Saturday, January 4, 2014

YOTA & First Finishes of the Year!

It's the first Saturday of the month which means its time for my first YOTA update.  I'm happy to say I just finished the "Way to Happiness" SAL as my first WIP/UFO of the year for the YOTA challenge.  This was a freebie SAL from: http://lesmarottesdenath.free.fr/ and I've loved stitching it.  I love the verse on it and I can see it framed and hanging on my walls soon.  Between YOTA & the SFS challenges I think this will be a productive year for me, at least I'm hoping. :)


My actual first finish of the year is this little box and I finished it yesterday.  It's by Just Nan and it's called "Garden Prince".  I stitched this up for an upcoming Valentine's exchange for one of the facebook groups I belong to but I'm seriously thinking about stitching one for myself.  I love the way it turned out and I hope my partner likes it.  I plan to fill it with some stitching goodies before I send it to my partner. :)


Here's a close up of the little frog bead.  Isn't he just the cutest little guy?

Now that these two are finished I will be returning to the "dirty word" for a bit,  I'm still hoping to have it finished by January 31st.   That is my oldest UFO/WIP and when it's finished I will finally feel like I've accomplished the impossible.

The best part of joining these challenges this year is the stash busting I hope to do.  In 2012 I joined a Crazy January challenge and I still have a few of those projects started that I never went back to.   At that time I kitted up around 30 projects and have had them sitting here all this time just waiting to be picked up and stitched.  There's a few that have maybe 10 or 15 stitches in them and a whole tote bag full of things I never even started but the floss & fabric are all there.  

I still would like to get the last 4 LHN Sheep Virtue Charts but I'm going to hold off for a while and see how long I can go without buying anything.  I have a feeling I may get them this year for my birthday from either hubby or mom.   Both of them were really surprised that I joined these challenges and are encouraging me to stick with them, and both asked me to write them down and show them what they were so I will sit here and hope that one of them remembers when the time comes. A girl can wish, right?

Well, that's it for my update.  Wish me luck on the "dirty word", hope to have lots of progress to show next week.
Happy Stitching!

18 comments:

  1. I just LOVE the little box and whoever receives will be one lucky person! Love your YOTA and your finish! I hope to get that one finished up SOON! Good luck with the Dirty Word... ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Faith! It's going to be hard to give up that little box. I had so much fun stitching it and love the way it turned out. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great stitching! I love that little frog pin!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I thought he was adorable. :)

      Delete
    2. I joined the January Crazy Challenge 2 years in a row. I think I finished a total of 6. They are all in bags kitted up and ready to go too.

      Delete
  4. Beautiful finishes Mary I especially love the box! I can't wait to see the dirty word finished!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Kim! Hoping for a late January finish on the dirty word. :)

      Delete
  5. Congrats on your finishes! A great way to start the year.
    That little frog is very cute!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. Wonderful year so far, hope I can keep up the momentum. :)

      Delete
  6. Wow two amazing finishes there. A YOTA finish already, fantastic!! Can't wait to see more YOTA progress.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My next YOTA finish will *hopefully* be the "dirty word". Keeping my fingers crossed for lots of progress this month. :)

      Delete
  7. Ok I cant remember what a YOTA is. Uh otherwise the finish looks good. I'm not stitching much currently we are shoveling more snow. a foot is expected by tonight then frigid temps for the next few days and we are not going out after today.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ick, be careful shoveling all that snow. I am so looking forward to Spring! YOTA stands for Year of the Acronym. (WIP/UFO) You can find out all about the challenge here: http://pulltheotherthread.blogspot.com/p/yota-year-of-acronyms.html Basically you are just trying to make progress or finish those old UFO's or WIP's that you have in your stash. It's a no pressure thing, just post a before and after pic on the first Saturday of the month. (I forgot to post a before pic this time) You can join the challenge any time and there really isn't any pressure. It's a fun way to get things done. :)

      Delete
    2. OH almost forgot...it doesn't have to be stitching either. You can show your crochet, quilting, knitting...whatever it is that your working on. :)

      Delete
  8. Well done on two lovely finishes

    ReplyDelete
  9. Really lovely, I am doing the SAL sampler too, hopefully I'll have a picture of it for my blog soon:) I love the little box someone is really going to be lucky getting it.
    Mary Louise in IN

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! That's wonderful, can't wait to see yours!

      Delete