Finishes in 2017 - lots of pictures

Me just being silly

 I decided that I was going to try and collect some of my finishes for 2017 into one post so that I could see what I had worked on and finished in 2017.  The pictures are in no order as I just wanted to try and collect them.

This year I have had a lot of fun with my stitching and have seen what makes me happy and what doesn't.  I have been enjoying getting the stitching done that I have been able to do and will see I can accomplish in 2018.  I do have a list of things that I would like to work on getting done in 2018 but will see what actually happens.

Sabbatical Beauty

Braver - I recharted

I do have more projects that I have charted that I want to stitch and then there are the different patterns that I would love to work on so will see what happens when the bells ring in 2018 and what the year has in store for me.

Cecilia shawl

Schlock with Gun looks like it might be my last finish for 2017 but there are still a couple of days left in the year so will see what happens.

I hope everyone has had a good 2017 and if you are a crafter that you have started to figure out what you will be working on in 2018.  If you haven't that's ok as well because plans change as the years goes on anyway.  Until I write again I hope that if you have some time to stitch you are enjoying your time.

Day Dream - I charted

Fluffy Meringue Shawl

Growf - I charted

Lady - I charted

Quotes to Live By - Stitchrovia

Reflections of Canada - Ink Circles

Schlock with Gun - I charted

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a Very Merry Christmas.

Hope you received everything that you wanted.

If you do not celebrate Christmas, All the Best of the Season to you.

Some progress and a finish

Schlock with Gun - Dec 17th

This past week has been a little crazy with regards to work and crafting.  I have been trying to find some time to stitch because I figured it would be great to have a finish before Christmas.

Schlock with Gun - now this project was the first one that got the attention this week as I knew that with a bit of effort I would be able to get it finished.  I spent a bit of time working on it and am happy to say that it was finished by the middle of the week.

Schlock with Gun - Dec 19th

It didn't take me as long as I thought to get this piece finished and that's probably because I had stitched this piece before and knew it was a pattern that I had done and it was going to work out.  Now to see when I can get to working on another Schlock as I do have more of them designed and would love to have a bunch of them stitched soon.

I think now that I have Schlock with Gun finished I will pull out Schlock with Dice that I will be stitching for Howard Tayler.

Tiger Lily - Dec 13th

Tiger Lily - now this project finally got restarted on fabric that I hope will end up resulting in a square design and not something that wasn't going to be close to a square. 

Tiger Lily - Dec 21st

I decided that this piece was going to get one evening of stitching this week and am happy with the progress that I was able to get done.  It feels great seeing that I have already been able to get some of the actual flower started and will see how much more of this piece gets done over the next couple of weeks.

I have another project that has taken over as something that I want to get done quickly so will see what happens with some of these projects.

Swans - Dec 22nd

Swan - how this is the project that I would like to get done quickly so it has become the piece that I will try and focus on for a bit. I had started this on a piece of hand-dyed fabric but was finished it a challenge.  The fabric was really nice but I just wasn't enjoying that version so I picked some different fabric and the stitch has started to come along quickly.

I know that it doesn't look like much right now and that is fine because I was only able to spend one evening working on this piece so far so will see how things go.


As it is now the Christmas holidays for a lot of people I hope to be able to find a bit of time to stitch when we are not working.  Yes, Christmas is a time for some people to have time off work and then there are others that work as that is when the projects can be actually done.

Some progress

Schlock with Gun - Dec 10

This week I was able to make a bit of progress on at least one project that also had a new start.

Schlock with Gun - now this is a project that I am trying to get finished quickly and I am seeing that if I can spend some more time stitching I should be able to get it done soon.  I love how Schlock is working up because it is one of the art show pieces for next July.

Schlock with Gun - Dec 17

I know that I am going to be stitching Schlock with Dice for the art show as well as now that I am seeing how the new colours are working I am happy to see the changes that I made from the previous version.

Schlock with Gun - previous version

Tiger Lily - Dec 13

I changed the colour on both versions of Schlock so that they will be the game colours instead of having different colours for each version that I stitch.

Tiger Lily - I ended up having to restart this project because it was suppose to be square when it is finished but the first fabric that I had pick wasn't going to be a square project.  Now I have restarted and will see how things go.

I hope to be able to make a bit more progress on Tiger Lily this week as I would like to see if this piece will end up square or not before I spend too much time on it.


As Christmas is a week away I am not sure how much time I am going to have for crafting but will see how things go.  I hope to be able to spend some time over the next couple of weeks working on projects and seeing some good progress on things.

One Crazy Week

Schlock with Gun - December 3rd

 This last week was a crazy week in terms of getting time to stitch.  The main reason for that is I was at a conference for the first three days of the week and then there was the work that needed to get done once I was back and able to focus on work again.

Schlock with Gun - December 10th

Schlock with Gun - now this is the project that got the stitching attention this week and basically the attention it got was a little bit Thursday evening and then finally got some stitching time on Sunday. I actually focused on getting the outline of him done and that started to fill in the different areas.  It felt great being able to just work on one piece for a while and actually see a bit of progress.

I am going to continue to work on Schlock this week as I would like to see if I can get it finished quickly. As I was stitching on Sunday I decided to tweet out a picture of the progress and sent it off and tagged Howard Tayler (the artist of the original piece) and the result of this was a retweet by Howard and more than 20 likes on the tweet.  It felt great because it let me know that people like how the piece is coming along.

Day Dream - finished

Day Dream - now this is a piece that I finished in October and have been thinking about how I was going to finish it.  I had thought about putting it in a frame but then I am up with another idea and that is thanks to a video that I saw and it was another way to frame a small project.  The piece is actually only 4 inches by 6 inches so it meant I had some options and I am happy with the results.

What I did was I found an artist canvas that was 6 inches by 8 inches and also an artist canvas that was thin and 4 inches by 6 inches.  I painted the sides of the big canvas and used the smaller canvas to actually stretch the stitched piece on it.  Once the paint was dry I used some scrap book paper to actually cover the bigger canvas front and then I glued the stitched piece in the centre.  It was quick finish and something that is different.

original container

Tea containers - I had a few tea containers sitting around and wanted to cover them because I didn't like seeing the actual tea container sitting in various areas of the apartment as I was using the empty containers as a method of collecting little bits of garbage where I didn't have a garbage can.

duct tape selection

Of course, there was the idea of just leaving them as is but that wasn't going to work for me so thanks to my husband he went and grabbed his collection of duct tape to see if that might be an idea to help me cover the tins.  I then grabbed some of the fabric that I had left over from some of my ETSY projects. After a few minutes and some laughing the containers were changed into something that I was a little happier with.

containers covered

As you can see we ended up covering three of the tins different because I kept wanting to try how each of them was going to turn out. The actual duct tape ones were ok but they just weren't what I really liked so that is when the fabric came out and was used. When I was using the fabric I had said that I might need some trim on it because I needed a method to cover the edges and that is when the narrow black duct tape seems to work well.  Now the tins are in the areas that they were and I am a lot happier with what they look like.

covered with fabric trimmed with tape

duct tape version

This coming week I hope to be able to spend a bit more time stitching but once again I will have to see how works go. I am going to try and find some time most evening to at least get a few stitches in on some of the projects that I have on the go.    I am also hoping that I can spend a bit of time working on a couple of other projects but will see how things go.  I also have a couple of gifts that I need to finish so they are on the list of things to get some attention this week.

Progress and a new start

Schlock with Gun - November 26th

This week I decided to try and focus on getting a bit of progress on things.  Of course, there were other things that took part of my time so that meant that I didn't get as much stitching done as I originally thought that I was going to be able to do.

Schlock with Gun - this is the project that I decided that I was going to try and see if I could get a bit of progress on before the beginning of December.

Schlock with Gun - December 3rd

I was able to get a bit more of the outline done and have started to fill in some of the body colour so that has helped some. I will see how much of it I can work on this coming week as my schedule looks pretty busy at the beginning of the week and not sure what the rest of the week will look like. Just being able to fill in some of the areas right now is making me happy because it also says that I am making progress on one of the art show pieces.

Mystery Sampler Stitch Along - October 22nd

Mystery Sampler Stitch Along - now this project hasn't get a lot of attention for a while so I decided that I would pull it out and work on it one day this last week. I decided to try and get some of the outlines done so that I can quickly feel in different sections when i pull it back out.

Mystery Sampler Stitch Along - November 29th

Swans - December 2nd

I would really like to see some progress on this sampler before too long but have to say that it isn't going to be seeing a lot of attention through the month of December as I have other projects that I would like to work on first. I know that I can pick this up when I feel like working on something that is just one colour so will see when that happens again.

Swans - now this is a new start that I decided was going to be my December 1st start.  I am not sure why I said it would be started on December 1st but I am aiming to have it finished by the end of April if things go well.

This design is something that I converted from a picture to a cross-stitch so now I am looking forward to seeing how it will turn out. The fabric is a hand-dyed piece of 28 count Lugana and I think that the colours are great for a picture with swans on it.    It doesn't look like much right now and I have to admit that I started it on the 1st and didn't like the original fabric that I was using so have restarted it on the 2nd on this fabric and like how the design is appearing better on this fabric.


This week is going to be another busy week for me as I am at a conference for three days so that means that there isn't going to be a lot of time to relax those days so my stitching basically will be happening over the weekend. Depending on what time I get home each evening I may have a few minutes to myself but I will also need to do the work that needs my attention as well.

A milestone, some progress and a finish

Lady - November 19th

This week  I was able to get some progress on a couple of projects and that makes me very happy.  Just being able to see that I have been able to get something moved forward is great.

Lady - now as I was saying for the last couple of weeks I really wanted to get Lady finished before the end of the month and I was able to do that. Once I realized that I just had her face to finish I figured it wouldn't take me too long to get her finished and I was right. She is now going to wait to be framed until I have another couple of the art show pieces finished.

Lady - November 22nd

As this is one of the projects that I wanted to complete for the art show it means that I have one less to worry about now and of course I have started another one of the art show pieces so that I can see how quickly I can get it done. I am happy that I was able to get this piece finished and now I am going to see how much of the other art show pieces that I can get accomplished so that they are all ready for the show in July 2018.

Schlock with Gun - Howard Tayler

Schlock with Gun - November 26th

Schlock with Gun - I decided that I was going to restitch a piece that I had in the art show a couple of years ago and that would be Schlock with Gun.  This piece is being restitched because I want both Schlock with Gun and Schlock with Dice to be the same colours for the body of the character. 

This project just got a bit of attention over the weekend and I am happy to see that I am starting to see some progress on it already.

The original piece of art is by Howard Tayler and I am  now going to restitch this piece and see how it turns out this time. I started restitching this project on Saturday of this week and will see how quickly I can get it done.

Lapghan - now here is a project that I started in September while on vacation and it hasn't seen a lot of time since, so now it is time to see if I can get it done before the weather gets too cold and it is needed.  This is a project that I can work on a bit at a time and hopefully I will be able to get it done soon so that it is ready for when it gets really cold out.  I do enjoy crocheting and this is a project that is being made with a lot of love.  The reason it is being made with love is I am making this for my husband as he asked if I could make something to cover his legs when it is cold out. This is just a simple granny square project and it is something that I can do a bit at a time.  I normally work on this project while we are watching something that we have recorded on tv so I love it.

I am aiming to have this lapghan finished by early January but will see if that really happens. I am figured out that I think I need to do around 49 squares so I have 16 squares done now so will see how quickly I can get the rest of them done.

The Milestone - as some of you may not realize and others haven't been reading me that long won't know but my blog is 10 years old on November 27th.  Yes, I have had this blog for 10 years now and am amazed and how much crafting I have been able to show you throughout these years.  My first blog post was November 27, 2007 and here it is 10 years later and I am writing another post.  Of course, the first couple of years were rough for me getting posts actually written but in 2010 I got into writing more posts and things have gone from there.  Blogging is something that I enjoy doing and I hope to be able to continue to do it for years to come.


This past week I was able to find some time to craft and I hope to be able to do that again this week.  I will see how the week goes and see if I can find a bit of time.  I have some other things that need my attention this week so will see what time in the evenings I can find to pick up my crafting.

Progress and a finish

Lady - November 12th

 Another week is over and I can say that with a crazy schedule I wasn't able to find much time to actually sit and stitch.

Lady - now she did bit a little bit of work but of course she is currently looking very odd as I am slowly starting to add the colours to her face.  Maybe after this week she will look a little better with some eyes and maybe even a mouth.

Lady - November 19

It does feel good seeing that I am slowly starting to see some details appear on her face and now to see how quickly I can get her done.  I am still hoping that I will be able to have her finished before the end of this month.  I figure with just the face left to do and another 11 days of chances to stitch I may be able to get it done.

I am going to continue to add one colour at a time so that I will just have the background colour to finish at the end and that will be the quick stitching because there will be no counting required for that.

Braver - November 11th

Braver - now this is the project that I decided that when I had a bit of time to stitch that I was going to focus on so that I could at least get one project done quickly.

The one thing about this project was it was pretty easy to work on one word at a time and see progress quickly on it.  As the last week went by and I was adding sometimes just a word at a time I figured I would be able to get it done with a bit of work.

Braver - November 18

Saturday had me with one row of words left to go so I decided that it was time to just sit and focus on getting it done so while watching the hockey game on Saturday evening I was able to get the last line stitched.

When I finally was able to look at the piece I liked how the three colours worked on this piece.  I wasn't sure for a while if I was going to like it or not but now that it is done I love how it turned out.


I didn't get any crocheting done in the last week but considering what our schedule was like I am amazed that I was able to get the stitching done that I was able to achieve. Hopefully this week I will be able to spend a bit of time stitching and working on Lady and maybe even get some crocheting done as well.

I have lots of projects on the go currently and hopefully soon I will be able to show you one of the projects that I have been working on. Until then, it is now time for me to get some of the work done that needs to get done and then hopefully this evening I will be able to do some crafting.

Progress this past week

Braver - November 1st

This week was another week of trying to focus on just a couple of projects instead of trying to do a little bit on a bunch of projects.  I am happy seeing the progress that I have been able to make on the ones that got the attention.

Braver - November 11th

Braver - Now this project is the one that is working up nice and quickly and that makes me very happy.  I have just about finished the second set of three rows of words so once this last word is done I will be changing shades again and working on the final three rows of this design.  I am loving how quickly this is working up and am going to look forward to seeing what the third colour looks like when it is added.

Lady - Now Lady is the project that got most of the attention this week and part of that is because I am really looking forward to getting this piece done. I decided that I was going to continue to work on adding a colour at a time to her hair so that is what I did this week and I was able to get her hair completed. 

Lady - November 5th

Now that the hair is done is means that I just have her face to stitch so I started to add the colours to it and hope to find a bit of time in the next week to work on getting some more of her done. I haven't decided if I am going to work down from the top of her face or if I am going to add all the colours other than the background colour and leave the background to the end.  I am bouncing around between the different ideas and I guess I will just see what I feel like when I pick it up again to work on it.

Lady - November 12th

Just seeing the progress on the piece is making me feel good because after the cloak and dress taking so long to do it feels great seeing that the hair and face are coming a long a lot quicker.

V-stitch shawl - November 5th

V-stitch shawl - I finally got around to adding a few rows to this shawl this week.  I had it sitting beside me at my desk for most of the week without it seeing any work and then finally I picked it up when I was watching a couple of videos and was able to get a bit more progress done on it. I still have quite a bit more work to do on this piece but at least it is something that I can pick up and work on a bit at a time and get some of it done.

V-stitch shawl - November 12th

This coming week I am not sure how much time I will have to craft as my schedule is a little full but I will see if I can at least find a bit of time over next weekend to add some stitched to the projects that get the attention.  I would love to see that I was able to work on both Braver and Lady this coming week as I would like to get both of these projects done by the end of November.

I still have a bunch of other projects that need some attention but I think just being able to focus on a couple of projects for a bit of time is making me feel a little better and I am seeing that I am getting things moved forward a little quicker than I had been doing in the past.

Moving things forward

Lady - October 22

 This week was one of those weeks were I decided to try and focus on a couple of projects to see if I could make some progress on them.

Lady - this was the project that I wanted to see if I could get some good progress on and I think I did this week.  I changed how I was working on this piece to see if I could at least see some more progress quickly on it.

Lady - November 5

I had been working on trying to get small areas of the piece done and this week I decided to try and work on a colour in her hair to see how much stitching I could get done. I got the first colour that I picked up finished and now am working on another colour so will see how things move forward on the piece over the next couple of weeks.

I was going to originally work on her face before working on her hair but I am happy with how this piece is progressing and I think I will leave her face to the last area that I work on.  I am seeing that this project is getting closer to being finished so will see when it is actually finished as my goal is to have it done by the end of November.

Braver - October 28th

Braver - November 1st

Braver - now here is a piece that does work up quickly when you can sit down and actually work on it for a little while.  I sat down one evenings this week and was able to to get the words completed and that felt great.  I have 6 more lines to stitch on this piece so will see how quickly is goes.  I would love to see this piece also finished by the end of November but I will see how things go.

I am going to be using three different shades of the blue on this design and am now at the point where the second colour will be used for the next three rows.  I do like this project as it does work on fairly quickly as it is just the words so I will see how much of it I can get done.

V-stitch Shawl - October 30th

V-stitch shawl - I really haven't had a lot of time to sit and crochet so the shawl has been moving forward slowly.  I know that once I can sit and crochet for a while that I will be able to see some really good progress on the overall piece.  I know that this week I was able to get some stitching in and that is great.  I have been finding that being able to have something simple to work on while I am listening to the various webinars that I do each week is great. The shawl is normally sitting beside my desk and when it is time for the webinar to start I pick up the shawl and work on it during each of the webinars.

V-stitch Shawl - November 5th

I like how quickly I can see some results on the v-stitch pattern because it helps me feel like I am getting somewhere on a pattern.  I know that I want to make this piece a good size so I will see how long it takes me to get it to around the 60 inches that I am thinking I am going to try and make it.


I am now heading into another couple of weeks where I am going to be extremely busy so will see what stitching time I can find.  I know I do try and spend a bit of time most evenings stitching on something because it is how I relax and also how I think through the day and plan for the next day.

This week I hope to be able to make some more progress on Lady and I will see what other project or projects get the attention.  I have a couple that I would like to work on but will see what I feel like when I have the time to actually sit and stitch.