A lof of projects

Bluebell - October 18th

This week I decided to work on some projects to get finishes and other projects just to have some fun and that is what I did.

Bluebell - I finally decided it was time to try and spend a little bit of time working on Bluebell so that is what I did.  I have finally started to add some of beads and glitter to the piece and low how it is starting to look.

Bluebell - October 28th

I had hoped to be able to spend a bit more time working on Bluebell this week but at least I was able to get a bit of progress on her and now to see when I can spend some more time adding some more glitter to her wings. I will see if I can spend a bit of time on Bluebell this coming week as I would like to see some of her wing or the umbrella she is holding some to life.

Small projects - after working on so many large projects over the last little while I decided it was time to try and work on a few small projects and see if I could get some finishes done quickly.  

Don't Quit - October 26th

The first small project that I worked on was "Day Dream" and I got it done fairly quickly and now to just finish it off into some sort of ornament or small pillow.

"Winter" was the second one to get done and I know that it will be done into a small pillow and it will be placed into a cookie jar that I have for displaying my small projects that I complete. I am going to be stitching each of the seasons on different fabric and with a different colour to give some variety.

Winter - October 27th

The small projects are going to be put into a clear cookie jar so that I can see them and it will also give a conversation piece about some of them once they are all stitched.  Of course, I don't have a lot of them figured out yet and time will tell what gets stitched and when.  The seasons are all kitted up and ready to be stitched so that should be the next small projects on my list but things can change again.

Braver - October 28th

Braver - now this is a project that I saw and decided that I was going to chart it for myself because the fonts that were used in the piece that I saw weren't what I wanted.  I charted this piece last weekend and decided to try and get it started this week to see how quickly I would see some progress on it.  With some of the words being simple lettering it means that the project has started to move forward at a good speed.  Now to see how the next word goes because of course it is larger and more stitches for each letter.

Fluffy Meringue Shawl - October 21

Fluffy Meringue Shawl - so I finally finished off the shawl that I have been making with the brown, green and beige yarn. I love making this shawl as it is easy to work on and it actually does work up quickly when you can spend the time just sitting and working on it.  I do like how this shawl turned out with the variegated yarn and hope to figure out when I am going to be wearing this version of the shawl.

Fluffy Meringue Shawl - October 25

I do have some other yarn for another version of this shawl so that is something that I will work on a bit at a time but right now I think I need a bit of a break from the Fluffy Meringue Shawls.

v-stitch shawl - October 29th

V-stitch shawl - after finishing up the Fluffy Meringue Shawl I decided to work on a simple wrap using some of the yarn that I have left over.  I started a simple v-stitch shawl and will see how long it gets because I am just going to work on it for a while with the yarn that I have left.  I picked up two bags of mill ends of this yarn and the Fluffy Meringue Shawl took less than one of the bags so will see how long this shawl gets before I finish it off and figure out another project with some of the yarn.

The v-stitch pattern is something that I enjoy working on and I can work on it when I have a few minutes and I don't have to worry about thinking about what row I am on or anything like that, it's just pick up the hook and stitch.

Creative Festival - some of the purchases

Creative Festival - this past week the Creative Festival was in Toronto so we decided that it might be nice to go to it as I haven't been for a couple of years.  Well as you can see in the picture I did have some fun and did some shopping.  Now I picked up some cross-stitch patterns, a knitting kit for a shawl and some fabric.  Yes, I picked up some fabric and now to see what I will be making with some of it.  Most of the fabric in the bottom left of the picture is for either a wall hanging or a lap quilt.  I saw a pattern for a quilt of the Snowbirds and couldn't resist it so now I have the pattern and most of the fabric.


This last week was a lot of fun and it gave me a change in my routine and am happy about that.  I am happy that I went to the Creative Festival and met some really nice people while we were there and also saw lots of old friends.  Now this week I am going to try and get some of the fabric organized that I bought and will see what else I make with the fat quarters I bought.

I have a project that I have been working on over the last couple of months and hopefully within the next couple of weeks I will have something to show here on my blog.  Until then there is work that needs my attention so I better go and get it done so that I keep everyone happy.

Another week of some crafting

Lady - October 13

 This week was a week where I was able to find some time in the evenings to sit and craft.  I also found a bit of time over the weekend where I could focus on things and am happy with the progress that I was able to make over the week.

Lady - October 22

Lady - this is a project that I wanted to try and get some time in one so I decided that I was going to try and spend some time on the weekend working on her.

After finishing her cloak and dress last week it was onto her hair and face.  This time I focused on getting some of her hair stitched and am happy with the progress that I was able to make on her.

Mystery Stitch Along - October 22

Mystery Stitch Along - now this is a piece that I had started before and it was sitting and not getting anywhere on it.  About a week ago I picked up the piece and just looked at it to see why I wasn't stitching on it and it finally game to me that I really didn't like the fabric that I was using.  It was difficult to stitch on so that meant I wasn't enjoying stitching on the piece.

This week I decided it was time to put the other version aside and see if i could find some fabric that I would like working on better and I did.  Now after about three hours of stitching I am happy with the progress that I have been able to make on the piece and I like this fabric a whole lot better.

Halloween Biscornu - Oct 13

Halloween Biscornu - I finally decided it was time to sit and actually work on getting the back of the biscornu stitched so that is what I did this week. it actually didn't take me long to do it once I decided to sit and focus on the piece.  Now I just need to sew the biscornu together but I want to make sure that I have a button or something for the centre of it before I start sewing it together.

Halloween Biscornu - Oct21

The finished photo actually shows what the colour is of the fabric.  It is basically a peachy/orange and grey fabric.  I love how the black worked out on this fabric so now to just get it finished off.

Fluffy Meringue Shawl -  my shawl finally got some attention this past week and I was able to get quite a bit of crocheting done on the shawl.  I wanted to see if I could get some of the shawl worked on so this past week it became something that I could work on easily.

Fluffy Meringue - October 9

The pattern is just four rows so now something that is difficult to work on so this past week I was able to find some time to work on the shawl.  I now have just over one more set of rows to go before I think it is finished.

Fluffy Meringue - October 21

 This shawl became a project that I would work on while watching some videos that I needed to watch.  Also it is a wonderful project to pick up and work on while attending webinars and a staff meeting.  Both the webinars and meeting where things I needed to listen to and with no one being able to see me I figured it was a great way to keep my attention on the actual material that was being discussed.  I have found that if I just sit at the computer and try and watch the webinars or listen to the staff meeting I get distracted on some of the other things that I could be doing.  I find that as long as I am not able to click around with my computer mouse while on these items I remain focused on what I am attending.

I have heard that there are quite a few students in University that either knit or crochet during lectures so that they pay attention to the material and it does work.  I know that I spend 7 hours on a course this last week just watching webinars and I am happy that I was able to keep my hands busy while paying attention.  Sure, I wouldn't want to do a difficult pattern but something simple works.


This coming week I hope to be able to find some time to craft but once again work will determine the amount of time that I have.  I don't have any webinars or staff meetings this week so that means that I will have to find some other time to work on the shawl and hopefully get it finished.

How do you stay focused when listening to webinars?

Projects moving forward

Bluebell - October 1

This week I decided that I was once again gong to try and focus on only a couple of projects to see if I could make some progress on them and I am now happy with some of the progress that I was able to make.

Bluebell - now this was a project that I wanted to try and get moved forward even if I didn't get much done.  I decided that I am going to try and work on the top section of the pattern and maybe that will help me see some progress over the next little while.  I have been able to get the arms and your face outline done which is great.  Now to see if I can continue to make some progress on this piece.

Bluebell - October 5

One of the things that I have been thinking about is when am I going to be adding the metallic to the design and also when will the beads be added.  Part of me wants to get them added now and then another part of me is thinking that I should wait until I have finished will all of the regular floss.

Lady - September 24

Lady - I decided that this was going to be the project that got the most attention this week and part of that is because I wanted to see if I could get the dress and cloak finished.  As I was only working on one colour at a time and didn't have to do any counting this was something that I could work on when I was trying to get caught up on some videos that needed my attention.  I also worked on this when my computer was getting worked on as I was getting a new hard drive installed.

Lady - October 9

I am happy with the progress that I was able to make on this piece this week because now I just have one more area of the cloak that I need to finish up before I am onto working on her face and hair.  I hope to have the cloak finished before the end of this week but will have to see how much time I have to stitch.

Fluffy Meringue Shawl - September 24

Fluffy Meringue Shawl - the other project that I worked on was my shawl.  I wanted to see if I could get some of it done because I knew that once I got back to stitching on it I would be able to see some progress.

Fluffy Meringue Shawl - October 9

The shawl didn't get a lot of attention this week but it was something that I could pick up when I had a few minutes to just do something.  I normally did a few stitches on the shawl at the end of the day as I was wrapping up as it gave me a sense of accomplishment.  I also worked on the shawl when I was listening to a meeting.  It was a phone meeting so I was sitting and stitching while listening to everyone else talk.  I didn't have to participate much just be there so it worked very well.


This week I am not sure how much progress I will be making on things. I have a couple of projects that need my attention so will see how things go.  I hope to be able to spend some evenings stitching but will have to see how the rest of life goes. 

Making Progress

This week I didn't have a lot of time to sit and craft so when I did I tried to get some progress on something as quickly as I could.

Lady - September 17

Lady - now this is the piece that got the attention when I had the time to sit and work on a cross-stitch. I decided that I was going to sit and work on getting some of the cloak and dress finished because I want to get into the hair and face soon.

Lady - September 24

When I picked up the piece this week I decided that I was going to try and work on sections of the dress at a time instead of trying to work on a row and maybe that helped a little bit because I was able to see some progress quickly which was nice.

I am not sure how much time I am going to have to stitch this week but will see what progress I can make on something.

Fluffy Meringue Shawl - September 24

Fluffy Meringue Shawl - after finishing the grey version of that shawl I decided to see how it would look with different colours.  The Blue version is the same yarn as I did the grey one in so I know how that one is going to turn out so that makes me happy.

Fluffy Meringue Shawl - September 24

I am having a lot of fun working on this pattern because it is easy to do and I can see some results quickly.  Now the second version that I am now working on was suppose to be just started and then put away until this coming week but as you can see I did more than just start the shawl.  It is now put away until this week when I will see how much of it I can work on.


Last week was a very busy week and this week is going to be the same so there isn't going to be a lot of time to sit and craft.  I am going to see how much of anything I can get done and then will see what I get done.

I hope to be able to see a bit of progress on something this week but will have to see how things go.  Hopefully next week I will have some progress on something to show you.

Some progress

 A week with some progress on projects.  This week I was able to make some progress on a few projects and it did make me feel very good.

Sabbatical Beauty - September 9

Sabbatical Beauty - now this is the project that I decided that I was going to try and get finished quickly because of course it was something that was very simple and also quick to work on.

I had worked on it for a while and then this last week I decided that I was going to work on it and get it finished so that it was another project that I could say that I finished.  This week I focused on getting the stitching done and by the middle of the week this was done.

Sabbatical Beauty - September 13

Sabbatical Beauty - September 5

As you can see the pattern looks entirely different with the over-dyped floss compared to the project with the DMC floss that I used on the second version of this project.

Halloween Biscornu - September 10

Halloween Biscornu - once Sabbaticla Beauty was fiished it was time to pull out the Halloween Biscornu and see if I could make some progress on this project as well before the end of the week.  I decided that this was going to be another project that I was going to wok on and see if I could get it finished before the end of the weekend.

Halloween Biscornu - September 17

It was a simple project and also something that was pretty quick to see progress on considering it was only 4 inches square so yes something that wasn't too hard to work on.  I finally sat down on Sunday and got the final bit of the front of the biscornu finished and will see when I can sit and work on the other side of the biscornu.  I love the colour of fabric and how it turned out so now to sit and work on making sure that I can get the other side done and then the biscornu made.

Lady - August 27

 Lady - now this is one of the art show pieces and I figured it was time for it to get a bit of attention so that is what happened this week.

With Lady I decided that I was going to try and focus on one section of her at a time and see if that helped me make some progress on the overall project. I picked this up on Friday and started working on her and have to admit that being able to focus on a section at a time is making it seem a little easier to work on.

Lady - September 17

 I am now going to see if I can work on getting a page at a time finished instead of bouncing all over on the pattern and now really seeing much progress at all.  Just focusing on this piece was nice.  It is also the piece that I decided to have near the computer so that when I am watching some videos I have something that I can stitch and it isn't hard to work on either.

Fluffy Meringue Shawl - September 14

Fluffy Meringue Shawl - now here is a project that I have been working on and determined to get it finished so that I could wear it at a banquet that I am going to at the end of September.  the good news is I have finished crocheting the shawl and now just need to sew in the ends and then it will be finished.  I was able to get 14 sprays out of the two balls of yarn so that was big enough and now to see what it is like once all the ends are sewn in.

I am extremely happy to have the crocheting done and know that I am not going to be stressing to make sure it is finished before the banquet.  I hope to get the ends sewn in over the next couple of days and then it will be ready for the banquet. I will see if there is a picture of me wearing the shawl.

Bluebell - September 14

Bluebell by Nora Corbett - this week I did start a new cross-stitch project and it is Bluebell by Nora Corbett.  I fell in love with this pattern a while again and finally ordered the pattern and all the special items I needed for it.

I was going to wait to start this project until I had finished a few other things but then decided that I would start it on a day that was special to me.  I started this project on the 14th of September which is my wedding anniversary.  The pattern is also something that my husband really likes so it will be something that we both will really enjoy seeing framed once it is finished.


This week is another busy week for me so I will see what I can get done.  I do try and spend some time most evenings crafting because it does help me relax.  Sure I might not get all the time that I would really like to get crafting but at least finding even an hour at a time is great and I am seeing that I can feeling so much better doing that.

I will see what time I can find this week to stitch as I do have other things that I need to do first so hopefully I will find a bit of time to stitch most evenings and then next week i will have more progress on some of these items.

Projects moving forward

Quotes to Live By - part 9 - Sept 3

 This week I was able to work on a few projects and it does feel good seeing that I have been able to move some of them forward and actually have a finish on one of the projects.

Quotes to Live By -- this is the project that I have been working on for 8 months and was looking forward to Friday when the last section was released.  I decided that this weekend I was going to focus on this project so that I could see if I could get it finished.

Quotes to Live By - finished Sept 3

When I saw this last quote I figured it wouldn't take me too long to get it done if I could just focus on it and not get distracted on all the other projects that I wanted to work on.  Friday, I started working on the piece and Sunday evening I was able to take the project off of the q-snap and say it is finished.  The final size of the project is 18.5 inches x 13.75 inches so it is a rather large size project that is now finished.  I am happy that it is finished but also sad to see it over.

I am now going to work on some of the other projects that have been put aside while I worked on Quotes and will see what I can get accomplished over the next while.

Fluffy Meringue Shawl - Aug 27

Fluffy Meringue Shawl - I have been able to get a bit of time on this shawl and am happy with the progress on it.  I have now finished the first ball of yarn and am working on the second ball of yarn so will see how large this shawl ends up once I have finished using up the yarn that I have for it.  After I finished the first ball of yarn I realized that even with the second ball of yarn it might not be as large as I wanted so this weekend I was able to pick up two more balls of this yarn so will see how much of it I actually end up using.

Fluffy Meringue Shawl - Sept 4

I am now on the 12th spray and am going to see how many more even the second and third ball of yarn takes me.  I am not sure how large I really want this shawl but will figure that out as I go.  I know that the banquet is at the end of September so I have another 3 weeks to go to finish the shawl and think I should be able to get it to a size I am happy with by then.

Halloween Biscornu - Sept 4

Halloween Biscornu - this week I decided that I needed a couple of smaller projects to work on.  I have lots of large cross-stitch projects but nothing that is on the smaller size on the go.

I saw this pattern online in August and figured it would be something that I could work on quickly and  maybe get it done.  It is a Halloween Biscornu and I don't think it will take me long to get it done if I just sit and work on it for a few days.  Of course, because it is a biscornu there are two sides of the design so will finish this one up and then will still have the other side to do but I am thinking of these as two separate projects right now.

Sabbatical Beauty - Sept 4

Sabbatical Beauty - this is another one of the small projects that I decided that I needed to work on this week so it too got started. I figure this is something that I can pick up and work on and I should be able to get this one done quickly as well because it is only around 3 inches by 4 inches when it is finished so not large at all.

Sabbatical Beauty is using floss that I already had and fabric which I also had so that is nice. I am not sure the colour of the floss barbecue it was in an oops package that I purchased so none of the floss had colour labels.  I don't care about the colour name as it is over-dyed floss and I am enjoying working on this project.


The weekend is now over and I have some work that needs by attention so I will get that done and then I will see if I can find a little bit of time to either crochet or cross-stitch. I am looking forward to seeing what I can accomplish this week with my crafts.  I may not get as much done as I would like to achieve but even finding a bit of time each evening to do a few stitches is great.  My crafting is now I wrap up my day and din some ways it helps me solve some of the projects that I have been dealing with and it also helps relax me.

Progress and a new project

Lady - August 16

This week I have been trying to focus on getting one cross stitch project moved forward as I wanted to see how much of it I could get done if I just focused on it instead of bouncing around on a couple of projects. I also knew that I wasn't going to have a lot of time to stitch so something where I could see some good progress would be great.

Lady - August 27

Lady -- this is the project that I decided to try and focus on to see if I could make some progress on it during this week.  I have to say that I was able to spend a couple of evenings working on this design and am happy with the progress.

I have started working on the face and hair and have also been able to get some good progress done on the cloak.  I was going to work on the face but then figured it would be great if I could spend a bit of time this weekend working on the cloak so that is what I did.  I still have quite a bit of stitching to do on the dress and the cloak but at least I can now see that I have been able to make a bit of progress on the area.

I am thinking that Lady may continue to be my focus on project until Friday when Quotes to Live By is released.  I have seen some good progress on this piece and now would like to see a bit this week.

Fluffy Meringue Shawl - August 27

Fluffy Meringue Shawl -- now this is a project that I started this week and am very happy with the progress that I have been able to make. Each of the sprays is four rows so it is a pretty simple pattern and I am loving how quickly it is working up.

I found this pattern on The Crochet Crowd and have seen a couple of pictures of the shawl finished so decided that I was going to get some yarn for it and make it for a dinner that I am going to be attending at the end of September. The pattern is called Fluffy Meringue Shawl and it is a quick project to work on. You do work on the shawl from the top down so yes the rows are getting longer as I go but with it being a simple pattern it is enjoyable to work on.  I have 8 sprays completed now and I am aiming to make it around 12 sprays long so will see how that goes and what it looks like once I get it to that size.


Besides working on these two projects I have been busy getting some of the other projects moved forward and also work has been keeping me busy.  This is the last week of the month so that means that I am going to be trying to get a few more things wrapped up before Thursday evening so will see how things go.  I hope to be able to get some stitching in on the final quote next weekend but will see how the rest of things go.

This last week I was lucky to meet someone that was also a crocheter and am looking forward to running into her again.  It is always nice to meet someone else that enjoys crafting.