WIPsTag Archives

2011 WIP/UFO Challenge List

Ok, so better late than never, right? I had wonderful intentions of getting my list of projects for the Crazy 2011 UFO Challenge up right after the new year, but it just didn’t happen. I think I’ve only had time to stitch once or twice so far this year, so I definitely need to get better about fulfilling my goal of scheduling stitching time for myself.

Below are the 15 WIPs/UFOs** that I’ve selected to work on this year. All of the progress photos show the current state of the project as of January 1, 2011.

Halloween Fairy
Sophie Stocking
Acorn Hill
Mini Mandala Mystery IV
One of Those Days
Pear Tree
Snow Garden
Needle
Winter Band Sampler
It’s Never Too Late
Bunny Scissor Weight (I’m making it larger to be a pincushion.)
Boo Club
Book of Spells
Plum Blosson Kimono (canvas)
Espresso (canvas)

So, that’s my list. That’s not to say I’m might not work on some of my other WIPs during the year, but these are the ones that I plan to finish before beginning any other new projects. Time will tell whether or not I’m successful. Oh, and yes, I am fully aware that I have a problem given my WIP/UFO list for this challenge is 15 and I still have a lot of others, too. And your point is ….??

I have been considering one other caveat to my no stash purchasing goal for 2011 as well. I saw that Diane from Little House Needleworks is continuing her ornament of the month series for another year. Since I have the full series from the first year, I think I might continue collecting them. I still haven’t made a final decision.

Finally, for those who don’t read my weight loss blog or follow me on Twitter, you may not have heard the news. I’ve been asked to join the crew at The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans as a Contributing Writer. I’ll be writing a featured post there every 7-10 days. I’m very excited about this new opportunity and feel honored to have been asked. If you’re interested, my first featured post titled True Confessions Tuesday will appear tomorrow [Tuesday, Jan. 18].

Until next time …

**For those who may not be familiar with this terminology, here are the meanings of these acronyms:

WIP (Work in Progress) – A project that has been started and is being stitched on actively.
UFO (UnFinished Object) – A project that has been started, but isn’t being stitched on actively. For me, this generally means anywhere from 6-12 months with no activity.

17 January 2011

Challenges, Cross Stitch

5 comments

2011 Goals, Crazy 2011 UFO Challenge, UFOs, WIPs

New Year, New Look, New Stitching Goals

Happy 2011, everyone! Personally, I couldn’t be happier to see 2010 come to an end. In many ways it was an amazing year for me, but just ended on a bit of a funk. So, instead of focusing on the funky end, I’m choosing to focus on all of the great things that happened for me this year:

I was promoted into management at work.
I went back to school to continue my education.
I moved into a larger place.
I rescued a sweet 20-month old kitty named Brandi.

I was updating my blog theme this afternoon to take down the holiday theme I was using during December. I decided that rather than going back to the Coffee Desk theme that I’ve been using for quite some time to give something new a try instead. I really love the light & airy feel of this theme and think it’s a perfect look for ushering in a new year that I hope brings some wonderful changes for me. I really feel like 2011 is going to be a GREAT year for me!

Now, on to the stitching goals which is actually the primary purpose of this post. By now I’m sure most of you who read more than just one or two stitching blogs have already heard of the Crazy January Challenge 2011 in which participants will start a new project every day from January 1 until January 15. Yes, that’s right, 15 new projects! That’s definitely taking Guilt-Free January to a whole new level. Uhmmm…yeah, I won’t be joining in on that one. Kudos to those stitchers who doing it, but I have too many WIPs/UFOs as it is already without adding 15 more.

So, what will I be doing instead? I’ve decided to join the Crazy 2011 UFO Challenge on Facebook instead. It’s a closed group, so you’ll have to request to join it.

I spent a few hours yesterday afternoon looking through my WIP/UFO pile and taking year-end photos of them all. It’s completely ~~embarrassing~~ ridiculous. I currently have 30+ projects going and I really need to get some of them knocked out this year. I’m planning to go through my projects and pick out which 15 I’ll be focusing on for the challenge and will post pics when I have the list finalized.

Since I’m going to be working on my WIPs anyway, I’ve decided to combine this with some other goals as well. Here they are:

Stitch from my stash. Yes, you read that correctly, I have a goal of no stash purchasing in 2011. I have so many WIPs and fully kitted designs that I really don’t need to be buying any more stash for a while. The only exceptions to this rule will be as follows:
1. Using my birthday discount from Drema at Needlecraft Corner in February.
2. Any fibers needed to complete pieces already in progress if I happen to run short.
3. Any stash purchased with gift certificates/cards received from friends.
No new starts during my UFO challenge. Yeah, this one will definitely be a bit more difficult for me. I definitely seem to suffer from chronic Startitus. I guess that explains the current number of WIPs/UFOs I have going. There is only one exception to this goal. Rather than having my typical Guilt-Free January, I am limiting myself to a Guilt-Free New Year’s Day. Any projects not started by 11:59pm PST today cannot be started until my 15 challenge WIPs/UFOs have been completed.
Limit non-stash stitching related expenditures. This kind of goes along with a non-stitching goal I have for 2011 which is to work on paying off my credit cards and increasing my savings. How this fits in with stitching will be cutting back on things like classes, my Dovo scissor addiction, etc. I’ve currently been paying to go to two open stitching classes per month at my LNS, and sometimes three per month where there is a 5th Saturday. While I love the social aspect of it, there’s really no need for me to be spending $50-$80 per month to do this since I very rarely request assistance from the teacher. So, I’m going to be cutting out the Mid-Month to Midnight class ($20) as well as the 5th Saturday class ($30).
Schedule some time for stitching each week. I know this one should seem like a no-brainer, but making time for stitching has become increasing difficult for me over the past six months. Between working longer hours since getting promoted and going back to school, I just never seemed to find time to stitch. One of my goals for this week is to literally put time for stitching in my calendar each week, even if it’s only for 10 or 15 minutes here and there in my schedule.
Blog here at least twice per month. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but it will be more than I’ve been doing of late, right?! Between working full time, going to school full time, and still working on my weight loss journey, it just seems like blogging here has take a major back seat, especially since I wasn’t stitching very much. Since I’ll be scheduling time for stitching each week, I hope to have enough progress to show how I’m progressing on my challenge every couple of weeks or so.

So, that’s my stitching plans for 2011. What about you? Have you set any stitching goals for yourself? Leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts.

Until next time …

1 January 2011

Challenges, Cross Stitch

10 comments

2011 Goals, UFOs, WIPs

Plum Blossom Kimono & Life Update

Amazingly enough, I’m still sick, but think I may finally be rounding the corner to good health again. I’ve literally been sick since July 1. It initially started as just a summer cold. It then progressed into a sinus infection, so I went to the doctor and was put on antibiotics.

As of Friday (July 9) I still wasn’t feeling well, so I went back to the doctor. After another exam and a chest x-ray, I learned that it had developed into an upper respiratory infection. The doctor was concerned it might turn into pneumonia, so I was put on a stronger antibiotic with a steroid pack booster. I actually felt a LOT worse on Saturday, but I think it was my body finally just trying to get all the crap out of my lungs. Each subsequent day has been a bit better, so I’m hoping by mid-week that I’ll be back to my normal self again free of the hacking cough.

So, what’s the good side to all this illness? I’ve gotten in quite a bit of stitching time. I participated in the July Weekend Stitch-A-Long on Facebook. I decided to pull out my Plum Blossom Kimono to work on it. This was a class I took last summer at my LNS from local designer/teacher, Margaret Bendig. I haven’t worked on it in quite some time, so I thought this SAL would be a good time to give it some attention. Here are my before & after pics showing the progress I made this weekend:

Before (as of Saturday morning):

After (as of Sunday night):

I’m so excited to have all of the outlining done! Doing that much pearl cotton outlining on Congress Cloth is pretty boring, but I made it through. Now I’m really for the fun part which is filling in all those little boxes with lots of pretty silks.

Of course, the whole weekend wasn’t spent just stitching. There was a lot of studying that happened as well. My college classes started on July 1, so I’m back into the world of having to study. It hasn’t been very fun given I’ve been sick, but I’m doing OK since it’s mostly been a lot of reading so far. I might not have felt the same way if I had been sick and was trying to write papers, too.

I’m currently in the process of studying for the CompTIA A+ certification exams. I have to obtain this certification for my job per a DoD requirement by the end of the year. The nice thing is I can kill two birds with one stone because I can use the A+ certification to knock out two of my college courses as well (IT Fundamentals II & III). It’s basically an entry-level IT certification, but it’s been long enough since I’ve done basic hardware/software troubleshooting that I’m definitely having to study to brush up on all the various beep codes, printer error codes, etc.

In other personal news, as if I didn’t have enough going on already, I’ve decided to move. I’ve been living in a one-bedroom apartment since my divorce six years ago. I finally decided I’ve had enough of being so cramped and will be moving into a two-bedroom apartment. Not only will I have a larger living room/dining room area, but I’ll finally have a craft room again, too!

Until next time …

13 July 2010

Misc., Stitching

6 comments

canvas, kimono, Margaret Bendig, Moving, SAL, Studying, WIPs

Snow Garden Update

I’m getting very close to yet another finish. This time it’s on Snow Garden from Blackbird Designs. Being sick for nearly a week has clearly been very beneficial to my stitching progress.

Here is the progress I’ve made between my most recent update (July 1) and today (July 6):

I can’t believe I’ve made so much progress! I’m doubly amazed when I take into account that I’ve finished two other small pieces during that same time frame. This is absolutely not my usual stitching speed. Go me!

I am a bit perplexed over one aspect of this design. My colors definitely look much different than the model photo, even though I am usually the recommended fabric and fibers. I’ve gone back and double & triple-checked to ensure I used the proper colors in the proper places, and I did. The only elements that really look the same to me are the peacock and the tree on the right side of the design. Some portions of the border are almost completely lost into the linen in my piece.

This is one of my greatest annoyances about model photos. The finished product just doesn’t always look the same. Even though I still love the design, the colors of mine just don’t pop nearly as much as in the model which is what attracted me to the design in the first place. Oh well, what’s a stitcher to do?

Until next time …

6 July 2010

Cross Stitch

4 comments

Blackbird Designs, WIPs

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

One Cocktail Away

Every year around this time, I begin my quest of finding a new wall calendar for the upcoming year. In most years, this causes me a bit of stress as I don’t generally go for traditional-type calendars. I like something either very artistic or very snarky. Imagine that.

Last year was actually very easy for me. I picked up a really nice one when I was on vacation in Hawai’i last October with Terri and Tracy. It was full of vintage travel poster inspired artwork from artist Kerne Erickson. I have thoroughly enjoyed it throughout the year, and it has often brought back wonderful memories of my vacation.

I have to admit, this year’s selection was also very easy for a change. Those of you who know me well know that I’m a major fan of the work of artist Anne Taintor. If you aren’t familiar with her work, you MUST check it out. Go … now … I’ll wait.

Ok, welcome back. Anyway, I’d never even thought of seeing if she had calendars. Naturally, she does! Once I discovered this, I immediately ordered one which arrived today. I’m just really bummed that I missed out on getting what would have been the perfect holiday card for me to send.

Here is a pic of the cover of the calendar followed by my favorite image. Unfortunately, I won’t get to see it until next December.

I’ve actually been doing a bit of stitching as well. I’m working on the Fa-La-La ornament of the month from Little House Needleworks. It’s stitching up very quickly, so I’m hoping to finish it tomorrow at the monthly all-day stitch at my LNS.

Now, for something completely different. Although, for those who are readers of Missy Ann’s blog, it may well remind you of the weekly manicure pics she used to post. (I miss those, Missy Ann!) I went and got my nails done today.

I just have to say that even after wearing it this color for a couple of years now, Vodka & Caviar by OPI is still my favorite nail color. That is followed closed by their I’m Not Really a Waitress color. I so want one of the Dell laptops in that color.

Speaking of OPI, has anyone tried their new Nicole line? If so, how are they? I noticed them the other day at Target, but didn’t have time to stop and really look at the colors. I want to try and get by there this weekend to check them out more.

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