Ornament Check-in and a Year in Review (a bit early)

Despite me initial doubts, I did it!!  I managed to stitch twelve ornaments this year as part of Stitching Lotus' Ornament SAL.  I did stumble a bit and not finish one in September but I made up for it by finishing two in November.  You can see all my ornament finishes in the 2013 Ornaments tab.  So without further yakking about it, here is my final ornament for 2013:

1999 Schooler Santa from The Prairie Schooler.  Stitched on an unknown 28-count blue evenweave with called for DMC.

I left out the backstitching on the front of the coat as I did not like the look, but I think it turned out okay without it.

So my slightly early recap of my 2013 stitching. Other than missing IHSW during the summer, I didn't officially participate, but I did stitch those weekends, I think I kept up with all the SALs that I was a member of.  It did help that none of them are really stressful ones and mostly provided me with the incentive to keep stitching.

I was going to post all sorts of before and after photos, but I kept track of my finishes and progress in those little tabs up top there, so decided to save us all from a huge, picture heavy post and just link to the tabs.  I don't have a lot of stitching time, but I was able to finish 17 pieces this year. If you'd like to see them, they are in Finishes tab. WIPocalypse and YOTA were great helps in keeping me focused on finishing four of my long-term WIPs, making progress on two others and reducing my WIP list to 18 and the Ornament SAL filled my need for a new start and quick finishes.  My WIPocalypse recap can be seen in the 2013 WIPocalypse tab.  I am looking forward to participating in YOTA and WIPocalypse again in 2014, as well as all the other SALs that I have signed up for.

I normally start a project on New Year's day, but this year, I didn't wait.  My parents Thanks Mom and Dad gave me this

for Christmas. It's Three Tulips from With Thy Needle and Thread along with the called for threads and fabric.  I immediately had to adapt my stitching plan Kevin at Cabbages and Kings discussed plans and resolutions so much better than I could.  I decided that as I now have five pieces in my rotation and I am off work this week that I would stitch on a different project each day and start my stitching plan on Sunday - I will work on my Smalls project on Saturday.  Three Tulips went on the frame first and is coming along quite nicely - it will be difficult to stop working on it, but I want to give some time to the other pieces in my rotation that have been neglected since about July when I went OAAT (one at a time) with 99.

Currently, my 2014 stitching plan is to do a one week rotation, Sunday through Saturday, with Sunday mornings and my compressed Friday (I am scheduled to work 44 hours the first week of the pay period, 36 the second and have every other Friday off) set aside to work on smalls.  As I am participating in the Just Nan SAL, a Just Nan project will be in the rotation every month.  I haven't yet decided if I will designate a specific week or just randomly tuck it into the rotation.  I am leaning towards random, but the plan is a work in progress and subject to blowing up dismantling being ignored revision at any time.

And before I forget, again, Welcome to my new followers and an apology to anyone that may have commented and didn't receive a response.  Yahoo! revamped things and went to a conversation format - they lumped all emails with the same topic into one list.  I suppose it makes sense if you have only two people involved in the conversation but with blog post comments, it was hard to keep track of who I had responded to and who I hadn't.  I wasn't ignoring any of your comments, just not dealing well with technological "advances".  I have finally figured out how to turn that feature off, so there should not be a repeat in the future.

December IHSW

I love International Hermit and Stitch Weekend.  Settling down into my stitching chair, focusing on nothing but my stitching and making great progress on my current project... Ummmm, yeah, that's the concept, unfortunately, this last one of the year was spent doing just about anything BUT stitching. Lots of running around, baking and wrapping and I still have a couple of things to do to feel that I'm ready for the holiday.  I finished the chocolate covered cherries this morning and have the dough for the pecan tassies in the fridge.  I will bake the tassies and some bread tomorrow and then I will truly be ready well except that I need to put the tassies and the cherries in the gift tins so we can give them to the neighbors and in-laws.  I tell you, when I shut down on the 27th visits and gift delivering on the 26th, I am not sure when I will move again.  I just have to remember to crash near my stitching chair.

Since I did call this my IHSW check-in, here is what I worked on:

Before

 and

After

This is the 1995 Schooler Santa.  It is stitched on an unknown 28-count blue evenweave with the called for DMC.  This is my last ornament stitch for the year, so I do need to get a move on so that I can finish it for the Ornament SAL check-in.

I did also finish/finish another gingerbread house from The Nutmeg Company.  Here it is on the tree:

I found another SAL to join because five wasn't enough.  Mel at Epic Stitching is hosting:

If I did it right, you should be able to click on the image and go to the information/sign-up page.  It's really a very simple SAL - stitch from your stash.  She does allow a rather generous $25 each month for purchases, so you're committing to a stash diet, not a complete fast.  Seeing as how my stash budget is pretty much $0, this one should be an easy lift.

Hard to believe, but my next post will be a 2013 recap.  I hope everyone that celebrates has a Happy Christmas and those that don't, I hope you have a happy next week.