Goals for 2014

As 2013 comes to a close, I wanted to highlight some stitching goals for 2014:
1.) Adhere to stitch from my stash SAL. Click on the link in my sidebar for more details. I am trying to adhere out for all crafts. I will be posting on here at the end of every month how much I spent and what I have used from my stash.
2.) Complete "The Lady and the Flag", the ABCs of family, 2 other mandalas, and my adaptation of the Dreamcatcher lap blanket.
3.) Complete ornaments for the whole family (7).
4.) start 2 bigger projects: Noah's submarine and Brigid's shamrock.
5.) finish/finish the advent calendar.
6.) complete piecing together 2 quilt tops, 4 sets of placemats and coasters, and 1 Christmas table runner.
7.) 3 knitted baby blankets: (1 already assigned)
8.) learn to knit socks.

I am someone that lives by deadlines so hopefully the above list will keep me on track!

I want to wish you all happy New Year! Happy stitching!

SALs for the New Year!

I have finally decided what Stitch-a-longs I was taking part in for the coming year:
1.) TUSAL - Check out Sharon at It's DaffyCat for the details.
2.) Stitch from Stash 2014 - Hosted by Mel L. At Epic Stitching. I have made a commitment to only stitch from my stash for 2014. I have also extended it to include sewing, crocheting, and knitting as well.
3.) WIPocalypse - Hosted by the wonderful Measi at Measi's Musings. I have highlighted my WIPs that I am going to be working on throughout the year on my left sidebar.
4.) TurtleTrot - hosted by Claudette of BAP Attack. We post our progress on 10 WIPs by the 10th of each month.

I think I have all the posting dates in my calendar for the upcoming year.

Happy stitching everyone!

IHSW update: Sewing finishes and some Some stitching progress!

My main cross stitching project recently has been "The Lady and the Flag." I have not had time to make a huge amount of progress but I am going to try to work on her through the 26th and then move onto something else.

My last progress report on her was dated 10/6/2013 and looked like this:

I has spent the last few sessions prior to the October progress report on her upper body. I decided that I would work on the lower portion of her dress and the Liberty banner.

I apologize for the lighting picture but it is quite dreary here.  I have decided she is going on my WIPocalypse list for 2014. She is too beautiful to not be completed already.

I also completed some placemats as well.

These are some patriotic placements that I finished for my inlaws. My FIL spent a lot of time in the military and I know they will love them.

Then I also worked on a set for myself. I wanted a fun geometric pattern so I found these fabrics that I enjoyed. the first one has corners that are a little messed up but by the second one, I mastered Mitered corners. I am sooo excited. It will make the Table runner I am making for my mom so much easier.

I also wanted to explore English paper piecing. So I took a few fat quarters I had sitting around and start that process. I made about 21 hexagons sitting in front of the TV on friday night watching the movie "Miracle" about the 1980 US hockey team.

Here's My progress thus far:

Finally, my dear husband loves to latch hook and has completed a wonderful Santa that I felt deserved it's time to shine too:

Happy stitching and for those of you that celebrate the holidays - Happy Holidays!

Finish to Share

I  completed the Cowl I was knitting for my aunt the night before last and remembered to take pics of it last night.

I used Beautiful Fantasy Naturelle Yarn from Plymouth yarns in a purple and a variegated blue, purple, and Green (#1560 and #1314). The Pattern was called Calm Seas cowl and was a free download on Ravelry.

This weekend is also the last International Hermitting and Stitching weekend. I wish you all happy stitching and Happy Holidays!

WIPocalypse Check-In

On February 4, 2013, I generated the list below when I joined the 2013 WIPocalypse. I added in progress pics if I have them.
1.) Celtic Cross - Ink Circles
     I have no progress to show on this one. The fabric was not the right choice and decided to start over with a different fabric.
2.) Sweety - Alessandra Adelaide
    This became a victim of my cutting my finger and bleeding on the white background. Thankfully, I was only about 300 stitches into the pattern. I will definitely be doing this one this year.
3.) Craft Street - Magazine
Complete:

It looks beautiful on my wall :)

4.) Flower Cards
at the start

Last progress Pic:

5.) Snowman Ornaments
- no Progress on this one

6.)ABC's of Family
   All that was added this year was the I, C, and Heart portion in the square next to the I.

7.) Nativity Set
  - I completed all the back stitching except on the camel and 1 of the wise men.

8.) Dream Catcher Lap Blanket
I realized  that I do not like stamped cross stitching at all. I am in the process of transforming this pattern into counted cross stitching.



I loved taking part in this stitch-a-long but I realized that I need to be better at taking progress photos. In 2014, it is a goal of mine to be better at keeping up my progress.


I am also trying to determine what SALs I will be taking part in besides TUSAL and WIPocalype 2014. I have joined the Stitch from Stash hosted by Mel at Epic Stitching.

Happy Stitching!

Progress on the Last Christmas Gift

The last Christmas Gift that I needed to complete is a Cowl I am making for my Aunt. I had originally started it as a scarf  shown below and I didn't like it at all.

For some reason it wasn't speaking to me. SO I decided to make it into a cowl which looks like this:

I love this knit and it is going so well.  Hopefully I will have a finish soon.

Happy Stitching!

2 Finishes to share

I had mentioned 2 post ago that I completed the Summer Mandala by Ink Circles but I had not gotten around to taking a picture of it until this past weekend.

Summer Mandala
Ink Circles
16ct AIDA, 2 over 1, suggested DMC
completed 11/29/2013

This weekend I spent my time working on a design for a co-workers daughter who is 12. She was running for student government this fall and came up with a powerpoint slide that had her name and words to describe herself on it. Her mother thought this was a wonderful example of her positive view of her self and wanted to reinforce it in whatever way she could. She asked me if I would stitch it up for her to hang in her room.

 I used the many font books that I have in my stash to make the worlds different and then combined them all with a similar color palate that was a combination of WDW, Gentle arts, and DMC threads. I did blur out the girls name for her privacy. You will have to let me know what you think.

Happy stitching!

TUSAL 2013

I finally remembered to get photos of my ORTs for TUSAL which DaffyCat hosts on her blog.

Here are my ORT's from the past month:

It is predominately full from the Summer mandala and Christmas ornaments. There are also the ends from the blankets for the twins next door.

My ORT's combined for the rest of the year are shown below:

Happy Stitching everyone!

Another AMAZING Giveaway!

Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is giving the following away as a part of her Days of Christmas giveaway:

Fourth Day of Christmas Give-away....LOTS of FLOSS!On the fourth Day of Christmas Nancy gave to Me:25!!! yes 25 skeins (20 yards each!), 500 yards!of floss from the 1795 Sampler Collection! One lucky winner. You pick the colors!

Click on the link above and let her know I sent you!

Giveaway Time of Year

Since I have recently entered the blogosphere, I am consistently amazed at the generosity of the members of this community. There are 2 giveaways that I have found that I think are amazing as you can see below:

1.) Nancy of Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is having her 3rd Day of Christmas giveaway!  She will give 10 skeins of her 20-yard over-dyed floss to a few winners on December 16.  Enter HERE and tell Nancy that I sent you! her Floss is amazing!

2.) Parsley of Seasons of My Mind blog is also having a giveaway of a book of snowman charts by Stoney Creek.  Drawing on December 10.  Enter Here and tell Parsley that I sent you! I love Snowmen!

If I find more, I will post! Happy Stitching everyone!

November Update Part 1

I had the following goals for the month of November:

1.) Finish Summer Mandala - DONE more in upcoming post

2.) Finish MOD Coasters - DONE

3.) Make 4 Dishrags - 2 of 4 so halfway

4.) Complete the finishing on Butterfly Cushion and Christmas ornaments - Done

5.) Complete Cowl - 10 of 50 rows so 20%

6.) get to halfway on 2nd baby blankets for Twins next door - totally done as the babies came a month early

7.) 6" on blanket for my brother - 2" of 6" so 33%

8.) 15 projects for Ultimate Crazy January Challenge - done more in upcoming post.

As you can see from above, the past week off from my everyday job was very productive. I only had completed partials of my goals prior to the time off.

So first and foremost:

Here are the finished MOD coasters

MOD Coasters
completed 11/24/2013

They were a fun stitch until I got to all of the backstitch that was necessary :(. I have the coaster frames on order from Herrschners so I will pop them in there when they get here.

Next I have the finished baby blanket for the 2nd baby next door.

Baby blanket #2
completed 11/30/2013

Here are the 2 blankets for the twins totally complete:

The red blanket is for the Female of the twins and the blue is for the Male of the twins. The blue blanket is the quickest blanket knit I have ever done. I completed it from start to finish in 6 days. I think my hands need a break. I am planning on giving them to the parents tomorrow. Hopefully they like them.

I finished the Christmas ornament finishes so that I could give them to my niece and nephew on Thanksgiving to put on their tree. The last of the 3 is going to be given to my parents.

I also pieced together the tops for some quilted placemats:

I also cut the panels and sashing for what will be a table runner for my mom:

There was also some stash addition as I spent some gift cards on Black Friday. I will have more posts in the upcoming days as I am trying to post more often.

December goals:

1.) post at minimum once a week

2.) Finish cowl

3.) Complete 8" of brother's blanket

4.) Complete Bags for Christmas Gifts

5.) Complete Cross Stitch for Lady a work

6.) Piece together top of table runner

Happy Stitching Everyone!

Progress Report!

November has been a month of much stash addition but not as much stitching. Here is my progress report for the month thus far post IHSW:

1.) 2 dishrags complete out of the target of 4. I used some random cotton I had for the one on the upper left and the bottom right used some Bernat Handicrafter.

2 Dishrags complete - 11/18/2013

2.) Summer Mandala: Completed all of the Black outline and started filling in the color.

3.) MOD coasters: The entire cross stitch is complete on this one and I started the back stitch. This one is part of my WIPocalypse projects.

MOD Coasters - Progress as of 11/18/2013

I was just informed that my friend who is having twins is having her C-section today. So I will be moving the completion of the second baby blanket for her twins to the top of my list. hopefully my hands will hold up :)

I am treating this upcoming weekend as another IHSW as well cause I can…and then I am off the entire American Thanksgiving week. So that will be prime crafting time for me.


Happy Stitching Everyone!

Stash Addition!

So for the past 2 weeks my grandmother was in town for a visit. she always loves going to the different LYS's and LNS's in the area with me. So I did have some stash addition which was part of my birthday gift from my grandparents in law as well.

So from the LNS: Keepsakes in Sharonville, OH.

I bought:
1.) The complete Less = More by Lizzie and Kate pattern set.
2.) Wouldn't Life Be Great by Lizzie and Katie
3.) 32 ct. Belfast Ivory Linen for #2
4.) 32 ct. Platinum Linen for #1
5.) another Lizzie and Kate Pattern
6.) Various 32 ct. Linen scraps from the store's scrap bin.

From the LYS: Main Street Yarns in Mason, OH.

1.) I bought the following Madelinetosh yarn for the "Cream and Sugar Cowl" pattern below.

 2.) I bought the following 4 colors for a Shawl.

Both 1 and 2 will be for my grandmother.

3.) I bought the following 2 hanks just because I liked the colors. :)

4.) The following 2 Hanks of Cascade Yarns Pima cotton were for a cowl pattern for a friend.

5.) Picked up the following Metal Circular Needles for my MIL needed 15's and 17's for blankets.

I have had some time to stitch the past week and will update that tomorrow as I need to take some pics. :)

Happy Stitching.

A Finish of a Finish

Just wanted to post a few pics of the finished Butterfly cushion after it was made into a cushion :)

Butterfly Cushion - Sewn into cushion 11/8/2013

Back of the cushion

I picked up the backing fabric at JoAnn Fabrics this weekend and gave the cushion to my grandmother that same day. I always make her homemade items and this one has special importance to her. My grandfather was in Hospice before he dies 2.5 years ago and butterflies play a huge part in the mourning once loved one's pass there. :) The cushion will be a wonderful remembrance of my grandfather.

I also made some progress on the Summer Mandala and Finished a dishrag too while babysitting my niece and nephew. Pictures will be coming as soon as I remember to take them.

Happy Stitching Everyone!