February Smalls SAL Update

Here is my small for February.  This is another of the Halloween kits I have in my stash.  It's smaller than last month's but since it was a short month and I had both a knitting and stitched gift to complete this month, I felt it was okay to stitch something a bit on the small side.

I'm not sure on the fabric or floss details but it's a lovely hand-dyed purple with a variegated orange thread.  I've lost the details if they were included in the package.  The backing fabric also got lost so I used some from my stash.  The design is Boo! by the Cross Eyed Cricket.

I did a simple twisted cord finish in two DMC colors pulled from my floss box.  I was not as pleased with my finishing this time around as the bottom was wonky and I trimmed the edges much too close and the top left corner was fraying.  Thank goodness this is for me and not a gift because it would have to be a do over.

I have to say I'm really pleased I already have two finishes for display come Halloween!  I am going to sort through the project bag with the remaining kits tonight and choose my next victim.

Thank you so much for stopping by and your comments on previous posts.  I'm still not where I want to be with blog visiting and commenting but I'm trying!  It's that "snow fatigue" thing....

Late TUSAL Update & Trying to Stay Positive

So I think I'm going to use "snow fatigue" as my excuse for no posts lately.  But I did take an updated of my TUSAL (totally useless stitch a long) jar, which is now much cleaner than last month, which contains proof that I've been stitching so maybe snow fatigue is not such a bad thing (yeah right....).

New for this month was lots of red from the HIH Collectors Heart I stitched for my sister which went out in the mail today (her birthday!) and orange from my February smalls choice which I can't show until later this week.

Here is the heart finished.  My sister opted to frame it local to her so I sent it out as is.  She seemed very pleased with it.

As you are aware, my neck of the woods has had an exceptionally cold and snowy last few weeks and its really been tough to not bury myself in a snow bank in despair.  So when I saw this lovely frost gift on my window on Valentine's Day, I decided to try and capture the incredible beauty that Mother Nature gifts us with if only we can see it.  To me it's like a tree of life in ice.

That design is on the inside of the storm window!  And the next day, it had morphed into this beauty.

And for a final taste of what we've been having, here are some photos of a window on the 2nd floor of one of the hospital's I work at.  I considered it my own mini-Alps.  It's a good thing I took the photos when I did because it's all been shoveled off now.

I can't wait for it to all go away - overnight with no messy thawing, refreezing, ugly mud season please!

January Smalls Update and Progress Report

I'm late in posting my January small but here it is.  I finished the stitching on Tuesday morning during the blizzard we had and the finishing finishing on Saturday.

The reason for the delay is that I wasn't sure how I wanted to finish this piece.  It came with backing fabric and it could have been a pillow or hanging pillow but I decided I'd like a flat door hanger type finish that I could use for my front door.

Luckily, I had a gorgeous piece of orange wool in my stash and some fun trim.  The piece came together pretty easily and I'm happy with how it turned out.

I found that with several projects going, it didn't feel like I was making a lot of forward progress.  I have also been working to finish this cowl for my niece so that she can get some use out of it before winter passes.  At the rate we're getting snow storms, she's gonna get a lot of use out of it!

I have also made some progress on the HIH Collector's Heart for my sisters birthday and I will show you that and the February smalls project I picked out for that SAL.