Halfway...

Thanks for your comments on last week's post.  I really appreciate it.  At least it doesn't feel like I'm sitting in the corner talking to myself, lol!

Since we didn't have any baseball happening this weekend, we hung around the house.  I didn't get as much done in the basement as I would have liked but I'm usually overly optimistic.  I did get two dressers moved.  When I was sweeping the floor, I decided it was the perfect time to paint it since I already had the space cleared.  That way I only have to move stuff once when I put it back on the painted floor.  I need to check baseball schedules for tomorrow, but if there's no ball tomorrow, we may be loading the car tonight with stuff for donation and make a trip on our way out of town.  

My Mom also stopped by since she'd picked up beef for us.  We got that unloaded and put away and admired quilts she'd made for me and the boys.  Still gotta take some pictures of those.  And, she brought me a Kitchen Aid mixer that she said she'd gotten a really good deal on.  I have wished for one for years but they're generally out of my price range.  My old mixer will definitely be in the donate pile!

On  the stitching front, I've made it about half way down page one.  There are some larger blocks of single colors to come so I'm hoping they stitch up faster.

Winging it.

So I've got cheese blog titles.

Thank you to those who commented on my last post.  I still don't know what I'm going to do with the kits, but I'm probably going to write down websites and the email I'm using for wish lists on those websites.  Maybe if I ask him to give them to his mom, I'll get a GC or something.  I know what to do with that!  Lady Stitch-a-lot, my DH barely manages to notice what I'm stitching much less where I purchased the chart.  He's just not interested.  I generally show him finishes, but again, not a lot of interest.

I did start Her Private Garden last Monday.  By Thursday, my progress looked like a big brown blob.

The shadow at the very bottom of the stitched area was frogged.  It seams that I have a problem counting.  I had miscounted at some point and was about 10 stitches too far.  So I frogged probably 100 or more stitches Wednesday night and Thursday, I still hadn't managed to restitch them.

Yesterday, my oldest son's baseball team was participating in a baseball tournament that had originally been scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.  Friday night, it rained.  Again.  I don't know if I've mentioned it here, but I'm considering building a boat in the back yard.

Anyway, the field was too wet Saturday.  Since our A/C is on the fritz and it got hot in the house, the boys and I decided to hang out downstairs where it is kinda cool.  I got a wild hair to clean out some of the stuff that was moved back after the tornado 10 years ago and not touched since.  More will be "mysteriously" disappearing when my husband and the boys go to Oklahoma for a week to see his parents.

Here's what it looked like after everything was moved and the floor was cleaned.

Then I painted the floor to seal it.  

This week, I'm planning on moving my sewing table/craft/cross stitch stuff out here so when the boys are playing their games, I can still spend some time with them.  I have a table that will be set up in there too so they can play board games, put together puzzles or just work on homework too.  I want to get more storage into the space where all that is currently sitting.  One thing my house seriously lacks is storage.

Yesterday, we were at the ball fields for about 8 hours.  Thankfully, there was shade and I moved around with it.  I still ended up on the pink side but I avoided the lovely new sun burns that I saw a number of people sporting.

I even did a bit of stitching between games!  This picture was taken in the morning before I really had a chance to do anything so it's pretty much through Saturday night.

There are so many unexpected colors in there.  I'm trusting the charting and hoping they all end up working out and playing nice in the end.

Progress is being made!!

Before I show you guys my progress on Coat of Arms, I want to ask a question but I probably need to give you a little background first.

My husband and I have been married for 17 years and we've been together 19 years.  In that time, my in-laws have seen me do a lot of stitching.  They're in Oklahoma so that's saying something.  In fact, before we were married, my DH and I went to California on vacation with them and my FIL called me the sewing lady.  

So, earlier this year, there were items at a sporting goods store that were in stock.  I bought a bunch for us and went back and bought a bunch for my MIL.  She reimbursed me and I thought that was the end of it.  When my DH went for a visit in April, he came home with a couple of Dimensions charts that his mom had purchased for me to say thank you.  Now, I don't have anything against Dimensions but they just aren't my thing.  But I was polite and thanked her for her thoughtfulness.  Now, what do I do with these kits.  This isn't the first time she's gone into Hobby Lobby and bought me Dimensions kits because that's where she goes when she's trying to buy me a gift.  

My question is two parts.  1.  Do I just come out and tell my MIL I do not stitch kits??  Do I give my DH HAED, Tilton, Paine Free Crafts websites and the user name I use and they can either purchase from my wish lists or buy gift certificates?  How do you all handle people who really don't understand your obsession and what is available out there?  2.  What the heck do I do with these kits that will just collect dust??

Since there were no ball games Friday, Saturday or Sunday, I actually found lots of stitching time.

5/30 - page 13

5/31-page 14

and very late last night, 

5/31 page 15

Right now, my q-snaps are empty, but I've had HAED's Her Private Garden

I've got all the floss on bobbins and fabric ready to go.  I just have to start.

Back to Coat of Arms

I've been working on Coat of Arms again this week and I've managed to stitch two pages.  Here it is through page 12.

Alice, page 1

Yesterday, I finished page 1 of Warrior Alice.

I'm stitching 2x1, tent stitch, so all the back in this background stitched up super fast.

Finish #3 and a new start

Last night, I finished my consolation prize.  While I wasn't 100% happy with one of my conversions on the fabric I chose to use, I think it turned out pretty well.

As I started getting close to getting this done, I started thinking about what I would pull out next.  Lonliness of Autumn by Love Thy Thread has been whispering at me.

But so has Warrior Alice by Electic Bloke Designs

Alice won, at least for now.  After I made that decision, I went through some of the fabric I dyed several years ago.  I wasn't terribly happy with the dye job but I had a darker piece that will take care of any show through and since Alice is 100% stitched, I won't see the fabric anyway.  Win-win.

The fabric is actually darker than it looks here.  I took the picture long after dark last night and the flash has washed it out.

Happy Mothers Day to the moms out there.  I hope you are all spoiled!  I get to go work a concession stand for 4 hours tonight for my kids baseball league.  Not something I'm looking forward to but we all do things we don't want to do for the people we love!

One more week...

In last week's post, I wanted to finish the stitching and start beading last weekend.  Well, that kind of happened.  I finished the stitching on the first corner and got the center and that corner beaded and moved onto the next corner's stitching.  I think I made pretty good progress. 

If I don't get too distracted by a series I'm reading this week, I would really like to see this finished.