Top 5 Tuesday: Top 5 Water-themed Charts

Hello everyone and thank you for all your wonderful comments! It's been a hectic week again, ending with a very sick DD over the weekend and yesterday, so not much stitching has been done and even worse, no photos! I will try and remedy that tonight so I have a post tomorrow for WIP Wednesday, and talk more about my March Madness plans. 

Today is Tuesday though, so it means it's Top 5 Tuesday! Hosted by the lovely Kate and joined by Keebles and Emma and myself so far. If you feel up to it, join in over at Kate's blog. 

TOP 5 WATER-THEMED CHARTS

I'm going to skip the UTS SAL since Kate mentioned it and try and think of a few others. Off the top of my head I can't think of any stash I have that I haven't recently shown, so I think this will be one I'll dig through my wish list to find a few I'd like to stitch. 

1. Tribal Bathroom (White Willow Stitching)

I actually need to stitch this for my office because we have 5 doors right near the exit and although the exit door is pretty clearly marked, a lot of people head to the bathroom door by accident. I'd like to stitch this one in a brown/blue DMC coloris thread and that would fit with our decor pretty well. 

That's it for my wish list too, so let's search for "water" and see what we get!

2. Forest Stream (Kustom Krafts)

I think if I would stitch something like this I'd ask DH for one of his photos. If I was going to spend that amount of time on it, I'd like it to be something personal. 

3. Octopus Garden (Ink Circles)

I don't remember seeing this one before, but I really like it. It's a neat little design that lends itself well to using stash threads, as most Ink Circles projects do. 

4. Save Water (Lizzie Kate)

This is part of LK's green themed charts. Rachel, the Ten Hour Stitcher finished them all last year (I think) if you want to check out her blog. 

5. Water Essential (Marnic Designs)

Even though I can't drink coffee any more, I think this is a really fun chart. 

I hope you enjoyed the list and see you tomorrow I hope for an UTS SAL update!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

Theme-Tas-Stitch: Focus February

It's time! It's time! It's the first check in for Theme-tas-Stitch hosted by Kerry of Ramblings of a Biscornu Addict. She's hosting this year-long SAL with a different theme each month and today is our link-up day. 

This month's theme was Focus Finish February and I adapted the theme to my weekly rotation schedule. 

First up was my HAED that I started last year, Dragon Under Glass. I managed to progress to about 1/3 of a page finish by the end of the first week of February:

Then I picked up my Under the Sea SAL from Lakeside Needlecraft. I didn't get as much time to stitch over the past week as I had hoped. February being a short month I don't really get my 4th week of "whatever" stitching, so I will likely continue on with the SAL until I finish February. I'm almost re-done stitching January's octopus:

It definitely needs a little back stitch to bring it out. I should be able to finish it tonight and then start on the shark. I can't wait!!

Next month's theme is March Madness, to stitch on as many different projects as you like, whether it's different every day or maybe have a day full of different projects. I have an idea I might do a night on each of my BAPs that are currently started, or maybe start a new one.. we'll see about that crazy thought in another week or so. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

Top 5 Tuesdays: Top 5 Food-themed Charts

Kate keeps coming up with some really interesting topics, and I'll have to think on today's topic. I know I don't have a lot of these in my stash, so I'll have to see what might be in my wish list. Keebles and Emma are also posting their top 5 Tuesday picks, so check out their lists too if you need some stash enhancement. :)

TOP 5 FOOD THEMED CHARTS

1. Harvest Afghan

This is one of those charts I've looked at for a while and can't decide if I would get fed up stitching such a project. I don't enjoy the loose weave of afghans generally and have some issues keeping them tight enough in my Qsnaps. But it's still pretty, and there's food in it, look!

2. Wine Dragon

I'm not a wine drinker myself, but I have friends who enjoy it, so I've had this in my list waiting for an opportunity to present itself. :)

3. Christmas Calories

This one isn't from my wish list, but it's a really fun chart and I definitely agree!

4. Christmas Tea

I'm not a huge fan of primitive style, but this one is pretty neat, plus I think I saw someone stitch it up recently? 

5. Sweet Treats

I think cupcakes and cakes are fun little stitches you can do independently or as a series. Many designers seem to have something similar. I have yet to stitch any myself though. 

I hope you enjoyed the list, and Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

More Snow?? And SAL Update

We got hit with another snowstorm yesterday evening and through most of today. Another 8 inches fell at home giving me these photos this morning:

 up to the edge of my door, and I drive a Beetle, so not too low to the ground

 Our house and yard well covered. There are 3 steps up to that porch, not that you could tell now

the driveway trying to get out, those are my tracks from last night that are well filled in now

The skiers are pretty excited with all this snow, and I don't mind it. It was not a great ride into work this morning, but we need snow. The local lake was down several feet over the extremely hot summer and this should help it get back to where it needs to be. 

Plus, it's so pretty when it first snows!! I wish I could have taken time to get my good camera out, these are all with my cell phone. 

On to my Under-the-Sea restart:

I'm not too far along yet, but hopefully I'll be able to make some progress over the next few days. I was thinking that technically I could continue on with this next week since now it's started, it's a WIP.. right? ;) I have to stitch that shark, it's so cool!!

I hope you're all having good weeks and Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

Gifted Gorgeousness

Here we are again on the 15th of the month, so it must be time to post about Gifted Gorgeousness! The brainchild of the fabulous Jo, we all post about things we've been given or hope to give away at some point, once we finish them, and who knows how long that will be for some of my WIPs?

Since the last post I've managed to finish Somebunny:

stitched on 28 ct Aether by Chromatic Alchemy as charted 2 over 2

although I managed to forget all about finishing this for Valentine's Day, so this will have to be an Easter gift! I had intended to go by the fabric over last weekend, but then this happened:

so I decided against going to the store. 

DD got some roses instead, a little miniature pink rose plant that smells wonderful! She likes to have it in her room all the time, but we take it out to get a little sun during the day. 

I had a few little finishes as well:

 LK design with stash threads and 16 ct? oatmeal aida

The monthly designs are from Palko-laps great calendar series that can be found here. I'm really enjoying them and they're only a few hours each, plus a nice way to use some of my hand-dyed stash. I'm sending them to my Grandma and include a little card from DD as well. 

The last little finish was a butterfly for the Facebook group Rainbows for Peace and Comfort. They plan to make quilts for the families of the victims of last year's Orlando massacre. They still need a few butterflies if anyone is interested in participating. Send me a message if you'd like their email if you're not on FB. :)

Rainbow Butterfly by Climbing Goat Designs

14 ct Aida with preferred threads from FB group

Join me next month to see if I've managed to finish the March card in time for St. Patrick's Day and maybe even the April one too! Plus another butterfly, maybe?

Also, the giveaway I won from Kerry arrived! Such fun little kits. :) I think they'll be good to add to my travel stitching kit. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

Top 5 Tuesdays - Top 5 Animal Charts and a Full Moon Story

It's time again for another top 5 Tuesday post and I'm remembering to put it up on Tuesday this week, yay! Keebles also joined up this week, so make sure to check out her post and our host, Kate's as well. 

It took me a bit to decide on what to post for this one. I didn't want to duplicate Kate or Keebs, although I definitely have enough Durene Jones animal charts to fill this list 3 times over...I certainly have enough animal charts in my stash, but I posted a little bit about them last Tuesday week. So I'm going to try and think of 5 other animal charts in my stash and you can see into the depths of my stash madness. 

TOP 5 ANIMAL CHARTS

1. Regal Tiger

I think I got this one on clearance at A.C. Moore when they were clearing out a lot of their cross-stitch stuff. I haven't picked it up yet, but I would love to get to work on this one. 

2. The Guardian

I think this was another one from A.C. Moore, and again, I'd love to get this one going, but too many WIPs. 

3. In Harmony

This is one I've actually started, although it hasn't been touched in years. It used to be my secret at-work project that I left at work so DH couldn't see it. I've since left that job (over 5 years ago) and I don't think I've had this out since! I can't even find a photo of it, although I'm sure I took one sometime. Plus this isn't on my WIPs page, so I'll have to add it. 

4. Daisy Dragon

I think I might have picked this one up when my LNS was closing, again on clearance. I think this would be fun to stitch as well and would look good in my house. Some day it will be a start!

5. Honest Santa - I Didn't Do It!

I bought this last year at The Wooden Needle in Stowe, Vermont and I never did get it started for Xmas. Definitely this year it will be started and finished!! Hold me to it! :)

And now for the bonus section of this week's Top 5 Tuesday post:

TOP 5 ANIMAL CHARTS - In My Wishlist at 123stitch.com

1. Polar Bear Snowglobe

I'd like to finish the Santa one I've started before I get this one. :)

2. Sleepy Hollow

This has been in my wish list forever, I really need to break down and get it one of these days. 

3. Light and Shadow

Some very cool dragon designs, and since they're somewhat smaller than others, I can fool myself into thinking they'd be done quickly. ;)

4. Tribal Ladybug

I have quite a few of the tribal designs in my wish list, and I already have the elephant Kate talked about in her post. There are some I love and some I really think are blah, so I think it's more personal taste with these tribal designs. 

5. Giraffe

Such a nice, realistic giraffe! My only issue with this is it's a kit and I'm so-so on purchasing kits since the fabric is often not as nice as I'm used to. 

There, now you know a little bit more about my stitchy stash and wishes. :) I hope you all have a nice week. Last week was a little wacky, and I don't think I'm the only one that noticed. It was a full moon on Friday or Saturday and the strangest thing happened during my hockey game on Friday. This is such a rare occurrence I couldn't even find any photos online! 

We were playing, skating around, and one of our defence (stays back near the goalie) took a shot on the other team's goal. The puck got stuck inside the skate of a player on the other team! 

Here's a photo of a skate

so if you can imagine a puck, that looks like this

getting stuck in the hole under the boot part, that is exactly what happened. You could never do that by trying, I swear, but it happened during my game during a full moon. 

The next question might be why is the hole the size a puck can get stuck in? Well, it almost never happens, and I think it had something to do with flexibility and stability on skates. So that's my bizarre full moon story, do you have any? 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

Finally Friday!

What is it they say about the best-laid plans? ;) Here we are again and it's been a week since I've posted my stitching. I'd like to say I'll be better, but I'll say "I'll continue to try!" instead. 

"Aw shucks.."

The nice thing about it being awhile is I do have some decent progress to show you. I've been working on HAED Dragon Under Glass which will eventually look like this:

And I started the top left corner for an HAED challenge last year like this:

You need to start and finish a complete page and I don't think there were any restrictions (someone please tell me if I'm wrong!) so I moved over to the 2nd page on the top. The third page is only a partial page for the top part. 

Day 1

Day 2 (after picking up the missing DMC)

Day 3

Day 4 

I might have missed a photo in there some day, but that's where we're at so far. It's not quite at halfway. I think the deadline to finish is sometime in March, so we'll see how far I get by then. I have 2 more days to work on this, today and Saturday and then I'll be switching to my SAL. 

First up is definitely the Under-the-Sea SAL by Durene Jones through Lakeside Needlecraft. I can't wait to get to work on that shark! Although I'll have to restitch the octopus first. Check out Katie's awesome work on her blog so you can see how cool it is!

Happy Stitching everyone! 

Tiffstitch

Top 5 Tuesdays - Day Late!

I'm a day late for Top 5 Tuesdays, it's been a busy week. Kate thought of a really cool topic too, Top 5 BAPs! 

Without further delay:

TOP 5 BAPs

This should be easy, I have too many BAPs in my stash that I may never stitch in my lifetime. So I tried to pick the top 5 I'd like to finish some day in my life. Let's give it 10 years and see if I can actually finish by then!

1. HAED Faery Tales

I've always loved the look of this one and I loved fairy tales when I was a kid. I've read all of the Andrew Lang books and have them on ebook for DD too. :) I have the mini version in my stash, but it's unstarted as yet, maybe next year. 

2. HAED Waterhole Master

I hadn't seen this one before it slipped into my cart at a recent HAED sale. I think DD will really like it once I get some time to start it. I'm hopeful this will see a start next year. 

3. Otto

I love this photo of Otto, who died almost 3 years ago. This one is started, but only just. I haven't even finished a full page yet. I hope to get this one out this year for a little while and maybe at least finish a page. 

I'm stitching this one 2 over 1 on 32 count. It's huge!!

4. Princess and the Dragon

I love this one! It's from Charting Creations and I'm looking forward to completing it. I saw someone stitching the outline and sort of "colouring" in the middle and it does make it easier to not make mistakes. I've made a few. Some needed to be frogged and some I could manage to work around. I hope to get to this one soon! 

1 over 1 full crosses on 28 ct Amarinthine Jazlyn by Chromatic Alchemy

5. Triumphant Ride

This is the sequel to number 4, and I plan to stitch it on Vincent from Chromatic Alchemy. 

I won't start this one until I finish number 4, so it might be a couple years. 

I hope you like the list and sorry for being late!

Tiffstitch