More Black Belt Stitching Wizard Stuff

Monday, January 02, 2012

Crazy Challenge Day 1 Turns Crazy!

Yesterday, being New Years Day I followed my annual tradition of emptying the ort jar.  I had a little help as it is the Year of the Dragon coming up, I am a dragon baby does this mean I'm in for a good year???

A full year of orts!  Good bye 2011!!

Can you believe I filled this sucker (its actually a vase from the dollar store) almost to the top... without squishing mind you.  These orts would of overflowed out of my old mason jar!  My last orts of the year were beautiful purple silks from Enchantment of Winter.

My ort jar empty and ready to receive 2012 orts

Being January 1st it was the start of two stitching events for me!  First of all I was starting a SAL with good stitching friends Christin, Bonnie, Beatrice, Rebecca, Clare, Tracey and Trista!  There was a lot of smack talk going back and forth with text messages, e-mails and Facebook posts going on in the hours leading up to midnight.  Tracey kept bragging that she was getting to start an hour earlier than us because she was in Cape Breton!  I think in terms of midnight starts the only ones who stuck it out were Me, Bonnie and Beatrice, the others waited till morning.

A beautiful colour pallet for Ink Circles Seasonal Mandalas

The piece for this year's SAL is Ink Circle's Seasonal Mandalas, I started with Winter which was my first Crazy Challenge start on January 1st!  My goal was to stitch the whole outer outline first so I could easily place/start Spring on the same piece of fabric (I am stitching the four seasons horizontally on 40ct linen) on January 2nd for my 2nd Crazy Challenge Start.  Each Mandala accounts as a new start right???  Right?

My progress after the clock struck midnight

I have a feeling I probably should of waited till morning to start... or perhaps ignored the text messaging going on during New Years Day as well amongst my SAL partners.  I didn't notice it until after 11PM last night when I was getting close to meeting up the outside edges that things didn't quite meet up properly!  Oh CRAP!  Well those aren't the exact words I used and we're in polite company here.  So I frogged and stitched some more!  This morning I picked Winter up with fresh eyes, determined to quickly finish off that outline then start Spring.  Crap, crappity, crap, CRAP!  It didn't meet up again!  I think I have frogged the outlining on this FIVE times in under 24 hours!  For some reason the outlining on this just was a major headache.  I couldn't just leave this not right, it had to be fixed before I start Spring.

Finally got that border right... took until dinner time on Jan 2nd to get right!
One strand over two on 40ct linen

Seeing as its the dinner hour as I type this I won't be starting Spring today, but tomorrow.  I think I'll go through my other Crazy Pieces and pick something small, simple, nice and colourful for the rest of the evening!  I'll pick up Spring for tomorrow, my 3rd Crazy Challenge Start!

26 comments:

ollie1976 said...

that sucks about the frogs
-Jen

Unknown said...

OH darn it Dani, what bad luck, I hope the frog hops off to somewhere else for the rest of the year. Good on you for sticking with it and getting it done. Looking forward to seeing more of these.

geeky Heather said...

UGH how frustrating!! Last time I did that it was in a class and it put me so behind. Hope the rest of your crazy is less...crazy. =)

Lesleyanne said...

I agree Dani that was Crapity crap. I hope your next new start goes a bit easier.

Kaisievic said...

Oh dear, Dani, I feel your pain - hopefully it is all sorted now.

Hugs, Kaye xoxox

Mouse said...

ohhh sorry to hear about the frogs and glad you got it sorted but silently giggling at your polite words in company heheheh ... can't wait to see the next updates :) love mouse xxxx

Kate said...

Sorry the frogs landed Dani - look forward to seeing all your crazy progress.

Karyn said...

Well, hopefully you fought the frogs and won and now they'll stay at bay for a fab finish!
Your outline is beautiful and personally I myself find that those stitchy sisters I hold most dear can talk smack with the best of 'em when it comes to WIPs, and sometimes they even run with scissors ;)
Happy New Year kiddo
Hugs
Ma

Bonnie Brown said...

BAD BAD FROGS!!

Rebel In Ontario said...

What Bonnie said!

Gwen said...

Hope the frogs have hopped off. Good stitching on the rest of your challenge stitching.

Bette said...

I always hold my breath when I'm stitching borders. Glad yours finally met up.

Anonymous said...

It's just crazy-making when a border doesn't meet up. I've had it happen on many occasions --- one time the chart was wrong. THAT one really drove me crazy!

The finished border looks pretty good.

Christine said...

How annoying, glad you got it to meet up in the end

Coco Cross Stitcher said...

Oh dear it does sound like you had a bit of a challenge with the border. Glad to see you stuck at it though. I'm sure it will be worth it in the end.
x catherine

Kielrain said...

Oh, how I hate it when my borders don't line up! So glad you finally got it beat.

cucki said...

oh no..it is very annoying..i hope everything is sorted now..
hugs cucki xx

Lisa said...

Love your draggies!
Sorry to hear about your frog, set those dragons on him, he won't be around for long!
I'm envious of your new mandala starts, I just love those designs, have had Kaleidoscope in my stash mostly kitted for years and still not got around to it. Maybe this year should be the year...

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear about the frogs, but glad that you managed to get everything lined up eventually.

Sally said...

I hope the frogs stay away now Dani. Loving your start and looking forward to seeing more. I really want to stitch these myself one day!

Julie said...

How frustrating, looks lovely

Gabi said...

Oh gosh that must have been frustrating. Thankfully you could fix it and are off to a wonderful start. :)

Xine said...

Sorry to hear about the frogs.

What did you do with last years orts when you cleared the jar?

Mindi said...

Oh no! That's always my fear when doing borders, that they won't match up with I finally come around. I'm glad you finally got it fixed, but that sucks it took 5 times. I don't blame you for taking a break and working on something a bit easier for a day.

Aussie Stitcher said...

Those darn frogs. I hope you sent them packing with a swift kick up the butt.

Caitlin @ Naughts Cross Stitches said...

poor dear! you weren't having any luck.