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

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

Learning Sampler - Northern Expressions Needlework as of 03.01.14

This week I've been working on the Learning Sampler from Northern Expressions Needlework.  I've now completed part 3 and have started on parts 4 and 5 - part 6 has just been released so I'm trying to catch up.  I was keeping up to date as each part was released but then I decided to change the colours I was stitching with.  I am also slowly unpicking what I previously stitched so I could use the same piece of fabric I just started again at the opposite end.

I'm currently rotating three projects the Learning Sampler, the model I'm stitching and Lizzie Kate's Christmas Mystery.  I'm picking up the model next.

So far this month (I know it's only 3rd January!) I haven't spent any of my stitching budget.

Keep stitching and smiling

Stitch from Stash and Blog Plans for 2014

I have decided to take up the challenge from Mel to Stitch from Stash in 2014 - you can see all the details here and you can join up if you want to before 2nd January.

The budget for each months stitching stash is $25 which works out as £15.19.  I'm quite lucky that I paid off a large lay away with Crafty Kitten with my Christmas money so will have that to look forward to receiving in January without having to worry about taking it out of my stitching budget.  The rules are that if you don't spend the total each month you can carry it forward - basically my total stitching spend for the year must be less than £182.28.  Having had a quick review of my stash earlier today this really shouldn't be a problem as I have enough threads, fabrics and patterns to last me a life time which is the main reason for doing this.  I may need to be the odd thread here or there to finish off a project or a piece of fabric if I don't have something suitable but I don't think that will happen often.

So my blog plan (hope) for the year is a weekly post detailing what I have been stitching that week and a monthly post detailing what (if any) money I have spent that month.  I hope you enjoy watching my diminishing stash pile during 2014.

Also I am hoping that early on in 2014 we will finally sort out our spare bedroom so it can become my craft room.  I will try and post some pictures of me organising my stash in a way that works for me and trying to keep some sort of inventory so that I don't spend money on items I already have.

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish all my readers a Happy New Year - thanks for sticking with me through 2013 even though I didn't post as much as I wanted to.  I hope 2014 brings you everything you wish for.  I wish for health and happiness for all my friends, family and blog readers.  Happy New Year!

Keep stitching, smiling and destashing