After being inspired first by Missy Ann last week, and again by Annette yesterday, I have decided to put myself on another stash diet challenge. I won’t be purchasing any more stash until I finish at least 25 projects.

Here are my rules:

• No stash purchases (exceptions outlined below) until 25 stitching projects have been completed. This includes charts, fabrics, canvases, scissors (gulp!), etc.
• Effective start date: Tuesday, April 21, 2009
• Exceptions:
  1. Open orders (Lizzie Kate ABC Lessons [LNS], three remaining charts for Lizzie Kate’s Boo Club [LNS])
  2. Letters from Nora “M” when it is released (pending I like it, of course ;))
  3. Class kits (already have a couple lined up for this summer)
  4. JCS ornament issues (Halloween & Christmas)
• Fibers needed for any of the projects I’m working on during the challenge are permitted, but any fibers not immediately needed for a project are not.
• I should have more than enough needles to get me through my 25 projects. In the event something should happen and I don’t, purchasing needles is also allowed.
• Trades are acceptable – based on already owned stash

I’ll be adding a new tab along the top of my blog to track my progress for my 25 project challenge. As I finish pieces, they will be added to the list. My sub-goal is to really try and get some more of my WIPs knocked out as well. It would be great to not only curtail my stash spending a bit, but to also make some progress on getting my WIP pile down to a more manageable level.

Some of you who have been reading my blog for a while may remember that I did a variation of this challenge last year. That particular challenge was to not start any new pieces until I had finished 10 of my WIPs. So, in many way, that challenge was a bit easier than this one is going to be because 1) I didn’t have to curtail any stash purchases, and 2) I didn’t have to finish nearly as many projects. I decided to push myself a bit further this time so that it wouldn’t be quite so easy on me. Wish me luck!

As promised yesterday, I do have some more photos to share. Since it’s been so long since I updated my stitching-related photos, there are still more even that what I’m posting here today, so I’ll try and get the rest up in the next day or two. The ones I’m sharing today are of some new stitching goodies I got. As always, just click on the image to see a larger view.

Bunny Thread Drops:

My friend Cindi gave me these as a belated birthday gift. She actually gave me two packs, but I only photographed one of them. I think they are absolutely adorable.

New Scissor Fob:

The fob was made by my friend Cindi. I purchased the little cup charm and letter beads when I went to Disneyland for my birthday. I just handled them off a few weeks ago to Cindi and asked if she would make them ointo a fob for me. I think she did an amazing job! As soon as I got it from her on Saturday, it went right on to my Dovo Centennial scissors. I know she peeks in on my blog from time to time, so if you see this, thanks again, Cindi!

Speaking of Cindi, I also snapped pictures recently of a couple of her finished stockings. She did the needlepoint toppers and then sent them off to the finisher to be made into the actual stockings. They are simply stunning and these photos do not do them justice. Check out those tassels, too. WOW!!!

Well, I guess that’s it for this update. As I said, I do have a couple more pics to share, so be on the lookout for them in the next couple of days.

Until next time …

Well, at least that’s what it was supposed to be. I went to my LNS for an all-day open stitching class. I seemed to do a LOT more socializing than stitching though. I did have a great time though, so I guess that’s all that matters.

I did treat myself to one little splurge while at the shop. I bought myself a new pair of Dovo scissors that I’ve been wanting for the past couple of years. The handles are silver and the forged steel blades are blue. They are such a beautiful pair of scissors, I think!

On the scissors is a pretty little fob I bought from my local stitching friend, Cindi. I thought since my birthstone is amethyst that the purple quartz crystal would sort of pass for being a birthstone fob for myself. Since it’s silver, it also matches my new scissors quite nicely.

Another of my stitching buddies, Lindsay, started pulling fibers to stitch the Sophie Stocking from Shepherd’s Bush. I’ve had that chart in my stash for several years with the intentions of stitching it for myself, but never got around to it. After seeing her pulling the fibers, I decided it would be something fun that we could do as a SAL (stitch-a-long) to help keep each other inspired/motivated. She agreed, so I pulled the fibers for it as well.

I’m thinking this might actually stitch up fairly quickly as well. It’s done on 18-count Natural linen using a single strand of #5 pearl cotton. I started on the little pudgie last night, but I don’t really have enough done for a progress photo yet. I’ll be working on it more over the next couple of days and will post a progress photo after that.

I just want to close by thanking those of you either commented or sent an email about my video in yesterday’s post. I really appreciate all the support! It’s nice to know I’m not alone and that others can relate to how I’m feeling.

A couple of new charts arrived in the mail on Thursday. These came from Cynthia at The Drawn Thread. The chart on the left is called Kindred Spirits. I just thought the little designs were adorable, especially the little bunny and the witch. Each design is 33 x 50, so I thought they might be cute for seasonal fobs if I stitched them over-1.

The chart on the right is called Give Peace A Chance. I was immediately drawn to it because of all the specialty stitches and the cute little over-1 doves. This one will definitely have to go pretty high on my “to start” wish list.

The desire is there, but my health isn’t. I was thisclose to walking out the door and heading over to the event this morning. I had a strong feeling that it probably wasn’t a smart thing to do though, so I called a running friend for some impartial advice.

He advised me that since I ultimately have larger goals on the horizon (my upcoming half marathon specifically) that sitting this one out made sense. He reminded me that there will be plenty of other 5k/10k races. He said it really wasn’t worth risking my upcoming training time for the half marathon to do a 5k now since I’ve been sick/injured the past couple of weeks. He basically gave a voice to what I already knew in my head was the right thing to do, even though my heart was screaming at me otherwise. This is exactly why I called him. It’s always good to have an impartial voice of reason.

Instead of racing this morning, I’ll head out a bit later and take a nice easy shorter walk. Since I haven’t been able to do any training in nearly 3 weeks, this will help me ease back into working out without taxing my recovering body too much. It will also give me a chance to try out my new custom mix of workout music my aforementioned friend created me a couple of weeks ago, too.

I’m still struggling with wanting to walk out the door and head over to the race. I still would have time to make it if I left right now. I decided I would take some time to blog instead to keep me from doing just that. Hopefully by the time I finish this entry, it will be too late for me to make it there in time. Hey, whatever works, right?

Since I won’t be doing the race after all this morning, I might actually start on a new stitching project. I went by my LNS yesterday to pay for my class project for the stitching cruise we’ll be going on next week. While I was there, I picked up the first of the charts & the fibers for the Lizzie Kate Boo Club double flip series.

The shop had actually kitted up the necessary fibers and a piece of the 32-count Dirty Belfast linen called for in the Boo Club instructions. It looked so amazing together that I was very tempted. I ended up deciding that the smart thing to do economically though was to use some fabric from my stash instead. The chart said any 32-count neutral fabric could be used, so I figured I probably already had something that would work.

My initial thought was to use one of the Lakeside Linens I’ve been collecting over the past couple of years through the Fabric of the Month club from Shakespeare’s Peddler. Once I started looking through them though, all of the colors I thought looked best were all 40-count. Given the charts in this series uses little buttons for things like eyes and such, I was afraid shifting from 32-count up to 40-count might throw off the proportions. Instead, I ended up deciding on a piece of 32-count hand-dyed Sand Castle Jobelan. Here is a photo of my floss toss on the fabric (click for larger version):

Ok, the window of opportunity for making the race is definitely over now. I’m going to head back to bed and try to get another couple of hours of sleep. I’ve only had about 6 hours’ worth so far since I got up at 5:15am to get ready for the race. I could definitely use a little more.

I hope everyone has a great day. For those watching and/or going to parties, have a great Super Bowl Sunday.

As some of you may remember, I decided to give needlepoint a try back in February 2007. Since then, I’ve actually finished several canvas projects and really have come to discover that I really do enjoy it. It’s much different than my first love (cross-stitch), but it is a nice change of pace every now and again.

Once I started doing needlepoint, I vowed to myself repeatedly that I would never let myself get sucked into doing a Christmas stocking. They are generally very expensive and extremely time consuming. Well, so much for that theory. I finally gave in and got one.

Today was the monthly all day stitching group at my LNS. When I walked through the door, I saw a sign announcing all hand-painted canvases, cross stitch charts, kits, and fibers were15% off this week for their anniversary sale, so naturally I started looking around the shop. ;) I mean, I had to, right?

For some inexplicable reason since I was NEVER going to stitch a stocking, I glanced up along the wall where all of the stocking canvases were hanging. As soon as I saw one particular design, I knew I was in trouble. It had a Santa AND bunnies! Here is a pic of it. (As always, feel free to click on the photos for a larger view.)

(Note: There really isn’t a weird line running vertically through the canvas. That’s the seam of my drop-leaf table.)

To give you a rough idea of the size, it’s 16.5″ from the bottom of the foot to the top of the cuff. It’s 13.5″ across the bottom of the foot at the widest point. I’m still not sure yet what I’ll do up in the cuff area (pencil drawn across the top above Santa), but I definitely want to personalize it with my name.

On the upside, given how expensive hand-painted stocking canvases can be ($300+), this one was very “reasonable” $66 after the discount. Since Diana had all her fibers on sale as well, I decided I might as well go ahead and kit it up to take advantage of the reduced prices. I have to admit, it was LOTS of fun going around the shop with our resident teacher finding all the yummy fibers I wanted to use for it. Here’s a list of the fibers I selected followed by a photo of them roughly placed on the canvas where they will be used.

Pure Palette Soy Luster Shadows Periwinkle (for the sky)
Rainbow Gallery Crystal Braid CR01 (for the snowflakes)
Gloriana Black Cherry (for Santa’s coat & hat)
Kreinik #16 Braid 009 (outline of all portions of Santa’s coat)
Pure Palette Soy Luster Solids Indian Sunset (Santa’s coat lining on right side)
Pure Palette Soy Luster Solids Shade Tree (green border on Santa’s coat, gloves)
Pure Palette Soy Luster Solids Robin Hood (green & yellow border on Santa’s coat, gloves)
Pure Palette Soy Luster Solids Sunflower Petals (green & yellow border on Santa’s coat)
Burmilana 3601 – white (fur trim of Santa’s coat and hat, bunny tails)
Burmilana 3686 – light gray (Santa’s beard)
Kreinik #16 braid 3250 (Santa’s staff)
Rainbow Gallery Rainbow Tweed RT35 (Santa’s bag and staff)
Rainbow Gallery Rainbow Tweet RT40 (Santa’s bag)
Rainbow Gallery Angora RA06 (Brown bunny on left)
Rainbow Gallery Angora RA05 (Brown bunny on left)
Rainbow Gallery Angora RA02 (white tummy on both bunnies)
Rainbow Gallery Cashmere H09 (pink ears & noses on both bunnies)
Rainbow Gallery Angora RA19 (Bunny on right which I’m making gray)
Rainbow Gallery Angora RA10 (Bunny on right which I’m making gray)
Sundance Beads Size 11 Colors 172, 16A, 11A (wreaths around bunny necks)
Rainbow Gallery Frosty Rays Y217 (ground snow)

I will also be using various DMC floss for things like the toys in Santa’s bag (yes, there’s another bunny there!) and Santa’s face. Since I pretty much have a full set of DMC already, so I didn’t have to buy any of those.

After I got home tonight, I took a bit of time to sort through and organize all of the fibers. I put the various flosses in Floss-A-Way bags and then put everything onto a metal ring to keep it all together and organized as I start working on my stocking. Here’s a pic of how it looked once it was all put together.

Even with all the shopping I ended up doing while picking out my fibers, I actually got a bit of stitching done as well. I briefly worked on my Sampler Gameboard by The Drawn Thread, but spent most of my afternoon working on Just Peachy Santa (finished model) by Just Libby Designs which is another canvas project.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend! For those of you who will be returning to work on Monday after an extended holiday break … !!!!! Since I worked all during the holiday break, you’ll get no sympathy from me.

I got a new toy last week and realized today that I’ve not posted about it here on my blog yet. I got an Amazon Kindle. I.LOVE.IT!!! It’s so awesome to have so many books just a click away in something that weighs just over 10 ounces (.28 kg). Here’s a pic of my new baby:

On a lighter note, I’m sure by now many of you have heard the Oprah declared the Kindle her “favorite new gadget“. As a result of her announcement, Kindles are currently on backorder through Amazon (at least, they are according to the Amazon rep with whom I spoke today). I actually received mine two days prior to her big announcement, so I actually had something BEFORE Oprah declared it to be the latest thing. I guess that makes me one of the cool kids.

In stitching news, I’ve mostly been working on Hannah Beeby and Where There is Life lately. They are the two projects that I took with me to Hawai’i on vacation. Here are my latest progress photos:

Where There is Life (Little House Needleworks):

Hannah Beeby 1816 (Gitta’s Timeless Designs):

The little pin cushion in the Hannah Beeby photo is one that I picked up in a local Hawaiian quilt shop in Honolulu. They had some GORGEOUS quilts in there and it was really tempting to bring one home with me, but I managed to settle for just getting the pin cushion instead. :-)

We did manage to make our way to a local stitching shop while in Honolulu. It was called Fiddlesticks and they were so nice to us during our visit! I did pick up a couple of charts while there. I was mostly wanting to get some sort of Hawaiian-inspired design to stitch as a keepsake, but a couple of other charts somehow found their way into my stack, too. ;)

Well, I guess that’s enough for now. I’ll post again later this weekend. I saw on the Fair & Square blog that my partner received her Autumn exchange that I sent, so I’ll post some pics of it then.

I got my Broom Hilda’s Hat back from the finisher today. I *love* how it turned out. She did a fabulous job and I adore the fabric she used for the lining. Here are particulars about the piece as well as pictures of it before (post stitching) and after the finishing.

Designer: Margaret Bendig
Canvas: 18 mono
Fiber: Rainbow Gallery Mandarin Floss

Before Finishing:

After Finishing:

I also picked up a couple of new charts for my stash when I was at the shop today. The first was on a complete no brainer for me. Since I’ve already stitched “B is for Bunny” by Sandy of The Sweetheart Tree, I just couldn’t resist picking up her latest “A Bevy of Bunnies”.

The other chart is Quakers & Quilts from Rosewood Manor. I’m only planning to stitch the “Only Quaker” version of the chart and won’t be including the quilt squares.

I just had to share about a new hand-dyed floss I just discovered. It’s from an eBay store called Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe (here’s the direct link to her floss category). This floss is just GORGEOUS!!!

Definitely click on the image above to see a larger version. I will say, as I always do, the photo simply does not do these colors justice! The subtle color variations just aren’t showing up that well in the photo. For a color point of reference, I have them on a piece of Maple Sugar linen from Lakeside Linens. I think this floss is perfect for those of us who enjoy doing monochromatic samplers.

Her prices are awesome as well! Each tag is $2 each which contains 20 yards of floss (DMC base). She even throws in extra floss with each order to cover the shipping costs which are already very reasonable. I only paid $1.50 for shipping on this order since she combines shipping. She mailed them the day after I ordered them, so I received them in just a few days.

With this first order, I got a couple of misc. assortments to get an idea of what her colors were like and I couldn’t be more pleased with what I received. I can’t wait to start stitching with them! I’ve already ordered more. I can’t wait to see the pumpkin set in person! Here are the links to what I just ordered:

Pumpkin (Pumpkin B, Rust Red, Russet, Nutmeg)
Antique Christmas (Light Antique Gold, Medium Antique Brass, Antique Red & Green)

I’ll post pictures of these after I receive them as well.

Until next time …

Jennifer posted on the Mirabilia Stitchers board a few days ago inquiring about floss inventory lists for some of the over-dye fibers commonly used in cross stitching. I already had one for the Belle Soie silk line since I’ve been working on collecting a full set of them. Her post got me thinking about how I really should inventory my other fibers as well.

So, I took a bit of time this weekend and put together inventory lists for some of the other fibers I use regularly. I already know I have a full set of DMC, so I didn’t bother with that. I just went with the over-dyes. I have a couple of others I still want to put together, but at least I’ve gotten started.

Before I started filling them in with my own stock, I converted the blank version to PDF files and thought I would share them here in case anyone else might be interested. Here are the links for each of them:

Crescent Colors (cotton)
Crescent Colors Belle Soie (silk)
Gentle Arts (cotton)
Weeks Dye Works (cotton)

I think these are all current with the most recent additions to the lines. I didn’t include the limited edition colors from any of the lines, but there are extra blank lines at the end of each of them where additional colors could be added.

I was able to find a listing of some of the retired colors from Weeks. I’ve included them on that listing, but I didn’t have it for any of the other lines, so they are not included on those.

If you find these useful and choose to download them, please drop me a comment and let me know. Thanks and happy inventorying! Is that a word?

Since I’ve been focusing so much lately on my weight loss & fitness journey, I haven’t provided a stitching update in quite some time. I am still stitching, but obviously not as much since a lot of my free time is now spent either at the gym or in the pool.

I have finished a couple of pieces since my last update. One is the very first painted canvas piece I ever attempted. It’s an ornament called “Lilie’s Quilt Corner” from SHEAR Creations. Here’s a pic of my finished piece (as always, you can click any of the photos below for a larger view):

I also finished another cross stitch piece as well. It’s the Halloween design from the La Petite Holidays series by Curtis Boehringer. I made a couple of fiber changes from the charted design. I used an over-dyed fiber for the jack-o-lantern, and I used a combination of DMC 310 & black Wisper for the cat.

I’ve put in a big more stitching time lately on my Taj Mahal Mandala Garden by Chatelaine. I’d forgotten just how much I love this design until I picked it up to work on it some more. Here’s my latest progress pic at 72 hours of stitching time:

I’ve also been taking the opportunity at the last couple of stitching Sundays at my LNS to learn some new techniques. I’m learning to do Hardanger, and I also learned how to stitch a plaid design in needlepoint. Here are a couple of pics:

In one last bit of stitching news, I have decided I am clearly a stitching masochist. As if I didn’t have enough BAP’s (big ass projects) already, I picked up the supplies for yet another one. It’s Nova by Genny Morrow Designs. The chart book calls for using 18-count canvas, but I’ve decided to stitch mine on 24-count Congress Cloth instead. This project will also be my first experience with using scroll bars.

Well, I guess that’s it on the stitching front for now. Until next time …