Another Page Finish!

This past week was the UFO/SWIP SAL.  I have so many that fall into this category (it's a shame).  So this time I selected and oldie but a goodie, Dark Cherry.  She was my selection for the 2009 Freebie SAL.  I haven't stitched on her since Jan. 2011.  Here she is before the SAL:

Here she is after.  I finished page 2 and started page 3.

Progress on her is pitiful. The end of page 2 was confetti laden, it took most of a day to finish it. The bauble at the bottom (on page 3) gave me a particularly hard time. I did something wrong in there, but I think I fixed it. It still looks wrong when I look at it now...  Have to put her away for a while, till I feel better about it.

This week is the SK Freebie SAL so Phuan is out to play!  They are saying rain for most of the weekend, so I hope to stitch through most of it and make some good progress.

Dark Cherry Update

Here's the result of my work this week for the "faces" SAL:
She now has both eyes and a complete face. She will go away for a while, and I'll move on to the retired artists SAL for this coming week. We all know what that means... Goblin Tree! YAY!! Linda Ravenscroft is no longer a retired artist from HAED (thank God!) But, the chart is a retired one, so it counts for this SAL. Here's where it is now, prior to the SAL:
Speaking of LR, have you seen the new releases of 4 new LR cats? So adorable! Presenting....
Gabriel
Lucifer
Smitten Kittens
Moonlight and Moonbeam Needless to say, I can't resist them!!!

It's been a while

Since I've posted. What can I say? Nov. & Dec. are busy months around here. I worked on my Freebie SK, Moon Fantasy a bit. Here are the before & after:

Stitched some on Bouquet for Cheryl (before & after):

And Dark Cherry:

I may pick up Curly Tailed Rosy next, haven't given her any attention in a very loooog time!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We went to my SIL's. My MIL had her other knee replaced on Nov. 13th and she was in rehab for Thanksgiving (she did the first knee last year, at Christmas). They only let her out for 3 hours that day so dinner, which should have been at my house (it was my turn), ended up at my SIL's. They are in the Poconos (PA), we are in Central NJ so MIL wouldn't be able to make the trip. It was also my MIL's birthday she turned 83. God bless her, she's a trooper. She is now out of rehab and back home (lives with my SIL). They said she is doing really well. Walking better every day.

I'm supposed to be putting up the tree today, and I have to hit the grocery store... Don't know if I'll get any stitching in for a while! Hope to be back with new pics soon!

Happy Holidays!!!

Stitching Pics?

;-) Sandra suggested I change the name of this blog to Simba Obsessions! I was thinking the same thing yesterday when I posted! I do have some stitching updates, but I wanted to wait a day to post them. So here they are.
My last update on Dark Cherry was (I believe) from July 13th:

Here she is from Aug. 11th:









Here is Always Remember from July 20th:

Here it is as of today:




I haven't gotten a lot of stitching in since Simba came to live here. The weather last weekend was beautiful and we spent a lot of time in the pool with friends and neighbors, grilling outside and drinking wine. But a little progress is better than none!

Dark Cherry After the Weekend SAL

Woo Hoo! I finally finished page 1. Excuse the pic, it's a grey day here and the scanner just doesn't seem to do this peice justice. But you get the idea....

Thanks for looking!

Dark Cherry Update (Again)

Here she is! I have to admit, at first she was driving me mad! Now I've become addicted! I've been working on her pretty steadily for the past month or so. I would like to finish the first page by the time the third page arrives! LOL!! As you can see, I've learned a new (to me) trick! Thanks to Annette for explaining how to 'sign' my stitchy pics.

I've put DC down for a bit to work on Lil'Blue Fair Cat (Hawks) again. This weekend was the HAED UFO/SWIP SAL. He qualifies for sure! I am close to a finish with him. I think I may continue to work on him till he's done. Yeah, I know, I've said that before!

I also started a new one, Always Remember - My Big Toe Designs. This one is for my SIL. Here's the original, and my start:

I am taking my time on this one. It will be a while before the time will be right to give it to my SIL. She had a lump removed from her breast back in Feb. The tests came back saying it was cancer. She made the decision to have her breast removed. She's now recovered, and started back to work last Friday. Can't believe it all happened so fast. She got the results from the final test back last week. They told her that she doesn't need to do chemo. She will have to take a hormone pill once a day for the next 5 years. She is thrilled that she doesn't have to go through chemo. I am happy for her to not have to go through the chemo, but I am hesitant as well. I don't trust the doctors she is seeing, but then again, I do have trust issues. She is very comfortable with her doctors and it's up to her. I know I would have gone a different way, but we all need to travel our own paths. I pray everyday that she will be well, and that this is all now behind her. Appreciate it if my readers (if there are any!) would keep a thought for her as well. Thank you.

Dark Cherry Update

Hope you all had a nice Easter! Here's my progress on Dark Cherry.
Before and After:

I'm Back!

Okay, so I've been back a week. Where has the time gone? I've been catching up from my trip and the week flew by. NH was COLD! And it did snowstorm while I was there, of course. But I made it home fine.

The 2 charts I picked for my prize were Dragon Charmer - Josephine Wall, and Spread Your Wings - Renee Biertempfel. Thanks again to all involved! AC Moore had a sale Sun. & Mon. DMC floss 6 for $1, so I got the floss I will need for both. The receipt was about 15 feet long!!! I won't be starting them anytime soon. I have to get some work done on Dark Cherry first. I am still on page 1! ARG! The sparkle in the moon is just killing me. I'm using PTB but it's not cooperating with me this time, don't know why. Here my progress




Happy stitching to you all!!!

HAED Themed SAL Jan. 2009 And NEWS!

The Theme was: Background. So I continued working on Dark Cherry. I'm working around the sparklies, I'll do them once all the other stitches around that area are done.

Now for the News! I am one of the Winners of 2008 SAL Challenge! I was so stunned when I saw the post this morning over at the HAED BB! I get to pick 2 full sized charts as my prize!!! I haven't picked yet, I'm still in shock! I'll update you when I do make my picks. The people over at HAED are so wonderful! Thank you HAED and all the HAED stitchers!!!!

On a non-stitching note, I have to travel for work next week. I leave on Superbowl Sunday and return on Friday. I'm going to New Hampshire/Maine. Just the place you want to go in February, NOT! No offense to anyone that lives there, I just hate the cold. NJ is cold enough for me, so I'm not looking forward to this. Pray for a foot of snow at Newark Airport on Sunday! (Maybe then I can get out of this trip!) I don't think I will be updating my blog till after, so have a great couple of weeks, dear readers! Thank you for your comments!

Jan. 2009 HAEDless SAL

Worked on CDC this weekend. I've finally made it to the right border. A bit less than 2 pages to go on this one! Stitched on Black 25 Ct.Lugana using Vicki Clayton Varigated Silk in Tugtupite, full X, 1 over 1. Started April 12, 2007.


I worked a bit more on Dark Cherry before the SAL this weekend. I am really slow compared to some of the other stitchers! If you'd like to see other's, visit The HAED BB, and look in the Dark Cherry SAL forum here: Dark Cherry 2009 SAL pics

HAED 2009 SAL Challenge!

It's being working differently this year, so here's the scoop.
The SAL challenge for 2009 which will be a freebie QS 1 Year Challenge...
The challenge being CAN YOU STITCH ONE of four QS charts in a year?

Each person selects ONE of 4 special QS charts. All four charts are approx the same size. (These charts were not released for sale - there are only for participants in THIS SAL.) We sent email to the mod with our chart choice, at which time she sent back the details so we could kit the selected chart. On the second weekend in January we received the first page of our selected chart.

Every second weekend on alternative months until the end of the year.. we get a new page. i.e. January, March, May, July, September, November

We will have a monthly freebie QS Challenge SAL which will run over four days .. Friday to Monday.

We can stitch the chart any time we want, not just over those four days.. and we don't need to post regular WIPs if we don't want.

BUT... if we DO post at least 4 WIP pics we will receive the remaining freebie charts at the end of the year as a reward for participating in the SAL... they will not be available at any other time they are exclusive to the SAL... so that is four QS charts for free if we post WIPs.

IF we finish our chosen chart within the year including posting a final picture we will go into a drawing for five charts of our choice, courtesy of HAED.

So..... HOW COOL IS THAT??!!!

My choice was Dark Cherry - artwork by Ching-Chou Kuik.
We've just completed the first weekend of the SAL. Here's my progress. Stitched on a Silkweaver Solo, 28 ct. Opalescent Lugana, full X, 1 over 1. A little more than 700 stitches so far.