Wednesday Update - 2/27/2019

I can hardly believe that it's Wednesday again, much less that March starts the day after tomorrow.  This wasn't the best stitchy week.  I only stitched for six out of the seven days and two of the stitchy days only lasted about 1/2 hour and only on one project.

First, I completed Part 4 of Anemone, the free blackwork SAL from Leslie Teare.

Next I did my week on Eagles, but didn't accomplish as much as I'd hoped because there was a lot of frogging involved.  I'm not quite back on track, but I think the error I found last night is fudge-able.  Now that I look at it though, I definitely got more accomplished than I thought.  The dark line of stitches hits the 1/4 mark for this piece.

As of 1/8/2019

As of 2/26/2019

I also worked on and completed my project for the Pink Flowers for a Senior Lady SAL at WOCS (World of Charity Stitching).  This is stitched on 14-count white Aida as charted.  I used the called for DMC except for the pinks which were 601, 602, 603 and 605.

Started: 2/16/2019  Finished 2/26/2019

My final project this week is the February Owl from Leslie Teare's Owl SAL that I started last night.

February WIPocalypse

February so far, has been a good stitchy month even though I haven't stitched much the last couple of days.  I've worked on 10 projects and had another seven finishes.  I'm carrying over three projects, one of which is a SAL that's released every Wednesday, one of which is a year long SAL and the other should be finished before the end of the month.  As for my goals:

1) YOW - I finished two more projects, both Advent Animals, and worked on one more:

Ethan Elephant - Brooke's Books

Ping Panda - Brooke's Books

Eagles - Dimensions Kit

2) Finish squares for Kyleigh's quilt.  I didn't stitch any this month.

3a)  Participate in Leslie Teare's 2019 Owl SAL.   I haven't stitched the February Owl yet.

3b) Participate in the Christmas Ornie SAL. 

Consumed by Gifts - Brittercup Design (2009 JCS Ornament Issue)

 I also stitched my February Ornament.

Merry 2008 - Glory Bee (2008 JCS Ornament Issue)

3c) Participate in the JCS Christmas SAL. I finished stitching my ornament for February.

Merry Stocking - Ursula Michael (2018 JCS Ornament Issue)

4) Continue to stitch for charity.  My only square for charity is still a WIP.  This for WOCS and the theme is pink flowers.

 5) Stitch an undetermined number of Mill Hill kits, at least one being from the Christmas Village series.  I didn't stitch any so far this month.

6) Stitch on 69 projects this year as a SAL with Linda of Stitching with my Furbabies.  I've stitched on seven additional projects this month for a total of 17 so far:  Ping Panda, Merry 2008, Merry Stocking, Pink Flowers and:

Anemone - Leslie Teare (4 parts done)

January - Palko Lap (Oops!  I forgot to add the border)

February - Palko Lap

7) Finally, I've added an additional goal for 2019:  to fully finish at least one project a month to participate in the Fully Finished SAL.  I finished my January ornament for the JCS SAL into a Christmas ornament.

I also finished an old bookmark to give to my granddaughter for Valentines Day.

 Question of the Month
What do you listen to while stitching?  If my husband is home, I usually watch TV with him; if he's not home, I'll either watch TV or just enjoy the silence.

Smalls SAL - February 2019

Everything I finished this month is small so here goes:

 

 

 

 

BTW, I consider anything less than 5x7 on 14-count as small.

Wednesday Update - 2/20/2019

It's Wednesday again and that means it's time for my weekly update.  I did a lot of stitching this week, but it didn't seem like much until I totaled it up.

I stitched every day and worked on seven different projects, two of which have since been trashed.  I'm learning that my stitching abilities are changing so certain charts are no longer a good idea even if I do think I want to stitch them.  I have decided that when I encounter one of these charts, I will trash it instead of being frustrated with it or turning it into an unloved UFO.

I managed to finish another three projects this week:

Started: 2/8/2019 Finished: 2/14/2019

This is the free January square from the Palko Lap SAL.  It's stitched on light blue 25-count Aida with DMC Variations #4022.  It will now join February in the Waiting to be Finished drawer until the rest of the squares are completed or until I decide how I want to finish them, most probably into a quilt.

Started: 2/9/2019  Finished: 2/15/2019

This is Merry Stocking by Ursula Michael from the 2018 JCS Ornament issue.  It was stitched on 14-count gold dusted Aida with DMC 816 mostly as charted, but with a couple of unintentional modifications (seems to be the story of my life lately.).  This was stitched for the JCS Stitch Along on Facebook.  I am making several ornaments using this Aida and complimentary threads and plan on making them into a wall hanging.

Started: 5/17/2018  Finished: 2/19/2019

Ping Panda is the 22nd animal in the Brooke's Books Advent Animals free series.  It's stitched on 14-count misty blue Aida with DMC threads as charted except that I used two strands instead of three in the border.  This is one of my YOW projects and it's also being stitched for the Winter SAL Take Two at Cross Stitch Frog Busters.  Here is the whole thing to date:

I also stitched part 3 of the free Anemone Blackwork SAL by Leslie Teare.

And I started another project.  It's from the Beautiful Blooms Needlebooks article in Enjoy Cross Stitch, Hearts and Flowers from Spring, 2017.  This is for the Pink Flowers SAL at World of Charity Stitching.

Kyleigh's Weekend

This past weekend was a busy one for Kyleigh.  Friday night was the beginning of Girl Scout Cookie Booth Sales so we had three booth sales this weekend.  The first one was Saturday morning at the JoAnn's in Orange where it was cold and windy.

After the booth sale, we went into the store where Janice and Kyleigh bought the materials for two different projects for her room which now has a mermaid/beach theme.

Sunday was church and another booth sale; this time at the Ralph's in Villa Park.  It was cold, windy and rainy, but we sold the most cookies there.  After the booth sale, Janice and Kyleigh went to a friend's house to borrow her Cricket and then completed the two projects at home.

On Monday morning, we had our third booth sale at Vons in Orange.  Again it was very cold.  Kyleigh has been wanting her hair cut short for a while now.  That morning she called her father and got permission to cut off six inches and after the booth sale, she went to get it cut.  Fortunately, she can still pull it into a pony tail for POM.

Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop

Happy Valentines Day!  Jo of Serendipitous Stitching has created another wonderful blog hop for us.  This time we each sent her a valentine and she sent it to someone else. It's time to hop through the blogs to find out who sent to who.  Check in at Serendipitous Stitching to see who's participating and check out all the wonderful valentines.

This is the lovely valentine I received:

Now to find out who sent this one and who received mine!

Wednesday Update - 2/13/2019

It's  Wednesday again and time for another Wednesday Update.  I got a lot done again this week and stitched everyday once again.

First up is Merry 2008 from the 2008 Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue.  This is stitched on 14-count gold dust Aida as charted with the called for DMC except that instead of the Rhodes stitch for the flower centers, I used beads.

Started: 2/5/2019 Finished: 2/9/2019

I also stitched part 2 of the Anemone Blackwork SAL from Leslie Teare. 

I had two new starts this week.  The first is Merry Stocking by Ursula Michael in the 2018 JCS Ornament Issue.

The other start is January, a Palko Lap free chart.

And finally, I also continued working on Ping Panda from Brooke's Books Advent Animals.  This square only got a couple days attention this week, because I'm getting bored with these animals.  I'll finish this one this coming week and then move onto something else.

As of 2/5/2019

As of 2/12/2019

BTW, my granddaughter saw this and asked me to stitch her just the panda so she could put it in her room.  My daughter says she's very into pandas right now. 

Fully Finished SAL

This is a new SAL hosted by Rachel of Ten Hour Stitcher.  Each month we're supposed to fully finish at least one of our finished projects and post it on the 10th of each month.  For more information, click the icon in the sidebar.

This month I only managed to fully finish one project and it wasn't an easy process.  I originally tried to finish it as a card, but I accidentally cut the piece too small on one side so that idea went out the window when I couldn't find my Christmas embellishments.  (I really need to do a deep clean/de-clutter  of my home office/craft room.)

Instead, I decided to back it with a partial 3x5 card for stiffness and a piece of red felt.  The hanger is made of Mill Hill beads (3050) which is kind of goldish, although it looks more silver in the picture.

Wednesday Update - 2/6/2019

Again, this was a good stitchy week.  I stitched everyday and had three finishes.  The finishes are:

Started: 5/16/2018  Finished: 2/4/2019

This is Ethan Elephant, the 21st animal in the Advent Animals series from Brooke's Books.  It's stitched on 14-count misty blue Aida as charted with the called for DMC except that I used two strands when three were called for.  This is the third YOW project that I've completed this year.

Started: 1/26/2019 Finished: 2/3/2019

This is Consumed by Gifts by Brittercup Designs.  It came from the 2010 JCS Christmas Ornament issue.  It's stitched on 14-count gold dusted Aida and is stitched with DMC.  I'd say that it was stitched as charted, and it was, but there were several unintentional customizations and fudging involved.  I stitched this for the Christmas Ornie SAL.  I was supposed to stitch something out of the 2009 issue, but it's the only one I can't find at the moment.

Started: 1/30/2019  Finished: 2/3/2019

This is the free February square from Palko Lap.  It's stitched as charted on lite pink 25-count Lugana with DMC 4211.  I haven't decided whether to FFO this as a pillow or as a quilt so it will remain un-FFO'd until the others are finished.

This is Part 1 of Anemone, a free blackwork SAL from Leslie Teare.   There are supposed to be black french knots or black petite beads surrounding the dark center, but I haven't added them yet.

This is Merry 2008 from the 2008 JCS Christmas Ornament Issue and is being stitched for the Christmas Ornie SAL for the month of February.

January Recap

January was a good stitchy month.  I stitched every day, always stitching on at least two different projects.  I worked on 11 projects and finished seven.  I also started four that have been carried over to February as WIPs.  First the finishes.

Birthday Bear - Finished: 1/1/2019

Mrs. Christmas - Finished: 1/5/2019

Narwhal - Finished: 1/9/2019

Gigi Giraffe - Finished: 1/16/2019

January Owl - Finished: 1/19/2019

Joy - Finished: 1/25/2019

Hamilton Horse - Finished 1/25/2019

Next the starts being carried over as WIPs.  One of them (Palko Lap's February Square) was started at the end of the month so I don't have an in progress picture of it.

Consumed by Gifts

Ethan Elephant

This last one is for the Dimensions Year Long SAL at Cross Stitch Frog Busters so you'll see some progress every month.

Eagles

 My YTD totals are 11 projects worked on for my birthday SAL with Linda of Stitching with My Furbabies and seven finishes; No FFO finishes as yet.   I think this is a good start to the year.

Finally, here's the orts I've accumulated during the month while working on these projects.