Reading Challenge - August

A book more than 100 years old - A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

I got this book for free off Kindle (it's public domain since it's over 100 years old, published in 1905) and the audio was discounted via Audible and Whispersync for Voice.  I listened to the book while I waited for the girls to fall asleep every night.  I have seen both the Shirley Temple movie and the updated 1995 movie.  The movies do deviate from the book some but the premise is the same.  Sarah Crewe, comes to live at Miss Minchin's boarding school when her father suddenly dies and she is forced to become a servant.

Other Books:
Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer - I read books 1 and 2 last month.  This book adds Cress, a Rapunzel-like Lunar shell who is imprisoned in a satellite who has fallen in love with the gallant Captain.  I can't wait for Winter.
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher - This book was recommended to me at book club.  The main character receives a box of cassette tapes from a girl who committed suicide talking about her reasons why she did it.
Precious Moments Stories from the Bible by Sheri Dunham Haan - I've been reading this book a Bible story at a time with my girls.  It has the stories arranged topically and incorporates Precious Moments illustrations.
The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Keatley Snyder - A disappointing read about a girl who rescues a kitten who turns out to be a witch's cat.
Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush by Virginia Hamilton - A ghost story.  Tree cares for her intellectually disabled older brother while her mother is out working.  Meanwhile, the ghost of her uncle haunts the house.  It's an interesting story but the dialect bogs things down occasionally.
Dragon's Gate by Laurence Yep - Otter joins his father and uncle as Chinese immigrants working in horrible conditions on the transcontinental railroad.
Clean Slate (Jim Knighthorse #4) by J.R Rain - Detective Knighthorse is back and this time he's investigating whether or not the death of a famous actor was real or faked.
Crooked Little Lies by Barbara Taylor Sissel - A story about a web of lies surrounding Lauren, who is recovering from a TBI and Annie who is looking for her missing brother..
The Good Neighbor by A. J. Banner - A "suspense" novel which I found predictable about a couple relocated due to their house burning down.
The Narrow Lutheran Middle by Daniel Deutchlander - A look at the different pitfalls Christians often fall into on our earthly journey.
Dragonwings by Laurence Yep - An authentic look at Chinese immigrants in the time surrounding the San Francisco.
Decision Points by George W. Bush - (abridged audiobook, read by the author) Former President Bush looks back in hindsight at the defining points of his life and presidency.

This Week in String

This week marked the first week of school for the kids.  I took my first substitute teaching job Friday afternoon and it went well.  I get four whole hours of free time every morning now and it's great.

But, alas, I will have no free time tomorrow as my five year old is sick :'(

First, today was the day to pick up my entry from the fair.  Here's the result:

I started a new piece this week.  It's the "Contemporary Wedding Sampler" out of the Just Cross Stitch June 2015 issue.  I'm completely changing the color scheme.

This weekend, I decided to put in some work on my HAED.  This page has been plaguing me for a few years because it's all dark blue background but I'm determined to finish it.  I put like 350ish stitches in today.

In the world of yarn, I worked a bit on 2 of my 3 WIPs.

A crochet vest

A loom knit shawl

And I finished this cute kid's hat earlier this week.

Biblical String

I have a friend who has been on bedrest for like a month and has about another month before the baby comes so I stitched this up to send in a card.

I hope she likes it.  I tried Thread Heaven for the first time.  It didn't do much for the fraying ends of the Light Effects but the thread did seem to lay better.

Stitch from Stash Update - August 2015

**Stitch from stash recorders!  I changed my blog name!  It used to be "Gadget's Joyful Page."**
Month: August

Total Spent: $60.65

Total earned: $10.00
Carryover: $3.37 (I think that's a record low for me)

I went on a bit of a spending spree this month, I'll admit.

But now sadly, I'm on a week's rest because my carpal is acting up.  It's so hard to resist the lure of string!

I had three quick starts and finishes

I also started "Strawberry Fields Forever"

And continued to work on my Butterfly Rose Cross

Name Change

No, you have not arrived at the wrong blog.  After over five years of blogging, I decided to rename "Gadget's Joyful Page."  Same me.  Same string.

Knitting Circle Day (and yet another giveaway!)

It was the third Saturday of the month.  Time for knitting and crochet time at my local library!  Let me share some of my progress.

This is my Flag Afghan, a free pattern from Lion Brand.
I finished my second red stripe today and started my second white, Then I get to add blue! (It's an American Flag)
The yarn is Lion Brand Heartland

My Mom requested a vest for Christmas.  I found a pattern in a back issue of Crochet World.
The yarn is also Lion Brand Heartland.

An Afghan Shawl using Lion Brand Homespun

Also, check out Nancy's newest giveaway of boxed floss at her blog.  The drawing is Sept 1.

Another finish!

I have diligently been working on my granddaughter's 2014 ornament.

First Star
SamSarah (2014 JCS Ornaments)
30 ct. evenweave
DMC Threads

My First 2015 Ornament! And also a giveaway (not mine)

I did all the finishing on Cookie Monster today and he is all ready for the tree.  Adèle was already looking at it and saying "cookie" so I'm sure he'll be a hit at Christmas.

Also, Nancy over at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is having a glorious giveaway.  Click for details

Cookie!

My youngest, Adele is quite fond of Cookie Monster.  We got her the talking Cookie Monster that eats cookies last Christmas and a regular stuffed one for her birthday and she was thrilled.  I was going to make her a Cookie Monster ornament for Christmas 2014 but I couldn't figure out how I wanted to finish it so I stitched Tweet Gift instead.

I was looking at ornaments yesterday and I got a few finishing ideas that would work so I stitched it today. I had a pattern for Cookie's whole body but I only stitched his head.

I'm either going to frame it in plastic canvas or put a border on it and make it a double sided ornament.  I haven't decided yet.

I also started another ornament but there isn't much to show yet.

A Day in Bed

I haven't accomplished much this week.  I was feeling poorly again on Wednesday and spent the day in bed while the stepdaughter watched the girls.  When I was feeling better a little later, I put in a few stitches on my HAED.  It still feels like I'm stitching at a snail's pace.

I spent most of Thursday at doctor's appointments (one for me and one for the daughter).  Our travels put us near the LNS in Plano so I stopped in and picked this up.

This was the last Magical Mystery Tour piece I intended to do (Yellow Submarine, Octopus's Garden, Strawberry Fields Forever and The Long and Winding Road - I'm skipping Eleanor Rigby and Blackbird).  I'm going to wait until I find a frame for it so I can adjust the fabric count to fit.  It calls for a 36 ct but I may want it bigger depending on the round frame I find.

I was also missing two GAST for Strawberry Fields Forever.  They were out of both but they were nice enough to find me some WDW equivalents (I mean, REALLY nice, we pulled the DMC colors and then tried to match them to the WDW on the wall!) so I've been stitching a bit more on SFF lately.

I'm now over budget for the month on SFS.  I'll have to finish a small or two to catch up.

Lastly, my daughters watch a lot of Sarah and Duck so I made a few Scarf Lady memes.

This weekend I made the leap....to Windows 10!

Some of my older followers may recall that I used to work in tech support for T-Mobile so I'm pretty good with technology.  I am a Windows girl through and through, having only ever had Windows smartphones (starting with a Touch Pro 2).  Therefore, I have a Windows smartphone, laptop and 7" tablet.  I've been waiting for 10 to come out because it's supposed to allow maximum integration between all my devices.

I decided to start with my laptop.

I bought my Vivobook back in 2013 to prepare for grad school and it has a touch screen.  The upgrade process only took a few hours and was pretty painless.

The only issue I had was Chrome.  If you do the upgrade and use Chrome, you need to uncheck the Windows 8 compatibility option in the settings or otherwise you will spend hours trying to fix it like I did.  On the upside, I was able to get my Firefox working again.  Edge (the new browser to replace IE) is a great browser but it doesn't run Blogger.

Strawberry Fields

I found a piece of linen on my stash to use for the "Strawberry Fields Forever" piece and I have a bit of a start on it today.

Unexpected Stash

This morning, my husband decided that we should all go in the truck to his office (he had to get parts for a tech).  The LNS in Plano is only 15 minutes away so we stopped by and, well, I bought some stuff.  I'm going to be still well within my budget for the month but I spent way more than I intended.
You want to see it?  Well, okay then..

First up, in the April JCS there was this great Dandelion piece.  The LNS just happened to have the correct Picture This Plus fabric so I got the fabric.

It's 28 count "Whirlpool by Picture This Plus :)

 Next up, more Beatles.  I finished Yellow Submarine this spring and currently have Octopus's Garden in rotation.  But, I decided to pick up Strawberry Fields Forever today with the required GAST and WDW threads that I didn't already have.  I didn't get the fabric but I think I'm going to use something I already have in my stash.

Last we have some metallics and Thread Haven.  I needed some Kreinik for a WIP I haven't worked because I was missing a bunch of the required threads.

No stitching of significance to report for the week.  My professional memberships lapse in August so I was busy trying to get in some of my Continuing Professional Education hours in on their webinars.  I'm up to like 33 hours for the year, which isn't bad considering I'm not working for a school district at the moment.  Hoping to share more next week.