Happy Birthday Googie!

My little Googie is one today!  Can't believe a year ago I was in the hospital giving birth (and can't believe that in 3 months, I'll be back there)

It's also my future daughter-in-law's birthday today too.  She's 21.  Happy Birthday Ashley!

And my stepson Chris is supposed to get married today....hoping he's not making a big mistake  (don't ask...SOAP OPERA!).  Wishing him a safe trip back to Afghanistan for another 6 months.

Current Project

So, I saw this on the Knifty Knitter Website and I thought, hmm, wouldn't it look nice in green?  So I'm making a Christmas tree from this pattern.  I've decided to start by making half the discs because it doesn't have to be THAT tall and I'll add more in as I see fit.   So far, I have 2 1/2 discs done out of 7-8.

Christmas Music

For me, it's never too early for some Christmas music.  I have almost 10 GB of Christmas music on my external hard drive and several hundred dollars of Christmas sheet music for piano and organ.  So, here's some of my favorites:

O Come O Come Emmanuel
Of the Father's Love Begotten
Carol of the Bells
Joy to the World
Angels Carol (a John Rutter piece)
Angels from the Realms of Glory
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came
There Shall a Star Come Out of Jacob (Felix Mendelssohn)
Masters in This Hall
The Holly and the Ivy
There Were Shepherds/Glory to God (from "The Messiah")
Magnificat (arr. Jackson Berkley) http://www.berkey.com/mp3/Magnificat.mp3

Music!

So, today I finally decided to upload a few songs I have arranged as a test to see how a music player would work with the blog.  The good news is there is a play/pause button so you can start and stop it at your leisure.  Currently, I have only uploaded the two songs I legally could---one is an arrangement of The Coventry Carol that I did several years back for piano, voice and mandolin (that would be me singing and strumming, someone else had to do the piano part); the other is an arrangement of We Three Kings for piano and mandolin which I exported directly from Finale (as I don't have the equipment to record it live....was saving up for it and then I got married).  One other piece I did was an arrangement of Savior When in Dust to You for piano and SA choir but I don't have a recording of it and Finale wouldn't do it justice so maybe I'll just have to convert it to a piano only piece.  I wish I had the file of Trans Siberian Orchestra's What Child that I rewrote the lyrics for so I could perform it in church.

Currently, I am working on an arrangement of Now Thank We All Our God for piano.  Once it is done, I will upload it.

A hat and some progress

So, I knitted this hat as a Christmas present.  I think it turned out pretty well.  It's the "Patterned Hat" off the Knifty Knitter project page.

That would be my husband trying to be funny.  Let me try that again...

I used some green Homespun Yarn by Lion's Brand that I had in my craft cabinet.  I love working with it, it's so soft and works well on the Knifty Knitters because it's a larger gauge. 

I also made some progress on Mary...

The rest of the work to be done is mainly outlining which is definitely an embroidery stitch...I just can't remember the name of it off the top of my head.  I think it will turn out nice.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Done for awhile?

So, this may be my last post for awhile since my mobile carrier is supposedly not going to allow tethering anymore without a charge....I have yet to see if I can post pictures directly from my mobile phone....that would be my next experiment.

Mary Made a Little Progress

So, I've made a bit of progress on Mary's Little Lamb Sampler.

The outline stitch is kind of interesting.  Reminds me of embroidery in a way (I guess, stamped cross stitch really is embroidery).

I know the picture is a little dark but basically, I'm done with the outline and I just need to finish the little blocks around the outside pattern then finish the interior picture.

Next project is going to be a knitted hat.  I figure this will take me another week or so and then I can do the hat.  The hat is going to be a Christmas present.

Mary Had a Little Lamb

So, I started on the Kinkade piece and after about an hour or two, decided to needed to do something smaller.  My Mom gave me this piece last Christmas.  It's a stamped cross stitch by Bucilla.

So....I opened the package and it's a kit that doesn't include floss.  No big deal.  I have plenty.  However, the instructions are talking about a color chart and it wasn't in the package.  So I called Plaid and they informed me that the pattern had been out of print for over 10 years so they didn't have it.  So, I'm basically just going off the picture.  Here's my progress so far:

Pictures Finally! and....a dilemma

So.....Here are the stockings.....a little late, but here they are:

Zoe's still needs the two pompoms to be glued on and the rest of the fringe but that's just minor details.

I also finished my pumpkin piece that I'm doing for Becky's contest.  Only problem....large crease in the middle and my iron is MIA.  Eeek.  New iron not in budget at the moment either.  Any suggestions?

So....the question is....what to do next?

I have that wonderful Snow White Thomas Kinkade waiting but I'm not sure I want to delve into something that large at this point.  I have a bunch of kits I could do but then I have to separate the floss again and I used up my floss cards on the Kinkade piece.

And Parsley....haven't forgotten.  Still owe you a PIF.  I have a couple of ideas but still nothing has jumped out that screams "Parsley."

Which brings me to the dilemma.  I decided that each year I'm going to stitch my children (Zoe and yet-to-be-named-who-won't-cooperate-and-show-Mommy-what-she's-having) an ornament.  This will actually be Zoe's second Christmas so I owe her two ornaments (not going to start them now most likely as she won't understand it right now).  I have this year's picked out.  It's a stick horse ornament.  The problem is the "Baby's First Christmas."  I have not seen a "Baby's First Christmas" pattern in any of my magazines (and I have 4 4" D ring binders of them too).  So, I have this really cute pattern for a mouse sleeping in a bed that I was thinking of doing and adding baby's first Christmas but I'm am looking for suggestions.  Don't really want to go out an buy a pattern, just looking for a nice motif you think would work well.