Five in Five - and the return(?) of my blog

Some of you parents out there may be unsurprised by the fact a new baby is partly responsible for my absence from this page. I have missed it a lot, and life has settled down enough where I'd like to start up again.

Kate of The Suddenly Kate Show has nominated me for the Worth Casing Blog Award, and that and her generous giveaway has helped kick my butt in gear.

Fortunately, Kate had a great explanation of what I need to do now:

Answer our Five in Five questions via a blog post.

Link back or mention the blogger that nominated you.

Nominate and inform five of your favourite worth casing bloggers.

GRAB the Worth Casing Blog Award for your blog post.

Head to Mystery Case and link up your Five in Five posts

Five in Five Questions:

1. How long have you been blogging and why did you start?

This took some research. I didn't set up my own blog until very late December 2011 in order to join the Crazy January Challenge 2012. For some reason, that blog was hacked without mercy, so I eventually started this one. 

2. If your wardrobe could talk what would it say about you and tell us about your favourite or most worn item?

Definitely jeans. I have a few pairs and prefer dark jeans to blue jeans. I always have; whenever I had the chance to buy black jeans instead of blue in the same type I'd go for black. I was happy when the style went towards dark jeans, I'm accidentally in style, or was at one point. 

My wardrobe would probably say I need to hang things up more neatly so I don't get creases in everything and have to throw it in the dryer to dewrinkle before I go to work! 

3. What's your idea of the perfect date night?

It's been awhile, but probably a movie and maybe supper at the theatre like DH and I used to do at the big movieplex in Montreal. If we're talking fantasy date, then ice skating! 

4. What's on your Worth Casing list?

I've been checking out some paleo recipe ideas on Pinterest. We've been practicing a different way of eating which has had an impressive effect on the waistline. Every Day Maven had an amazing paleo mug cake that tasted delicious and since it was microwaved, it was fast and easy as well. 

On the book front, it's worth reading the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. I just re-listened to Outlander, the first novel after I finished Written in My Own Heart's Blood and I'm looking forward to diving into the rest. I haven't really watched the new TV show. 

5. If you had a theme song what would it be and why?

In the days before Facebook there was a site that listed quizzes, and the song quiz gave me "Walking on Sunshine" as my life theme song. I think that's still true. Bad things happen, good things happen, and I get through the bad by thinking the good will come again. It's been true, and I believe that if you worry about something bad happening then it likely will. That's from bitter experience. Things can always be going better, but they could also be worse, so if given a choice, I'll take the positive side. Unless you catch me on a bad day, which is not today. 

Five of My Favourite Blogs

Random Ramblings by Joysze

Keebles World by Keiley (her current Disney reviews are fantastic!)

This and That by Evalina Maria

Sew Dance by Katie

Hooked on Stitches by Angela

Hope you enjoy their blogs as much as I do, and Kate's as well. 

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

WIPocalypse SAL - March - update stitching spot photos!

It's that time again, another full moon, therefore it's WIPocalypse time again! When the full moon shines tonight it will definitely light up all the snow we have around here. Busy month yet again, so not a heck of a lot of stitching going on. Tribal Dragon has progressed though, so here's that update.

And this month we're supposed to show you our stitchy spot! Mine is the corner lounger of our sectional couch, and it's definitely well worn by now. I'll try and get a photo up later, and I hope to investigate everyone else's.

 Here's my usual spot, with my cat Max looking on, hoping for a chance to steal (and eat!) threads. You can see my Ott lite there as well, and a bundle of yarn on the end table, with more projects stacked towards the wall. Under the end table is a blue bag of yarn for another project. And we won't talk about what's in the end table drawer.

 And a close up of the well used lounger corner of my couch.

In other stitching, I've started the 2nd part of the AAN Mystery SAL, but I'm not far along yet. It's a big piece, so I hope I finish it before the next part comes out.

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

IHSW February - the Conclusion

I was working all weekend, so there wasn't much time to stitch. I have managed to finish the AAN Mystery SAL part 1 though.

I added Kreinik for the eyes on the lower house to make them show a little more and I may go back and add some for the eyebrows as well, we'll see.

Hope everyone has had a great IHSW! And here's the other reason I get very little stitching done these days.

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

WIPocalypse SAL- February

 A day late for WIPocalypse again! And I didn't get a lot of stitching done over the last month, but Tribal Dragon has progressed slightly:

Because I'm out one row of stitching on the first blue section on the far left I've had to fudge everything to accommodate for it. It's been working so far, but still no big progress since I also started the AAN Mystery SAL this past month.

I'm close to halfway done the first part and hope to finish it this weekend. I'm going to add some Kreinik for the eyes, I think I have the perfect metallicy orange that it calls for.

As for the question about rotations, etc., well I used to stitch on one at a time and ended up with a ton of WIPs. At this point I have over 20 I believe. I'd much prefer to finish a few of them, but I also have this odd tendency that the more urgently I need to finish a piece, the less I feel like stitching on it.

When I had to finish Angelic Melody for my MIL and it was months behind I kept starting new pieces. Finally I read about stitching on 2 things you want and then doing one stitching session on something you're dreading and that helped me finish it up completely.

At this point I'd like to stitch on Tribal Dragon until I'm finished, and then I'll get my act together and finish up Homeward Trail since that was due last year. But first I'll finish the AAN SAL part 1. I have trouble keeping up with SALs, but I'm hoping this year I can manage. It's not 12 parts, only 7 so fingers crossed!

Tiffstitch

Update on Tribal Dragon - To Frog or Not to Frog

I have a couple progress pics on Tribal Dragon.

This one shows how I was almost done the light blue colour when I realized I'd forgotten a row in the very first section! It was below the 2nd section, so that piece is aligned properly with the upper part of the 1st section. BUT.. it is above the 3rd section, so I couldn't figure out why the 2nd and 3rd section didn't seem to be lining up. I finally found the mistake, but I decided to try and work around it. In that row of the pattern there are a lot of duplicate rows in other sections, so I'm hoping to just cut it out completely.

I have a feeling if I have to frog all of it or start over I won't ever finish. Anyone else ever run into this issue? What did you do?

I continued on and have started the darker blue for the wings as well.

I'm really happy with how they look together, I just hope I can remember to cut out that row when necessary!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

IHSW January - the Conclusion

I was off work Sunday, but I was also home alone with our baby, so I think I progressed well all things considered. I believe it was 2-3 hours of stitching all told. :)

Here's an update on Tribal Dragon. I'm working on the 2nd of 3 areas that will have this colour.

I'm using Soie Cristale and stitching 1 over 1 on 25 count pewter Lugana. It's going very easily, I really love stitching with silk thread. This is the first time I've used so much of it in one project.

Hope everyone else had a great IHSW!

Tiffstitch

p.s. See why I don't get much stitching done anymore?

WIPocalypse SAL - January

I finally joined the WIPocalypse SAL this year hosted by Measi. I'm already a day late, so I'll try and keep better track throughout the year if I can.

For this full moon we're supposed to introduce ourselves and discuss the projects we'd like to finish. I've listed a lot of my WIPs on one of my pages, but I'm ashamed to say there are more I haven't posted photos of yet. My goals for completing projects this year would be:

1. Homeward Trail in Winter - due November 2013
2. Tribal Dragon
3. Dog Lessons
4. Fry and Leela
5. Warbreaker

I hope to also work on the Song of the Weather SAL from 2013, which is now available as a set on Mabel's Fancies site. Since those are all small designs I think they'll be a good break from the larger projects.

As for a general intro, well how about answers to a few questions? I'm stealing this idea from Joyce at Random Ramblings :)

Favourite Fabric: Evenweave, generally 28 count
Favourite Thread: I have a new appreciation for silk threads after using them on Tribal Dragon, but generally no particular favourite. I do love the variety in Weeks Dye Works though.
Least Favourite Thread: DMC metallics, even with Thread Heaven they're a nightmare
Favourite Designer: No one in particular, and no least favourite either
Longest Running WIP: White Wolves, I think it's 10 years old now.
Stitching Spot: On the couch near my Ott lite. Our couch is almost 10 years old and that spot has held up well.
Full Set of DMC: I recently purchased another 70 colours to complete my first set. My local LNS is closing, so it seemed like a good time.
How Many WIPs: Well, I have 16 on my page, and there are more, so let's round it off at 20 for now. :) I really hope there aren't more than that!

Hope everyone has a good month and happy stitching!

Tiffstitch

IHSW January - the Preview

I have no idea how much stitching I'll be able to accomplish this year. With a new baby I'm sure it won't be a lot, but I hope I can participate in IHSW every month at least. I'm working Saturday for 6 hours, but Sunday I'm off. Hopefully I'll be able to work on Tribal Dragon a lot, and maybe if I'm feeling up to it give Homeward Trail a try. The confetti is a little mind-numbing even if it's not to HAED standards.

Here's my floss toss and a bit of stitching on White Willow's Tribal Dragon. I'm going to use the variegated thread for the dragon's underbelly and the solids for different portions of the back and wings. I think it will turn out well. I'm using pewter 25 count Lugana stitching 1 over 1.

Happy IHSW stitching everyone!

Tiffstitch

Back Online

After a long absence I'm finally blogging again. The main reason I've been out of touch is our beautiful baby decided to come quite a bit early! My due date was November 30 and she arrived over 2 weeks early. It wasn't an easy delivery, but we're both healthy and I'm recovering well while she puts on a ton of weight. She's growing so fast!

I did finish the AAN ornament during my convalescence and I'm now in the process of finishing it into something. Probably a hanging of some kind.

Here's a sneak peek.

After this I need to get back to Homeward Trail in Winter since that was supposed to be for my Grandma's 90th birthday last month. Time got away from me there and I didn't feel up to concentrating on such a difficult piece until now. The latest photo is here:

  I'll update more frequently from now on, at least I'll try!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch