Monday, September 25, 2017

Making Progress

This week I didn't have a lot of time to sit and craft so when I did I tried to get some progress on something as quickly as I could.

Lady - September 17
Lady - now this is the piece that got the attention when I had the time to sit and work on a cross-stitch. I decided that I was going to sit and work on getting some of the cloak and dress finished because I want to get into the hair and face soon.

Lady - September 24
When I picked up the piece this week I decided that I was going to try and work on sections of the dress at a time instead of trying to work on a row and maybe that helped a little bit because I was able to see some progress quickly which was nice.

I am not sure how much time I am going to have to stitch this week but will see what progress I can make on something.

Fluffy Meringue Shawl - September 24
Fluffy Meringue Shawl - after finishing the grey version of that shawl I decided to see how it would look with different colours.  The Blue version is the same yarn as I did the grey one in so I know how that one is going to turn out so that makes me happy.
Fluffy Meringue Shawl - September 24

I am having a lot of fun working on this pattern because it is easy to do and I can see some results quickly.  Now the second version that I am now working on was suppose to be just started and then put away until this coming week but as you can see I did more than just start the shawl.  It is now put away until this week when I will see how much of it I can work on.


Last week was a very busy week and this week is going to be the same so there isn't going to be a lot of time to sit and craft.  I am going to see how much of anything I can get done and then will see what I get done.

I hope to be able to see a bit of progress on something this week but will have to see how things go.  Hopefully next week I will have some progress on something to show you.


Monday, September 18, 2017

Some progress

 A week with some progress on projects.  This week I was able to make some progress on a few projects and it did make me feel very good.

Sabbatical Beauty - September 9
Sabbatical Beauty - now this is the project that I decided that I was going to try and get finished quickly because of course it was something that was very simple and also quick to work on.

I had worked on it for a while and then this last week I decided that I was going to work on it and get it finished so that it was another project that I could say that I finished.  This week I focused on getting the stitching done and by the middle of the week this was done.
Sabbatical Beauty - September 13
Sabbatical Beauty - September 5

As you can see the pattern looks entirely different with the over-dyped floss compared to the project with the DMC floss that I used on the second version of this project.


Halloween Biscornu - September 10
Halloween Biscornu - once Sabbaticla Beauty was fiished it was time to pull out the Halloween Biscornu and see if I could make some progress on this project as well before the end of the week.  I decided that this was going to be another project that I was going to wok on and see if I could get it finished before the end of the weekend.
Halloween Biscornu - September 17

It was a simple project and also something that was pretty quick to see progress on considering it was only 4 inches square so yes something that wasn't too hard to work on.  I finally sat down on Sunday and got the final bit of the front of the biscornu finished and will see when I can sit and work on the other side of the biscornu.  I love the colour of fabric and how it turned out so now to sit and work on making sure that I can get the other side done and then the biscornu made.

Lady - August 27
 Lady - now this is one of the art show pieces and I figured it was time for it to get a bit of attention so that is what happened this week.

With Lady I decided that I was going to try and focus on one section of her at a time and see if that helped me make some progress on the overall project. I picked this up on Friday and started working on her and have to admit that being able to focus on a section at a time is making it seem a little easier to work on.
Lady - September 17
 I am now going to see if I can work on getting a page at a time finished instead of bouncing all over on the pattern and now really seeing much progress at all.  Just focusing on this piece was nice.  It is also the piece that I decided to have near the computer so that when I am watching some videos I have something that I can stitch and it isn't hard to work on either.

Fluffy Meringue Shawl - September 14
Fluffy Meringue Shawl - now here is a project that I have been working on and determined to get it finished so that I could wear it at a banquet that I am going to at the end of September.  the good news is I have finished crocheting the shawl and now just need to sew in the ends and then it will be finished.  I was able to get 14 sprays out of the two balls of yarn so that was big enough and now to see what it is like once all the ends are sewn in.

I am extremely happy to have the crocheting done and know that I am not going to be stressing to make sure it is finished before the banquet.  I hope to get the ends sewn in over the next couple of days and then it will be ready for the banquet. I will see if there is a picture of me wearing the shawl.

Bluebell - September 14
Bluebell by Nora Corbett - this week I did start a new cross-stitch project and it is Bluebell by Nora Corbett.  I fell in love with this pattern a while again and finally ordered the pattern and all the special items I needed for it.

I was going to wait to start this project until I had finished a few other things but then decided that I would start it on a day that was special to me.  I started this project on the 14th of September which is my wedding anniversary.  The pattern is also something that my husband really likes so it will be something that we both will really enjoy seeing framed once it is finished.


This week is another busy week for me so I will see what I can get done.  I do try and spend some time most evenings crafting because it does help me relax.  Sure I might not get all the time that I would really like to get crafting but at least finding even an hour at a time is great and I am seeing that I can feeling so much better doing that.

I will see what time I can find this week to stitch as I do have other things that I need to do first so hopefully I will find a bit of time to stitch most evenings and then next week i will have more progress on some of these items.






Monday, September 11, 2017

A slow week


Sabbatical Beauty - August 29
Sabbatical Beauty - September 5
This week has been a busy week for me so that wasn't a lot of stitching time but at least I have been able to move a couple of projects forward a little bit.

Sabbatical Beauty - now this is the first project that I worked on this week because I was really interested in seeing how this was going to turn out using the over dyed floss.

Sabbatical Beauty - September 9
It didn't take me too long to get this design stitched up and have to admit that I am still not sure if I like this design with the over dyed floss that I used.  Maybe if it wasn't as drastic a colour change it might have looked better but at least I was able to get something finished up quickly which is what I was looking forward to doing.

Halloween Biscornu - September 5
After I finished the over dyed version of Sabbatical Beauty I decided that I was going to stitch it with a solid DMC colour so I quickly started it and have made a bit of progress on it.  Maybe this will be a project that will get finished up this week if I can actually sit and work on it.

Halloween Biscornu - September 4
Halloween Biscornu - here is a project that I have been fighting with since I started it.  Maybe part of it is I have wanted to work on this design on an orange fabric and just couldn't seem to be happy with using a grey fabric.

I also discovered that with this being an over dyed fabric the fabric that was originally a 28 count fabric is more like a 30 count or something like that.  I am still working on this piece but it is taking me a little longer than I had hoped to see some good progress on it.

Halloween Biscornu - September 10th
Virus Shawl - September 7
This week I was able to find some orangey fabic and decided that it might work a little better for what I really wanted for this piece.  I picked up the piece of fabric and of course had to start the new version of it. the piece doesn't show the true colour of the fabric as it is a peachy orange colour and I am loving how this is turning out.  It is also on aida so it is stitching up a little quicker so I hope to be able to get part of the biscornu finished up soon.

Virus Shawl - now this is a different shawl than I was working on last week and this is called the Virus Shawl. I found this pattern also on the Crochet Crowd website and wanted to try it out.  I am going to work on this a little bit at a time but my focus has to be back on the Fluffy Meringue shawl so that I can get it finished before the end of this month.

Fluffy Meringue Shawl - there is no picture of the shawl this week as it didn't change much.  I am working on it but had to admit that over the last week I just wasn't able to get much stitching done on it.  I like having some time where I can work on a spray at a time which is four rows and I just didn't have that time so now to get back to working on it.


Yes I have a lot of different projects on the go at one time and a lot of that is due to the need to have projects that either fit a specific mood or fits into how much time that I have to work on a project.

When you love crafting you just need to remember that you need to find the time to do what you enjoy.  Sure it might only be a few minutes at a time but at least it is a few minutes.  Doing stuff that you love to do is what is important and this week showed me that even without a lot of time I was able to get little bits of things done.

I now have some work that I need to get to so that is what the focus is going to be for today and then hopefully this evening I will be able to move something forward again.

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Projects moving forward

Quotes to Live By - part 9 - Sept 3
 This week I was able to work on a few projects and it does feel good seeing that I have been able to move some of them forward and actually have a finish on one of the projects.

Quotes to Live By -- this is the project that I have been working on for 8 months and was looking forward to Friday when the last section was released.  I decided that this weekend I was going to focus on this project so that I could see if I could get it finished.

Quotes to Live By - finished Sept 3
When I saw this last quote I figured it wouldn't take me too long to get it done if I could just focus on it and not get distracted on all the other projects that I wanted to work on.  Friday, I started working on the piece and Sunday evening I was able to take the project off of the q-snap and say it is finished.  The final size of the project is 18.5 inches x 13.75 inches so it is a rather large size project that is now finished.  I am happy that it is finished but also sad to see it over.

I am now going to work on some of the other projects that have been put aside while I worked on Quotes and will see what I can get accomplished over the next while.

Fluffy Meringue Shawl - Aug 27
Fluffy Meringue Shawl - I have been able to get a bit of time on this shawl and am happy with the progress on it.  I have now finished the first ball of yarn and am working on the second ball of yarn so will see how large this shawl ends up once I have finished using up the yarn that I have for it.  After I finished the first ball of yarn I realized that even with the second ball of yarn it might not be as large as I wanted so this weekend I was able to pick up two more balls of this yarn so will see how much of it I actually end up using.
Fluffy Meringue Shawl - Sept 4

I am now on the 12th spray and am going to see how many more even the second and third ball of yarn takes me.  I am not sure how large I really want this shawl but will figure that out as I go.  I know that the banquet is at the end of September so I have another 3 weeks to go to finish the shawl and think I should be able to get it to a size I am happy with by then.

Halloween Biscornu - Sept 4
Halloween Biscornu - this week I decided that I needed a couple of smaller projects to work on.  I have lots of large cross-stitch projects but nothing that is on the smaller size on the go.

I saw this pattern online in August and figured it would be something that I could work on quickly and  maybe get it done.  It is a Halloween Biscornu and I don't think it will take me long to get it done if I just sit and work on it for a few days.  Of course, because it is a biscornu there are two sides of the design so will finish this one up and then will still have the other side to do but I am thinking of these as two separate projects right now.

Sabbatical Beauty - Sept 4
Sabbatical Beauty - this is another one of the small projects that I decided that I needed to work on this week so it too got started. I figure this is something that I can pick up and work on and I should be able to get this one done quickly as well because it is only around 3 inches by 4 inches when it is finished so not large at all.

Sabbatical Beauty is using floss that I already had and fabric which I also had so that is nice. I am not sure the colour of the floss barbecue it was in an oops package that I purchased so none of the floss had colour labels.  I don't care about the colour name as it is over-dyed floss and I am enjoying working on this project.


The weekend is now over and I have some work that needs by attention so I will get that done and then I will see if I can find a little bit of time to either crochet or cross-stitch. I am looking forward to seeing what I can accomplish this week with my crafts.  I may not get as much done as I would like to achieve but even finding a bit of time each evening to do a few stitches is great.  My crafting is now I wrap up my day and din some ways it helps me solve some of the projects that I have been dealing with and it also helps relax me.







Sunday, September 3, 2017

Quotes to Live By - part 9 to completed

Quotes to Live By - ready for part 9
September 1st:
I decided that as this is the last section of Quotes to Live By I was going to write a blog on how the progress goes on this piece.

The first picture of course it before the pattern is released as it comes out on September 1st. Last night we made sure that the fabric was already for when I could start the stitching. I am going to put each picture I take on the progress on this piece until the final piece is finished.

Quotes to Live By - part 9 - Sept 1
I have loved working on this project and sure it has been nine months of waiting for each section to be released but it has been something that I really enjoyed. As I write this first part of the blog I am sitting and waiting for the final pattern to be released and then I will be able to find a bit of time at some point today to get started.

The pattern for Quotes to Live By was released around 10 am on the 1st of the month  so I purchased it and then tried to find some time during the day to make a start on the piece.  I was able to get the border done a bit of the top of the design so now to see how things go over the weekend.

September 2nd:
Quotes to Live By - part 9 Sept 2nd
After getting the border done yesterday it was time to start working on the actual words of the quote so Saturday evening I was able to start working down on the quote and that makes me happy.  I am going to see how much of it I can get done over the the weekend as I would really like to see this piece finished.  I hope to be able to find some time throughout the rest of the weekend where I can be adding the different words that are part of the quote.  I will see how much more I can get done this weekend and then see how quickly I can finish up the quote.

September 3rd:
Quotes to Live by - part 9 Sept 3rd
I figured today I was going to continue to work on getting this project moved forward because I wanted to see if I could get it finished soon.  The stitching today seemed to go so much quicker than it had been going in the last couple of months so I decided to sit and see how much of this project I could get done. The words just seemed to start to appear on the fabric and that is when I realized that with a little bit of effort I was going to be able to get this piece finished before the end of the day.


I am extremely happy to say that this project is now FINISHED.  the final piece measures 18.5 inches by 13.75 inches.  I have to say that I appreciate all the support and encouragement that I have had along the way in getting this piece finished.  I have never had a project this large before even with all the stitching I have done though out the years. This piece has a very special meaning to me and yes "I should have stitched it on darker fabric."
Quotes to Live By - finished Sept 3rd