A finish and lots of progress

Here it is the start of another week and yes, another week of a lot of cloudy skies around here. The month of March seems to be flying by so quickly and now to see what the weather is going to be like for the rest of this month. 

Silver Anniversary - here is the project that I was very close to a finish last time I wrote a post and on Monday of last week I was able to get the piece finished. It is so nice having this piece completed and now I hope to have it framed before our 25th wedding anniversary in September.  

It was nice to see this piece completed and that meant it was time for me to figure out the next project that was going to be a focus piece. It didn't take me long to figure that out.

Junos Garden - this is the piece that I have been working on and yes, it's the next one that I would like to see completed. As I am doing this as a monochromatic piece it is working up fairly quickly because there isn't an issue of working some stitches and then having to change colours.

Last time I posted I had the middle section of the piece completed so I knew that if I could focus on it for a while I might be able to get the outside of the piece moved forward. 

What I didn't think about was how quickly I might be able to get quite a bit of the outside section completed.  With a bit of luck, I should be able to have piece completed within the next couple of days.

It has been really nice working on this piece and yes it was a focus this past week. I just have to complete the two side borders, and it will be done and that should be relatively easy as there are just over 400 stitches left to go.

Once this piece is finished, it will be time to figure out the next project that I am going to try and focus on and move it closer to a finish as well. I think I have the project figured out but we will see what happens once Junos Garden is out of the hoop.

Button Box Throw - here is the scrappy throw that I have been working on and it has been lots of fun to knit. I am slowly working through all the scrap balls of yarn that I have so we will see what this looks like when it's finished.

I am not certain the size this is going to be when it's finished but it has been a lot of fun working on it. This is the project that I pick up and work on when I have those few minutes. I don't have to worry about completing a row or round, I can just knit and then put it down easily.

Hedgerow Shawl - I can finally show you the shawl that I have been working on for the last while. The entire pattern has now been released, and I can show you where I am on the project. This project has been an interesting one to work on and it has been a bit of a challenge sometimes as well. I have learned some new stitches which has been nice and getting more experience working with different colours.

There is still quite a bit of work to go on this shawl, and I have just finished the second out of four clues. I am enjoying working on this piece and am looking forward to seeing it completed. This is a project that takes some focus so it isn't something that I can pick up when watching videos or doing webinars. That means it only gets attention when I can sit and work on it without the various distractions.

Other projects - I haven't been working on any other projects this past week and given how much attention Junos Garden got I am not surprised. We will see what happens this coming week as I know that I have a virtual conference to attention Wednesday morning, and then most of Thursday.

I hope everyone is finding that bit of time each day to do something that you enjoy. For me, being able to set some time aside each day to do some of my crafting has helped me be able to focus on some of the other things that I need to get done.

If things go well this week, I hope to have some progress to show you next Monday. I know that I will be trying to get Junos Garden completed early this week and then we will see what I work on after that. Hope everyone has a good week, and I will post again next Monday.

Close to a finish and progress

Here it is the start of another week so we will see how things go. Just being able to continue to get things done would make me feel a little better about things. Just being able to continue to get things done so we will see how things go.

The weather here is a roller coaster as we have been dealing with warmer weather and then snow and colder weather so that doesn't make me happy. I know that the forecast for this coming week is another roller coaster so it doesn't make me happy so we will see what really happens.

Silver Anniversary - here is the project that I have been working on in the last week. This has been a goal for me to try and continue to get things accomplished so we will see how things go. I know that over this last week I have been able to make some good progress on this piece.

When I picked up this piece this week, I have lots of stitches to complete, but when I put it down today, I only have 312 stitches so it should be a completion before too long. I am so happy to see that I have been able to get this piece so much closer to a finish. I started this piece on February 13th, 2025, and my goal was to get it completed before our Silver Anniversary which is September 14, 2026.

This has been the piece that I have been working on every month since I started on it and it makes me feel a little better. It has been a bit of a challenge to continue to move this piece forward. When I started this piece I figured that I would be getting it completed around the 22nd of July of this year however I am very happy to see that I am going to be getting this piece done ahead of my initial goal.

Hedgerow Shawl - this is the mystery sal that I have been working on and I haven't been able to make a lot of progress on this piece. I hope that over the next couple of weeks I will be able to continue to move this project forward.

All the clues have been released, and I am still working on the 2nd clue so next weekend I should be able to share where I am on this piece, and you will what I have been able to get accomplished. This piece has been a challenge for me and maybe what I needed to do is just take each little bit at a time and not stress about the entire piece because I think that would have helped a lot. 

I currently have some mini bobbles to be completed in clue #2 and am not looking forward to them but we will see how things go.

Button Box Throw - here is the throw that I have been able to move things forward and it is making me feel a little better when I can continue to move this piece forward. It has been nice to see that I can continue to move this piece forward even a little bit at a time. I know that I haven't figured out how large this is going to be and maybe that makes me happy. I currently have three small balls of yarn and then have another 6 balls of yarn around 20 grams each so we will see that the throw looks like when I get all that yarn added, I do need to figure the yarn that I going to be using for the border as well so we will see what I can get done.

Other projects - I can honestly say that I haven't work on any other projects this week and a lot of that is because I have been focusing on getting Silver Anniversary closer to a finish and working on my knitting projects.

I hope everyone is finding a bit of time to focus on something that makes you a little better. It doesn't matter what you are able to do but just spending some time to focus on something that makes you happy is what you need to do.

This week coming I hope that I can get Silver Anniversary completed and we will see how things go moving forward. A bunch of things that I would like to move forward so we will see what I can get accomplished and hopefully I will have something to show you next weekend.

 

Making progress and a challenge

Here it is the start of another week and hopefully the weather will continue to improve, and we will start to enjoy the nicer days. We have seen the sun a little more than we were seeing so that is nice and now to see if the weather will continue to improve and we can enjoy temperatures like we have seen the last couple of days for more days.

Junos Garden - here is a project that I worked on over the last week. I am happy with the progress that I made on it. There is still quite a bit to go but at least I have been able to move it forward this past week. I know that spending a week on a project is helping me move things forward a little more.

Before I picked up the piece this week, I had the outline of the centre completed a little bit of the instead done but this week got me to a point that I am happy with how it is turning out. This pattern was a charity chart by Modern Folk Embroidery, and you had the option to do it all in one colour or 5 colours. I decided that I would do the one colour version and have been enjoying working on the piece. The project will be going away for at least this week as I have another project that I want to move forward.

Button Box Throw - here is a project that I worked on quite a bit this last week as I have been enjoying it. This is a square throw that I started doing the magic loop method. I had wanted to try the magic loop technique for a while so when I saw this pattern I figured I would give it a try. 

I had never done the magic loop before and after watching a really good video I decided that I would give it a try and see what happened. As you can see, I have been able to make some good progress on this throw and am looking forward to seeing how it turns out. This is going to be a scrap throw, so the colours are going to be changing anywhere within the rows. The pattern does call for some eyelets, but I decided to leave them out and just work it plain. You may see three needles right now and that is because I was in the middle of changing the needle length when I took this picture.

Hedgerow Shawl - I am continuing to work on this shawl a bit at a time and am hopefully this week I can get more of it done. The entire pattern has now been released but it is still a secret until the 19th of March when the pattern is released to the public. I am just starting the second clue, so I am still way behind but at least I am moving it forward slowly.

Other projects - I haven't worked on any other projects this past week as I was trying to focus on getting stitches in on the two main projects that I worked on.

This week I hope to be able to find some time to work on my Hedgerow Shawl as well as continue on the Button Box Throw and work on my cross stitch. This week Silver Anniversary will be coming out, and I will see what I can get done on it. 

Hope everyone has a good week, and you take some time for yourself each day to do things you enjoy doing. 

 

What Nashville Needlework Market means to a stitcher

Of course, if you are a cross stitcher and follow some designers you are going to hear the term “Nashville Needlework Market”. This is an in-person market for designers, dyers and accessories supplies to have the chance to show their projects in person to shops. This is an opportunity for you to support your local cross stitch ship or online shop and purchase the various projects that are going to be made available at this show. It isn’t a market where individuals can attend but it is a great way to ask your local shop if they are going and if they can pick up the various projects that you might be interested in.

Shops will travel from distances to be able to see the products in person and be able to purchase the items and bring them back to their shops. Designers, and dyers are going to the market so that they can show their products in shops to leave the show with no products remaining because the shops have purchased all their products. As designers and dyers say prior to Nashville Needlework Market, we go to the show with cars and boxes full of products and we hope to leave the show with empty cars, etc. because all the shops are will with full cars and boxes. 

If you are a shop that is going to be attending the Nashville Needlework Market, make sure that you communicate on your site and with your customers that you are going and will do preorders for the various patterns that designers are making available. What I have seen is that there are shops at the last minute say that they are attending Nashville Needlework Market but don’t let their customers know how they can either request patterns to be picked up or what patterns are available for preorder.

For local shops that are attending the Nashville Needlework Market you need to ensure that you have communicated with your customers so that when you go down you have an idea what your customers are wanting to you to bring back. Sure, you might think you know what your customers want to see in the shop, but you also need to figure out what they want from the various designers. There are designers that never release a pdf version of their pattern so being one of the first people that get the pattern would be nice.

Something that you have to think about is maybe last time you went to the Nashville Needlework Market, your customers wanted a certain set of designers but have times changes and the designers wanted are different. The only way you are going to be able to determine this is by asking your customers what they would like to be made available in the shop right after the Nashville Needlework Market. The other thing that you need to do is have a special event the event after you return to showcase the projects that you brough at the Nashville Needlework Market for those that didn’t have a chance to preorder the charts that they liked and hoped you bought back.

 

Pandemic

Released in spring 2020 when we were all dealing with having to stay home and isolate because of the Pandemic. When this pattern was first released it was a free chart so that people had something to stitch while having to stay home.

Pattern name: Pandemic

Designer: Long Dog Samplers

Size: 365 x 429 stitches

# of Stitches: 77,265

Fabric: 18 count Aida

Floss: DMC 816

Started: August 20, 2020

Finished: February 21, 2026

Finished size: 20.28 inches x 23.83 inches

This project was a journey for me, and it was something that I started in 2020 as I had fabric at home and had some floss so it was something that I could work on. I had picked up this floss for a different project, so it was an easy change to make. Now, I just need to figure out the project that this floss was going to be for because I still have lots of floss remaining.

When I look at the stitching that I did each year on this piece I see that I really didn’t focus on it until 2025 when I decided I wanted to get it finished.

            2020 –  5,655 stitches

            2021 –  1,797 stitches

            2022 –  8,021 stitches

            2023 –  8,605 stitches

            2024 –  3,761 stitches

            2025 – 39,967 stitches

            2026 –  9,459 stitches

This piece was a journey for me and there were times that I just wanted to give up and not finish the piece, but I was determined to try and get it done. The project was difficult sometimes to work on given everything that was going on through the Pandemic and even after and other things that were also going on in our lives. It was something that helped me deal with some of the stress that the Pandemic brought to everyone, but it also reminded me of all the stress, so I think that is why I put it down for as long as I did. Last year, I also finished “Mini the Forgotten” and after that piece was finished, I decided that Pandemic needed to be my focus piece and that is how I got it done.

Yes, Pandemic was a journey for me, but I am happy that I decided to continue to work on the piece and get it finished. I hope to be able to continue to move some of my other projects forward now that this piece is now just waiting to be framed.

Moving projects forward

Here it is the start of another week and yes, the weather looks like it is finally going to be improving or at least that is the forecast. This past week did go by quickly and it was different as I wasn't working on Pandemic like I was doing over the last few weeks.

This past week I wanted to spend some time just working on a couple of projects so that is what I did. Now to see what this week is going to be like as I would like to continue to move things forward.

Silver Anniversary - here is the project that I picked up and work on this past week as I wanted to see if I could get it moved forward a bit. It has been nice to focus on some with a few more colours for a while and see the progress that I was able to make on this piece.

I am going to be trying to get this project completed soon but I don't think it is going to be out this week as I would like to see if I can focus on something else and make progress on it. It is nice trying to focus on a project for a while and not have all the other projects demanding attention at the same time.

This week I will probably continue to work on some of the small ornaments that I have been working on, but I will pull out one of the other projects that I would like to maybe get completed soon as the main project that gets the attention this week.

Peppermint Pressie - here is a small ornament that I have been working on and have had some fun with. It is nice having these small ornaments that I can pick up and work on when I have those few minutes to sit and work on something.

Having a bunch of small projects that I want to get done this year is helping because it gives me some time to just focus on it

Hedgerow Shawl - this is the knitting project that I have been working on this week and I have finally been able to make some progress on it.

I have been taking pictures of this project each week so that I can show you the progress on this shawl once the pattern has been released to the public. I am going to say that this project has been a challenge for me as I have been doing stitches that I haven't done before. Clue #3 has been released so we are getting closer to having the entire pattern to work on. I am no where close to being caught up as I just finished clue #1 on Saturday. Hopefully I will be able to move this project forward some more this week and maybe get it closer to being caught up.

Other projects - I haven't worked on any other projects enough to have something to show. I have been attempting to learn how to do magic loop knitting but that has been going very slowly so nothing to show for that effort yet.

I hope everyone is finding a bit of time to do something that you enjoy doing each day. It doesn't matter what it is or how long you spend doing it. Just being able to spend some time focusing on taking some time for yourself is important. This coming week I hope to be able to work on a different cross stitch project and we will see how it goes. If I can get some stitching time in I should have at least something to show you next week.