So Close: November GG

Hello all this is my post for November's GG.  Gifted Gorgeousness is run by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.  It seems like I do a lot of her SALs lol.  As always my GG piece is Paradise which is a present for my cousin for their wedding.  

The so close is that I'm so close to another two pages being finished.  Well one really but I'm stitching two pages at a time so I'm just counting them together and updating my progress bar with the finish.  I'm also so close to starting my job.  I'm supposed to start on Friday.  They were a little late getting me the paperwork I need so I hope that doesn't affect the start date.  I had to get a tb test and fingerprinting so I did all that on Friday and got the results of the tb today.  So they should have all of that paperwork tomorrow.  I'm having trouble determining when my time off is for thanksgiving break.  We have flights booked from before I got the job for Monday through Friday.  One of the school sites says they're off those days but the other sites says only thurs-fri but nobody will give me the actual dates.  They said I'll get my schedule at my orientation which means I would have like 1 day to change my flight.  So frustrating.  It's been bugging me but I've been trying to let it go.  I think it's the full week but the problem is out of their dozen or so locations only two are off the full week but I'm not sure if one of those is my location because their website is very confusing.

Well that was longer than I was expecting lol onto the pictures!

Last GG:

This time:

Almost 4 pages!  Wow really?  I'm really only missing a hundred stitches and like 6 colors.  It seems like I'm always a few stitches short.  I would've had the page finish today but we spent the whole day out lol.  I won't have this much progress again for a long time.  I start my school on the first and that's going to take up most of my time.

Update:  I finished the page about 2 hours after I posted :D

New Start and Element Finish

Hello again faithful readers!  I have to say I've been over the moon the last few days.  Why you may ask?  I got a job!!  After being here for two months I'm happy to say I'll be a tutor at one of the alternative schools doing everything from K-12.  There were two jobs I was in the top running for and although I didn't get the other one I was told I was their second choice and the other person simply had more experience.  I was really surprised I got this job as it said I needed to have 2-3 years of tutoring experience and I have none.  But I am starting my masters program for teaching in December.  The best part is that the job pays $10,000 more a year than I was hoping for.  Now I can finally start paying off my student loans enough to make a dent.  I have to buy another car first though since this job is about 45 minutes away.  I'm planning on joining a gym as well and hubby wants to join me but I wanted to go before work so I have stitchy time and he'd rather go after so we'll see how it works out.

But you're here for stitching and I have some fun stuff to show!

First up is Paradise.  I finished the sun!  I don't have a page finish yet but I'm close.  I'll probably have it tomorrow.  I also started the third line of text.  So progress is being made.

Here it was last time:

And here I am now:

The sun shows up a little better in person.  It's crazy how it blends in though just like the real sun.  I'm really hoping I can get the lines out of the piece but I'm about 99% sure I will.  In this case they're caused because the fabric is really thin.  So once I fill in the space behind it it should be fine.  I would test it but I have to do it in hand.  

The other stitching I have to show is...A New Start!  Yep I haven't had an official new start since I started Paradise.  What did I choose?  

Annya Kai's Rapunzel by HAED!  The bright pink is such a welcome change.  Haed is running a challenge on their Facebook page to do 400 stitches on any of their pieces and we get an exclusive chart.  Hey it was a good excuse for me!  So I decided I wanted to try cross country stitching and I also wanted to try 1 over 1 evenweave with pin stitch.  It turned out really well if I do say so myself.  I hadn't seen a tutorial on an evenweave over 1 pin stitch so I used the same instructions as aida and split the threads.the method I'm using also means I can do it all from the front so I don't have to turn it over at all.  So that's all of 718 done as there were 454 total stitches in it.  It's the sleeve and bodice of the dress as well as part of the skirt.  I'm really wanting to go back to her but I will fight the urge and continue on with Paradise.  I have a little more black done on Halloween Banner Green but not enough to show.  

I also got a ton of new fabric.  The lns near me is closing and is selling everything for 80% off.  They didn't have much white left but I got around 10 yards of fabric for $65 including some cashel and Belfast linen.

The top one is 32ct as well.  They're each around 2 yards and I'm going to use it for dyeing hopefully to sell.  I may try to leach the color first using rit color remover but I'm still deciding.  I was so thrilled with the price and there's another lns not far but they don't have a great fabric selection.

I don't start my job until the 20th and I'm not sure if we get off the whole week of thanksgiving or only a few days but I hope I find out soon because I may have to change my flights.  But I'm pretty sure my uniform consists of jeans and a company polo so I'm happy since I live in my jeans :). So now that I have the job I can spend my days til then stitching instead of searching!  I'm just waiting for them to send me my background check info so I can be official.  Thanks for stopping by I'll see you all with another page finish (more likely two).  I'm off to create my progress bar for Rapunzel!

Another Post=Another Page Finish!

My needle has been flying as I spent my Halloween finishing up my page on Paradise while watching Halloween movies.  

Last post I was here:

Now I'm here:

I'm going to start with the sun so I can see how it fits in the U.  Well after I do the letters because I have to stitch those first.

I took a picture after each color unless there was only one stitch in that color.  I'm posting them below if you're interested :). If not thanks for stopping by I'll see you next time!

Happy Halloween Blog Hop!

Happy Halloween everyone!  This post is part of the blog hop sponsored by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.  If you want to participate head over there and go to each blog to spell out the mystery phrase.  Then email it to Jo for a chance to be in the drawing.

I've made some more progress on Halloween Banner Green:

And your letter is in the pic above ;).  Hint: it's on the stitching. If you can't figure it out I'll post it at the bottom as well.

Your next stop is Fireflies Cats in the Garden

So head on over there and say hi to Noni.

I hung up my other banners finally and got them finished finished :). I did them as bell pulls.  I cut the dowels and painted them an oil rubbed bronze color. Then I added some twine as the hanging mechanism.  I love how they turned out.

I carved my pumpkin Thursday night and love how it came out:

Carving pumpkins is my favorite part of Halloween.

If you didn't see the letter don't worry.  It's: U

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a happy Halloween!

October SFS and a Page Finish!

I've been a stitching machine!  I have a page finish.  Well 2 actually since the last post.  But first up is SFS.  It's hosted by Mel at Epic Stitching and is a way for us to keep track of our stitching spending so we actually stitch from our stash.

Carryover: $59

Allotment: $25

Spent: $9

Total: $75

I had to buy a couple of colors for paradise because I'm running low finally.  I had to get more 444 and 972.  I would have needed more 742 but I had already bought some on accident several months ago.  I also bought some new fabric for a RAK I received but I'm thinking of returning it and buying it from haed instead.  The fabric is a thin 32ct linen which is actually what I'm stitching paradise on now but I prefer 28ct and haed has good prices.  We'll see though.  Want to see my RAK?  (Lol that sounded dirty)

Isn't she gorgeous?  :D. It's my first ever RAK of a chart and I was so happy to get it!  I won a joke contest in the Facebook haed page.  

And speaking of paradise I have gotten a lot done!

Last time I was almost to the bottom:

And now I've finished that page and the next page:

Since I'm stitching 2 pages at a time I'll go down with one color completely before starting the next so I'm actually about a page and a half done.  The needle marks the end of the page and the next set of pages takes us to the sun and also to the beginning of the bottom line of words.  I didn't plan it that way but I like it :). My last post for this piece was on the 15th so I've completed a page and a half in 2 weeks.  Nuts!  But a good nuts :)

As far as my private life is going I just got an email to set up the final interview at a school district.  I had to take a test and then have an initial interview first.  I also had an interview for a temporary position but haven't heard anything yet.  Both of the interviews were on Friday.  The test had around 40 people in it and they invited the top 10 to do the initial interview.  I don't know how many are getting the final interview but I'm hoping it's 5 or less :). Or even better that it's just me and they want to make sure I fit in LOL.  I'm hoping I get this one as it pays really well and I'd get holidays off.  Cross your fingers for me and I'll see you next time with hopefully a job and another page finish :). Well my next next post since my next post will be on Halloween for Jo's Halloween blog hop

Wow!

Thanks Shelly!  I was the lucky winner of a giveaway over at Arizona Stitcher and I received it last night.  It was far beyond my expectations and I love it all!  

Some close ups:

I got a cool kitchen towel, ghost and witch decorations, a candle, some Halloween tissues, skull earrings, some cool skull stickers which I might make into needleminders, a cool Halloween biteand some stitchy stuff including a kit for a pin keep which I is great since I don't have one yet, a needleminders of the Raven which is one of my favorite Edgar Allen Poe story, some Halloween colors of DMC and a great card to round it all out!

On another note I have 2 job interviews set up on Friday so I'm crossing my fingers and toes!  The first one is the one I would love because it's at the superintendents office as a clerical worker and it pays well.  I already did the intake exam which narrowed the field from around 40 candidates to 10.  I think there are 2 interviews for that position.  The second interview is at a school as a student advisor.  It's temporary but might turn into permanent.  I have no idea how long the position is for though.  But I'd be thrilled with either of them!  I'm really excited but really nervous too.  At least I know the candidate pool of the first one.  I've made good progress on Paradise too but I'll save that for a little later.  Wish me luck and thanks a ton Shelly!

October GG

It's the 15th again which means it's time again for Gifted Gorgeousness hosted by Jo from Serendipitous Stitching.  I'm stitching a present for my cousins wedding which was actually this past weekend.  Needless to say I'm not even close.  I showed her my most recent pic though so she knows what she's getting.

Last month I was here:

Now I'm here:

So close to the bottom!

I didn't get a ton of pics from the wedding but here are a few:

Sorry they're from my computer and I'm posting from my phone.  It was a ton of fun!  When I get the official photos I'll post a few more.  Thanks for stopping by I'll see you all next week!