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?

November Wrap-Up

I had a pretty low-key plan for November, but I did manage to finish it! Objectives were

• Finish zebra for my mom

stitched, needs finishing

• Make Christmas ornament for SIL in time to send overseas

finished and sent with lots of time (I hope)

• Stitch next RR square if it gets here in time (we're running a bit behind schedule)

Never made it here, not sure what's going on with this RR anymore, but I can't say I particularly care at this point.

I also worked on Lighthouses, and made two new starts, le Temps qu'il fait sampler and the Christmas Chickadee.

In December, I'd like to:

• Stitch and finish Chickadee
• Find a way to finish zebra for my mom (box top maybe)

If I get a chance, there's one other gift I'd like to make, and the Rosewood Manor Christmas ornament from the latest Gift of Stitching is very interesting. We'll see how that goes, lots of other crafts to do too. But this was last weekend (I hope) of course work, so maybe next weekend I'll get some stitching in.