that I can sew fairly complicated items. I have made two period correct Regency gowns and undergarments. I am just one of those people who need step by step instructions. :-)
One of my goals for next year, is to try and learn different finishing techniques and being better at making up all of the pieces that I have waiting in my stitching bag.

I am so excited that I made it through the entire year of the stitch from stash challenge. I have already signed up for the next one. I am really going to try and spend as little as possible in the next challenge. I have so much amazing stash that I want to stitch.

So without any further ramblings here is my update. I had $71.42 carryover and adding this month's budget of $ 25 that gives me $ 96.42.
I spent $ 6 on etsy for an older pattern that I have been searching for and $28.20 at the Strawberry Sampler for 3 skeins of over dyed threads and 3 patterns. :-)
So, I ended up with a balance of $62.22. I think that is pretty good ! :-)
Well, lots of wrapping to do and a few knitted gifts left to finish. I will be back soon with a post on a different kind of WIP. :-)

Happy Stitching!
Love, Heather

 

Be Merry by LHN

 

The fabric that I used to finish Be Merry

 

 

The Christmas tree is taken from the Snowglobe ornament from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

 

 

The fabric that I used to finish the scissor fob.

 

 

Joy and Peace by LHN

 

 

The fabric that I used to finish Joy and Peace.

 

 

My mom stitched this years ago and decided it needed to be mine. I finally got around to making it up into a pillow. I love it!!

 

 

I love this bird fabric that I used to make the pillow. 

 

Button up Birdies #1 by  Victoria Sampler 

 

Noel ornament by Log Cabin Needleworks

I made this one for my Momma for Christmas 

Thankful!

Good morning! Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends. May your day be filled with lots of fun and happy memories! 

I have so much to be thankful for in my life! I have been purposely choosing to look for all of the blessings in my life and focusing on them instead of the things that make me worried and it has really changed me for the better and I am thankful for that!  :-) I am thankful for the friends that I have made through blogging!

I finished Give Thanks on Tuesday evening. Hubby ended up having to work late and daughter was in Baltimore volunteering at the Operation Christmas Child distribution center, so little man and I watched cheesy Christmas cartoons and I stitched. :-) I did a simple finish for it so I could enjoy it for a few days this year. I stitched it on 32 ct. PP Doubloon. I used the recommended threads except for I used 436 instead of 422. The pattern is by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. It was such a fun stitch. :-)

Happy Stitching!

Love, Heather

Stitch from Stash update #11

Good afternoon! This is going to be a large post and I apologize for the size of it! :-) As you may have noticed, I have been a bit m.i.a. Well without boring you with my troubles, I have been having a really hard time with my back, so I went to a back doctor last week and it looks like I am going to have to have back surgery. :-( I need to get stronger and lose some weight first. I started physical therapy yesterday and I am hoping that I will eventually not be in constant pain.  Well, enough of that. :-)

 

I have been a little busy stitching the last couple of months, since I last posted some actual stitching photos. :-)

 

I am going to try and catch up where I left off. When I last posted,I was working on my August Poppies. I finished that and went on to autumn stitching. I only finished two little pieces. I kept getting distracted. :-) The lovely Sally, gifted me with two patterns and the threads to stitch them! I completed the first one which was . And the second one was Woodland Samplings by LHN. I have made just a tiny start on it.

 

The second autumn finish was pumpkins by Heart and Hand. I changed it all up. :-) I wanted to add white pumpkins and make it a little more colorful. :-) I really enjoyed stitching this one.

My other two autumn starts are Give Thanks by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery, which I hope to finish tonight or tomorrow. :-) The second one is the Harvest thread pack by LHN. I was doing really well, and then I discovered a major mistake, so it went into time out. :-)

 

I have been also working on some Christmas stitching. I finished Gingerbread Tree by LHN. I started that one back in January. I have also been working on Snowglobe by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery and I have kitted up several more ornaments to stitch. :-)

 

I also finally finished the first of the Frosty Forest series. Hopefully I will be able to work on that more after I am finished with Christmas stitching. :-)

 

I have made myself a little stitching tin with my current ornaments and a tiny tin with my stitching necessities in it. I am loving it. I saw the idea on @heyporkchop instagram feed.  She is half of the dynamic duo of The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. :-)

 

I have also been doing a ton of birthday and Christmas knitting , which I will show after Christmas. :-)

 

Well, I think that catches me up. If you made it this far, you deserve a prize. :-)

Now onto the nitty gritty of the sfs update. I used my bonus buying fabric and threads for my kitted ornaments. And for this month's budget I have spent $14.94. $9.99 for this year's ornament issue and $4.95 for the Give Thanks pattern. :-)

 

So, I have $61.36 carryover and adding this month's budget of $ 25.00. That gives me $86.36 to start. I used $ 14.94 this month.  So for next month that will leave me with $71.42 carryover. :-)

 

I hope that everyone has a very blessed holiday season! To all of my American friends, I hope that you have a lovely Thanksgiving!

 

Happy stitching!
Love, Heather

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stitch from Stash update #9

Wow, I can't believe that we are at the end of September!  Once again, I am posting on the last day! I am a naughty Heather!  :-)

This is going to be a short and sweet post. We went to Longwood Gardens yesterday.  I have a bad back and I over did it with the walking. So, I am a hot mess to say the least!  :-(

I have been very busy stitching this month and have lots to share. I am hoping that I will feel up to pulling out the ironing board and getting things ready to photograph in a few days.

I was going to have a no spend month again, but we stopped at the Strawberry Sampler on the way to Longwood Gardens yesterday. I was good, even though I wanted to be very naughty!  :-) I ended up getting the Harvest thread pack and a skein of DMC.

So my total for the month is $ 13.39. $ 13 for the thread pack and .39 for the DMC.  I started with $49.75 carryover and adding this month's budget of $ 25 comes to $74.75. So, that gives me $61.36 to carryover. I hope my math is correct. :-)

Happy stitching!
Love, Heather