I realized I hadn't done this yet for 2014.
This is the list of finishes. I realize there have been years where I have had a lot more finishes, but I think I am still out-performing my expectations of myself. I worked on some bigger projects this year. Roughly 2 1/2 months were given to Santa's Pets, which is still not done and can not appear on this list, the same fate as a few other projects I started. Maybe they'll be on the list for 2015? The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery alone took over a month, so putting 19 finishes in an 8 month span, including 5 UFOs, I'm pleased.
17 December--Sailing Mice--Margaret Sherry, July 2007 Cross Stitcher
12 December--Happy Camper-Just Cross Stitch, June 2006
27 October--Mysterious Town of Halloween SAL-Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery
30 September--freebie
30 July--Blackbird's Winter Delivery--Loose Feathers
18 July--The Cinnamon Bear--Kitty and Me Country Crafts--2001 JCS.
7 July--Are you My Mother-Bent Creek.
27 June--Twinkle--SamSarah Pearls
17 June--Peaches, Crescent Colours/LHN Collaboration
13 June--June D. Morgan calendar--Leisure Arts
11 May--Starlight Sampler--Little House Needleworks
17 April--Giving Us Spring-Sanman Originals
3 April--Wave--Bent Creek
31 March--SNN kit
26 March--Woof tuck-Sanman Designs
25 March-Apples and Applesauce--Pitter Patterns
23 February-Baked Goods--LHN Ornament series
1 February-Freebie--LK
28 January-Joy to the World--Lizzie Kate
19 January-Lamb-Barnyard Christmas-Prairie Schooler-2001 JCS
Definite highlights of the year were getting the chart to finish Sailing Mice and buckling down to complete Happy Camper and Blackbird's Winter Delivery.
Branching out to kawaii cross stitch has been a change for me, and
finding the Youtube community has been, now that I've watched them for a
while, really pleasant to find. I even have gotten more involved with
the different groups on FB, which for me is a big step. I sometimes feel very isolated, since I work out of the house most days, live out in the boonies, and don't have close friends in the neighborhood, especially not ones that stitch.
And I feel like my efforts to organize are going to really help my stitching. Putting all the charts in boxes together, all the fabric together, all the threads, it takes a lot of the stress out of trying to find things. So I can put that towards being productive. Speaking of which, I put everything I wanted to work on in a pretty box, so I can pull from that and go, so it will be so easy to just work on a project! And I have definite choice vs. having to start and stop projects because I can't find the floss i need or the leaflet.
I think better things are ahead for this year. I hope they are!
18 January 2015
Recent finishes and a UFO turned WIP
Hello!
I hope everyone is having a great start to the New Year. Mine seems good so far. Except for the lack of a good computer with blogger access, except when I work at the theatre, I'm good. I think I am going to spend the money and have my current laptop tuned up vs. buying a new one. It works, just slowly and not happily, but it was an anniversary gift and it would be better to not add another laptop to the landfill if I don't have to.
I have been stitching merrily along. This was my first finish for 2015, a freebie (except you had to buy the buttons.
I have had this kitted up since May--there are several really pretty ornaments in that issue that I want to do, and this was a good start. I started it before Christmas, but got tied up with other things. She reminds me of my niece, with whom we spent a really nice day in November, watching her compete in an Irish dance competition. Kaydence was over the moon to spend time with her cousin, and when we ask her to dance like Hannah, she twirls and leaps. We are planning on putting her in a class where they are introduced to Irish music, stories and dance, so this will be a nice way to integrate that.
I have decided to spend 2015 either working on a few selected projects (that I keep in a box in the living room) or finishing UFOs. This one has been kicking around for so long, since 2004. I keep losing parts of it, so I have decided to man up, as it were, and finish it. I am using a Silkweaver Solo on Tula, along with the recommended threads.
It's coming along, but the colors appear to have changed since the original pattern was done, because the frog was more blue on the cover chart, and the seaweed fronds are more green, but . . . I like it, and I'm tired of trying to keep the floss, fabric and chart together. I think this will be a wallhanging, but not sure.
I am almost finished with a project I started in the summer, that of reorganizing my thread stash. I've probably mentioned my lack of organization and how I never find the floss I need, because it's all wadded up in a box. Well, my friend Enid kept talking about how she keeps her floss in envelopes in photo storage boxes. Michaels was having a sale, and it sounded like a good idea, so I tried. First with sandwich bags, but those are too slippery, so I went back to the envelopes--lesson learned: sometimes, it's better to follow the crowd. It works really well. I am about 3/4 of the way though organizing, and it was not easy, but the DMC is, for the most part, in photo boxes. I still have to do envelopes for the 900 series and the 3000s, but it's closer than I was a month ago, and I can narrow my search. And know what I don't need to buy again . . . ever. It feels good.
I even managed to come up with an idea for how to use up some of the random strands of floss that I found that got separated from their skein or skeins that weren't marked what they were. I have some of the Mosey N Me challenge charts. Well, why not take the random strands and use them to do one of those? That way, I'm not wasting it. It's a good idea, I think
And the other thing I decided was that, while I love my super-fancy sewing machine, the fact that I took my last sewing class 18 years ago, I don't live near anyone who can really get me comfortable with it, and I am so intimidated by it is keeping me from using it, SOOOO, til I get enamored of it, I am buying one of those small sewing machines and using that to finish my stuff. I busted my butt at work last quarter--OK, I will pat myself on the back and say I did a great job last year--and I am getting a bonus, so kind of interested in seeing what that will be, but it's enough to get one of the small sewing machines. Let the girl get used to driving a Chevy before I get handed the keys to the Lamborghini. So, that should be in the next week or so.
I am so grateful for those of you who are sticking around while I work through the equipment issues I have. I found the Blogger app, so was able to post some pix. While my posts may not be as chatty, I'm still here, and still trying!
I have been stitching merrily along. This was my first finish for 2015, a freebie (except you had to buy the buttons.
O Holy Night
JABCO
stitched with recommended Weeks and Gentle Art on a mystery linen from stash
It took me a while to find all the flosses in stash for this, but I knew I had them. I did have to rob another project for the Straw Bonnet, and it would have been easier to just buy another skein, but I chose to rob. After all, I don't know when I'll complete that project and I wanted to do this one NOW. And I love it. That Baby Jesus button is the sweetest thing EVER. This will be an ornament, but I'm still trying to decide on the backing fabric. Do I want to use a green to match the hills, or a purple for the inside of the stable? HMMM
Next finish was the Sampler Girl's 2012 JCS ornament issue contribution.
Christmas with Jane Austen
Sampler Girl
recommended DMC on mystery linen
I have had this kitted up since May--there are several really pretty ornaments in that issue that I want to do, and this was a good start. I started it before Christmas, but got tied up with other things. She reminds me of my niece, with whom we spent a really nice day in November, watching her compete in an Irish dance competition. Kaydence was over the moon to spend time with her cousin, and when we ask her to dance like Hannah, she twirls and leaps. We are planning on putting her in a class where they are introduced to Irish music, stories and dance, so this will be a nice way to integrate that.
I have decided to spend 2015 either working on a few selected projects (that I keep in a box in the living room) or finishing UFOs. This one has been kicking around for so long, since 2004. I keep losing parts of it, so I have decided to man up, as it were, and finish it. I am using a Silkweaver Solo on Tula, along with the recommended threads.
I am almost finished with a project I started in the summer, that of reorganizing my thread stash. I've probably mentioned my lack of organization and how I never find the floss I need, because it's all wadded up in a box. Well, my friend Enid kept talking about how she keeps her floss in envelopes in photo storage boxes. Michaels was having a sale, and it sounded like a good idea, so I tried. First with sandwich bags, but those are too slippery, so I went back to the envelopes--lesson learned: sometimes, it's better to follow the crowd. It works really well. I am about 3/4 of the way though organizing, and it was not easy, but the DMC is, for the most part, in photo boxes. I still have to do envelopes for the 900 series and the 3000s, but it's closer than I was a month ago, and I can narrow my search. And know what I don't need to buy again . . . ever. It feels good.
I even managed to come up with an idea for how to use up some of the random strands of floss that I found that got separated from their skein or skeins that weren't marked what they were. I have some of the Mosey N Me challenge charts. Well, why not take the random strands and use them to do one of those? That way, I'm not wasting it. It's a good idea, I think
And the other thing I decided was that, while I love my super-fancy sewing machine, the fact that I took my last sewing class 18 years ago, I don't live near anyone who can really get me comfortable with it, and I am so intimidated by it is keeping me from using it, SOOOO, til I get enamored of it, I am buying one of those small sewing machines and using that to finish my stuff. I busted my butt at work last quarter--OK, I will pat myself on the back and say I did a great job last year--and I am getting a bonus, so kind of interested in seeing what that will be, but it's enough to get one of the small sewing machines. Let the girl get used to driving a Chevy before I get handed the keys to the Lamborghini. So, that should be in the next week or so.
I am so grateful for those of you who are sticking around while I work through the equipment issues I have. I found the Blogger app, so was able to post some pix. While my posts may not be as chatty, I'm still here, and still trying!
05 January 2015
Happy New Year
Hey guys. Sorry for the long delay in posting. My laptop still needs fixing, so my computing is done on a phone. Maybe it's good that I dropped my flip phone, otherwise I'd be in trouble. Fixing the computer is not a priority now, because our stove took a powder as well and we need a stove more than a computer.
Posting photos of my latest finishes. Sailing Mice is by Margaret Sherry. I started this when it came out, and misplaced the chart. Someone on 123 gifted me with it. Happy Camper was from JCS in 2006. It was a PITA to stitch, but I got it done
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