June SFS Update

I have no pics to show this month.   I have not stitched at all.  I've got a lot of personal issues going on at the moment and have completely lost my will to do anything.

Since I don't have any update for the month, I'll leave you with a tip:  When it calls for two strands of floss, always use the loop method to start.  It leaves a cleaner backside.  (ok, that's my personal preference, but hey, it was a tip, right?)

Hope everyone else is stitching like mad and making lots of progress.

MAY SFS UPDATE

I can't believe May is almost over!   What a busy and crazy month it's been.   I guess I'll start off with how much money I spent for the month.  I lost my invoice but I know it was right at $28 for some fabric off of ebay.  I bought it to make a baby quilt for my daughters upcoming baby.  I also bought some grosgrain ribbon for $1.97.   So I'm going to just call it $30 for the month since I can't recall the exact amount for the fabric.  Still haven't had a chance to make the darned blanket yet,  hope to have pics to show in next months update. 

May started off with a GIANT stash haul.  A friend that I met online in a yahoo stitching group a few years ago sent me a message via facebook saying she was going to be moving into a nursing home and she wanted to give me all her craft stash.  So I made plans to meet her daughter at her apartment and load up her stash.  I was honestly thinking it would be a box or two,  I ended up with an entire truck full.........

 I shared the truck load with fellow stitchers and ended up with a few fun goodies for myself.  One of those goodies is the entire line of DMC floss all put on bobbins and in 13 boxes.  I've been stitching for what seems like my whole life and still didn't have the entire line so I'm a pretty excited girl about that. :)

I have a couple finishes to show for this month.  This little thing I found in my stash bag and don't even recall starting it.  I have no idea where it came from or what it's called but it had the pattern wrinkled up next to it and just the border started.  I pulled it out and got it done in an hour.  It's teeny tiny.

 This little tree came out of the stash in the back of the truck.  This is my first new start for the month.  I don't have the chart next to me but I think it was a JBW design called "Christmas tree".   I will probably finish it into an ornament at a later date for my tree this year.

 Next up I finish this Lizzie Kate piece.  I had run out of two of the floss colors and intended to purchase them but never got around to it.  I decided to just wing it and substitute with some Carries Creations floss I had on hand.  It's not exactly the same but I like how it turned out.

 This next piece was my second new start for the month.  My first humbug!   It didn't turn out too bad for a first try at making one.  This one is for an exchange in a yahoo group, but I plan to make a few more later just to have something different hanging on my Christmas tree this year.  I think they are kinda cute.

 And my final pic for the month.......Grand Marquoir.   I've not made too much progress on it.  It kind of tends to sit there and I just pick it up occasionally.  I've kind of lost my stitching bug over the last 2 weeks and just don't feel like touching anything.  Hoping it will come back and I can get some progress for June.

Totals for the month:
2 WIPS/UFO'S finished
2 New starts
Total spent: $30

Not too bad for May.   Hope everyone keeps those needles smoking.  Happy stitching!

April SFS Update

April has been a busy month for me.  My birthday was this month and I had planned to make a big purchase of stitchy things but ended up not even celebrating my birthday.  Hubby made dinner that night and we called it a day.   

We also moved house this month so I have had no stitching time at all.   My dining area is still filled with boxes of craft stuff.  Our old house had a 4th bedroom that I used as a craft room, this house has only 3 bedrooms so I no longer get to have a craft room.  Kinda makes me sad, but *someday* one of the kids rooms will be "my" space. 

I belong to a local facebook sell/trade/barter group.  A few days after my birthday I saw this beauty on there for $50......

 She was brand new, still in the box and wrapped in plastic.   I've been wanting one of these for a LONG time but could never justify the expense,  but when I saw that $50 price tag I just knew it had to be mine.  I call her "Lucy",  she can now be best friends with my sewing machine, "Ethel".


And since it's been such a slow stitchy month for me,  the ONLY thing I was able to finish this month was this little Lizzie Kate piece......

I just finished it last night before bed.   I knew I had to do a blog post for SFS for this month and needed something to show so I hurried and finished it.   Can you imagine a SFS post with nothing to show,  I would have been so embarrassed!

Aside from the $50 spent on Lucy,  I've also spent $5.97 on some pink piping trim that will be used as trim on a crib bumper pad for my "grand daughter to be".   Next month will be a bad spending month for me and I already know I'm going to be way over my allowed budget.   I'm getting the bumper pad inserts, fabric, ribbon and some batting and I know the grand total of all of it will end up being well over the $25 a month allowance.    Hopefully next month I'll have a crib quilt and bumper to show you all. :)

The Stitch from Stash challenge was originally intended to be for our cross stitch spending but I'm choosing to show EVERYTHING craft related because, honestly,  my stuff gets mixed together and used for more than one type of "craft".   And I think it will be fun to look back over the year and actually see what I really do spend on crafty related things in a year.

So, my grand total for this month is: $55.97 and ONE finish from my stash.  Kinda sad when I put it like that, ack!

Hope everyone else is doing better with their spending than I am.  Keep your needles smoking!

SFS March Update

What a crazy month March has been for me!   I haven't had time to really pick up my stitching or do any of the fun stuff this month.  Family has kept me busy and I have a feeling April will be a busy month too.  

I tried to pick up Grand Marquoir and stitch on it, but I just lost interest after I frogged my mistake.  It's been on the backburner this month and I'm not sure when I'll feel like picking it back up.  Here's what it looks like after frogging and trying to restitch the area I messed up on...

I do have a new start from my stash though.  It's Lizzie Kate "forgive quickly, kiss slowly".   I had the chart in my stash and a scrap piece of white monaco from a previous project so I just pulled a skein of floss from Grand Marquoir and started it while watching a movie with my husband one evening.  Not much to show, I think I watched the movie more than I actually stitched. ;)   Will probably have a finish pic of it in my April update since it's so small and easy to grab while watching tv.  That's the only time I stitch on it.

Today I didn't feel like picking up anything I already have started and the itch to start a new project has been killing me.  After convincing myself that it was okay to start something new I dug through my bag of "kitted" up stuff and found a new project.   The only problem is I had a piece of aida in the bag for it.  I kitted this one up long before I discovered I liked linens/evenweaves and now I can't stand the thought of doing this on aida.  Soooo, I dug through my fabric stash and tea dyed this piece of white 28 count monaco this morning...

And this is the chart that will be stitched on it......

It's from an old UK magazine and it's one of those absolutely must do someday projects for me.  Back when I first saw this I was so excited I special ordered the aida for it.  Sure wish I would have discovered my love for the evenweaves sooner.

I guess March was a good month for my stash spending....there's been NONE!   Way to go for me!   I am so glad that I have so many things kitted up already, it's like shopping in my own stash.  I think if I keep going the way I have been, I may just get some major stash busting in this year.   Hey, a girl can dream, right?

Well, that's it for me.  Nothing much else to report since it's been such a slow month.  Hope you all have your needles smoking!  Happy stitching!

SFS February Update

 It's been a slow stitching month for me.  I've been busy with homeschooling the boys and doing "life" things and haven't had a whole lot of time for stitching over the last few weeks.

 I did get a new start from my stash.  If you recall in a previous post, I received this LK chart from Tina as a PIF.  She had sent the leftover threads from hers and I've been using them, but have ran out of 2 colors of the WDW so I've stopped at the halfway point and will be ordering the 2 colors I need later next month.  Fortunately I also received a $10 gift card this month for a bingo game so I'll be able to use it to get the threads.  Until then, this is where I have left it....

I had picked up my Grand Marquoir piece for this month but I ended up putting it down out of frustration.  I almost had the next square completed and found that I had missed 2 stitches and it threw the entire block off kilter.  So I spent an hour frogging it and will have to re-stitch it.  No pics to show of it for now since there really isn't any progress.  

Since I was so irritated with GM, I started sifting through my tote bag and found this piece that I had forgotten about.  It's from My Big Toe and it's called "Stitching is Cheaper".   I had started this for the Crazy January 2012 Challenge and never went back to it. 

After pulling it out and having a peek I thought it would be a great piece to stitch up for a quick finish fix.   Here it is all done.  Still needs ironed and framed, but hey, a finish is a finish. :)

I did actually spend some money this month.  I bought these two charm square packs off ebay.  They were $7.90 for both of them.  I'm expecting my first grand child in June and these are for a quilt for the new baby.  Should be bright and colorful.

My next purchase for the month was 3 plates and 3 plate holders from the dollar store.  A total of $6 was spent to do this project.   I had the vinyl cut over a year ago when I went to a vinyl party and have had it sitting in the closet forever just waiting for inspiration to hit.   I think these will be cute above my kitchen cabinets. :)

See....it was a VERY slow stitching month for me.   I do think I did well with my spending though...a grand total of $13.90 spent for the whole month!   Hoping for a better stitching month in March.  Maybe "life" will slow down a bit and allow me to stitch.  Until next time, keep those needles smoking!

Yota Update & Finish

 Its the first Saturday of the month and you know what that means....its Yota time!    I actually made my goal of having the "dirty word" finished by the end of January.  I finished last night at about 10:45...barely made it on the 31st, but I'm happy.  I guess I can now start calling it BoInk again.   Its been a long road with this project and I think I'm going to kind of miss it.  I'm so happy to have this as my first YOTA finish of the year.

And since YOTA stands for "year of the acronym" I need another WIP/UFO to take its place, so the next big one I'll be focusing on is Grand Marquoir.  I started this one in January 2012 as part of the Crazy January challenge.  I completed the first block and didn't touch it for the rest of that year.  It sat here in the scroll frame forever and I finally picked it back up a few months ago.  I have not got that far on it but I do want this finished this year.  This will be my main YOTA focus for the month of February.

I also have a smaller project I'll be working on for YOTA this month.  It's another one that was started for the Crazy January 2012....Shepard's Bush "Scatter Hearts".   I forgot I even had this one and found it while I was cleaning out and organizing things for the SFS challenge.   I think this is a perfect project for February since it's Valentine's month. :)  The only thing I don't like about this piece is I started it on some kind of 18 count aida.  I don't know what the color is or where it even came from but it's how I kitted it up so I'm gonna roll with it.  The great thing about this is I have everything for it including the buttons.  I don't know why I never finished it.

And to make sure I get some kind of finish in the month of February, I'll be working on this Lizzie Kate "Life is not Measured" piece.  This is the one Tina PIF'd me a few weeks ago.  I really want to get this one done and framed to hang up on the wall.  Not much progress to show yet,  I was bored with BoInk and needed something to clear my head the other day and ease my frustration so I tossed in a few stitches.

 Well, I guess that about sums up my stitching plans for the month of February.  Hoping for the two small finishes and lots of progress on Grand Marquoir.  What are all of you planning for this month?   Happy stitching everyone and keep those needles smoking!

SFS January Update

I know it's not the end of the month yet but I'm doing my SFS update early since I've just received a model stitch and everything will be going on the back burner for the next couple of weeks while I get it stitched up. 

My main (only) focus has been on getting the "dirty word"  finished.  I really wanted a January finish on this one, but with the new model taking my focus, it's just not going to happen.  Here is my before progess: 

 And here is my after....hopefully the model will stitch up fast and I can get back to this quickly.

 I did good and didn't spend anything this month. Yay, me!  I don't really foresee any new spending anytime in the near future so I think I'm good to go with stitching from my stash.


Last week was a good mail week.  I found this adorable ornament in my mailbox from Katie.  This will go on my tree next year. :)

 And...I found this little goodie in the mailbox too...

This was from Tina.  She had posted a picture of her finish on facebook and I mentioned that I would love to have the chart if she would be willing to PIF it to me.  Well, not only did she send me the chart, she sent me the leftover WDW threads too!  I happen to have a piece of 32 count lambswool in my stash that is just the right size so it's pretty much kitted and ready to stitch. :)   This will be the next "new start" when the dirty word is done...and I won't even have to purchase any supplies so I'm counting it as "stitching from stash".

Hopefully I can breeze through the model and have a finish picture of the "dirty word" with the next update. Happy stitching!