WOW!!  It has been a while since my last post.  Lots of things have happened!  I have stitched quite a bit and I opened my own cross stitch shop on Etsy:  Jen's Stitching Niche.  I just wanted to post a quick, "Hello" and say that I plan to update my blog regularly in 2019, adding all of my stitching doings.  Hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and will touch base soon.

Acorn Stitches Completed

So, I finally finished another project.  This is Acorn Stitches by Jeannette Douglas Designs.  Isn't it lovely?  I really enjoyed this project even though I worked on it for over two months.  Lately, I have been distracted from my stitching.  Jigsaw puzzles have become a new obsession of mine.  We were in Target about three weeks ago waiting for the boys to pick out a movie and I saw a Thomas Kinkade Disney puzzle Pinnochio.  I loved it.  Bought it, took it home and put it together in a few days.  Then I was hooked.  I now have all 6 of the puzzles in that series (plus a few more).

Fortunately, we had a stitching day at my house yesterday, so now I am back in the groove.  I plan on starting Bunny Hop by Country Cottage Needleworks this week.  Time to work on some Easter/Spring projects.

One more finish

A few years ago, I was in Tulsa for a conference and had the opportunity to visit the Silver Needle.  I purchased several punch needle kits by Threads That Bind.  This is Uncle Sam's Hill, which I finished last week during our extended snow day.  Now, I live in south Mississippi, and we rarely have snow.  If it does snow, it is usually over night and we wake to about 1 inch (maybe) of snow that melts by lunch time.  Not this year.  This year we had ice accumulate most of the day with a few hours of snow.  Then it stayed so cold for the next two days that the ice didn't melt.  We do not drive in such horrid weather here in the south because we don't have the means to clear the roads of ice and snow.  That's fine.  I had a great time sitting around and stitching.

I am currently working on three different patterns and should have some nice progress shots to share soon.  Have a great weekend!

I am such a lucky friend...

Look what I received yesterday at our monthly crafting night!!  This is Maria Selby Humphrey -1831 by Blackbird Designs stitched by my friend Theresa.  I am just overwhelmed.  It is so lovely -- the colors are perfect and the frame is too.  Theresa and I wanted to stitch samplers for each other this year for Christmas.  We both were very busy, so we never really sat down and discussed the "rules" as for size, etc.  I stitched Stacy Nash Designs Blackwater Hollow for her (sorry, forgot to take a picture).  But, Theresa went above and beyond by stitching this beauty.  I am so fortunate to have such a wonderful friend.  Thank you, Theresa!

First, some cuteness and then some progress

We built our new home on my family's farm.  Our family owns a nice size farm is South Mississippi. About 2 years ago, my parents deeded each of the five children our portion.  Our portion is in the center, with my younger brother to the south of us, my older sister to the north, and my other siblings to the west.  My father raises cattle and has a small flock of chickens and my younger brother and his wife have a herd of sheep.  Well, these sheep are stubborn and graze wherever they want, which sometimes means my yard.  Yesterday, they all came for an unannounced visit (how rude!).  Normally, this drives us crazy, but there are lambs in the herd now.  Cute, cuddly, sweet lambs!!  This little guy is very sweet and friendly.  He comes to the back door wanted to visit.  His mother didn't accept him immediately, so he has been bottle-fed and gets to sleep inside with the dogs (yes, the dogs.  They love him!)  I can't tell you just how sweet and cuddly he is.  Just look at that little face!! (The other handsome one is my husband, Hobbie.)

Now, the rest of this post will not be as cute, but I do want to share my progress on current projects.  Last night I completed the third part of CCN Santa's Village North Pole Post Office.  I love this series.  The colors are so bright.  I only have the first 4 parts of the series, so after the next part, I will put it away until next year when I can purchase the remainder of the patterns.  (Remember, my resolution was to only stitch from stash this year.)

The other two projects are Shakespeare's Peddler Ann Womack and Jeannette Douglas Designs Acorn Stitches.  I am really enjoying both of these.  Ann Womack is just beautiful.  I have completed a good portion of the eyelet alphabet, which is so much fun to stitch.  I am working on this pattern one page at a time.  I am almost finished with the first of four pages.  So exciting!  Acorn Stitches is actually moving pretty quickly.  If I continue to stitch at this pace, I estimate that I will finish in a couple of weeks.  The colors on this one are beautiful.

Well, I have a lot of cleaning to do today, so I had better get started.  Have a great week.

Ann Womack progress: Four-side stitch

I just had to share this with everyone.  I am working on Shakespeare's Peddler Ann Womack as part of my rotation right now.  It is progressing quite well.  I stitch on it every third day.  Well,  I have made it to the third alphabet, which is four-side stitch.  At first I was not excited about the time that I would spend doing this, but once I got the hang of it, it wasn't that bad.  And just look at how pretty it looks.  I am so excited about this sampler now.  The next alphabet is stitched with eyelets.  I can't wait to see the results of that one.  Love this sampler!!

Progress and a complete finish...

So, here is the Jeannette Douglas Designs By the Sea Needlekeep COMPLETELY finished.  I finished the stitching on Saturday and sewed it all together today.  Wow, that feels so good to just finish it, not stuff it in a drawer or box to get to later (never).  I think it is really, really cute.  Look at that funny octopus in the lower box.

And here is my progress on Ann Womack from Shakespeare's Peddler.  I love this piece.  I have to admit that I didn't think it would be much fun stitching it but was I wrong.  I am using red silk that was given to me several years ago by Theresa.  I am loving working with the thread.  The picture doesn't do it justice.

Well, today is our last official day of Christmas break.  Nicholas is back to school tomorrow.  Classes at USM don't start until next Tuesday, but I have paperwork to complete.  These first 6 days of the year have been great.  I am "resetting" my diet back to a more whole-food standard.  Last February I did a 21 detox diet that was great.  I felt so much better and had more energy.  Then, we moved in with my parents after we sold our house and were waiting for the new house to be completed.  It was harder to stay on the diet since my mom is a great cook.  She was very ill during the summer, so I was pretty much cooking what I would normally eat.  Then, around the middle of August, she started cooking.  Did I say she was an amazing cook?  So, I gained a few pounds.  Now, we are settled in the new house and my husband and I are paying better attention to our diet.  We are on day 5 of the 21 day diet.  So far, so good.