Busy, Busy

I've been a wee bit busy this week - every single day at work!

Usually I have Monday-Wednesday pretty much free, but not this time.

Still - I had time to finish this:



And my Mum was helping me out with housework before the phone guy came to fix my lines, and found this:



I'm quite sure that several of you were actually able to hear my shriek of delight!

(She's not on lined fabric, by the way, just laying on a notebook for her photo-op)

Finished up the first shade of grey on the Eagle (blurry, sorry!)



I've already started the next shade - more red.  No pic yet, but I'm over halfway done.

No start on the next PM yet - I keep leaving the pattern.

Mum's afghan has increased some, but I'll not post a pic.  It looks the same, just bigger :D  Next post I'll try for a picture.

One other little project - I was at work without any stitching after finishing the Birdhouse Stocking, so I started the little butterfly kit I posted a pic of recently.  I'm not showing it yet, though - I decided to be silly and take a pic of each color being finished, then post them all at once.  I have no idea why!

IHSW - October (Late!)

I didn't get to work on Lovers much - I was hoping for today off for some catch-up but it didn't work out.
So I only got about half his hair done - I had grand visions of his hair and face both being complete.  I totally should have known better - lol!

Updates - Finish and Stash! (lotsa pics)

I finished the PM Brave... hmm, either Saturday night or Sunday night.  I forget which!  But I've been too busy to post until today.

Isn't he cute?


Here he is with the girl - they need the names added under them, then they'll be cut apart (poor things!) because I want the canoe between them and also I want them to turn toward each other instead of having their backs to each other.


I'm back to working on the eagle, but there isn't a lot of the next shade I chose, so I'll be starting the two in the canoe (ooooo, rhyming!) soon.

I've also started the next Stocking, and since I'm posting today, I'll give you a shot of where it's at right now. I just started it yesterday at work and it's going really fast!


No, I started it Monday at work because yesterday I went to JoAnn's for the big sale!  I had the day off, and it's far enough away that it is a day-long trip.  We also went grocery shopping to save a trip, but more about that in a few.

Here's one thing I got - I wanted kits but since I couldn't use my coupons on them (they were on sale at a whole 10% off - I think they were cheating so I couldn't buy them with coupons!), I directed my attention to the McCall's patterns that were 10 for $10.  There was a limit of 10 per customer, but Mum was with me and she got some for me.  They didn't have all 20 of the ones I wanted in stock, so here's the 16 I did get.


I love making costumes.  Most of these will challenge my skills but I don't care :D  I've got a detailed sewing plan that starts in January, when it's so cold and the roads are so icy that I have to turn down the offer of extra work because I don't have a four-wheel drive to get over the mountain.  I'll show pics when I start!

Since the kits were a bust, I focused on floss and got all of Night Hunter and Mosslord kitted up.  I won't bother with a pic - it was a big pile of mostly greys, black, dark browns and dark blues. I did spend enough for the 30% off card and I plan to go back on the 25th or 26th to kit up some more HAEDs!

We stopped at WalMart to get some grocery shopping done - and I nearly fell over!  It was 2002 the last time I saw any cross stitch stuff at our WalMart - yet, lo and behold! - a whole quarter aisle!  With DMC!!! Not every color, of course, but I got some greys that had empty bins at JoAnn's, and next time I'll know to stop off at WalMart first!

Also, I do like to take tiny kits along in my purse - I was out of them and right now the stockings are taking their place, but eventually those will be done.  I couldn't bring myself to buy them for $3 like at Hobby Lobby or JoAnn's, but I grabbed five at WalMart for 99cents each! Yay!




I got my UFO kit in the mail really fast, but I'll bore you guys with a pic of that next time :D  Also, there was a payday!  That meant more Random Generator picks of WS-n-B patterns!

This time's winners:

Hunting


Candle Light


Lastly - no update of the afghan.  I've left it alone all week, but I plan to work on it tomorrow evening after I get back from the dentist, and hopefully my hands will be fine!

Victory!

I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some of you guys might remember my mystery UFO?

This one:


It was bought and started eons ago, when I was first taught to cross stitch in Home Ec class.  I knew I had bought 'Our Daily Bread' at the same time, and I was 100% sure that this one had also had some religious saying on it or just a picture of a bread loaf with some pretty flowers or something around it.

I was fairly certain it was a kit from the old 'New' Berlin Company, and I have haunted eBay and Google for well over a year and a half, maybe longer, trying to get some hint.

Well - look what I just found!!! (and bought!)

HERE

I was totally wrong about the saying, and the bread loaf, and I do not remember this picture of a... um, pitcher! at all - not even vaguely, at least not yet.  I may if I keep looking at it - memory might stir :D  I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the pattern is no longer in my possession, though - I would remember seeing it.  It may be in some old boxes stored in my parent's attic, but even if it is, I'm sure the floss is either not with it or has dry-rotted.

The kit is old-fashioned, but my Mum will like it for her old-fashioned country-style kitchen, and I've been wanting so much to find out what it was.  It was like a constant nagging every time I would look at my WIP list.

So yay! I feel like doing a happy dance, lol!

Now I just hope that the blue hasn't faded or that the company was consistent enough with their dye lots!  But I wouldn't really care if it was off a little - I can tell the story of why :D

I Totally Skipped Poor Fred

At work yesterday, I finished up the Eagle's current color:



So that's it for its turn in the rotation.  Next time I plan to do a shade of grey.

Frederick the Literate should have been next, but he was at home and my lunch break wasn't long enough to go get him (I was at the new site).  I did, however, have my PM Brave project with me.  So out he came.


And now looks like this - I was almost far enough along to backstitch his torso.  I decided I'll just stick with him for awhile - his rotation turn is in hours, not getting a color done.  So Fred's turn kinda got left behind.  Sorry, lil' kitty!

I've also finished up the last three Avengers Sprites - Hawkeye, Nick Fury, and the Hulk.


I need to bug Missy for Coulson and Bruce Banner, lol!

Mum's afghan is giving me some issues - it's making my pinky fingers go numb when I work on it.  This happened once before when I tried to stitch an Apache Tears afghan.  It's all the single crochets - I don't know if it's just the way they're made or the fact that I honestly don't care for them, but my tension is tighter when I work them and it affects my hands.  So I'm forced to take a break for a few days to let them rest.

Which is annoying, 'cause despite the singles, I'm enjoying this.  The pattern was easy to memorize, but is just enough to keep my attention focused so that I count just right.  Here's where I am:



Not too much like a scarf any more - bonus!  This is 27 repeats and I need... um, a lot more! 126 total, I think.  So 99 more?

Here's the back, just for interest - it will almost be reversible   That'll be fun.  My Da has a bad habit of turning afghans 'round the wrong way when he 'fixes' them on the bed or chair!

Nowhere Near Landing

You know that military saying 'The Eagle has landed?'

Mine's not even close.

Here's an update, though!



One shade of brown done, the next shade 2/3rds done.  Its turn in the rotation is not over, so there will be another pic later!

And the Ghost Cat is a ghost no longer!



'Home is Where the Cat Is' by Janlynn.
This was one of my Crazy Jan starts.  If any of you guys ever stitch this - be warned!  The backstitch is very difficult to read on the pattern, even though some of it is in red.  Also, there is more on the pic than in the pattern.  I squinted at the pic to get the cat's dark orange stripes done.  They don't show up really well, but they're cute!  Also, the pattern says one strand for the french knot eyes, but one strand was tiny!  Two strands looks like the picture on the kit, though.  The pattern also has his eyes one stitch higher than the picture.  I preferred it the way it was in the pic - much cuter!

Also, I've got my Avenger Sprites back out.  Like this as of this morning:



Then I finished up Natasha Romanov, aka Black Widow.




Mum's afghan would make a really sturdy scarf if I stopped now!



Here's a close up of the stitch pattern.  It's going a bit slow because it's mostly single crochets.  I dislike singles, but they have to be done! XD


And there was a small payday recently, so Random.org picked two more Witch Stitch patterns off my Wish List for me:

On Guard



and Life Begins Anew