Small 2014 check-in

It check-in day for the 2014 Smalls SAL.   

I said my goal was for 6 smalls during 2014 , not one per month, knowing I wanted to do somethings over 1, therefore turning them into a Small.

And so I have a start, not actually a finish for the end of the first month.

Here's what it should look like at the end:

And here it is as of January 29th.

I'm stitching over 1 on a 26ct natural linen.   I plan on stitching all my Nutcrackers on this fabric. (unless my eyes fail me)

Meanwhile the new grandson is doing very well.  Just before he arrived, he swallowed a big gulp of fluid from the womb. He now seems to have it fully flushed out of himself and is feeding better.  He is definitely a keeper!

He's here!

The newest grandson (little guy) is here!

He arrived in the wee hours  (4:47 am) on one of the coldest nights of this winter.  It was minus 6 when I got to the hospital and minus 10 when I went home to get some sleep.   But he is healthy, everything's there and mom is doing ok.

He's a nice healthy weight  -  8 lbs 1oz   and 21 inches long.  Big brother was sleeping thru it all at his other Grandmother's house. 

The waiting is finally done!

Still waiting

We are still waiting for the new little one to arrive.  I really don't blame him with all this sub zero temps, gusting winds (making for horrid wind chills) and newly arriving snow.  Rather reminds me of my own son - due in January and arrived in February.  That was a snowy, cold winter too!

Meanwhile I stitch and read and wait.

It seems like all I do is report more snow.   We got 3 more inches on Saturday and at least another inch or so last night.  we also got plunging temps last night.  We are currently in the single digits again.  It was soooooooooo cold when I was cleaning the driveway this morning - my glasses froze up!  I don't even want to know what the wind chill was at that hour. 

So I am doing some stitching and watching the oldest grandchild while his other grandparents are at the beach  (way south).  Heck I could use a vacation too!  But then again, the newest grandchild is due any time  (due date is a week away) and I wouldn't miss that.

Not much new here, except a little more snow and cold temp again.  I did start a new project along with several other EGA members - a mystery sampler to be completed on either canvas or linen.  That was the first choice.  Second choice was the stitch to be used for the border.  I used both - the heavier one (Symra Cross) for the outer border and the lighter for the interior borders.

Back in December everyone had to draw three crayons.    You could put back one crayon and redraw but then you were stuck with what you had.  I ended up with three shades of green as you can see.

So I pulled a variety of fibers and decided this would be a shades of green sampler with very few other accents.  Your three colors have to be found in the sampler but not necessarily be the dominant colors.  I did the borders in a Needle Necessities overdyed greens, cotton floss so I used 4 strands since I am working on canvas.  I also found a Northern lights (A Needlepoint Inc Silk that is overdyed), two differenct Hand-dyed silk flosses (Vicki Clayton), some solid Soie Cristale, a Wildflowers and a Soy Fiber - all from my stash.  Depending on the interior designs, I will probably stick to these fibers but we shall see what the up coming months will bring.

Meanwhile, My borders are complete and await the next step.  On to the next project.

Not much new today. Just a morning visit from our oldest grandson and a new (posed) photo ofhimand Sly (his favorite stuffed animal that he NEVER leaves home without).  Hard to believe that he is 3 and a third already.  Baby brother is due 1 Feb but we are guessing any day from the looks of our daughter.  The newest one will make 4 grandchildren under the age of 4, all boys.  2 here and 2 out of state. 

I took a couple days off to clean and read and stitch some more.

Today I actually left the house for awhile.  OUr neighborhood is not so great, people have made ruts in the frozen snow, as well as the fresh inch that fell yesterday and as a result it's quite bumpy.  Itwill probably worse tomorrow because it got up to 41 degrees today.  I actually saw my driveway again.
Ironic sonce I took these photos yesterday.

 

 

I'm happy to say that this afternoon, the tree branch was no longer snow covered and starting to perk up.  I did not check on the icickles.

 

 

Below is where the Stitching row was a few days ago.  I'm actually up to U but no new photo.  Letters and hoop only.  I haven't done the "ribbon" that floats around it.

http://bap-attack.blogspot.com/p/2014-turtle-trot.html

Now for my Turtle Trot -2014.  Here is where Freedom Rings was on January 1.

And last night saw the last stitches.  I changed the "white" of the flag.  The fiber the kit had was the same color as the fabric and not visible.  I ended up with ecru floss.  The words were in this really, really dark blue so I used the same fiber from the flag.  I'm also changed the stitched stars.  The fiber was so close to the fabric that it didn't show.  I tried the gold of the "ribbon" but it didn't look quite right.  So found a color in my stash that actually looks like their photo - not too brown and not too gold.  I admit I'm not thrilled with the white stars - they are way too white for something done with more subdued colors. I need to go thru my stash to see what else I have.  But it really is completely stitched!

One done and more to go!

Have a great week-end.