Late Theme-tas-Stitch post and Catch-up

It's been a busy 2 weeks while my parents visited, and then it was the 51st annual Maple Festival in nearby St. Albans this weekend, so there's been a lot going on. Plus work continues to be busy and I've had to take work home, and go into work early, which has unfortunately meant less stitching time. But there's still some and I'm more grateful for it when I can take a little time to relax with my stitching. :)

First, the Theme-tas-Stitch catch-up! This is hosted by the amiable Kerry of Ramblings of a Biscornu Addict. We're supposed to post on the 21st of the month, but I suppose it's okay that I'm getting it in before the end of April at least. :) It's a very relaxed SAL, so join in if you're up to it and like the themes Kerry has chosen. A few of us have talked about a dragon month in August for the Animalia theme, so you can plan for that if interested. 

April's theme is April showers, and boy did we get some at the parade today!

 The local chapter of the 501st legion

some huge draft horses

And on the stitching front, I did at least manage to finish the February part of the Under the Sea SAL:

and get started on March:

The top photo is a little more true to life for the fabric. This is stitched 2 over 2 on 28 count Eilat by Chromatic Alchemy with the charted colours. 

And I finished the April design from Palko:

With Nile Princess(?) by Jodyri threads on 14 count opalescent Realgar by Chromatic Alchemy. 

And got an almost finish on May as well:

Stitched 2 over 2 with Jodyri Over the Rainbow (love this thread!) on 28 ct? Ice Blue Alexandria? I've had the fabric for a while and I don't really remember the details. I'm shoe-horning this one in since you can't have rainbows without water. :D

I had estimated my thread lengths to finish and was just short. I feel like this happens every time, that I underestimate by a good 20+ stitches. Does anyone else have this issue?

I'm glad to post again and will have to catch up on all your blogs now too. Hope you're all well and have had a good couple weeks!

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

TOP 5 TUESDAY: Top 5 Signs Spring is Coming

'Tis Tuesday, time to traverse terrific, timely posts. (close but couldn't alliterate the whole sentence). I hope you'll check out Kate's blog, she is the lovely host of Top 5 Tuesday and she has all the participants so far on the right side of her blog, so visit and say "Hi" to them as well. :) 

TOP 5 SIGNS SPRING IS COMING

1. Bicycle rides

I forgot to get any photos of DD riding her new Thomas bike, but here she and DH are and he's giving her a ride around the yard in her bike trailer. They've been out riding a few times already. 

DH's bike

2. Daffodils

I forgot to get a photo of these bursting forth from the garden, I will try and do that tonight. 

3. Brilliant Sunrises

I know there's still snow on the ground, but this was the end of March, so the spring equinox had passed. And we tend to see these kind of sunrises only from March through October. 

4. Rain and Rain Boots

DD traversing a large puddle outside a neighbour's house. She wasn't too sure, it was a pretty big, and fairly deep (ankles) puddle, but she made it most of the way. 

5. Robins

American Robins that is. :) They're all over the place now, eating worms from the grass. I was able to pull a lot of the leaf cover off the plants and lots of worms were visible, so I'm sure they're all having a good meal. 

Also, this weekend I was stitching and DD got interested, so I gave her some fabric and a fairly dull tapestry needle. She had a great time pulling the thread in and out of the fabric. It was so funny to watch. 

I hope she can maintain her interest in it. I'll have to find some of those easy kits somewhere for her to try, or maybe draw a picture on some fabric for her. I'd be happy to hear any suggestions! 

Thank you and Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

Gifted Gorgeousness - April Edition

We're midway through April - what already? - where does the year go? 

I hope everyone has a Happy Easter or good weekend and is checking out the great Easter Blog Hop hosted by Jo. Also, I continually forget to mention her new venture, the Blogger of the Week blog! Make sure you stop by to learn a little bit more our fellow stitching bloggers. 

And now, onto Gifted Gorgeousness! Also hosted by the fabulous Jo. :) Our chance to show our gifts for stitchers, from stitchers, for ourselves if we can find a way to shoehorn it in, etc. Since last month I've worked on:

Letters from Nora - H for DH:

I stitched all this one week, then realized H is too far away from S.. ugh!

There's just too much space there. If I was going to stitch them that far apart, they might as well be on entirely different pieces of fabric! To be safe, first I restitched the far left leaves to make sure I was in the right spot before I unpicked anything:

I think this will look a lot better. I still need to unpick a lot of the letter, and I'll work on that this Wednesday when I have the SAL for this one with Heather. 

Princess and the Dragon for DD

Still fixing the error on the left, so this will come out again next month for May Monochrome. :)

April

Still need to make this one into a card and get it sent off to my Grandma. I'm trying to do the finishing on Sunday, so this might get done today. 

In Harmony

This is a super-secret one for DH that I hope to get out a few more times this year. 

Tribal Dragon

I hope to give this one to DD as well when it's complete. It's been a very fun stitch. 

HOP 

This was part of the exchange I sent for Kaye's Easter Exchange. I really hope it arrived in time. 

Hoppy Stitching! ;)

Tiffstitch

2017 Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop!

I apologize for being a little late, but your letter is:

The next blog in your list is Deborah's over at A Patchwork of Crafts. 

I hope you enjoy the blog hop! Thank you again Jo for organizing such a fun event. 

I don't have much new Easter stitching I can show, but here's April finished up again. :)

Hoppy Stitching ;)

Tiffstitch

WIP Wednesday

I feel like I write this every week, but last week was pretty hectic again and I didn't even get to stitch some nights. That probably made it feel more hectic really since stitching is what tends to get me to slow down and let the day roll off my back. Then aggravation/anxiety from the previous day won't affect the next day. I'll aim to do better this week. 

Here's where the WIPs are at this point:

Princess and the Dragon by Charting Creations

Still working on fixing the mistake to the left. I think I will try and keep this within reach to add a thread here and there until I get all the way down to the left corner. 

Under the Sea SAL by Durene Jones (through Lakeside Needlecraft)

Shark is done, including back stitch. I still have 3 fish (I think) and a few bubbles and seaweed to complete before February is complete. I hope to stick with this one and try and catch up since it fits with Theme-tas-stitch's April Showers theme as well. March is more fish, and I've been stitching them as charted, but I might branch out into some of my hand-dyed stash for that month. Also, the April edition has a submarine!! I can't wait to get to that. I thought the shark was cool, but the submarine is awesome! I saw someone finish it with hand-dyeds and it looked amazing, so I may have to pull out hand-dyeds for it as well. It's charted in greys. 

April by Palko-lap

I think I should have gone with another thread for April since the yellow doesn't show up all that well, but it's stitched now, so it's too late to change. I would like to get this mailed soon to my Grandma.

Wednesday Letters from Nora - H SAL with Heather

Heather contacted me that we both had this chart, so we could stitch on it together. Wednesdays seemed to be our less busy days, so we started last week. I initially started this one last year and it was here after last fall:

and now here:

I had to frog all of the dark purple in the first photo and change it to the lower photo version. The new version of Smoke is much lighter. I took a photo here to show you the difference:

It's frustrating to have to frog that much, but better now than later. Unfortunately I'm also starting to think I might have my fairies too far apart, but I'll get DH's input on that before I have to frog even more of this one and possibly start over. Ugh... 

So that's where I'm at since the start of April. Not as much progress as I'd like, but that hardly ever happens anyway. My plan for today is to get DH's input on the fairies before he has to go out tonight, then possibly be frogging or stitching on H. After that I'll be back to the UTS SAL possibly for most of the month. I'm debating about a new water start in the last week of April, stay tuned! :)

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

Top 5 Tuesday: Top 5 Things That Accompany My Stitching

Kate has found a very interesting topic today. Head over to her blog to check out everyone else's posts and Kate's A-Z with Bubble Bobble. :) It's a very fun stitch. 

TOP 5 THINGS THAT ACCOMPANY MY STITCHING

1. TV 

This can be a show or watching DH play Zelda: Breath of the Wild most recently, and soon we'll be into the CFL season, so it will be while watching football games.

2. A pillow

Our couch has a lounger and it's been so well used (over 10 years) that the seat tends to sink down, so to help keep my back supported I use a pillow behind me. I also sometimes use one under my right arm since that shoulder can get sore if I'm stitching for a while. 

3. Max

Inevitably, when I sit down to stitch, Max will join me at some point. He has a real issue with kneading and that will go on for a good half hour or longer, and he really dislikes being petted while he's kneading. He has this intense look, it's very odd. And no, I didn't pose him this way. I had put it on my lap while I was doing something else and he managed to get a leg in it and go back to sleep. Strange cat...

4. Audiobooks

I'll often prefer an audio book to TV, especially if it's a good story. I have a membership through Audible and can keep myself entertained while stitching and while commuting to work. I can't decide on the Stephen Fry edition of The Complete Sherlock Holmes. I already have it with another narrator, but I love listening to Stephen Fry, so I think I might have to get that as well. I think it's over 60 hours!! That will keep me going for a while. 

5. Beverage

Usually I will have something on the table beside me. If it's water I won't move my stitching out of the way too much, if it's tea, I will move it completely. I definitely don't want to stain anything. 

I hope you enjoyed the list. What accompanies your stitching?

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

Top 5 Tuesdays: Top 5 Things That Make Me Laugh

Top 5 Tuesday again and this one will be hard to keep down to only 5 things. :) Check out our wonderful host's blog for everyone's links and check out her April A-Z as well. 

TOP 5 THINGS THAT MAKE ME LAUGH

1. DD

Here's DH and DD, and DD is 3.5 now, just the right age to come up with all kinds of silly ideas. She told me a joke last night: "What did the king say when he was really tired?" -- "I want my mommy!". I'm not sure if she heard it somewhere or made it up. 

2. Life

Sometimes you have to laugh about the absurdity or it will make you angry/crazy/depressed/sad/etc. 

3. Honest Trailers

I could watch these over and over, they're so silly and fun to watch. 

4. This scene from The Princess Bride:

5. QI

I haven't watched the new season, and I really wish we could get more of them here, but I've enjoyed every single episode I've ever watched. 

I hope you enjoyed the list, oh, a bonus one would be "Weather in Vermont"

This is what I woke up to April 1st this year. :)

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch