Yearly Goals Check-in and 2015 decisions

As we get close to the end of 2014, I wanted to check-in on my goals for the year. I set them last in December of 2013 and I added my status on them in purple below:

1.) Adhere to stitch from my stash SAL.  - COMPLETE. I adhered to the rules of the SAL and feel like I made some changes to my spending habits. I also promised myself that I would save my money for a new sewing machine and was able to purchase that they day after Christmas I got a PFAFF quilt expression 4.2 and I love it. I am sure there will be pictures of it forthcoming.
  
2.) Complete "The Lady and the Flag", the ABCs of family, 2 other mandalas, and my adaptation of the Dreamcatcher lap blanket.

• The Lady and the Flag - COMPLETE
• the ABC's of Family - no progress
• 2 other seasonal Mandalas - COMPLETE
• Dreamcatcher - COMPLETE

I think if I hadn't picked up quilting as another hobby seriously, I would have completed the ABC's of Family but overall..I think I made a Huge dent in the projects I wanted to get finished.
3.) Complete ornaments for the whole family (7). - COMPLETE. I actually finished 8 of them this year. 
4.) start 2 bigger projects: Noah's submarine and Brigid's shamrock. - No Progress - I kitted the projects up but did not start them - again I blame too many hobbies. :)
5.) finish/finish the advent calendar. - COMPLETE - I totally forgot that I even put this one on here but I finished it right before the end of the year. 
6.) complete piecing together 2 quilt tops, 4 sets of placemats and coasters, and 1 Christmas table runner. 

• 2 Quilt Tops - Completed 3 actually, 2 of them were longarmed, and one of those was bound and given as a gift this Christmas to my grandmother.
• 4 sets of placemats and coasters - completed 3 placemats and 1 coasters
• 1 Christmas Table runner - completed 1 for christmas, and 2 for gifts.

7.) 3 knitted baby blankets: (1 already assigned) - COMPLETE
8.) learn to knit socks. - Not Complete

All in all, I think it was a productive year. I am hoping and planning on doing more in 2015. So here are my goals for this year:

2015 Goals:

Overall: 
1.) Stitch from my stash on all types of crafting
2.) Complete my craft room
3.) inventory patterns and kits 
4.) Work on something new (either a start or a WIP) on any crafting every day from Christmas to january 25th - (i had to adjust the days due to a work trip) - to honor Deborah Faris Bryant

Yarn: 
1.) Complete 4 baby blankets - 1 is spoken for and 3 more (boy, girl, and neutral) to have in reserve.
2.) Learn to knit socks
3.) knit a pair of socks for my hubby
4.) Complete 2 hats for friends
5.) Complete 4 ft on my brothers blanket
6.) Complete 18 dishrags ( I need to get my reserve of this type of yarn down)
7.) Complete hitchhiker and 2 more shawls/wraps

Stitching:
1.) Complete ABC's of Family
2.) Start Brigid's Shamrock and Noah's submarine
3.) Complete 12 ornaments
4.) Complete 4 other larger projects including the Santa from H*ll

Sewing/Quilting:
1.) Learn Free Motion Quilting
2.) Complete 3 quilt tops - (1 is already spoken for)
3.) Bind my first quilt
4.) Complete purple quilt for my aunt.

The list is daunting but I feel like I am up to the task.

Happy Stitching Everyone!

July Goals

I figured I should check in on my May Goals (yes..A month Late) before I lay out my July Goals. So away we go:

May Goals Check in:
1.) Complete Winter Mandala: DONE
2.) Complete Binding on Patriotic Table Runner: DONE (my MIL loved the table runner as it was a gift for her birthday. I forgot to get a picture so I will have to have her send me one)
3.) Complete Christmas Table Runner Top and Quilt it: Top done but Not Quilted together so HALF DONE
4.) Complete Geometric Placemats: Didn't even touch them in 2 months (yikes!)
5.) Complete 10 inches of the seed stitch wrap: DONE (it now measures 15" and 10" of it was finished by 5/28)
6.) Work on Another WIP - Worked on Dream Catcher: DONE
7.) Stich from my Stash - May: DONE and June: Not even close

Since I will be back in my home for the bulk of July, I have decided to set some daunting goals for July.

July Goals:
1.) Complete Christmas Table Runner
2.) Complete geometric Placemats
3.) Knit 10" more on Seed Stitch Wrap
4.) Finish Dream Catcher
5.) Complete Stitching on Lady and the Flag - my MIL wants to do the beading on her
6.) Blog at least once a week.
7.) Stich from my Stash - Spend nothing
8.) Start on a new baby blanket - Already assigned to a future little man.

Happy Stitching Everyone!

Stich from my Stash! (i.e. The bank is broken)

Thankfully...we are allowed one month off of the Stitch from my Stash rules because I broke the bank this month. If you remember from my traveling stash addition posts (1 and 2) from my trip to Gatlinburg, I picked up yarn, fabric, and cross stitch items. To follow Debbie's lead I will use the $ to sum it all up.

Carryover: $85.89
June budget: $75.00
Amount Spent: $$$$
Total Carryover to July: $0.00

Gatlinburg:

• Mountain Stitches by Sue - $$$
• Zoe's Quilts - $
• Smokey Mountain Spinnery - $$
• The Needlework Cottage - $$$
• CrossThreads Needlework - $

Since I knew I already was not following the program for this month, I allowed my dear mother-in-law to enable my stash addiction further. Go big or go home right? We visited some Local stores in the Cinncinnati/Dayton Area to support our addiction and the local small craft stores. I didn't take pictures of everything but here are a few:

• Fabric Shack - $$$: I bought some patterns to use up some of the fabric that I have recently purchased. (and a little fabric too.) I saw the "Button Up" and "Touchdown" patterns on Cluck Cluck Sew's Blog so I had to buy them when I saw them. I also bought some "Art Gallery" fabric yardage.

Quilt Patterns from the Fabric Shack

Art Gallery Yardage

• Kathryn's Web - $$: I bought a few Hanks of yarn that were too beautiful to pass up. This is where my MIL is a huge enabler. She is also a knitter and I learned a lot of Technique from her. She loves to see me knit beautiful things. The two bright blue hanks were sock yarn with which I am going to make a scarf. The two larger different hanks are called Irish Linen by Tracey Schuh. The color ways were too beautiful to ignore.

Irish Linen and some sock yarn

• Wooly Bully Yarn Company - $ (the only reason it wasn't larger is my MIL bought most of it): I don't have pictures to show of the yarn as it is all for gifts and someone who is receiving one may read this blog. :)

New Starts: Nothing - I spent too much time shopping and traveling

UFOs and WIPs worked on: Dreamcatcher, Prayer shawl (seed stitch wrap)

Completed Items: Curtains for my niece

I will try to post later today when I determine what my goals are for the upcoming month with regards to all my crafts. I realized just now that I never posted progress on my May Goals (EEK)

Happy Stitching Everyone!

Long time no Blogging :( and some traveling stash addition!

It seems that as the weather has gotten better my life has gotten infinitely more busy! It has been 3 weeks (less 1 day) since I last blogged. Part of that has to do with a planned vacation to Gatlinburg, TN which was delightful. The other 3 unexpected trips for work not so much. I am going to split my updates into a few days until I get my self back on track.

My dear husband, parents, and myself went to TN for 5 days. I had never been there and it was beautiful. I loved being in the wilderness where our lodge was located. Weather wise it was very humid and warm so a storm would pop up now and then. Prior to our trip I did some research on the local arts and crafts scene which was plentiful. I had my trusty list of stores to shop at to see if some random stash addition was possible. In case those of you reading are unaware, Gatlinburg has one of the largest arts and crafts communities in the 48 continuous United States. I was hoping they sold supplies as well as finished items. (I decided halfway through the trip that this month 5/28-6/28 will be my free month on Stitch from my stash).

My first stop was Smokey Mountain Spinnery. We stopped there first thing as their hours were until 5 pm on Thursday and the store was close to our lodge. The ladies there were very helpful and I made sure to keep my purchases to something that I couldn't find in the LYS's near my home.

RSA - Smokey Mountain Spinnery

The 2 balls on the right are Saki Silk by Wisdom Yarn in Big Volcano and Hidden Lagoon. The one on the left is from a local yarn (fiber and spinner) in Knoxville, TN. The color way is "Johnny Jump Ups" and the company is called Tale Spun Yarns.

The second stop in the crafting part of the Journey was The Needlework Cottage. We stopped there on the way to Cades Cove. It had supplies for a variety of different needle crafts. I picked up the following:

I had been looking for some patriotic ones to eventually make into gifts. The last one of the United State was something my husband was adamant about me picking up. I have learned in our 7 years of marriage to not fight him when he picks something for me to work on. This was also a local chart which has distribution out of the Needlecraft Cottage.

As we made the drive back through downtown Gatlinburg, my mom saw a sign for a needlework store in the Mall area. We decided to stop there before dinner that night. The little store is called Crossthreads Needlework. They were a store just starting out but had a nice variety of patterns as well as a great selection of over dyed floss. I picked up a few patterns there too:

I always seem to pick up celtic patterns wherever I go. I have also been looking for the Lizzie and Kate ABC's for awhile.

I have decided that I am going to split this post up so it's not too picture heavy. I hope you all have had a wonderful few weeks! I look forward to catching up on all the progress. Happy Stitching everyone! 

WIPocalypse Check-in

It's time for another check-in for WIPocalypse. If you would like more information as to what this is, see the button in my sidebar to the right. I worked on 2 of the projects on my list since the last check in, these were also the 2 projects I worked on for TurtleTrot (that I missed the post for :( ).

1.) NOEL - this project is a kit from 1975(before I was born) that was handed down to be from my dear Husbands grandmother. It is on 30ct. even weave stitched 1x1.

NOEL (circa 1975)
The Carolina Cross Stitch Company
30 ct. even weave 1x1 DMC

I only have a little of the light green to finish on the N and I can call this one complete.

2.) Dream Catcher - this is one that I blogged about earlier so here is the progress when I put it down.

Dream Catcher - March WIPocalypse check-in

Dream Catcher - April WIPocalypse check-in

Besides posting about the progress on Projects we are supposed to answer a prompt from Measi:

How do you keep your stash organized? This one is an interesting one for me as I am slightly OCD when it comes to organizing things. First, for Cross Stitch Items:

I have a 4X4 cube shelving unit from IKEA that houses all kits, floss, fabric and patterns. I am in the process of digitizing that inventory. I keep the fabric that is not kitted to a pattern in a bag labeled with the count, color, and size if possible. Floss is wound on labeled bobbins or kept in labeled ziploc bags. Kits are organized by subject matter and designer. Patterns that I have kitted up are in bags with the pattern, floss, and fabric. finishing items, needles, beads and kreinik are kept in an antique spice cabinet in on a shelf.

Yarn is kept in 2 places: In the 4 blue cubes in the last picture above, I have cotton yarn for dishrags and baby blanket yarn. I have a shelving unit on the wall that i won in an auction that has 30 cubby holes that can hold up to 4 caron simply soft skeins each.

Fabric storage is something that I am still figuring out. Currently, quilting yardage is folded in 2 large 31 totes. Precut items are in one of the black cubes in the picture above. My goal at the end of this year is to have all items in this one room in my house.

I will say that some in progress projects are next to the couch in a large lined basket where I typically stitch.

Happy stitching everyone!

Stitch from Stash March 2014 Report

This month saw more leaving my stash then coming in so it was a successful month in my opinion.

Here is my summary of spending thus far:

        

        Carryover from Jan/Feb - $26.69

        March Budget - $25.00

        March Spend - $13.47

          2 yds. Bless this Irish home : $8.72

          1 yd. each of Duck and pink plaid flannel: $4.75

        March budget left over - $11.53

        Total Carryover to April - $38.22

Here is a picture of the fabric I bought:

The projects that I have worked on are as follows:

New starts from the stash: Variegated Pink Baby Blanket, Barcelona quilt top, Ink Circles - St. Charles (christmas Ornament)

WIPs or UFOs worked on: Dream Catcher Redesign, be achy Baby Blanket.

Finishes from Stash: Beachy Baby Blanket, Barcelona Quilt Top

I have found that keeping a running total of the stash I have used gives me a great feeling of accomplishment. :)

Stash used this month:

Yarn: 30 oz or 1575yds

Fabric: 1 layer cake (4200sq. in or 3.2 sq.yds) plus 2yds in borders.

Stitching supplies: repurposed the Dream catcher kit using 20" x 30" piece of 14ct. AIDA

Happy Stitching Everyone!

A goal for this Year!

So as I am sure that all readers of this blog have the same sickness...Random Stash Addition (I will call it RSA for short), I am running out of places to store things. As such, my goal for the year is to be net even on stash, ideally in the negative, but I am shooting for even. Also, when I say stash, I mean cross stitch, yarn AND fabric. All Stash :)

I am also doing this on a fiscal year cycle. My day job is all about fiscal years so it seemed fitting to do that here as well. In the next few posts, I will be working on an inventory of the stash (in between stitching of course). I may post a few pics of interesting finds and organization ideas while I am at it.

What is the reward for this? I am still trying to decide. I am thinking a new sewing machine...but I am open to ideas if anyone has some. 

Happy stitching!