TUSAL with wings

I realized the other night as my daughter exclaimed, "Mommy!  Lookit moon!" that I'd missed yet another TUSAL post.  So here she is, Morticia after a full year of ort collecting.  She is posing with my newest start, one of Just Nan's Glorious Wings kits.  A always with Nan's designs, I love to hate the constant color changes...but so pretty in the end!

Turkeys, Swans, same thing

I hope all of my (US) readers had a tasty holiday....and hey, even if you don't live in the US, maybe you cooked a turkey anyway??  Ours was quite good!  My in-laws arrived on Friday morning, so our feast was a bit delayed.  But I cooked up a spinach-and-herb stuffed turkey breast, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and cranberry jell-o salad.  DH had to work Thursday, but since the facility where he works cooks meals for all the residents and staff, he brought home candied sweet potatoes and a pumpkin pie.  We were all thoroughly stuffed!

On Wednesday my package from Stitching Bits and Bobs arrived, and I was able to attach the last few beads to Just Nan's "Swan Lake."  (After finishing it, I was kicking myself for ordering the beads...I could have substituted with something "close enough" from my stash, and no one would have known the difference.  Oh well.)

"Swan Lake" by Just Nan
stitched with 1 thread over-2 on mystery linen

I think I will finish this as a round ornament, perhaps something I can display in my office at work.

And, VERY late, here is my November TUSAL.  With all the holiday preparations and such, I sort of forgot...

You see all that orange?  Well, part of my "holiday preparation" involved realizing that the basket of pillows/smalls on my kitchen table had mostly Halloween-y things in it.  So, rather than cleaning or soing any number of other more important things, I started stitching a piece made up of autumn leaves.  And I didn't even finish it!!  LOL

October TUSAL and more ornaments

First, Morticia.  She felt the usual pose was less than flattering to her figure, so I agreed to try something different for this month's picture...

Hopefully she's happier with this.

Progress on Santa's Helper.

I didn't have the wool for the sheep, so I just used DMC.  Since I'm hoping this gets used for many years to come,  Ithink I might have gone with regular floss anyway -- less fuzz to fall off/get matted down/whatever!

And a finished finish - Prairie Schooler's "Two by Two: Deer" from the 1998 JCS ornie issue.

The backing fabric is some funky trees, I used jute for the hanger and fussed around entirely too much attaching that teeny branch and pine cones!  But I like the end result.  This one will be a gift for my parents this Christmas.  They live out in the woods and my dad is a hunter, so this made me think of them!

September TUSAL

Another quickie TUSAL update courtesy of my phone...  Quite a few orts in there this time from fall projects, Labyrinth, and Dark Sorceress.

TUSAL Time

Just a quick update from my phone...
Here is Morticia, prominently showing off a handful of orts from my latest start (I can't share, it is for another exchange)!

First August WIPocalypse (late) and July TUSAL (even later)

First, the WIPocalyse progress.  I finished the castle in my Fairy Tale Towne!  While there are still 7 more squares to complete before this entire project is DONE, getting this center block done with its ridiculous amounts of confetti stitching feels good.

 And there has also been a teeny bit of progress on Labyrinth.  Hopefully there will be more by the end of the month, since I've finished an exchange piece and now plan on focusing on this for a while (DH will be happy).

 Finally, Morticia checking in!!  She's getting quite full.  Up at the top you can probably see a bit of autumnal color...a product of the aforementioned exchange piece.  :D  Plus a few lonely bits of blue from the past few nights I've spent on Labyrinth.

TUSAL and a finish

After finishing up "Melville's Return," I DID work on "Labyrinth" for DH a little bit...but I also felt the need to start something new.  :D  At least it was small!!  And now it is a finish - Victoria Sampler's New York heart.  I've now stitched Iowa (where DH was born), Pennsylvania (where we were married), and New York (where Little Bit and I were both born).  I've printed the free alphabet from Thea's website that matches the heart series, and I'm planning to chart out our family information on a fourth block.  Then I'll either frame them together or make a little quilted wallhanging of some kind.

(Morticia decided to pose with my finish.  Hehehe)

TUSAL Check-in

With the latest shot of Melville's Return...

Morticia has been getting her fill of WDW Aqua as I work my way across that swath of sky!  But other than a few little touches here and there (the rocks under the lighthouse, the mermaid's top (!!!), the middle flag on the lower boat...oh, and the sun), it is all I have left.  A finish may be on the horizon!  Oh, and I did end up frogging the "S" in "voyages" and using a shade of gray instead of the blue called for.  It was just too hard to see.

Morticia and her new spring friends

My TUSAL update is overdue!

The threads in the top layer of the jar are the end of "Mom's Tearoom" combined with the blues and golds of "Labyrinth."  And the other day I stopped at my LNS, just to "look around"....and these pretties followed me home!  (They are actually for a pattern I have and would like to start in the near future, but I'll keep that a secret just in case I fail to finish anything soon and therefore can't start anything.  LOL)

Working tonight until 9:30, regular shift tomorrow and then I'm off to Celebration of Needlework on Wednesday!!  Woo-hoo!

March TUSAL

Since I think this will be her last chance to do so, I let Morticia pose with the Stag Sampler one last time.

Thanks to Beth over on The Wagon bulletin board, who sent me a few extra lengths of Needle Necessities "Painted Desert" to finish the Y and Z!!  All I have left now are the flowers in the bottom band.  The box where the charm is attached is supposed to be filled with 4-sided stitch, but I think I counted wrong - off by 1 stitch somewhere, grrr - so my 4-sided stitches didn't fill it properly.  I was going to add something else, but I think it looks okay with just the charm...

February TUSAL

A quick post with an update from Morticia -

She is posing with the Stag Sampler, which I HAVE finally managed to put aside for a little bit!  I've worked on the Stoney Creek fox cub pattern for a few nights, and since DH will be traveling for work later this week, I might get out Labyrinth then.  Although with just a stitch here and a stitch there, I'm already beginning to doubt my ability to actually FINISH anything during this WIPocalypse....

From Morticia with Love

Woo-hoo, the first TUSAL Report of 2012!! Morticia is feeling lovey-dovey, what with the Valentine's exchange I've been working on....I told her she can't show it off quite yet, though. LOL  But you can see from her contents that I've definitely been seeing RED lately!

I've been a bit consumed with the exchange stitching lately, and neglecting my WIPocalypse pieces.  Naughty - as my daughter would say!  But I'll get back to them soon, and will do my best to have some progress to show for the next check-in....