Heart, Hounds & Hobbies

June 16, 2021

Hello stitchers and happy WIP Wednesday! Usually this would be my weekly Stitches & Pages post, however it’s been a rough road the past couple days, so this week I’m just doing a simple WIP Wednesday update. A little explanation on why it’s been rough is that I had a small medical procedure on Monday. I’ve been having them regularly for over a year, that’s a longer story, but the lead up to the day has me very anxious and then because of the medication I take for the procedure I’m pretty wiped out for a couple days afterwards. So I haven’t had a lot of mental energy to dedicate to stitching and reading.

Since I realized I did not have the energy to work on any of my larger projects, or anything that required large amounts of attention, I thought that that I would try to see if I could finish up I Love You Deerly this week. There’s not that much more to stitch, and I can work on it in small increments throughout the week so that’s what I’ve been doing. Here are a few progress shots I can share, sorry about the glare from my iPad I was watching a movie one night while stitching.

This past week I’ve also been doing a lot of coloring. Coloring for me has always been a therapeutic outlet when I didn’t have the time or motivation to stitch. While I love to use the medium of colored pencils and paper coloring books, I have found that coloring on my iPad is a very similar mental release for me. I’ve been using a coloring app called Pigment and I really love the different textures, color palettes, and the variety of images to color. Also the ability to either color every thing freehand or use a simple touch to fill technique is a great option so your coloring page can be as complicated or as simple as you need it to be. So I thought I’d share a few of my completed coloring pages this week.

That’s it for this update, thanks for reading and have a blessed week.

June 8, 2021

Hello my friends and thank you for returning to my blog. Summer is in full swing here in North Carolina and I have been busy making friends with the deer and feeding the hummingbirds. My hope is that this year will be the year I finally get a doe to take an apple from my hand, and there is one in particular that has been coming by regularly for apples. So far she has come as close as an arm’s length away. Unfortunately, I am not going to have any video or photo evidence because I discovered that she is very skittish when it comes to me having my phone out for pictures. Maybe if hubby is home when she comes around I can get him to snap a few shots. Now to move on to what I’ve been stitching and reading.

Monday Morning Rotation

This week I’m rotated off Morning Dog by Joan Elliot. I am really happy with how this cute little basset beagle is coming along. The more I stitch, the more details start showing up, and the more he looks like my sweet dear Duke who we lost this past Christmas. In fact my husband got this for me as a little Christmas present this year, because he thought it would remind me of Duke. Usually, I avoid patterns or kits that utilize fractional stitches because I work on Aida and it can be difficult to work those stitches of Aida. However, I really wanted to stitch this and I found a hack that makes stitching the fractional stitches much easier on Aida and shared that with my first cross stitch TikTok.

On The Frame

This week I made solid progress on Animal Almanac blocks 9 & 10. It feels a little weird stitching something fall themed right now, given that we’re having 80+ degree days, but I still love the pumpkins and fall leaves. Now I don’t want to jinx myself, but I think I should be finished with these two blocks by Thursday and ready to rotate. By rights I should move on to what’s next in the rotation which is Midnight Way, however everyone sharing their pictures of Cozy Café is making me want to pull that one back out. We’ll see if I stick to my rotation or give in to the desire to stitch up some cute cafe cups.

Bookmark Status

Currently I’m reading The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. I am reading this along with a another bibliophile friend who is reading it for a book club. Unfortunately, we live in different states so I can’t attend her book club but we thought it be fun for me to just read along with one of their choices. I’ve only just started reading so I have no thoughts, yet.

That’s it for this update, thanks for reading and have a blessed week.

June 1, 2021

Hello my friends! I hope you all had a lovely Memorial Day weekend and thank you to all those who serve our counrty and your families. If you haven’t noticed, I skipped last week’s post, I just wasn’t feeling well and had totake some time to rest. Thankfully, I am feeling much better today and am excited for the start of June. In today’s post, I want to take a look at my stitching activity for May and my current reading plans.

May Stitching Review

May felt like a busy month for me, but it looks like I did manage to get a good variety of stitching done. I am most excited about the progress on I Love You Deerly. It is just the cutest thing I have ever stitched and I can’t wait to finish it and hang it on my wall. Most all my other pieces are moving along at a ready pace, except Animal Almanac. I had hoped I would be almost finished blocks 9 & 10 by now and preparing to rotate my frame project. Maybe I’ll catch a fresh stitch bug and make some good progress this coming week.

Bookmark Status: Upcoming Reading Plans

Now that I am coming off my mental reading break, I am ready to hit the pages with ferociousness! So I thought I would share my plan of attack with my current TBR Next list. I think I have created a pretty eclectic list covering a variety of genres, hopefully that will keep everything interesting and moving along.

Here is my upcoming reading list, most likely in TBR order:

• The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
• Lost in the Never Woods by Aidan Thomas
• The Baffling Burglaries of Bath by Leighann Dobbs
• Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz
• The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes by Ruth Hogan
• Murder at Monday Castle by Issa Brooke
• Lethal White by Robert Galbraith
• Stalking Jack The Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco
• Dyer Consequences by Maggie Sefton

That’s it for this update, thanks for reading and have a blessed week.

May 18, 2021

Hello my friends, I hope this post finds you all well and healthy. This past week was great and stressful in so many ways. Of course I started off the week leaving after a wonderful visit with my family in Pennsylvania, then the week ended with multiple doctors appointment. Despite that chaos and stress I feel like I’m back into the swing of our daily routine and activities.

Monday Morning Rotation

So this week I am putting away I Love You Dearly by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery and moving onto the next piece in rotation. These cute little deer got some additional time during this rotation because they went with me on our trip last weekend. I’m really pleased with how it’s turning out. The deer are absolutely adorable and I should be able to get most of the border done the next time they come out.

On The Frame

Last week I didn’t really get a lot of work in on Animal Almanac. Unfortunately, I came home from PA with some friction burns on the side of my index fingers on both hands. Only two late did I realize that the extendable leash I was using with the dogs while we were visiting was causing some friction and irritation. Anyway thanks to some Cortizone and Shea butter they healed up pretty well and I was able to get some stitching done on the adorable barn in block nine between Sunday and Monday. Hopefully this coming week I will make even more progress as I am back in my regular stretching routine.

Bookmark Status

I finally finished And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie on our drive home from Pennsylvania. I want to say that I loved it because, well, it’s Agatha Christie, but I actually didn’t love it. I think because there was no detective, no Hercule Poriot or Miss Marple to be our guide as they investigated the mysterious deaths surrounding Soldier Island. Also I wasn’t a fan of the epilogue, but that’s OK, no one needs to love every single book written by their favorite author or even from the Queen of Mystery. Moving forward, I am giving myself a mental break from reading novels and plan on catching up with articles and blogs I’ve been meaning to read.

That’s it for this update, thanks for reading and have a blessed week.

May 10, 2021

Hello from PA! This past week was hectic and stressful but ended on a wonderful note, as I am currently visiting with family I haven’t seen in over a year. Definitely love seeing everyone and even did some stitching while watching the race on Sunday with my Dad. For today’s post, I want to take a look and my reading and stitching activity from April.

April Stitches

April was a fairly decent stitching month, even if I did have a few struggles. Moonlight Owl gave me huge issues when it came to the beading, but Cozy Cafe’s Raspberry Mocha stitched up lovely. Morning Dog is starting to come to life and I’m hoping to get some traction on Animal Almanac when we get back home.

April Reads

April was not what I would call a successful reading month. There were many factors that led to my minimal number of pages read, including the fact that I fell into a rut of just not wanting to read. However I did start off the month with an excellent book: Shadows In Time. This is the fifth installment of the Kendra Donovan mystery series this was my favorite read of the month. Hopefully I will be more motivated in May to read and make my way through my TBR pile; which includes some cozy mysteries, some book club fiction reads, and some new releases from some favorite authors.

That’s it for this update, thanks for reading and have a blessed week.

May 4, 2021

Hello May! Even though I can’t believe it is May already, I am so excited for spring & summer. This month is especially aweseome because, now that I am vaccinated, we are making the trip soon to go visit with family! How nice it will be to see them all face to face, give hugs, chat, even just spend time in the same room, instead of behind the barrier of FaceTime. This week I am in the pre-trip preperation phase, but I am trying to still make time for stitching and reading in between all my tasks.

Monday Morning Rotation

My weekly roatation project this past week was Midnight Owl by Mill Hill. Boy did I have some trouble getting traction with this one. Last time this was out, I had finished all the cross stitches and it was ready for beading & back stitching. To get started with the beading, I wanted to start putting the brown beads on the Owl. The chart called for the Mill Hill bead “sable”. After I went through the bags and separated the beads, I found the supplied “sable” beads. They looked really red. According to the description sable is a reddish brown color which is fine, but these beads were red red. So I started putting them on thinking maybe once I added them and they were in there amongst the brown threads they would blend like the sample picture, but they were not blending and I was not happy with how they were looking. So I decided to frog them out and I ordered some different beads. In the mean time, I finished out the rotation with Midnight Owl by working on adding the crystal blue beads to the sky. Hopefully, the beads I ordered will work out better than what was supplied.

On The Frame

Over on my Millennium Frame I have returned to working on Animal Almanac by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. This was the 2020 SAL which I fell behind on pretty bad. Still, it is an adorable piece and I can’t wait to have it finished. Currently I am working on blocks 9 & 10 and planning on rotating again when I finish those 2 blocks. Last week I did have a few sick days so I haven’t made as much progress as I would like, but I still think it is coming along nicely.

Bookmark Status

I am almost half way through And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. I’m sorry to say that my reading habit has been on a cold streak lately. I am going to atribute it to the fact that my mind has been preoccupied with other things and the fact that by the time I get into bed (which is when I usually read for a bit) I am so tired I just go right to sleep. But, we have an 8 hour car ride coming up very soon, so undoubtedly I will have some uninteruppted reading time then.

That’s it for this update, thanks for reading and have a blessed week.

April 27, 2021

Happy Monday! Well, last week I got my second COVID Vaccine dose, so now we’re in the countdown to being able to visit our family. My nephews have grown so much over the nearly 18 months since I’ve seen the last. I can’t wait to get some quality time with them and the rest of my family. In the meantime, here in NC spring hasn’t quite made up it’s mind yet. Most days are beautiful, but we are having a bit of a cold snap. However, do plan to return to my landscape & gardening plans and hopefully will have some pictures to share soon from the garden. In the meantime, let’s talk about the important things: stitching and reading!

Monday Morning Rotation

My weekly roatation project this week has been I Love You Deerly, by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. This is probably the cutest pattern I have ever worked on. My husband is encouraging me to add our names and wedding date to this piece but I haven’t decided if I’m going to do that yet. However I do know that I am building a hoop pattern collection in my stash, so at some point in the future I should have a cross stitched hoop wall. Alas it’s time to put the two sweet little deers away for a little bit and work on something else.

On The Frame

Over on my Millennium Frame I have been working on Clue 1 of Cozy Cafe by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery, the 2021 SAL. And I am happy to report that my Raspberry Mocha is finished, complete with beaded raspberries on top. I can’t imagine any of the other drinks being as adorable as this one, but I’m quite certain they will all be beautiful. Even though Clue 2 was just released on Friday, I am still going to rotate this piece out and work on the next project in rotation. I’m very happy with how my rotations are going this year so far. I feel like I’m making the most progress and getting the most enjoyment out of my stitching. Additionally, I don’t feel like I’m stuck on one particular piece at a time. I’m getting to work on multiple projects that I like, so it’s been really joyful this year to commit to a steady rotation. Therefore Cozy Café will be going away for a while and I believe Animal Almanac is next up in the rotation. This is also by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. In fact all four of my current frame projects are by them do you think I play favorites with my designers?

Bookmark Status

As far as reading goes, this week was still a slow one for reading. In fact I was having a conversation with a friend over the weekend, she is also an avid reader, and we were discussing how we can sometimes get into a rut when it comes to our reading activity. There are just times when we don’t read as much as we normally do, for any number of reasons. So I think I’m in a rut now, although I am reading every day, I’m having a hard time making the making my typical progress. That means I am still chewing through my latest Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None. However, I am enjoying what I’m reading and that’s the most important part.

That’s it for this update, thanks for reading and have a blessed week.

April 19, 2021

Happy Monday! What a week it has been! It started off so strong last Monday, then unfortunately I became ill by Thursday and by Saturday I had a flare up of my back injury. So for the last few days I’ve been resting and binge watching A Discovery of Witches. I’ve also been stitching a lot as well, it’s an excellent distraction from pain. Hopefully this coming week will be less painful and more productive.

Monday Morning Rotation

My “weekend” project this week has been Purple Chick by Mill Hill. This is the first two sided piece I’ve ever done, but I love trying new things. This cutie is taking a little bit of time, the symbols used in this pattern like to play tricks with my eyes. Still, it’s going to be really cute once it’s done.

On The Frame

Over on my Millennium Frame I am still working on Cozy Cafe by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery, the 2021 SAL. The first segment is Raspberry Mocha and I am almost ready to put some beads on those raspberries! Some stitchers are waiting until the very end to do the beads so they don’t get squished in Q-snaps and such. Since my frame rolls, and I don’t think I will be rolling it up by much, I’m going to bead as I go along.

Bookmark Status

Sadly I have not been doing much reading this week. However, I have gotten started on And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. It’s been so long since I read Agatha Christie, then my husband got me started with a copy of Death On The Nile for Christmas. Since then I’ve been enjoying delving into the Hercule Poriot adventures.

That’s it for this update, thanks for reading and have a blessed week.

April 10, 2021

It’s been a hot minute since I last did a blog post. One would think that during the pandemic it would be a perfect time to blog, having all that free time to write and what not. It seems, however, that I am not the only one who didn’t do as much with their “pandemic free time” as they thought they would. Plus, during 2020, and still this year, I was dealing with some medical issues, so it was a two fold rocky year for us. Still, I’ve decide to return to blogging and figured the best way would be to just jump right into it. So here is a weekly check in of what I’ve been stitching, reading, and anything else I’d like to share.

Monday Morning Rotation

Monday Mornings is when I rotate out my “weekend” project, well weekend is more of a loose descriptor. What I call my weekend projects are smaller pieces that are either stitched in hand or on a small Q-snap. These projects I switch out every week and I only keep four going at a time, but I also work on these during my early morning coffee and devotional time and at bedtime. Having these smaller projects means I can have some finishes and new starts while still enjoying my larger frame projects.

This morning we are rotating out Morning Dog by Joan Elliott. This adorable kit was a Little Christmas gift from my husband. He had bought it earlier in the year, then just before Christmas our Duke crossed the Rainbow Bridge. The basset hound in this piece looks so much like our Duke that my husband almost didn’t want to give it to me, fearing that it would be too upsetting. But I thoroughly enjoy stitching this cute boy up and recalling all the fond memories of my little Stinkbutt the whole time.

On The Frame

Over on my Millennium Frame I am working on Cozy Cafe by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. In contrast to my weekend projects, my frame projects do not rotate as frequently and they are worked on when I can sit down and dedicate a significant amount of time to stitching. Usually that means an hour or two in the afternoon while watching a movie or TV show. For the frame projects, I work on them until I come to a natural stopping point or, as in the case of a SAL, the end of segment.

Cozy Cafe is the 2021 SAL for Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery and, as a self confessed coffee addict, how could I not stitch this one. The first segment is Raspberry Mocha and I can not wait to put some beads on those raspberries! I’ve made good progress so far, and I hope to have this section finished by the weekend so I can switch it out until the next section is released.

Bookmark Status

Currently I am 58% into Shadows in Time, the most recent installment of the Kendra Donovan series by Julie McElwain. Thus far this latest tale of Kendra’s life in the 19th Century has not disappointed me in the least. In fact, when I last put the Kindle down, I was at a very exciting plot development. It won’t be long before I have to delve back into the story. Most likely many chores will be delayed this week as I procrastiread (to read when you should be doing housework).

That’s it for this update, thanks for reading and have a blessed week.