A very sickly Christmas

I came home from college on the night of Friday the 19th, and by Monday I had acquired, quite impressively I might add, the flu, strep throat, and pink eye in both eyes. Unfortunately, my brother acquired the flu at the same time as me and we gave my parents the flu soon after (although no one else got strep or pink eye), so they are quite sick still. Needless to say, it was not the happiest of Christmases in my household. Although I still have a lingering sore throat and cough and I still have no voice, I am decidedly on the mend. I was even able to cross stitch this evening for the first time since coming home! I'm hoping for a very happy and healthy remaining two weeks of break, full of stitching and reading and spending time with my family, boyfriend, and friends.

Here's my current project, which should have been a Christmas present for my boyfriend, Ben, but was delayed by my illnesses.

"Don't go bacon my heart"

By nerdylittlestitcher on Etsy

Started November 6, 2014

And the other side:

I received an incredibly perfect present from Ben for Christmas: the HAED Honor Restored and all the supplies to stitch it!! So excited for this new start. :) I also received a subscription to Audible from my parents for Christmas, and chose the Fellowship of the Ring for this month's audiobook. I'm definitely going to listen to it while stitching this!

I hope y'all had a merrier Christmas than my family! Happy stitching!

Advent Calendar Blog Hop - Day 16

                                         

I am delighted to be participating in Jo from Serendipitous Stitching's Advent Blog Hop! Sorry all, for being a little late - especially those of y'all across the pond, where I know it's even later! I was in final exams all day. Now I'm almost done with them, and then I get to go home to properly enjoy Christmastime!

Speaking of which, I've done a bit of Christmas-y stitching lately. Not as much as I had planned, because school has been crazy, but I have a small finish to show you! It's from the free kit with issue 220 of the World of Cross Stitching. Isn't this little guy cute? I'm going to make him into a card for my mom! She's the one person I know fully appreciates the love that goes into a cross-stitched card.

I've also made some crochet stars out of all the yarn colors I currently own, which I'm going to finish as ornaments for my mom. I just learned how to crochet not too long ago, so this was an exciting venture, which seemed to go well! Pattern found here.

My best ever Christmas present was very hard to choose. I've received so many wonderful presents throughout the years! This one won out because it has definitely had the most use of any present I have ever received. It's a book chair! You just put a book in it, and the little handles hold it open. You can adjust the angle and everything. I love to read while eating, especially breakfast (when it's too early to talk!), so I have used it almost every day since getting it... oh, maybe eight or nine years ago? I also use it if I just want to read hands-free, or if I need to reference a book when writing a paper. I have spent countless hours enjoying reading while using it! My parents found the perfect present, and I hadn't even known it existed until Christmas day, several years ago.

To those of you to whose comments I have not yet replied, I shall get to it as soon as I'm on break! I've had a tough time with school lately, and just last week received some very upsetting news. Last Friday, my beloved dog, B.J, passed away. He's been like a best friend to me since I was five years old, and I had been looking forward to snuggling with him when I got home this weekend. That's about all I wanted for Christmas! He lived a long and happy life, and I am so blessed to have had him in my life, but I will miss him immensely.


     

A very merry Christmas to you!

A New Obsession!

I'd been meaning to learn for a while... So one weekend I thought, why not now? I bought some hooks and grabbed some yarn I had lying around...

And learned how to crochet!

Now I officially have a new obsession, as of Friday, November 7, 2014. Thank you, Bella Coco of Youtube. I jumped right in with granny squares, learning how to chain and such along the way.

These looked reasonably average-sized.

My first attempt was less than square...

But my second attempt went much better!

The growing army

They're even somewhat close to being the same size!

My total is now at twenty-four, with another on the way. I guess I'm just going to connect them all into a giant wonky green blanket? For now though, I'm content to enjoy the rhythm of crocheting a simple granny square. :)

Lots of Updates (FNWF, TUSAL, etc.)

It's been a long time since I could squeeze in a visit to the blogosphere! Some highlights of the past couple months:

-I returned to Davidson College for my sophomore year

-I read my first Platonic dialogue in the original Ancient Greek

-I watched a ton of Star Trek: Voyager

-I finally started reading A Game of Thrones

And now for stitching updates!

I participated in Friday Night with Friends for the first time last night and did some serious stitching on Little House Needleworks's Famine Relief Chart (Love One Another).

Before:

After:

I'm also quite overdue for a TUSAL update, so here are all my orts since I moved back into school:

And here is the progress that's been made on Tardis 3D since I last posted a picture of it!

After such a long absence from the world of cross stitch blogs, I was crushed to find out just yesterday about the death of Debbie of Debbie's Cross Stitch. She was an amazing person. I found her blog not too long after I first started cross stitching and would check it every day. She inspired me, and she always replied to my comments. When I started my own blog, emulating her, she always commented on my posts with encouraging words. I pray that she has found eternal peace.

LHN's Love One Another

I've had this one going for a while but am only now posting a picture, I think. It's the famine relief piece from Little House Needleworks, "Love One Another." It will be a gift for my grandparents, along with the requested donation going to the charity of their choice. I'm hoping to have it done for Christmas, but I'm sure school will sidetrack me come fall. I've been listening to a lot of C.S. Lewis while stitching this - Mere Christianity, The Great Divorce, etc.

Hummingbird Duo and TUSAL

I'm coming up fast on finals, but I still have some time for stitching! (Probably because I'd go crazy otherwise!) Here's what I've been working on lately, while listening to David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell (which I would highly recommend). All I have left are some Lazy Daisies and a whole lot of back stitching!

And here's my slightly late TUSAL update!

Happy stitching! :)

TARDIS and TUSAL

I've started listening to A Tale of Two Cities while stitching, and I'm really enjoying it! I've made lots of progress on Tardis 3D, stitching away to Dickens:

Here's a (somewhat late) TUSAL update, too!

Happy stitching! :)

A Hectic Freshman Year and the TARDIS

Wow, I went off to college and boom - no free time ever again! I've been getting back into stitching recently, but mostly I've been doing school work for the last several months. I love it and all, but not much time for hobbies.

I've gotten into a few shows on Netflix - Psych, Bones, Lie to Me, Heroes, New Girl, Glee... okay, maybe more than a few! But hey, it's a great break from hard homework. And they just added the Swan Princess to Netflix, which makes me so happy!!

Anyway, this is what I've been working on lately. I started it a while ago, but I don't think I've put it up here yet. It's a 3D Tardis - basically I stitch all the sides, then sew it up into a 3D Tardis somehow. I'll get to that part later, haha! I found the pattern on Etsy, and it was created by Robin Hobbs. It's going to be a present for my boyfriend, Ben. :) Here's the pic!

I'm still on the first page. I've worked mainly on one of the four sides, but as you can see, I've started a second side. It's pretty easy going, but the piece is huge, so it's going to be a looooong project. That's all for now. Happy stitching!