Some good progress and a quick finish

Here it is the start of another week and yes, another week where there are going to be other demands on my time and energy. I know that work has quite a few things that I need to get done, so that means that I am going to be focusing on those.

This week we are finally going to be seeing some sunshine which is good because I know that I have been missing it. Now to see how much of the sun we see as I know that I will enjoy what I can even if it's just seeing it through the window.

Star Touched Meadows Stitch Along - December - here is the project that got some attention this week as I am trying to get it finished before too long. I am not upset that I am behind on this project which is good.

I would like to see if I can at least get this piece over the 50% complete so that is going to be my goal for the beginning of this week. I have started to fill in some of the white stitches at the bottom of the piece, but you cannot see them very much right now.

I have been working on this piece differently than I did the November piece, so I am not certain which method of stitching I like the best. Maybe what I will be doing is each of the months will be done a little differently and that is just how I am gong to be doing the projects.

Christmas Mug Small - here is a project that got the attention over the weekend, and it didn't take me long to have a finish. This is a little small Christmas ornament that I decided that I wanted to stitch up quickly.

This was a free pattern from Shannon Christine Designs, and it was a fun project to do. I had decided that I wanted to make some small ornaments so when I saw this set of 12, I knew that they were going to be some of the ornaments that I made, so I have completed the first one.

Beach Haven Shawl - my knitting has got quite a bit of attention this week. This pattern is enjoyable to work on and the number of stitches on the needle grows very quickly. Last week I started with 3 stitches and last Sunday I had 123 stitches on the needle which wasn't too bad.

After another week of stitching, I have 258 stitches on the needle and have to change to a circular needle because they just won't fit on the straight needle any long. By the time I finish this shawl there will be 517 stitches on this needle and I only have 60 rows left to go. It does feel good seeing the progress on this project.

Other projects - well I haven't had a lot of time to work on any of the other projects, but I am happy with the progress that I have made on these items. My English Paper piecing projects have got a bit of attention which is good but again not as much as i would have liked. Hopefully soon I will get back to working on some of those items again. 

I hope everyone is finding that bit of time each day to take that personal time to recharge your battery. I know that there have been says in the last week where my recharge was just sitting quietly and doing nothing at all. It was what I wanted, and it was also enjoyable.

This is the last post for January and hopefully everyone has made it through another month and yes, this one did feel very long. If things go well, I should have something to show you next week and I will write my EPP blog on Thursday.  Have a great week and see you then.

Some progress and a new start

Here it is the start of another week, and I was able to spend some time working on the various projects that I had on the go. I also decided that I wanted to knit a shawl for myself so that was the start for this week. It felt good to see some progress on a few things this last week, but of course there were other things that took my time, so I didn't get to spend as much time as I had hoped working on the projects that I had on the go.  Now to see what this week is like as I would like to see if I can make some progress on some of these projects.

Star Touched Meadows Stitch Along - December - well this project didn't get much attention at all this past week which doesn't help me get it finished. Hopefully now that I have done some of the other things, I might be able to move this forward. I would like to see if I can spend some time working on getting this section done so that I don't end up too far behind in the overall stitch along. I am now thinking that I will just work on these pieces as I can, and they will get done as quickly as I can do them. 

Magic of Books - here is the next project that got some attention, and this is one of the projects that I am trying to move forward a bit each month. I hope that each month I can pick this project up and get a bit of stitching done on it. Of course, I am still working in the black section, and it is going to take a while to get through it. I am trying to vary how I stitch in that section just so I can see progress on it.

Now that I have added the stitches for this month it will go away until hopefully next month when I can pick it up and work on it again. I am looking forward to seeing if through this year I can get that entire black section finished.

Beach Haven Shawl - here is a new project that I started on Saturday. This is a shawl that I would like to have finished by the middle of March so that means that I am going to have to focus some of my knitting time on doing just that. It did feel good seeing some good progress on it on Saturday so now to see how it goes this week.

Toque - I finally picked up and worked on the toque that I had started and have made some progress on it.  Hopefully I can continue to move this project forward as well even a bit each week. I do know that the shawl is going to be a focus for a little while.

Other projects - after working on all these projects in the last week I didn't work on anything else but that is fine with me. I have been trying to get some work done as well so that means when I have the time to craft, I am picking up a project that I want to see some progress on.

I hope everyone is finding that bit of time each day to take time for themselves and do something that you enjoy doing. I know for me even if it's just the few minutes of knitting that I try and do each day it is something and it does help a lot. This week, I would like to see some progress on my cross stitch as well as my shawl so will see what happens. Until next week have a good week and remember to find that bit of time for yourself each day.

A finish and a bit of progress

Here it is the start of another week. I hope if you are in an area like we are where it is very cold that you are staying warm. This morning the temperature at 8:30 am was 10F (feeling like -8F) or -12C (feeling like -22C). Yes, it is very cold out and I am thankful that we can work from home most of the time. I do feel sorry for anyone having to wait for transit or walk a distance in this weather.

Edna Verenia Nichol - 1884 - here is the piece that got almost all  the attention this week. I have enjoyed working on this piece and as always, I love working on a red sampler.

My goal for this project was to have it finished by the end of the month and I am happy to say that I was able to get it finished by the 13th of the month. Once I was able to sit and focus on this project it moved forward at a good rate.

By Friday, I knew that I was getting close to a finish so between Friday and Saturday I focused on moving this project to a finish and am very happy with the overall sampler. I love being able to work on monochromatic piece because you don't have to think about changing thread colours and all you have to think about is just stitching.  Now that this piece is finished it's time to turn my focus onto some other projects.

Star Touched Meadows Stitch Along - December - after finishing Edna it was time to pull this project back out and see if I can make a bit of progress on it.  As you can see, I was able to add a few stitches to this project, but I didn't get much done.

This project might have got an hour of attention on Sunday, but at least it was moved forward again which is what I have wanted to do. This coming week I hope to be able to make some more progress on it as it would be nice to start to see the lower area of the design completed. I am not planning on leaving all the white stitches to the end this time so I am hoping that I can at least work on small areas of white at a time.

This is now going to be the focus piece for a little while as I would like to see if I can get December finished quickly and maybe even get a start on January before the end of the month. I think the progress will also depend on other things that are going on so will just have to wait and see what happens.

Something else that I have been thinking about is trying to have some small quick projects that I can work on when I need a break from my bigger pieces. I am not someone that enjoys doing all small projects so just having some that I can work on sometimes might be nice. Now to just figure out what the projects are going to be so that I can figure out if that will work.

Toque - here is the knitting project that I was able to work on one day this week. I didn't even take a new picture of the toque because I ended up only adding around 4 - 6 rows on the piece so there isn't much of a difference.

Other projects - I didn't work on any other projects this week but am thinking that some of them might come back out now that I have finished my first cross stitch for the year. Edna Nichol was my focus as I wanted to get it completed and now that it is done maybe I will spend some time working on some of the other ideas that I have.

I hope everyone is finding that bit of time for yourself each day. It doesn't matter what you do as long as you take that bit of time to do something that you enjoy doing.  I am not certain what I will be working on this week but hopefully next week I will have something to show you.

If it is cold where you are please, try and stay warm and safe. I hope to see everyone next week with a bit of progress on something.

New year, new starts, finishes and progress

Here it is the start of a new year and yes, I can say that I have made a good start in the last week of getting things done. This week will be more of a work week for me, but I hope that I can continue to move a couple of projects forward this week.

Pandemic - here is a project that got some attention last week as I am going to be trying to move this project forward through this year. Given I started this in 2020 I think it's time it got some good progress so will see what happens this year.

I hope to work on Pandemic a bit each month just so that I can start to see areas of the pattern finished and then maybe I can start moving up on the design instead of still being at the bottom of a rather large piece.

Edna Verenia Nichol - 1844 - here it my New Year New Start that I did this month. I am loving this piece and have been able to spend some time working on it over the last week. Of course, it is another red sampler, and I am looking forward to getting all of my red samplers framed so that I can enjoy them all together. This is a nice size piece as it is around 8 x 5 inches so something that goes work up relatively quickly.

My goal for this piece is to have it finished by the end of January so that I can get back to the stitch along as I am behind on it.

Knitting projects - this last week I decided to try and get a few things completed so that I could start the year feeling good about my knitting. I had two projects that were close to getting finished so that was my focus.

The toque that I have been working on was very close to a finish, so I decided to focus on it and the good new is here for one of the first finishes for this year. I am happy that I was able to focus on getting this done so that I can add this to a pile of hats and scarves that I will be donating to a local group at the end of 2024.

After getting the hat finished, I decided to work on the Dudester scarf as that was something else that was very close to a finish. It didn't take me long to have that finished either so now I have two knitting projects finished and that makes me feel very good. I hope that I can continue to get more knitting projects finished soon.

After finishing those two knitting projects it was time to start another toque but this one is going to be using a different pattern. It does feel good seeing that I have been able to get some knitting done.

Other projects - I haven't worked on any other project other than the ones that I have written about. It was nice to have some time where I could work on the different projects and see progress on all of them.

I hope everyone is finding that bit of time to work on something that makes you happy. It doesn't matter if it is reading, relaxing, or crafting. Just doing something that makes you happy a bit each day helps a lot.

I am not certain what I will be able to get done this week, but I do know that I will try and spend those few minutes each day doing something that I enjoy. Hopefully next week I will have a bit of progress to show you on at least a couple of projects. Until then, have a good week and remember to take that bit of time to yourself.

English Paper Piecing - December progress

Here it is January 1st, and I am going to show you what I was able to accomplish in the month of December. 

Scrap throw - I was able to spend a bit of time working on motifs for this project but you can see I didn't get very many made. Now to see how January goes as I would like to make some progress on my projects.

I hope to be able to start adding some more motifs to the actual throw so that I can see what it looks like before too long.

Table runner- here is the project that got some attention this month. I decided that I wanted to see if I could move this project forward some and I did. I am going to try and continue to work on this piece as I would like to have all the motifs attached to it before too long. I know that I still have quite a few motifs to add to this project, but it makes me happy seeing where it is.

I am not certain what project is going to get the most attention in January, but I would like to make sure that this project does get some attention. Being able to move this one closer to a finish would be good so that is something that I am going to try and achieve.

Other projects - none of the other projects got any attention. I am trying to focus on only doing a couple at a time so that I can feel better about them and also see progress.

I hope that if you are working on an English Paper Piecing project that you are moving it forward even if it is very slowly. Hopefully I will have some progress to show you at the end of January but only time will tell. Have a good month and see you at the end of the month hopefully with some progress.

Progress again

Here it is the start of another week and this time it is also a start of another year. Where did 2023 go? I know for me it has been a busy year and now to see what 2024 has in store for all of us.

This last week was so different than expected but at least I was able to find some time to craft and do the things that I enjoy doing. Sure, I didn't get as much done as I would have liked but at least I was able to move some projects forward which is what I needed to do. Now to see what I can get done in the next while as I would like to get more stuff done.

Star Touched Meadows - December - I was able to pick up and work on this piece for a while this week and made some more progress on it. It feels good seeing that I have been able to make some progress.

Of course, I am now a month behind again because the January section has been released, but that doesn't bother me because I am going to be stitching this at my pace. This time I would like to get some of the white stitched while working on the entire design instead of leaving it all to the end like I did for November. I think adding the white as I go would be good, so I am going to be starting that very soon.

This piece is a lot of fun to work on and you can see progress on it fairly quickly even when you don't stitch much on it at a time. I do know that this piece is going to be taking a bit of break as it is the new year and I have a new start ready to go.

I am going to continue to work on this a bit at a time as I would also like to see this month done and then see how I do with the rest of the months.

Toque - last week I decided to start working on a toque using the same ball of yarn that I was using for the scarf. This means that the scarf is being knit from the inside of the ball and the toque is being knit from the outside. It does make it a little harder to work on the toque but I have made some good progress on it so that is good. Now to see how quickly I can get this toque done.

Other projects - I have picked up my English paper piecing a little bit so you will see that when I write that blog. It has been a busy week overall so now to start the new year feeling good about what I have been able to accomplish in the last year. 

I hope everyone took a bit of time for themselves over this last week. It is now the start of a new year and let's hope that this year is good to everyone. Hope you have a good week and hopefully I will have some progress to show you next week.