A couple of finishes and some progress

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL ' 18 - Dec 23

This week has been partly relaxing and part getting a bunch of things done that needed my attention. Christmas has come and gone for another year and now it is time to start thinking about the new year but before then I have some things that I was able to work on this week.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL ' 18 - Dec 29

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL ' 18 - as I have been saying I was going to work on this piece to ensure that I could get it finished before the end of the year and I was able to do just that.  I finished the piece 364 days after I started it and am very happy with the entire piece.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '18

I am still going to be adding a few little embellishments to the design now that the entire piece is stitched but I don't think that will take me too long to do.

The finished piece measures 12" x 26" so yes it is a rather large piece and I think it is the largest piece that I have ever finished.  I really enjoyed stitching on this piece over the year and am looking forward to seeing what Linen and Threads have as the Mystery SAL for 2019.

I have the fabric chosen for the 2019 piece as it is going to be released at midnight January 1st in Australia so I will have it on the 31st of December to start figuring out what colour I will be stitching next year in.

The design for 2019 looks like I will enjoy working on it so will see how much of it I can get done in the next week.

Temperature - December 21

Temperature - yes this has got some attention as I am getting very close to having this piece finished as well.  I am looking forward to seeing what it looks like once I have been able to take it off the scroll bars as well.

Temperature - December 30

It feels great seeing that I am slowly making some progress on the December section and right now just have to stitch from the 26th of the month forward and then the piece will be finished. I still have to put the scale on it after I finish the days and "Toronto" but other than that this piece is getting very close to being finished.

I have already decided that I will be doing a 2019 temperature piece but it will be a different design so that it will be a little easier to complete each day.

Easy Goes It - Dec 26

Easy Goes It - now here is a shawl that I have been working on for a while but haven't been able to get it finished until this week.  I am happy to say that the shawl is now just needing to be blocked and then it is finished which made me happy.  I enjoyed knitting this shawl as it was a little different to do. The picture doesn't show all the eyelet rows that are in this piece very well but they added a bit of fanciness to the overall shawl.

I do have a brown version of this same shawl on my needles and am hoping to be able to get back to working on it in the near future.


This week has been quiet from the vendor perspective for work so that was really nice.  Emails have been down to the minimum so that meant that we were able to spend some time trying to tie up all the loose ends before the start of a new year.  There are still a few things that need to be done before the end of the year so now to work on getting all of them done quickly and then maybe I will see if I can get a little bit more stitching done before the end of the year.

I would like to wish everyone A Very Happy New Year and All The Best in 2019.

Another week with some progress

Temperature - December 15

Here it is the start of another week and time to show some of the progress that I have been able to make on my crafting projects in the last week.

Temperature - I am happy to say that I am only three days behind on temperature and if I can spend a bit of time this week stitching on it I will be able to keep it caught up.  I know that the year is almost over and after stitching the 31st on this piece I will still need to put the scale and then add "Toronto" but it is getting closer to being finished.

Temperature - December 21

This last week I have also figured out the colours for the new Temperature piece which I will be starting on January 2nd.  I know that being able to keep up with the piece would be great so next year is going to be a smaller design as well as something that will look different.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '18 - Dec 16

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '18 - This last week I was able to make some progress on the December section of the design and am now over half way through the month.  I know that I am behind on the stitching of this piece but I hope that between now and the next of the month that I will be able to focus on it and get the rest of the section completed.  

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL ' 18 - Dec 23

The overall piece is rather large and it is going to be something to see it all off the scroll bar when I finish this section.  I will then have to figure out how I am going to be finished it as it will be a nice size.

The information for the 2019 SAL was just released this morning so now it is time for me to figure out what fabric and what threads I will be using for it.  He did inform us that the size is going to be a smaller piece next year and it won't be a band sampler so on the 1st of January we will see what it looks like.

Cocker in the Rye - over the last while I have had the desire to start a new piece and just couldn't wait until the 1st of January to start the piece that I have kitted up for the January 1st start so I started something different.  Cocker in the Rye is another Heaven and Earth Design and this one is 2.5 inches by 15 inches so yes a narrow and long design.

Cocker In The Rye - December 23

The first few stitches got added to this piece on the 23rd of December and now to see how quickly it can get finished.  I am aiming this as one of the pieces that I get finished in 2019 so that may help me focus on stitching it instead of bouncing around all over between the different pieces that I seem to work on.

Workday scarf - December 23

Workday Scarf - here is the knitting that I have been working on and I am happy to say that the scarf is actually finished as I finished it last night.

The yarn that I used was Woolike which is a fingering weight yarn that actually has no wool it in but it is great to work with. The yarn is actually 85% acrylic and 15% nylon and it is something that I love working with. 

I had been working on this scarf on and off this month and then last weekend I got to the half way mark which was when the increases stopped and then I wanted to see what it looked like.  The pattern was extremely simple so that meant that being able to pick this up and knit a couple of rows wasn't a problem when I had those few minutes.


I have a bunch more projects that I will be trying to give a bit of attention to over the next week but I will see what I actually get done.  Mystery SAL and Temperature are two of the main projects that I want to move forward this week so will see how everything else goes.

I now have some work to complete this morning so it is time for me to go and get that done before finishing up preparing for Christmas which is tomorrow.  To everyone that celebrates may you have a Very Merry Christmas and for those who don't I hope you have a wonderful week.

Some progress

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '18 - Dec 8

Here it is the beginning of the week and I have a bit of progress to how for what I have been working on over the last week.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL ' 18 - Dec 16

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL ' 18 - this is one project that did get some attention over the last week.  I have been trying to work on this a bit each day to see if I can get the piece done before the end of the month.  I am thinking that I am going to try and continue to work on this piece as I am enjoying the progress on it and am looking forward to adding some of the metallics and beads once the whole piece is stitched.

On this piece this week I did add a little bit of glitter as there is a mirror that is being held so I added a bit of glitter thread to it but you really can't see it in the picture but it is there.

Temperature - now temperature got enough attention this week to get it all caught up until the 14th so that makes me feel great.  I now just need to continue to work on this piece a bit at a time and see if I can keep it caught up. 

Temperature - Dec 6

Temperature - Dec 15

With the weather that we have been having there hasn't been much change in colours. When there isn't a lot of colour changes it makes it a little easier to stitch so that has been one nice thing over the last few days. 

Other crafting - I am working on at least a couple of other projects but pictures haven't been taken on them so nothing to show.  I hope that I will be able to take at least one of the pictures within the next couple of weeks.  I am going to be waiting until the project is finished which should be closer to the end of the month.


I have been busy doing some of the other things that need my attention so not a lot of progress on things but will see how this week goes.  I am looking forward to seeing how much crafting I will be able to accomplish in the next couple of weeks if work slows down enjoy that I can actually do that.  It is now time for me to get some work done and then will see how much time I have later this evening to do some crafting.

A bit of progress

Temperature - December 2

Here it is the beginning of the week and I have a bit of progress to show for last week.  Again there isn't a lot of it but at least I have been able to see some things moved forward so that makes me feel good.

Temperature - December 6

Temperature - now here is some progress because I was able to get November section finished and even a couple of days for December stitched.  Sure I am still behind a few days but at least I am seeing some progress so that does make me feel good.  I am glad to see that with just a little bit of stitching time that I should be caught up again.  I am currently 5 days behind but that doesn't normally take me too long to get completed so that might be something that I try and focus on early this week.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '18 - Nov 19

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '18 - now this piece finally got a bit of attention this week and I was able to start working on the December section of it.  Again it didn't get a lot of time as I have been trying to work on a few other projects that have been taking up some of my crafting time.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '18 - Dec 6

I hope that I can spend some time this week working on this piece as I would like to see that I am getting to a good point on this piece before too long.  I am still going to try and have this piece finished before the end of the year but will see how things go. I will be both happy and sad to see this piece finished as I have really enjoyed working on it.  The good news is that they have said that there will be a project for 2019 so now just waiting to hear what that is going to be and what size piece of fabric I am going to need for it.


Of course, this time of year is busy for everyone and stitching time is limited but that doesn't bother me.  I hope to find a bit of time this week to work on something but will see how this week goes.

Slow progress

Temperature - November 20

 Here it is the start of another week and I have to admit that I haven't had a lot of time or energy to do stitching so there really isn't much to show for the past week.

Temperature - now this one is getting some attention which makes me happy because I have been able to get close to having all of the November section done so that means that I just have the December temperatures to go and I have actually started on the 1st of December row already.

Temperature - December 2

I hope that I can continue to make some good 'progress on this piece as I would really like to see that I am going to be able to keep it caught up and then at the end of the month I will only have a couple of days to stitch in 2019.


Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '18 - now the December section was released on November 30th and I printed off the pattern and I hope that this week I can start working on this section and maybe see if I can get it done before the end of the year.  I would like to have the basic stitching done before the end of the year and then early in 2019 I can finish up adding the beads and metallic threads that I want to add to the piece.

Knitting - I have been doing some knitting but won't be showing the piece that I am working on just yet as I would like to get a bit more of it done before taking a picture.  Right now it really doesn't look like much so now to work on it and maybe see some progress on it this week as well.


I hope that this week I will be able to get some more stitching done and maybe next week I will have a little more to show. I don't mind having a slower week for the crafts as it shows that I have been doing other things that need to get done.  This week we also hope to get our Christmas Tree up and decorated so that is something else that will need some attention.

Now it is time to get the work done that needs to get done as there are a few things that need to be done as it is the first business day of the month.

Some progress

Temperature - November 14

 Here it is the start of another week and I am happy to say that I was able to get some progress on things last week.  I did bounce between some projects so that means I didn't get a lot of any one project done but at least I was able to see some progress on things.

Temperature - November 20

Temperature - now I was able to spend a little bit of time working on this piece and I was able to get a few rows done but I am still behind on this so hopefully this week I will be able to get caught up and keep it moving forward as I just have this month and next month to do and then the piece will be finished.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL ' 18 - November 18

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL ' 18 - November 19

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL ' 18 - I was determined to get this piece finished for the November section and I was able to sit down and get it done within one day which made me feel so much better.  I am now waiting to see what the final section is because I am pretty sure it is going to be a rather larger section to finish off this piece but will see when it is posted.

Linen and Threads have also announced that they will be doing a 2019 Mystery SAL so I am looking forward to hearing the size of the fabric that we are going to need and any other information that they will post before the beginning of January.

Roses - October 22

Roses - this is a Heaven and Earth design and it is going to be very large when it is done.  I am working on this a little bit at a time and am happy with the progress that I have been able to make.  I have just about finished the second page of the pattern of the 54 pages that this design is.  I am enjoying working on this but right now it really doesn't look like much and that is because of the detail that each rose and leaf has.  I am going to see how quickly I can get some more of this done as I would like to see more of it done before the end of the year.

Roses - November 24

My goal for this piece in November was to get the second page of it stitched and I think if I can spend a couple more hours on this piece I will be able to see that achieved.  If things go well this week and I can continue to get Temperature caught up I think I will be trying to get this design moved forward as well. I think this design when finished is around 21 inch by 27 inches so it is rather large and right now I have done a piece around 3 inches by 5 inches.  I know it looks like it is a big piece but really when you see it in person it really isn't very big of a piece that I have finished.

The Stitcher - November 2

The Stitcher - I decided that considering I had finished Mystery SAL I was going to see if I could get some stitching done on another one of the quick stitch pieces that I have in my waiting to be stitched pile.  The piece that I selected was The Stitcher by Wild Violet and once again this piece shouldn't take me very long if I can actually sit and focus on it. I was able to get a bit of this done this week and now I am also going to see how much of it I can get done before the end of the month.  I am enjoying the stitching that I am doing and maybe the variety is going to help me move a bunch of the things forward again.


This week I am not sure what I will be working on but I hope that I will be able to get some stitching done in the evenings.  I would really lilke to see some progress on some of the pieces that I have been working on and will see if that happens. I have been really good as there was a sale on Heaven and Earth Designs for Black Friday and Cyber Monday and I haven't bought a pattern so I am pretty happy with that.  I would love to see that I can spend some time stitching and getting some of the pieces done that I have on the go.

I now need to go and some more of the work that is on my desk done and then see how much stitching time I have this evening.

Some slow progress

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL 18 -  November 6

Here it is the start of another week and I made a bit of progress last week on some stitching.  I hope that this coming week I will be able to get some more crafting done in the evenings.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL 18 - this last week I was able to make some more progress on this piece.  I am hoping that I can get the November section completed.  I hope that I can spend some time this week working on making some more progress on this piece.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL 18 - November 18

There is only one more section of this design to go and that will be released on December 1st so I hope to be able to have this entire piece finished by the end of the year.

Temperature - November 7

Temperature - November 14

Temperature - well I have been able to make some progress on this piece but I am still behind for the month.  I would like to see that I have been able to get this piece caught up and keep it caught up. This project is coming along and now to see some of the colder temperature colours appear is a little different but considering it is November I shouldn't be surprised.

I would like to see that by the end of this month that I am close to seeing that November is finished instead of being a week behind in the stitching of this piece.


I have been busy with other things in the last week so that means that I haven't had a lot of time to craft but that doesn't bother me.  My crafting is something that I try and do most evenings but there are times when other things need to be done so crafting waits.  I hope that this week that I can spend some time getting the stitching done that I want and maybe see some more progress on the pieces. I didn't knit or crochet this last week so maybe this week one of the projects will see some progress but only time will tell.

Well, it is time for me to get the work done that needs my attention and then I will see what I can get done each evening.

A small finish and moving things forward

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL - Nov 4

 This last week I decided it was time to try and focus on a couple of projects again as I knew that my crafting time was really going to vary this week.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL - Nov 5

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL 18 - now this project did get some attention and I was actually able to finish the October section very quickly which made me feel great.  Seeing that I was able to get it done meant that I was going to be able to start working on the November section.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL - Nov 6

The November section isn't a complicated section which is nice but it is going to take some time to do as there is quite a bit of detail in the section.  I made a bit of a start on it one day and now to see if I can get back to it this week and then see how much of it I can get completed.  I would like to get November done quickly so that I will be ready when the December section is posted.

Temperature - Nov 4

Temperature - I was determined that I was going to keep Temperature caught up this week but that didn't work as I was able to get through the 4th stitched.  Now I am going to try and get back to doing a couple of rows a day to ensure that I can stay caught up on this piece.  It doesn't take long to actually get the one day of temperatures done so just making sure that I can continue to keep it up would be nice.

Temperature - Nov 7

The good thing about Temperature is at least I am only behind a few days this month and I am not weeks behind like I was before.  Sure I am a week behind but with a bit of work this week I will be able to get caught up again.

The Ripper - Nov 19

The Ripper  - this was a quick stitch project that I started on Friday and finished up on Saturday.  I had decided that I wanted something easy and quick to stitch instead of just working on all the larger projects that I have been doing.

This pattern is my Wild Violet Cross Stitch and it is part of a set of three.  There is The Ripper, The Stitcher and The Snipper.  I will be doing each of these as they are a lot of fun and an easy stitch.

The fabric that I used for this design isn't aide or evenweave.  The fabric was actually a napkin that I had and I figured out it might work as some stitching fabric.  The count works out to be around 17 stitches per inch so it wasn't made to use.  I wanted to give this fabric a try so considering this design was easy I figured I wasn't going to lose anything if it didn't work out.

Easy Goes It - this shawl once again got some attention and I am still very happy with how it is turning out.  I  have one more section of knitting to go on this shawl and then it will be finished so I hope that within the next couple of weeks I will be able to get it finished.

Easy Goes It - Nov 11

The brown version of the shawl didn't get any attention this past week as I wanted to try and focus on getting one of the shawls done instead of working on the two of them together.  I also have a couple of other shawls that I want to make so that means that I need to get one of these finished before I can start a new one.  I have decided that I am going to have no more than two of the thin weight shawls on the go at once so that I can actually get them finished.


This coming week I am not sure what my schedule is like yet so will see what crafting I can get done.  I hope to be able to spend some time most evenings working on something and hopefully, I will have something to show for it at the end of the week.

My ETSY shop is still going strong but considering the rotating postal strikes here in Canada it has meant that sales have slowed down a little bit.  I think once the postal issue has been resolved sales will go back to what they were before this.

It is now time for me to get back to work and get some of the things done that I need to do and I will see what I can get done this week on my crafts.  Hope to have some progress on a few projects before the end of the week.

Moving projects forward

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '18 - October 24

This last week I decided to try and focus on a couple of projects and see how things would progress.  I am happy with the overall progress that I was able to get done this past week.  Now to see if I can get some more work done this week as I would like to see some really good progress on a few items.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL ' 18 - November 4

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '18 - I am still working on getting the October section of the project finished.  I know that once I  can get this section done would be great and then I just need to get the November section done.  I am thinking that just working on some of the November section done would be great.

I am slowly seeing the progress on October and it looks like if I can finish the October section this week I will be happy.  I really don't have a lot of October finished so will see how it goes this week and hopefully I will be able to get started on the November section which is the second to last part of this design.

Temperature - October 28

Temperature - now here is a project that isn't taking too long to do when I have the actual temperatures that I need. This past week there were a couple of days missing on the list that I use so it meant that I couldn't keep up as much as I had hoped.  At least I have been able to get through the October section of this as well and now just need to work on getting the November temperatures stitched which shouldn't be too bad.

Temperature - November 4

 I have four days of temperatures to stitch right now so maybe that will be something that I will work on this evening if I have the time to pick up my stitching this evening.

Easy Goes It - October 28

Easy Goes It - now this project has been a lot of fun and I have to admit that I didn't think I would like it as much as I do.  Now as you can see the blue shawl is slowly getting worked on but there is another one that has been added to the list and it is a brown one.

Easy Goes It - November 4

The blue one is using Woolike by Loops and Thread and I have been enjoying how it is turning out.  Now the brown one is some Alpaca yarn and I have to admit that I am loving this yarn.  Yes, it is 100% wool so a little hard to work on but it is so soft and wonderful.  I saw this hank of yarn in my stash and my DH quickly wound it into a couple of balls for me.  I quickly decided that this yarn was something that I would like to use for this scarf so last week I grabbed another set of my needles and started it.

Now, I have to say that when I have typed the title of the scarf it has made me laugh because I have thought I have spelt one word wrong but I haven't.  Yes, the scarf is really called "Easy Goes It". I imagine there are a few people that thought I had written it wrong last week but I haven't and wanted to make sure that I noted the title here again.


This week is once again a busy week for us so I will see what crafting I can get done during the week.  I hope that this weekend I will be able to get some stitching done as I would like to see some progress on a couple of projects.  I am also thinking that I may try and work on at least one different cross stitch project this week because I would like to see something else moved forward.  I have put together a list of things I would like to accomplish by the end of the month so now to see what I can get done.

Hope everyone is finding their time to craft or read or do whatever you find relaxing.  Hope everyone has a great week and will see what I get worked on and will be back next week with an update on my projects.

Stitching and Knitting is happening

Temperature - October 20

Temperature - October 28

 Here it is the start of another week and I am happy to say that I have been able to spend some time working on some different projects this week.  Sure some of the old projects are still getting attention but some new projects have also been getting the attention that they have needed. I will update on the old projects first and then show the progress on a couple of new projects.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL 2018 - October 20

Temperature - now this project is finally staying caught up which is nice so it means that this week I should be able to finish the October section.  It feels great seeing that I have all the temperatures stitched right up until the 27th of the month.  I couldn't stitch the 28th as it was only posted this morning so that will be one that gets stitched early this week.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL 2018 - October 24

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '18 - now this is a project that seems to be going extremely slowly and I am not sure why that is.  I hope that this week I will be able to pick this piece back up and see some good progress on it as I really want to get this section completed.  I also know that the November section is being posted this week so I need to make sure that I am staying caught up on this piece as well.

I think if I can spend one evening really focusing on this piece I might be able to see some good progress on it and then I might feel a little better about it and want to get it done.  I am also looking forward to seeing that the November section is going to be as I don't think it is going to be a large section so that will be nice.

Easy Goes It - October 21

Easy Goes It - now this is a shawl that I am knitting and I have to admit that I have really enjoyed working on this a bit each day.  I have been able to complete four of the sections and have another four to go.  It isn't a large shawl so that is nice and maybe I will be able to get this done in November or at least that is my goal.

Easy Goes It - October 28

Last night I was looking through my yarn deciding on what shawl would be nice and I found some brown alpaca yarn that I got so it is now wound into a ball of yarn and has been started.  I figured as I didn't have a lot of the brown I didn't want to make something large so it is also going to be an Easy Goes It shawl.  I will take a picture of that one next week when I have some more progress on it.

Be A Butterfly by X's and Oh's

Be A Butterfly - I decided it was time to start working on a small cross stitch this week so I picked up a new pattern that I picked up a couple of weeks ago.  Be A Butterfly looks like it should be a quick stitch but with all the quarter stitches and the backstitching, it does take some time.  I am loving how it is turning out so far and am looking forward to seeing it completed soon.

Be A Butterfly - October 28

I am thinking that if I can work on it a bit at a time I should have it finished within the next couple of weeks besides all the other stitching that I want to get completed.


I have lots of work that I need to get done this week so that will be what I work on each day and then in the evenings I will see if I can if I can get some crafting done on at least one project.  I hope that things go smoothly this week and I can see some projects moved forward but time will tell.