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!

How This Stash Addict is Staying on the Wagon

Before I show you all how I'm planning to stay on this challenge wagon for the year, I've got to show you the fabulous exchange I received from  the X-stitch X-changes facebook group.

  My partner was Amanda and she sent me  a pack of Bohin needles, which I have never tried.  I've been wanting to try them out for a while now and have just never gotten around to ordering them.   Next is a pair of Sew Mate scissors, another item I've never tried or even heard of.  Let me just say...they are sharp and pointy.  I tried them out on a few floss scraps and they are fabulous!  They are smaller than any of my other embroidery scissors but the sharp point will be perfect for hardanger and those times when I need to get super close to cut.  Love them!   Next was a little tin with a "lotion bar" inside.   I've seen these on pinterest but have not tried one and it's another item that I've been wanting to try out.   Loved this little exchange and so pleased to try out new things! :)

Okay, now for the hard parts....the staying away from new stash purchases.   This is a hard one for me but I've got some support going on here from my mom.  She's pretty good at enabling me most of the time but this time she shocked me with these cute little photo storage boxes.  Yeah yeah, I know they are suppose to be for pictures but I found a new use for them....

They have officially been renamed: Challenge boxes!  The first one holds my current projects that I'm working on with all the floss, chart, scissors, etc.  Yes, the dirty word is currently hanging out in that box..

The other box has most of  my WIPS/UFO's in it that I have started and never finished.  Some have only a few stitches in them and some are already half done.  Everything is there to complete them, they just need finished stitching up.  THIS is the box I'll be slowly trying to make it through for the SFS2014 & YOTA challenges. Most of these were started for the 2012 Crazy January Challenge and never saw the light of day again.

And if by some miracle I actually make it through that box this year, I have my "all kitted up and ready to go" tote bag.  A rough estimate of about 30 projects are in this bag.  All of them have all the floss, beads, buttons, fabric, charts and whatever else it calls for.  They just need to be stitched up.  I believe there are a couple of UFO's in the bag also.

Why am I showing you all of this?   Well,  I need some accountability.  Someone has to yell at me and tell me not to be buying any more.  I think I'm becoming a stash hoarder. (is that a good thing or bad thing?)  I need an intervention and I'm counting on all of you to intervent me..is that even a word?

And since I've now embarrassed myself with my hoarding problem I'll go hide in a corner and pick up a needle so I can look busy.  Hope you all have smoking needles!  Happy stitching!

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!

2014 Challenges and SAL's

After much thought and deliberation I've joined two challenges for the year.  The first one is the YOTA challenge.  You can learn about the YOTA challenge here: http://pulltheotherthread.blogspot.com/p/yota-year-of-acronyms.html

I'm thinking posting once a month (the first Saturday) a before and after shot of a WIP/UFO isn't too hard, I hope.  Maybe this will help me whittle down that UFO bag.  Hey, a girl can dream, right?


The other challenge is one heck of a DOOZY for me.  It's a stitch from your stash challenge...and you only get a limited budget for stash each month.  Holy Cow Batman!   This one will be a hard one for me.  You can find the details here: http://epicstitching.blogspot.com/2013/12/stitch-from-stash-2014-join-now.html

It's the beginning of the year and I'm already struggling with this one bad.  See, I had this plan to purchase the last 4 LHN Sheep Virtue charts to complete the series.  I was going to just place the big order for them and then I realized....I can't get them all at the same time.  I'll only be able to get 2 of them or I'll go over my budget allowance for the month.  Guess I'm going to have to get 2 in January and 2 in February.   What's going to be even harder for me with this one is I'm really going to give it a shot with NOT buying any stash (except floss) after I get those sheep charts.   Can you imagine the horror?  An entire YEAR with no stash additions?!  Can it be done?   I'm going to give it a try and see how far I get.  You all can get up off the floor now,  I know you've fallen over laughing....

Happy Stitching!