Monday, February 10, 2025

Moving projects forward

Here it is the start of another week, and it is interesting to see what projects I worked on in the last week. Of course, there was also work things that needs my attention, so I did spend some time working on those things before was able to focus on moving some of my crafting forward.

This week was a focus week so there aren't a lot of projects to talk about. I decided to try and only work on one cross stitch and one knitting project. 

Mini The Forgotten - here is the cross stitch project that I picked up and worked on this past week and I am very happy with the progress that I was able to make on it.

The goal for this project was to get at least 500 stitches on it was it is one of my WIPGO calls for February. Of course, I was able to get the 500 stitches done without an issue, so I decided to continue to work on it for the rest of the week. By the time I put it down I had completed over 1,600 stitches and I finished another page on the project. 

It feels so good working on this piece and seeing the progress that I am able to make on it. It is now going to be put down for at least this next week as I have the other WIPGO project that I need to work on as well as I have a new start coming up as well.

Turkish Delight Shawl - I have been trying to get some knitting done each day and that means that this shawl did get some attention, and I am happy with where it is right now. I am currently working on the last lace section of the pattern and then I have one more garter section and then the shawl is finished.

I was able to focus on this knitting a little more this week and that helped me at least get the rows done that I wanted to do. Seeing how much I could get done this last week made me happy because now I am seeing that with some effort, I should be able to get this shawl done before long. It is different working with double weight yarn because most of the shawls that I have been knitting use fingering weight yarn, so the overall project ends up a lot lighter.

I do have the next project already figured out that I want to work on so that means that I better continue to focus on this shawl so that I can get it finished. We will see when it gets completed but I hope it will be soon.

Other projects - this past week there were no other projects worked on as I just focused on these two and it felt good. I do need to pick up my English Paper Piecing soon because it hasn't got any attention yet this month. 

This coming week I do have a new cross stitch project start so that is going to be fun but I still need to pick the fabric and get it ready so that is something else on the list for this week. I am also going to try and get the 500 stitches in on the other WIPGO project, so it is going to be a busy week ahead.

I hope everyone continues to find that bit of time each day to do something for yourself and recharge your personal battery. It doesn't matter what you do as long as you take a few minutes for yourself.

Hopefully this week I will be able to get everything done that I would like to do, and I will have some progress to show you next week.

Monday, February 3, 2025

Two finishes and some progress

Here it is the start of another week and another month. It is hard to believe that January is over, and we are now onto a new month. I was busy last week, but I can also say that I have been able to get some crafting in and that makes me happy.

It was a good week for me as I was able to spend some time working on projects and seeing progress on things. Hopefully this week I can have some good progress as well as I have a couple of things that I would like to move forward.

2019 Mystery Stitch-along - here is the first project that got some attention this past week. I knew that I didn't have a lot more of this piece to do so I decided that it was going to be my focus until it was completed. The butterflies had more stitches than I thought it them, but I was able to focus and get them all done.

It did feel good to finally see this project finished and it is one project that has been sitting around for too long but now all the butterflies are completed and the year has been put on it. Now that I have completed this piece, I can mark it as done on my list of projects to work on and I can figure out what the next project is going to be that comes out of the pile.

Pandemic - this is one of the large projects that I am going to be focusing on this year. I have four large projects that I hope to give lots of attention to over this year.

I am feeling good about the progress that I was able to make in the last week as I focused on one section instead of bouncing all over which I had a habit of doing in the past. Seeing a section come to life is nice.

Being able to stick to one area also meant that I was able to get a page of the pattern finished so I now have 6 of the 20 pages completed. I haven't done any of the backstitch that is needed on these pages but at least all the cross stitches have been done. Hopefully when I get the other four pages of this row done, I will work on getting some of the backstitch completed so that I don't have it all to do at the very end.

Welsh Dragon - after I finished the Mystery stitch-along I decided to pull out another project and get it finished. This project wasn't too hard to finish once I picked it up.

When I picked it up this past week, I only had the border stitched so the dragon needed to be stitched. It was easy to work on and before long I was able to get the dragon stitched and the backstitch completed so this is another project off the list of things to complete that I have started in the past.

It feels good starting to get projects that have been around for quite a few years done. Now to figure out the next project that is coming out to get completed.

Turkish Delight Shawl - this is the knitting project that I have been trying to focus on and move it forward. I am happy with the progress that I have been able to make on this shawl and am looking forward to picking it up again this week and seeing how much more of it I can get done.

There are four lace sections in the shawl, and I am now working on the third of those sections so hopefully I will be able to continue to move this piece forward and get it finished before too long. The pattern is relatively easy to do, and the lace section does look really nice when it is done.

Of course, I have already figured out at least one shawl that I will be knitting after I finish this one so that has been a lot of fun and it also helps keep me motivated to get this shawl done.

Other projects - given everything that I worked on in the last week I haven't worked on anything else. Being able to focus on just a couple of things at a time does make a big difference and I am seeing results of doing that.

I hope you are being able to see progress on the stuff that you are working on. It can be a challenge sometimes to see much progress but when you step back and look at a project you can see it has moved forward even a little bit. For me taking a picture at the end of each week that I have worked on a project helps me see the amount of progress that I made.

Hopefully you are finding a bit of time each day to recharge your personal battery by doing something that you enjoy doing. This week I will be picking up a different cross stitch project to focus on and we will see how much of it I can get done.




 

Saturday, February 1, 2025

English Paper Piecing - January progress

Here it is the first day of a new month and it is time to update you on how the English Paper Piecing projects are going.

Popsy's throw - I am continuing to try and spend a little bit of time working on this throw each month so that I can continue to get the motifs made. This month it was time to cut some more squares so that I can continue to get the motifs done. 

I was able to get one flower joined together and I have been thinking that I should start join the flowers that I have completed to the throw so that I can start to see what the throw is going to look like. Being able to see how the throw is coming along would be good because right now I have lots of motifs made, some flowers made and a very small start at joining the flowers together.

Other projects - I haven't worked on any of the other projects that I have one the go. I did look at the table runner as I need to get that ready for quilting so we will see what February is like. Hopefully I will be able to spend some time this month working on moving something forward. but time will tell. 

Have a good month and I will be back at the beginning of March to show you what I was able to get done in February.

Monday, January 27, 2025

Moving projects forward

Here it is the start of another week and hopefully a week where I can get things accomplished. There are of course things that I need to get done for work and then I will see how the rest of the time goes. I do know that I am starting to move things forward so that makes me happy. 

It is hard to believe that January is almost over. This month has gone really fast and now to see what February is going to be like when it starts on Saturday.

2019 Mystery Stitch-along - here is the cross stitch project that got the attention this week and you can see I have made some progress on it.

I decided this last week that I was going to try and just focus on one cross stitch project as I am currently trying to get this project finished. I was able to make some good progress on it and hopefully before too long it will be finished. It feels good seeing that I am now a lot closer to a finish than I was a couple of weeks ago. The only part that is remaining to do is the butterflies and the year on the top of the piece and it will be finished. Hopefully before the end of this week I will be able to take a picture of the entire piece, and it will be finished.

Turkish Delight Shawl - here is the knitting project that did get some attention over the last week. I didn't work on it as much as I would have liked but at least I was able to move it forward again. It would have been nice to see more of the shawl done but I was focusing on the cross stitch when I had the time to work on something. 

Of course, I would like to continue to move this project forward again so hopefully this coming week I will be able to sit and work on it some more. It doesn't take long to get some of this done so this might be the project that gets a little more attention this week, but I will have to see what happens.

Other projects - I haven't got much done on any other projects because I have been trying to focus on finishing my cross stitch. I did find just a little bit of time to work on my English Paper Piecing, but I will show that when I write that blog on the 1st of February.

I hope everyone is finding that little bit of time to do something for yourself each day to help rechange your personal battery. This coming week I do have some other things that need my attention, but I still hope to find some time to get my crafting in. My first goal is going to be to get the 2019 Mystery stitch-along finished as it would be nice to see it finally done.

Have a good week and hopefully I will have some progress to show on things next Monday.


 

Monday, January 20, 2025

Progress and an older project comes back out

Here it is the start of another week and hopefully I will be able to make some good progress on things that I need to spend time working on. The month of January seems to be flying by so quickly.

It does feel good to say that I have been able to make some progress on a few things in the last week and I pulled out a project that I haven't worked on since 2020. Of course, there are so many projects calling for some attention but I am trying to limit what gets the attention, and what needs to just wait it's turn to get the attention that it deserves.

I continue to have the focus on some of the rather large projects, but I am also trying to get projects completed that have been on the go for a long time.

Mini The Forgotten - this project has continued to get the attention, and I am loving the progress that I have been able to make on it this month. Parts of me doesn't want to put it away for a little while as I have been enjoying it so much. It isn't going to be going away for very long, but I think it is time for me to work on another one of the large projects and see what I can get done on it. 

I do know that if I don't pull this back out this month it will be coming back out in February so that I can see how much of it I can get done. I am now looking forward to seeing how much of it I can get done this year.

2019 Mystery stitch-a-long - here is the project that I have finally pulled back out as I would like to see if I can move it forward some. It hasn't got any attention since December 2020 so now it is time to pull it out and see if I can get it closer to a finish. 

Of course, there are a lot of reasons why this piece was put away for a while but now I would like to see it completed. The nice part about this project is there are only three colours in the pattern, so it isn't too hard to work on. I am going to be trying to continue to focus on this piece so that I can finish all the butterflies and get it finished.

It did make me happy when I took the picture last night to see that I have completed three butterflies and am looking forward to working on getting more of them completed. Well, these butterflies aren't totally completed as I still need to stitch the antennas, but I will do that when I get a couple more of them stitch.

Currently, I am thinking this is going to be one of the projects that I work on this week, but we will have to see how it goes.
Turkish Delight Shawl - here is the new knitting project that I started last Friday. I hadn't been knitting very much since the beginning of the year so I figured maybe starting something new would help. Once again, this shawl pattern is by Helen Stewart, but it is using double weight yarn which is different for me. 

The shawl is working up pretty quickly and I am looking forward to picking it up again and see how much more of it I can get done this coming week. The pattern itself is pretty easy which is nice, and the lace section is a lot of fun to knit as well.

Other projects - no other project has got any attention this past week as I have tried to continue to stay focused on just working on only a few projects each week. I love having a knitting project as a focus as well as one or two cross stitch projects. It is nice seeing the progress that I have been able to make on the projects and I will see what I have to show next week.

I hope everyone continues to find that little bit of time each day to do something for yourself and recharge your personal battery. This week I know that I will be trying to work on my knitting as well as the 2019 Mystery stitch-a-long as it would be nice to see more progress on both of them. 

Have a good week and if things go well, I might have soma progress on at least a couple of projects to show you next Monday.

Monday, January 13, 2025

Progress and 1st finish of the year

Here it is the start of another week and will see how this week goes. I know that last week was busy and hopefully I will be able to focus on things this coming week.

This was the first work week in the new year and there were things that I needed to get done and that was the first thing that I needed to focus on. Of course, there was the crafting things that I also wanted to get done and I was trying to juggle everything but work came first and then there was the time when I could focus on trying to move the various projects forward.

Let Flowers Grow - here is a project that was a bit of a challenge for me. When I starred it I was looking forward to seeing how quickly I could get this piece done and then I ran into a challenge that didn't make me happy and something that took a bit of time to over come. The challenge that I faced was trying to get all of the bumble bees completed because they just seemed to overwhelm me and stop me from working forward on this piece.

After talking through the challenge with my husband we figured out a way that I could work on getting each of the bees stitched and maybe that would help me move this piece forward. There were 29 bumble bees that needed to get stitched and being able to get their bodies completed was the challenge. After figuring out how to stich those three stitches without too much of an issue, things started to move forward.

This last week I focused on getting this piece moved forward and by the end of Saturday I was able to say that I had got the entire piece stitches. It was a challenge that I knew that I could manage just it took a bit of time where I needed to focus and get each section done.

Mini The Forgotten - here is the project that I have wanted to move forward a bit this month. I started this month saying that I was going to get 1,000 stitches done which I was able to get done before the first weekend.

This week I wasn't sure if I was going to work on this piece but then I decided that I wanted to spend some more time seeing if I could make some more progress on it. After finishing Let Flowers Grow, I knew that Mini the Forgotten needed more time so that I could see more progress on the piece. It makes me feel so good seeing that I have been able to focus on moving this piece forward. Hopefully I will be able to continue to get more of this piece done as it makes me happy to see the progress on it.

Yolanda cowl - here is the knitting project that I got the attention in the last week. It hasn't got a lot of attention but at least I have been able to move this piece forward so that makes me happy.

I still have quite a bit of this cowl left to knit but at least I have been able to move it forward and that makes me feel good. Of course, there is still a ways to go on this project but at least I have made some progress. I do need to continue to do the increases, but I don't think it will be long before I can get this project done. 

Other projects - I haven't been able to spend a lot of time working on the other projects that I would like to move forward. Yes, there are things that I would like to focus on but right now I am trying to work on making sure that I can see progress on just a few things each week.

I hope everyone is finding that bit of time each day to do something that you enjoy and to help you recharge your personal battery. This week I am not certain what I am going to work on, but I would like to see some progress on something.

Next week I hope to have something to show you, but we will have to see which projects get the attention over this coming week. Have a good week and I will be back next Monday.
 

Monday, January 6, 2025

Making some progress

Here it is the start of another week and the first full week of 2025. This last week was a good week without a lot of work but now I think things will get back to normal and it could be a busy week with all the year-end work that needs to get done.

I was able to make some good progress on a couple of projects over this last week and that makes me happy.

Mini The Forgotten - here is a project that has been forgotten for quite a while, but I decided to pull it out and see what I could get done on it. It did feel good seeing the progress that I made on it just by working on it a bit this last week.

Mini The Forgotten is one of the big projects that I have decided to have as a focus in 2025 as I would like to see more progress on it. Of course, there is still a lot of stitches left to go but I am going to try and work on this during this year so that I can see how much of it I can get done. When I picked this piece up at the beginning of 2025, I had 54.58% done so let's see what it looks like at the end of 2025.

Mini Forgotten hadn't got much attention since 2023 so I think it is now time for it to get the attention that it deserves.

Pandemic - here is another project that I have decided to have as a focus in 2025 as I would like to see it moved forward as well. At least, this project did get some attention in 2024 but now to see if I can move it forward some more in 2025. When I picked this piece up at the beginning of 2025, I had 36.03% completed so now to see what it looks like at the end of 2025.

This piece does have a lot of stitches in it so to see some progress on it, I am going to have to add quite a few stitches so will see how it does this year. If I can see at least two of three pages of this project completed by the end of the year I will feel so much better. Let's see if I can continue to focus on just a few big projects while getting some of the other projects finished.

Yolanda - here is the knitting project that I decided to start at the beginning of the year. Of course, there are other knitting projects that I still have on the go, but I wanted something small and hopefully quick to get done. 

I am enjoying working on this piece and hopefully before too long it will be done, and I will be able to pick up another project and see how it goes. I do need to pick up my shrug again because I need to also get it finished.

Other projects - I have been working on a couple of other projects but don't have enough progress on them to show right now. If things go well, I might be able to have something to show in the next couple of weeks, but we will just have to wait and see.

I hope everyone had a good holiday break and are now rested and ready to get back into a routine. For me, I am going to be trying to make sure that I can get the work done quickly during the day so that I can find that bit of time to do something that I enjoy. My focus this year is to try and move four of my big projects forward as well as getting some of the WIPs finished up. Let's see how it goes this year.

Hope everyone has a good week, and you find those bits of time for yourself each day. I would like to have some results to show you next but only time will tell.