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Friday 28 February 2014

Northern Expressions Needlework Model as of 28.02.14

Before and after pictures for the Northern Expressions Needlework model for this week.



The top photo was taken in artificial light and the bottom in natural light - amazing what a difference it makes.

My small project which I stitched on during the days this week was the Valentine Peacock from KLT Charting, it's stitched on 20 count aida with hand dyed thread called Peacock Feathers from Jodyri Designs.  I am stitching it as part of a joing SAL between Jodyri Designs and KLT Charting.  Here's my progress:




No more stash bought to date so doing well with the stitch from stash challenge.

Evenings next week will be spent stitching on my Chatelaine and days hopefully getting Valentine Peacock finished.

Keep stitching, smiling and destashing


Monday 24 February 2014

Holly & Hearts Sampler - Christmas Mystery 2013 - Lizzie Kate - FINISHED 21.02.14

So happy to be posting my first finish of 2014.  I had so little to finish on this piece I really don't know why I didn't finish it last time.

Here are the pictures I took of my progress with this piece.





I really enjoyed stitching this piece.  I got the thread pack with the charts and the colours are beautiful.

I just need to save up now to get it framed - hopefully before Christmas.  If anyone is interested in buying the patterns I am selling them via my Facebook destashing page.



Keep stitching, smiling and destashing


Friday 21 February 2014

Model for Northern Expressions Needlework as of 21.02.14 & February Stitch from Stash

I've been working on the model for Northern Expressions Needlework this week.  Here's my before and after photos.



I'm going to be stitching on this next week as well but I have decided to change my rotation slightly.

So each month in the evenings I will work on the following:-

Week 1 - Chatelaine
Week 2 - Northern Expressions Needlework Model
Week 3 - Northern Expressions Needlework Model
Week 4 - Learning Sampler
Week 5 (if there is one) - Free choice

Then if I get chance during the days to stitch on a Wednesday and at the weekend I'm going to firstly work on my Lizzie Kate Christmas Mystery and when that is finished I have two small designs from Jodyri Designs and KLT Charting that I want to stitch for a SAL I'm participating in.

My stitch from stash budget this month was £15.19 as I had nothing to carry forward from last month.  I am really pleased to say that this month I've only spent £8!  I bought two new charts from KLT Charting:

Tribal Butterfly


Tribal Owl

I was also lucky enough to be RAKd two charts

Tribal Heart

Valentine Peacock

So having only spent £8 of my £15.19 budget I have £7.19 to carry forward giving me a budget for March of £22.38.

Keep stitching, smiling and destashing



Sunday 16 February 2014

Learning Sampler - Northern Expressions Needlework as of 14.02.14


I've had the Learning Sampler on my frame for the last two weeks as I've not really had as much time to stitch as I would like.  Here's my before and after pictures.




I am really enjoying learning the new speciality stitches and hope to incorporate them into lots more projects in the future.

I've signed up to join in with the Stitching Bandits Chatelaine Challenge.  So I'm committed to working on one of my Chatelaines at least one week each month.  I think for consistency and so I remember I will work on it the first week of each month.  I'm going to be concentrating on the Seaside Mystery and look forward to making progress with it.

I'm slowly but surely starting (again!) to make an inventory of all the charts I own so that when I come to start a new project I can see all the ones I have.  I'm trying to categorise them by size and type so that if I finish a small project I can add another small one in it's place so I'm not constantly stitching BAPs!  Will have to see how it goes!

I'm hoping in the next few months we will have sorted things out enough in our house that I can finally transform our spare room into my crafting room.  I'm also hoping that once everything is organised and in one place it will make it much easier to see where I am up to with all my projects.

The next rotation on my frame is the model stitch for Northern Expressions Needlework and this is going to be my focus project which I intend to work on for two weeks out of every month.  I think I may put those two weeks together so I see more progress.

My next update will also include my update on the Stitch from Stash challenge.  We have been given an exemption this month and are allowed to spend an additional $100 dollars.  Unfortunately as much as I would like a splurge there is no actual money in my budget to allow me to do so and I'm just sticking to the original budget.

And last but not least I would love it if you would head over and check out my cousins brand new cross stitching design business.  It's called KLT Charting and the website can be found here and the Facebook page here.  Thanks for looking.  I'll show you in my next post the two charts I bought this month out of my stitch from stash budget.

Keep stitching, smiling and destashing


Saturday 8 February 2014

Too many projects too little time

No stitching update from me this week as I didn't get much stitching done.

I have a question though and I'd love to hear any ideas you might have.  How do you work out what projects you want to work on?

I currently have four projects in rotation.  Numerous WIPs and UFOs and too many to even contemplate projects I want to start.  From one minute to the next the project that is calling me the loudest changes.  At the moment I've got another three projects that I want to start "right now".

Then I'm browsing on line and I see more and more gorgeous projects that I would like to do.  Thoughts pop into my head of stitching certain things for certain people and then I spend hours (like this afternoon) browsing the internet looking for suitable things for me to stitch.  If I actually looked at the patterns, fabric and threads I already have I could probably find a suitable project for any person/occasion.

So please comment and let me know if you've found the magical solution to organising your projects so that you don't spend time you could be stitching looking at new stash and thinking about all the extra things you could be buying.

If anyone comes up with the solution there will be a prize!

Keep stitching, smiling and destashing