December Update

 2018 was a fairly productive year.  I finished it off with a stash busting version of attic24's neat ripple.  I had quite a bit of King Cole Splash DK and King Cole Baby Drifter DK on hand... and I love how it worked up.  And it's pretty huge too, cuddly and warm.

 Very happy that in 2018 I made a New Year ornament.  This one is so cute from Miss T's blog.

 For Amelia, who will now receive annual ornaments, I stitched up Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's Christmas Morning Goodies from the 2018 JCS Christmas Ornament Issue.  I had some Silkweaver Elegance Opalescent Belfast on hand for it.

 Also for Amelia...who eats a lot of strawberries.... a giant crocheted strawberry pillow.  This was a free pattern found somewhere online...  lots of fpdc in this one!

And, for a very good friend's birthday, I made Daystar Throw from Crochet World February 2019.  I used Lion Brand Cupcake in Beach Ball.  Very glad she likes it, and it won't be the last one I make...🎁🎁🎁

Overdue Update

I am long overdue to post again to my blog. I do not kid myself, however. I don't think more than a tiny handful still even read my blog. Nonetheless, I have been negligent, so I will post a few things today. I realize I, myself, do not read blogs much at all any longer. I do, however, follow many of my xs friends on Facebook. Much easier. At one time a couple of years back, I was reading blogs so often that I fell very far behind in my paperwork at my office. Thus, I had to stop and right the ship again... I have received a couple of HoE exchanges I can now share:

I received this cute little snowman ornament from Melissa from the recent Christmas Ornament Exchange round. She says it is a freebie she has wanted to stitch.  I might have it, but I don't think I do... not all sure who the designer is, but this really, really is cute.  And Melissa did a nice job with finishing it too.  Thank you so much, Melissa.

I also received this pretty biscornu from Jayne in the UK (so very sorry, I cannot find her blog link).  She chose some delicate colors and fabric for me. Thank you Jayne :-)

How could I have not yet shared this pretty little birthday gift from my dear friend, Margaret ?  This is so delicate and sweet. Sadly, my camera fogged up when I went outside to take the photo.  I had thought this final one had come out clear, but I was mistaken!  Thank you Margaret, for this delicate gift and the goodies you sent to me too!  I must catch up with stitching birthday gifts again...  right on my to do list that goes!

Despite getting little stitching in, in total, over the past three months, I am up to date on Frosted Pumpkin's Stitchery's Once Upon A Time Sampler...

In June, we had The Princess and the Pea. So cute!  Loved stitching those pretty quilts on all of those mattresses.

In July, we had Thumbelina.  I just love those colorful little fish and the little mouse. 

And in August,we had The Bremen Town Musicians (or at they called it, The Musicians of Bremen Town, but as a German child growing up, I learned of it as Bremen Town Musicians)...  the animals are a bit updated than in the original fairy tale. Super fun to stitch.

And here we are so far.  Um, my camera was foggy again in this shot.  This is the best of a few.  Next time I will do better (how often do I say that??)...

Well, that is what I have to share...  like I said, this is basically a dead, non-read blog. But I share anyhow.

Goldilocks

April brought us Goldilocks and the Three Bears for the Once Upon a Time Sampler...  another fun block to stitch.  Not sure why it took me until virtually the end of the month, as I stitched little else so far this month.... nor did I read much this month... where have I been?  what have I been doing?  Honestly, I just am not sure!  So.... now awaiting what surprise The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery will bring for the May block on this cutesy sampler.

I hope that you are all enjoying your change of season.... a chilly spring here, but at least it is spring now.  Yard work is back in full swing.  And Celebration of Needlework is next week!!

Once Upon a Time.... there were Three Little Pigs

Just in time for the end of the month, I finished up the March block on Once Upon a Time Sampler. Yep, totally not what I usually stitch, yet I am really enjoying this one. I know it is going to be cute in my office sometime early next year. Not sure which of my three offices I will choose for it.... I had to run outside in the cold and take a pic in early AM daylight and then run back into the house. For some reason, the linen does not want to flatten. No interest in pressing it right now ;-) Anyhooooo, so glad I got to stitch the wolf on this block... totally did not want to stitch another cutesy princess this month :-)

Oh, and my orts so far, as of last night. I am a total floss miser... teeny tiny little pieces of floss... collecting my orts this year gave me my first actual impression of how very little thread I leave behind. German frugality!!

I am sorry - I had put the info about Once Upon a Time up when I first started it, and had not thought to do it in this post.  The SAL can be accessed here:  The Frosted Pumpkin Once Upon A Time Mystery SAL

Once Upon a Time...

Once upon a time... I was on Facebook and somehow ended up at the page for Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery... how? I have no idea. Perhaps FB decided it was a page I would like and had it in my newsfeed? I can figure no other way... But I visited there, and somehow clicked to join a year long mystery SAL called Once Upon a Time... and here is the first two months (very, very unlike me kind of choice) -

So, this sampler is charted in what I think the designers call a "kawaii" style... may be misspelling that, but I guess from what wiki says it is some kind of new fangled Japanese art style... simple and cute.  So why did I choose this??  I think it has to be my childhood love of fairy tales.  But I always liked the darker elements of fairy tales... no dark elements here... yet!  So we have Snow White and two of her dwarves doing the laundry in January, and then we have the Princess and the Frog Prince  hanging out with flowers and pastries in February... hmmm.... awfully big eyed, little girl looking princesses, if you ask me.  March is different...  no princess in March and a villain shows its face.  Irregardless, I am having fun stitching this up on PTP 40 ct Gold Doubloon linen with the called for DMC floss.  The designers charted this for PTP 28 ct Gold Doubloom opalescent cashel linen... I like the high count fabrics, and felt this does look a lot like a piece of parchment paper, like the page of a fairy tale book. Did not feel like using opalescent, and glad for that choice.  We shall see where this goes.... in the end, I imagine this will hang in one of my therapy offices.  I see quite a few kids in treatment, the little girls will giggle at it...  sigh, sometimes we never grow up ;-)