Stitch Of The Union Address and Crazy Challenge Day 1

Yes, you read it right!  This is my Stitch Of The Union Address... what I didn't get done in 2012, how it progressed and what I'm thinking for this year!!

In 2012....

I finished 40 projects!  Two of the 40 were large finishes, being Enchantment of Winter and Seasonal Mandalas, the other 38 were a combination of ornaments, small pieces, and exchanges.

2012 January 1st SAL

I participated in my annual January 1st SAL which has become a tradition with my stitching friends and myself.  Some years its just a few of us, and some years everyone gets on the boat!  Last year it was Ink Circles Seasonal Mandalas, this year its Alessandra Adelaide Designs Leaf.

2013 January 1st SAL

Last year I, for the first time I participated in the January Crazy Challenge, that's 15 new projects in 15 days.  The true challenge is to finish all 15 projects by the end of the year.  I ALMOST managed that!  I started 14 projects that I KNEW I would finish, but one I wouldn't.  That was The Big Red by The Silver Lining.  I just wanted to get this piece started so that I would get to work on it "soon".  I'm attempting the Crazy Challenge again this year.  Unfortunately this year I'm not as organized as last year.  Last year I picked, planned, and purchased supplies for all 15 projects.  This year I'm going to work from my stash, and what I feel like/have time to start.  Also all 15 are going to be smaller projects.

The Crazy Challenge that got away in 2012, the one I didn't finish

I have several projects that I did not manage to finish during 2012... In no paicular order, here they are where they stood at the beginning of 2012 and again at the end.

Kahty's ABC Christmas Sampler when I first got it 

 As of the end of December 2012

 The Accolade as of February 2012

 The Accolade as of the end of December 2012

Cirque des Circles when I started it fall 2012

 Latest progress on Cirque des Circles

 The Big Red, not touched since January of 2012

Finally here's Crazy Challenge Day 1 - AAN's Leaf, I took a bit of a creative jump with the fabric.  My hopes is that my leaf look like its lying on the top of a leaf strewn lawn!  What do you think of my fabric choice?

AAN's Leaf - January 1st SAL and Crazy Start #1

I Survived The Insanity!!!

Today, is the day!  Its DAY FIFTEEN of the Crazy Challenge the final day of madness, starting a new project every day for the first 15 days of the month.  I have collected quite a pile of WIPs now that this is over which my good friends know is quite unusual for me... I'm usually a one at a time stitcher and that's what I'm heading back towards.  Tomorrow I will re-focus all my stitchy energy on Enchantment of Winter.

The Big Red by The Silver Lining

Stitched over one on 25ct Summer Khaki Lugana

I saved my biggest new start for today, the final day of the challenge!  Today's new start was The Big Red by The Silver Lining.  This piece is 274 stitches wide by 440 stitches high!  I'm stitching it over one on 25ct and the design uses a combination of DMC and Anchor threads giving you a wider pallet for shading.  Since I've  had so many mis-haps during this challenge I decided to start in the very center of the 16 page chart.  From the center point I worked my way up and to the left, so that I would be in my "happy place" the top left hand corner which is where I prefer to start.

Does it look like a bunch of poppies yet?  Nope just a purple blob, a red blob, and a pink one!

I wont' be finishing this piece this year, I'm not sure if I'll get back to it any time soon either... but I had been dying to start it for a very long time!  Now its started.

An Olympic Effort!

Its taken me many hours, lots of dedication and stubbornness to do this before February ended :

HAPPY DANCE!!!!

Tour Des Marques

c2004 The Silver Lining

Stitched on : 28 ct Bluebell Joblean (Wichelt)

Stitched with : DMC & Anchor floss

I started this back in January of 2007 and it spent many years ignored and unloved. Determined to start emptying out my stitching basket, I pulled it out late 2009 and finished it tonight! Its stitched one over one the stitch count is 140x289.

I'm not sure what's next on the stitching agendas. Since I'm leaving for my trip to the DR in a week probably an ornament, some smalls, nothing too involved.

On Saturday I'll get you caught up on my photo a day project (I'm sad to say I've missed one day!)

Not Quite A Page

I had high hopes for my stitching long weekend, and boy did I stitch! But obviously not enough, as I had hoped to finish page 6 on Tour des Marques, and alas I didn't quite make it! I'm two colours short on the trees, and of course all the backstitching necessary for this page. After page 6 is completed I have two very short pages left! Fingers crossed, I'll have this baby done before I go to the D.R.!

I realized I'm way behind in sharing my Daily Photo Project with you! I have still been taking my daily pictures, still nothing super creative, but I'm still snapping and that's important!

Wednesday February 10 - I think this is called diamond plate???? Its on a trailer, I intentionally played with the focus and aperture of my camera so that only one small area is in clear focus, the rest is slightly out.

Thursday February 11 - Hunter playing hidey-attack from under my wool coat early in the morning.

Friday February 12 - Portable stitching, I always carry something in my purse. I pulled this Prarie Schooler freeibe out and worked on it while I was waiting for Christin at the bus stop.

Saturday February 13 - I had to run to Canadian Tire to pick up chain saw oil for Todd and his Dad. This gave me the opportunity to indulge in my old barn fetish.

Sunday February 14 - Hunter... begging for chicken.

Monday February 15 - On Saturday Todd and his Dad worked on cleaning up the tree we lost due to freezing rain shortly after Christmas. This is what we've been able to salvage. Boy we feel very exposed to the road now!

Start of a Long Weekend!

I have been looking forward to this weekend for quite some time! Its a long weekend here in Ontario, as Monday is Family Day. What exciting things do I have planned??? STITCHING!

I took an update picture of Tour before I picked it up tonight. So here it is as of Friday evening, and you're not going to see it again until Monday night!

Now, how about a PhotoHunt?

The theme for this picture is "Low"

On one of my tours around the back roads in the area I live in, I came across these Turkey Vultures. The air temperatures weren't right for them to get off the ground. Here's one of the flock in a vain attempt to get airborne.

Well I think I'm well enough to start hitting the treadmill again this weekend! Finally I've not done a lick of exercise since Monday! I've eaten pizza (my cold demanded it!) and a few other treats in the last few days... I'm sure I'll pay for that! Oh well, it was good, gotta live a little!

A Late Post

I bet you were all looking for my latest Tour update on Monday morning? Sorry I didn't update on Sunday night, I felt like I hadn't really gotten in enough progress to warrant showing off.

I didn't get in much stitching on Saturday, I met with Lori and her daughter. We got along right away, and spent wayyy more time talking than stitching. I think our visit lasted about 5 hours! I'm looking forward to stitching with Lori again.

Sunday was as many of you know, Superbowl Sunday. Since I spent Saturday visiting, I had to get up and start cleaning my house, Todd's family was coming over for my Kick Ass Lasagna and the Superbowl (I'd like to think my lasagna is more important!). So many hours were dedicated to domestic goddess duties, darn it should of been stitching!

Well, my insane habit of keeping busy and running around all the time has finally caught up with me! I've got a cold! Not one of those knock you on your behind and into bed colds but more like one of the walking wounded. I've been going around sniffling and sneezing for the last two days. Having a bit of a off-routine weekend, not working out since Thursday, and coming down with this cold has shown up at the scale. The two pounds I took off last week are back! Urgh! I'll be avoiding the gym and Taekwon-Do until I feel well, I don't need this to be a long lingering cold.

Here are some of the pictures I've collected in the last few days

Saturday February 6 -Close up of a fern. Just looking for something to shoot without going outside.

Sunday February 7 - Is that a tear in your eye? Nope, just the onion! Getting ready to chop up an onion for my kick ass lasagna.

Monday February 8 - I drive by this roll of wire fence every day. Finally I stopped to take a picture of it, I wish I had my DSLR it would of been a better picture.

Tuesday February 9 - This is another thing I drive by every day! The first time I noticed this little guy was in the pre-dawn winter light, I thought oh my goodness! A woodpecker, how cool. The the next morning he was there again. What strange behaviour. Then I finally saw it in full light... fooled me!

Its the Weekend!

Yay! Its Saturday! I'm heading out shortly to meet Lori, whose new to this neck of the woods and wanted to find some people to stitch with. Also to bounce ideas off of someone whose local on where are the best places to get supplies. I'm looking forward to meeting a new local stitcher! Stitching groups in my neck of the woods seem to be few and far between.

Here's Tour as of last night, I'd like to work on it a lot this weekend, we'll see what happens!

Here are my pictures for the week!

Monday February 1 - Hunter, being cute as usual, I went into the bedroom on Monday morning, and there he was, sitting in Todd's empty laundry bin.

Tuesday February 2 - At work there are two staff members who drive VW Bugs, they always park them together! What a hoot!

Wednesday February 3 - I was greeted by this lovely sunrise as I was heading up the stairs to my library at work. So I went out the back of the building and took this shot.

Thursday February 4 - Stitching paraphernalia, yes I mark my charts(working copies that is)!

Friday February 5 - This is Cuddles, my other cat he's 13 and isn't anywhere near as cute or photographic as Hunter (sorry Cuddles). He spends a lot of his day now lying around and sleeping.

So that's it for now, we'll see if I get any great shots while I'm out today!

Tour, Tour Everywhere!

This weekend I stayed home, I stayed inside, I stayed off of the treadmill, and I stitched!

I managed to finish page 5 and started page 6!

Here are this weekend's photos... taken without leaving the house (yay!)

Saturday January 30 - Hunter and Cuddles trying to lick leftover tuna out of a container. Quite funny since the container isn't big enough for both of them to eat out of it!

Sunday January 31 - Did I ever mention I have a chicken coop? Well I do, it came with the house. We don't use it, would be interesting to see what critters have holed up in there for the winter.

For Lack of a Better Title

Lately my focus on life seems to be pretty narrow, making it from Monday to Friday, so that I can relax and stitch on the weekends. Honestly I get up Monday morning and think about how far away Friday 3:30 (quitting time) is! I just want to come home, sit in my chair with one of my Mum's quilts on my lap and stitch... or sleep! We've got a couple of very cold days ahead of us and I'm doubly glad all I'm going to do this weekend is stay home! (you can tell its cold outside, Hunter is spending a lot more time on my lap all of a sudden)

Thursday night I was called in to teach at TKD the first two family classes, I actually ended up teaching all three classes that night, including the black belt/red belt class I had planned on attending. I still feel like I've got my training wheels on when I'm infront of a class at the dojang but I'm sure with some more teaching under my belt that feeling will go away. My family classes, I handled much better than last week. Things went much smoother, I barely had any behaviour issues, and didn't feel like I was floundering around in my teaching. At the moment I'm not scheduled to teach any classes in February but you never know, I might get the call.

My weigh in was not bad this week I'm down another 0.5lbs which made me just legal at my Weight Watchers meeting! Yay I didn't have to pay for January. I've now got four more weeks to work on dropping another 1.5lbs and I'll be back at my goal weight.

Between working, the gym, the dojang, and other things in between I did find some stitching time this week. Of course I'm still single mindedly working on Tour. Wouldn't it be lovely if I could finish this page before the month was up??? Here's my progress through the week before picking Tour up this evening. I'll of course give you another update Sunday night!

I am still being consistent with my photo a day project, each day managing to find something to photograph. This project has certainly opened me up to being more aware of my surroundings and looking for points of interest. You should try going around with your camera if you don't already do!

Monday January 25 - After going to the gym, I treated myself to a pound of strawberries! Yum! Its been so nice to make myself a smoothie in the morning with fresh berries!

Tuesday January 26 - A beacon in a cold Ontario night. In Ontario, beer is only sold in two places, yes "The Beer Store" or the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario). The beer store is right across the parking lot from my Weight Watcher's meeting.

Wednesday January 27 - On Wednesday afternoon I went to a book fair for High School libraries. It was organized by the public board in the area I work in. The book fair was held in a high school that was no longer being used as a school but a multi-use facility for that board. It was a pleasant surprise to come across this passage full of plants enjoying the winter sun.

Thursday January 28 - A hockey net at the rink next to my house, off the ice so that the surface can be easily shovelled.

Friday January 29 - I have this fascination with barns, the older the better! I think they just have so much character and I love to photograph them. This one was on my way home from the workshop I attended today.

The Weend Ends

I love the weekend, and I hate it ending every Sunday night. Finally, I had a full day at home today, to enjoy my new chair and work on Tour. Here it is as of bed time tonight, and once again I didn't want to put it down!!!!

I saw Avatar in 3D on Saturday with my Mum and Christin. I don't understand how/why so many people are in awe over this movie. Its just Dances With Wolves in the future... really. The head of security fellow reminds me of the character from Apocalypse Now whose line is "I love the smell of napalm in the morning". Yes the 3D was cool, yes the CGI was very impressive and artistically beautiful. But I did not walk away from this movie amazed as so many others say they were.

Here are my weekend pictures :

Saturday January 23 - We had an overnight frost again, I took this picture on the way to pick up my Mum.

Sunday January 24 - Since I wasn't going anywhere today my subjects were limited. But then Hunter was so cute, sitting there in my bathtub (ignore the soap scum!) he wanted me to turn on the tap just a tiny bit so he could have a drink.

The Weekend Begins

This week for me was one of those weeks where every morning you fight with yourself to get out of bed and go to work. Then once you're at work you're watching the clock so you can leave. It wasn't a bad week, there was no reason... I just would of rather of been at home sleeping I suppose. I also had to fight with myself to go to the gym like I promised and go to Taekwon-Do, I did make it to both.

I had some success at the scale this week! I'm down 1.5 lbs, just 2 lbs left to go to get back to my goal weight. I hope this week I'm down enough to make weigh in. According to my scale I'm just barely legal (for Weight Watchers you have to be within 2 lbs of your goal weight or you pay), but that's my scale not theirs. So I'd like to drop a little more for this week's weigh in.

I'm still plugging away at Tour and loving every moment of it.

Are you ready for this week's pictures? There's nothing artsy or inspirational here... probably due to my desire to do nothing and go nowhere. Its also hard to find things to shoot when by the time you get home its dark outside, and when you leave in the morning, its dark outside! The days are getting longer but not soon enough for me!

Monday January 18 - "My favourite box of crayons!" What stitcher doesn't drool over a beautiful box full of floss. I was playing with the macro lens again, intentionally making one section of the floss box in full focus and the rest start to blur out.

Tuesday January 19 - This is Pete my Mum's Parrot. He hates cameras so I had to do this quickly, thus it needed quite a bit of attention in Elements just to make it look okay. I used the burn and dodge techniques (not the burn and dodge button as it doesn't do as nice of a job) I learnt in my photography course two years ago.

Wednesday January 20 - "My Needle and Thread They Comfort Me" I had a pretty crappy evening Tuesday I spent every free moment that night fighting with my cellular company. As usual they won and I'm paying more. I wasn't going to stitch that night but I grudgingly pulled Tour out and I realized just how much my stitching calmed me and comforted me.

Thursday January 21 - Heading off into the sunset. I pass this snowmobile trail on my way home almost every evening (depending on which way I go). The sun is just starting its trip down to the horizon. You may see this path again in the near future when there's a fresh dusting of snow on the trees, its so pretty!

Firday January 22 - Ahhhhh the end of a week at work, time to take my shoes off, put on my boots, and go home! I did this by creating hue/saturation layer and level layers in Elements and playing with the sliders on the histogram. This took a pretty insignificant picture and made it a little more interesting.