One Last HD for 2004

Well, I did it! I managed to finish Jeannette Douglas's Ottawa Sampler before midnight and the start of 2005.

I'm not at home right now so I don't have the facilities to share a picture with you yet... just access to a friend's computer.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Of Best Laid Plans...

If you're one of my regular blog readers you'll know a couple of weeks ago I laid out for you my 2005 stitching plans. Well they've just been totally changed!

I received some fantastic news yesterday when my best friend Claire from Tennessee had a free day from her family up here to visit with me. She got engaged!!! She's also asked me to be one of her bridesmaids! So of course I have to stitch her a wedding sampler! Not just any wedding sampler, but Teresa Wentzler's Wedding Sampler. So as soon as I finish Ottawa Sampler and part 1a of Mini Mystery H I'll get started on Wedding Sampler (I better start kitting up!).

So for the moment until the sampler is finished all my other stitching plans for 05 will be put to the side.

Yay Claire!!!!

Stash To The Rescue or Why I Love My Stash!

Every serious, addicted, obsessive stitcher has a stash. That's a collection of charts, fabrics, fibers, beads, and so on. What good stitcher doesn't? Believe me I have a stash and a half! Some times its a pain to have one. How to store it, organize it, etc.

But today its great to have a stash. I'm making excellent progress on Jeannette Douglas's Ottawa Sampler and I've now reached band 11 of 17 and I've run out of Weeks Dye Works Sky! The horror, I tell you the horror. I've had to do some frogging in that colour so I'm not surprised. What do I do? I've run out... do I have some? Do I have to make a special trip to the LNS tomorrow (which is 30 minutes away). Calm down, take a deep breath. Lets go check our stash.

YES!!! There it is... plenty of Sky! Whew.

My stash saved the day!

Excellent Progress!

Yesterday morning I picked back up Ottawa Sampler by Jeannette Douglas for the first time since I took the class at the retreat I went to in October. I figured I might get a row or two done. Well by the time I put it down very late last night (after stitching for about 16 hours) I was well into row 7! There are 17 rows in this design.

If my Mum doesn't want to go out today, I'll be able to make significant progress again today.

Will I finish this before the New Year???? Who knows!

Up To Date For 2004

Every year I start my stitching year with the promise to keep my webpage upto date with progress pictures and finished projects. As usual I got behind. But this morning I finally finished updating my webpage.

You can visit it HERE

This morning I've started working on Jeannette Douglas's Ottawa Sampler the class I took at the retreat I went to in October.

Merry Christmas! A Happy Dance!

Just in time for a Christmas present for myself! Its the wee hours of Christmas morning and I've finished Dragon's Tea Party c2003 Dragon Dreams! Just a quick post and a pic before I'm off to bed!



Maybe Santa will finally fill my stocking this year????

A Little More Framing

You'd think after framing about 6 items for customers over the last two and a half weeks I'd be sick of framing. But nope I had two more to do before I could take a small break (I got two more before breaking for Christmas). Today I framed Take Time To Quilt - Summer by Jeannette Douglas for my Mum. I also framed a Teresa Wentzler freebie for my friend Misty. I hope she's pleased with what I've done!

Here's Take Time to Quilt.

I Think, Hell Froze Over...

Holy Cow! Its cold out this morning! When Todd got up he told me that it was -42c with the windchill! I can tell its cold out without even looking at the thermometer, the house is pretty cool and the heat ran for a long time this morning. The heat will probably be kicking in again soon.

Yesterday I was hoping to get a start on turning a round robin I had done a couple of years ago (Vermillion's International Bears) into a quilt for my niece for Christmas. My Mum had the perfect fabric but as we ironed it large yellow-ish blotches appeared in the fabric. We washed it and tried again. Still, yellow blotches. So we hopped in the car (it was only -20c yesterday...) and drove into town to see if the quilt shop was open. It wasn't. So we abandoned any quilt making for the day. Since the car was still warm I dropped my Mum back off and went home.

So I got a good stretch of stitching in on Dragon's Tea Party! Here's a progress pic.

Dragon's Tea Party c2003 Dragon Dreams


Today I'm going to sort my craft room a little since I'm not insane and am not going out to find fabric today!!! Also I'll put in some more hours on Dragon's Tea Party.

Thinking Forward To '05

Its about this time of year that most stitchers start looking towards the New Year and planning their stitching year.

Once again this upcoming year I want to finish some of the projects that I have started over the last couple of years and kinda abandoned. No, I don't like the term UFO (un-finished object), so they're not called that in my home! So the projects I'd like to put on the "chopping block" in '05 are :

Noah's Submarine - Stoney Creek

• I started this one a couple of years ago... more than 2 1/2 years ago. I never really got beyond page 1... I did finish it though.

Ottawa Sampler - Jeannette Douglas

• This is the class I took at this fall's Cross Stitch Cupboard Retreat. I of course have a small start on this because we were being taught some of the trickier specialty stitches. Once I get going this shouldn't take me long

Celtic Banner - Butternut Road

• This was my New Year's start for 2004 and I never touched it again all year long.

Now for the projects I'd like to start in 2005... starting a new project is always much more exciting than working on an old project.

• Bug Collector - Jeannette Douglas
• Arabian Woman - Lanarte
• Celtic Band Sampler - Homespun Elegance
• Scottish Castle Sampler - Cat's Cradle
• Mini Mandalas 1 - Chatelaine
• Dragon By The Fireside Stocking - Black Swan

Will I actually get to stitch these in '05? I have no clue. This list can also change at any time. There are just the project that have been screaming at me for some time. But some may turn to a weak whisper as a new design comes along with a louder voice.

Have you planned your stitching for '05?

FREEEEEDOM!

Yup! Its finally here! Christmas Holidays! I am now free to sleep in and stay up late until January 2nd.

Oh yeah... and stitch :-D

Another Chatelaine HD!

YAY! Yesterday part 3 of Mini Mystery G (Sapphire) was released. But I had such a long day and my eyes were burning by the time I got home that I couldn't sit to stitch! Heck I just went to bed!

So tonight I got to sit down and work on part 3, boy it was a quick stitch! So Mini Mystery G by Martina Webber of Chatelaine c2004 is done.


Now I get to wait for Mini Mystery H to start on January 1st... Amethyst!

I Was Hijacked!!!

Regular blog readers. I must apologize ... someone broke into my account and posted pictures of some Asian woman with really bad spelling. Luckily the photos weren't offending and the posts have been removed. If you're a regular blogger you may want to consider changing your password!

Cute Furry Little Cow


Isn't he a cute little cow? This is the latest piece I've stitched from a series of barnyard animals from Lanarte. I love these little guys and I'll be sad when I've stitched the last one!

Now back to Dragon's Tea Party until part 3 of Mini Mystery G comes out on Wednesday.

A Stitching HD and Finishing HD's!

Today was a day for getting things done that were stitching related. My first finish for the day was a stitching Happy Dance. For the first time ever I'm behind on a round robin, the mailing date was Monday of this past week... its now Sunday. But its stitched and will go in the mail on Thursday.

Here's Terrance Nolan's Ash Gray Ladybug c1999 this is for Sherrin's Wee Beasties RR


After completing my stitching for the day I retreated to my craft room to finish the last of my Christmas Ornaments. I've finished 27 in total this year. I'm not going to post pictures of each and every one of them here however if you follow this link. It'll take you to see them by clicking on each file name individually. A fair amount of these are on my website with full details. The rest will make it onto my website during the Christmas holidays (5 working days to go!) with all the appropriate details and credit.

My next stitching focus is to finish off the poor wee Lanarte Cow I started some months ago but never found the time to get back to. He should be done in a couple of days.

What's Up With That Canada Post

Okay I just don't get it, I don't understand the postal system. But then perhaps we're not meant to?

Today I sent two parcels in the mail they were small the same size roughly the same weight. One going to Alberta one going to North Eastern US. Please tell my WHY oh WHY does it cost me 5.05 to send the parcel to the US and 8.00 to send the one within Canada?

I just don't get it.

Finally Finished!

This month's ornament which I also stitched on in November I think is the ornament that would never end. Though its pretty, though it was on my wish list I found it sooo boring. At times after a short interval of stitching on this I'd want to go and take a nap! But its done, and it is the only Christmas Ornament I'm planning on stitching in December.

Click HERE to have a look at my ornament. I can't give you any details because its for the Ornament RR Group 7 and I wouldn't want to give away the surprise!

Now I'm going to kit up the Ash Grey Ladybug from Terrnace Nolan for my late Wee Beasties RR.

Finishing, not Stitching

At least that what it feels like I've been doing this week! I've been doing far more finishing than time stitching. During the week I've been working on finishing my ornaments, over half of them are done now. I just have a couple I want to sew instead of glue. I've also been doing quite a bit of framing. I've got all the mats cuts and almost all the frames made for all of my jobs but one. Tomorrow I'm going to pick up glass for them all and then everything should be finished tomorrow night and ready for delivery on Tuesday! Yay, cause I want them all out of here! I'd also like to get some stuff framed for myself!

So I'm still working on that poor Round Robin Ornament. I'm down to the last colour now and should finish it in a day or two. Then I've got to get going on my current Wee Beasties RR. I thought the mail out date on that was later in December, well it turns out its on Monday. Needless to say it won't be going out on time.

Well the snow is here... I'm ready for summer now!

Goal Time!

Yup a start of another month, time to fess up on what I got done what I didn't get done, and what I'd like to get done!

November Recap :

1. Finish MVI part 11 - Yup... even finished part 12 that's the entire mystery done!
2. Finish Mini Mystery G part2 - Yup
3. Stitch 2 ornaments - Only got one done
4. Make progress on Dragon's Tea Party - Not too bad
5. Finish Ottawa Sampler - Didn't see the light of day
6. Finish Lanarte Cow - Didn't see the light of day, why refer to goal 3

So I'm very disappointed in November I didn't stitch as much as I would have liked too and I just wasn't focused at all in my stitching.

December Goals

1. Finish Mini Mystery G
2. Stitch 1 ornament
3. Finish Dragon's Tea Party
4. Finish Lanarte Cow
5. Work on Ottawa Sampler

This month's goals I hope are more attainable, also I'll be off work for two weeks over the holidays so there should... and I say should be plety of stitching time!!!