Progress and a new start

 

Here it is the start of another week and hopefully I will be able to make some progress on a few things. I know that there are a few things that I would like to try and get done so that means that I am going to have to try and focus on them and see what happens.  

I hope to be able to spend some time working on the projects that I would like to move forward so will see what happens. The weather is cooler now so that means more time to be spending indoors and curling up and working on my various projects.

Let Flowers Grow - I was able to spend a little bit of time working on this project and I have almost finished the house. I hope that I can continue to move this project forward as I would like to have it finished before long.

It does feel good seeing that I have been able to continue to move this project forward as I didn't give it as much attention this week as I would have liked. Hopefully this coming week I will be able to spend some time moving it forward. 

This last week I decided to focus on an area of the design instead of working on one colour through the entire design and I think that has helped some. It now means that I am getting sections done. Hopefully I will be able to continue in this manor and see more of the piece come together.

Little Meg Shawl - this project did get quite a bit of attention last week as I am looking forward to seeing what it looks like when it is finished. I did have to finally put the shawl onto a circular needle because I was running out of room on the straight needle that I had been using.

I am making progress on the shawl but must admit that the rows are taking a while to do now, and I still have another 200 stitches to increase on this pattern before it is done so it is going to take a while. I am loving how it is turning out and cannot wait to see what it looks like when it is off the needles.

I hope to be able to continue to work on this piece this week and will see how much more of it I can get done. Seeing what I can get accomplished in a week is good, but it still shows me that I have quite a ways to go before I am finished with the shawl.

Noelle Scarflet - here is a new project that I just started over the weekend. This is another Helen Stewart pattern, and it isn't going to be very wide at all. This pattern was in her Knitvent book for this year and the pattern was released on Thursday and when I saw it, I immediately wanted to start it.

This pattern uses sports weight yarn instead of fingering, so it does seem to knit up faster and because the rows have been so short that also has helped. I am going to try and work on this project a little bit at a time as I am looking forward to seeing what it looks like when it is finished.

Other projects - I have been able to get a little bit of my English Paper Piecing done as well so I will have some to show you are the beginning of December. It does feel good seeing that I have been able to move it forward a bit as well this month.

This coming week I am not certain what I will be working on, but I do know that I would like to move the shawl forward a bit more as well as my cross stitch. Being able to try and stay focused on just a couple of projects makes me happy because I see progress on them.

Hope everyone has a good week and remember to take that bit of time each day to recharge your personal battery.

 

Making progress slowly

Here it is the start of another week, and I do have some progress to show from the last week. It is a bit all over but at least most days I was able to find a little bit of time to work on things which does make me happy.

This week I hope to be able to spend a bit more time working on the various projects because I think that would make me happy. If I could focus on a couple of projects, I might see some good progress on them but only time will tell.

This last week was a very difficult week for us as it was the week of the funeral for my mom. That meant that there were things that needed to be done for that as well as I just needed time for myself, and I did take that.

Let Flowers Grow - this project didn't get a lot of time this week as I just couldn't seem to focus on it. I was able to spend a bit of time over this past weekend working on getting more of the design stitched and that does make me feel good.

This coming week I hope that I can continue to work on this piece as I would like to see how much of it I can get completed. Knowing that this piece is done would be great as I do have another project that I would like to work on for a while.

I am currently just over 45% completed on this project so that means that I need to focus on it for a little while and maybe I can get it done. I hope that this week I can at least make some progress on it. I would like to see if I can get this piece done by the end of the month but will have to see how things go.

Mini Sea Opal - here is a project that I haven't picked up for over 2 years, but I felt it was time to see if I could add a few stitches to it. This is a full coverage piece, and it is going to be around 18 inches square once it is finished. I am looking forward to seeing if I can spend some time working on this piece over the next while as well.

It was so nice to pull this piece out again because I wanted some of the brighter colours to work on and given this has a lot of blues and teals in it, I was very happy to get back to working on it. The first thing that I had to do was organize all the floss for this project because it was all just in the bag and not sorted like I normally have my threads.

I am not certain how much of this I will get done through the end of the year, but I am thinking that I might try and at least give it some more attention. For me just seeing that I have finally picked this piece up again makes me happy because it is one that I love and would like to see if I can get it finished.

I currently have four full coverage pieces that I would like to work on, so maybe next year I will try and make some progress on them. Of course, full coverage pieces do take quite a while to complete but they do take even longer when you don't work on them, and you just let them sit like I have been doing.

Little Meg Shawl - here is the knitting project that I have been focusing on. It has been so nice to see how much of it I could get done in this last week. I have been trying to work on this shawl a bit each day and I have been able to do that most days.

The rows are getting longer now so I can't get as many rows completed each day. Hopefully I can continue to move this project forward because I would like to see it finished so that I can wear it. Being able to see some good progress has been nice so I will see what I can get done this week.

Other projects - this past week I did pick up my English Paper Piecing for a little while and at least made a bit of progress on it.

Taking a bit of time each day to focus on something that I enjoy doing has been needed in the last while. I hope everyone else is remembering to take the time to do things that you enjoy most days.

I am not certain what this week is going to be like, but I do hope that I can find some time to do some crafting and maybe make some more progress on these projects. Hopefully, next week I will have some more progress to show you and until then have a good week.

A start, a finish and some progress

Here it is the start of another week, and I can say that I have at least been able to spend a bit of time working on things. It feels good being able to see some progress on things.

The weather here has been a little crazy as it is warm for a couple of days and then it gets cool again. It has meant that being able to get out and enjoy some of the days has been good. Most of the leaves have now been blown off the trees so there isn't much colour to enjoy but at least the weather has been good.

Let Flowers Grow - this past week I picked up and work on this piece for a while and am happy with the progress that I have been able to make on it.

I have been bouncing around on the stitching of this piece as I am trying to work on completing some of the colours so that I have placements for other parts of the design. It has been fun working on the different areas because some are very easy, and other sections do take some focus.

The tree on the right didn't get finished as I was leaving that for when I just need some simple stitching as it is just fill in with one colour. I am also going to be working on getting more of the little items stitched because that will help me see that I am moving this project forward.

Little Meg Shawl - this last week I decided to focus on trying to get the shawl finished that I had been working on. I finished the shawl on Tuesday, and it still needs to be blocked but at least it is finished.

The shawl was a lot of fun to work on and it was easy in some ways but also had some challenges that I did enjoy doing. The version I knit was the small version and I looked at the pattern and thought about it and wondered what the large version would be like.

I looked through my yarn that I have for shawls and on Wednesday I started the large version of the Little Meg Shawl and am happy with the progress that I have been able to make on it. This shawl is going to take me longer to do knit because of course I end up with more rows and more stitches, but I am thinking that I just need to try this pattern out.

Other projects - I didn't work on any other projects in the last week as I have been busy doing other things that have required my attention.

If things go well this week, I hope to be able to make some progress on both my cross stitch and my knitting. Taking some time to recharge my personal batteries has been very important so that I can get everything done that I need to do and be there for others around me. 

I hope everyone has a good week and you take that bit of time for yourself each day. Remember to tell those around you that you love them.

 

English Paper Piecing - October Progress

It is hard to believe that another month has flown by. It was a very busy month for us both personally and professionally, so I am happy with the crafting that I have been able to get done.

Popsy's Throw - this is the project that I focused on this month as I wanted to see if I could at least see something moved forward. It was nice to be able to focus on one project and see that I have been able to get a few things done. 

It was nice to work on motifs when I had that little bit of time when I was sitting watching a video or just relaxing. The flowers do take a bit more time and focus, so I work on those when I have a bit more time and better lighting. It is nice to see that I at least moved this project forward again this month and now to see how things go moving forward.

Other projects - I didn't pick up and work on any of my other EPP projects this month as I didn't have the time or energy to do that. I also wanted to try and focus on one project so that I could see results instead of bouncing all over.

If you are working on your EPP projects, I hope that you are making some good progress and being able to enjoy the time you spend on them. I was someone that never liked any hand-sewing but now that I have found EPP, I enjoy the relaxing feeling of picking up my needle and thread and seeing progress on something.

I hope to have some progress to show you at the end of November but only time will tell. Have a good month and I will post what I was able to get done at the end of the month.
 

A little bit of progress

Here it is the start of another week and this week I am going to see if I can make some progress on a couple of projects.

Last week was very busy for me so that meant that I didn't have a lot of time to pick up my crafting and work on it. During the week I was at a conference so that took quite a bit of my time and then I had a bigger impact to my life as my mom passed away on Friday. So, crafting just wasn't something that I wanted to do over the weekend, so I took some time to just do the things that I wanted to do and basically that was just do all the little things.

Let Flowers Grow - this got a little bit of attention as I was able to finish all the leaves on the sides of the design. It is a nice piece to work on and with some of the sections being repetitive and easy to do it meant that I would work on those when I wanted a bit of a distraction over the weekend.

I do hope to be able to pick up and work on my cross stitch this week as it was something that my mom also enjoyed doing. Being able to see some more progress on this piece would be really nice so I will see how that goes this week. I haven't finished the bottom border yet so that might be something that I try and get done.  Then the top border is just the reverse of the bottom border.

Little Meg Shawl - I was able to pick up and knit a few more rows of the shawl which is good. I now have about 20 more rows to go to complete this shawl, and it has been really nice to work on. Having something that I have enjoyed working on has been good. 

My goal for this week is to have this shawl finished by the time I write my next blog at the beginning of next week. Just seeing that I have been able to do that would make me happy. You can't really see the pattern of the shawl right now given it is bunched up on the needle.

Other projects - I haven't picked up any other projects over the last week as I didn't have much time. Hopefully this week I will be able to at least find a bit of time each day to do a little bit of crafting.

I hope you remember to make sure you take time to recharge your personal battery each day because it does make a big difference. Even when I was very busy over the last week, I did find time to sit quietly for those few minutes that I had to just do nothing, and it helps.

If things go well this week, I hope to have some progress to show you next week on both projects that have been my focus.

Two New Starts

Here it is the start of another week and this week is going to be a busy week so I am not certain how much crafting I will get done through the week. I hope to be able to find some time to at least work on my projects a little bit as I have two new projects that I want to move forward.

Let Flowers Grow - here is the new start that I did this week and it is another Jan Hick's Creates piece and it is also a stitch-along that we started on October 15th. I am happy with the progress that I was able to make on it.

I decided to work on the border first to make sure that I had the outline of the piece done. It has been a lot of fun to work on and I am looking forward to adding some more of the design to the piece. 

I did add the line that goes through the centre of the piece as I wanted to make sure that I knew what the top of the design was and also give me something that I can stitch from as I start to add some of the other parts of the design.

Little Meg Shawl - here is the new shawl that I started this week. It has been a lot of fun working on it and I have made some good progress on it as well. I am already 40% complete and I only started it on Wednesday.

This pattern is by Helen Stewart, and she is one of the shawl designers that I really enjoy. Her patterns are easy to follow, and she gives you the percentage completed along the way which is nice.

The yarn I am using for this project is by Windswept Fibres and Design who is a dyer from Newfoundland, Canada. The yarn is so nice to work with and am loving how it is turning out.

Other projects - I have worked on my EPP a little bit in the last week, so I have been able to continue to move it forward some as well. I am trying not to bounce around too much with my projects as I would like to at least see progress on the projects that I do touch each week.

I hope everyone has a good week and you find a bit of time to recharge your personal battery. If I can find some time to work on some of my projects this week I hope to have something to show you next Monday. Have a good week and I will try and post again next week.

Another finish and some progress

Here it is the start of another week and hopefully I will be able to spend some time working on my projects this week as I would like to see if I can move some of them forward a little bit.

Things have been a little crazy this last week so I wasn't able to work on my projects as much as I would have liked but at least I was able to move some of them forward a little bit. I hope that this week I will be able to continue to move things forward.

Pandemic - here is the cross stitch project that came out this last week and got some attention. I decided that I was going to try and focus on just the bottom pages of the pattern and see if I could move them forward.

All of the pages have lots of stitches in them so that means that it takes quite a while before you see either a page finish or sections of the page done. Last week, I ended up finishing three pages and have two more pages to go before the bottom of the design is down. There is 20 pages in this pattern, so I now have 17 pages to finish. Yes, it is a long way to go but at least moving it forward a little bit was better than nothing.

Pandemic won't be seeing much more attention this coming week as there is a Stitch-along that I am hosting on the Jan Hicks Creates - Stunning Cross Stitch Designers Facebook page. It does mean that I won't have a lot of time to focus on Pandemic but at least I moved it forward again.

Beige Shawl - this is the project that probably got the most attention because I was trying to get it finished. I worked on this as much as I could and by Saturday evening, I was able to see that I would have a finish. It felt so nice seeing that I was able to get this shawl done and it is now waiting to be blocked which I hope to do later this coming week.

I have enjoyed working on these simple projects, but I am thinking that it is now time for me to figure out a different pattern to work on so that I have a bit more of a challenge. It is now time for me to go through all of shawl patterns and yarn and figure out which one is going to be the next project that I work on. I do have some ideas but need to sit back and look at all the different yarns and patterns and see what pattern calls to me right now.

Other projects - I haven't work on much else over this last week other than finding a little bit of time a couple of evenings to get some more work done on the EPP project that I am trying to focus on this month.

This coming week I am not certain how much time I am going to have for crafting, but I am going to try and at least find a bit of time each day to do something that I enjoy. I hope that you find a bit of time each day to also recharge your personal battery because it is important to ensure you are ready for what life throws your way.

Next week, I hope to have a bit of progress to show you and given there is a new start October 15th, I might have something to show next Monday. Have a good week and I will post again next week.