Mill Hill Monday Fixing a Problem

Well, I found a piece of perforated paper so I can fix my issue.

I made a mistake in the snowflake that is inside the tea cup. So I am doing the snowflake on the separate piece and I will attach it to the top of the cup. I think it will work.

WIPocalypse Post for February

Well, you would think I would have more to show for all the stitching time I had this month....
I also wanted to let you know that my list of things to stitch this year is up to
31!!!! How did that happen?
Anyway, here are photos of my progress. Things that I finished last month, I'm not including, but things I finished this month are here. More so I can see my progress than anything else.
1. First Christmas Stocking:

I am making progress. I hope to spend some serious time on this piece over the next few days.
3.MH 1656

I spent most of the month stitching on this piece. March 1 is coming fast and I will need to start on the next row.
8. Reptiles by HAED

1200 stitches! I am trying to take a stitch or two a day on it so I can make real progress on this piece.
10. FFO stack (And 28 and 29 on my WIP List)

The heart and Santa were in my stack of stuff to finish while the Valentine pillows were quickly stitched and finished this month.
12. Warm and Wise by Mill Hill

I have made a mistake on this piece and I thought I could fudge it. No such luck. So I am thinking what to do. I need to look in my stash and see if I have more perforated paper. If so, I can salvage this piece. Will let you know next month, hopefully.
14.Maps-Catherine Jordan

I have traced my lines and now need to start stitching. This is a class I am taking with    Cyberstitchers , an online EGA group.
16. Pumpkin Canvas

Stitched! Now I add it to the FFO pile!
30. Here Lie My Needles

A friend asked me what I do with things I finish. I was working on this piece when she asked...Great question. Most sit in a pile waiting to be finished into something.....And I have a lot of things in various stages of completion. Sigh.
31. Imperial Diamonds Heart by Gay Ann Rogers

I decided to start on this for several reasons.
1. It is February and I like doing hearts in February.
2.I have no canvas pieces that are calling my name-they are all too complicated or big to pull out.
3. This is small.
4. Gay Ann Rogers was posting her hearts on her Facebook page.

So now I have 31 projects on my list. I did finish 4 so my WIP pile is technically down to 27 but I also removed one from the list so I guess I am really at 26. If I can get a bunch of things finally finished (number 10), I would feel a ton better.
Let the insanity continue! Happy stitching everyone!
Now I forgot to answer the question: What do you listen to while stitching?
I often listen to Flosstube. It is always interesting although I do have a few favorites.....
Audio books. I am re-listening to the Mitford Series but I also like listening to the history courses from the Greatest Courses.
TV or movie. Just whatever my husband is watching.

So Much Snow

But because we had so much, I spent a lot of time inside! I managed to get 1200 stitches in on Reptiles. Yipee!
This is what it looked like in January:

 And here is where I ended up. I plan on working on it every day, even if it is just one stitch. Don't want to be 100 years old before I complete this!

WIP Wednesday

I am working on Here Lie My Needles. I really don't like prim so I brightened it up, but I am not sure about the color for the alphabet. What do you think?

I think it will work. Here it is in grey scale:

End of Weekend

Well, I wanted to show what I did over the IHSW. I spent a lot of time ripping. Not fun, but necessary. Here is where I ended:

I used a shade of grey for some of the satin stitches.  I look forward to the next row, but I think I will wait until March to start. Other pieces are calling my name.

IHSW February and Gifted Gorgeousness

I hope to be working on MH1656 this weekend. I spent most of yesterday playing with the colors. The pink bothered me so I changed to grey. Here is my progression:

 The pink in the center is the  same as the pink in the satin stitch, which I find interesting.
Oh! What is IHSW? It is the third weekend in the month where you are supposed to take time for yourself to stitch.You do not need to kick your family out of the house or run away from home. Just take a dedicated bit of time to stitch.
Gifted Gorgeousness is the brainchild of Jo over at,you guessed it,  Serendipitous Stitching
The idea is to stitch something that is a gift, will be a gift, you can shoehorn into the idea of gift...You get the idea. But how can I do that with MH1656? Well the full title of this piece is MH 1656-My Beloved's Gift because Nicola Parkman received the original sampler from her husband as a gift. I want to work on this and can't think of another project for GG...
It is also Friday Off the Grid so I hope to join that group too! No, I have NOT joined the Magical Stitches group. In fact, I unsigned up for it as they are doing Harry Potter. I am not a fan, sorry to say.
Anyway, hope you have a great stitching weekend!

Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop

Well, it is time for candy and hearts and dinner out, if you are into those sort of things. We are not and we generally stay home on Valentine's Day. But I do stitch a few things for Valentine's Day as the colors tend to be reds, pinks and whites which I love!

But the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Hop is the brainchild of Jo over at  Serendipitous Stitching        
We sent her a photo of something that would be nice to pop up in an email and then we are supposed to post the photo on our blog today. Then we are to hop over to her blog and try to guess who our Secret Stitching Sweetheart is. I am bad at guessing games, but I love this little pillow that showed up in my email:

That is such a lovely finish I am ashamed to show mine, but here it goes!
The above pattern is from The Scarlett House and the freebie is on on Facebook and Instagram. I took some time to FFO my piece and here it is:

 I put my pieces on fabric that I had. I now see why people match their threads to their finishing fabric....

 This little one is from  Heart in Hand

 And this one is from The Scarlett House The Scarlett House Facebook. I used beads in the letters...

 My brother-in-law had some clean sawdust that I used to fill the pillows.

 And now they sit on my mantle although I may move them to my basket after a few days...

I also have a ton of hearts that were designed by Gay Ann Rogers:

Now to go figure out who my Secret Stitching Sweetheart is... Have a great day!

Black and White

My friend mentioned in a comment to look at the sampler in black and white. Here it is in color:

And black and white. Notice that the pink looks like a medium tone. The light blue in the row above is slightly lighter. I think I need to find a very light shade of a color to use in this piece.
What do you think?

It is an FFO!

There IS a SAL for finishing our objects! Ten Hour Stitcher 
is the one hosting the SAL and she has a few rules. Obviously, we should not be pulling things we finished years ago for this. It should be things we recently finished.It is supposed to be cross stitch or stitching related, not sewing, knitting or crochet. (I am guessing my needlepoint will be fine and also any embroidery.) Other than that, I think the objective is to finish things!
I had hoped to have a Valentine's finish for this post, but that did not happen. Hopefully they will be done before Valentine's Day!
But without further ado, here is my FFO:

 I think I stitched this guy last year, but never got him finished. I have another Santa to FFO before I will allow myself to start another. And a few other things to fully finish. It would be nice to get them all done for March!

Not Sure About the Pink

I have made some progress on MH 1656. It is a lovely sampler, but it does require thinking.

I pulled all the yellow as I thought it looked too close to the fabric color. But is the pink too bright? I think it is staying. I have to rip some of the blue as I made a mistake. Those pin stitches are a bear to take out!

I Shouldn't Start Anything New....

but you all know that it is going to happen! 
Last year I watched Michelle G at Bendy Stitchy stitch Here Lie My Needles by Shakespeare's Peddler. It came out at Nashville's Market last year. Here Lie My Needles
I thought it would be great to stitch this piece to celebrate Hari-Kuyo in 2019 so I bought the pattern and put it in my stash.
Oh! What is Hari-Kuyo, you ask? Well I first heard about it from Pam on her blog,
Hokkaido Kudasai. She lives in Japan and had an interesting post about it. It is a ceremony honoring your needles where you place them in a shrine and thank them for the joy they gave you. If you want to find out more, here is a Wikipedia article.
My original thought was to have the piece STITCHED by February 8th and make it into a finished object in 2019. Ha! Ha! I now have the goal to have it stitched by December 8th and have it finished into something by 2020. I am changing my colors and making it less prim.I am not prim, that is for sure!
Here are the threads I pulled with the 40 count Lambswool:

 And here is my start:

 

Hopefully I will have an FFO soon to show you. After all, there is a SAL going on somewhere in blogland for finishing.

Valentine Stitching

I saw this free pattern on Facebook and decided to give it a go:

I hope to get it stitched and made into a pillow before Valentine's Day. But I doubt it as too many other things call my name!

TUSAL for February

Time for that totally useless stitch a long where we show our orts!
Here are mine:

I did a bit of ripping on that pumpkin canvas...

A Little Mill Hill Progress

I thought I was closer to beads, but discovered I have plenty of regular stitches to put in this piece:

It is cute. But what to do with it when I am done stitching?

People's Choice SAL HEARTS!

I love it that Jo has so many great SAL's during the year. This one is to be posted the first weekend of every month and we vote on the themes. This month is hearts for Valentine's Day, I am sure.

I have quite the collection of hearts that I stitched  from   Gay Ann Rogers . Here are a few:

But since I enjoy them so much, I have a few more to stitch. I kitted this one up that I hope to start as soon as I finish the row for MH 1656:

Yes I have more, but I will save them for another day!

Next Row on MH 1656

I had some time last night so I pulled out my sampler. The next band had a color that I had (surprise surprise), so I used it. But then I wasn't sure, so I pulled the pink from a band I had already stitched. Still not sure, so I started the next band in the blue that I am fairly sure I will use. Then I quit for the night/weekend. So here is where I am:

I think the yellow is ok, but you can barely see it. Even in person, it is hard to see. I may use that color as satin stitch in this band or a later one. On my fabric, it just disappears which is not the look I am going for! But, as a satin stitch, I think it will pop. I may try a lighter shade of pink which might work...Decisions, decisions!