Catching up!

I've been off the blogsphere quite a bit this year.  Sorry.  But here's a run down of what I've been up to recently.

Work

I'm still seeking a full time teaching job.  I've had one interview so far and my local district has several positions open so I'm hoping to get one.  If not, I'll be subbing.  I also have been grading standardized tests and found out I'll be scoring leader for the next session.

Children

My girls will both be full-time in school next year!  Finally!  My six year old passed Kindergarten reading on grade level!  That is incredible since she really didn't start talking at all until age 4 and didn't say a sentence until age 5.  We are also expecting another grandchild (a boy) so that's more ornaments to stitch.

My daughters are into Tsum Tsum (these adorable little Disney plushes).

The Five year old's collection

The Six year old's collection

We also have some Build a Bear Ponies which have recently joined us.  

Stitching

I have had a few small finishes, but I am mainly working on Gathering Honey which I plan to enter into the fair in August.

A finished Long and Winding Road

A finished Dandy Wishes

A baby shower present

Work in Progress: Mini Twist from Stitchybox

My fair piece: Gathering Honey

Stashing

My husband, who totally understand me, let me get stash at the LNS for Mother's Day.  I picked up an 11x11 QSnap and a needle keeper (which I love) as well as the fixings for the bird ornament out of last year's JCS Ornament issue, some Kreinik and silk for another WIP and the GA Chalk for the Winter Chalkboard.

WIP Wednesday

It's been awhile since I posted.  When the girls came down with strep, I got tested and found out that I didn't have strep but had a sinus infection instead.  A few days into my antibiotic, I was feeling better when all of a sudden, I got worse.  I caught a cold virus!  Ugh.  Now, I'm over that but Mountain Cedar is pollinating and I'm apparently allergic to it.

Meanwhile, this weekend, my daughter turned 5!  Here's a picture of the cupcake cake I made for her.

Here's a quick look at what I've been working on.

Oh, and the husband bought me some stash for The Long and Winding Road.  I finally bought a plate frame for it ($16 on eBay!) and calculated the new thread count.  Instead of the called for 36, I will be using 28.

A Framed Finish and a SALE!

By Wednesday, I had both girls back on the mend and back in school so Mommy had some time for doing string-type things, like framing.  So, I finally got Strawberry Fields Forever Framed and it is now in my husband's office.

The newest issue of Just Cross Stitch came out and I had to have the fabric for that cute hummingbird on the cover.  My LNS in Plano just happened to have a piece so we traveled out there today only to find out that THERE WAS A SALE!!!!!!

So, I bought some fabric.

That would be:
32ct. PTP Linen "moss"
32 ct. PTP linen some blue color I can't remember
30 ct. WDW "Gunmetal"

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.

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.

A Trip to Jo-Ann's

I haven't had a lot of stitching time recently but I got a little bit of stitching done on Snow White.

I hit Jo-Ann today to get some metallic sewing thread for finishing Tweet Gift.

I also found a very interesting "invisible thread" that I thought I would try for assembling some pieces.

We've been spending some time in the mornings before it gets too hot playing outside.

An anniversary and some stash

Today was the third anniversary of my lay off.  Although I am still unemployed, I am definitely in a much better position than I was three years ago since my husband has a job, I got my masters and I now have a teacher certificate free of any kind of alternative certification.  God is good.

Still looking for that first job though.

In other news, the rest of my ordered stash showed up today courtesy of Needle in a Haystack in Alameda, CA.  The ladies there were so helpful in helping me find a yellow fabric for my newest project (which after a bunch of mathematical calculations, I finally started but no pictures yet).

I spent a good chunk of the day doing a bit of finishing work.  Bought some more foam board over the weekend so I could finally mount Fuji.  I think I have him straight.  Haven't laced him yet or put the stainless pins in.

And that's all.  Stay tuned this week for my June Stitch from Stash update.

A Box from Silver Needle

I have quite a surplus of budget left and I still had some graduation money left so I decided to order a pattern I have wanted for awhile.  Victoria Sampler no longer carries the accessory pack for just the single ornament so I had to order the new leaflet and fabric and accessory pack.  The fabric that was originally used is no longer produced so apparently the Victoria Sampler commissioned Picture This Plus to create a replacement.  Oooh.

I have never ordered from The Silver Needle before but I actually have some stuff from them that I've found at SCRAP.  They are a larger brick and mortar LNS based in Tulsa OK.

The box came today.

Everything was nicely wrapped in this colorful paper.  They also threw in some individually wrapped Jelly Bellys.  OOOOOH!

This was my order: leaflet, accessory pack and fabric.  Don't the cupcakes just look  delectable?

They were also nice enough to throw in some free patterns and a pen.

Now, I'm just waiting on another order from Needle in a Haystack in Alameda (which is a much much much further drive than Tulsa), where the people are also very nice and helped me locate a fabric for yet another Victoria Sampler piece.  I've never stitched them before.  Stay tuned!

Beads!

I ordered the two colors of Mill Hill beads I was missing from 123 stitch and they arrived today.  I should be able to finish the Quail soon.

Meanwhile, I've been working on the Candy Cane Horse Ornament and making good progress.  I may have to buy another spool of Kreinik as it's disappearing off the roll.

Stash and Stitching

Friday was my wedding anniversary.  We celebrated on Saturday with a visit to the LNS.  My husband bought me a bunch of stash.  He got me the Soie d'Algier silk for the ornament I wanted to stitch and the Sampler Threads I needed for Octopus's Garden.  I also picked up a piece of clearance fabric that looked interesting.  Since it was a gift, I don't have to count it in my budget.

I started on "Lights of Advent" which was the ornament I was contemplating buying the Soie d'Algier for.  I discovered that the substitute DMC colors weren't even close to the colors of the silk so I'm glad I bought it.  The pattern calls for 35 ct. natural linen but the lady at the LNS said going with a 32 ct wouldn't change the size much.  So, I looked in my stash and found a scrap of 32 ct. Vintage Country Mocha Belfast linen

SCRAP Grand Opening

SCRAP, the lovely thrift store for craft items recently moved to a new location and they had their "grand opening" last night.  I spent more than I should have but I got some great stuff.

All the magazines and leaflets together were $2

The perforated paper was included with this Whiskey Creek box. 

I found some nice fabric including some 10 ct R&R fabric.

This pile of linen was $4  I think I hit the jackpot.  I haven't sorted through it and labeled it yet

This haul puts me slightly over budget but I just have to stitch and finish a few things to get back on track.

New Stash!

My delivery from 123Stitch arrived today!  I'm so excited.

So, while looking at the other blogs who are participating in Stitch from Stash, I saw someone post their wish list which included the patterns Blackbird Designs are doing on their Magical Mystery Tour.  I love the Beatles so I had to have them and my husband liked them and decided he wanted them for his office at work.

I was able to get the pattern and the threads off 123Stitch but they were sold out of the recommended 32ct Cedar Plank.  Fortunately, my husband was able to get the fabric from the not-so-local LNS (which turns out to be only 15 minutes from where he works - dangerous!).  I cut the fabric in half because Octopus's Garden also uses the same fabric.

So now, I'm about 49 cents over budget but that's okay because I should be able to count the finished page from Fuji for this month (I also ordered the missing Blending Filament which is actually what put me over budget).

I decided to start with Yellow Submarine

The bulk of the cost was the Sampler Threads because I don't have many of them. 

Before the mail person came, I was stitching on an ornament that I actually put a few stitches on a few weeks back but didn't post a picture.  It's a Tigger ornament stitched on perforated plastic.  It's from my stash so it will count once I finish it.  I was listening to Killing Patton this morning on Audible while I stitched on it.  I'm not a big WWII person, but it's interesting and reads more like Killing Lincoln which I loved, because instead of being boring, it read like a thriller.

T- One month and counting

Friday marked the one month out point from graduation.  I only have two more weeks of student teaching left as well (the week before Thanksgiving and the week after Thanksgiving).  When I started this whole program a year and a half ago, it seemed like it would go on forever. Now, it's almost done.  Went to a job fair on Thursday.  No one is really hiring for spring so I may have to wait for a job until fall.

After the job fair, I stopped in at Jo-Ann's.  They had a 25% off your total purchase coupon so I made the most of it.  I bought yarn for a few new projects and then I tried to get all the colors of DMC that I didn't already have (because it seems that everytime I start something new, I find I'm missing at least one color).

 I started sorting and winding them only to find that I had forgotten to pick up bobbins and I only had a few left.  I picked some up last night but I'm still short.  Grr.

When I got home, my new washer and dryer were there to meet me.  I spent the rest of the day catching up on laundry.

Some more yarn

Today, I went to Hobby Lobby to see what they had in sport weight yarns.  I find a lot of patterns that call for lighter yarns, but all there seems to be are baby yarn and sock yarn.  I found some things that would work for some specific patterns I have.

Stash

I received two pieces of stash in the mail.

The first was a piece of linen from Nancy over at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe.  I ordered it to go with the two patterns I had: Trimming the Tree and Jingle as Ye Go. My husband told me to order it as a Mother's Day gift.  It looks like it will be fun to stitch on.

The second was two patterns from Crossed Wing that I've been wanting to stitch.  My grandmother stitched their work extensively and now I hope to be stitching a Nuthatch soon.

Unfortunately, the mailperson folded them to cram them into my mailbox :(