Ornament SAL - January Report

Silverlotous is hosting an Ornament SAL this year and if you're a regular reader you know for years now I've stitched at least one ornament a month, so this SAL is a cinch for me!  I couldn't not join in.

Instead of stitching one ornament this month... I've stitched quite a few!  All of these were part of my Crazy January Challenge.  I have a couple of more I haven't finished yet.  They'll be shown off for next month's SAL.

 Peace Pin Button by Jeannette Douglas

from the 2012 JCS Ornament Issue

 Merry Little Chirstmas Ornament by The Drawn thread

 Love Dove by JBW Designs

Flowers and Vines Dove by JBW Designs

Another Crazy... Finished

The last few days in my new stitching rotation have been my "smalls" rotation.  I've decided this rotation won't be as long as my other 4-day rotations.  I think I only need to work on my smalls for about 2 days.  However I will allow for up to four days for that rotation if I've got a more complicated small.

So during this rotation I had two more finishes, one I shared with you during my WIPocalypse post and the other one I finished off last night.  These were cute little guys to stitch up, Jo kindly sent me the chart after she stitched them.

Heartstruck Quakers

by Midnight Stitching

Stitched on 28ct Sterling Lugana from Picture This Plus

Stitched with DMC

In the spirit that Jo sent them to me, I am now going to send on these cute little snowmen!  Please leave a comment if you'd like to be entered in this giveaway.  I'll randomly draw a winner next Tuesday, February 5th.

First WIPocalypse for 2013

Last night as I got home from stitching with Tracey and Leslie, I realized oh its a full moon!  I double checked my calendar and yes, its time for the first WIPocalypse Report of 2013.  This year there are themes involved but I'd like to stick with last year's format.  Its neat to see how much I can accomplish from one full moon to the next.

First of all I'd like to start with my non-Crazy Challenge pieces.

There is The Accolade, which I've gotten a lot done on recently, and yesterday I just finished a 4-day rotation on it.

December progress

Progress as of yesterday

Kathy's ABC Christmas Sampler

 December WIPocalypse

 January progress

In late December I started to put in a few lengths on The Big Red by The Sliver Lining, it was the one 2012 Crazy Challenge pieces I didn't finish... for obvious reasons I think!

The Big Red, barely started

Now onto my Crazy Challenge pieces for 2013

January 1st start... finished!  Maple Leaf by Alessandra Adelaide Needlework

January 2nd start... finished!  Cross Stitcher In Residence by Lizzie Kate

January 3rd start Winter Cottage by Michael Powell

January 4th start Tartan Thistle Scissorkeep

January 5th start ... finished (just finished this on Thursday) Love Dove by JBW Designs

January 6th start ... finished Flowers and Vines Dove by JBW Designs

January 7th start Dove of Birds by JWB (difficult to get a good picture)

January 8th start Merry Cats-Mas by The Chocolate Cat

January 9th start ... finished Peace Pin Button by Jeannette Douglas

January 10th start T'is Read by La-D-Da

January 11th start ... finished Merry Little Christmas Ornament by The Drawn Thread

January 12th start The Cat's Meyow by The Drawn Thread

January 13th start ... finished just today!  Heartstruck Quakers by Midnight Stitching

January 14th start Heartsturck Quakers by Midnight Stitching

January 15th start Tartan Thistle Needlecase

Wow!  I've done a lot since the last full moon!!!!

PhotoHunt - Knitted

This week's PhotoHunt theme is "knitted" this was a tough one for me as I don't hang out with knitters and its not really something I look to photograph.

This is Matilda, she was knitted for me by Julie, I love her and she's adorable!

I Think Hell Froze Over

Out there in Blogland there's a lot of bloggers talking about how much snow they've had .... unless you've had a meter or more, really you've not had a lot.  Now the trend has moved to HOW COLD it is!  Some people were complaining about -8C.... the proof in the picture above.  Holy Crap its COLD here!  This was the reading on my car when I left for work this am.  That was before you took into account the windchill factor which was about -36C.  When I drove home from work, we had warmed up to a balmy -21C.  Its supposed to be just as cold tomorrow morning but with a colder windchill!  So if you're colder than -28C (-18.4F) or have had more than a meter of snow please feel free to complain!

Besides complaining about the cold and the snow (can you tell I am not a winter person?) I do have some stitching to share with you!  I spent four days working on Kathy's ABC sampler and the result was finishing the Angel (as you saw in my last post), I have also finished B for Bell in those 4 days.  I'm now onto a 4 day cycle with The Accolade.  Several of my stitching friends are doing 4 day rotations on their WIPs and its doing wonder for their progress.

The whole sampler so far

January K&N Retreat and IHSW!!

Wow what a great weekend!  Not only was it time for the IHSW, which I quite enjoy when I get to participate properly, stay home and stitch lots!  This weekend I wasn't at home, but I was with like-minded friends!  Stitchers at the Knowledge and Needles January Retreat.

The Ottawa Contingent

Lianne, Diane, Me, Jeannine, Sue & Leslie

We all gathered at the Timberhouse Country Inn outside of Brighton and stitched our little hearts out!  Oh did I mention there was also a lot of eating and a little sleeping!  Eat, Sleep, Stitch!  I was joined by some fellow bloggers such as our hostess Ann, Bonnie, Lianne and Fran.  I think I'll let the pictures do the talking!

Ann, our hostess and owner of Knowledge and Needles

Judie

Bonnie and I

Brenda

Sharon

Clare

Ann

Mary (no picture, sorry) brought this little box and said including the box and ribbon there was 52 items.  We had until Saturday evening to come up with our guesses.  It was a small box, and I got 28 out of the 52 items.  We  had a lot of fun with this!

As part of the retreat we are treated to a fantastic lunch at Chez Dan with his Sou and Sou Sou Chef.  I remembered to take pictures of the starter and dessert.  I guess I was so hungry that I forgot to take a picture of the main dish.

Sous, sous Chef Simon reading us the menu in his best military voice

Of course there are always a lot of fantastic finished pieces on display!

 Bonnie's Leaf

 Both of these are Lianne's first framed pieces for her home!

 Ann's fantastic Mystic Stitch

 Ann's Chatelaine

I'm sure you're dying to see my IHSW progress, and once I finally managed to settle down and stitch (because there is so much visiting to do!).  I mainly worked on two projects, The Accolade and ABC Christmas sampler for Kathy.

Accolade before the IHSW

After

Kathy's ABC Christmas Sampler, I had a little more red than this done before the weekend started

I finished A for Angel and almost finished B for Bells!