Gifted Gorgeousness for February

We have had a bit of a chill here lately. Cold and a little bit of snow. The weather has been fairly nice here this winter so I am trying not to complain. But several of my friends and family members are where it is warm and I must admit I am a little jealous.
Today we celebrate Gifted Gorgeousness. Basically you post photos of projects that are gifts, were gifts, are going to be gifts....You get the idea! It is the brainchild of Jo over at  Serendipitous Stitching
I love it that she hosts all these as it forces me to post on my blog!  


I stitched a little on my butterfly since I last showed it at the end of January.
Here is where it was last time:

 And here I am today:

I am also plugging along on My Beloved. Here is the last photo I showed you:

 And here I am now:

I know that yellow looks very bright and it does in person too, but it looks fine with the whole piece. I think I am technically half-way through this, but the next band after this one is a pineapple with tiny little satin stitches. They will take a while.
Are you stitching anything that counts as a gift?

Gifted Gorgeousness for January

Well, Jo over at Serendipitous Stitching    hosts this lovely stitch-a-long where we post photos of our progress of our stitching projects that we are giving as gifts, were gifted to us or we can shoehorn into the category of gift.
I am trying to get this out of my stash. I have made so many mistakes on it that it is pitiful.
This is the photo from my WIPocalypse post:

And here it is now:

I was trying to take an "arty" photo-see my cat in the background?-so you can't see that I have stitched more on the left of the butterfly...

2020 WIPocalypse Introduction and Plans

I had thought I would post plans on January 1st, but that did not happen. Luckily for me, Melissa is hosting the 2020 WIPocalypse SAL. This post is supposed to be about ourselves, our projects and goals for the year.
I love all types of needlework. I don't smock or knit which is good as I dabble in about everything else. I belong to my local Embroidery Guild of America and to several American Needlepoint Guild chapters. I have a HUGE personal goal this year to put something-ANYTHING-into a fair or exhibit to be judged. I think it will stretch me.
Last year I went wild and posted all the WIPS I could find in my stash. This year I am trying to keep this to things I really will be stitching.
1. MH 1656, My Beloved by Hands Across the Sea Samplers

I think that pink is coming out....This piece has captured me. I really don't want to work on any other large pieces until I get this done. And we all know I have a lot of large pieces in my WIP pile!
2. Drawn Thread Sampler and Doodle Sampler by Gay Ann Rogers

I haven't touched this in over a year, but it needs to get done. It is lovely and I don't want it to live in my basement.
3.Art Quilt

This project will NOT get done this year. I have too much slow stitching to do on it. My plan is to work on it while traveling. Will see if that pushes it forward. The first photo is just for placement. I have not stitched all those bits down. ..Maybe I should post a photo of it once a month to see if I can see any progress?
4. Butterfly- Alesandra Adelaide

My plan is to stitch on this every day, even if it is only a few stitches. I won't do all the flourishes around the edges, but try to get the center bits done.
5. Lotus Box by Terri Bay

This box intrigues me. I will restart it and hopefully get it done. Ha!
6.Reptiles by Heaven and Earth Designs

 I am so slow on this piece. I hope to get back to stitching on it every month. It has been forever since it has seen the light of day...
7. Autumnal Abstractions by Joni Stevenson

This piece was a workshop my guild held. When I get MH 1656 done, my friend Mary and I hope to pull this out and get it done. Or we may start something else. But I want to do some stitching with her this year.
8. L. Genders- Brenda Gervais

I love this little piece! Hopefully I can finish them and have them on display this year. Or maybe I should give one away?
The rest are plans as I haven't started them yet.
9. A Janet Zickler Casey Santa. I have quite a few and would like to get more of them done.
10. Gay Ann Rogers Heart. I have a few (cough, cough) in my stash. I love stitching them and they are easy to finish.
11. Enchanted Pumpkin-Mill Hill Kit Because I love stitching on Mill Hill Kits and I think this one if fabulous.
12. Inchies by Needle Delights  I must start this one ASAP as I am leading this one for my guild.
13.Angus Dei- Modern Folk Embroidery Well, Gary and Vonna are doing this for Lent and I want to join the fun.
14. Group Correspondence Course though ANG It starts in March...
15.Mandala Musings from Inspirations Magazine-My local guild is doing this and I have a plan to do my own version.
16.Linen and Threads Mystery SAL 2020- I have pulled my threads and linen but have yet to make a stitch.


I hope I gave you enough eye candy for one blog post. I have lots of other plans floating in my brain, but I will keep them there for right now.
Hopefully you have lots of plans for 2020. Love to see them and read about them.

Gifted Gorgeousness May 2019

Jo over at   Serendipitous Stitching  started this SAL to give us the opportunity to stitch something that was gifted to us, is a gift for someone else, that you can fit the word gift into....You get the idea.
I try to find something that I am stitching that I can shoehorn into this SAL. This month I thought I would show you the (very little) progress I have made on a project that I intend to gift to someone. That is, if I ever finish it!
This is the last photos I have of it.

 There is a mistake in the lower wing sections and I thought I might just throw the whole thing away.

 But I couldn't do it. So I decided to make it work. It is not a great work of art or anything! I am just going to mail it as a postcard!
So I took it back out and got a little more stitching done.

I may just leave the center parts blank. There is a bit more stitching in other areas, but it would be a joy to have it done and gone!

A is for Abandon...

So I am joining the Blogging A to Z Challenge. I did it years ago and I finished it at least once. Hopefully I can complete it this year. Why do it? I miss seeing what other people are stitching in blog format. Yes, you can watch YouTube, and I enjoy doing that. But it is fun to read posts. If I want other people to post in blogs, I need to do it myself.
 So the first letter is:

 I chose for my project Butterfly by Alessandra Adelaide.(I will use what I can to get my posts done!) The first photo is from January. I do believe I found a mistake in my counting....

 I spent a full 15 minutes on the piece stitching some of the top parts and debating, should I abandon this piece?

 I have to frog quite a bit to fix the mistake. I don't like the ground cloth although I love how the piece looks.

 Keep going? Give up? Start again? 
I gave myself another challenge to find Scriptures and post them at the bottom. They are for me, not so much for you.....Just wanted to give a heads up so as not to "offend" anyone! 

Amos 7:14 Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. From BibleGateway

Gifted Gorgeousness 2019

Our friend Jo over at   Serendipitous Stitching         hosts this SAL where we post something that is a gift, will be a gift or we can shoehorn into the title of gift.  I have been working on this butterfly for quite a while and it is on my list to finish this year. (I did find it BTW; it was at the bottom of my stitching bag.)
Here is where it is today:

Hopefully it will see some stitching time this month. Are you working on a gift? Let us see it!

Gifted Gorgeousness for October

I looked at the calendar and realized that I missed Gifted Gorgeousness for October! My bad. What is Gifted Gorgeousness? It is a Stitch-a-Long hosted by Jo at Serendipitous stitching . If you received it as a gift, are giving it as a gift or can shoehorn it into the category of gift, you can use it as a project.
I am slowly but surely working on this piece:

Maybe it will be done by spring. It would make a lovely postcard....

Another Butterfly

I have started stitching a little each day on pieces that have been sitting in my sewing bag for ages. I figure doing 12 stitches (or a few more) will help me move it from my stash pile to my done pile. This piece is more difficult than I thought, but I do love it.

I may need to over-dye it when I finally finish stitching it.

The Frog Stitch

The Butterfly I showed in my last post had a big mistake. When I discovered it, I debated on whether to rip it out or throw the whole piece away. I did sleep on it and decided to keep it. It took me several evenings but I finally got it ripped out. Then I restitched the section and here it is now:

It is fun to stitch and I like seeing the swirls emerge.
Now back to canning salsa!

Gifted Gorgeousness for August

Jo over at       Serendipitous Stitching  has a monthly SAL where we show things that we received as gifts, are giving as gifts or that fit into the gift category...
I have been trying to work on this butterfly as I think it would make a lovely postcard.

I must remember to avoid stitching over one...At least if I want it to be an "easy, take-a-long " project.

July is Moving Fast!

I totally forgot about Gifted Gorgeousness on July 15th at  Jo's blog   . I am working on one thing as a gift and here it is:

The fabric is not green although it reads that way. I was too lazy to get my lights out to take a better photo. I don't work very often on it and I think it is not a favorite piece. Why? I think it is my floss. Too blocky for lack of a better work. I wish I had over-dyed it and made it darker.

Another Case of Overconfidence

First, thanks for all the lovely comments on my Drawn Thread Sampler. If I die before you Cheryl, you may have it as a stencil. I will let my kids know.
Rotations: I have found over time that if I have too many project going at one time, I feel overwhelmed. I try to stick to one large project, a medium project and a small. I am trying to work on my Drawn Thread Sampler and Reptiles (a HAED piece),

by having the sampler during the week and Reptiles on the weekend. My small is either a crazy quilt patch or Butterfly:

I have totally messed up my rotation by thinking, like the crazy woman I am, I could add Uncle Sam's Hat into the mix. Bad idea! I must stitch using my frame and lay the threads carefully. But I love it and would rather stitch it than anything else in my rotation.

It is so much fun! BUT, I must get Drawn Thread done! This weekend I worked on Uncle Sam instead of Reptiles. I will work on Drawn Thread this week and pull Reptiles out this weekend. Which means Uncle Sam will NOT have a hat by the 4th of July. Oh well. Maybe by 2019?
How do you decide what to stitch?
Oh! Jo, I am still trying to get photos for all the postcards that I make. Will  post about it soon.

Gifted Gorgeousness and My Maynia

First, I did not post last week as my college guys were home and we did lots of yard work and things around the house. They tired me out, but it was wonderful to see them. Hopefully we will get another visit around the 4th of July.

First, have any of you had this happen?

I lost the screw on my hoop. It is either in the bottom of my bag or at the doctor's office. Oh well. I have another hoop and they are fairly cheap.

Here is where I left off on my Gifted Gorgeousness last time:

 And here is where I am today:

 It is my take along project.
I have been working on my samplers from Gay Ann Rogers Monday thru Thursday and Reptiles on the weekend. That seems to work fairly well for me.
Here is my band from the Doodle Sampler:

 That took awhile. Now I need to do some needleweaving.
And here is Reptiles:

I have a bunch of confetti to fill in and that is taking a bit. But I love seeing the progress.
I will try to check in again before the end of the week.  I think there should be a TUSAL soon!

April Gifted Gorgeousness

I found this piece and thought it would be a nice change from my Mill Hill kits. It is Butterfly by Alesandra Adelaide. This is where I left it last in 2012, I do believe:

Scary! Here is is today:

I am using a floss that I dyed and a scrap of fabric using one thread over one. Hopefully the fabric is large enough!

Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted by Serendipitous Stitching. It is a Stitch-a-Long that is for pieces that you have seen gifted, you are going to gift or can find a way to shoe horn into the fun. I think I will give the stitched piece away. (When it gets stitched!)

Day 15

This is another Crazy January Challenge from 2012 called Butterfly by Alessandria Adelaide.  I have everything ready to go on it.  Hopefully it will get done next year.
My debate is whether to start new projects for the rest of the Crazy January Challenge 2013 or put more WIP's on my list.  There are 31 days in January...I will  decide tomorrow.

January 12 and 13-Butterfly and Costumed Kitty

January 12 I started Butterfly by Alessandra Adelaide.  Just a few stitches, over one, but it is a start.

January 13's start is Costumed Kitty by Mill Hill.

When all the Crazies have been started, I will start a rotation of some sort...