Monday, January 29, 2018

Productive week - sort of

Linen and Threads Mystery Stitch-A-Long - January 22
This week instead of focusing on one or two pieces I seem to have been getting bits of a lot of different projects done.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL - this project did get a bit of attention this week as I really wanted to see if I could get the left hand side of the design finished and I was able to do that.
Linen and Threads Mystery Stitch-A-Long - January 28

I don't think I will have the right side of the design done before the end of the month but that doesn't bother me because it means that I will have a finish in early February and that is fine with me.  Also I am looking forward to the end of this month for this piece because the 2nd of the 12 pieces will be released. 

With the Mystery SAL I am still trying to do the two threads a day because that helps move this project along but it also doesn't take much time to complete that much stitching each day.

Temperature - January 28
Temperature - I forgot to post this design last week so now you are going to see it for the first time. It is one design that I decided to do and it does involve a lot of work as it is going to be 365 rows long.  I am currently working on stitching both the high and low temperatures for each day of the year.  

This project is a lot of fun because I don't know what the design will look like when it is finished. I have picked 12 colours for the temperature rangers that I will be using and have colours selected for temperatures below -20 to above +30 and the colours change at each 5 degree increments between there.  it is a lot of fun as I am tracking both the high and low for each day for Toronto.  I have found that I can get this information easily on the weather network so that is where I am getting the temperatures that I am using for this design.

Bluebell - October 25
Bluebell - now this project got a bit of attention one day this past week as I hadn't worked on it since October and wanted to work on something a little different.
Bluebell - January 24

I had planned on working on the top of the design but decided that I wanted to work on the rest of the dress so that is why I have one of the colours worked on.  I still have quite a few more colours to do on the dress but I am happy with the amount I was able to get done in a short period of time that I worked on this piece.

Swan - January 20
Swan - this remains my main focus to get completed but this past week it didn't get as much attention as it had in the past.  I decided that I needed a bit of a break from it as I had been doing this as the main focus since the beginning of January.

Swan - January 23
My plan for this week is to get back to working on the Swan and see how much more of it I can get completed. I am looking forward to seeing when I can get this first Swan finished and the start of the next one will start to appear.  I am still on target to have the piece finished by the end of April and that makes me happy.  I hope that this week to be able to spend a couple of evenings working on it and then maybe a bit next weekend if work schedule allows for that.


I continue to work on different projects as I need the variety otherwise I will end up working on something too long and then get bored of it.  I know that having the variety that I do is what helps me keep the focus that I need when I have a project that I want to get finished.

Work is keeping my busy as well so I am not sure how much stitching time I will get this week but I will continue to try and get a little bit of time each evening.


Monday, January 22, 2018

More progress

Swan - January 14
This week I decided that it was important to try and focus on just a couple of projects when I had the time to stitch.  Of course, a bunch of other project have wanted some attention but I was determined that I was going to stick with my focus and that is what I did for most of the week.
Swan - January 20

Swan - now this project got the most attention this week and that is because I would love to see it moved forward a little quicker.  I also have a goal of having this project done by the end of April so I need to work on it.

There are a lot of different colour changes in parts of the Swan so that did slow me down a bit but then I started working on the reflection and that is when I got to see some good progress quickly.  I am going to continue to work on this project as I hope to get more of it done this week when I have some stitching time.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL - Jan 12
Linen and Threads Mystery SAL - as I said in the blog last week I was going to try and do two threads a week on this piece.  I have been able to work on this a little bit each day and most days it has just been the two threads that I added. I am enjoying working on this piece and hope to be able to continue the two threads a day for another week and see what the piece looks like. 
Linen and Threads Mystery SAL - Jan 21

I decided that after working two threads a day on this  piece since last Monday that I was going to spend a bit of time just working on the piece and not carrying how many threads I used. 


I have tried to stay focused on these projects this week and have done a pretty good job.  I know that there are a lot of other projects that I would love to be working on but I need to try and at least keep Swan moving forward so that I can get it done by the end of April.  I am thinking that I may try and add something else for a bit of variety but will see if that actually happens. 

Work is keeping me busy which I always enjoy and I have been finding time in the evenings and on the weekend to spend some time stitching.  I never know what a week is going to be like so I try and make sure that when I have a bit of time to stitch I try and do just that.  Having the different projects means that depending on how much time I have I normally have something that I can work on.

It is now time to get some work done and I will see how much stitching time I will find this week.

Monday, January 15, 2018

Another week with some progress

Swan - January 5
This has been another week where I have been trying to find a bit of stitching time each evening. I wasn't able to stitch each evening but I was able to find some time most days to get a few stitches in on a piece.

Swan - January 14th
Swan - now this is the project that I am really trying to focus on so that I can get it done quickly.  I am happy with the progress that I have been able to make so far and now to see if it can continue.

I hope to be able to start making the progress on the left side of the design now because I have completed over to the right hand side of the design.  I have also started on the reflection of the swan so that makes me very happy to see the progress that I have been able to make on it. I am looking forward to trying to spend a bit more time on this project this week to see if I can get further over to the left of the design.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL - Jan 6
Linen and Threads Mystery SAL - this project gets a bit of attention when I want something easy to stitch on. I still have a long way to go to complete the January section so will see if it can get a bit more attention this week. 
Linen and Threads Mystery SAL - January 12

I am thinking that I am going to try and at least stitch two threads a day on the piece and will see how much I can do on it this week.  Of course two thread doesn't seem like a lot but at least it means that the piece should be worked on every day this coming week.
12 Days of Christmas - January 12

12 Days of Christmas - I decided that I was going to try and get another ornament done before the end of January so I picked up the 12 Days of Christmas again and started working on the 12th day instead of the 2nd day.  I  am not going to be stitching the days in order because the last ones seem to have the most detail so I figured I would break them up so that I can get the different ones done without getting too bored with all the detail in some of them.  The 12th day has 12 drums on it so that is why I don't want to stitch the last days all together.  Not every day has all the repeats but a lot of them do.

I picked up some new floss for this design so will be adding some more bling to the days as I stitch them.

Erasmus - now this is the last art show piece that I needed to start so this week I put the fabric onto the scroll bars and make a bit of a dent in the overall piece.

Erasmus - January 15th
Erasmus has been stitched previously by me, a couple of years ago, but this time I had added some more detail to the piece and also made the guy a little shorter.  I hope that this piece will work out as I have planned.  I didn't spend a lot of time on this piece this past week but at I was able to make a start on the project.  I hope to be able to continue to work on this project and hopefully see some more progress on it very soon.


This coming week I am going to try and spend some time on a couple of these projects and will see how much time I can find to stitch.  I hope to be able to spend a bit of time each day on Swan and will see how much progress I can get done on it.  The Mystery SAL will also get a bit of time if I can do the two threads a day on it and then I will see if any other project gets attention this week.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful time stitching and are seeing some progress on the project they are working on.  It is now time for me to get some work done so that I can maybe get some stitching time this evening.

Monday, January 8, 2018

The first week of the new year

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL - December 31st
So the new year is here and now to see if I can made a bit of progress on a bunch of the projects that I have on the go. I was able to find some evenings where I could curl up and stitch and I have some progress this week.

Mystery SAL - now this is a project that I am going to try and work on a bit at a time and see how it goes.  Sure it is a project that is going to be running for the entire year but I would like to make sure that I can get each monthly section done during the month.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL - January 6th
The January section is a good size and I am going to see if I can at least get it done before the February section is posted at the end of the month.  I am happy with the three colours that we selected for this design.  I am looking forward to seeing how it all comes together over the year.  This month the section is 207 stitches wide by around 65 stitches so there is a lot of work on this piece but I will continue to work on it a bit at a time.

12 days of Christmas - January 1st
12 Days of Christmas - As these as small designs it means that they should be something that I can stitch quickly or at least I hope that they are quick.

12 days of Christmas - January 2nd
The original design was for all the designs to be basically red, green and a bit of black.  I decided that just doing those colours weren't going to work for me so I have started to add some metallic threads to each of the days.  I have now completed the first day and have 11 more to go.   I don't think I am going to be stitching them in order so now to see which ornament gets selected and stitched.  All the floss is now ready for each of the days so it is just a matter of sitting and working on each of them and seeing how they turn out.

Swan - December 31st
Swan - now this is the project that is on the top of my get finished list. I found some time to focus on this project this week and have now got a bigger section of the back swan done.  I don't have much more to stitch to reach the right hand side of the design so that is what I am going to try and focus on doing.

Swan - January 5th
This week I hope to be able to get some more time to work on swan and see if I can get to the right side of the design and then I will start working towards the left side of the design and then work down after that.


I hope to be able to spend some time this week working on a project and I am not sure which one will really get the attention.  A lot of my stitching is based on how much time I have to stitch as well as the mood I am in.  Work is busy with it being year end for us so that means besides the normal work I also have to finalize our books for another year.

Hope everyone has a good stitching week and will be able to see some good progress.


Thursday, January 4, 2018

2017 Goal review and 2018 goals

2017 Goals
1. Blog at least 4 times a month – achieved this with posting weekly
2. Finish Bluenose Dime by Lynne Nicoletti – this project was put on hold as I got frustrated with it
3. Cross-stitch Reflections of Canada – Ink Circles in 2017 – completed in February
4. Stitch from stash for both cross-stitch and knitting/crocheting (see below for explanation) – kept my stitch from stash positive for cross-stitch and didn’t track knitting/crocheting
5. Continue to get craft items more organized and downsized - achieved
6. Finish two of my own designs in 2017 that are already kitted or started – finished two of my own designs in 2017 and will continue to try and do this.

An extra achievement
1. In 2017 I started an ETSY shop to sell grime guards, project envelopes and thread/ort catchers. DLK's Crafts became a shop that was started and I am happy that I have been getting sales on the site.

2018 Goals
1. Blog at least 4 times a month.
2. Finish Swan which is one of my own designs.
3. Stitch from Stash for cross-stitch.
4. Get two of my own designs stitched in 2018 besides Swan.
5. Start my Heaven and Earth Design – Mini Butterfly Kisses
6. Complete two projects that have already been started
7. Continue to work on the ETSY shop and products for it.

I am keeping my crafting goals to a minimum in 2018 as I am not sure how much time I will have to actually work on these projects.

Stitch from stash explained

Stitch from stash is an idea where you give yourself a budget each month for how much you can spend on a craft. You can earn more money by finishing projects but ultimately it is a means of controlling your spending on the crafts you love but you will also see how much stash you really have. This is what I am doing so that I can get my stash better organized and maybe finish some projects that have been started. I have set a $25 a month budget for both cross-stitch and knitting/crocheting. I haven’t figured out how I will earn credits for the knitting/crocheting but will figure that out as I go.

The group I am in for cross-stitch we can earn between $2 and $25 based on the size of the project we finish. A piece 40 x 40 stitches earns you $2 and a piece 160 stitches x 160 stitches or bigger earns you $25.

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Progress and a couple of starts

Swan - December 22
The calendar has been flipped and it's almost time to put all the Christmas ornaments away for another year.

Over the last week I was able to find a bit of time to do some stitching and it was nice.  Work also took some of my time so stitching was something I tried to do in the evenings when work wasn't needing to be done.
Swan - December 31

Swan - here is the project that I am really trying to make some good progress on and I am happy with the progress that I have been able to make in the last week. 

I am going to try and work on Swan a bit most days because I do want to get this piece done as quickly as I can.  It still doesn't look like much but I have got the edge of the first swan reached and now to continue to work on it and see how quickly the other swan will appear as well as the reflection of both of them.  It is going to be quite a bit of work as the finished design is around 14" x 10".
Linen and Threads Xmas Ornament - Dec 29

Linen and Threads Christmas Ornament - this is a pattern that was released as a freebie on Facebook by Linen and Threads.  It looked like it would be a quick finish so I picked it up and finished it within a day. I may do this ornament again but will see what I actually do.  I know that being able to even make a couple of small ornaments would be nice from this pattern. If I redo at least the snowflakes I will be adding some beads to them.

12 Days of Christmas - January 1st
12 Days of Christmas - I decided that while I was in the mood of stitching small projects that I would put together all the threads for the 12 days of Christmas ornaments.  This was a free pattern by Plum Street Samplers a couple of years ago. The pattern calls for green, red and black thread but I have decided that I will be adding other colours to each of the 12 days to add a little bling to each of them. I haven't finished the first day yet but will try and work on the days a bit at a time and hope to have them all stitched and turned into ornaments before the Christmas tree goes up again in 2018.

Each of these ornaments are about 3.5 inches squares so they shouldn't take too long to stitch once I decided on what bling is going to be added to each of the ornaments.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL - Dec 31st
Mystery Sampler Stitch Along 2018 - Once again Linen and Threads is doing a Mystery Sampler Stitch Along this year and I decided that I was going to try and work along with this piece. This year's sampler is going to be a medieval theme and I am looking forward to seeing how it turns out. 

I had picked the fabric that I was going to use a while ago and then it was picking the floss colour and once I saw the first part of the pattern I changed the colour of the floss and then started stitching away on the design.  Now to work on getting some of this done but it will only be done a bit at a time when I need a break from working on Swan and the other art show pieces.


I am looking forward to seeing what I can accomplish in 2018 with regards to my stitching.  I have projects that I want to get finished off quickly and then I have some of the projects that will get attention when I need a bit of a break from some of the larger projects.  My stitching once again will be based on when I have time in the evenings to pick up a project and work on it.

Hope everyone has a great holiday season and if you are a stitcher you found a bit of time to work on a project that you had on the go.  It's now time for me to get some work done and hopefully this evening I will have a bit of time to stitch.






Monday, January 1, 2018

Happy New Years

 
Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year and all the best in 2018!