Moving things forward

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '19 - Feb 17

It is the start of another week so that means another update to show what I have been working on over the last week.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '19 - Feb 21

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL ' 19 - here is a project that I will be working on each month this year and I am looking forward to seeing the continued changes on this piece.

The February section was a lot of work as it was completing all the borders that will help in the placement of 8 elements.  Once the elements have been stitched there will be a border around the entire piece.  This week I was able to get the top section of the border completed so now I am waiting to see what the March section will be.

It is amazing to think that this is the third year that Linen and Threads have released a mystery stitching along and it has been free to anyone on the internet.  Each year it has been a monthly release and the only cost that a stitcher incurs is the cost of the fabric and thread that they use as well as the time that they spend stitching.  The pattern is free.

Roses - Feb 17

Roses - Feb 22

Roses - here is one of the Heaven and Earth designs that I am currently working on.  This week I didn't get a lot of stitching completed on this piece but at least I was able to get a bit done so this design continues to get moved forward.  I  hope that early in March that I can have another page finish as that would help me see that I am actually making progress on this piece.  The next page finish will be the 4th page so it is slowly coming along.

Unleash the Butterflies - Feb 16

Unleash the Butterflies - this is a project that I started last weekend and I have been able to see some good progress on it.  Sure it takes a while to see any real images but at least I am starting to see some areas getting completed so I am going to be continuing to work on this piece as well in March.

Unleash the Butterflies - Feb 24

I have started working on the second page of this design and the page goes up to where the top stitches are visible on the picture. I know it is going to take me some time to get this page finished but I will continue to try and get a few stitches on this design then I have a bit of time.


Crafts that I enjoy is how I stitch my mind back together at the end of the day.  Stitching is the final thing that I do most evenings even if it is only a couple of stitches.  I ensure that all the other tasks that I have to do are completed and then I sit down and either just look at the piece or put a few stitches in on something to help me relax before going to bed. Stitching is either knitting, crocheting or cross stitch is a way for me to quiet my mind to ensure that when I go to bed, I go to sleep instead of thinking about all the tasks that I will be facing the next day.

It is now time to get some work done here at my desk so hope everyone has a great week and you all find the time to do the things that you love to do.

Some progress, a finish and a new start

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '19 - Feb 9

Before I start this blog I am going to say it is going to be longer than a normal post.

It is the start of another week and sure it might be Tuesday when I am writing this but it is the start of the work week for me.  It was a holiday here in Ontario yesterday so I took the day to relax and not write this blog.  The past week was a good week and considering there was a snow day, a stitching night with friends and a three day weekend I am happy with the progress that I was able to make on some of the projects.

Yes, we had a snow day here or at least I did because my clients weren't in work so I couldn't get the answers to finish up some of the work that needed to be done.  It waited the one day and then I was able to get it finished up.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '19 - Feb 17

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL  '19 - this is the project that I continue to work on as I would like to get the February section done before the end of the month.  I have completed the bottom section of it and now just need to add the blocks to the top of the piece and complete the outline.  I hope to have this finished before the end of the month so that I can keep caught up on this piece.  The March section will probably be released February 27th.

This section is taking longer than I expected to complete as there is a lot of work involved but with a bit of effort this week I hope to get it done.

Roses - Feb 9

Roses - this week I decided that it would be great to see if I could at least get a few stitches in on this Heaven and Earth design. I made a little bit of progress on one of the pages so at least this got moved forward a little bit.

Roses - Feb 17

The overall piece is going to take quite a while to complete but I keep working on it a page at a time and that is helping me see some progress but again it is slow moving but I understand that.  I think I was able to add around 400 stitches to this piece so not a lot but at least it was something.  If things go well this week I would like to get a few more stitches in on it to see if I can get a little closer to getting another page finished before too long.

Unleash the Butterflies

Unleash the Butterflies - this is the new start that I did this week and again it is one of those projects that is going to take quite a while to finish.  The finished size of this design will be 13 inches x 18 inches when completed.  The actual section that I got done this week was 1 inch by 3.5 inches so a little bit of progress but again not a lot when you think of the size of the piece.

Unleash the Butterflies - Feb 16

You're Not An Avocado - Feb 15

The thread that you see at the top of the piece are threads that I am going to be using when I move to work on the next page of the design.  I decided that instead of bouncing all over the piece, like I normally do, I was going to try and finish one page at a time so these threads are parked and ready to be used when I start the next page.

You're Not An Avocado - here is a fun piece that I was asked if I would stitch.  I have been working on this piece for a couple of weeks but didn't want to post any progress on it until it was finished and given to the person.  This piece was a nice change from all the projects that I have been working on.  It isn't something that I would normally stitch but I am happy that I was able to get it stitched up as quickly as I did.  I think I was able to get this completed in 5 stitching sessions so again not a big piece.   This piece is around 4.5 inches square so something that was fun and quick to work on.


It's a four day work week here so that means that the days are going to be busy but I hope that most evening I can find even a little bit of time to relax and stitch my mind back together.  It is now time for me to get the work done that needs my attention and I hope everyone else finds a bit of time each day to do the things that they love.

A bit of progress and a finish

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '19 - Feb 3

It's Monday morning and here it is the start of another week.

This was busy this week but at least I was able to find a bit of time to stitch and get some progress on a couple of pieces.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '19 - I was able to get some progress on the February section of the Mystery Stitch-a-long this week.  Of course, this is another big section so it is taking longer than I thought to see some progress on it.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '19 - Feb 10

After finishing off the section that I am working on now I still have the blocks to outline above the Peacock.  It has been interesting seeing all the comments on Facebook about this piece because a lot of people are saying the same thing that this month's section didn't look too bad but it is taking quite a while to stitch.  If things go ok this week I hope to get more of it completed and then I can put the piece away until the March section is released.

We have been told that there will be eight smaller designs that go around the Peacock and then two month's worth of the final border around the entire design.

Roses - Feb 9

Roses - Jan 27

Roses - this is the Heaven and Earth design that I have been working on and I picked it up as a bit of a break from working on Mystery SAL.  I was able to get another page finished of this pattern so that is now 3 pages finished but still there is a lot of stitching to go on this piece.  I enjoy working on this as it is fun to see how the roses are starting to appear a little bit at a time.  I hope that when I get into some of the pages above where I am the actual roses will start to look more like roses than they currently do.

The only disadvantage of this piece is I am only using one colour floss on it so it is difficult to work on for very long considering Mystery is only 3 colours it doesn't give me a lot of variety.   I do have a couple of other pieces that I am thinking of picking up just so that I have some colour variety.

Taffy - Easy Goes It - Feb 6

Easy Goes It Shawl - here is the shawl that I have been working on for the last couple of weeks.  I am happy to see yet another shawl finished and this one is the one that I made using the new Prym knitting needles.  This shawl was made with one ball of Sock-Ease yarn and it worked up quickly.  I am looking forward to working on another one of these shawls as they are quick and easy to make and I do enjoy wearing them.  I have found that I can wear them with a sweater and they dress up the outfit a little bit.


It is nice seeing that I can continue to get some things moved forward.  I hope that I can continue to see progress on things even a little bit at a time.  Sure, I don't get a lot of time to craft but when I can find a bit of time to do something I make sure that I can enjoy what I am working on and also see some progress on the project.

It is now time for me to get some work done that I need to do today and then I will see if I can find a little bit of time to work on a project and see how things go.  I hope everyone else can find a bit of time to do what they love doing this week.

some progress

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL'19 - Jan 24

Where did the last week go? I think I know where the time went and I can admit that I really enjoyed everything that I did.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL'19 - After having some time to wait for the February section to be released I figured I would work on some of the other projects that I have on the go and instead of working on any of my cross-stitch the knitting needles go used and some progress was made.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL'19 - Feb 3

On January 30th the February section of the Mystery SAL was released and it was once again time to try and get some stitching done.  The outline of some of the borders has been released so that has meant some time sitting and stitching around the peacock.  I will be continuing to work on getting the rest of the border done this month and will see what other stitching I will be able to get done as well.   It is fun working on this piece as I am starting to see it come to life and I am liking the colours that I have picked for this year's piece.  I know they are the same threads like last year and I think they will work well for this year's piece as well.

I hope to get back to working on the border around the Peacock this coming week but will have to see how things go.

Knitting - I have been able to get some knitting done in the last week and a lot of it was fun.

Small version - Workday scarf

One project that got done pretty quickly was a smaller version of the workday scarf.  I was asked to make this version for a doll so that meant it was a quick stitch as I only had to go from 11 stitches up to 30 stitches and then back down again.  It was nice seeing how quickly this scarf worked up and the person is happy with the finished piece.

Besides working on the smaller version of the workday scarf I finished another regular version of it using Sock-Ease yarn in the colourway Taffy.  This scarf is a lot of fun to make and it is something that I can pick up and knit a couple of rows when I have a bit of time. 

Workday scarf - Taffy

This weekend I was able to wear my purple version of the Workday scarf to an event on February 1st and a number of people commented on it. I will be making a couple more versions of this scarf using different yarns as it is fun to make something that really doesn't take too long to do.

I am also working on the Easy Goes It Shawl using the Sock-Ease yarn so I hope to have it finished before the end of this coming week. The Easy Goes It Shawl is using the new Prym Ergonomic knitting needles that I wrote a review in my previous post.


It is now time for me to start getting some things done today that I need to get done.  I have a meeting as well today so will see how that goes.  Until next week hope you can find some time to do what you enjoy doing and know that even if you can't do something each day at least doing a little bit when you can will help you feel a lot better about things.