#bewellandstitch

My latest finish is Four Fat Friends by Drawn Thread. Stitched on ...you know...fabric with the called for WDW threads. Another one I optimistically started in 2015 for Debbie's Ultimate Crazy January Challenge.

I'm searching for a new project. I am definitely looking at the #bewellandstitch projects so I can have a little memorial of this time. Not that I think many of us are likely to forget it any time soon. But still.

I first became aware of the #bewellandstitch designs scrolling through Instagram, where Jody Rice of Satsuma Street offered her Stay Home chart. Then I started to see finishes, especially Needle Work Press's Stitch and Be Well. As I explored, I noticed that our dear Serendipitous Jo compiled quite a list. (You can also find them on her themed freebies page.) I noticed that she was missing a few of the ones I found. At first I was going to send them along to add to her list, but then I realized I have a blog! And the list was getting kinda long.

Be Calm - Be Safe, Homespun Elegance (Facebook)
Bee Well, Autumn Lane (Facebook)
Bee Well Teresa Kogut (PDF)
Be Well from Lila's Studio
Be Well and Stitch, Hello from Liz Matthews (PDF)
Ewe Be Well from Shepherd's Bush (PDF)

Homeschool Sampler from Posey Gets Cozy, Alicia Paulson (PDF)
Our Daily Thread, Stone Street Stitchworks (PDF)
Stitch Well and Be Calm, JBW Designs
Stitch and Be Well, Needlework Press

Though not part of the #bewellandstitch crowd--just because I want to hang out with her, doesn't mean everyone does--Julie Jackson has a free chart:
Subversive Stitching, Stay the F*ck Home (She also has kits for sale for Don't Touch Your Damn Face, Wash Your F*cking Hands, and Isolation Update.)

It's been a while since I asked, so let's focus again:

* What am I grateful for today?

* Who am I checking in on or connecting with today?

* What expectations of normal am I letting go of today?

* How am I getting outside today?

* How am I moving my body today?

* What beauty am I creating or cultivating or inviting in today?

Ortilda, The Spectacular Finish

I have spent so much time on the couch nursing this cough, that my first three day rotation produced results! May I present Ortilda the Witch?

That's a dye mark, not a wrinkle, bisecting the fabric. I think she's terrific!

Details: 

Twisted Threads kit (from 1998!)
Sampler Threads for stitching

Thread Gatherer "Wild Hairs" for her orange perm
R&R reproductions linen 30 count Over the Hill Purple
Based on original art by Emerson Quillen Designs

Back to Stitching

Sunday is the traditional day of rest, and I rested the hell out of Sunday. Eventually, I also stitched. I worked on the Mill Hill Arctic Circles Santa, Nunavut Santa, the one with the polar bear. I started this for Debbie's Ultimate January Challenge back in 2015, but I made some good headway on this round. (You can see the start here.) He's almost starting to look like a bear! And I switched to color! I'll be happy to get back to this in the December rotation wherein I will try to finish ALL THE PROJECTS so that I can feel like I actually stitched this year.

It's the Most Busiest Time of the Year

Yeah, I know, "Most Busiest" but I was trying to stay with the song lyric flow. Not a lot of three syllable words that have the right rhythm. Moving on!

Last week, I finished my Lovebird by Just Another Button Company. It's an interpretation of their felt pincushion. I used the overdyed flosses that were called for, the buttons that were called for, and if that's not the called for fabric it's very close!

I love this bird! He's so fat and cozy. Just like love...or something.

As I said, it is the busiest time of the year. I know I am not alone in having made an incredibly ambitious list of things to do and purchase and wrap and make and bake and cook and clean and attend...

The dude and I are reorganizing the guest room/study in the midst of all this busyness. The study had two desks (in a room built for one) because we had purchased a desk shortly after we moved in and then about four years ago we inherited one. We just had both in there because the inherited one was too small on its own but it was too sentimentally precious to do away with. Plus it had been shipped across the Atlantic. So now we are trying to find new places for all kinds of crap that we had stored in the big desk. It was a black hole for crap. I've already filled the car once taking stuff to Goodwill from that room. Of course my mother arrives next week (!) so it needs to be done by then. Along with all the other things this time of year! So I'm sorry that I haven't shared the Lovebird with you until now, and I haven't visited and left comments on all your gorgeous work or your advent blog hop entry or your own blogging every day undertakings or your own bitchings and moanings about how hard it is to do it all backwards and in high heels. Until next time, keep on keeping on!

Wabbit's Wonder

Another one begun for Debbie's Ultimate Crazy January Challenge and unstitched upon for nearly two years. I gave little Wabbit his cotton tail and started outlining the heart that encompasses him.

The further I get into this one-a-day stitching experiment, the more I regret not winning the lottery so I can just retire and stitch! So many fabulous pieces, so little time. I'm definitely going to have to rethink the rotation for next year. And I don't know how I am going to pick just ten. Especially when I have a couple of new starts I want to make! 😧

Four Fat Friends

 You may have guessed from the blogging from the phone thing, that I was away from the computer. The dude and I had a quick trip to New York. He went to see a match in the World Chess Championship. (I went shopping that day.) On Saturday we went to the Met. All.day.long. It was awesome!

After dinner, I put my feet up and stitched, I worked on this freebie from Drawn Thread, Four Fat Friends. I started this for Debbie's Ultimate Crazy January Challenge in 2015, and I don't think I've shown it to you since then, though I have indeed worked on it. The branches are growing!

Love Bird

Love Bird was started as part of Debbie's Ultimate January Challenge. (Previous pic below.) I sat on the edge of my bed and took those 28 stitches while the dude was getting ready for bed. That challenge was really challenging.

But now the bird has really filled out. I loved this fat little fellow when I first saw him as a wooly pincushion. (Don't you think JABC should bring back their patterns, if not the kits, which are so expensive*.) (OMG! You can find them ALL--ALL!--at Stitching Bits and Bobs under the JABCo button. I think some places aren't carrying the patterns because they still have the kits.) Just so cute! I don't want to jinx myself and make a prediction about what will happen next month. So no comments on completion.

I'm supposed to move on to Ladybug, Ladybug, but I can't find it. I've looked in all the places it should be and some places it shouldn't be. It looks like I haven't touched it since I started it in January 2015. It couldn't have just walked away...

Instead I'll go back to the Deruta biscornu that I worked on in June.

*Expensive but deservedly so.

Another Finish--What?!

Look at me go! I finished another piece from last year's Debbie's Ultimate Crazy January Challenge. Apparently all I need to to is concentrate--and stitch! I think I stitched this on the recommended fabric, but I'm not sure. I know I used the called for fibers.

Shabby chic, just like the lighthouses I've visited in Maine. It's hard to keep up the paint job in all that weather!

I'm sure I've told you a million times that the dude's grandfather was a lighthouse keeper off the north coast of Scotland. His grandmother had and his mother has such wonderful tales of living on the land while his grandfather was in the lighthouse. (Here's a picture that will give you some perspective, even if it was taken in France.)

And the sea, all tranquil and orderly. (Ha!) Love this and adore my new rotation!

Hawaiian Santa

I finished Hawaiian Santa on Saturday morning!

 When I went to put him in the finishing pile I realized he'd have some company joining him on the tree this year. How did I lose track of these guys? They just need hangers, backing, and a couple of beards.

And when I was rooting around in the nearly-finished Santa bag, I found another one I'd started. This is Southern Cross Santa. Apparently it's very easy for me to lose track of things because I don't have the beads for this anymore either. (Don't worry, I'm sure I have something somewhere.) Not sure if I should slot him into Hawaiian Santa's spot or finish the ones I started last year first. No worries. I have two months to decide.

Waldorff

Waldorff, Homespun Samplers, DMC

Waldorff hasn't received the attention he was probably expecting during this rotation, but that's what happens when you land on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday--especially when your Wednesday evening is taken up with a trip to hear Colson Whitehead. One of the best things about living so close to so many colleges is that there are any number of free events to choose from--readings, plays, dance recitals, and concerts. The dude and I went to see what he had to say for himself.

That's my excuse for a lack of progress on Waldorff. His daffodils got bigger. On the other hand, my daffodils are the saddest little things ever. The mild December led them to pop out so early, and they were nearly blooming when the blizzard came. Now the stems have lost all integrity and the yellow buds are sunk into the mud.

Round Eight: the Winter Storm Edition

It's amazing how much you can stitch when the weatherpeople tell you not to go outside. Not that I really needed their help avoiding it! Overnight we had gusty winds and snow, of course, but the next day it just kept snowing and snowing. Nothing like getting winter all at once. My daffodils had buds before they were covered in snow. I'd tell you how much but it was so windy that the snow drifted in ways that make it difficult to tell. For example, on one side of our driveway, the snow drifts as high as the Honda Civic; on the other side, you can see the neighbor's lawn poking out. According to the paper, we got 22" out this way. And a two hour delay today! (Only because the college is surrounded by tertiary roads, and I bet they're still digging those out. Our street is down to one lane.)

Anyway, last night I finished stitching Sadie's Stocking! You'll just have to take my word for it that the name is stitched--I want to protect everyone's privacy.

In the rotation, this will be replaced by either Mary's Stocking or Christian's Stocking. Plenty of stocking left to stitch!

Round Seven: Winter Row

I guess I should be working on Bent Creek's Winter Row during this blizzard but I did work on it during the incessant pre-blizzard media hype! 

I had to stop at the grocery store last night on the way home for some dishwasher detergent. Can't go through a blizzard handwashing dishes! The empty aisles included water, bread, snacks, and sour cream. I'm living among a people who survive on chips and dip.

Went from three letters to 21. Not bad.

Round Five: Greenland Santa

I started Greenland Santa on January 2, 2015 as part of Debbie's Ultimate Crazy January Challenge. When I posted about him, I noted that I had yet to remove the dark grey stitching on the sweater, which had been stitched with the wrong color. Glad I wrote that somewhere because there are about 3,000,000 greys used in this piece and I never would have known.

When the rotation turned to Greenland Santa, he looked like this. Now don't get too overwhelmed by my progress...

LOL. I did skip stitching on in on Friday night in exchange for stamp night! I made some fun things.

 It's that time of year where I churn out masculine cards for the 9 of 11 boys and men in my family with birthdays before June. My plan is to stamp three each of four designs. This will make it easy for my BILs and their sons to get different cards (as well as the Sunday dinner crowd). (The extra card, if I play it right, can be a Father's Day card. So clever.)

For these, I was inspired by this card that I found on Pinterest. I didn't want it to be so patriotic, so I changed the colors to silver, island indigo, and gumball green. And then when I was combing through my friend's stamp collection, I found that phone booth and thought stamped in blue, it just might resemble a tardis (for my Whovian BIL). That's the only card of this set that will have the tardis.

The second card was a direct copy of another card found on Pinterest. (It was getting late.) Anyway, it's funny how you can be totally tapped out from lack of sleep and waking up in the total darkness, and still find a way to stamp with your friends until 11:00 pm!

On to my 2016 anniversary sampler... (I'll surprise you next time.)

First Round of the New Rotation

Waldorff saw a lot of stitching time these first three days of the new rotation. On New Year's Day, I decided to do some laundry. Big mistake. My boot heel caught on the carpet, and I fell down half the stairs. I somehow managed to land on the laundry basket--knocking the wind out of me--and on top of the laundry which made the trip separately. (I don't know what went down, when I started falling I shut my eyes and went along for the ride.) I screamed when I started falling, and I could hear the dude shout from the basement, "Nik, are you okay? Nik!?" I couldn't answer because I couldn't breathe, and also, I didn't know. He made it to the foot of the stairs just about the time my head hit. "Is anything broken?" he asked--he's had a lot of practice in triaging my accidents. "I don't know," I managed to pant. "Well, let's get this picture out of here," he says as he removes this cross-stitched piece (Willow Trees from the stairway gallery) from between my legs (yeah, I have no explanation for that). I look up at my stitching; you can see the point where I took off (missing picture) and from that point down are the rest of the pictures are askew. He takes my right hand to pull me up, but I can't push off my left arm. In fact my whole left side is a mess. It turns out I still have muscle memory from all the skiing I did in my youth--I went down on my side like they always taught us. Anyway... that's how I got out of laundry, cooking, and walking the dog for the next two days, which left lots of time for stitching and television watching. 

I only have one bruise and it's not even that spectacular. I complained about this to the dude last night. "I'm too achy not to be more bruised." "What hurts?" he asked. "Pretty much everything from my shoulder to my knee on my left side." And the sternum. Don't forget that. If I may be so bold as to offer further advice on falling, remember to roll onto the side that you don't sleep on!

Last January when I started (and put it aside) Waldorff looked like this.

I've completed page one of four. I hope next month when this comes up again in the rotation, I do have to take a break to walk the dog!

Smalls Wrap Up

Checking in for only the seventh (possibly sixth) time this year, I present my last Smalls SAL of 2015. This is Ewe & Eye & Friends Button Basket from the April 1999 edition of Cross Stitch and Needlework. I started this in January as part of Debbie's Ultimate Crazy January Challenge. You can see what it looked like when I picked it up again here. (That's right--untouched for eleven months!)

I used unbleached linen and the called-for Anchor floss. (I always get the Anchor floss for the Ewe & Eye designs; there's something different in the quality of the floss that I like for their designs.) Happily, I found all the buttons in my button jar. No idea where they came from or how old they might be but I am pleased with how they look.

I will be back soon with a review of my (pathetic) 2015 stitching and thoughts about stitching in 2016. Until then!

Happy Halloween!

If someone could tell me where the last few weeks have gone, I'd be indebted. Things are super busy at work (five projects due before December). It just saps my energy. What's more, I realized I had only read six books for my Goodreads challenge (of only 15). So I picked up Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes. That'll keep you involved! Anyway, no time for stitching or blogging. 

October Review

I didn't really set out goals because of the cluster that was the beginning of the month (starting with being stranded in Tennessee an extra day because of the rain on the east coast). But my goal was to stitch a small (decorative gourds), finish Sadie's stocking, and possibly stitch on an autumnal piece in the WIP basket.

I did get sidetracked by Cinnamon Stars. I love the colors of this one so much. Although I started this one for Debbie's Crazy January, I am discovering that I do not have all the colors I need. (How surprising...) That's kept me focused on finishing the front of the house where I started. That's definitely a strategy for staying focused!

But I'm back to work on Sadie's stocking because, well, these kids are too cute to disappoint. (And I'm missing one color and ran out of another.) (Story of my life!)

November Goals

I had hoped to spend November working on a different project every day for NaBloPoMo but I really need to focus. I know, I'm disappointed too. But I'll try to knock out Sadie's stocking so that I can pick up the challenge of something new every day.

And yet, when I think of the things that need doing next month, like finishing the Christmas cards, the silent auction (that old chestnut), and the Thanksgiving celebration, I'm not sure this is a reasonable goal. 

Yes, suddenly I'm going to make reasonablegoals!

Smalls SAL: Fresh Mesh

I started this small last January as part of Debbie's Ultimate Crazy January Challenge. You can see how it looked after a day's work here.

 Funnily enough, Heather, who runs this SAL, asked, "So, what did you stitch this month? Does your stitching still reflect the warm weather (or cold, depending on where you are)? Have you started stitching for Christmas already?" And my answer to both is yes!  This is called "Spring Fresh Mesh" but I think it works for our summery weather (though not as summery--ie 95 degrees with a million percent humidity--as usual). I'm so pleased to have it finished, and I think it might become a Christmas present for someone... Who'll be this lucky?

May Small Check In

If you've been worried about me, you were right. No sooner did I hit publish on that last post, than my mother-in-law showed up. Don't feel sorry for me, though, she's a gem! We went looking at art and gardens and played in my garden as well...but there's plenty of time for that story, you're here for the stitching.

I'm participating in the Smalls SAL hosted by Heather at the Stitching Lotus, occasionally...

This Ewe & Eye ladybug (Slow Poke) is one of the pieces I started for Debbie's Ultimate Crazy January Challenge, on Day 12 as a matter of fact. And it was nearing completion at the end of March. And I finally got around to it.

For more information about this SAL, check out the link in the sidebar.

Days 27 through 31

This last week of January flew by! Although I haven't had a chance to show you what I worked on Tuesday (or Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday!), I did manage to stitch five more patterns.

This is Christian's Stocking by Shepherd's Bush. I'm stitching it for Jersey. But I will say right now that if I cannot finish all four of this family's stockings, I will finish the stockings for the girls (even though I've stitched less on theirs at this point).

The last of the scheduled Mill Hill Santa starts, Lapland Santa. This one had six different browns in it. I think they do this on purpose so you can have a nervous breakdown when you are sorting the floss. Seriously. I worked on this while watching the last episode of Hinterlands. I hope when the second series airs in the UK this fall, we won't have to wait long to see it on this side of the Atlantic.

I am restitching Mary's Stocking for Sissy. It has to be done so her sock matches the rest of the family's. Honestly I stitched this so long ago the first time, that I don't think it will feel repetitive. 

These were stitched on Friday and Saturday for two special little twins. I think these will show up in my February rotation in the "new start" slot. Gotta get these done and in frames before the babies have their first birthday! I am stitching this on a 28-ct white Monaco with Belle Soie silks in Carnation.

My goals for this month were to start a new project every day (check), stitch every day (check), and finish a small (check). Not a bad outing.

February:

Week One: Love Me, Love My Dog (started CJC 2011)

Week Two: Oh, Baby

Week Three: Smalls project

Week Four: free stitch/craft

I hope to continue to work on my annual goals of stitching every day and finishing 12 projects for the year.

Okay, I'm way behind on commenting on your blogs and checking out the Grow Your Blog Party. Don't give up on me!

Days 25 and 26

On Sunday when we tootled over to Costco to pick up my new spectacles, I stitched on Wabbit's Wonder by Sheepish Designs. You might be able to tell that the picture on the pattern is reversed from my version. Believe me I have not flipped the stitching. I am following the pattern. Something got messed up at the printer. I'm sure it will be fine in the end. I'm using some kind of  Cranberry fabric instead of what was called for because, again, I have been hoarding patterns that have outlived the specified color; that is, R&R is no longer dying this one.

On Monday, I woke up to the fact that we were in the last week of the month and I still hadn't ordered Winter Weinerland, a pattern I thought I bought so put on my list. My LNS hasn't had it, and I didn't order it for some reason (because I was convinced it was hiding in the disastrous craftroom). Even though I have the fabric and the flosses I wasn't getting anywhere without the pattern. So I went to the basket of Mill Hill Santa Ornaments and pulled out a random one, Hawaiian Santa from the Tropical Santas collection. It was nice to stitch with some bright colors (compared to the Santas I've started so far).