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!

December WIPocalypse and TurtleTrot Combined!

It's time for the final check-in for both the WIPocalypse SAL and the TurtleTrot SAL. Technically the WIPocalypse was on 12/6 but I decided to combine them together.

My original list for them were as follows with my progress, etc:
1.) Pinocchio - Wish Upon a Star: This was a new start this year so I ended up at this point when I put it away for this year.

Pinocchio - December SAL check in

I worked on this one a lot this fall and made some really great progress. I would estimate I am a little over 1/4 complete on this one.

2.) NOEL - This one is a finish. you can see it finished into an ornament in the upper right of the picture below. For some reason I cannot get it to rotate at all. The pic below captures all of the ornaments that I completed this year. 

2014 Ornaments completed

3.) Santa and Westie Stocking - No progress at all

4.) ABC's of Family - No progress at all

5.) Flower Cards - I don't have a picture but there is only backstitching left to do on this one.

6.) The Lady and the Flag - This was a finish this year!

Completed and Framed
The Lady and the Flag - November 2014

7.) Dream Catcher - this was a total redesign from a stamped Lab Blanket kit into a counted project on AIDA. It was a relatively quick stitch for its size. It was finished in the fall and my FIL had it framed below:

Completed and Framed
Dreamcatcher Redesign - November 2014

8.) Snowman Ornaments - These need back stitching completed and are different than the ornaments pictured above. I should have them done by the end of this week.

9.) Nativity Set - Still need to completed Back Stitching on the camel and a wise man.

10 and 11.) Winter and Fall Mandala - This were so much fun to stitch. Here are some un-framed and the whole set framed for your enjoyment.

Winter Mandala

Fall Mandala

Seasonal Mandala's unframed

Seasonal Mandala framed
November 2014

 
So I made a lot of progress on the goals I set for myself which I set for myself. I am planning on take part in the WIPocalypse next year and am determining if I will do the TurtleTrot soon.

There are still a few things that I need to complete before the end of the year so I better get back to stitching.

Happy Stitching!

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!

Stitch from my Stash - May 2014

The month of May saw some finishes from my stash and NO new additions!

Carryover: $60.89

May Budget: $25.00

April Spend: $0.00 (woot Woot)

Total Carryover to June: $85.89

The projects that I worked on this month:

Starts: Curtains for my niece, Christmas Table Runner

UFOs/WIPs: Dream catcher and prayer shawl for my grandmother

Finishes: Winter mandala, Eagle Table Runner, Curtains for my nephew

Stash consumed:

Yarn:300 yds in prayer shawl

Fabric: 1 charm square pack and 4 yds. of fabric for curtains

Stitching: Winter mandala (16ct. White AIDA and DMC floss)

The picture below shows the curtains prior to pressing.

"Thomas" Curtains
4 yes of fabric consumed

Happy stitching everyone!

TUSAL and Progress Pics - April 2014

I have some progress to show on 2 projects. First, the Winter mandala. I have completed the black outline and started some of the colors.

Winter Mandala by Ink Circles
16ct. white AIDA
DMC floss as called for

I also started a new knitting project. I am using the seed stitch scarf pattern found here. The picture below shows the first color sitting on a scrap piece of tan colored linen. The color is vandyke brown and is Venezia Yarn from Cascade yarns.

Seed Stitch Scarf
Cascade Yarns Venezia
Size 10 needles

I remembered to take a picture of the ORTs from my sewing endeavors. These scraps are the ones that I throw away and do not put in my scrap bins. They are mainly coming from the placemats I made and the patriotic table runner. I need to remember to take a picture of my cross stitching ORTs.

Happy Stitching Everyone!

Stitch from my Stash - April 2014 Report

This month saw more leaving my stash than coming in again via the Stitch from my Stash:

Carryover: $38.22

April budget: $25.00

April spend: $2.33 - 1 spool of thread

April budget left over: $22.67

Total Carryover to May: $60.89

The Projects that I worked on this month are as follows:

New Starts: Winter Mandala, Eagle Table Runner, Prayer shawl for my grandmother

WIPs or UFOs: NOEL

Finishes: Pinky Baby Blanket, 2 St. Charles Ornaments, NOEL, Ohio State placemats

Stash Consumed: 

Yarn: 1492 yds for blanket

Fabric: 2 yds for table runner, 2 yads for placemats and coasters

Stitching: NOEL kit consumed, scrap 36ct linen and some floss for ornaments.

All in all in was a good month! Happy Stitching everyone! Hopefully I can remember to take progress pics when I get home later.

IHSW recap

This past weekend was International Hermitting and Stitching Weekend where one can sign up to hermit with some projects to dedicate set time to getting them done. I focused on 2 projects this weekend. The first being the Winter Mandala by Ink Circles. I put my first stitch in on Friday night and by Sunday evening, this was my progress:

Winter Mandala - Ink Circles
16ct. White AIDA
Called for DMC

I also worked on a Table runner that will be a gift for my mother-in-law. My dear husband picked out the fabric so I spent a lot of saturday determining the design and size of things. I completed piecing together the entire top and intend to quilt it sometime this weekend.

Eagle Table Runner
Progress 4/20/2014

Eagle Table runner, close up of fabric choices.

All in all it was a very productive weekend. My dear husband is going to his cousin's wedding out of town this weekend and I am taking those days off to have a crafting Marathon. Hopefully it will be a productive marathon.

Happy Stitching everyone!

I love pretty fabric! and Turtletrot check in

This past week was extremely productive. I was able to get some work done on my first quilt. I started with a layer cake of Barcelona fabric from Moda. I followed the tutorial for the Double Slice Layer Cake quilt from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. It was super easy to follow. Here are some progress pics.

Barcelona Quilt check in - 3/10/2014

I made the 42 quilt block and sewed them into 6 strips. The strips need pressed and joined into one large block. I was also able to chose the borders and backing that I looked good.

Border and backing colors

In the above picture, the grey fabric is for the backing. The blue, green, and darker blue in the bottom right is for borders. I determined the order as of yet but that is coming.

It is also the day for TurtleTrot Check-in. I worked on Two pieces since the last check-in:

1.) Autumn Mandala

February Check in

Completed 2/18/2014

2.) Dream Catcher: I have no before picture as I changed the material I was stitching on.

March check-in

This is the last photo I took of the Dream Catcher. I have made some more progress including finishing the Feathers and some more of the border on the right hand side.

This past week was productive and the weekend was spent celebrating my DH's birthday. This weekend looks to be rather productive too.

Happy stitching everyone!