Final Smalls Check-in and a 2014 Recap

Another year of stitching (and other things) is gone. I am not sure how I feel about 2014. The last three months will define the year for me, but other than that short burst of craziness, it was a pretty ordinary year.

Before I get too far into talking about my 2015 stitching plans, I need to finish one last bit of 2014's. My December Smalls SAL check-in. I had a good month and finished two! Both are from Shepherd's Bush's She Tends leaflet.

His Flock

Tender Care

And because I am still having a great time with PicMonkey's collaging program, here are all my 2014 Smalls finishes:

Column one (top to bottom): Peppermint Twist; Snowy Pines; Frosty Flakes; Winter Sheep (all by Little House Needleworks) and Fondant Icing by the Nutmeg Company. Column two: Tall Flowers by Just Nan; All is Calm, Joy to the World and Red House in Winter by Little House Needlework. Column three: She Tends, Garden Fair, His Flock and Tender Care by Shepherd's Bush

In addition to the smalls, I finished these three for a total of 16 finishes in 2014.

Enchanted Swan by Just Nan; Three Tulips by With Thy Needle and Thread; and, Strawberry Summer by Just Nan

Given my limited stitching time, I am very happy with those numbers and best of all they were all stitched from stash, except for Three Tulips which was a gift.

By this time last year I had signed up for eight SALs. My New Year's resolution was to keep up with all of them. Even though none of the SALs was high pressure, I knew it would be a bit of a push to post for every one every month. The one I missed posting to most frequently International Hermit and Stitch (IHSW) hosted by Joysze at Random Ramblings was the one that should have been the easiest to keep up with as it requires you to sit and stitch for the weekend and post about it. Really very simple and I am sure I stitched most of those weekends but must have forgot to post. Overall I am pleased with how well I did keep up with all of the SALs and....(a perfect segue into 2015's plans)

For 2015 I have, despite telling myself that I need to cut way back on SALs, again signed up for eight - WIPocalpyse, YOTA, Stitch from Stash A (there are two 6-month SALs), DESIGN, A New Stitchy Start, Gifted Gorgeousness, HAED Freebie and Smalls. TUSAL and IHSW are post as you can and don't require official sign-ups so I didn't count them but will participate as I can/remember. My stitching resolution is to keep up with the postings for the SALs that required a sign up.

Here are the pieces that I will fit into the various SALs:

Secret Victorian Garden by Chatelaine
Holly and Hearts Sampler by Lizzie*Kate
Santa's Magic by Mirabilia
Spring in the Air by Just Nan
Elegant Doily by Kayann's Kreations
HAED projects:
Shakespearean Fantasy
Christmas Presence
Santa and Mouse Ornament

In order to make any progress on them, I will be using a rotation again (although I may go OAAT on a couple to finish them up). The current rotation plan is:  One week, Saturday through Friday, for each piece.  The HAEDs will be stitched on my compressed Fridays rotating amongst themselves. Sunday mornings will be reserved for smalls stitching.

Given the progress I made on my larger pieces this year, I think I will have four or five large finishes in 2015, so I came up with a replacement plan too:

• Secret Victorian Garden will be replaced with a randomly drawn Chatelaine WIP
• Holly and Hearts  will be replaced with Ink Circles' 99
• Santa's Magic will be replaced by Lavender & Lace's Santa of the Forest and then Mirabilia's Winter White Santa
• Spring in the Air will be replaced with a randomly drawn Just Nan or Shepherd's Bush
• Elegant Doily will be replaced with a randomly drawn WIP
• Even as optimistic as I am, I don't imagine that I will finish any of the HAEDs this year and am not making plans for their replacement.

The plan is designed to help me reduce that WIP list there on the right while still allowing for a new start or two. This is only a plan and like all plans is very fluid.

Mega SAL post

The last two weeks have been eventful to say the least.  The short story is that I had a health scare a couple of weeks ago and while it wasn't the feared heart attack after more tests than I care to count, my heart and associated systems were declared healthy  I will be going in for surgery tomorrow to fix the cause.  After doing a little research, I am not sure why I didn't figure it all out sooner.  I am not looking forward to the surgery but am looking forward to the relief from all the symptoms that I put down to aging.  Because of the surgery, I probably won't feel up to posting for several month-end SALs so I am going to cram them all into this one.

Before I get into my SAL postings, Pull the Other Thread is hosting a Mega Mini Month Madness SAL during October.  The link should take you to the sign-up page if you're interested.  All you have to do is stitch on a mini (ornament size or smaller) piece and post once each week in October you don't have to do five different pieces just post your progress each week.  There will be a drawing for a gift card at the end for everyone that participates and follows the rules,  While I am recuperating (6 to 8 weeks of no commuting - I will be teleworking as I can) I will actually have time to stitch so I may sign up for this one.

The first SAL is TUSAL.  TUSAL (Totally Useless Stitch Along) is hosted by It's Daffycat.  If the links don't work, the buttons along the sides should take you to the information pages for all the SALs mentioned.  TUSAL asks that you collect all those little snippits of thread in a pretty jar and take a picture on the new moon each month.  I had more additions to my collection than I expected given my relative lack of stitching recently.  My jar is shown in front of Chatelaine's Secret Victorian Garden.

The next SAL post due is the Smalls SAL.  Heather at Stitching Lotus is hosting this SAL.  Another easy one - stitch on a small and post the last Wednesday of each month.  I did finish a small this month but it was leftover from last month's non-finish month and I didn't start another one.

Little House Needleworks' Red House In Winter stitched on 30-count Northern Cross linen with DMC and Crescent Colours

Stitch from Stash is the next one in line.  Mel at Epic Stitching hosts.  This group encourages you to keep within a budget and enjoy what you already have stashed.  We have a very generous $25 a month budget and your unspent balance rolls over, so if you have a larger purchase in mind in a fairly short period of time you'd have the money saved up.

For September I had:

                 Carry over:  $200
    September Budget:  $  25
September Purchases:  $   0
       Balance Forward:  $225

I had no new starts from stash, but I did work on Red House in Winter, Holly and Hearts Sampler, Santa's Magic, Spring in the Air, and Secret Victorian Garden.  I do expect to have a new start for October's report, but I am not sure what.

Last, but not least is the Just Nan SAL.  This one seems to have fallen apart but I will continue to post as I am enjoying pulling out some of the Just Nan's that I have had kitted and stashed for years.  I am currently working on Spring in the Air.  While I didn't get a lot done this month, I did get two of the over-1 pansies completed, so I am happy with my progress.

Stitched on 28-count Antique Ivory with DMC 

And I did have progress on a couple of other projects:

Holly and Hearts Sampler by Lizzie*Kate

Stitched on an unknown Silkweavers fabric with called for fibers

and Secret Victorian Garden by Chatelaine

Stitched on 32-count Summer Sky Jobelan with called for fibers

WHEW!!!  I think that covers everything.  Lots of little things to do around the house to get things to a point where The Hubs won't feel overwhelmed while he's the one trying to keep it all together.

A little stitching on a small and Just Nan.

The summer stitching slump continues.  The college football season started yesterday so perhaps my brain will think, despite temperatures predicted to be in the upper 80s/lower 90s for the week, that summer is over and it is time to think about stitching again.  I am behind on several check-ins which isn't much of a surprise for those of you that have been reading my blog lately - thank you if you still are and welcome if you are new - I do hope that I can get back into a stitching and blogging mode again soon.
 
  As I did not finish a small, I am not officially posting for the SAL, but if you are interested in participating, Heather at Stitching Lotus is hosting and clicking on the badge there at the beginning of this paragraph should take you to the information page. 

  Sharon at It's Daffycat hosts TUSAL.  Collect all those bits and pieces of thread that you would normally throw away in a pretty container and post a photo of it each month.  As the name suggests, it isn't really very useful but it is pretty.

I've combined my Smalls and TUSAL photo this month.  The house needs a front door and some landscaping but I should be able to finish it in September. 

One SAL that I am not late on is the .  Zeb at Keep Calm and Cross Stitch is hosting this SAL. As its name implies, pick a Just Nan pattern, stitch and post.  Spring in the Air is my current Just Nan project.  The pansies are stitched over-1 and are worth the extra time they are taking.

Santa's Magic by Mirabilia is on the frame for this week.  This has been a fun stitch so I am hoping that it will be just what I need to get stitching again.  Here's where he is right now:

August Stitch From Stash

With all the travel the last few months, I was in Alabama last week, summer has passed me by with a whoosh!  I really do feel like I completely missed out on it this year.  Normally that wouldn't bother me too much as summer is my least favorite season, but this year, the weather was very nice and I would have liked to take more advantage of it.

My stitching mojo has also passed me by with a whoosh this summer.  Fortunately, the lack of stitching mojo has had a positive impact on my stashing mojo making the    challenge easy.  Stitch from Stash is hosted by Mel at Epic Stitching and has a duel purpose - love your stash and save your cash!!  Each month you get a $25 budget and sometimes, like this month, you can have a bit more.  If you don't spend your regular budget amount, you can roll it over to next month so you could have a rather substantial amount for a splurge by the end of the year.  If you can't wait that long, you do get a by month when you could go stash wild.  For August, my spending report is:

               Carry over:  $175

        August Budget:  $  25

   August Purchases:  $   0

     Balance Forward:  $200

 

I had two starts from stash this month:  Just Nan's Spring in the Air:



 

and Little House Needleworks' Red House in Winter

I did stitch a little on a WIP this month, but only a little.

 

This is Secret Victorian Garden by Chatelaine.  My progress was those blue stitches around the backstitched motif with the heart.  Not much progress, but each stitch in is one stitch closer to done.

 

Economizing My Posts

A week ago Wednesday, I got on a train headed for Union Station in Washington DC and then on to Toledo, Ohio.  While I have traveled by train in the past, numerous times in Italy and once on the Acela from Boston to Washington, DC the Acela is Amtrak's high-speed train and is a very nice way to get along the east coast and every day for work, the trains involved were very different than the ones I was on for this trip so I wasn't really sure what to expect.  I was very pleasantly surprised.  If you haven't considered Amtrak for travel, you definitely should.  Yes, it does take longer than flying and the schedules can be a bit challenging, but it's about 1/3 of the cost and you can get up and walk around anytime you chose, stretch out to nap (more than enough room for the seats to recline without landing in the lap of the person in back of you), visit the dining or cafe cars for food and drinks or sit in the observation car and just watch it all roll by.  I did a lot of sleeping (two overnight trains), looking out the window and reading.  My sister picked me up in Toledo rather than me taking the bus to the Detroit area and I spent a wonderful week with my family.  First at my sister's, (thanks JANE!!) and then at my parent's (thank you Mom and Dad!).  Went to a family reunion, talked, laughed and ate way too much, there are some awesome cooks in my family, and generally just lazed around and relaxed the rest of the time.  While I was gone, several of my SALs had posting dates so you are going to get four updates for the price of one!!! starting with .

TUSAL is hosted at It's Daffycat.  All that is involved is that you save all those bits of thread that you used to throw away and on the new moon, post a photo.  Simple as can be.  This month, my TUSAL photo is also my  photo.  Zeb at Keep Calm and Cross Stitch is hosting this SAL.  All you have to do is stitch a piece or pieces designed by Just Nan. An easy one for me as I have a ton of her designs in my stash.  So in an economizing post, I'm economizing on photos too!!

I know what you're thinking - the jar is full, the fabric is blank.  Yep, getting the fabric (28-count Antique Ivory) straightened, ironed and marked is all I got done on my Just Nan piece this month.  I do hope to get some stitches in Spring in the Air tomorrow as its rotation is up and Secret Victorian Garden will be going on the frame Sunday morning.

Next up is .  Heather at Stitching Lotus is hosting this SAL.  Pick a small, stitch it and post on the last Wednesday of the month.  How easy is that?  I really enjoy participating in this one as I tend to stitch large projects and if it wasn't for these smalls, I would have very few finishes in a year.  I was able to finish this one just under the wire - I have a feeling my summer stitching slump is trying to make an appearance - while at my parents.

Winter Sheep by Little House Needleworks  - stitched on 30-count Weeks Dye Works Straw Linen with DMC and Just Another Button Company buttons

The directions call for the holly sprig to be stitched onto the hanging cord, but I liked it on the piece and being the stitching rebel that I am okay I knew it would take me a while to actually finish this into an ornament and that I would probably lose the button so it was safer to attach it...

And last but not least, a not late, YOTA post.  YOTA is hosted at Pull the Other Thread and is designed to provide incentive to work through those WIPs that you may have sitting around.  I think I have posted updates of all the WIPs on my YOTA list so here is a photo of my progress on Lizzie*Kate's Holly and Hearts sampler.  Although it's not on my YOTA list, it is a WIP that I would like to get done this year.

Holly and Hearts by Lizzie*Kate - stitched on an unknown piece of hand-dyed linen with Weeks Dye Works fibers.

It is supposed to be a wet weekend here in central Virginia, so once the laundry is done, I should have lots of time to stitch!!  I don't even have to worry too much about cooking - the air conditioner's compressor went out last week and we're waiting for the part so trying to keep heat production to a minimum calls for slow-cooker and grilled meals - neither of which take lots of preparation time!!

It was a hermit and stitch weekend!

The third weekend of the month means....   Yes, it was time to hermit and stitch.  I had a whirlwind trip to South Dakota last week for work, so I really didn't have any plans for the weekend other than to catch up on sleep (the two hour time change really got to me this trip) so stitching fit right in with the plans.

While not an IHSW piece, Elegant Doily had one more day on the frame after my last post, and here's where it ended up last Saturday:

Another good stitching round should have the eyelets done!!  I am going to have to soak this once it's completed to try to get rid of the discoloration on the blanket stitches.  Not sure what caused it but I am sure I can figure a way to get it out.  As I'm not really in love with this piece, I'm not fussing over the possibility of extreme measures to clean it. 

Winter Sheep by Little House Needleworks is my first IHSW piece.  This is part of my Smalls SAL but I am going to have to do some fast stitching if I am going to finish it this month.  Here's where I left it yesterday:

It used to be that I couldn't stitch larger pieces in hand but smalls were fine, now nothing seems to work in hand hence the hoop.

Santa's Magic had its turn in the rotation and went from here:

To here:

I really do need to get the beard finished.  Unfortunately, all those blank spaces are done in Wisper and while the result is perfect, the journey is awful.

After Santa, Lizzie*Kate's Holly and Hearts Mystery Sampler went on the frame. It went from here:

To here:

On my monitor there are all sorts of wavy lines on the photo, if you click on it, they go away

I am on vacation for the next two weeks YEAAA!!!!!  but probably won't get too much stitching in.  I get on a train heading to Michigan Wednesday morning and while I am taking a couple of smalls with me just in case the stitching urge hits while I'm on the train or at my sister's, I do tend to read more than stitch while I'm traveling.

Small, TUSAL and Lizzie*Kate

A couple of things before we get onto the title things.

First - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Trevor!!!!  Today is DSon's 31st birthday!  Not sure how that happened as I don't feel much older than that myself.

AS an explanation - he did a Foam Run (obstacles, mud and foam) I am soooo glad I no longer have to do his laundry!!!! a couple of weeks ago.  The rest of the members of his team were women so he decided a tiara was a perfect way to be "one of the girls" or as much of a girl as a 6' 3" guy can be...

Second - Welcome to my new followers and thank you all for your comments.  I am not getting email notifications of every one's comments and I don't come back to read comments here on Blogger, so if you don't hear back from me when you make a comment, it's not that I'm not paying attention to you, I never got your comment to respond to.  I do appreciate each of you taking the time to read and comment on my blog.

Onto the stitchy stuff - Wednesday was the check-in for the .  Heather is hosting this SAL.  Another really simple one, stitch a small and post it once a month.  A small is whatever you define a small as.  I've been catching up on all the ornaments in my stash.  This month was no exception.

This is Joy to the World by Little House Needleworks.  Stitched on 30-count WDW Straw linen with DMC.  The button is from JABCo.  I am still working on her eyes.  The pattern calls for french knots but they looked really wonky so I took them out and have not decided what to use.

Yesterday was the new moon, so it's time for .  Sharon at It's Daffycat hosts this SAL. Rather than a "stitch along" it's more a "save along".  No stress on this one, find a jar (mine is an old Yankee Candle jar), and save all those little bits of thread that you clip off or would have normally thrown away and same them.

Here is my June entry:

Lots of pretty threads in the jar so far this year.  The piece my jar is in front of is Strawberry Summer by Just Nan.  One more band and the beading of a couple others and this will be done.

And finally, Lizzie*Kate's Holly and Hearts was on the frame last week and I had a fair bit of progress.  It went from here:

To here:

Those of you that have stitched this piece will note that there is a HUGE mistake in this one.  The snowflake band is supposed to be stitched in a pinkish red.  This one is mounted on the frame upside down as that fits my stitching style better, well, I had the chart upside down and the key right-side up, as the green is \ and the red is /, I mixed them up.  The band was totally done before I looked at the picture of the finished piece and realized what had happened and decided I was not going to rip it all out.  The similar band in part one will also be different than charted as it will be pinkish red instead of green, so it will all work out and I will say that I personalized it...

Strawberry Summer is on the frame through tonight and I am going to push for a finish.  Secret Victorian Garden goes on the frame tomorrow. Not sure how much I will get done tomorrow as I have to finish mowing the yard - it got too hot, too fast for me to finish it today.

Summer and June Stitch From Stash

Summer has started with a vengeance!  We had the warmest day since last July on Wednesday.  It was in the mid-90s with a heat index in the low 100s - YUCK!!! Days like that are just miserable, you feel like you have a warm, damp washcloth wrapped around you all the time and standing on the train platform in the sun with 100s of your closet friends is an experience not to be missed - nobody has passed out but it is just a matter of time.  In addition to the miserable heat and humidity, a sure sign of summer is that the mimosa trees are blooming.  We don't have any in our yard so I had to go search for a photo online and found this one: 

If Dr. Seuss had been asked to design a tree, this would have been the result!

And this one with a close up of the flowers and leaves:

We had one of these in our front yard in Oklahoma and while it's a very pretty tree, it is also a messy one.  It is a legume and as such each of those flowers produces a seed pod which falls to the ground and has to be raked up.

But I'm sure you didn't visit to read about trees or the heat, so I'll get on to the  update.  Mel at Epic Stitching is hosting this challenge and it's rather simple (at least on paper).  We are given a budget of $25 (I'm using USD but others are converting to an equal value in their currency) for each month for all those must haves.  If you have funds left over at the end of the month, they roll over to the next month, so you can save up for a Chatelaine, kit up that Mirabilia or buy that Just Nan limited edition.  You also get a free month if you really need it all NOW.  This month we were given an extra $50 with the caveat that we had to spend our $25 monthly budget first so with $75 for this month plus my carry over of $125, I spent.... nothing.  Instead of buying, I stitched on Elegant Doily, Secret Victorian Garden, Strawberry Summer, and Santa's Magic. I think I have posted updates of all of them recently except for Santa, so here's where he was when he finished his time in the rotation last week:

From my stash, I started Little House Needleworks' Winter Sheep.

So, for next month, I have available:

Carry-over:             $125.
June Budget:               25.
June Purchases:            0.
Carry over to July:  $150

Lizzie*Kate's Holly and Hearts is on the frame for the rest of today  Just Nan's Strawberry Summer goes on it tomorrow for its week in the rotation.

A Small, TUSAL and Just Nan post

After a wonderful long weekend, I had an entire week of Mondays!  It was not a week I want to repeat soon.  I keep telling the boss that everything can't be my first priority but he doesn't seem to understand that concept - could by one of the reasons 3/4 of the staff is looking for other employment opportunities...

Anyway, I had a wonderful four days off from work and did a lot of stitching in between the housework and lawn mowing and various other things that kept screaming to be done.

For my I had a finish although not this past weekend. The Smalls SAL is hosted at Stitching Lotus by Heather.  Clicking on the badge should take you to the site. Here is Frosty Flakes from Little House Needleworks:

He she? is stitched on Weeks Dye Works' 30-count Straw linen with DMC, WDW and Crescent Colours and Mill Hill beads.  I really enjoyed this one and will probably stitch it again.

  I'm really not sure that TUSAL really is a totally useless endeavor - it puts a smile on my face and I think that is VERY useful!!  Again, clicking on the badge should take you to the site so that you can read all about collecting those little bits of thread that you used to toss away.  Here is my TUSAL jar in front of my current rotation piece, Secret Victorian Garden by Chatelaine.  I finished another corner through part 11.  You can see my progress on part 12 where the thread is hanging.  I am hoping to finish this quarter of part 12 today before putting the doily on the frame for its week.

And finally.  Zeb at Keep Calm and Cross Stitch is hosting the .  A year long hopefully longer SAL to work on all those Just Nan's you have in your stash.  I am still working away on Strawberry Summer.  I showed it on my last post and it was here:

Unfortunately, this was on the frame on my lawn mowing day, and it took me much longer than normal or expected to finish the lawn up so I wasn't able to do a lot more, but did get to here:

This is getting really close to a finish.  I do have to chart out a 4 as this one is dated 2001 with no additional numbers given.

Thanks for reading!!!