May 2015 Smalls Finish

Over the weekend I managed to finish stitching the smalls ornament I chose for May and to finish it as well.  The design is Fraidy Cat by Knotted Tree NeedleArt.

I messed up the stitching in the cat and didn't realize it until I went to put in the bottom border.  I was off by one and the spacing wouldn't have looked right so I decided not to put in the top and bottom border as designed.  I think it came out okay despite the mistake. 

I need to pick something for August and I'm leaning toward a Christmas ornament as I'm kind of tired of Halloween colors in my ort jar.  Hopefully, I will keep some stitching momentum going and be able to have another finish in August.

While I was on hiatus....

I finished this pair of socks:

I started another pair.  This is the first sock which is now finished and I'm at about the same point on the 2nd.

I went to the Maine Fiber Frolic and bought some yarn.  This is for me - I think for a shawlette.   It was dyed and spun by ontheround. 

This is for a gift.  Dirty Water Dye Works destined to be a zigzag cowl thing. Five mini skeins in gradations of blue.  My pictures are lousy because it was gloomy when I took them and I'm too lazy to retake them.  I love being able to buy local Maine yarns.

I fell off the stitching wagon again but I think I've climbed back on.  I started this in May as my May 2015 Smalls project.  I didn't finish it nor did I stitch one for June nor for July so far so this may end up as July's entry.  This is where I left it in May:

This is where it is as of yesterday after meeting Barbara in Belfast.  I think seeing her projects kick started my interest in picking up a tiny needle again.

Summer was slow in coming to Maine this year and we've only had a handful of truly warm days.  I hope there will be more before summer ends.  I hope you're enjoying your own version of summer.

March and April 2015 Smalls SAL projects

I realize it's May and I'm way behind but I figured I needed to share these photos to show that I've actually been doing a little bit of stitching even thought I've not been blogging at all.

First up is my 2015 March Smalls SAL project.  This was a quick stitch that I modified slightly in that I did not include a year which was shown in the chart.  I was lucky enough to have two of these little black frames in my stash and it was easy to pop the little design in.  Definitely my fastest finishing project so far!

Next up for April was a design from Les grilles des Maryse.  This was a fun little stitch and I finished it as a pillow weight.  I filled it with walnut shells and it's got a great feel to it.  I used the backing fabric that was included with this little exchange kit and I am really happy with how it turned out.  

I'm pleased that I've been pretty close to keeping up with this SAL and I've now got 4 new little items to display for Halloween this year!

March-ing Along

So another month is gone and we're starting the 3rd month of 2015.  Is anyone else freaked out by how quickly time is flying by?  I don't like it!

Last Thursday I took a class at Michael's - my first ever at the store.  They had an Art Journaling course and I've been wanting to try this craft for a while.  I've looked at some stuff on line and I have tons of supplies accumulated over the years so when I saw the blurb in their February class flier, I decided to sign up.

It was very informal and the store manager was the instructor.  There was one other lady beside myself there and it turned out to be a relaxing and fun way to spend a cold Thursday evening.  Here is the start of my journal - the cover.  In case you can't read the letters, the typewriter keys spell "change".

On the stitching front, I did start BBD Spell of the Moon which is one of the projects I kitted up in January.  This is the tree and the start of the outside border.  I hope to put some additional time into it tonight if I can stay away long enough!

And also waiting on the horizon is a new crochet project.  I'm going to attempt the Greenway afghan using some Caron Simply Soft and Bernat Satin yarn I had in my stash.  It will match some throw pillows in my living room. 

I'm still struggling with my crochet skills and this has a tricky for me pattern so I'm kind of avoiding starting it but I just need to start that chain and get it going.  Worrying about not getting the pattern right has prevented me from starting.

Thank you for visiting and I hope your weekend was a good one.  It's on to another work week all to soon.

February Smalls SAL Update

Here is my small for February.  This is another of the Halloween kits I have in my stash.  It's smaller than last month's but since it was a short month and I had both a knitting and stitched gift to complete this month, I felt it was okay to stitch something a bit on the small side.

I'm not sure on the fabric or floss details but it's a lovely hand-dyed purple with a variegated orange thread.  I've lost the details if they were included in the package.  The backing fabric also got lost so I used some from my stash.  The design is Boo! by the Cross Eyed Cricket.

I did a simple twisted cord finish in two DMC colors pulled from my floss box.  I was not as pleased with my finishing this time around as the bottom was wonky and I trimmed the edges much too close and the top left corner was fraying.  Thank goodness this is for me and not a gift because it would have to be a do over.

I have to say I'm really pleased I already have two finishes for display come Halloween!  I am going to sort through the project bag with the remaining kits tonight and choose my next victim.

Thank you so much for stopping by and your comments on previous posts.  I'm still not where I want to be with blog visiting and commenting but I'm trying!  It's that "snow fatigue" thing....

Late TUSAL Update & Trying to Stay Positive

So I think I'm going to use "snow fatigue" as my excuse for no posts lately.  But I did take an updated of my TUSAL (totally useless stitch a long) jar, which is now much cleaner than last month, which contains proof that I've been stitching so maybe snow fatigue is not such a bad thing (yeah right....).

New for this month was lots of red from the HIH Collectors Heart I stitched for my sister which went out in the mail today (her birthday!) and orange from my February smalls choice which I can't show until later this week.

Here is the heart finished.  My sister opted to frame it local to her so I sent it out as is.  She seemed very pleased with it.

As you are aware, my neck of the woods has had an exceptionally cold and snowy last few weeks and its really been tough to not bury myself in a snow bank in despair.  So when I saw this lovely frost gift on my window on Valentine's Day, I decided to try and capture the incredible beauty that Mother Nature gifts us with if only we can see it.  To me it's like a tree of life in ice.

That design is on the inside of the storm window!  And the next day, it had morphed into this beauty.

And for a final taste of what we've been having, here are some photos of a window on the 2nd floor of one of the hospital's I work at.  I considered it my own mini-Alps.  It's a good thing I took the photos when I did because it's all been shoveled off now.

I can't wait for it to all go away - overnight with no messy thawing, refreezing, ugly mud season please!

January Smalls Update and Progress Report

I'm late in posting my January small but here it is.  I finished the stitching on Tuesday morning during the blizzard we had and the finishing finishing on Saturday.

The reason for the delay is that I wasn't sure how I wanted to finish this piece.  It came with backing fabric and it could have been a pillow or hanging pillow but I decided I'd like a flat door hanger type finish that I could use for my front door.

Luckily, I had a gorgeous piece of orange wool in my stash and some fun trim.  The piece came together pretty easily and I'm happy with how it turned out.

I found that with several projects going, it didn't feel like I was making a lot of forward progress.  I have also been working to finish this cowl for my niece so that she can get some use out of it before winter passes.  At the rate we're getting snow storms, she's gonna get a lot of use out of it!

I have also made some progress on the HIH Collector's Heart for my sisters birthday and I will show you that and the February smalls project I picked out for that SAL.

First 2015 TUSAL Post

By the looks of my TUSAL jar for January, I'm not doing enough stitching!  This is pitiful looking isn't it?

And to make it even worse, my jar needs a good washing.  This tells you how dark my living room is because I didn't realize how bad the jar was until I brought it into the office to photograph!

I'm going to work harder at filling it up so next month's photo should be less dusty and much more robust.  I hope you are filling your jar up with lots of stitching orts.

Cold Weather Fashion Statement

I wanted to wear a skirt suit to work today.  It was -12 when I left for the office at 6:15 for an early meeting.  I decided that my tights probably weren't enough so I put my long johns on over those, wool socks, my great winter boots and my dog walking coat (think puffy down) and off I went.  Thank goodness for my seatwarmers in the car.  Best invention ever!

I may have been a fashion don't but I didn't get frost bite either!  I really hope this arctic turn of the temperature goes back north where it came from really, really, really soon.

I did make a start on my Heart in Hand piece but didn't get too far on Monday. It's been a crazy buzy week back and I've been quite tired after work.  I've also been trying to get my scarf for the upcoming Maine Special Olympics done so stitching has taken a back seat to crochet this week.

Tonight at knit night, I started weaving in the ends so that it wouldn't all have to be done at the end.  I'm off to put a few more rows before crashing into bed.  TGIF tomorrow - yeah!

I plan to do some serious blog hopping this weekend to see what you all have started for the new year.  I know there are some crazy challenges going on so I'm guessing there will be a lot of things to see.

PS Welcome Update

I went to visit a friend in Connecticut for the weekend and didn't bother to take any stitching with me as I new I would probably not have any time to stitch and that was true.  However, I did get home relatively early on Sunday and had some time in the evening to work on my Plum Street "Welcome" ornie.  The crow's tale is done and I've started in on the upper half of the body. 

Not sure if I will pick this up again tonight as I feel the need to make a start on the HIH heart I want to get done for my sister's birthday. 

I hope those of you experiencing this arctic weather blast are keeping warm.  The dog (unfortunately) did not seem to mind it tonight and I forced myself to go back out to the gym but I'm glad for my warm down coat!  These are the temps that make me long for Florida again.

THE Ohio State

THE Ohio State rolled the Tide last night and although I'm a huge fan of the Crimson Tide, I'm a very proud member of Buckeye Nation so I had to root for my alma mater last night.  So very happy for such a talented and hard working football team! On the the next one....

2015 New Year Greetings and 2015 Stitching Plans

I didn't stay up to see the new year in - did you?  I spent some time sorting through my stash to come up with what projects I wanted to start off 2015 with.  After that I tried to get engaged in some bowl game football but ended up going to bed by 10:00pm. 

Here's what I came up with for project starts for January.  I signed up for the 2015 Smalls SAL after seeing it on Anna's blog and I knew right away what smalls I was going to focus on.  A couple of years ago, a private group I stitch with did a kitted ornament exchange for both Christmas and Halloween and I have not touched any of those kits.  This will be the year I focus on getting some of them completed, starting with Halloween.

My January small will be Plum Street's Welcome and despite a busy day cooking, cleaning and putting away my Christmas decorations, I have a few stitches in.

Next up is a gift for one of my sister's.  She's always admired my finished 2002 Collector's Heart by HIH so I've kitted it up and probably should have started that first given her birthday is February 23rd. 

I think my next choice was definitely influenced by Rite Aid as I went in to pick up a prescription on Monday and they were already stocking the shelves with Valentine's Day merchandise.  Sheesh!  I have very little Valentine's Day items stitched so I thought this little piece would fit the bill.  It's Trilogy's Love Tree.

And finally is a larger project for me.  This is an older Cricket Collection that I picked up on vacation two years ago.  It's Walk in the Woods and I tested out the DMC on a piece of R&R 18th Century Green that I have in my stash that I've been trying to use.  I did some test stitching of the boarder and it's obvious the fabric is too dark.  I switched to a piece of 32ct cream linen I had in my stash and hope to get started on this one soon.

One thing I am going to try and do this year is keep a stitching journal.  I have started out logging all of these projects with the fabric and fibers and will track the start and finish days and how I finish them.  I never do this and I would like to see how long these projects take me to completed.

I also hope to complete one of my WIPocolypse pieces as I've still got quite a few of these and I've manged to finish at least one each of the past two years. 

I also have several knitting and crochet projects planned but for now I'm in the mood to stitch so I shall.