Disney Dreams Collection

Hi everyone, Happy Leap Year!

If you’re a Disney fan, you might be aware of a company that used to produce cross-stitch kits featuring Thomas Kinkade’s art. Despite my interest in them, I never considered buying one as the designs as the ones I came across online didn’t appeal to me. Moreover, being a resident of Canada, the only way for me to purchase them was through online means. Unfortunately, the company went out of business, and the prices skyrocketed. So, I gave up on the idea of owning one of those kits.

I actually kind of forgot about them for a while and then just when watching Flosstube I started thinking about them again and went on a search on eBay.

Now the price I won’t lie to you was probably more than I have ever spent on a kit. I probably wouldn’t have bought it, but my husband told me if I wanted it I should go for it; also adding that lots of things he wanted were pricey too. I did try talking myself out of it; by saying that the kits don’t have the best supplies in them and even the charts have been known to have mistakes, but he just told me that if it was going to be something I would love stitching then it was worth the money.

So I bought it.

Many of you may be wondering whether I am still participating in NNS. Well, I have decided to give up NNS for this special chart and join their other challenge, which is 24/24. However, I do not plan on adding any more starts this year. To make this chart even more special, I have decided to start it on Leap Day, which also happens to be the day I am writing this post.

So I waited till today to open it. I had to first properly put all the threads in so they didn’t fall out. The makers of the kit just pulled the thread in the holes so they could very easily fall out.

I also changed the fabric. It was so thick stuff that it looked almost like burlap. I changed it out for a nice 32-count evenweave.

Here is my start.

Well, that’s it for today. I will post an updated photo when I write my February update post.

Till then, happy stitching. 🪡

End of January Progress

Well happy February everyone! Okay, happy almost end of February. I really planned on making and posting this in about the first to early second week into the month of February. I’ll be honest though, a lot of it just had to do with work draining me to write this. Not that writing these posts is bad just when the brain isn’t working it’s very hard to find even words to talk about everything you want to talk about.

So with that all out of the way let’s get to all the stitching. Now even though February is almost over, all the photos shown really are photo update progress just from January.

July Bird of the Month

I had a finish! This was on my WIPGO board and it was called for January. Now I just had the goal to stitch five hours, but I was so close to a finish that I just pushed through and finished it.

I also finally got my pieces that I finished two years ago, finally framed them. I took these in on Boxing Day actually and I got them back by the second week into January. I love how they turned out, it was so close to how I pictured it in my mind.

From This Day Forward

I worked on this piece for a few hours in the month and was able to get the three quaker motifs.

Dutch Iris

This piece was also called for my January WIPGO and I finally moved on to the green stem part. So yay! I was so happy to stitch in a different colour.

Hedgehogs in Lingonberries

Stitches on this a little bit in the month and so far every time I take it out I love to stitch on it.

Celtic Christmas

Got in some more rows of this section, which for right now feels like it is going slowly.

Hedge Row

This piece I really only stitched on for about an hour maybe two.

Uterus with Flowers

This piece actually gave me a little bit of a problem. So I had changed the colours to red but then when I was taking them out and really looking at them I realized that those colours were not going to work so I then spent the next maybe hour to two hours pulling all kinds of red and really looking lines up together if they would make red roses. I think I finally have gotten the right red but I think I’m going to have to finish one flower to see if I’m going to need to add a little backstitching. Which is why right now I’m focusing on getting the one flower done and not just colour completing sections.

Frog

When I took this out I thought it would be a good idea just to finish all the water stitching and then go back and complete the rest page by page. I think so far it’s been a good idea.

Heart

Made a lot of progress on this and feeling really close to a finish.

Alright well that was my stitching for all of January. Now I am planning to have a few more posts come before the end of February so fingers crossed that, that can happen and then my plan for the February update I’m hoping to post within the first week of March.

So see you all soon and as always…

Happy stitching 🪡

I’ll Show you My Pile if You Show Yours Challenge

Hi everyone.

Can’t believe that January is already over. I know I should maybe feel like January just started but truthfully with how the weather has been I don’t even feel like it’s January at all. We have been having sunny days and melting like we do in March.

So this post I have been wanting to make for a long time now actually, but kept forgetting about it.

So back some time last year a blogger that I read did something that I thought was really neat to do with your WIP’s and I told her that I would do it too. Her blog name is: My Time Stitching here is a link to her blog if you want to take a look, https://wp.me/p2jGA2-1jw

So on one of her blogging posts she talks about how a different blogger that she follows did a thing where they put all their WIP’s on the floor and then take a picture and post it. She did it in her post and then I thought of the great idea of calling it: “I’ll show you my pile if you show me yours.” And I thought the whole idea around it would be if you read a bloggers post that has it then you have to do it and then tag the blogger that you saw it for. It’s a great way to just see a whole picture of all your WIPs and a great idea to get more of us crafting bloggers all together.

I kind of tried to spread them out a bit so it wasn’t just a stack.

This is how they look when they are put away.

Well I hope you all liked my pile of WIP’s and I hope you post yours too.

Happy stitching everyone.

Stitching Goals for 2024

Hi everyone, I hope your first few weeks into the new year have been good and you have all gotten in lots of stitches.

So it’s been a long time since I have made a year of stitching goals.

Now with all of these together it’s a crazy amount of goals, but you know what; I thought why not. I also love making these goals at the start of the year and then at the end of the year looking back and either being super impressed how much I completed or laughing at how I thought I could get that much done.

1. Stick to my No New Starts for the whole year.

2. Complete all of the squares on my WIPGO.

3. Finish “Frog”

4. Finish “Sweet Home”

5. Finish “Stitch in Time”

6. Finish “From this Day Forward” by the end of July.

7. Finish “April Bird of the Month” by the end of March.

8. Finish “July Bird of the Month” before July.

9. Finish “Uterus with Flowers”

10. Finish “Hedge Row”

11. Finish “Celtic Christmas” before December.

12. Finish “Heart” before Mother’s Day.

13. Finish “Warm and Wise” in time to be on the Christmas tree.

14. Finish “January Bird of the Month”

15. Finish “BB-8” in time to gift as a Christmas present.

Well those are my goals for the year. I should be back with another post before next week. Hope everyone is getting in lots of stitching and if it’s freaky cold where you are hope you’re staying warm.

Happy stitching 🪡

My New Starts

Hi everyone, happy New year.

I hope you all had an amazing new year and we’re able to celebrate it the way you want. Whether that was out drinking with friends or like me working the day and then coming home and stitching.

So as lots of you know I am in No New Starts, which the Facebook group is now called WIP Warriors. So when you do No New Starts they allow you to start new projects again from December 12th to the end of December, but you have to get in 200 stitches or 2 hours of stitching to call in a WIP to be in your WIP pile when the new year starts

So here are all the new starts I started in December:

Uterus With Flowers
by: Nikki Pattern
Started: December 12th, 2023

So I guess I haven’t talked about this cause it is a bit personal and even though I’m fine with sharing it I know maybe not everyone wants to read personal things. I will make this quick though. So basically I wanted to do this pattern to commemorate my surgery that I had in October, have my fallopian tubes removed. So I know the picture has them so I am going to move the flowers a little and then not stitch the fallopian tubes. I am also when it’s finished going to get it framed with my hospital bracelet.

This is 2 hours of stitching.

Hedgehogs in Lingonberries
by: Riolis
Started: December 12th,2023

This piece I actually found on Amazon. Since I use my mom’s Amazon account she saw me add that to the cart and then next thing I know she had got it for me and she was texting me saying my kit arrived for me. Such a nice surprise gift. I am not using the fabric that it came with because I really don’t love stitching on 14 count Aida. So even though the threads it came with are wool I am stitching this on 32 count fabric, so it will look very puffed up.

Two hours of stitching.

Hedge Row
By: Plum Street Samplers
Started: December 13th,2023

This pattern I have actually had for a few years now so I am very happy to be starting this piece. I have an idea for fully finishing this with my other little smalls that I have finished already so to match around the same size I am stitching this on a 40 count.

2 hours of stitching.

Heart
By Shepherd Bush
Started: December 17th,2023

So this piece is actually stitched on a plastic canvas bag using pearl cotton thread. This will be a gift to my mom. And since it actually stitched quite fast I think I might get it done for Mother’s Day.

2 hours of stitching.

Celtic Christmas
By Rosewood Manor
Started: December 15th,2023

If many of you have been reading you know that I had stitched a stocking for our cat Midnight, well now that we have a dog I knew she needed a stocking too. Eventually I will stitch one for Jaden and I.

2 hours of stitching.

Bird of the Month- January
By Stoney Creek
Started: December 21st,2023

Well I finally started the last of my birds of the month series. Now all I have to do is get them finished and then I’ll have the whole series done. Can’t wait for that. I had first started the series back in 2019. Can’t believe that it has taken this many years to get them all started and finished.

2 hours of stitching.

Warm and Wise
By: Winter Cheer Mill Hill
Started: December 19th,2023

Well I am finally doing another Christmas ornament. This actually belongs to a series where I have already finished one of them like maybe two or three years ago and with a sale from 123Stitch.com I decided it was time I got the rest of the three charts. I only started one though.

2 hours of stitching.

BB-8
By: Nikki Pattern
Started: December 30th,2023

And last new start has to be a gift for my husband. I did the R2-D2 and this is the companion piece.

2 hours of stitching.

Well that’s all my new starts! I now have 20 WIP’s and can’t believe that, I’ve never had that many before.

I hope everyone is having a great first month into the new year.

Happy stitching everyone! ❤️

My 2023 Finishes

Hi everyone! It’s almost the new year, and if you have been reading my blog for a while you know what that means. Time for a look at all my finishes of the year and also a tally of all the finishes of previous years.

So I actually started stitching when I was 13 years old, while doing a little math it was 2009 when I started stitching. I don’t have any records of my first couple years of stitching as I wasn’t writing anything down that I started or finished.

2016 saw one finish, maybe two, but looking back at my records it shows only one.

2017 saw nine finishes.

2018 saw eight finishes.

2019 saw six finishes.

2020 got a big 12 finishes.

2021 saw two finishes.

2022 saw 12 finishes and then one UFO that I’m going to finish as is, so can you call that 13 then?

And 2023 saw 5 finishes.

Mrs. Delicious
Started:2December 15,2022 Finished: April 29,2023 Mr. Delicious
Started: December 16,2022 Finished: October 21,2023

These two pieces were very fun to stitch and they now hang in our kitchen. I did frame these myself and you might be able to kind of tell by the photo that I am still not that great at stretching the piece and getting it into the frame. Yes, I have still not been able to lace the back so it is actually taped to the paper and then placed in the frame. I know over many years and years the tape will wreck the fabric but by then I will be long gone and also there will still be a lot of borders around.

With my husband and I not having kids I am really not worried about pieces lasting forever. I just want them to last and look nice for my life time. If after that when I’m gone someone finds it at a thrift store and throws the piece out and just uses the frame again for their own something, I’m fine with that. I stitch these pieces for me to enjoy stitching and then for me and others to enjoy in my house as art work.

R2-D2
Started: December 17,2022 Finished: November: 17,2023

This is the gift I gave my husband this year for Christmas. If you have been reading here for a long time you know I stitch my husband at least one thing a year for him. I even did this when we were dating. This piece was actually not fun to stitch. It was a lot of whites and off whites and a lot of colours. And even when I did get a lot of stitches in some days it took a very long time before this piece started looking like something. For a long time it was just a big blob.

Be Mine Always
Started: December 14,2022 Finished: March 11,2023

This piece I stitched for my husband for our 2nd wedding anniversary. Since the second wedding anniversary is giving a gift of cotton. The fabric is cotton but the thread is and the backing fabric I picked is cotton.

I finished the piece myself. I got hoop frames from Amazon and they are very strong, so when you place it in you better hope it’s in the right place because they are very hard to separate again. I then put some pillow filler in and with a glue gun glued the backing fabric on.

Love to Stitch
Started: December 16,2022 Finished: March 4,2023

This is my last little finish. It was a very fun little stitch and I really enjoyed stitching it.

Well that’s it everyone. And since it is the last day of the year I guess I won’t see you all till next year. I hope everyone gets in lots of stitching and crafting this New Years Eve.

Happy New Year and happy stitching!

My WIPGO

So, what is WIPGO?

Think, BINGO but with your WIP’s instead.

A note to all though, before I talk about this, is that this is not my idea at all. There is a Facebook group called “WIPGO” where you can join and find all about it and share your goals and accomplishments.

So, basically you have a BINGO board and in place of your numbers you put your WIP’s or even stitching goals or even starts. Really you could go to the group and see all of peoples ideas and what they’re doing, cause there are so many that I wouldn’t be able to list them all here. Then the maker of the idea that also runs the group will pull two numbers for the WIPGO board a few days before the month and then whatever is on that number for your board you try to do in that month. Some people then do the board till they have a BINGO and then what others do and what I’m doing is completing all the squares for the year.

For my board I put all WIP’s and each square goal is to stitch on that WIP for five hours.

I made my board by finding an app, that lets you make your own BINGO boards.

Here is mine.

I really hope that this will help me get more stitching on bigger pieces and then also maybe some finishes too.

I am going to make another post before the year is over to show you all my starts that I have done before my third year of No New Starts comes.

Our Hiking Journey-Tea House

We did this hiking trip on October 10th, 2023

We have gone to Luke Louise before but we have never done any hiking there or even just gone to the lake, most of the time we just stay for a few hours and just pass through.

This time though since we are getting into hiking and for October in Canada even near mountains and glaciers the weather was pretty nice so we decided to take a nice hike.

There is a wide trail with easy walking that is just along the whole lake, it’s only a little over 2km.

We chose to do the hike up to the Tea House, where they are open and sell hot drinks and soup and sandwiches.

The views were just so beautiful. I loved that I got so many wonderful pictures.

The hike was a lot of hiking upward and I had forgotten my hiking poles. So if you have bad knees or just not great with a lot of upclimb bring your hiking poles.

Lucy loved this hike. She kept wanting to climb up some of the sides of the mountain that was on part of the trail. She also at the start of the trail kept jumping into the shallow parts of the lake, which was so cute and also so nice to watch because when we first took her to a body of water like a lake she was so scared to go in. I’m hoping when summer comes again I can try again at getting her to be my swimming buddy.

It did rain some as we were hiking, but even with all the rocks it wasn’t as slippery as I thought it was going to be. Still had to go a little slower climbing on some of the rocks but luckily no slipping for me.

I didn’t end up taking any pictures of the Tea House cause it was actually closed, so we had planned to get something to eat there cause we thought it was open. We didn’t bring any food with us so as soon as we got there we rested for a bit and then Jaden and I both were very hungry so we headed back down so we could get something to eat.

I hope that next time we go it’s open and we can rest and eat and I can get great pictures.

Our Hiking Journey-Half of Grey Owl Trail

We went on this hike on August 12th, 2023

I should have made this blog post a long time ago, but honestly life just kind of got in the way and then of course I forgot about it and here we are.

The weather was great. Lots of water as a lot of the trail is close to the lake.

The full trail is a full 29km just to get to Grey Owls Cabin. There are a few stopping camp sites that you can camp at and since we didn’t think we could do a whole 29km when we started at around noon time. The hike to just Chipewyan camp site was a little over 7km.

This is our camp site. Lucy loved relaxing and I did get to do a tiny bit of stitching.

We didn’t see much wildlife but on our hike back the next day Lucy spotted a little chipmunk. Luckily she was a good girl and didn’t try to run in the bushes to chase after it.

The trip was great and we have plans that next summer we will do the whole hike to Grey Owls Cabin. I can’t wait.

I know this post is really late and it’s also a short post, hope that’s okay. I’m going to try and catch up on my posting before the end of the year.

Three Months of Stitching

Well, somehow time has gotten away from me and it has been three months since I have last shared any of my stitching.

I had wanted to make a post a few times a month, but I’ll be honest every time I think of making a post I feel like I don’t have enough to show. I don’t stitch every day so I always look at my progress in the week or in the month as so little. Now though that it has been three months I have lots to share with you.

Hope this post doesn’t get too long.

Victoria Charm
Dimensions Kit

Worked only a little on this, but then decided to put it away for the rest of the year. I wanted to work on more of my pieces that are closer to getting a finish, since this year I have only finished three pieces. Which I find kind of sad as I feel like I have made lots of stitches but yet haven’t had many finishes.

I’m hoping with only stitching on my WIP’s that are close to finishing that I can get a few more finishes in before the end of the year.

The rest of my WIP’s that I’m showing are all WIP’s close to getting finished.

Sweet Home
DMC Chart

I didn’t get a lot more on this piece, but every stitch counts. This piece is sometimes hard for me to work on as this is the piece that I was last working on when grandma passed away. I would visit my grandma in the hospice care home and bring my cross stitch. I would just sit with her and stitch. I ended up finishing two other pieces during that time. This piece was the piece I was stitching on the last time I visited her before she passed away about a week later.

A Stitch in Time
Mill Hill Kit

Mr. Delicious

This piece is actually what I took on our first hiking trip this year. Easy and small to care so worked great. I was actually very tired after the hike so I didn’t do that much stitching.

July Bird of the Month

This is what I worked on, our last hiking trip that we just went on a few weeks ago, which I will be making a hiking post of that hike soon(hopefully). I’m really getting close to finishing this piece, but since this month I’m focusing on a different WIP I think I’ll finish this next month.

And finally just had to share this cute picture of both my fur babies sleeping beside me while I stitch.

Well, hopefully the next stitching update won’t be three months later. I hope everyone’s summer was great and that the weather is still nice out.

Have some great more stitching days till I write to you all again.