A Finish!

Hi all! I'm back with my first finish of the year! :)

January was pretty good for me stitching wise. I managed to stitch every day, worked on 10 projects, and did 12,749 stitches. I've done more in years past, but I still think I'm off to a good start.

This week I worked a bit on Frosty Forest and managed to finish another block. This is actually the first block in the series (I started with the second) called Frosty Reindeer:

My french knots could use a bit of work, but I think they're ok. I can do them really well on aida, but on linen, I feel like I'm forced to go through a different hole, and they always end up a bit wonky. Guess I'll just have to practice. And yes, I left that big empty space in the middle for the button, which will be added when all the blocks are done.

I also managed a few more days on Morning Glory at the end of January:

I feel kind of silly now thinking I could finish her in a month, but it's good to have goals, right? I am still not done with the dress, and I found a counting error in the right leafy thing she's holding; but you can't tell, so I'm not worried about it. :)

And here is another week on my Temperature SAL charts:

January is all done, plus the first two days of February. The average temperature for January was 37.4, so I stitched in the month on my chart with the corresponding color. I really like how both charts are turning out so far. I just hope I can keep up with this throughout the year.

For February, I've pulled out Euphoria, hoping to get a couple more pages stitched. I didn't get to her at all last year, so it's kind of nostalgic working on her again. Next week I'll be working on my Quotes SAL again, trying to finish up #7. So, until next time, happy stitching!

The Year of Starts Begins

Hi all! Well I've worked on a few projects this last week and I think I've made some decent progress, so here goes. :)

First up is the Stitchrovia Quotes SAL, which I'm still stitching at a snail's pace. Last week I started quote #7 and got in 6 days of stitching:

Most of the stitching is done, but there's a lot of backstitch left to do, and I'm also doing the border as I go. So next rotation, I should get this one done. Then just three left! It does seem as I stitch these quotes that they are appropriate to how I'm feeling at the time. This one seems to be affirming that 2018 will be much better than 2017, and that makes me happy. :)

Next is Morning Glory, which is up to 12 days of stitching:

I like how she's coming along, but I'm definitely not going to get her done this month, which is a shame. Still, I am enjoying her very much. I'm trying to get the dress done before I move up into the wings, but they are very tempting.

I've also been keeping up with the Temperature SAL for Stitch Maynia, both my boring chart and the ornament. The weather is always a little haywire in Kansas City, so I'm getting a good range of colors to stitch. Our warmest day so far was 57°, the coldest was 8°:

And of course, I officially began the Year of Starts on the 18th. Last time I hinted at silks and specialty stitches, and although that suddenly made me think of a Chatelaine (did any of you think that as well?) I was actually referring to a chart by The Drawn Thread, called Stars:

I super love this design. I used to study astronomy, so I love all the stars, and the verse as well. The words are actually the last lines of a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, called Morituri Salutamus. I haven't read the entire poem, but the last few stanzas essentially say that it's never too late to be creative or do great work in life, no matter how old you are. The blue silk is Silk n Colors (one of my favorites silks) in Stormy Skies. The others are Dinky Dyes, and it calls for NPI silks, but I'm subbing those out for what's in my stash. Here is a close up of those little star stitches:

There are 4 different sizes for the stars, so I'm looking forward to the bigger ones. I don't know if these quite look entirely star shaped, but I'm happy with them. I really want to get to those flowers as well (Octagonal Leviathans) but I want to finish the vine first.

So, I guess that's it for this week. Next week I hope to work more on Luna (I'm almost done with her face!) and squeeze in some Morning Glory if I can. Hope everyone has a productive stitchy week!

Making Progress

Well, January seems to be speeding along already, and my needle is trying to keep up. Not a whole lot to show this week, but I did make some decent progress on Morning Glory:

I feel like the dress is really starting to take shape, though there's still quite a bit of stitching left just in the skirt. I've started into one of the buds she's holding, and would like to finish those before the end of the week, but we'll see. I'm starting to get that feeling like I'm not making enough progress on her, and she'll only be halfway done at the end of the month. (Those wings look particularly daunting at the moment.) But I shall persevere! One more week, then I'll be switching to Luna for a full week for my facebook challenge.

I've also kept up with my Temperature SAL for Stitch Maynia:

We started to warm up there for a moment, then came the cold and the ice and the snow. Thursday morning at 3am (when I get up) it was 52°F. At 3pm, it was 8°F. Typical KC weather. But it makes for pretty colors on my chart:

Last week I mentioned a cool little ornament that Katy A. was doing for the Temp SAL. Well, it's cuteness got the better of me, and I started stitching that one as well. I just think it's something different, and it's a neat design:

I'm stitching mine 1 over 1 on 25ct White Jobelan, so it will be 4.2 inches square. If you'd like to stitch this as well, even as just a cute side project with your own colors, the chart is free from Hetti on her blog, Creative Workshops from Hetti. For the SAL, we're just stitching one block per day, so it's easy and colorful. :)

That's really all for this update. I've been working on my Quotes SAL a bit, but I think I will put a couple more days into that before I share my meager progress. I'm also prepping for my first in the Year of Starts, which involves some yummy silks and specialty stitches. :) So, see you next time!

Welcome 2018!

The first week of the year is already over, and I think my stitching routine has regained much of its "normalcy." I've stitched on 3 things this week, and although progress is never enough, I think I'm getting better at finding time to stitch in the evenings.

First, I finished off my 12 days of working on Jim Shore's 12 Days of Christmas. I finished the stitching for block 1 last year, so this year so far was all about block 2, the turtle doves. They are actually kind of cute, but it's a lot of stitching:

After all the greens and yellows from the first block, I really enjoyed stitching all the blue, which are some of my favorites. I was sorry I didn't have time to fill in more of the white, but it's coming along nicely.

Next is the first of my 2 new starts from the first. This is Morning Glory, by Nora Corbett:

The Lilac fabric is working out really well, and it's so pretty I keep just staring at it. :) I'm really pushing to get her finished this month, either entirely or at least all the stitching. There are a ton of beads though, 5 packs in all. So far, I've got about 1600 stitches in.

My second new start is for the Temperature Chart SAL in Stitch Maynia, where we stitch a color each day to represent that day's high temperature. I just thought the idea was really fun, and I've really enjoyed seeing everyone's progress and different designs on facebook. The Stash Queen herself is doing a very intricate design that I can't wait to see develop. Mine is a simple chart of my own design, stitching each month in columns. Each day's block is 8x3, because I wanted something small and easy to stitch, but I also want to see the colors clearly from across the room. The first few days were really cold here, so I got to stitch some lovely purples to start:

So that's the first five days of the year. I plan to stitch the month names above each column as well, but I might do that in the color that represents the average temperature for the month. Just an idea.

Well, that's all I've got for this update. Hopefully I will see you again next week. Until then! :)