February Goals

1. Get to 75% or finish 'Going to Market'

2. Finish a Christmas ornament - done!

3. Finish a Bride's Tree ornament - done!

4. 5-10 hours on 'Mermaid of the Deep' - done!

5. One motif on 'Mary Wigham'

6. Work on a UFO if the first 5 goals get finished.

February is a shorter month but I think I can do it! Continually getting snowed in may help :D

The End of January Goals!

It's snowing here and it's reallllllly cold - good stitching weather, right?

We've got about 8 inches and should have 10 by morning. I actually kinda like this if the power stays on.

I've had enough of no-power time to last the rest of my life, thank you :D

Here's my Mary Wigham - I finished the 7th & 8th motifs:

The 'thistle' and the tiny yellow one - it was so small I decided to go ahead and do it, and get a big one done in February. I also stitched two more initials and a bit of fancier set of initials below the thistle - they have little pink & white motifs around them. I haven't decided whose initials will go there yet, though. The 'AC' is for my paternal grandmother (maiden name) and the 'WR' actually covers both grandfathers - they had the same initals.

I've made it past five hours on Mermaid of the Deep although she's still just a blue/black blob. I did get the rest of my colors, but I haven't actually reached them yet. I want to get the black and Navy blue done first. I've only done a few stitches of one other color. Blue, of course.

And since I got both of my last two goals done, I pulled out my little dolphin kit. It has a mistake somewhere in those two last dolphins and I cannot for the life of me figure out what it is, or they would be done, too. Ah, well, at least it got a little attention. I didn't list 'work on a UFO' in my goals but I'm glad I had some time to do it!

Now to plot out my February goals - They're going to look a lot like January's but I feel the call to start that kit in my last post... must resist!

Happy Stitching, all!

Progress and Loot!

I went to Georgia to visit my brother.

I took 'Going to Market' with me, and although I completely lost track of the hours, I have reached the halfway point! It is now a little over 50% done!

I think I'll be able to finish it in February if I keep my focus. The only iffy bit is that it is really easy, at least for me, to miscount the background stitches.

I also got to go to Hobby Lobby while I was there - such a treat - there is no LNS here, and the only place that sells floss, Joann's, is about 2 hours away.

I got 77 skiens of DMC, a 30x36 piece of fabric for a HAED, and these:

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This kit my mother and grandmother both really admired when they saw it in a catalog, and since it has the DMC colors listed, I may make it twice. It's fairly simple - mostly solid blocks of stitching. It was only on clearance because the bottom of the plastic had been stretched out oddly; everything was in it and otherwise undamaged, so I grabbed it :D
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The big hooks are N, K, and M - I usually don't buy Susan Bates hooks, but I've never yet seen a Boye sized M. A friend bought me a pack of knitting needles that had sixteen in it - sets of four for sock knitting - but no way to tell what size they were, so I got a needle-sizer while I could! And the sock yarn was on clearance, too - that was the last color of that type they had left so I may make short socks! I'd hate to run out on a first pair... XD

I'm hoping the needleholder cards will help with the HAEDS and the horsehair banding was on clearance for .25 cents each. I wish they'd had more than two left!

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and then we went to a place called Hancock's Fabrics - I was disappointed that their cross stitch floss wasn't DMC or Anchor, and their kits were priced way above my budget, but they had the expensive in-the-drawer McCall's patterns on sale for 5 for $5. Limit 5, or I would have bought soooo many! My sister and I like to make old-style clothes, so I nabbed these:


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So it was a good trip - I got to see my brother, made good progress on a project, and I got some good stash!

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So now I'm working on Mary Wigham! If I finish the motif and then get another hour or so on the HAED freebie, I'll have met my January goals. Yay!

Sampler House

I am working away at 'Going to Market' - I've made some nice progress on the background. For all that I find half-cross stitch annoying, working with the negative space is fun!


In the meantime, I did this, for my January Bride's Tree ornament:



'Sampler House' by Pam Miller. It was a freebie for Rainbow Gallery um... um... a couple of years ago.

I had fun with it - it's barely 2 1/2 inches square. The 'flower bushes' were supposed to be all French knots, but I recently learned to do Colonial knots and I wanted to try them out. So the green 'bush' knots are Colonial, and the 'flowers' are triple-wrapped French knots. I wanted them to stand out more. I think it worked. I'm quite happy with it, especially since the pattern wasn't marked for the knots; they have to be done sort of free-hand and that's not my strongest talent. But I like the results.
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The only thing I didn't like was doing the lazy-daisies on the roof. I usually have no trouble with those, but not this time! They kept tangling or pulling tight. Argh! So they're not perfect, but I'm happy enough with them to call it done.

First Finish & January Goals

Here's my first finish of 2010 - the little snowman ornament I was working on.

Also, I forgot to post January-specific goals:



1. at least 15 hours on 'Going to Market' - done

2. finish one Christmas ornament - done

3. finsih Bride's Tree ornament - done

4. one motif on 'Mary Wigham' - done

5. Start & at least 5 hours on HAED SAL freebie - done

2010 Goals in Pictures

Alternate Title: I Was Playing With My New Camera

I didn't stick to my 2009 goals very much, so I thought I'd try again this year.

These are the major WIPs that I'd like to finish:

From left to rights, starting at the top, they are 'Going to Market', 'Frederick the Literate', 'Brinkerhoff Home', 'Archangel', 'Angel of Grace' and 'Spike'.

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This is the next Bucilla Christmas kit I'll be stitching (I let my Mum pick from the four I have left):

These are some ornaments that I've had stuffed in a drawer forever and I decided I I want to stitch this year:

I have one more already started that I forgot to take a picture of. It's a snowman with a birdhouse.

Let's see... also, I joined the Bride's Tree SAL.

I want to stitch one motif on 'Mary Wigham' each month.

I also want to finish the 'Mermaid of the Deep SK' freebie SAL at HAED.

Here's my start:

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I'm not going to list what I want to start! Plus I'd also like to finish my DB & SIL's wedding sampler. It's barely started, not much worth a pic yet.

Hope you're all having a fun New Year's Day! Or at least a quiet, peaceful one :D