The Oldest UFO SAL

EvalinaMaria is hosting an SAL for stitching your oldest UFO - you can get info here. I am very much joining this one, although I may not be able to start until 2012. I really want to get Fred done so he's going to take up most of my stitching time after I wrap up the few presents I have left.

I have a problem with this SAL, though - I don't remember which of my UFO's is the oldest! I was sure it was this one:




Then I went rummaging through my craft room while looking for something else and pulled out this one:


And I distinctly remember that they were bought at the same store, somewhere in the same time period, and therefore were probably started about the same time.

So now I have to pick - which horse? I don't know if I should take a wild guess, let someone else pick, pull a name out of a hat, or what? But either would be fun to work on, though that Gentleman & His Lady is a heck of a lot more complicated. Which one would you guys pick to do first?

Shelves and Sailors

That's what I've been working on all week - well, except for holidays!

Fred has much more shelving done - last time the boring shelves were what made me put him away - actually, both times that he's been put away, it was because of the shelves. So I'm pretty happy that they're getting much closer to being done! The middle shelf is completely finished.



And I stitched tiny sailor men for my Nautical Sampler





Four of 'em. I also backstitched the ropes on the anchors and I like it a lot better. Since I knew the white wouldn't show up well, I backstitched the sailors' hats and the edges of the collars after I put the little black thingie on the top. (What would you call those things, anyway? I think they are a tab or a loop to hang up the hat? Or just for show?)

I am so in the home stretch with this one! Just some flags and border left! And a lot of black backstitching. But it has to go aside for a day or two since I need a November update pic of Rapture for the HAED BB and I actually haven't touched it this month. Oops.

TUSAL

This would have made a better pic closer to Halloween - if I had thought of it. I guess... is Lizzie Borden macabre enough for Halloween?

Here's my collection of orts in front of part of my more morbid collection.



I'm determined to someday have every book about Lizzie Borden that there is. Some of them are old and/or hard to find.

IHSW for November

I decided to keep working on Fred for the weekend - I still have hopes of finishing him off this year.
*crosses fingers*
Anyway - Fred now has a complete bum!



And I've started the work on those six red books in the bottom corner. I'll be going back and forth between them and the dreaded shelves for a while, possibly with a bit of the bird thrown in to keep my interest. We'll see how it goes!

I also finished two crocheted hats. These are for my dad for Christmas. He's bald, and on blood thinners, so his poor head gets very cold. I usually make him one of these, at least, every year, and by the next Christmas he's needing a new one. Last year, however, I made him a balaclava, so now he really needs a new hat! His old one has shrunk so much from being washed that it's halfway up his forehead, lol!

Here's the first - a slightly loose stitch with a nice ridge pattern to make it fit snugly. This is for when the weather is a little warmer or he wants to wear it during the day. I put a crab-stitch edging on it which looks like picots in the pic, but won't when he's wearing it. The finished hat was a little loose at the edge, so I added the crab-stitch to make sure it would stay on snugly.



The second one is a much thicker, plain double-crochet stitch. It's for cold days or to sleep in at night - yes, he sleeps in them at night. He used to have a quilted one that originally went under a helmet or was for hunting - I don't know - but it wouldn't stay on his head at night and he'd wake up with a head cold. So these are much better!



And that's two more prezzies off the list, which is lovely! On to my nephew's much more complicated hat!

How to Join the HAED freebie SAL

**Edit**
I completely missed the info that the HAED board is not accepting new members right now. Sorry about that! Thanks for the info, Rachel! So I guess no one new to the board can sign up. But there's always the next one!

**Edit Again**
I think sign-ups will be accepted again after the first or the third of December... I'll have to check but Yuku isn't letting me sign back in right now.

If you're already a member of the HAED BB, the post with sign-up info is in the General Discussion. It's tagged to stay at the top.

Rachel - good choice! I think that's the prettiest, though the tiger came a very, very close second!

PS - I found this pic in some vacation photos - it's a little road in the country where a huge, ancient willow tree has been trimmed so that you can drive under it - we thought it was really pretty. Most people would have cut it much further back or even down altogether. I'm glad to see this lovely old tree only got a bit of a haircut!

2012 HAED freebie SAL - yay!

The lady who usually does the Freebie SALs has retired, and won't be doing them any more. I was really worried that there wouldn't be one for 2012 but the pics were up yesterday!

I was really undecided between two of them, but I finally settled on this one just because of the rarity of there being a guy in the pic :D


QS Lovers

Also I really, really like his hair. He looks very elvish to me, and I love that.

These were the other choices, which I will earn if I post six different WIP pics in 2012.



The tiger is the other one I almost chose. But I want to work on one of my tiger kits for the WIPcolypse, and two tigers might have befuddled my barely-working brain. Or my nonexistent patience. So I will earn that lovely thing, and start it in 2013.

This will make my fifth freebie SAL and my third year of joining the freebie SALs.

Surprise Stash!

Look what my mailperson brought me :D



I had no idea these were coming - they were found at an auction house by a relative and mailed to me O__O

I didn't even know this particular relative knew I stitched! Or that I loved these kits! I am in happy-stash-shock!!!

Two Trees

I really, really, really wasn't going to start anything else this year, and I think I lasted an amazingly long time (for me, anyway) in sticking to that.

But it couldn't last forever.

I love a SAL, and I've been wanting to expand a little into specialty stitches, so I decided to try out the Tree of Stitches I've seen on so many blogs, and Julie's showing pics. Luckily I made it in to the group before it was removed. It's supposed to be for sale soon. I'll be honest, at first I didn't like it much when the pics started showing up, but I think I was affected by the fact that the first two I saw were in really, really icky color combinations. Or at least, icky combos to me. Someone must have liked them, obviously!

But then I started thinking about cherry trees. I love a cherry tree in full bloom. I love eating the cherries later, too, but that pink-white-red against a blue sky - or better yet, a stormy sky - is one of my favorite things. Odd, since pink is not nearly my favorite color. So anyway, I thought I'd try out ToS as a cherry tree.

Here's my inspiration: a cherry tree rumored to be 400 years old!



Here's my fabric - it was an experiment to see what tie-dyeing would do to cross stitch fabric. The Goth Chick says it looks 'violent'. I liked it but never had any idea what to do with it until now. I think it makes a fairly decent disaster-storm sky.



Here's my basic floss toss - there's an owl, a bunny, and some flowers to be decided on later. I'm using DMC varigated since I'm poor right now XD



And here's my start; one dark-wood cherry tree trunk.



I'll be stitching this on Tuesday only, and I don't expect to finish it until next year.

My other tree was started out of the vast need I have to carry some sort of stitching with me. I only have two projects left that I'm determined to finish this year, Nautical and Frederick, and they are both fairly big, so I wanted something small to take around with me.

I chose The Drawn Threads freebie 'First Snow'



This is my start. I changed the colors a bit and also how many threads I'm using. The wee white stitches are Smyrna crosses, and I didn't think about how they would need to be stitched when I started on aida, but they've been surprisingly easy even if I am having to poke through threads. This one I plan to finish this year, just it will be slow since I don't always have much time out and about!



I really like that little Cardinal!

One Flag, Two Anchors, Three Knots

That's what I've finished on my Nautical sampler.



I'm not so sure about the anchors - they have white ropes which you totally cannot see in this picture. No backstitching is on the chart, but I don't think it shows up wonderfully well in real life, either. It's not bad, exactly, but it could be better. But nothing else in this row has backstitching, so would it look odd? I am undecided. Oh well. Four wee sailors are next, then finishing up the flags!

Some Crochet and a Tiny Finish

I snapped a quick pic of the Juliet dress - the length is coming along nicely. I didn't arrange the dress for the pic, it was just a spur of the moment thing while I was measuring, so do forgive that it's laying a bit lumpy!


And here's a pic of my makeshift blocking board with some white granny squares (and two granny triangles). They are very brilliantly white in real life, and I'm being very, very cruel to my sister-in-law with them... she's getting a white scarf for Christmas. She'll love it BUT I would hate to be her trying to keep makeup off of it! The squares will be stitched together and then edged with a glittery blue yarn, and there will be tassels! Normally I wouldn't block granny squares as they usually shape themselves quite nicely, but I want the scarf to look really good so I'm not taking chances.


While cleaning up some cluttered closets (how's that for alliteration?) I found this little tiny kit in an old purse...


So... I don't remember buying or starting this... but there was no WAY I was adding something this small to my WIP list. So I finished it up, and had the devil's own time getting that little monster into the frame. I could NOT get it centered. This was the best I could do. But it'll look cute on Mum's stocking at Christmas.


I'll have a progress pic of my Nautical Sampler soon! I was watching TV with my Dad and trying to get a bit of backstitching done on the flags and I left it at my parents' house. So I have to pick it up tomorrow. But I've finished the knots and the anchors.

Halp, I've Been Framed!

Severus Snape, professionally framed (ain't that the truth, lol!)



It's only the angle that makes the one side seem bowed out, promise! Cost $12


Mom by Bent Creek, professionally framed



cost $15

Dad by Bent Creek, professionally framed last year but I never posted a pic



also cost $15

Loon, framed by me



cost $2 - frame & mat from a yard sale and a wee bit for materials.

Santa

1984 Santa by Prairie Schooler



I finished him on the 2nd but I'm only now getting around to posting XD

Fred's October Progress

Fred got a new book - the blue one on the bottom - and more of his bum filled in. I meant to post this last night, but between trick-or-treaters and naps, I kinda forgot.



I'd like to get him to the 3/4 point this month.