Just Nan!

Another "so far, so good" SAL for me is the .  I had one finish and a start this month.

My finish was Tall Flowers.

Stitched on 28-count natural Cashel (I think) with DMC.  Charms came with the chart

My start was Strawberry Summer:

Stitched on 28-count Savannah Rose with DMC

I am really pleased as I have finished one WIP and one from my stash and my start was from my stash.  I think I will pull my next small from my Just Nan stash just to keep the momentum going.

Until next month...

February Smalls SAL

So far, so good!  I have managed to stitch a small each month of this year! Yes, I realize that it's only February, but let's not break my bubble...

If you're interested in stitching along, here is the button that will take you to all the information that you will need to join along:

 

 

This month I had a finish and a start.  First up is the finish:

 

Just Nan's Tall Flowers.  It's stitched on a 28-count natural something or other I think Cashel with DMC.  The charms came with the pattern or more correctly, the pattern came with the purchase of the charms.  They are cute but I think it would look just fine without them.  You would have to stitch another daisy in the top band but I think that would be the only modification needed.

My start was on Snowy Pines from Little House Needleworks:

This one is stitched on 30-count natural Northern Cross linen with DMC.  I did decide to add the beads to this one that's the"All Dolled Up!" part.



February Stitch from Stash

What a difference a few days makes - last week we were shoveling 9" of snow I know, I know, some of you would be thrilled with that, but here in central Virginia that amount of snow is enough to stop life for days!!! with temperatures in the 20s, yesterday?  It was 71 and we had thunderstorms and tornado watches!  If the changeable weather wasn't a sign of spring, the change in birds certainly is.  Until a few days ago, the feeders were overrun with dark-eyed Junco

Photos from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Today?  the Juncos have almost disappeared and we are completely inundated with American Goldfinches

The males have not yet put on those bright summer colors, but there are bits here and there on a few of them. 

I had to do some switching about of my posting as my work schedule makes weekday posting difficult so instead of posting my Stitch from Stash post on a particular date, I have moved it to the Saturday before the posting date, which means - today!!

Mel at Epic Stitching is hosting

This month, in addition to the normal $25 budget, we were allowed a splurge of $100 for the Nashville Market weekend.  I looked and looked and found so many beautiful new pieces and bought, none of them.  Nope, not a one.  So my February recap looks like this:

              Carry over - $25.00
February allowance - $25.00
                      Spent - $ 0.00
     Balance forward - $50.00

I had two new starts from stash:

 Snowy Pines from Little House Needleworks:

Stitched on 30-count Northern Cross Linen with DMC

And Strawberry Summer from Just Nan:

I stitched on a bunch of WIPs:

Chatelaine's Serengeti:

Kayann's Kreations' Elegant Doily:

With Thy Needle and Thread's Three Tulips:

and Mirabilia's Santa's Magic:

Serengeti will be on the frame for the rest of the day, so I am hoping to finish the block I have started.  A new Chatelaine SAL has started.  If you're interested click

 



for all the information you need to join up and stitch along.

February WIPocalypse

I hope everyone in the path of the last storm made it through okay.  We had about 7" of snow then a 1/2" of ice and then another couple of inches of snow.  It is a bright and clear day and it has warmed up into the high 40s so a lot of the snow is melting.  They're calling for rain and snow overnight and into tomorrow.  I am joining the chorus of "I am ready for Spring!!" that seems to be so popular right now.

I went in to Michael's today to pick up some reading glasses Yes, reading glasses at a craft store, they have a bunch of really fun colors and patterns and for $2.99 USD a pair I can let my inner child play without guilt

Speaking of inner child, as I was waiting in line to check out, I found these pens:

 

The two on the left are Mary Engelbreit and the one on the right is from Kate Spain.  The best thing about these pens?  Other than their bright colors and fun shape?  And that they were only $1.00 USD each?  They will not walk away from my desk at work!!!  Well they might, but the list of possible culprits will be fairly short as I can rule out the men. 

 

I'm sure Michael's was totally underwhelmed with my total purchase today.  ESPECIALLY since I used a 40% off one item coupon.  Hey, I was not going to waste a perfectly good coupon!!!

 

But onto WIPocalypse.  Measi over at Measi's Musings has hosted the monthly WIPocalypse since 2012.  If you're interested in reading more about it or joining up, click on the dragon

 

This year she has provided us with questions to go along with each month's check-in and I am really enjoying getting to know more about everyone.  This month the question is: How many projects do you generally feel comfortable having in progress at a time? and then a bit about our rotation habits.

 

As far as how many projects do I feel comfortable with?  It has been so long since I felt comfortable with my WIP list, I really couldn't say.  I have narrowed my rotation down to five pieces and don't feel too overwhelmed by that so, I'll say five but reserve the right to change my mind at any time.

 

My rotation habits?  Well, I started out as a strict OAATer (one at a time) and could not understand how anyone could have more than one project going at a time.  Somewhere along the way I discovered how you could have more than one project going at a time.  The problem was, while I was finishing a fair number a year, I was starting many more and ended up in the situation that I am in now with 32 projects in various stages of completion.  I am NOT comfortable with that, hence my joining so many SALs that focus on WIPs.  I have tried various rotations from screaming to very strict 10 hour per project. I found my old rotation sheets the other day.  This is how I used to run my rotation:

Each little square represents an hour and each block has two rows of five squares each.  It was a good way to work when I had lots of stitching time and also helped me answer the question of "How long did it take you to stitch that?".   Then I moved, started the CC crazy commute  and lost the majority of my stitching time.  Ten hours could take me weeks to do as I get maybe an hour total during the workweek and varying amounts of time on the weekends, so I went to my current rotation which is one week.  A project's week starts on Sunday and runs through Saturday.  Whether I get one or one hundred hours of stitching time, on Sunday morning the project is switched out.   I first set up the rotation with every one of my known UFOs in it.  That proved to be too many as I was stitching on each project maybe three weeks a year.  So this year I narrowed it down drastically.  I had originally planned on having only four projects in my rotation  made sense as that would have me stitching on each project at least once a month but when I got Three Tulips for Christmas, I HAD to start it so I gave myself a fifth slot for that - I will move the Lizzie*Kate Mystery Sampler that The Hubs gave me for our anniversary into that slot after all I do have to reinforce good behavior don't I? when the Tulips are done.  Each project in the rotation has an index card and I keep them all hanging on the bulletin board over my desk.  Some have just the name of the project, others, like Three Tulips, have the current project and the one I want to slot in next.  Generally, once a project is finished, I randomly pick a new one from the WIP list and add it to the rotation; however, this year, as I am participating in the Just Nan SAL, there is a dedicated Just Nan slot, that I am fairly certain will continue as a dedicated slot even after the official end of the SAL.  I am also thinking of having a Santa slot as I have a fair number of patterns featuring the Jolly Old Elf and given the time it takes me to stitch a Chatelaine I think that slot could already be considered dedicated!   Eventually I would like to have my WIP list down to no more than five as I first mentioned.

 

If you have stuck around through all that, thank you!  Now, the pictures!! 

 

I have three projects left from my original WIPocalypse list and was able to stitch on all three of them this month. 

 

Santa's Magic by Mirabelia went from this:

 

 

To this:

 

 

Serengeti by Chatelaine went from this:

 

 

To this:

 

 

And finally, Elegant Doily by Kayann's Kreations went from this:

 

 

To this:

 

The "cussin jar" in the background is for The Hubs someday I am going to be RICH!!

I have finished almost half of the eyelets in this piece.  This has one more full day on the stand so there should be lots more eyelets come tomorrow night.

I have stitched on other pieces, but I am trying to focus my posts a bit more and they weren't on the WIPocalypse list so they don't get talked about today don't fell too sorry for them though as they will all get their chance in a post!!



Progress and a new start

Welcome to my new followers and thank you for taking the time to read about my little corner of the world. 

We did get back into our offices on Tuesday and they look great!  It is amazing what a bit of paint and new carpet will do for your attitude.  Spent most of Tuesday looking for missing things - despite the boxes and furniture all being marked many were put in wrong offices or not pulled from the storage area at all, but by Friday we had all but two boxes emptied and everything put away.  We should be putting the finishing touches, hanging pictures, etc., this week and our space will be complete. 

Now that I am back on my regular schedule, I don't have the time in the evenings for stitching that I was enjoying but there was progress.

Three Tulips from With Thy Needle and Thread had a bit of progress Saturday.  It went from this:

to this:

A few more leaves and some more rabbit although it might be a hare with those long ears.  This has been a fun, no stress stitch and I have really enjoyed coming up with different ways of stitching with the over-dyes so that the leaves and flowers don't have really obvious stripes or weird blocks of color.

Strawberry Summer was my new start and took Enchanted Swans place as my Just Nan piece.  It is stitched on 28-count Savannah Rose Milan with DMC and a little bit of Kreinik. 

Here's where I left off:

Despite this being photographed this morning in daylight it is really washed out.  The fabric is really a pretty soft rose.

I also had a finish but will save that for my smalls post later this month.

Elegant Doily is on the frame for this week.

It's February!!

Here's hoping that February proves better weather-wise than January did!!  We are supposed to enjoy temperatures in the 50s for the next few days and then back into the messy weather.  Oh and Happy Year of the Horse a day late.

As it's the first Saturday of the month, it's time for my YOTA post.  YOTA is a WIP SAL hosted at Pull the Other Thread.  Another no pressure and no stress SAL, simply stitch on your WIPs, take photos and post on the first Saturday of each month!

Since the last posting, I have finished a round in my rotation and worked on the following WIPs:

Elegant Doily  by Kayann's Kreations.  This was started when DSon was still in high school he turned 30 last summer - you can do the math.  I don't think I will have a finish on it this year but progress is good my goal is to finish it before DSon turns 35.

I stitched all the eyelets on the right side and a few more but this one is really hard to show progress pictures of.

Chatelaine's Serengeti was up next.  It went from this:

To this:

Santa's Magic from Mirabilia had another week on the frame and went from here:

To here:

And finally With Thy Needle and Thread's Three Tulips is on the frame right now and I went from this:

 

To:

 



My screen is showing really weird lines but they don't seem to show up when you click on the photo. This will stay on the frame through tonight so there should be more progress to show in my next post.