And Stitching Continues

I had to take 2 days off from stitching as my shoulders and neck hurt from the way I was sitting, and my back pain increased as well. I have ordered a lap frame by K's Creations. Though I ordered it from Overstock dot com, as K's Creations never returned my phone calls (2 days in a row, messages left both times..4 business days total) or email. I don't know if they've gone out of business or not. Hopefully using the lap frame will make stitching more comfortable for me.

I made some more progress on the Quaker Sampler. Here is a picture of where I left off this evening.

Even More Stitching (With Big Smiles!) and Pics as Promised!

Thank you all for the wonderful comments, I do appreciate it! I continue to enjoy stitching again and continue to stitch! So here are the pics as promised!

Yesterday I worked on the Quaker (Quaker Mon Ami, I think ???) called Quaker 6 Mains by Mon Ami Pierre © (I was close, almost got the designer right LOL) some more and am almost finished with page 1. Here is how it looked last time it was on the blog:

No Idea the Title. Got it as a freebie online.
28ct. Jobelen

There was a tad more done but I apparently didn't take a picture. The letters Q and q were added and that's where I stopped somewhere in 2010 I think it was. When I emptied my bag the other day I had the fabric and the chart, but couldn't find the list of floss numbers I had used. All I could remember is they were 38's in DMC. So I scoured my blog, luckily I did write the floss numbers I chose onto the blog; 3831, 3832, 3833. I was very happy when I found that, yanked the floss and got stitching. Here is where it stands as of April 14, 2014:

Back in Dec. 2011 I was participating in an Ornament challenge. I stitched a few ornaments and left one in progress. I finished that last week, here is the picture:

Holly Reindeer © DaffyCat
28ct Hand Dyed Jobelen (not sure of name but its a tan/brownish color

Around the reindeer's neck is a bough of holly. It is done in green x's and red French Knots. Along with the Holly Reindeer, I also stitched the Mistletoe Reindeer, The Stocking reindeer, and Believe. All are by Daffy Cat. Believe and Stocking Reindeer have been shared before. So here is Mistletoe Reindeer as I can't find a post on my blog where I shared the pic of this one.

Mistletoe Reindeer © DaffyCat

Many many years ago I stitched a bunch of small Christmas designs onto Aida fabric. My intention was to turn them into ornaments. For years the large pieces a fabric (Black and white) just lay in the drawer with the stitching on them, but not cut out for finishing. Eventually I cut them out and pinned them together, but never finished sewing them. Well, I finally did and they are ready to be used on this year's Christmas tree. These came out of different Leisure Arts leaflets and a Christmas Book or two that I have. Here is a pic of them:

That's it! Nothing since Dec. 2011, and in one week I finished a few WIPs and an owed exchange. So now I'm going to do some more work on the Quaker Mon Ami (I think that's it, not sure though and I'm probably wrong) Quaker 6 Mains by Mon Ami Pierre © (I was close, almost got the designer right LOL)The other day while stitching I decided to try listening to an audio book. I have Stephen King's Wind Through The Keyhole as an audio book, being read by the author, so I started that up. It was FANTASTIC! Now I know why all you lovely people rave about listening to audio books while stitching, it is great! So I'm off to Mid-World, the Starkblast and needlework!

**edited April 16, 2014 to add proper name of Quaker design

Stitching Continues!!

I have stitched every day now for the last couple weeks and it feels great!

After I completed the care bear I pulled out my project bag and emptied it. I laid all the contents on my bed and played "match up" with the fabric and charts. Back in Dec. 2011, I was doing an ornament challenge and had stitched reindeer designs made by Daffy Cat and had completed the stitching on 2 of them, leaving 1 in progress. I completed the third one yesterday. (I will get a pic up as soon as my camera charges)


Last year I signed up for a Valentine's Day exchange, in the hopes that it would help kick start my desire to stitch. It didn't, but the project was in my bag about a quarter done. It is a design that I made and I don't want to give it away, but I did take a pic that gives a bit of a sneak peek.

In addition to that, I had a bunch of little X-mas ornaments I stitched many years ago (2001 or so). In Dec. of 2012 I had my niece help me stuff them with poly fill. My intention was to make little pillow ornaments out of them. They got stuffed, and the open edge pinned together and that was it. Today I finally got around to closing the open seam and adding hangers. I will take pics, hopefully, tomorrow.

Also in my project bag was the Quaker I started a few  years ago. I added some more on it yesterday and today as well.

So yup,  stitching is happening and I am very happy about that!

FINALLY!! I stitched, enjoyed, and COMPLETED a project!

My last stitching finish were a few Christmas ornaments back in Dec. of 2011. Since then I have done spats of stitching here and there, nothing much at all though. I was severely lost in depression and lost the desire to stitch. I tried once in a while forcing myself, but just couldn't do it. In Oct. of 2013 I ended up in the hospital for 6 days. The end result is that I have a heart condition, damage to the back side of the left ventricle from a heart attack, and an 80% blockage in an artery that feeds the heart. Of course, the blockage is arranged and in such a spot that the doctor can't just put a stent in and the surgical repair would be "tricky" and "dangerous", thus we are hoping medications etc. will ease it up a bit.

I'm not going to go into details but that experience in Oct. sure blew my mind in many different ways. The biggest being I don't want to die and I don't want to continue just existing and not living. So for the past few months I've been working on getting my head in a better place. As I did that, I started wanting to stitch. My niece asked for a piece of Harmony Bear, one of the Care Bears. I've been stitching for the last few weeks, with the last week being very regularly and with increasing enjoyment.

Here it is, my first piece of completed cross stitch since Dec. 2011. I am so very happy to have it done!

Copyright Leisure Arts
Stitched by. Missy Hull 2014

I seem to have woken up my stitchy bug, so the next piece to go on the hoop will be the piece I owe a friend.