Weekend SAL - Progress Report

As I mentioned in my last post, Heather at Heather's Stitching Story hosted a general SAL (stitch-a-long) over this past weekend. I joined in and, although I didn't have as much time as I would've liked to stitch, I did make some progress on my current rotation piece, Christmas Gentlemen. 

The SAL began on the same day that my rotation week begins, so I started off where I had left this project after it's initial CJC start. Here is how it looked on Friday:

Christmas Gentlemen CJC started 1/6/13

And here is where I ended last night:

Christmas Gentleman 1-27-13

 
Other than being gone for a couple hours tonight, I'm hoping to continue making some good progress for the rest of this rotation week. This piece is small enough to carry with me, so I can put some time in on it during my lunch break at work...providing I get one. Some days that's questionable, lol.

I hope everyone is off to a great start this week. Hello out there to my new followers and thanks for stopping in to share my little corner of the world!! I truly appreciate everyone of you and your comments, encouraging words, and kind motivations. You're the greatest!

Enjoy your week and I'll be back with another update soon. Happy Stitching! 

Weekly Progress and Heather's SAL

Hello All and Happy Saturday!! I should have posted Thursday night at the end of my rotation week, but it's been a hectic few days and I just haven't had the time/energy to sit down and focus on my blog, editing pics, etc. DD ended up at the doctor yesterday because of an unknown injury to her knee. She plays volleyball 6 days a week, between her school team and a weekend training camp, and it seems she has overused her knee joint in recent weeks. She's out for a week and has a lovely new knee brace, but will be back in action and good as new as soon as the doctor tells her she can. That took up most of yesterday, including accompanying her to an out-of-town match so she could still sit with and support her team. Being a member of the starting lineup, it's been very difficult for her to not be on the court. I keep telling her it's only a week, but I realize that's roughly the equivalent of 17 years when you're 12.

Anyway, on to stitchy progress, because that's really what you're here for, right?? Last week's rotation piece was Wisteria Fairy. I made HUGE progress on her, especially considering there were 2 nights during the week that I didn't work on her at all.

Here she is before the rotation week

This was at the end of IHSW 1/20/13

And this is end of rotation week 1/24/13

I really, really love this project and I hate to put it down, but I'm looking forward to the coming week and my next rotation piece: Christmas Gentlemen. 

Christmas Gentlemen after CJC start 1/6/13

I decided to pull this one out now, so that I can get as much done as possible while the weather is still 'wintery'. I tend to not stitch seasonal things out of their season, but because I've got more than one seasonal piece in my CJC, I'm going to try to step outside of my comfort zone a little so they all get equal stitchy love. Just not yet...lol. 

Since I'm participating in a SAL this weekend with Heather over at Heather's Stitching Story, I anticipate making significant progress on Christmas Gentlemen before the weekend is out. If you'd like to take part in the SAL, stop by Heather's page and join right in! We'd love to have you :)

I hope you're all having a stitch-filled weekend full of all the things that make you happy. Until tomorrow's SAL progress report...Stitch Happy!! 

Successful IHSW and DH's Progress

Happy Monday everyone!! I trust you've all had a relaxing and successful stitching weekend and were able to enjoy IHSW to the fullest extent. This is the first one I've 'officially' participated in (by that, I mean the first one that I made a conscious effort to use as a reason to sit home all weekend and stitch guilt-free, lol). I worked on Wisteria Fairy, as that is my rotation project this week. Since my rotations run from Friday to Friday, my whole weekend was focused on this one project. And it worked out well for me. Here is where Wisteria Fairy was left after her initial CJC start back on 1/6/13:

Progress on 1/6/13

And here's where she is after a long, relaxing weekend of stitch after stitch after stitch...

Progress as of 1/20/13

The middle section above, between the green leaf and the blue swath, is probably the coolest looking stitching I've ever done. This section gets its rainbow appearance through the use of a Kreinik BF called Starburst. When it came in my order of BF's and beads that I got prior to the CJC, I just couldn't imagine how it would look as part of the design. Now I know...and I Love It!! Here is what the spool looks like:

Kreinik Blending Filament 095 - Starburst

How Cool!! I can see me adding this to future projects or using it as a replacement for a single color of filament. With as many fairies and fantasy projects as I stitch, I should probably order some of these in bulk, lol! I'm imagining fairy wings, dragon wings, skirt panels, clouds, etc. all infused with this awesome coloration. Can you tell I find it exciting?! :)

Lastly, I wanted to show you DH's progress on his Accidental Bookmark. I'm pretty impressed with how he's moving along...especially considering he works 6 days a week and usually chooses video games over all else when it comes to his down time (which is very minimal after family/kids time, time for us, and various household errands/chores/repairs). Here are before and after pics to show his progress:

The Accidental Bookmark before

...and after!

I hope everyone is off to a great start this week! I'll be continuing progress on Wisteria Fairy through Friday, although I don't expect anything like what I got done this weekend. DD has 3 volleyball games this week (2 are about an hour away, so those will be late returns home), my mom hasn't been feeling well, and I spent so much time stitching this weekend that nothing got done around the house besides the laundry, so...there's that. Maybe I'll manage to get a few stitches in on my lunch break at work.

Regardless, I'll be back with another update, and a 'before' pic of my next rotation piece, on Thursday. Happy Stitching, Y'all!!    

Playing Catch Up

I've finally carved out a few minutes to update my blog with my final CJC start. I only did 13 this year, not 15, so my last new start was way back on 1/12/13. It was TW's Egyptian Sampler. I got quite a good start for only working on it a couple hours (and considering that about half of what I completed was done over 1). Here's how far I got:

Egyptian Sampler - Teresa Wentzler; stitched 2 over 2 on 28 ct Toasted Almond evenweave

I really, really like this one. Maybe because I haven't gotten into all the blended colors yet, but even then I anticipate this one's going to be fun all the way through. 

On Day 13, I worked on my 2nd WIP on this year's list: Wondrous Works of God. Unfortunately, the number of stitches I put in was so minimal it isn't even worth fighting to get a good picture to post. I'll have to update my progress after this one is worked on again.

I've discovered that the best thing about participating in the CJC is that now I have 11 new starts that I'm soooo excited about stitching! The thing I'm having the hardest time with is choosing which one to work on, lol. I think I'm going to have to adopt some sort of rotation so that I can get my fill of stitching one project, while anticipation builds for the one that's coming up next. Maybe a Friday to Friday, so that I can start off making some real progress on the weekend...then I won't feel so bad if I don't get much else done during the rest of the week, lol!!

Of course, I'm also still working diligently along on my SamSarah perpetual calendar. I just got the new March charts, so I'll be squeezing time in on those here and there. They stitch up pretty quickly so those are the ones I usually work on at work. they're so easy to carry with me. I have one more of the 4 charts to finish up for February and then I'll have a pic of those to share. 

I hope everyone is busy hermitting and stitching this weekend. I haven't necessarily participated in IHSW in any 'official' way before, but I'm going to try and take part as often as I can this year. So, today officially starts my first 2013 rotation and my first IHSW. I've chosen to work on Wisteria Fairy this week. I'll try to post a progress update at the end of the weekend and then again at the end of the rotation week.

Wish me luck...and keep those stitching fingers busy, y'all! Have a great weekend :)   

TUSAL - January's Tidbits

My very first TUSAL update ever. How exciting! I emptied my ORT jar earlier in the week and put what was in it from last year in a ziploc bag to be put into a clear, dated ornament later. I'm going to try to keep doing this year after year to see how my progress changes.

Here's my ORT jar for the year's first TUSAL:

 

Crazy January Challenge Catch-Up - Days 8, 9, 10, & 11

Holy Cow!! What a week it's been - work is back in full swing after the long, looooong Holiday break. My daughter's Junior High volleyball season has started, so that's at least 2 games a week, keeping us away from home until sometimes as late as 9pm. And now, the flu has struck our house again...Whitney woke up feeling poorly yesterday morning (but didn't dare miss school due to having a volleyball game that evening) and began running a fever as soon as we got home from the game. So, between work, school sports, housework, helping Mom, pets, kids, and sickness...it's a wonder I've been able to pick up a needle lately! Somehow, I've managed to get my starts made, with only one 'cheat' day spent working on one of the two WIPs that are in my Challenge list.

Here's what's happened since last we spoke -

Day 8 start - Glory by Bent Creek

 End of day progress:

Stitching 2 over 2 on a scrap of 28-ct Beige linen

Day 9 Start - Woodland Violet Sampler by The Sweetheart Tree

And here's how far I got:

Stitching 2 over 2 on a scrap of 28-ct Antique White linen

Day 10 - No Start...instead I worked on one of the two WIPs on my list, Forest Goddess. 

Here's before I picked it back up:

As of 11-8-12

And here's what I got done:

As of 1-10-13

 
 Day 11 Start - Royal Velvet by Marc Inge Saastad from JCS mag, August 2001

Wait, you say. That wasn't on the list, you say. Wha...? Well, this is a prime example of my planning (in)abilities - This spot was reserved for Mirabilia's Amethyst Fairy, but somehow I managed to totally mis-calculate the size of fabric I need. Unfortunately, I don't have any fabric in the right dimensions on hand, and I don't want to order any and wait for it to come in. Besides, my goal with this challenge was to use up as much of my existing stash as possible. So, that's where Royal Velvet comes in. It was on the original list, until I cut it down by a couple patterns, so I guess this is an indication that I was supposed to stitch this chart, lol :)

Here's where I left off tonight:

Stitching 2 over 2 on a scrap of 28-ct White linen

 

I've only got one new start left in this challenge, Teresa Wentzler's Egyptian Sampler. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some work in on it tomorrow. DH has to work tomorrow night and with Whitney being sickly, I should have plenty of time to stitch...once my housework is caught up. Gah! Then Sunday will be spent putting in time on my other WIP - Wondrous Works of God.

After all my starts are done, I plan to spend a week at a time on each project. Since a few of them are quite small (in comparison to the BAPs I normally stick to), I should be able to finish some of them in just a couple rotations. Or, well, that's the hope, anyway.

I'm off to do some more stitching while I wait for DH to get home from work. Until tomorrow - stitch happy!! 

Crazy January Challenge - Day 7

Whoa, man. It's late, so this will be a short one. Today's start was Halloween, a freebie from Passione Ricamo. I'm stitching it on 14 ct. Fiddler's Cloth (can you tell I'm trying to use up my stash...lots of 14 ct in this Challenge). So far, I've gotten part of the hat and the buckle done. Not as much progress as I would have liked, but my shows are back from their mid-season break, so I'm being easily distracted by plot lines and intrigue, lol.

Here's today's progress:

Halloween by Passione Ricamo (freebie); stitched on 14 ct Fiddler's Cloth

Yes, I know. The picture is awful, but I'm tired and I can't be bothered to take a better one.

Tomorrow's start: **Glory** by Bent Creek

Hope everyone has a wonderful tomorrow! :) 

Crazy January Challenge - Days 5 & 6

Day 5 - Grrrr...I didn't get a chance to make a start yesterday. As I said in my post on Friday, Saturdays are notoriously busy days for us around here, and...well...life just gets in the way sometimes. By the time I had a chance to sit down and stitch for awhile, it was after 11pm and I was exhausted. I decided, rather than start something that I had no desire to do and only get 5 or 10 stitches in it, I would just wait until today and start 2 to make up for it. Cheating? Maybe. Am I okay with it? You betcha!

Day 6 - I made 2 starts today in order to stay on track for the overall challenge timeframe. After church, we took down our Christmas tree (FINALLY!!) and had some lunch. When that was done, I was free to stitch :)  I started Christmas Gentlemen, which was to be yesterday's start, and worked on it for about 2 hours. I was stitching white and ecru on fiddler's cloth, so it's pretty hard to see, but here's my progress on this one:

Christmas Gentlemen by Leisure Arts; stitched on 14 ct Fiddler's Cloth

The other start I made today was Wisteria Fairy by Karen Weaver of Black Swan Designs. This was a free chart from The Stitchery magazine, year unknown. I absolutely love BSD, so I was thrilled to find that I had one of their charts in my 'old magazine' stash. This is such a fun stitch that I have no doubt Wisteria Fairy will be a 2013 finish. I began this one late this evening and worked for about 2 1/2 hours. Here's where I ended up:

Wisteria Fairy by Karen Weaver; 14 ct hand-dyed Lavender Mist Opalescent Aida

 And look...more sparkly fabric! :)

Tomorrow's start:  **Halloween** a Passione Ricamo freebie. 

Back with a new update tomorrow. G'night y'all!

Crazy January Challenge - Day 4

I didn't get as much stitching in as I had hoped to tonight. I got 3 packages in the mail today (all more stash, of course) and some of the items were needed for other challenge pieces, so I was winding floss, sorting Kreinik, and tomorrow I'll be labeling and storing beads. Needless to say, I didn't get started nearly as early as I wanted to.

I did get some time in though, and I have a little bit of progress to show. I apologize for the picture...it's hard to show navy floss on black fabric, but I think this is about as good as it gets, lol:

 

Tomorrow probably won't lend itself to much stitching time, as we have the kids to occupy, DH has an eye doctor appointment, we need to do grocery shopping, etc. Busy Saturdays around here, but maybe I'll get some stitching time in during the evening. The next project up is:

**Christmas Gentlemen** by Leisure Arts

Have a wonderful Saturday, everyone!!  

Crazy January Challenge - Day 3

This morning's update is actually progress from yesterday's challenge project, Celtic Heart. I've been fighting a super nasty sinus infection for the last several days and last night, by the time I would normally post my update, I was dead to the world and even muted light made me want to take out my own eyeballs. I hate this crap.

Anyway, here's hoping that I feel better tonight and am able to get more stitching in on CJC project #4 than I did on #3. Here's what I got done on Celtic Heart yesterday:

Celtic Heart by M Designs; Stitched 2 over 2 on a scrap of 28 ct light blue linen with hand-dyed floss.

I'm stitching this on a scrap of light blue 28 ct linen and using hand-dyed floss from Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe in Blue w/Brown (yes, that's the 'official' color name). This chart calls for the whole piece to be done in one color, but that would bore me too much, so I substituted the one color with the hand-dyed...which is actually about 3 colors, lol. 

Stay tuned for another update tonight on CJC Day 4 progress. Next up: 

**Fractal Tiger**, a freebie from Gran's Stitch Niche.

See y'all back here tonight. Have a happy, stitch-filled day!