A Long Time Coming

Well, it has definitely been a while since my last post, and unfortunately, a while since I've really stitched anything. Work has taken up a big chunk of my time, even with 2-3 days off, I rarely find any time to stitch. I also haven't really "felt" any of the project's I've started lately. I pick them up when I do find time and just don't have the enthusiasm to work on them or get much done. Hopefully I get my mojo back soon! I do have a few things to share since I've been gone from blogging though...

Here is SanMan's calendar piece for July. The pattern is charted for the ice cream to be brown & pink but I added the white-ish color to make it a neapolitan ice cream cone. It's hard to believe this is the last week of July! The year, month & summer have flown by!

I'm also working on the June & July SanMan blackwork pieces. I can't wait to start on July, its a really nice stars & stripes theme in dark red, blue & gold.

I also finally found a frame for Hot Stuff! I got this on sale for $1.91 at Hobby Lobby! It was a little scratched up so it was in the home decor clearance aisle and with another so much of a % off the clearance price cost almost nothing! I liked the look of it being a little ruff, so I took a piece of sandpaper to it to give it an even more beat up look. Sorry for the bad picture, I hung it in a hallway to get a picture and didn't use the flash since it always showed up in the glass.

I feel terribly behind and am going to try to catch up on blogs so I can see all of the fun everyone else has been up to! Maybe I can find something that catches my eye & lights a stitching fire under me! lol Have a great day & thanks for stopping by! Nick

3 years ago...

Three years ago today, July 9, 2007, was one of the worst days of my life. I had to my baby, Tucker, to sleep. He was the most well behaved, lovable, fluffy cat anyone could ever imagine loving.

The story is really long and sad, so I won't go through the whole thing, but after getting really sick and trying to nurse him back to health for several days through vet visits, blood work, shots, IVs, syringe feeding, etc, there was just nothing more we could for him. Instead of making him suffer even more to try and keep him with us, we decided the best thing to do would be to let him be free. I remember holding him in the vet's office, with his head nuzzled under my chin on my shoulder, telling him how much I loved him and how sorry I was as they gave him the shot. I didn't cry at the vet, or in the car on the way home, but I balled for longest time once I got home and was alone. I miss him so much, it still hurts. He was my baby, since the day he was born. He was the most well behaved cat, I don't remember him ever hissing, scratching or biting. If another cat or dog came along and started barking or hissing, he would just look and go back to doing his own thing, he was just a big, fluffy and cuddly love ball. I hope he knew how much I loved him, how much I still love him.

I've always wanted to stitch something in his memory, but I've never come across anything that I absolutely loved. Thanks for stopping & have a great weekend! Nick

Our Little Princess

Happy humpday, we're half way through the week! Hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July weekend. I unfortunately didn't get the stitching done that I had hoped to do. Instead I went back to the art fair with my mom, and what turned into a quick trip to get the Michigan tiki face turned into 3 hrs and bringing home alot more than the tiki face! lol Here is a pic of it, I just need to tack a hanger on to the back so I can hang it...

Afterwards I spent the day at the beach (well, the lake, we refer to the lake as the beach here, even though we do know the difference lol) before going to another friend's house for a cookout and to watch the fireworks. I was wiped out afterwards though, I think I spent too much time outside in the heat. We have been in a heat wave that just wont go away. We've had temps in the 80s-90s, with 80-90% humidity which just makes it almost unbearable. Even at night and in the morning it's still in the low 80s. The worst part is the air conditioning fans went out @ work on Monday, I hope those got fixed yesterday on my day off! lol

Even though I didn't get any stitching done over the weekend I did get some done yesterday. I added the butterfly and boarder around the "Our Little Princess" on the birth announcement. There are so many different pinks used, there are 4 in this part alone.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you have a great rest of the week! Nick

Happy 4th of July!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!

Hope everyone has a great, fun & safe 4th of July! Also may we remember all of those who have fought for our country, and, even though its far from perfect, all the wonderful things we do have so that many others do not!

Since I have the day off I am hoping to spend a majority of it stitching before going to a cookout and watching the fireworks with some family & friends. I started the Baby Princess birth announcement on Thursday. I only stitched the "Our Little Princess" in the middle, so I will hold off on posting a picture until some more is done. Sadly, I didn't get a chance to do any patriotic stitching this year, though I did find this Bent Creek pattern while browsing for stash on Friday. It's called "Patriotic Branch" by Bent Creek. I absolutely love it, and may just have to order the 3 patterns/buttons when I get paid Tuesday. Bent Creek also has 2 other branch patterns, one with woodland animals and the other Christmas themed.

The picture is from www.silverneedle.net - They were the only site I could find with a picture of all 3 patterns together.

Yesterday before work I went with my parents downtown to the art fair. Starting at the end of June until a little after the 4th every year we have a big thing downtown called Summer Celebration. They have a huge carnival set up, concerts every night, activities during the day, fireworks shows and over the weekend of the 4th a huge art fair. They always have the nicest things down there. This year I found several new things to add to my Michigan collection, as well as had some fried Oreos.

The GO BLUE mat was $10, and I plan to put picture of my dad & I and my friends & I behind the letters. They had several framed mats for sale with generic pictures of/around the stadium as well, for Michigan as well as other colleges. The small metal sign was only $5.99 and the larger sign was $10.99. The booth had tons of similar signs for all kinds of college and professional teams. There was also a booth that had really cool air brush painted signs for different teams and pool/beach/drink themed signs and I'm kicking myslef for not buying the Michigan themed one. It was a wooden tiki like face with a big block M and football on his head. You could buy just the faces for $15 or have it added to a sign for $35. I think I might head back today and hope the booth is still there!

Hope everyone has a great day and thanks for stopping by! Nick

I think I forgot how to stitch...

Geeze, it's been so long since I've stitched, I think I might have just forgotten how to! lol Work has absolutely consumed my life this week. I'm used to the 36-40 hr weeks of working until 1-2 AM but this week has been something completely different. I've already worked almost 42 hours this week (still have a 9.5 hr shift to work tonight), including a 14.5 hr day yesterday, which was supposed to be my day off. It's soooo tiring now, but it will be worth it when payday rolls around, especially that 11+ hours of overtime! Apparently, and I'm not tooting my own horn here, this is what I have been told, I am one of the best workers they have hired in a while, that's why they always ask me to come in early, on my days off or stay late. Even though I have only been there for a little less than a month and a 1/2, they are talking about starting to have me train to be a manager!

Like I said, that has left no time for stitching. It seems like when I'm not at work I'm sleeping, and vice versa. I did find time (where I found it, I'd like to know because I need some more! lol) to make a trip to JoAnnes, where I found yet another kit. If only I could find the finishes to the kits I already have as easily! Since receiving the Suzy's Zoo Train Birth Announcement kit, I have been a little on the fence about it. I had purchased the kit with the intention of stitching it for my best friend's daughter, who was born at the end of December, but it's just not as girly as what I really wanted. Well, this is the kit I found at JoAnnes and I think it fits the bill perfectly!

It's another kit by Dimensions (I swear they don't sponsor me and I don't own stock lol) and as soon as I saw it, I knew I would end up stitching this birth record instead of the Suzy's Zoo one. I haven't even had time to think about starting it, but I'm hoping to change that this week, even though another new start is just what I need, not. If all goes as planned, I have Tuesday AND Wednesday off! That should certainly open up some stitching time and for framing Hot Stuff, nope I didn't forget about that being on my to-do list! ;-)

Also sadly this week I suffered a little loss. After 6 wonderful years of game day service my beloved 8' inflatable Michigan Wolverine died. :-( He let the neighborhood know every Saturday that this house was Wolverine territory. He was packed away at the end of last November in a rush because of the incoming winter weather, so I had planned to inflate him, wash him, let him sit out and dry since it was a very hot summer day and then pack him away. When I plugged him in though the lights came on and the motor started running but the fan wasn't working. Unscrewed the motor/fan cover and sure enough, the fan had died. Unfortunately the motor is mounted to the top of the fan, which is mounted to the base, so it can't really be replaced. I have been able to track another Wolverine down, like I said I have had him for 6 years, and they no longer make them so I would have been upset if I couldn't get another one. He is made by the same company that makes all the Christmas & Halloween inflatables like the Grinch, Snoopy characters, the carousels and stuff, that you see in people's yards. Here is a picture of him this past fall...

Hopefully I will be able to catch up with what everyone else is up to soon! Have a great day & thanks for stopping by! Nick

Snowmen, Eggs & Summer

Wow, it's been a while since my last update. I have been busy, busy, busy with work. I started working the closing night shift last week, so I don't leave work until between 1:30-2 AM. I'm holding out for Wednesday, which is my next day off!

Even though today is officially the first day of summer, what little stitching I have done has been anything but summer related. I started a small fall themed sampler freebie but don't have a picture of it. I did manage to start and finish the April block of the SanMan Inky Dinky SAL as well. That darn yellow! Though I think this is easy to see than the lemonade piece.

I saw Toy Story 3 with some friends on Friday, and it was really good! It's hard to believe the first Toy Story movie came out 15 years ago, I remember seeing it when I was a kid. In fact I remember having a Buzz Lightyear and a Rex (the green dinosaur) puppet, you could put your fingers into his little tyrannosaurus arms! lol I'm currently saving the codes from Kellogg's cereal so I can trade them in for a Hamm piggy bank. lol You definitely don't have to be a kid to enjoy any of the Toy Story movies, especially the newest movie.

Hopefully I will be able to catch up with everyone's else's blogs soon, thanks for stopping by & have a great day! Nick

Lemonade & Hacked E-mail

Thank you everyone for the comments on Hot Stuff! Hopefully this weekend I can get it framed. Until Sharon mentioned painting a frame red, the thought had never crossed my mind. Well duh, of course it would be much easier to paint a unfinished or white wood frame than spend forever looking for the right red frame, especially since its a standard 8x10! lol

Here is SanMan's June calendar piece "Fresh Squeezed", the calender is 1/2 finished now! I redid the backstitching in darker colors and I like how the blue ice cubes show up but still don't care for the yellow. It's weird in the picture you can really see the outline but when you actually look at the piece it's still really hard to tell the lemon slices from the lemonade, the flash must make it show up better. Now I'm all caught up with all my SanMan SALs, just waiting for the June blackwork and next Inky Dinky snowman to be posted.

SanMan's Fresh Squeezed

Also I wanted to let everyone know that my e-mail was hacked yesterday evening. An e-mail with no subject and only a link in the body (to an online pharmacy ???) was sent to everyone in my address book. As I was just telling Shari, I almost never use or check my e-mail so thankfully most of the address in my book were old or are stored address from store websites or newsletters (so their e-mails don't end up in my spam folder). I had tons of "mail undeliverable" e-mails because the message wouldn't send to Yankee Candle or Barnes & Noble! lol I did e-mail the bloggers whose e-mail address' I recognized on the list but if I missed any I just wanted to let you know what was up and that I'm sorry you were bothered with that pesky junk! I reported the problem to AOL, changed my password and changed the setting so that e-mail address aren't automatically saved to my address book when I send an e-mail.

Thanks for stopping by & hope everyone has a great day! Nick

A Hot Finish

Hot Stuff is officially finished! I finished off the 1/2 stitches around the peppers and the last of the backstitching yesterday afternoon. Now all I need to do is frame it. I didn't really find a frame I liked at Hobby Lobby, so I am still on the hunt for an inexpensive red frame.

House-Mouse Designs' Hot Stuff

Started April 11, 2010

Finished June 05, 2010

Here are all of the progress pictures since I started the piece...

I also started and am almost finished with the June SanMan calendar piece, Freshly Squeezed. I have to redo the backstitching because after doing it in the charted colors you couldn't really tell the difference between the color of the stitches and the backstitch, so it looked like a big lump of yellow. lol There also seemed to be a million quarter stitches which was a real pain on the aida and because the design is so small. Quarter stitches and French knots just don't agree with me! lol

Hope everyone is having a great weekend & thanks for stopping by to see my finish! Nick

Some Hot Progress

Last night my needle sure was smokin'! I managed to finish the 2nd mouse, 2 of the peppers and some of the foreground on Hot Stuff. All that is left is the biggest pepper and a little bit of the foreground, so my next update on Hot Stuff should be a finish!

Hott Stuff last update, and now...it's almost finished!

I'm taking my younger sister to pick up her Eclipse movie tickets tonight and since Hobby Lobby is up the street from the theater I think I will stop by to pick up the colors I need to stitch June's SanMan calendar. I can also look for a red frame to put Hot Stuff in when it's done.

On a much sadder note Rue McClanahan, known for her role as Blanch Devereaux on Golden Girls, died last nite of a massive stroke. :-( I am a huge fan of the Golden Girls, in fact I watched two episodes last night on the Hallmark Channel before going to bed. She will be missed, and the next time I have a piece of cheesecake, it will be in her memory!

Hope everyone is having a good week, TGIF tomorrow! lol Thanks for stopping by! Nick

Fresh Squeezed June

Happy June 1st everyone! I know I say this every month, but where did the time go? lol I hope everyone had a safe and fun Memorial Day weekend. I've worked everyday since last Tuesday so I spent most of my weekend at work, though I did enjoy a cookout/bonfire at a friends house Saturday night and a fireworks show Sunday night. Even though Memorial Day was yesterday I still want to say a big "Thank You!" to all of our veterans, those who lost their lives in war and those currently serving. I have several family members who are/were veterans, from WWII, Desert Storm and the current war in Iraq.

Since I have been so busy with work there has not been much time for stitching, though I did get the March square in the SanMan Inky Dinky SAL done. It was a quick and relaxing something to stitch last night. For now the snowmen are blind, but I will give them Mill Hill seed bead eyes when all 12 are done so I don't have to iron over the beads.

I also wanted to start the June piece for the SanMan calendar, but of course I only had one of the colors needed. It seems every new project I am missing several colors, so you would think I would have all of them by now! lol The piece is titled Fresh Squeezed, and is probably my favorite so far. It's a little glass of lemonade filled with lemon slices and ice cubes. I can't wait to start it!

Since I couldn't stitch, I washed my Baby today. It's been probably 2 weeks since the last car wash and boy could you tell, or at least I could! lol The only thing I didn't do was sweep the inside out, otherwise she got a complete cleaning. Now my Baby looks brand spanking new, I even got the wheel brush and rim polish out and deep cleaned the rims and took the license plate off to clean behind it and clean the plate as well. After all you can't have a dirty U of M plate! lol

Thanks for stopping by, hope you have a great day! Nick

Inky Dinky SAL

Last weekend I started and finished the first two blocks in the SanMan Inky Dinky SAL. When it's done there will be 12 snowmen, one for each month, and matching boarders. January and February are the only two released so far, but I'm eagerly awaiting March!

Last night was a blast! Me and several friends went to dinner and then to a cocktail party before seeing Sex and the City 2 at midnight. The I really liked the movie. It was alot different than the first, this one was way more fun and light-hearted and in my opinion more along the tone of the show. It didn't live up to my expectations 100% , but then again I've been waiting for it to come out since they started filming it back in September so I probably had too high of expectations! lol The movie theater we saw it in was pretty full. They played it on the biggest theater with a huge screen and seating for 600. It's actually two stories, there is an entrance on the first floor to the bottom rows of seats and an upstairs entrance to the top rows. I would say there were probably at least 400 people there.

Sex and the City 2 : The Stores. The Fashion. The Adventure and an example of how each outfit is "deconstructed" piece by piece. It evens lists the designer of each piece. The page next to it shows a picture of the character in the outfit from the movie.

The party before hand was lots of fun. The hors d'oeuvres were delicious, everyone got a Sex and the City 2 martini glass and for those of us who weren't 21, they had kiddie cocktails! lol They had tons of raffles and give always and I actually won a copy of the companion book to the movie that shows all the characters outfits piece by piece. The only down side was not getting home until almost 4 AM and then having to get up for work, luckily I didn't have to be there until 11:30! lol

Sharlotte - John Corbett was indeed the new movie (he isn't in the first), though he is only in two scenes. His character Aiden went out with Carrie for a while during the course of the show and they were actually engaged at one time. They run into each other in Abu Dhabi in the movie. He was actually my favorite of Carrie's boyfriends, but it was one of those things were I always knew she wouldn't end up with him because she was supposed to be with Big. lol Have you ever seen United States of Tara on Showtime? He plays the husband of a women with multiple personalities, it's a pretty good show especially the 1st season. Also, I did see the episode of Sarah Jessica Parker's "Who Do You Think You Are", her husband Matthew Broderick was also on an episode of the show, both were very interesting. He had family that fought in Gettysburg during the Civil War.

Hope everyone is has a fun & safe Memorial Day weekend! Nick

Cosmos & Manolos

Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Big (Chris Noth) in Sex and the City 2

Ok, I admit it, I am a Sex and the City fan. Actually I am that a BIG fan. I have seen every episode multiple times, in fact I own the DVD series box set, and I saw the first movie 3 times in theaters. I know, it's weird for a guy to like Sex and the City so much, but there's just something about it. Maybe it's because I have always loved fashion and if I could live anywhere it would be New York City. To celebrate the fact that the 2nd movie comes out this week, I created this little pattern as a tribute to one of my favorite TV shows. (Click to enlarge)

The quote comes from an episode where Miranda tells Carrie she can use the internet to shop, after Carrie tells the girls she doesn't get why the internet is such a big deal. Carrie's response is that she can't shop online because "shopping is my cardio."

And if I havn't already shown my love for Carrie & Co, tomorrow night I am going to see the new movie with several friends @ midnight, we've had our tickets for weeks. For some reason the theater here in town isn't doing a midnight showing, even though the other 8 theaters they own are, so my friends and I are going to the closest theater (about a 40 min drive) to see it. We are dressing up and going to dinner and then have tickets to the sold out cocktail party the theater is throwing before the midnight screening. I know...we're crazy, but life's too short to pass up such fun! lol

Hope everday has a "fabulous" day and thanks for stopping by! Nick

Peppers, Mice & a Marshmallow

This week was much better for stitching than last week. I was able to work on Hot Stuff, I got a good majority of the second mouse done. Once he is finished, I just have a couple peppers and the rest of the ground shading. I've decided to wait on starting the Suzy's Zoo Train Birth Announcement until Hot Stuff is finished. I haven't forgotten about Singin' The Wash Line Blues even though it's been quite a while since I've worked on it. Maybe I will put some work in on that before the birth announcement as well.

Hot Stuff's last update & current progress.

I also cut the fabric for a new SanMan SAL, a small blackwork snowman and boarder themed for each month. So far January and February have been released. I plan on stitching those two this weekend so I can work on the following 10 as they are released.

Hope everyone has a great weekend & thanks for stopping by! Nick

Sweet May Treat

Here is SanMan's May 2010 calendar block, a colorful lollipop. It was nice quick stitch, a good way to get back in the swing of things since it's been a while since I did any stitching besides blackwork. I actually finished it off earlier today before I went to work, after posting this morning.

Here are January-May so far. I think if at the end of the series each month ends up being a food/treat, as they have been far, I'm going to find a cool font and stitch "A Sweet Year" across the top above January's block.

That's it for now, just a quick update since it's been more than a week since my last stitching post. Thanks for stopping by! Nick

The Simple Things...

Last night I was going through pictures on iPhoto, sometimes I'll do this just to go through all the pictures I have on my computer, most I've forgotten were on here. I was going through the hundreds of pictures I have from Michigan football games and when I came across this one it just made me really smile. I remember when I took it, it was my first time ever going to The Big House for a football game. Michigan played Michigan State on my 19th birthday and my dad took me. In Ann Arbor around The Big House all the fire hydrants are painted this way, to look like the football helmets. I'll never forget the feeling the first time I walked into The Big House, in fact I still get that feeling every time I walk in there. I hope not matter how many games I see there, win or lose, I always get that feeling.

While I was going through the pictures my favorite commercial came on the TV. No matter what I’m doing or what kind of mood I’m in this commercial always makes me smile. I love the part where the spaceship zaps the slice of bread into a piece of toast, I don’t know why, I just love it! lol

I did do a little stitching this weekend, I got most of the May SanMan calendar piece done. I'll probably finish it off tonight when I get home from work. It was so nice to stitch for a little bit since it's been more than week since I last stitched anything.

Sometimes it's the simplest and smallest things in life that truly make you smile. :-D I hope everyone had a great weekend! Nick

When it rains, it pours...

Boy, when it rains, it pours, and I mean that both figuratively and literally. Monday I was called about a job I had applied for the week before, they called and asked if I could be there in a half hour for an interview. The good news is I got the job, the bad news (because it seems the two go hand in hand, right? lol) is that on the way to the interview my front passenger side tire blew out as I was getting on the highway. Luckily I was only a mile or so from home so my dad brought his car to me, so I could get to my interview on time, while he changed the tire. Tuesday I was supposed to go in to sign my paperwork and start orientation and I was going to take Baby since I hadn't gotten the tire on my other car fixed yet. The tire place was closed when the tire blew and I had to be to my orientation at 10 the next morning. Well as I was going to leave, Baby wouldn't start! Her battery was dead. I think the week before when I had taken her out of the charge to clean her the spoiler wasn't completely down and it drained the battery since the spoiler kept running (it isn't a permanent spoiler, it's electric and automatically goes up and down when you reach a certain speed, or can be manually put up and down). Luckily my best friend lives up the street so she came and picked me up and dropped me off. When I was done with my orientation I took my car with the spare tire to the tire place. As my luck would have it they didn't have any matching used tires and the brand & make of the 3 remaining tires on the car are no longer made, but they did have a tire that was close, so I bought it. Probably 10 minutes later they come to tell me they can't put the tire on. Apparently the reason my other tire blew was that a spring behind the tire had broken, caught the tire and ripped through it. So they couldn't put the new tire on because it would do the same thing. They said if they could get a used part, which apparently they have had trouble doing lately, to fix the problem it would cost about $250. This is on top of the $110 I had just paid for the tire. I didn't even ask what it would cost for a new part, I was too afraid to ask, plus I dodn't really need it fixed right away! lol Luckily Baby just needed a jump, and is working just fine now. I started work the next day, Wednesday and also worked yesterday but have today off. Today has been about the only decent day we have had this week. Its been grey, cold and rainy since last weekend! I guess we got Spring in reverse, warm and dry at first, cold and rain now. I am having a good ending to the week though, one of my best friends who now lives out of state came home for her dad's birthday this weekend so I got to see her and we had lunch today.

My Suzy's Zoo Birth Announcement kit did come Monday, though I haven't even opened it up to look at it. Thats about as close to cross stitching as I have been since my last update, haven't even thought about picking up and working on any projects.

Hope everyone else's weeks have been filled with slightly better luck, and your a trooper if you read this far! lol Nick

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Actually I believe May flowers bring May showers, at least today they do! It's been a rainy, grey and chilly day here but it did provide May flowers, at least some backstitched May flowers. Here is SanMan's May 2010 blackwork pattern. At first I wasn't sure about the yellow floss on such a light color fabric but I think it turned out nice.

I worked on Hot Stuff as well, but didn't take a picture because I only added the foot and tail of the mouse. I worked on it Wednesday while watching Happy Town on ABC and ended up doing more watching than stitching! lol

I'm really excited that I won a kit on eBay last night that I have been wanting for a long time. It's called "Suzy's Zoo Train Birth Announcement" and was released by Janlynn in the mid 90's. I am a big fan of Suzy's Zoo. It's been around since the 70's and my Aunt collected it as a teen in the late 80's and 90's, so I have many fond memories of Suzy's Zoo birthday cards, notes & letters growing up. Just about anything you could imagine they made back then, ceramics, coffee mugs, stuffed animals, coloring books, magnets, ornaments, party decorations, clothes, cross stitch kits and then all the stationary, cards, stickets, etc they are specifically known for. The production of these things and their popularity started to wain in the late 90's as they moved more into baby themed stuff (nursery sets, baby clothes, baby products) when they created the Little Suzy's Zoo line and characters. The original Suzy's Zoo stuff was very popular on eBay several years ago and this stuff would sell for big $$. The coloring books, stickers and stuffed animals were probably the most popular items, for example it wasn't surprising for the older or rarer coloring books to go for $40-60 a piece! I actually have several coloring books and am only missing 1 of the 403 single sheet stickers. Lately is has really died down and here in the US they mainly do the stationary now, though it has really become big in Japan and over there they are starting to release all those things like they had here. They are even working on opening a memorabilia museum and a cartoon for TV. Anyway, enough of the history of Suzy's Zoo! lol Here is the pic of the kit from the auction, I'm very happy I got it for a great price, $12 shipped. I want to stitch it for my best friend's daughter, the one I mentioned watching last Friday.

In case I don't post over the weekend HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all of the moms out there!!

Have a great weekend and thanks for reading! Nick

A Good Weekend For Stitching

This weekend turned out to be perfect for stitching. We had rain, thunderstorms and gloomy, cool weather most of the weekend. Luckily the tornadoes and more severe storms stayed to the south of us. Thats the only bad thing about spring in Michigan - tornadoes. I can't believe it's already May, this year just seems to be zooming by, but that does means we're that much closer to summer!

Saturday I went and saw the new Nightmare on Elm Street movie with my dad. It was pretty good, not at all as scary as I thought it would be. One of my favorite parts of going to the movies are the previews, though none of the previews shown with Nightmare really interested me.

Sunday I spent most of the day working on Hot Stuff. Mr. Mouse is almost done, just missing his other foot and tail. I also got some of the peppers and ground shading done. It's slowly but surely coming along.

Hot Stuff before & after.

I also have a shout out to give to Cat, over at Kittycat cross stitch blog, who is hosting a nice give away to celebrate her 100th blog post.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend & thanks for visiting! Nick

Hot Stuff Progress

Since my last update I have been able to work a little bit on Hot Stuff. I'm also just about finished with the grid on the HAED design. The little mouse in Hot Stuff is really starting to take shape. I thought since I had made some progress I would post an update now since I'm spending the day tomorrow babysitting my best friends daughter. She is just the most precious little girl in the world and I love being able to spend time with her.

Hot Stuff before and after.

Thats it for now, just a quick update. Hope everyone is having a wonderful week, and thanks stopping by! Nick

Sweet Land Of Liberty

Boy am I glad it's the start of a new week, last week just seemed like one road block after another so hopefully this week is better! Didn't really get to do any stitching last week, a combination of lots of things going on and not really having any desire to stitch.

This weekend I did work on Hot Stuff. I had finished the marshmallow last week and this weekend I backstitch it, and started some of the peppers and one of the mice.

While doing some cleaning I found a stash of unfinished projects. I worked a little bit on one of them, a Precious Moments piece called God Shed His Grace On Thee. I started this piece last spring/summer but haven't worked on it since then. The only thing added this weekend was filling in some of the stars on the bottom of the dress. For some reason all of the pics came out with the aida looking white, its actually a light baby blue.

The chart is based on a Precious Moments figurine with the same name released after September 11th. I have the figurine and wanted to stitch the pattern to go with. The pattern is actually a reverse of the figurine, if the figurine faces left like the pattern the flag is in front of her face instead of behind her. The stars on the dress are alot more subtle on the figurine as well. The pattern is in leaflet PM51 - Sweet Land of Liberty by Gloria & Pat, now I just need to finish it! lol

Hope everyone had a good weekend & thanks for visiting! Nick

Starts & Finishes

I started and finished SanMan's April blackwork piece this weekend. The 4 center bunnies remind me of Peep bunnies. I love SanMan's blackwork patterns, they always have so many little details. Even though the pattern doesn't have eyes charted for the bunnies I might add them later with beads.

SanMan April 2010 Blackwork

I worked a little bit on Hot Stuff but didn't take a picture, I just worked on the marshmallow and stick. I'm not really enjoying the blending colors on this one, unlike Wash Line Blues where a combination is used in large chucks, there are alot that are only used here and there. It's like confetti stitching with different color combinations. lol

I also started to grid the fabric for the HAED The Journey Begins pattern. My mom ordered this red easy-count gridline floss-like stuff online that grids your fabric and can be taken out as you stitch. Last summer when I bought the pattern we went 1/2 and 1/2 on the supplies so we could both work on it, so maybe if we both work on it on and off it won't take as long.

Hope everyone had a great weekend, thanks for visiting! Nick

The Impossible

After checking out the HAED House-Mouse designs I got to thinking about one of the many patterns I have in my stash, it's one of my favorites. I call it my impossible pattern, it's a HAED design, The Journey Begins based on the painting done by Scott Gustafson.

The Journey Begins by Scott Gustafson

This bad boy is charted over 42 pages, using 50 different colors for a total of 175,000 stitches! There used to be an family owned art gallery & framing shop, which sadly closed a few years ago, right up the street that hosted a Christmas open house, with Scott Gustafson as a guest. I have love Scott Gustafson's artwork (check out his website, it's amazing) since seeing it as a kid at this gallery. Prior to meeting him I had actually seen one of the originals of The Journey Begins there. At the open house I won a pencil sketch of his otter character that he did earlier in the day during a demonstration. He also signed a copy of his book, "Alphabet Soup: A Feast of Letters", for me. Hopefully someday it will turn out to be a non-impossible pattern!

Hello Monday

Well, does anyone know where last week went? lol It just flew on by me, and sadly time didn't fly because I was stitching. I did find a new project to start on Wednesday, funny how it's so much harder to finish a project than it is to find one to start! lol I found a Dimensions House-Mouse kit on sale @ JoAnne's. Growing up my mom always used tons of House-Mouse stationary and had some of the rubber stamps. I regret passing up the Making Lemonade kit (three mice drinking out of a pitcher of lemonade) when I saw it on clearance @ Hobby Lobby last spring. This kit is called Hot Stuff, with a mouse roasting a marshmallow using the fire breath from a pepper eating mouse. The kits even come with a House-Mouse foot-printed mat for finishing the piece.

I started the piece this weekend and got the Hot Stuff across the top stitched. I'm not sure if I like the stitches between the orange & red in the letters that called for a mix of 1 strand red, 1 stand orange. When you look at the piece up close it looks the stitches are funny because some show one of the colors more than the other, oh well, from a distance it helps blend between the colors.

Hope everyone had a great last week and good beginning to this one! I am off to watch some DVDs that need to go back to the video store & catch up on blog reading! Nick