Frederick the Literate

Definitely sticking with this rotation...

I.

Finished.

Fred!!!

Granted, he really didn't have that much further to go, but still!

Here he is in all his kitty-glory :D

The metallics were the worst, and they barely even show in the picture - there are rows and rows of metallic backstitching on those red books.  I only left it off in one place, on the big green book behind his bum on the top shelf.  I hated the way it looked on the kit picture and it wasn't any better in real life, so it's not there.

Anyway, here's his wee face, finally with some whiskers.

Picture's a bit dark, sorry!  I didn't do the best job on couching his whiskers, but they're not too bad.  At least he has them!  Poor Fred has been a UFO for years, got taken out a few times, and then ended up right back in my UFO pile.  But he's done now, and he's lovely!

Frederick the Literate is a Dimensions kit, if anyone is interested in stitching him themselves, and he's not hard at all.  I'm just lazy XD

I was supposed to work on whatever project was in this spot of my rotation until the 14th, and start working on another on the 15th.  I finished Fred last night, on the 12th, and I decided to just work on some of my Sprites from DorkStitch until the 15th rolls around.  With whatever I shall work on :D

I Have No Clue Why

But it's working!

I'm going to try one more project before I say that this rotation is a success, but - LOOK AT WHAT I DIIIIDDDD!!!

March Snapper Block - done.  In two days.  AND the border around it!

O_O

(By the way - I love that chicken weather vane, but is it just me, or does that hen look a wee bit evil?)

And I didn't stop there - part of my new rotation is not stopping at a stitching 'milestone' like I always have before.

This is where I wrapped up before I went to bed on the ninth:

The little bit of January's border that I hadn't stitched is done, and April's block is started.  One word of two, one of five big raindrops and four of eleven little ones.  So much fun!  There's a big ol' blue umbrella to stitch in this one, and I'm looking forward to it!

So, this one is put away for a little while, and today starts the next project in the new rotation.  I have no idea what it's going to be yet.  I'll pick when I get home from work!

Hmm...

I had a new idea for my rotation, and it seems to be working.  Let me get it all straight (and keep testing it) and I'll explain what it is.

I have put 'Smell the Coffee' away for now - it's staying in the rotation! - but I got it this far before I did:

Pardon the weird big shadow!  The little rooster is done, he just needs his backstitching, and the first two rows of the left border are done - I have reached where the bottom square starts.  The blue block with a chunk missing has part of a sun-ray sticking through it.  This stitching is all the result of sitting in front of the computer and watching those addictive, addictive flosstube videos.  Or, mostly listening to them, and looking up when someone says 'and this is what it looks like'.  LOL!!!

So next in my latest try at a working rotation, I got my Bent Creek Snappers out and just finished February right off, no problem, two evenings of spare time while I watched videos.  Please pardon the hoop marks.

This one is still being worked on and I can't believe how fast it's going, when it's extremely slow me stitching it!!!   Tomorrow is the last day of its turn and I'll show you my amazing (for me) progress on the March block. :D :D :D

A Little Stitching Progress, and a revived UFO.

I am SO FAR BEHIND on reading blog posts and commenting, but I will be using this week to catch up!  My feedly list is bursting at the seams :D  I've discovered Flosstube videos - I never knew that was a thing! - and I've been fascinated!  Don't know if I'm fascinated enough to ever do my own but they are so much fun to watch.  Very Enabling, though, so watch your budget if you start watching, too.  All you have to do is go to youtube and type in flosstube.  There are hundreds!

Anyway, I've been stitching some.  Here's my update on Unspoken - last time:

April that I forgot to post here, but wasn't much:

And now this time:

I think I have finished most of the confetti; only a little to go and then this page will speed up :D  Just a lot of white and off white in big areas.

I was working on my craft room, trying to get it organized (it's an ongoing battle) and I picked up one of my UFOs and just - randomly started it up again.  It's 'Smell the Coffee' by Janlynn:

I know this kit is OOP - I bought it eons ago at a discount store.  I had only stitched this:

I have worked on it two evenings while watching those Flosstube videos and now it looks like this:

I don't know how long it will keep my attention but right now I can't seem to put it down.  Weird.

Crafting ADD

I has it.

A new cross stitch project (my own pattern!), my second finished coloring poster, 'Cherry Basket', my first book-folding project, and my solid-color Rings of Change is now almost as big as the finished Mini-Rings.

I haven't touched the striped Rings of Change again (yet), but I have worked on Unspoken and Lovers.  I'll show them soon!

I managed to get another bird at my feeder; I wasn't at the right angle to get a good shot but here's a handsome Blue Jay investigating the pickings!

These birds are so loud!  And they'll eat the fruit crop right off your trees, but they are very nicely dressed, I always think!  Oh, and this morning when I left for work, I finally saw a tiny brown hummingbird at my liquid feeder!  I KNEW someone was drinking that!  I wish I had my camera in my hand but alas, I did not!

Worth the Wait

Haven't posted in a few days - it's been busy and stressful but I'll not go in to that right now!  I have been stitching; I'll try to post about that tomorrow.

A couple of weeks ago I started reading this blog, by Beth, and it made me really want to put up a bird feeder or two.  I went to the store and priced them, and anything well-made was out of my 'petty cash' budget for now.  So I got a little hummingbird feeder to start, and thought I'd wait to get a big one later.  But then my Mum told me that there were two really nice ones in her side yard, left behind from the last owners - the side yard is fenced in and has a building in front of it, there is only a very narrow opening to get there.  It's also full of a huge magnolia tree, so I have been back there maybe once?

Anyway, I got one of the feeders as I only had a place to hang one big one (so far) and filled it with seeds and suet blocks and put it out.

And waited.


And waited.


And waited.


And finally, early this morning, after a week of nothing, I got a visitor.

A very handsome fellow, and if you look close enough, he has a sunflower seed hanging out of his beak!

So very much worth waiting for! :D  Now if I can just get some hummingbirds at the little feeder - something's drinking from it, but I haven't caught anyone in the act just yet.



Extra info for this pic:

1. The bird feeder had been sitting back there so long it had moss growing on the roof.  It was pretty, so I left it.

2.  I love the way early morning light looks in pictures, but I hate getting up early enough to actual take advantage of it.  If I hadn't had to go to work, I wouldn't have gotten this.  He was there when I came home at 11 for lunch, but the light wasn't nearly as pretty.

3.  The tree has a strap around it because we transplanted it last fall.  It is a grafted apple tree and it was in the way of my father's building project.  It has four different varieties on it and we hated to cut it down, so we risked moving it.  I have pictures, I'll show you someday.  When it was moved, we discovered that it was actually two trees, with their roots entwined and growing so closely that it looked like one big trunk.  So they are strapped together to keep the little one from falling down, and will have to stay like that for a year.

4.  I really need to mow my yard XD

Stashy Saturday

It feels sooooooooooo weird not to post a letter!

Here's a bit of stash that I've fallen in love with recently - I always wanted to get a needle minder just to try them out but I kept putting it off - they were pretty, but I didn't think they'd make that much of a difference.

Then I saw this one on sale and thought 'why not'?  Because that was one of the books I liked that they made us read in school.

Well, I found out that I love a needle minder!  So handy!!!  And since I adore books and reading, I decided that I needed a couple more, so I wouldn't have to transfer this one from project to project.

I used the craft portion of my last payday for these:

So cute!  My camera focused on the printed background instead of the books; they are not that fuzzy! I'm hoping the seller (PinoyStitch, on etsy) will do an Agatha Christie title.  She does have a poll where you can vote for the next book you'd like to see, and she added Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express for me.  So I will be keeping my fingers crossed!  She's got a lot of other titles I want, too, but I found a seller on Facebook that will do round button-style ones to order, so I'm saving back now to get one with Spike on it XD XD XD

I also bought this needle holder from her:

I may get another of those, too, as I've lost this one three times and counting...  I had to borrow the picture from her shop.