Oldest UFO (and Frogs!)

I've been suffering - well, not too badly - from frog attacks this week. Only one project had what I felt was a major problem, but everything I worked on this week had to have a little repair.

First was my oldest UFO, which my mum told me was the carousel horse. I dunno how she remembered that, but she did. I took it out and did some gridding and discovered that there was a counting mistake, which is probably the reason I put it away all those years ago. So I frogged and restitched and it went from this



to this



which isn't exactly a lot. But since I haven't picked it up since the late 1990's or early 2000's, a little is still a good thing.

Fred had some improvement - all the dark red on his books is done. I've switched to working on the shelf beneath the books, then I'm going back to the light red & black to finish those books off.



I only had to frog about a row and a half of the last book. No biggie.

Then there was my Sunday stitching on my eagle. I decided to do an eagle color next - whatever was the first color in the top left corner, for the wings. Turned out to be the darkest color, and also, like the pale blue last time, there was very little of it.

Unfortunately, what little there was seemed to be all fractionals, which drive me right 'round the bend when they're like this, because I always seem to stitch them wrong and have to redo, and this time was no exception. But I got the color done with minimal frustration.



Then, there was Mudkip.

Oh, Mudkip...

Can you tell what's wrong with this picture?



If you guessed that he's THE WRONG FLIPPIN' COLOR, you're quite right. My only excuse for this mix up, since I know what color Mudkip is, is that I was engrossed in watching something absolutely riveting, meaningful, and important at the time.

Those are the right words for old episodes of 'Scooby Doo, Where Are You?', right?

Here's Mudkip after his frogging operation



Much better - and I have to admit I wasn't all that mad about this frogging. I laughed a whole lot, instead.

I'm off now - going to see if I can't finish up Mudkip this evening for three small January finishes. I would say it was totally do-able, but I have to go to the bank and the post office and then take my mother to a wake... so we'll see.

All Done with Starts

My CJC list of starts is finally all wrapped up - I started #15 yesterday.

It's Arcade Alphabet from DorkStitch



And here's my start



In between all these starts, I've been working away at Fred, but now I'll really be focusing on him. The starts were a lot of fun, but it'll be nice to get back to a regular rotation.

IHSW - The Start of Something New (and TUSAL)

Namely, my QS Lovers.

I didn't get much done, since Saturday and Sunday are the busiest days of the week for me, but here's the little bit I did get done:



Three shades of grey for the background/sky.

And the pattern pic, since it's been a tiny little while:



I think this will be my IHSW project all year long, just to see how that goes. Maybe I can actually finish one whole page, lol!

*EDIT*
Forgot to add my TUSAL pic, with my new (rather old) ort jar posing with some filled ort jars.

A Lot of Stuff

I completely forgot about posting for awhile! Don't know where my brain went...

Here's the result of Sunday's stitching on 'God Bless America'



I got the first shade of blue done. There was surprisingly little of it, so it wasn't very hard.

I also finished up the poinsettia stocking:



And here's my next few starts for Crazy January

#12 - Home is Where the Cat Is




#13 - Emy from Hazel's Farm



#14 - Bunniez!, also from Hazel's Farm




I plan to stitch three or four of them in a row, instead of a square. I haven't decided what colors the others will be, yet, except that I'm leaning towards a grey one.

This leaves me with one more start for Crazy January; it will probably be started Monday unless I get a little more time to stitch than I think tomorrow. Over the weekend I will be doing IHSW! If you haven't signed up, you should!!! I plan to start and work on my HAED SAL project, QS Lovers.

Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven

Start #8

Dimensions Gold Petite 'Voyage at Sea' sometimes just called 'Voyage'





It's hard to see but I did some of the lightest color of background half-cross. About two needlesfull, but it finished up all in the first 1/4 of the chart. Sometimes my fabric marker fades really fast and sometimes it shows up for days. It just depends on what kind of material it's on.

Start #9

The second half of my 30 Tiny Stockings Kit - the ones in the blue boxes are the ones I have left.




Almost finished this poinsetta! It needs 1 & 1/2 shades of red and the backstitching done.

Start #10

Prairie Schooler's 1985 Santa



Got some border done.

Start #11

Dimensions Gold Petite 'The Ugly Duckling'





I only spent about half an hour on this today. I had to work and now Fred is screaming my name. Four starts left to go! Tomorrow is Sunday and I've decided to work on 'God Bless America' on Sundays. I'm doing that one color by color, and I think I'll work on the lightest shade of blue next, just for the contrast. I've only finished the lightest shade of red so far. It's the project with the eagle and the flag.

Start #7 and a Sale

Here is my start for Day Seven:



Cardinal Song, a HAED QS by Sara Butcher



I got a small bit of one feather done. This one is going on my rotation with Fred as soon as all my Crazy January starts are done.

Also, Witch Stitch & Bits is having a sale! 20% off their already really low prices :D It's only for another day or so, though. I went ahead and got three more off my wishlist, and the total for all three was less than $6. The charts I've already gotten look pretty good, so I think these will turn out well.

Sea of Love

The blue at top is a bit pixellated but I think I can smooth it.

Sioux Cheif

I have a piece of mottled brown evenweave I can stitch him on and not have to do all the background! Yay!

and Wolf of the Trees

which is just wickedly cool.

So three more for my bucket list. And now my #8 start is calling me! I'll be back soon!

Got my HAED Sal Rewards!

I won't be starting any of these right away, but I'm so happy to get them! These are my reward charts for posting enough WIP pics during the freebie SALs - if you posted enough, you got the other charts that you didn't choose at the beginning.

For stitching Ice Wind, I got SKs of Phaun, Rapunzel, and Treasures:




For stitching Rapture, I got QSs of Terra, Little One Lost, Fragile Heart, Faerie Bride, Curl Up with a Good Book, and Blue Rose:




If I start any of these any time soon, it will probably be Blue Rose, but for now I just need to actually finish some more of my HAED SALs! And start the new 2012 one, too!

WIPocalypse and CJC

Frederick the Literate is my first focus piece for the WIPocalypse. Here's the progress I've made in between Crazy January starts - some work on the Six Red Books of Doom .



I'm planning to finish all the dark red on them, then switch to another color somewhere else.

Here's my last three CJC starts -

Day Four did indeed turn out to be part of the conspiracy, as this is for the Goth Chick:



I got all of the first shade of brown done and a bit on the huge blue screen.


Day Five was the first that Gothy is not getting her mitts on! This is a chibi-style Severus Snape from Hazel's Farm and he's mine.



Well, someday when he's all grown up, he's mine! He'll go quick once all the starts are over.

And Day Six (I'm a few days behind) was this cute lil' kit:




I got a fair bit done for a workday.

It's a Conspiracy!

On Day One, the Goth Chick drew 'Mudkip', which is for her.

On Day Two, there was nobody else around so I drew one myself, and it was 'Gothic Hello Kitty' from Hazel's Farm



Which is for the Goth Chick, who is very fond of Hello Kitty.



Not that much of a start, because I felt like working on Fred that day.

For Day Three, I got my Mum to draw one. She pulled out 'Cats Have Slaves'



This happens to be for the Goth Chick's husband, who is one of the few males I know who is unashamedly in love with cats. Three projects in a row for the Goth Chick's new house! (She's moving in May, probably). It's a conspiracy, I tell ya!



That's my progress. There were a lot more fractionals than I expected for a Janlynn kit, especially with that 'V' in 'have'. And the pic on the front of the kit was nothing like the chart. I hate that. My finger is sore, from shoving the needle through aida. But I like the way it came out. And my love affair with my marking pen continues. I love it so very much!!! My brain would have died if I'd had to count over for 'Dogs', and I would have had to frog several times, I know. I've done it before.

Wonder what tomorrow will bring? Another for the Goth Chick?