Stocking Update :-)

I stitched on my stocking ALL DAY yesterday and for the better part of the day today. I think I've gotten a lot done, I'm almost done with my angel *yeah*
Here's a picture of my stocking so far.
You can see my last progress picture here.

Before I forget! Today in the mail I received the 2nd part of my Xmas exchange from Kathie of CSF :-) Here's what she sent.I already have the big ornament hanging on my bulletin board and the little ones will go on my little tree once I find the *umph* I need to get it out. I'm going to get ready to go back to work tomorrow *tear* LOL Actually I'm getting bored at home so going back may be good for me. TTFN

An Exchange, A Finish, A RAK, and Some WIPs

I'm so bad to not have posted this sooner but life gets in the way sometimes. This is from Becky. She stitched me this for the Fair and Square Exchange. It's a "spooky" web and I love how she stitched her initial sqaure.
I finished this the night of Thanksgiving Day. I wanted to get it done sooner but I worked Wednesday night and when I got home I was so tired that I didn't get a chance to stitch until late Thanksgiving night. It's Shepherd's Bush Thankful Sheep. It's such a cutie! It's at my not so LNS now getting finished as a little hanging pillow. I really can't wait to see how it looks like finished.

Next up are two WIPs pictures. The top one is Shepherd's Bush Jillian's Stocking. For the past few weeks I've been looking for a stocking to buy for my God Daughter Isabel (she's my cousin's daughter) and I haven't been able to find one nice enough for her. On Friday I was at my not so LNS and was browsing through the charts an *poof* the idea dawned on me that I could make her one. Of course it's not going to be done by Christmas for her but for next year it will definitely be ready for her. I'm hoping to get all the stitching done by Christmas so I can atleast show it to her, well really her parents because she'll be 9 months by then and could probably care less about it LOL. I wish I could post a picture of her because she's so freaking cute but I just don't feel comfortable doing so. On Thanksgiving she had turkey for the first time and she kept going mmmm mmmm mmmmm mmmmm hehe. Too cute!

I started Bent Creek's Autumn Snapperland before my stocking. I love the fabric I'm stitching it on and unfortunately I don't know the name of it :-( I bought it at CATS from a small booth that had it stitched up on this. It was a tiny booth and barely had enough space in it for the workers. If anyone knows which booth I'm talking about I'd love to know so that I can perhaps find the name of the fabric.
Finally, I don't have a picture to share but I've been RAK'd. I don't know who sent it to me but I received a nice little card and a skein of GASTs Mistletoe. It was so nice and brought a smile to my face. I don't know who sent it to me since there was no return address but if the person reads my blog I'd like to say THANKS!!!! I kept showing Kelly who finally walked away from me when it got too much for him LOL.

Oh one more thing! Thanks for the comments on my little bee, I forgot to write about his little wings, they have blending filament in them so they sparkle. He's at the finisher's as well and I'm impatiently waiting for his return so I can use my scissors. Off to stitch on my stocking! TTFN

***Edited to answer Barbara's comment*** It did come with a Belgiam postmark!!!

Pretty Little Bee!

The Cricket Collection

Soft Boiled "Tiny Bee"

Stitched on 20ct Daffodil Lugana

With all recommended threads

over 1 thread

Victoria's Quaker

Now you see it...

And now you don't!

I had to frog this morning, I didn't mind it as much. Stitching on Victoria's Quaker is really fun so restitching that part should be easy peasy! After frogging I did put it away and pulled out all of my craft stuff and made some ornaments for an exchange I'm in. Instead of waiting for the recipient to receive them to post pictures I'm going to post them now because I can't wait. I think they came out nice, better than I thought they would anyway.
This is Just Nan's Snow Faces. It's a cute design but a PIA to stitch. It has so many scattered stitches that I was constantly rethreading my needle. I backed it with the fabric that it's laying on.
This one is Glory Bee's Snow from the 2004 Just Cross Stitch Ornament magazine. I stitched it on Red 32ct linen over 1 thread. It's sort of crooked :( but still nice, in my opinion. I backed it with the fabric it's laying on as well. The bottom picture is just a close up of it.
While I had everything out I decided to try and finish my Full of Hope Pinkeep. I had all intentions on making it a pinkeep but once I sewed the back and front together, I noticed that the ribbon that came with the kit was too wide for the border. While I was thinking about what to do I found myself staring at my hanging heart and decided to make this into a hanging sign. The ribbon is my own and the reason it's so long is because I'm not done with it yet. I'm thinking about adding some cording around it (my sewing job sucks!) and maybe add the pins that came with the kit. I hope it comes out nice.

Lastly, Christmas is on the bottom of my favorite holiday list but there is one thing that I absolutely love about Christmas...

CANDY CANES!!! I love love love this brand and flavor so I was so happy to see that Target had them out already. I bought 3 boxes which should last me about a week LOL. TTFN I didn't take my nap today so I'm going to hit the sack early!

Full of Hope Finish :)

I'm so happy that this is done! Although my blog's name is Pretty in Pink and the layout is pink, my favorite color is not pink. So when I was finished with her dress I was about finish with stitching pink. It is a cute design though, no? I decided to leave her face blank, she's suppose to have backstitched eyes and mouth but I kinda like her blank. I'm going to finish it as a pinkeep (since it's a pinkeep kit) and I'll show an updated picture when I actually get it done.
Not sure what I'm going to stitch next, I think I'm going to hit a slump really soon :( If I don't hit a slump then I think I'll stitch a little bee for my Dovo bee scissors. They aren't my favorite (the scissors) and I've never used them but I think if I make them a cute little scissor fob I'd like them :) TTFN

Finishes!

I have two finishes to show *yea* one I finished today at my stitchy meet.

M Designs - Sampler Girls
Stitched on recommended fabric with recommended threads

I fudged the border and added a little heart between my initials and year. I'm happy at how my initials came out, I was worried about them because I didn't chart them out before stitching them, so you know my head is big right now because I think they came out really nice LOL. The plan is to have it framed in a box, which I plan to store my scissors in with my needle magnets.

Homespun Elegance - Autumn Time
Stitched on Cream 32ct Linen with recommended floss.

This one had A LOT of french knots and the directions said to use 3 strands which I found to be a PIA and made them come out "ugly." For the tree I just used two and I think those are much prettier...I love french knots!

This is Summer Snapperland framed! The first frame that I picked out got discontinued and I'm really no good at picking out frames so Kelly picked this one out. I wish he wouldn't have gotten a light frame since now I have a hard time finding a place to hang it (our walls are almond) but I do like how it came out, looks very summery! If I had a summer house I'd definitely hang it there. I may hang it in my room since the walls are purple and you can really appreciate the framing against them. Now all that's left is to stitch Autumn and I'll be done with the series.

Well I'm about 43 minutes overdue for a nap (I love being on vacation!) so first I'm going to put my new project on my Q-Snaps and then I'll try to nap for a while. My cousin is hosting a fight party and I really don't want to go but I may make an appearance just so they don't say I never go. Later Gators!

Plenty of Mistakes

I think this piece would have been done by now if I didn't spend more time frogging than stitching *grrr* You know it had to be bad if I had to frog it because I don't frog if I can avoid it. Nonetheless, I'm enjoying it; the little girls are just too adorable for it to bother me that much. There's still a mistake in the border but I discovered it too late so it will just have to stay there and I'll work around it. Maybe I can move on to a new project this weekend? Saturday I'm going to my not so LNS in NJ to stitch, if I can wake up in time. I'm taking the bus *shudder* so it should provide me with lots of stitching time!

Thanks so much for the well wishes. I've finally decided to go to the doctor, I need my flu shot and while there I'll tell him to give me a precription for antibiotics. I've been leaving my house since 10am though so I don't know what time I'll get there...maybe after this I'll leave. I just really hate waiting. If I was smart I would have went early so I could be the first one there. Now it's too late :-( BUT if I wait a little longer then all the SAHM's will have to go and pick up their kids sooooo the waiting room will be empty! *insert evil laugh*

I leave you guys with a picture of my darling baby Ana because nothing is cuter than a dog sleeping curled up :-) Sometimes I just want to scoop her up and snuggle her when she's sleeping like this. She also has to go back to the doctor *ugh* I guess today is a doctor day, the only bad part about taking her to the doctor is that I can't take my stitching with me because I have to try to keep her calm so she doesn't freak out too bad while waiting. TTFN!

I'm on Vacation!!!

It feels so good to finally be on vacation but I knew that as soon as the first day would come I'd get sick :( I guess it's ok because had I gotten sick while working I would have had to force myself to go in since I have no sick days left. I think I thought it up though, had I told myself I'd be fine on vacation I would have. I woke up cold, with a headache, and walking into things more than I usually do (I'm a clutz and am always walking into things) oh and my back hurts so I think it's a UTI because I'm constantly having to "use" the bathroom(I know TMI hehe.) I'm too impatient to go to the doctor - he's a nice guy (actually I see his PA and he's a nice guy) but I always have to wait like an hour (minumum) in the waiting room until I get seen. I just don't have that time to give for a prescription and I'm kicking myself because I had extra Cipro at work that I told myself to take home and I didn't *grrr* Oh I also learned this weekend that the ingredient Xylitol which is some teeth whitening products DOES NOT agree with me. It irritates my gums and tongue and since I'm addicted to gum and only had Trident available to me all last week my tongue is irritated so badly that it hurts. It feels better today but for the past 3 days I've been miserable. I can't eat and can only drink :( I'm starting to get sick of my favorite drink (Water) and have begun to drink more of my least favorite drink flavored "water," juice is just to strong for me and upsets my tummy, unless it's clear juice like cranberry *yummy*

In other health related news, my job has decided to change our insurance and I'm not happy about it. I like the insurance we have now (Oxford) and they want to change it to Empire. You should have seen/read how they put it in the the newsletter. As a matter of fact here it is:

"The Hospital intends to change our health care provider from Oxford to Empire Blue Cross effective January 1, 2008. The proposed plan increases our deductible, our out-of-pocket maximum, and the co-pay on office visits. The prescription coverage has mandatory generic substitution, which means that an employee who wants to use a name-brand drug when a generic is available has to pay the difference in cost. On the other hand, no referrals will be required, all LHH facility charges are in-network, and the network includes almost 124,000 providers as compared to Oxford Freedom plan’s 73,000. "

Oooo no referrals, how fantastic!!! (I'm being sarcastic!) I love how they put it though, like not needing a referral outweighs everything else.

I'm stitching pink this month. I wasn't able to last month so I nominated this month for my pink stitching. I only have 3 projects planned and if I manage to get 2 of them done I'll be happy. Usually I stitch a Bent Creek Snapperland when I'm on vacation, I only have Autumn left and I feel guilty for not stitching it but I really want to stitch pink! Here's a little preview on what I'm stitching for my first project. I saw it on another blog and fell in love with it. As soon as I'm done with blogging I'm going to stitch on it :)

I love stitching little people like this. She's just adorable, no? I went to my not so LNS in Long Island and bought a new needle magnet (the heart above) I also bought some other things (project bags and some charts.) I've decided to try and buy most things at my not so LNS' and not online because it's just such a joy to have a place to go to and if I/we don't support them, then they might go out of business. Off to stitch!

A Share-able finish!

First let me start off by wishing everyone a very Happy Belated Halloween and by wishing my blog a Happy Belated Birthday!!!! My blog turned 3 on the 27th of this month. I wanted to do something but didn't have the time :( I also wanted to blog yesterday about how much I love Halloween but was sooooooooooo tired from work that all I had the strength to do was lay in bed and sleep.

When I finally woke up yesterday I woke up a tad bit sad. Halloween in over! I have to wait another year for it to come again. Because of what went on the past month or so I wasn't able to do what I wanted to do for Halloween (ie decorate the house inside and out) so I feel that next year (if the bullsh*t doesn't come back again) I'll be able to go all out and I mean all out! The dogs are getting costume's and they're wearing them all day, same goes for me. Yesterday seeing everyone in a costume made me so happy and sad at the same time. I really think this holiday is soooo much better than Christmas. I think if you could wear a costume for Christmas I'd like it LOL. When I was walking home yesterday I saw a baby in a batman costume in his stroller, his mom was a cowboy lady, then I saw a HUGE group of adults all dressed up going to work. Kelly saw a guy walking his dog and the dog had on a superman costume and my FAVORITE costumes were the ones I saw that night - two little girls dressed as superheroes, one was batgirl and the other supergirl. They both looked adorable! I can't wait until I have kids of my own because they're definitely going to be superheroes :-)

Work has been a nightmare. I slept yesterday during the day and last night but I'm still tired because it has just been so busy at work. The fact that I've been doing two nights on and two nights off doesn't help either. I really need that third day off once in a while so I can rest. I'm back to work tomorrow night (I don't want to go) and I'm working 3 nights in a row *ugh.* It's been so busy that I've been leaving a hour late *and* I've been working through my 2 hour break. Oh and my hands have started hurting again so I do all of this in pain. I CAN NOT WAIT UNTIL MY VACATION NEXT WEEK! I will leave there without looking back, it's too bad I have to go back. My dream is to win the lottery while on vacation so I don't have to go back and do an easy nursing job (Ha! Is there such a thing?)

The new Guitar Hero came out, is anyone playing? My cousin is coming over so we can play together. Apparently in co-op mode you can unlock Bloc Party's Helicopter. I'm so excited!!! I've been practicing all morning so I can be good (because he's awesome in GH) I've also been playing The Sims Castaway for PSP (my eyes are so tired) My friend told me to get it so I did. We sort of help eachother in the game, he's ahead of me but some of the things that I found when I first started playing he hasn't found. I love my cousins and friend!

Stitching wise - I've been stitching. I finished my piece for the Fair and Square Exchange. I swear the angels sang when I put in that last stitch hehe. I liked what I stitched but the fear of my partner not liking it was just putting a damper on stitching it. I hope she likes it, it was so hard trying to find something to stitch for her. I'll post a picture of it when she receives it, I mailed it off to her today so maybe by next week I'll have something to post :)

Now it's time for the pictures! *Yea* My favorite part of blogging :)
I finished Lizzie Kate's Boo Squared. Me and Lizzie (because we're on a first name basis)have a love/hate relationship. I love her because she got me into stitching hardcore but then I hate her because after a while EVERYTHING looks the same...right now I'm in between. I'm glad Boo Squared is done but I don't see the excitement to it, maybe it's because my eyelet stitches SUCK! (Please don't stare too hard!) I think I'll send it off to get finished because right now I don't have the time to be creative.
I thought I'd want to post a picture of myself in my costume down here but now that I see it on top I think I'll leave it there. That's me in my Halloween costume! I was the evil witch from Sleeping Beauty and my cousin was Sleeping Beauty. It's a shame I don't have picture of us together so here's one by herself.
And lastly this is last year's picture of my and my cousin Jay...it's my favorite costume to date! TTFN