Friday, March 31, 2006

March Update

March was a pretty good month for my stitching. The things I wanted to do were:
  • Finish Suzy

Yup, just need to find a hanger for the frame.

  • Start flower heads in Irises

Yes. Started, but not much more.

  • Start Garden Alphabet "E"

And finished!

  • Find my pincushion pattern

Can't win them all. But I did find the squirrel which I'd put in the same rotation spot (and will work on next time).

  • Work on Tew Cottage

Doing really well. Just finished all of the cottage itself. Will try to do a bit more tonight on the garden and will post a picture tomorrow.

  • Continue to organize floss.

Not bad. Didn't finish, but got all of the numbered bags on their rings.

I also managed to stitch a few cards for family and exchanges. I have 3 UFOs from January finished, only 8 more to go before I meet my goal for the year.

Goals for April are:

  • finish up all exchange projects
  • choose RR and prepare fabric/stitch my square
  • start Bluenose project for Brigitte
  • finish squirrel
  • finish sorting floss (put all new skeins in bags and label)

It will be a busy month. I just ordered some Stampin' Up stamps, so probably should do some scrapbooking/cardmaking too. Luckily Project Management finishes up on the 13th and I have a week off before Marketing, so should have some crafty time. Also looks like I'll be going to Ottawa for a few days over Easter, so should spends lots of money on crafty stuff.

Card Exchange

I had a wonderful surprise in my mailbox today!













All the way from the Netherlands, courtesy of Olga. Thanks so much Olga -they're lovely.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Cottage Update

Found a few hours yesterday and today to work on Tew Cottage, my rotation piece for the week. Here is what it looks like now.


I was tired of my cards so have gone back to my bigger projects for a while. I'll need to get back on to the exchanges this week, as some need to be sent out this week. I'll try for the weekend though, to give me a bit of a break.

The actual house part is almost done - finishing that is my goal for the week. That will leave the trees, the garden and the hedge for another week. Weirdly, there appear to be more colour changes in the house than in the gardens, so maybe it will speed up a bit.

A year or so ago, I bought the kit to Irises, which is a DMC pattern, at a store about 3 hours away from me. The next time I went, they had Primula, which is a companion piece. I've been looking for the third kit, Viola, for quite some time. I thought I might have to order it from the UK, which was the only place that seemed to have it. But Tuesday, when looking for something completely unrelated, I came across a store in Montreal (La Cigale Brodeuse) that had it. I hadn't thought of searching for the French title, which is why I hadn't found it in the first place. Haven't got my order confirmation yet, but hoping that very soon I'll have some stash on its way to me. While I've got a long way to go before actually stitching Violas, just knowing that I might soon have the set is so nice. I can't stand incomplete sets :) I hope nothing happens and they're out of stock. I've got a couple of more orders on the way, so will hopefully have a stash report soon.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

No pictures today, as I'm working on my exchange cards. Two cards for the card exchange, plus a birthday card for Joy (all from EMS board). Working on Easter cards for my mom and mil too. Pictures once all has been recieved!

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Done with E

Finished the E sachet tonight. I'll sew it together next time I get the sewing machine out and fill it up. Will be sending off it and the J together, will take one last picture all filled up before they go.




















4 finishes so far this year, means I'm allowed a new start. Will be in the place of Suzy in the rotation. I will have to look through my patterns and kits and see what to get start - the best part. My mom got me some stash too at the closing out sale of her local fabric store, ordered some patterns at the chart-shop, and just made two orders at Cross-stitch cupboard, so will have lots to work on.

Should spend the rest of the week working on cards and exchange pieces.

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Too optimistc

You'd think I would have learned by now that I never get as much done as I'd like too. It seems that I'm an eternal optimist when it come to to-do lists. It was the 7 hours spent on my group project that really did me in I guess. Still, at least it's coming along and looking nice.



















I'm spending this week working on cards and exchange/RR projects, so might find a few minutes to finish it up. We'll see.

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Garden Alphabet

This is stitching up fairly quickly. I guess I also had more time today than I expected. Anyways, flowers are almost done, which was most of the colour changes, so I hope to get this finished tomorrow.

Spring Projects

It's been a busy week, but I finally got some time to work on my new spring projects. Not sure it will help make it warm any time soon, but it's better than nothing.

Worked on an Easter Card, a bit to finish but I'm missing some colours, so it will have to wait a bit. I have another Easter Card to make and some birthday cards for the EMS exchanges. I've be sneaking a bit of time in on them the last two weeks, but I'll dedicate next week to really advancing them.













I also started working on the Garden Alphabet E. Looks nothing like an "E" of course, but at least the colours are pretty. I hope to work on this more tomorrow.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

A short week

A very short week for stitching. Didn't have much time to stitch to start with, and then got sidetracked trying to finish Suzy, start Easter cards, and organize my stash. So Irises definitely took a hit. Still, at least I can see the blue! Was thinking of staying on another week, but not particularly motivated for it right now, so will move on to my "E" from the Garden Alphabet on Tuesday. With my assignment due tomorrow, will definitely not be stitching.

Goodbye Suzy

After 5 years in my basket, I can now say goodbye to Suzy, she's finished!





















This involved a cheat in my rotation, but I think it was worth it to get her done. Didn't have much stitching time this week, so only managed to finish her today. Had a lovely time with the french knots :) . The kit came with a frame, so I'll get her put into that, hopefully tomorrow. I know someone who really liked her who has a birthday coming up in April, so for once I'm ahead of the game.

It was a good day for finishes - managed to get the main stem section on Irises done too.
















Tomorrow I'll get to start stitching with blue!

I'll have to make some room in my rotation for small projects. I signed up for the Birthday club on the EMS board, so need to find some time to get those cards done. Wanted to do them on top of the regular rotation throughout the week, but I get so little time to stitch as it is on weekdays, that might not work. Will probably sub them in this time around on the pincushion, as it is still MIA. Grrr.

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Almost there

Got a good amount of work done on Suzy this week, cross-stitching is all done and I'm about half done the back-stitch. If I'll goes well, I hope to finish her tomorrow.