I'm Hermiting, how about you?

It's International Hermit Weekend, the first one of 2012 and I couldn't be happier.  I think I've been looking forward to this the most of any SAL I'm involved with this year.  A whole weekend dedicated to stitching.  I may do a bit of knitting but my main focus is going to be stitching.  It's cold out and it's supposed to snow tomorrow so I think it makes perfect sense to stay home and spend lots and lots of time with needle and thread.  Hope you are planning a great weekend as well!

Where does a week go?

I can't believe how fast the past week has flown by.  If this is any indication of how the year is going to go, I'm in trouble.  I had a busy week and so the stitching results are not that impressive however I did manage to finish Block 6 of Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow on Saturday night.

And I even managed to start the next block under this one but I didn't accomplish enough to be worthy of a photo.

Yesterday, was the start of my SAL with Brit.  We are stitching the BBD Anniversaries of the Heart together over the next year.  I had a promising start until I changed colors and realized my left hand frame was one square off.  So I spent a really depressing amount of time ripping out the left hand motif and beginning to restitch it.  This was the photo before I ripped out the left hand side.  I'm stitching Anniversary 1 on 30ct WDW Kudzu with the called for threads. 

I am hoping I will be able to manage more stitching this week but we shall see about that.  I need to catch up and comment on some blogs to see how everyone is doing on their WIPocolypse projects.  Hope your week is off to a stitchy start!

January WIPocolypse Update

Despite only being the 9th day of the new year, I've gotten some pretty good stitching in on three different WIPs.  First up is my HAED Story Keeper.  I worked on this on January 1st and was able to complete the 5 stitch-wide strip I had started in December.

The next piece I worked on was my With Thy Needle & Thread's Anne Sandles.  I would have more to show but the GAST Copper that came with my floss pack was really bright and it really looked out of place with the other colors.  So I dug through my stash and came up with a Copper that is more in line with the other colors already in the piece.  I hope to get back to this some time this week.

And finally, on Saturday while stitching with Barbara in Belfast, I worked on my C@HRH.  I feel like this has been an endless block but I think another good hour or two of stitching and I will have it completed.

Not a bad start to my 2012 WIPocolypse plans.  Hope you are pleased with your progress so far!

Decision, decisions....

Britt and I are planning to start stitching the BBD Anniversary pieces on the 15th of this month.  On Tuesday, I pulled the first chart and went through my fabrics and the fiber list.  I am short a few fibers so I placed an order for the ones I am missing from the first and the 2nd charts. 

I have decided to to put mine together in a sort of fabric book, sewing two designs back to back and creating a pocket between them to include mementos or something.  I'm still not sure on how I will construct the book but that can percolate as I stitch the series.  I am thinking something the lines of this however I plan to bind mine like a regular book down the left side.

While the chart called for a neutral fabric, for some reason I kept seeing green for this design.  I had two possible options in my stash, one 30 ct. Kudzu and one 30ct Tin Roof.  The top photo is in natural light in my office and the one below is under my Ott light.

Once I have the other threads I need, I will put those down on the fabrics and make my choice but I am really leaning towards the 30ct Kudzu shown below.

Oh can a girl dream.....

A while back on this blog, I read about the auction for Betty Ring's sampler collection and the recommendation to call Sotheby's and order an auction catalog.  I immediately did so and it arrived in the mail today.  Oh my.....

There is an unbelievable treasure within this book and I do so wish I had the free cash to bid on something.  However, many of the expected valuations are waaaay out of my reach.  While I did see at least one as low as $400 in a quick skim through, many more are in the $12,000-$30,000 with one estimate at $50,000-$70,000!

I am sure the girls and women who originally created these unbelievable masterpieces would faint at the thought of their hand work ever being so valuable.  But obviously someone did as they were kept through many years and passed down through generations to be acquired by one very passionate and astute lady.

Barbara, don't worry - I will bring it with me on Saturday!  See you in Belfast.  And if anyone would like to join us, see you at the Co-op around 9:30ish.

End and Beginning of the Year Stitching

I had set a goal of completing the 6th block of Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow by the end of December and unfortunately, that did not happen.  I did put a few more stitches into it on the 31st but not enough to finish it off. 

Yesterday was UFO stitching day and I did manage to be fairly productive.  I completed the 5 square strip I started back in December.  Once I get going on this piece, it moves fairly quickly considering the over one stitching and the multiple color changes involved.  I find it so amazing how all those little teeny Xs manage to create this incredible display!  I think you will be seeing this piece a lot more this year than in previous years as it's one of my WIPocolypse pieces. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Getting set up for an organized year

I hope you have had an enjoyable start to your new year.  We had gorgeous sunshine with temps at almost 50 which is really weird for January in Maine.  The pup and I took a really long walk, enjoying the gift the weather was as it's not likely to last for long!  It was already much colder when we went for our before dinner constitutional.

I had a fabulous day spent focusing on getting my office/craft room space organized for the new year.

The before pictures (including Beau's mess) of my messy desk area and the top of my workbench space.  I had left tons of clutter stack up rather than putting threads, leftover yarns and project sheets away.

 A messy desk top and pile of filing yet to be done....

 Dog toys and stuffing everywhere.....

 Bags of yarn needing to find an organized home....

 Piles of miscellaneous crafting supplies covering the work surface....

But some time well spent resulted in filed paperwork (I even shredded 2011 stuff) and a cleaned off desk and a worktable space I can actually use!  I think this improved office/craft room space will be much more conducive to creativity!

 A clean desk top....

 Filing put away....

 Yarn put away (except for two WIPs)

And a clean worktop space!

I hope you enjoyed your first day of this new year!  Tomorrow I will share the last of my 2011 stitching and my UFO stitching progress from today.