April - Nautical Year - Sand, Sea & Cross Stitch

I finished the April block today on Nautical Year.  It was already partly done so was a very quick stitch.  I am stitching this on 18 count cream aida using some of the charted DMC and subbing out some of the colours with silks from my stash.

Here's where I picked it up at:

Here's the April block finished:

And the whole piece as it is currently:

Keep stitching and smiling

Transfiguartion - Class Schedule SAL - January Block

On 1st January I started on Hydrangea Autumn Fog by Chatelaine.  I've had this project partially kitted up for quite a while and following Martina's passing it felt like a good time to start.  Here's the progress I made:-

I'm stitching it on a 28 count Jazlyn in Sunset Sky from Crafty Kitten.  I'm using most of the charted threads but I am subbing out some of the less variegated threads with the DMC alternative.  I have to say if I hadn't reached a point where I couldn't really carry on until I got a new thread and the beads then I would have found it extremely difficult to put down.  That thread and beads did however arrive today so who knows how quickly I will be getting back to this.

I then worked on the January block in the Class Schedule SAL from Armada Designs.  This block was Transfiguration the cat representing Professor McGonagall and the rat having been partially transformed into a cup.

I stitched the outlines for all the blocks for this last year.  I am stitching it on 32 count Murano in Black Hole which was the July 2017 Year of Neutrals fabric from Jodyri Designs.  I am really enjoying seeing how others have made changes to the pattern to make it there own but at the moment I am just stitching it as charted.  I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next.

The next project I picked to stitch on was Nautical Year from the book Sand, Sea and Cross Stitch.  On my goals list I thought I had 7 months to complete but I found I had already completed July, August and November - so that was a quick 3 goals knocked off the list.

Here's my starting point for April.

I'm stitching it on 18 count cream aida and I am subbing out a lot of the charted colours for silks and cottons in my stash.  

Thanks for stopping by - next update should be April complete and working on another one of my goals (unless that Chatelaine drags me back to it!).

Keep stitching and smiling

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

July Goals

My goals for June were:-

1. Stitch 10 hours on Chatelaine - didn't touch
2. Stitch 10 hours on Hickory Dickory Dock - completed 07.06.12 - 20 hours completed 17.06.12
3. Stitch 10 hours on Ink Circles Secret Project - didn't touch

My July goals are:

1. Complete Hickory Dickory Dock
2. Stitch 10  hours on Ink Circles Secret Project
3. Stitch 10 hours on gerbera daisy cushion

June Goals

My goals for May were:-

1. Stitch 10 hours on Baby Patchwork - completed 05.05.12 - completed project 27.05.12
2. Stitch 10 hours on Chatelaine - completed 12.05.12
3. Stitch 10 hours on Hickory Dickory Dock - didn't touch

My June goals are:

1. Stitch 10 hours on Chatelaine
2. Stitch 10 hours Hickory Dickory Dock
3. Stitch 10 hours on Ink Circles Secret Project

May Goals

Just a short post today, thought I would give setting myself some goals another try so here are my goals for May:

1. Stitch 10 hours on Baby Patchwork
2. Stitch 10 hours on Chatelaine
3. Stitch 10 hours on Hickory Dickory Dock

Hopefully setting myself goals I will be able to achieve this month.

Living with Charm - HAPPY DANCE as of 6th March 2012

Today I put the last stitch in on Living with Charm by Lizzie Kate.  I started stitching this on 17th September 2011 and finished today 6th March 2012.  It is stitched on Dawn Blush 20 count hand dyed aida from Crafty Kitten.  I've really enjoyed stitching this with the different fonts for the words and the colours, at first glance I really didn't think they went together that well but having completed it I am really pleased with how it turned out.  So here are all my progress pictures for this piece ending with the finished piece of course.  I intend to get this framed soon so will hopefully be able to put those pictures up in the not too distant future.

First Happy Dance of 2012!

Well I've stayed up way past my normal bed time to complete my first finish for 2012.  Unfortunately it's one of my secret projects so I can't put any photos up yet but hopefully it won't be too long until I can.

Still having a little dance even though I can't share it yet.

Happy Dance and a Giveaway

Today I've finished Home of a Needleworker and here it is.

It's taken me less than a month to complete this and it is so nice to actual finish a project.  This also completes one of my September goals.

I've decided to giveaway the pattern for this design so if you would like to be entered in the draw please see the instructions below.

1. You must be a follower of this blog and leave a comment on this post to show you are interested in the giveaway.
2. If you would like to have a second chance then please mention my giveaway on your blog and add another comment to this post with a link to your blog.

The giveaway will close at midnight Greenwich Meantime on Saturday 17th September.

September Goals

These are the goals I set myself for August:

1. Complete second page of Hickory Dickory Dock - Done
2. Spend half an hour a day on chart inventory - Didn't do half an hour a day but I'm still making progress
3. Knit at least 20 rows on jumper for Hannah - Did not do
4. Do at least 200 stitches on QS Blue Rose Fairy - Did 200 stitches and made it a UFO
5. Pick a small chart to work on next, grid it and make a start - Done

I'm pleased with the progress I made with these goals, I didn't even start Hannah's jumper, did a tension square but just haven't had the knitting urge recently.

I'm going through my chart inventory and splitting them into categories - some I don't like anymore, some I like the picture but don't think I'll stitch, some I would like to stitch and some I would love to stitch.  The only ones I am going to be listing on my stash page are the ones I would love to stitch so that when I want to start a new project I will have a shorter list to look through.

I'm really happy with my progress on Home of a Needleworker and have been surprised at how a seemingly simple design has caused me so much trouble.  I don't normally frog if I have put a stitch or two in the wrong place but just kind of work round it but with this design even one stitch wrong shows up and needs to be redone.  Having said that I am really enjoying it and it is nice to be doing a project where I can see the end in sight.

So my September goals:

1. Complete fourth page of Hickory Dickory Dock
2. Spend some time each day on chart inventory
3. Start jumper for Hannah
4. Do at least 2000 stitches on SK Treasures
5. Complete Home of a Needleworker

Blue Rose Fairy as of 15.08.11

So I've done the 200 stitches that I set myself for this month on Blue Rose Fairy and I have now submitted the 6 photos needed for the SAL to get the other charts and I'm giving up on Blue Rose Fairy.  I am just not enjoying stitching it and I can't see myself ever displaying it if I did complete it.  Honestly there are other projects I'd much rather be stitching so I am putting this in the UFO pile.  I'm not saying I will never come back to it but it certainly won't be featuring in my rotation for the time being.  So here's the picture of where I'm up to.

My husband has also just shown me a setting on our camera which means I can take close up in focus pictures for the first time.  Can you believe we've had this camera at least 3 years and I didn't know you could do this!!

So what will I stitch on next I just can't decide at the minute it might be Masquerade because I am close to finishing it, I may work on Believe or might go back to Hickory Dickory Dock, or should I work on Shy Baby I've not done anything on that for ages!

Decisions, decisions - I guess you'll see on my next post :-)

Hickory Dickory Dock as of 13.08.11 - PAGE 2 COMPLETE

So here's the progress I've made since my last post on those August goals

Complete second page of Hickory Dickory Dock

I've done 2,106 stitches on Hickory Dickory Dock since my last post and have completed page 2.  I have now done 16,448 of 26,775 stitches which means I am 61.43% complete.  There are only four partial pages left to do on this design now and I must have done over 50% of page 3 already so I'm well on my way with this.

Spend half an hour a day on chart inventory


I've spent over 4 hours going through all the charts I have.  A lot of them are stored electronically and they are all over the place so I am going through making sure they have names so that I will know what they are at a glance, making a list of them and my intention is then to split them into small, medium and large projects and try and make some sort of priority list otherwise I just know I will have lots of charts I would love to do that I never get round to.

Knit at least 20 rows on jumper for Hannah

I didn't manage to get much knitting done this week but I did complete the tension square so should be able to start on the actual jumper next week.  I think I am going to do it in a bigger size than I originally planned to and then if it takes me a long while to complete it will hopefully still fit.

Do at least 200 stitches on QS Blue Rose Fairy

No stitching done this week on Blue Rose Fairy but she will be the next one on my frame to work on.

Pick a small chart to work on next, grid it and make a start

So I chose to start stitching Home of a Needleworker by Little House Needleworks as my small chart.  It's a great project on as I can outline areas and just pick it up and fill in a few stitches whenever I get chance.  I am stitching it on 18 count cream aida 2 over 1 full crosses.  Here's how it should look when it's finished.

This is the picture of my progress so far.

Lastly I have had a major splurge this week.  Someone mentioned earlier in the week on the HAED BB that they had purchased a Millennium Frame and how great it was.  So of course I had to have a look!  The website that sell them have a great video explaining how easy they are to use and I was immediately hooked.  Granted they are expensive but a number of other people who use the frames have told me that they don't think they would ever need to buy another frame again.  So I've bought two sizes of the top and bottom bars and one set of the side bars.  I'll let you know when they arrive and how I get on with them.

Monthly Goals - August

So I decided I would set myself some small goals each month and this is what I've decided for August:

1. Complete second page of Hickory Dickory Dock
2. Spend half an hour a day on chart inventory
3. Knit at least 20 rows on jumper for Hannah
4. Do at least 200 stitches on QS Blue Rose Fairy
5. Pick a small chart to work on next, grid it and make a start

I'm not sure how realistic these goals are as I haven't set monthly goals before so I'll just have to see how I go.

When I say a small chart I'm thinking of maybe doing one of the Lizzie Kate's I have or maybe a Little House Needlework design.  Anyway we'll see how I go I don't really need a new project right now but I would like something I can stitch on during the day when I can't give my stitching 100% attention.

Hickory Dickory Dock QS as of 30.07.11 - 50% COMPLETE!

I've not posted for a while as I have been concentrating on achieving some of the goals I set myself on this blog and the HAED bulletin board.  I decided to put them into order of the least to do to complete the goal so I felt I was achieving something.  So the first goal was to complete 50% of Hickory Dickory Dock and here it is.

So the next goal is to complete two pages of this design.  I'm only about 2000 stitches away so I'm hoping to have it done in the next couple of weeks.

Here's the stats.  Since I last worked on this I've completed 880 stitches and in total I've completed 13,384 of 26,775 which is actually only 49.99% complete but I've only got to do 4 stitches to make it 50%!!

Treasures SK SAL as of 11.07.11 - Page 1 Complete!

Firstly I want to thank people for voting in my poll and commenting on my previous post.  I have decided that I won't be selling my patterns before I stitch them but will keep them.

Now onto the fun stuff.  I've finished page 1 of Treasures SK SAL and I'm really happy with the result.

I decided I wanted to keep on stitching until I'd finished the page rather than rotating a piece each week and it feels really good to have a finish (even if it is only a page finish!).

I'm also really pleased as well as I have been gridding with Sulky metallic thread in dark blue.  Up to now I haven't completed enough of a project to be able to take the gridlines out but on Treasures I have now taken the gridlines out and I'm pleased to say the thread came out very easily and didn't leave any marks behind.  So if I can get away with it on a project with so much white I am sure it will be fine on all my other projects.

So the stats for this project are 7,350 stitches completed which is 26.49% complete.

So this one can go on the back burner now until I get the next page which I don't think is until September so I'll have plenty of time to get some stitching done on my other WIPs.

I've also started knitting a blanket for my best friend who is expecting her third baby.  It is a design called Sampler Blanket by Debbie Bliss and I have treated myself to the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino wool to knit with.  It is absolutely gorgeous to knit so soft and lovely.  I may have to keep the blanket for myself in the end!

I'm not sure if I mentioned that I had signed up for half yearly goals on the HAED BB.  I set myself small goals this time which were to complete 1 page of Treasures SK and 1 page of Believe QS and obviously with this post I have completed one of those goals.

I'm not sure what I am rotating onto now or whether I'll just concentrate on some knitting for a while.  Once the blanket begins to take shape I'll take some photos.

Believe as of 12.06.11

I've been working on Believe this week and I'm really pleased with my progress.  I've managed to do just under 1,000 stitches and it is now 22.56% complete, the only trouble is I forgot to take photos of each individual colour as I added it and I am not sure how many colours I've completed.  The left side of the body is almost full now and it's looking great.  I'm beginning to think I will have to complete the whole background though.

Hickory Dickory Dock & Blue Rose Fairy as of 05.06.11

I was off work last week and managed to work on two projects.  The first was QS Hickory Dickory Dock I completed just under 500 stitches and this is how it now looks.

I then spent some time on the HAED BB QS SAL Blue Rose Fairy.  I did just over 2,100 stitches which means I have now completed 8,337 of 34,595 which is 24.1% complete.  One of my BB yearly goals was to complete one page of this and although I haven't physically completed one page I have done an equivalent amount of stitches so I am counting this as having completed this goal (although I don't think it will count on the BB).  I've done quite a lot of the sparkly stitches which aren't showing up on the photo but for the first time in a long time I am actually enjoying working on this which is good.

We should be getting the information soon about the SK SAL.  I chose the black and white SK called Treasures.  I'm looking forward to working on another black and white as I love working on Shy Baby.  Here's a reminder of what Treasures looks like.

Believe as of 28.05.11

So I've not updated for a while because of a very intensive course I've been on with work, but over the past two weeks I have managed to get just over 2,100 stitches done on Believe.  I've completed another four colours as I am doing all of one colour at a time on this one.  So here are the four progress pictures for each colour added.

I love how the blues are coming together in the wings of the butterfly and as always seems to be the case the colours are so much more beautiful in real life.  I'm not sure if my plan to not complete the enture background will work out but I am just going to carry on with the one colour at a time and see how it goes.

Little Boy Blue - 14.04.11 - Happy Dance!

Firstly I am going to apologise for this picture heavy post but I am ridiculously proud that I have made something for my son to wear!!  It was my intention to sew it up myself but due to the fact that I've never stitched anything up before and that I wouldn't get chance to spend time with my mum showing me how to do it over the next 7 weeks, I decided to ask my mum to stitch it up for me so that it would still fit Samuel when it was finished.  I went over to my mum and dad's today and there it was finished.  Here's some pics of Samuel in his new jumper and the jumper itself.  The one's with Samuel are action shots as he wouldn't keep still for me to take a photo!