BloggingTag Archives

Winter Band Sampler Progress

Yes, as you can see, I’ve been playing around with my theme again since my last update. I decided to go with a somewhat generic theme that will allow me to swap out photos of my own stitching from time to time as the header image. The piece currently being displayed is my Rosemarkie from French designer Long Dog Samplers. I stitched it over 1 on 25-count Lugana using Dragon Blood silk from Hand-Dyed Fibers by Vikki Clayton.

Now, on to more current topics. Amazingly enough, I’ve actually been able to make some time for stitching recently. I unplugged from the internet and my iPhone for a few hours last night and spent a bit of time doing some guiltless stitching. It was heavenly!

I thought I would share my progress so far on my Little House Needleworks Winter Band Sampler which is part of my Crazy 2011 WIP/UFO Challenge. I’m stitching it 2-over-2 on 28-count Summer Khaki Lugana using the recommended DMC fibers. I did make one color swap. I’m using DMC 321 for the red instead of the recommended DMC 355.

I know the colors are off a bit in the photos, but I didn’t have any choice but to photograph at night. I took these under my Ott without camera flash. As always, you can click to biggify.

Aren’t those little cardinals cute?

Speaking of Little House Needleworks, I guess it’s time for me to come clean about something. I know I committed to little to no stash spending this year in my 2011 Goals. Unfortunately, that was before I learned that Diane was going to continue her Ornament of the Month series for another year. Since I already have all of the ornaments for 2010, I decided to add this to my list of exceptions for the no stash spending.

I had been struggling with myself for a couple of weeks trying to decide whether or not to continue. I got an email from Drema on Friday asking me if I wanted to continue this year or not. I took that as a sign it was meant to be. Yeah, I’m ~~looking for any excuse~~ easily swayed, what can I say? So, yes, Drema will be hooking me up again this year with the autos on the ornie kits. (Thanks, Drema! )

Ok, off to bed for me. If I don’t get there soon, I won’t be able to get out of bed on time in the morning.

Until next time …

24 January 2011

Challenges, Cross Stitch, Misc.

12 comments

Blogging, Crazy 2011 UFO Challenge, Drema, LHN/CCN, Long Dog Samplers, Needlecraft Corner, Ornaments, Vikki Clayton

Blogging vs. Facebook/Twitter

I want to pose a question to those of you who blog and are also active on social media sites. Do you find you blog less often now? I have definitely noticed that about myself. I know that many of my regular readers (based on those who frequently comment) are also friends with me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter. I tend to post photos and quick updates of what’s going on in my life in those places. Accordingly, I don’t feel as much “pressure” (for the lack of a better word) to update my blog as often. I’m just wondering if others have found the same to be true. Please leave me a comment with your thoughts.

In stitching news, amazingly enough, I actually have been doing a little bit. I stitched a summer pinkeep for Kim as part of a seasonal exchange. After that was away in the mail, I’ve been working a bit on “Snow Garden” from Blackbird Designs as well as another secret project. Here are some pictures of the exchange:

The pinkeep design was taking from the “Friends for All Seasons” chart by Lizzie Kate. I also included the “Small Sampler 1” chart from Ewe & Eye & Friends, a couple of skeins of Dragon Floss from Polstitches, a couple of skeins of Soy Luster floss (one solid & one shadow) from The Pure Palette, and a pack of strawberry blank notecards.

Here are some close-up shots of the pinkeep by itself:

My Dovos were for demo purposes only and weren’t part of the exchange. Sorry Kim!

This was my first attempt at doing a scissor pocket on the back. I thought it turned out ok, but I definitely learned some things that I will do differently next time. For example, I didn’t leave a bit of slack in the pocket when I assembled it. As I was sewing, the pocket kept getting tighter and tighter to the point that it pulls slightly downward. If I had given it a little leeway at the beginning, I think it would have come out much nicer in the end.

Here are my before & after progress pics on Snow Garden:

Previous Progress

Current Progress

I know it’s not much progress, but at least it is noticeable. I try very hard not to compare myself to the speedy needles of some of my other stitching friends whose speed is simply astounding! I just seem to be in a bit of a stitching slump this year, and I’m not sure why. Normally by the mid-point of the year, I would have at least 10-15 finishes, but this year I only have three. The sad part is that I know my time available for stitching is about to get drastically reduced, too.

That leads me directly into my last bit of news. I’ve officially gone back to college to finish my degree. I dropped out of college at the start of my senior year back when I was 21 years old. I said I was just going to take a couple of quarters off, but somehow that mushroomed into taking 25 years off. One of my biggest regrets in life has always been not finishing my degree, so now I’m going to remedy that. In fact, my plan is to finish my Bachelors as quickly as possible and then go immediately into a Masters program.

I have chosen an online competency-based program through Western Governor’s University. It’s basically an independent study program where each student goes at their own pace. They will also allow students with extensive real world experience to test out of some classes. I decided this particular model sounded perfect for me, so let’s hope that it is! I guess I’ll find out soon enough given that I start classes today.

One of the best parts is that since the university if fully accredited, they qualify for tuition reimbursement through my employer. w00t! By the time I get my reimbursement checks each year, I should hopefully only spend around $1000-$1200 out of pocket annually. That means no student loans!

I suppose that’s the last of my news & updates for now. I will try my best to update as often as possible, but please understand that I’m likely just uber busy between work and school should I disappear for extended periods of time. If you want to keep track of me more frequently, I would recommend Facebook.

Until next time …

1 July 2010

Cross Stitch, Misc., Thoughts

16 comments

Blackbird Designs, Blogging, Education, Exchange, Friends Stitching Through the Seasons, Lizzie Kate, Smalls, Social Media

New Year – New Theme – New Goals

Happy New Year! Can you believe we’re already a new decade in this century?! It seems like all the Y2K commotion was just a couple of years ago. It’s amazing to realize it’s been 10 years already. Where does the time go?!

As you can tell, the new year has also brought a new theme for my blog. After years of blogging, I finally found what I believe to be the perfect theme for my blog. This is so “me” that it’s unbelievable. What you think?

As I’ve been reading everyone’s blogs over the past couple of days, I’ve been seeing lots of people posting a recap of their 2009 goals and setting new goals for 2010. This left me wondering if I actually set any goals for 2009. It’s probably not a good sign that I didn’t even actually remember, eh?

As it turns out, it looks like I only set one stitching-related goal for 2009 which is a little surprising. Unfortunately, I didn’t even meet the one. Oops! The goal was to keep my WIP list down to 15 or less, but it’s currently sitting at 19. Maybe this year.

2009 Recap:

	WIPs on 1/1/09:	14
	New Starts:	29
	Finishes:	19
	Moved to UFO*:	5
	WIPs on 12/31/09:	19

*As far as projects moved to UFO, I borrowed a concept from Annette. If I haven’t worked on a project in the preceding 12 months, I’m no longer considering it a WIP (work in progress), and will move it to UFO (unfinished object) status instead. This doesn’t mean that I won’t eventually finish it, but if I haven’t worked on it in over a year, I just can’t justify in my head calling it a WIP any longer.

Here is a list of all the finishes I had during 2009:

Snowman’s Quaker Christmas (Midnight Stitching) – Completed 1 Feb 2009
NEEDLE heART (Margaret Bendig) – Stitching cruise piece – Completed 8 Feb 2009
Christmas Joy (Little by Little Design Co.) – Completed 25 April 2009
Rosemarkie (Long Dog Samplers) – Completed 29 April 2009
Rudolph (The Stitcherhood) – Completed 2 May 2009
Boo (The Stitcherhood) – Completed 3 May 2009
Letters from Nora – ~~Madeline~~ Melissa (Nora Corbett) – Completed 27 May 2009
Ink Circles May 2007 freebie – Completed 7 June 2009
Spooky Treats (Part 1 of 6 of Lizzie Kate’s Boo Club) – Completed 11 June 2009
Anonymous RAK – Completed 25 June 2009
Patriotic Quaker Heart – Completed 27 July 2009
Multiplicity – Completed 14 August 2009
Hagatha’s Slipper (part 1) – Completed 11 September 2009
Boo to You House (Fair & Square exchange) – Completed 10 October 2009
West Coast (Sea to Shining Sea series) – Completed 19 October 2009
Moon Witch – Completed 4 November 2009
Noel Naturally – Completed 5 November 2009
Joyful Night- Completed 14 November 2009
Indian Summer – Completed 25 November 2009

2010 Goals:

1. StRIP (Stash Reduction Implementation Plan)

This is the year that I really want to get my WIP list under some semblance of control. I know that I give this goal a bit of lip service every year, but I’ve never really followed through on it. This year is going to be different!

How am I going to accomplish this task you ask? My rule for 2010 is that I can’t start a new project until I complete at least three existing projects. I do have a few exceptions to this rule:

Little House Needleworks ornament of the month series
Exchanges
Class projects (probably only the Shepherd’s Bush retreat this year)
Guilt-free January (GFJ)

For those who aren’t active on stitching message boards, the concept of GFJ is that one is allowed to start as many new projects as they like, free of any guilt about existing WIPs or UFOs, during the month of January. I have decided to slightly modify GFJ and only allow myself this caveat during this first weekend of the new year. If it’s not started by 11:59pm on Sunday, January 3, then I can’t start it until after I have completed three other finishes.

The downside to this StRIP plan is that most of my current WIPs are BAPs (big ass projects), including several samplers. The upside is that now I’ll probably get some of them actually finished.

Once I have my WIPs under control, then I’ll work on coming up with a plan for the UFOs. I’m not even going to worry about them until I have my WIPs down to single digits.

2. Little House Needleworks Ornament of the Month series

I signed up with Drema for the automatics on this series a couple of months ago when Diane first announced it on the Little House Needleworks website. Since these are ornaments, they should be pretty quick stitches. My goal is to stay caught up on stitching this series throughout the year as they are released.

3. Stash Stitching

Along with trying to get my WIPs under control, I definitely want to get back to stitching from my stash again for my new starts. I have so many gorgeous pieces already, with probably about 40 already kitted even. I am always so tempted by the new pretties that come out that I end up buying more and more and then never get around to stitching them.

My goal for this year is that 80% of my new starts, excluding the LHN series and any class pieces, will come from my existing stash. Given my first goal, it’s unlikely that I’ll be able to have more than 5 or 6 new starts this year. By making the goal 80%, it does give me a little wiggle room for something that might be released that just screams at me to stitch it right away.

As you can see, I have my work cut out for me this year with my goals. Wish me luck because I know I’ll definitely need it. I’m weak!

Until next time …

1 January 2010

Misc., Stitching

10 comments

2009 recap, 2010 Goals, BAPs, Blogging, Finishes, GFJ, Stash, StRIP, UFOs, WIPs

Halloween Squares & A Finish

Jeanie in Singapore received the Halloween squares I stitched for her as part of the Fair & Square exchange, so I can share a picture of them now. The design is by Prairie Schooler from their Boo to You chart.

I received my squares from Jeanie last week. She choose a couple of small motifs from San-Man Originals. She did a great job. I think the squares are adorable. Thanks, Jeanie!

I also have another little finish to share. It’s actually a partial finish of an ultimate larger piece. It’s from the Sea to Shining Sea silk thread pack series from Little House Needleworks. The whole piece is made up of five regional squares and a border pack. Since they are each packaged separately, I’m counting each thread pack as a finish. So, here’s the West Coast:

I have one last picture to share before I finish this up. I’m a week late posting it, but here is my monthly photo of my orts jar for the Totally Useless SAL:

I also want to add a note for those of you who are following my weight loss journey. I registered a new domain name for that blog. The new URL is http://www.melgetsfit.com. ~~If you have the old URL bookmarked, it will still continue to work.~~ Edit: Turns out I was wrong, the old URL apparently doesn’t work any longer. It will get you to the site, but the blog entries are no longer displayed. I just ask that if you link that blog elsewhere that you please use the new URL. Thanks!

Ok, that’s it for now. Until next time …

23 October 2009

Stitching, Weight Loss/Fitness

4 comments

Blogging, Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Fair & Square, Halloween, Little House Needleworks, Totally Useless SAL, Weight Loss/Fitness

Blog Candy Time!

Well, after much promising over the past two weeks, the time has FINALLY come! I’m announcing my 8th year blogiversary/1000th post giveaway package. One lucky winner will receive a pack of 8 charts (one for each year I’ve been blogging) along with a lot of other stitching-related goodies.

These are all charts from my stash, but have basically never been used. I always make working copies when stitching in order to highlight and mark as I go. I never stitch from my originals, so they are all in excellent condition.

Half of the charts are actually duplicates I had in my stash. One of the duplicates was received as a gift, but I apparently liked all the others well enough that I bought them twice. I’ve indicated the status of each chart next to it. All of the other items in the giveaway are brand new and have never been used.

Here is a photo of what I’ve put together followed by a listing of everything that is included:

Roses Welcome – A Mon Ami Pierre (never used)
Heart & Home Folio – Shepherd’s Bush (used only to make working copy)
Cookie Dragon – Enchanting Lair (duplicate)
Stitchin’ Friends – Elizabeth’s Needlework Designs (never used)
Rosemarkie – Long Dog Samplers (used only to make working copy)
Wedding – Long Dog Samplers (duplicate)
Petites Castle & Dragon (Castle Ridge & Above the Clouds) – Teresa Wentzler (duplicate)
Motifs inspired by Whitman’s Tins – Fancy Work (duplicate)
Quarter cut 32-count Rocky Mountain Lugana from Silkweaver
Quarter cut 32-count Lemon Zest Jobelan from Silkweaver
Set of four Pin Pals (stitch markers) from DebBee’s Designs
Pair of 4″ Amanda embroidery scissors from Gingher (retired 2005)
Beaded chatelaine (source unknown – purchased at my LNS)
Selection of Carrie’s Creations cotton floss

Ok, so here are the rules for the giveaway:

Deadline for entry is 11pm PDT on Wednesday, August 26, 2009. Any entries received after the deadline will not be included in the drawing.
A winner will be randomly selected (using random.org), and the results posted on my blog, on Thursday, August 27, 2009.
This giveaway is open to everyone, not just US residents. Please note that if the winner is outside of the US, I will use the most economical method of international shipping available, so it might take a while to arrive.
How to enter:

To enter, simply leave a comment on this blog entry indicating that you would like to be entered in the drawing. You must provide your name and email address on the comment form to be entered.
To be entered a second time, post my photo above and a link to this giveaway on your own blog. When leaving your comment to enter the drawing, please be sure to include that you have posted about this on your blog and include a link. This will allow me to more quickly verify it and to ensure you are entered twice into the drawing.
All entries must be left as a comment to this blog post. Comments left on other blog posts will not be included in the drawing.
Random comments that do not indicate whether or not one wants to be entered will not be included in the drawing.

Ok, that’s it for now. I hope you all enjoy the giveaway. I had a lot of fun putting together everything for it. Thankfully for me (and my wallet), drawings this large only come around once every 1000 posts.

Until next time ….

16 August 2009

Misc., Stitching

316 comments

Blogging, Cross Stitch, Giveaway

Mary Wigham Restart

Well, after much consideration & contemplation, I finally made the decision to pull different fibers and restart my Mary sampler. I originally started her on 32-count Legacy linen from PTP using the recommended DMC fibers. I then decided I wanted to stitch her using over-dyes, so I pulled over-dyes that basically coordinated with the recommended DMC colors. After stitching on that a bit, I decided that I really wanted to do her in more muted “traditional” sampler colors and on a finer count linen.

When I was at my LNS on Saturday for our monthly all-day open stitching class, I had a couple of my friends (Darla & Terri) help me with my final color selections. When I got home that night, I then went through and picked out some linen from my stash that seemed to work well with the fibers.

So, I restarted Mary yesterday afternoon using the new fibers & fabric. I’m stitching her 1-over-1 using tent stitch on 36-count Maritime White Lakeside Linen. I’m SOOOOOO much happier with her now!

I thought I would share a couple of photos as well. The first is of the toss of my final floss choices and my fabric. I may still have to make a couple of substitutions because I’m not sure a couple of the colors will show up on my fabric using just a single strand. I’ll make those decisions as I go along. The second shows my progress as of last night when I put her down.

Both pictures may be clicked to see a larger version. The colors aren’t 100% true due to the photos being a bit dark. I took them last night right before I headed off to bed.

I’ll close by saying thanks for all the blogiversary wishes! Sadly, I got so engrossed in working on Mary yesterday that I completely forgot to take the photo of my blogiversary giveaway package. I’ll try and get to it in the next day or two. Promise!