Block 5

I was having lots of fun with this sampler so decided to keep going. Got the border finished for block 5, just the inside flower left to do, which I hope I'll get done this week. I then have to frog about half of block 2 :( before moving on to the last two blocks.

Sunday Stitching

This was a fairly good day's stitching, although it doesn't necessarily show up as such on the pictures. I put in 3 hours on my Regatta UFO and managed to get most of the bushes done in the top corner. This is a lot of random stitching, so quite slow. Next time I pick it up, I'll probably work on the mainsail so it should go a bit faster, as there are actually rows of colour. My goal for January was 10 hours on this piece, which I accomplished. I think I'll pick up another one of my UFOs for February and come back to this one later. For comparison, beginning of January and today.










Reading the Christmas Ornament blog reminded me that I had a Christmas ornament in progress. As the rest of my stitching plans are temporarily on hold, I decided to pull out my Christmas Chickadee (Valerie Pffeifer, from WOCS). I spent much of my time frogging, but did manage to get a wing done. Hopefully next month I'll be able to get this one done. I'm only planning on stitching 3-4 ornaments this year, so even if I'm a bit slow on this one, I should still be okay to get everything done.

Chicory

Rather than work on any of the projects I'd really planned to do, I decided to finish up my Chicory piece (Carolyn's Meadow). At least its off my table and leaves me free to do something else tomorrow.









I was getting ready to start my Cranberry sampler, when I realized I had the wrong fabric. I'd ordered cream linen but recieved antique ivory by mistake. Hard to tell if this will make a difference, but as there is stitching with really light colours, probably better to change. Unfortunately I don't have a swatch to compare with - just going by the recommended fabric. So doesn't look like I'll get this started in January like I had planned. Also waiting on fabric for my baby sampler. Not having much luck with my new projects, so I guess I'll have to work on some older ones tomorrow.

Catching Up

While I haven't posted lately, I've managed to stitch and craft a bit. Pretty good as we were away at a wedding all weekend.


Still feeling attached to my flower sampler, so I worked on block 8. Here it is together with the rest of the stitching. This won't be one for January, but could easily be a February finish I think.

I also worked on another of my Carolyn's Meadow kits, this time Chicory. I worked on it more than it shows, but unfortunately had to frog out everything I did on Sunday, as I'd mixed up my light and very light yellows. I think that's my biggest irritation about kits - trying to get the floss sorted correctly.

And I also made a few cards, one for the wedding and one for a baby thank-you.

I tried working on my baby blanket too, but that's not moving ahead as fast, so I'll probably end up stitching instead.

I also decided to abandon one of my UFOs. It had barely anything done on it, and I really didn't like the pattern as much as I thought I did. It was a really cheap kit too, so not even worth saving for the fabric. Into the garbage. Only 4 UFOs left to finish!

Block 3

I've been stitching this weekend, just more relaxed. Last weekend was pretty intense stitching-wise, so I had did a few other things this weekend. I really wasn't motivated to pick up any of the other projects on my WIP list on Friday, so decided to stay with the flower sampler, and start block 3. I wanted to get one block done per week, but two is even better I guess.

I also started knitting a baby blanket, but no pics until I get a bit further along.

Block 7

I finally finished stitching block 7 of my flower sampler. This one was a lot longer than the block above, but I managed to get it done tonight, not having it finished yesterday. Here is block 7 plus the sampler as it stands now. I'm going to try and keep getting one block done a week - hopefully next one will be quicker.

Flower Sampler

I started working on block 7 of my flower (no-longer) mystery sampler tonight. Took a while to get into it, so wasn't able to finish it, but should be good to finish tomorrow. I'm really enjoying these patterns - once you get the hang of each repeat they go quickly. I don't think I would pick the same colours if I did it again - I picked at first to try and stay with flower colours, only to realize after seeing the patterns that it really doesn't matter. I think it would look nice in a monochrome blue scheme - maybe another time.

Yesterday I wasn't feeling stitchy, so made this card for my cousins instead. I still have a bunch of thank-yous to send so more card pictures to come.

And I think I have another project for the year to do (like I needed one). Isabelle pointed out a year-long SAL which I think I'll have to join. If I get my block done tomorrow I'll start pulling thread - I think I might have fabric for this on hand already.

More football stitching

The good thing about the playoffs is that it allows me lots of stitching time. I worked on my regatta UFO during most of the pregame and first game, and got a fair amount done, despite some frogging. If I'm counting correctly, this project is now about 5% done - yikes. long way to go.
After dinner though, I was bored of that one. As all my other WIPs and UFOs are fairly large, I decided to start something new and small. This is an EMS freebie pincushion. I'm stitching it on Mulberry linen with DMC 4150. Not very far along, of course, but it will make a nice change from my other projects I think.

2nd finish

Yesterday I started this little kit I had from the Carolyn's Meadow series called Comfrey. I made a few changes to the colours, as I didn't like the combination of fuchsia (cross-stitches) and purple (backstitches) together in the flowers. I think I have 7 others in the series, and there is a total of 24 I think. While I might use this for a card if needed, I think I'll try to keep it - once I get some of the others done it might make a nice little quilted wallhanging. We'll see how they all come out.

Since the football wasn't over yet when I finished Comfrey, I took out le Temps qu'il fait and stitched block 9. Worked out well - finished just as the 2nd game ended. Here is the block and my progress to date. Only 47 more blocks to go!

Block 41

got it done. There is one mistake left, but I was able to work around it and not unpick anymore. Here he is, along with the rest of the sampler so far.

I'll probably pick up something different tomorrow, we'll see what is calling my name when I get home.

Slow stitching

Not a very productive night. Since we'd spent the first part of the evening running errands, rather than pick up Regatta, I decided to do one of the blocks on le Temps qu'il fait. Small blocks, 30x30 each and not very densely stitched, shouldn't have been a problem. Except out of the two hours I spent on the block, I probably unpicked for at least 30 min. So the block is not done and its bothering me. I really need to learn to count properly if I want to get this done any time soon. Hopefully pictures tomorrow.

A busy week

It's been a busy week for crafts this past week, since everyone went home after Christmas. It was nice to have a week off after the visitors to relax. Too bad, back to work tomorrow.


As planned, I got a few hours stitching into my Regatta piece. When I started this (2003?) I don't think I realized just how big a project it was. At 183 x 143 solid stitches, there is a lot of work in it for me. The blended threads and confetti stitches will slow me down a bit too. No wonder I abandoned this so quickly last time. I think I got as much done today as I'd done up to then. Not much of a picture so far, this is the top left bit of sky, so for comparison the finished work. Good thing I didn't commit to finishing this one in January, although I should be able to get a few more hours in on it before moving to something else.









Both of my sisters-in-law have birthdays in January, so I today I made some cards too. It's always fun to see how different the same stamp/technique can look just with different colours.















Here's hoping I'll still be able to get some crafting done once I'm back at work - at least no coursework to go with it now.

First Finish of 2007

I thought that I might finish it last year, but needed a few hours this morning to get the beads on. Not only did I like the pattern, but it included some specialty stitches and beading, which I hadn't done before. As I have a bunch of patterns in my stash that require that, it was nice to get some practice in on a smaller piece so as not to get too frustrated later.

Just Nan: Beaded Rose
Dec 28 2006 - Jan 1 2007
28 ct Smokey Pearl Linen with DMC





When I finished this, I looked through my WIP drawer to see what was calling me. I managed to find my fabric for my flower sampler (Kissy Cross) so stitched block 4 on that. Here is the block and what the piece looks like all together.
I also put a few stitches into the border of a card I found while looking for something else, but as its solid yellow stiching the picture is pretty boring so far. I'd forgotten about that start, but as its been less than a year, its no yet on my UFO list, still a WIP. But I'll try to finish it anyways.

I downloaded my copy of the Gift of Stitching today, and was very tempted by the Bee Pinkeep. But I think I'm going to work a bit on my Regatta piece before I start that one. To try and meet my UFO goals, I decided to try and stitch at least 10 hours on a UFO this month, and so far that one is screaming the loudest so I'll try to work on it before.

I haven't stitched this much in a day in a long time - my arm is tired so off to bed!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Hope its a great one for everyone.

I love making New Year's resolutions. I never keep any of them, of course, but on January 1st, I always feel that this is the year I'll get it all together. Hasn't happened yet, but I'm still optimistic.

Looking back at last years goals, I was a bit off track.

• Finish all UFOs.

Nope. I got 6 done out of the 11 I had at the beginning of the year. But I managed to finish most of the small ones; the ones left are either big or not very far ahead. So lots of work to do on these.

• Make 12 Broderie Creative kits

Not even 1 done.

• Gifts for 2 of mom, dad, mil and cousin.

Made a gift for my mom, but it wasn't what I had planned.

• Wedding sampler

Picked a pattern (Cranberry Sampler) and have most of the supplies, but haven't started it yet.

• Organize my stash

This one's not too bad - needs a bit of a tidy and have to put away the new threads I got for Christmas, but essentially done.

• Develop a rotation to help me stitch more regularly, and get something finished.

Developed the rotation, but turns out I didn't like it. I did manage to finish some things with it, but I found it also demotivated me a bit. I don't have that much time to stitch, what I do I should enjoy, not because I feel obligated to stitch them.

Although I only managed to get 2 items completed last year, I'll still make more this year. But hopefully they'll be more reasonable.

• Stitch wedding sampler
• Stitch baby sampler
• Stitch one of Victoria Sampler pieces from stash
• Finish UFOs
• Try to keep starts under control, but work on what inspires and relaxes me to make me enjoy stitching again.

And if I can keep my blog updated more too, that would be great.

I guess I should go stitch something, then, huh?