Keeping my focus

Here it is the start to another week and yes another week of having a bit of progress on things. It does feel good to see that I have at least been able to move things forward. One of the biggest things is I have been able to keep my focus on just a couple of projects, and seeing progress on them is making me feel so much better. Now to see if I can continue to do just that.

Mini the Forgotten - I have been able to continue to move this project forward. It does feel good being able to continue to see progress on this piece, as I would like to continue to work on it and see how much more of it I can get done before I put it down.

This week I continued to work on the actual person and I worked on adding more of the detail to her dress and her head. With it being just a slightly lighter colour, you can't see a lot of the detail yet, but I am finally starting to see that I am getting this piece moved forward. By the time I put it down last night I had completed just over 1,300 stitches on the piece this past week, but with it being all over it is harder to see but at least I know where I have added the stitches.

Elizabeth Wood - here is the other piece that I got some attention this week, and it is getting closer to a finish. After getting all the lines completed it was just a matter of starting to work on getting all the words, letters and numbers completed and that is what I have been working on. 

It has been a lot of fun working on this piece, as I started off by working just a bit of each of the rows, and now I am working on completing each row. Elizabeth did make this project a lot of fun to work on, and being able to just work on a letter at a time makes the piece seem to go a little quicker.  Now that I have got this much done, I am looking forward to seeing this piece completed.

I have enjoyed once again working on a red sampler, and I am looking forward to seeing which one I am going to work on next. My next sampler might not be red, but I know that I do have at least a couple more red samplers ready to be worked on. Years ago, I said that I would never do a sampler and never a red sampler, and now here I am loving the samplers that I do. Of course, in our family the joke is "I don't do red" but I guess I do, given I have lots of DMC 816 sitting waiting to be added to the various red samplers that I have. My big goal would be to stitch a Bristol sampler, which is in red, so now I just need to get the fabric for that piece and decide which one I want to do.

Simple Triangle Shawl - my green shawl is continuing to get a little bit bigger, but the ball of yarn that I am using doesn't seem to be shrinking at all. This is the project that I try and work on a bit at a time, and especially when I have those few minutes when picking up a cross stitch just won't work. I am going to continue to work on this shawl and hopefully before too long it will be completed.

Other projects - I have been working on my English Paper piecing projects, and I am starting to see that I have made progress this month on them. I am thinking that I will do a separate post at the beginning of February just showing how far I have got on the two throws that I am working on. 

Each day I continue to try and do something even for those few minutes that make me happy and helped me recharge my personal batteries. I hope you continue to do the same no matter what it is you do. 

This week I hope to continue to move both Elizabeth Wood and Mini the Forgotten forward and will see what else gets my attention. Have a good week, and hopefully I will have more progress to show you next week.

 

Moving projects forward

Here it is the start of another week and I can say that I have been able to move some of my projects forward at least a little bit this past week. Of course, there are other things that take my time, but at least seeing some progress on things is making me feel a little better.

I have been busy doing a lot of things lately and right now I am going to try and still spend that bit of time each day making progress on my projects as that does help me feel better about everything.

Mini the Forgotten - this was the focus over the weekend as I am working on getting more of this piece moved forward. I am loving how it is slowly started to appear. I originally was only going to work on adding one of the colours to this project at a time, but now I am just working on what I want to work on, and that makes me happy.

It has been fun working on this project as after I have spent part of a weekend working on it, I can start to see more of the detail start to appear. Of course, when I am doing the actual stitching I am just too close to it, so the detail doesn't show up until I can step back and look at the piece. 

I am going to continue to try and work on this piece on a weekend because it gives me the time that I need to work on it. It's a large project and to see any progress you need to spend the time working on it. I currently don't have a goal of when I will finish this project, but I am enjoying working on it, and that's what is important.

Elizabeth Wood, 1850 - this project got some attention during the last week, and I was able to get all the cross lines completed. Most of the lines were easy to work on because one you got started on the pattern it was a simple repeat, but of course there was one row that I needed to make sure I paid attention to so that I didn't miss the little differences in the pattern.

Now that the cross-dividing rows are completed, it's time to start working on filling in all the letters and words, and hopefully they will come along quickly. I am looking forward to seeing this piece finished, but it does mean that I will need to pick it up and focus on it for a little bit.

I would like to see this project completed soon, but I am just saying that it will be finished when it's done. This week I am going to be trying to make bits of progress on it, but I will just have to see how much time I have available to work on it.

It does feel good focusing on just a couple of my pieces instead of bouncing all over, which I have done in the past. Once Elizabeth Wood is finished I am going to be pulling out New Doors as that one needs some attention, and then I will see how it goes after that.

Simple Triangle Shawl - here is a project that got picked up this week as I wanted something that I could work on while listening to webinars and when I have those few minutes to work on something. It is nice when I can spend those few minutes just knitting and not having to think about a pattern.

Forage Shawl - I did get a bit pf progress on this piece in the last week, but not as much as I originally thought I would.

This project is nice to work, but when I pick it up, I want some time when I can focus on it for a bit. The pattern is easy to work on, but you do need to pay attention to it, so not something that I want to be working on while I am trying to pay attention to a webinar.

Other projects - I did work on the simple scarf in the last week and right now it is just waiting for me to sew the ends in on it, and then I will take a picture of it. I was able to finish off the last colour on that scarf last week, so that is why the Simple Triangle Shawl came back out.

My English Paper piecing projects are also getting some attention and that is making me feel good. Those projects take quite a while before you see progress, so that is why I haven't been taking pictures of them.

I hope everyone is finding that bit of time each day to take time for yourself. It is so important to ensure that you take the time to recharge your personal batter because you need the energy in yourself to be there for others. This week my goal is to work on my projects when I have the time and I will see what I can get done. 

If things go well, I should have some progress on things to show you next week, but time will tell. Have a good week and enjoy your time doing what you enjoy doing.
 

Where did the week go?

Here it is the start of another week and when I look at my crafting I can actually ask myself, where did the last week go. Yes, last week I was able to make progress on some things, but then again it was a different week as I focused on some other things besides the projects that I have to show.

Elizabeth Wood 1850 - I was able to spend some time working on this project and one of the goals was to try and get more of the border sections completed. I didn't get them all done, but at least I have been able to make a bit of progress on them. The outer board is how finished, so it is just a matter of filling in all the inside sections of the design.

I am enjoying working on this piece, and I am looking forward to starting to add the letters and words that are part of this design. Currently, I am not sure if I am going to finish the inside border rows before adding more of the letters, or if I am just going to work on the areas that make me happy when I have a chance to pick up this piece. I know that I am going to be working on getting this finished quickly, so I will see how it goes each time I pick it up. 

This project is a lot of fun to work on, but I do need to concentrate as there are little differences in some of the sections, so I need to focus on making sure that I don't mess up the sections.

Forage Shawl - well, I said I wasn't going to start another knitting project until I finished at least one of my current projects, but over the weekend I started this project. Part of the reason I started this shawl was it looks like it would be a fun stitch as well as a little different. I think I needed something that was a bit of a challenge, but also something that I could see progress on it pretty quickly. It did take didn't a lot of time working on this shawl to get some results, but already I have started to see the sections of the design appear. I think before I continue to work on this shawl, I need to finish the Simple Scarf. So this shawl is going to have to be put down for at least a couple of days so that I can focus on getting something finished.

Simple Scarf - here are the results of my knitting on the scarf over the last week. I have now finished the variegated section, and I have also finished the light grey section. I have one more part ball of yarn to add to this scarf, and then it will be finished, so I would like to see if I can get it done early this week. 

Now that I have another project on the go it means that I need to focus on getting this scarf done otherwise I am going to feel like I have too many knitting projects on the go. If I can sit and spend some time each day working on this scarf, it shouldn't take me long to get the last ball of yarn added, and then I will have my first knitting project completed for the year.

This scarf has been a great project as it has helped me use up some part balls of yarn, and it was also something pretty simple to knit. Now to see what other part balls of yarn that I have because maybe I will see if I can work on another one of these scarfs before too long.

Other Projects - I have been working on joining motifs to the English Paper Piecing throws, but neither of them look like I have done a lot. I am thinking that I will try and take pictures of the throws closer to the end of the month, and maybe they will look like I have made some progress on them.

I hope that you continue to find that bit of time each day to do something that you enjoy doing. It doesn't matter what it is, as long as you remember to take that bit of time for yourself.  This past week I did make sure that I took that time even if my crafting didn't move forward a lot. The time I took was very important, and some of it was just spending time with my husband, and that was nice.

Hopefully, I will have some progress on things to show you next week, and it might not be lots but at least I am going to be working on getting bits of progress on things as I take that bit of time each day to recharge my personal batteries.

Moving things forward

We have now completed the first week of the new year and things are slowly starting to get back to normal for all of us. Well, the normal that we are now going to be having. Of course, as I write this I know that things will probably change again, but at least for now we are starting to get into a routine that is going to work for us.

This last week seemed to go by very quickly, so we will see how things go moving forward, but at least for me, I am thinking that I am getting into a routine that might work. I am going to be continuing to find a bit of crafting time most time.

Mini the Forgotten - here is a project that I have been working on, and it is making me feel good. Of course, I am not sure how much time I will be spending on this project, but will see how much I can get done this year on it.

I am going to continue to work on adding more of the colours to this piece, and hopefully I will see more of it done before too long. This past week I only added one colour to a couple of sections, but at least I have moved this piece forward and that was my goal. I would love to see this project finished, but there are still lots of stitches left to go, so it won't be a quick finish. If I continue to work on this project I will get closer to a finish by the end of the year and that is what I am going to try and do.

Elizabeth Wood 1850 - here is a project that I am enjoying working on. Having a project that is just one colour is nice, as it means that I don't have to think about what colour I need to pick up and work on. As it is a reproductive sampler, there are challenges with it, so it does require me to pay attention to the pattern. The funny thing about writing that sentence is I didn't pay attention to the border for a while and ended up having to take out quite a bit of the border because I didn't see where there was only one stitch in the inner border instead of two.

After a lot of unstitching (frogging) and then restitching, I was able to get the inner border finished, and then I started working on getting the outer border completed. I am going to be trying to make some more progress on this piece this week as I am enjoying working on it and, of course, now I am going to be paying very close attention to the rest of the pattern and not just assume that it is a simple repeat.

My target is to have this piece finished by the end of January, but that is just a rough idea. I am not putting the pressure on myself because I never know when something else will impact my crafting time.

Simple scarf - here is a project that I am trying to work on a little bit each day.  Having the variegated yarn that I am currently adding to the scarf means that I just have to knit and not think about colour or anything, as the yarn is doing all the work for me.

I am going to be working on getting this scarf done, and then I will be picking up another one of my projects that I have on the go to see if I can get it finished. There are projects that I would like to start, but until I can get some of my knitting projects finished, I am not going to be trying to start something new. This scarf still needs another two sections added after I finish this ball of yarn, so it isn't going to be finished within a couple of days, but I am going to continue to focus on it so that I can get it done before too long.

Other projects - I have started to join motifs to both of my English Paper piecing throws, but neither of them look like they have changed much since the last time I took a picture, so I will wait until I have more done on them.

This week, I am not sure how much time I will have each day to do things that I enjoy doing, but I will make sure that I spend a bit of time doing something and recharging my own personal batteries.  I hope everyone else continues to find that bit of time each day to do something that you enjoy. 

If things go as planned, I hope to have some more progress on things to show you next week. Have a good week and remember that we all need those bits of time for ourselves so that we can be there to help others around us.

A different week for me

Here it is, the start of another week and another year. I am going to say that given it was a holiday week I was able to spend some time stitching, so this is going to be a longer than normal post.

We did take some time this week to relax and enjoy the time to do some of the things that we enjoy doing. If I can look back at what I have been able to work on this week, I am happy.

New Doors - here is a project that I decided to see how much I could get done in the last week. It felt great seeing that I have been able to make some good progress on it. I still have quite a bit of stitching to do, but at least I have moved it from under 60% completed to now around 73%. 

My goal is to have this piece finished before the end of March, so will see how things go. It was nice to see that I am getting closer to getting all the inside completed, and it will just mean that I have the border left to go, so will see how things go with this project. Of course, there were some other things that I ended up working on as well, so now to see when I go back and pick up this and move it forward again.

Let's hope that this one will come back out in January, and I see how much more of it I can get done.

Elizabeth Wood 1850 - this is my New Year New Start for 2023 and this is what I was able to get done on January 1st. It is always fun to have a new start for the new year, and it is once again my aim to have this one finished early in the year. I would like to get more of this done before my new post, but will have to see what happens.

This isn't too big a piece, as I think it is around 7 x 8 inches, so will see how things go. It is going to be nice to have another red sampler finished, and I have now decided to work all my red samplers with DMC 816.

Joy - one of the things that I wanted to do in the last little while it was having a quick finish on something, so of course that meant it was time to start a project, so that is what I did. I found this ornament that was in my stash and figured it was time to get it stitched. 

It was a fun little thing to do and given this week was all about taking time and trying to relax, it was great. Now what I have to do is go through all the projects that I have finished and get them fully finished so that I can have things hung on the walls and other things ready for hanging on a tree next year.

Mini The Forgotten - here is the piece that has been my focus for a while, and the main thing I wanted to do before the end of the year was to get all the black finished on the entire piece. When I first thought about this idea, I wasn't sure if that was going to work too well, but then I sat down and started working on it and I have been able to get all the black done. Of course, there is still a lot of stitching to do on this piece, but at lest I have an idea of the entire size of it.

It felt good taking the picture of the entire piece as I haven't really seen the entire design as I have been working on the various sections and just quickly moving the q-snap when I needed to do that.  Currently not sure how I am going to move the stitching forward on this yet, but I am thinking that I might at least try and work on one colour for a while and see how much of it I can get done.

I have now moved this project from a q-snap to a scroll rod as I am thinking that this might because a focus for 2023 as I would like to see more of this done. I don't think it will be a finish, but at least getting more stitches done would make me happy. There is still 42,000-stitches left to go on this piece, so it will be a while before it's done.

A Year in Flowers - February - I had started this piece earlier in the year, and then I put it down and didn't get the February section done until this week. It was a lot more stitching that was left than I thought because there was quite a bit of back-stitching. It is a nice piece once it is done, but it was just sitting and making a point of moving it forward.

Of course, I still have the remaining months of this project to do, but I think for now I am going to be happy seeing that I have the first two of them done and later this year I will try and pick up some of the other month's and see how many of them I can get done. 

Cross stitch in general - this last week was nice as I was able to spend quite a bit of time working on the various projects and seeing what I can move forward. Yes, I did get a couple of small projects finished which is nice, so that means that I ended 2023 completing 19 cross stitch projects. It felt good seeing that I was able to make some good progress on things this week and now to see what I can get done in 2023. I haven't set any goals for myself this year, but instead I have given myself targets to aim for, so will see how it goes. My overall target has me trying to get more stitches completed than I did this year, but I will see how it goes.

If you have cross stitch goals/targets, do you set how many projects you are going to complete or how many stitches you are going to do? I do have both of these kind of figured out, but will see how things go.

Simple Scarf - this is the last project that I worked on in the last week. I was able to pick this up some days, and just being able to get a few rows done was nice. I have finished two out of the five balls of yarn, so will see how things go moving forward. I would like to see this scarf finished off quickly, so that means that I am going to have to work on getting more of it done. It's a fun, simple project, so that means that maybe spending bits of time on it will help me get more of it completed.

I do have other projects that I have started, and I need to get them completed, so they will come out and get some attention once this project is finished. I have found that I don't want too many projects out at once because then I just don't work on them, so focusing on once at a time seems to make me the happiest.

Other notes - now that 2023 is here, I am going to be working on moving things forward and seeing how things go. I may not reach everything that I want to achieve this year, but I know that I am at least going to try and do most of them.

I hope everyone had a good holiday, and now it's time to get back to work and see how much time we have for your crafts or how we relax each day. Have a good week, and hopefully I will have some progress on something next week to show you. There won't be as many projects worked on this week as work is calling me to get things done.