Another September Goal

... was to start Primitive Needle's Black'd Skie. Oh, my, what a BAP! The piece is huge ... far larger than I remember: 197w x 247h. It is stitched in panels or boxes a la the HRH series. I think this officially kills any chance I might have had of completing the Crazy January Challenge of 2011 successfully. After all, there is still Allesandre Adelaide's Zucca on the list after this. Even if I decided to limit all my stitching to Tracery Dragons and Black'd Skie for the remainder of the year [a most unlikely choice, at best], I doubt I'd finish up both by year's end. And that still leaves Zucca out of the mix: another BAP, if not in size, then in complexity. But I am not nearly single-minded enough to focus solely on BAPs. I have two 2010 WIPs still in the stitching bag that I would like to have done before the close of 2011. And there's a 2011 goal to have stitched one Town Square ornament a month this year: I have five ornaments to go. I have yet to receive the JCS Halloween book for 2011 and I just know there'll be a must stitch ornament or two or three in that issue. Then, of course, there is my committment to stitch a blogaversary ornament. What was I thinking? Well, back to the details. I am stitching this on a piece of 40ct raw linen with one strand of the recommended Baroque Silks from The Pure Palette. The ridiculously tiny bit of progress you see in the photo is the product of four hours stitching! Gotta love 40ct projects!!!

Weekend Progress Report: June 12, 2011

I was already to post this last night but my camera ran out of juice. Hence the Monday posting.

This past week has been one heck of a brutally hot week. It's been a strange Spring: wintry at the onset, followed by a monsoon and now a heat weave. Not your typical northeastern US weather. Reading and stitching in air-conditioned rooms has been the preferred recreation ... too hot to garden or cook and way too hot to do housework [but then any excuse will do when avoiding housework]. It's been the sort of week that you need to run the washer and the dishwasher around 5:30am and use a drying rack for the clothes to try and avoid afternoon brown-outs when air-conditioning really is a must. We usually don't have to do that till late July and early August.

In spite of all the indoor stitching time, I don't seem to have a lot to show you. My new TW piece, Tracery Dragons, just eats up stitching time. There are far more quarter stitches than usual ... and Teresa Wentzler is no slouch when it comes to quarter stitches at the best of times. In this piece, the quarter stitches are offset to make skinny little diagonals. Talk about counting twice and stitching once! More like counting three and four times to make sure these wicked little fractionals are in exactly the right place. I can sense the frog waiting in the wings but so far he has not made even a cameo appearance, thank the Lord! The frequent color changes and all the blended needles seem like child's play compared to the fractionals. I foolishly thought that because this piece required only 46 shades of DMC and was a bit smaller than the usual TW chart, it would take only a month or so to stitch. Not likely!! I usually enjoy Wentzler's work since I have a split stitching personality: enjoying the process as much as the end result. But I fear this piece will not give much joy to the process stitcher within. Furthermore, at the moment the piece has all the aesthetic appeal of a three year old's first finger painting: random blobs of color with no discernible design concept. I have to keep looking at the model photo to remind myself of my reason for stitching the piece. Never had to do that before.

The other potential problem with Tracery Dragons is that, though the chart was designed to be used with a dark fabric, I am using a mid-tone fabric. The floss toss looked fine but that isn't always a clear indication of how the stitched piece will look. I want to believe it will be okay since I dislike stitching on very dark fabric. I'll have a pretty good idea once I have finished cross-stitching and back-stitching page three of the chart ...and since that only involves the bottom two inches of the piece, I won't have invested too much time in the project if I decide it doesn't look right. I have some black linen I could use instead if necessary. I hope it won't be necessary, though.

This past week [and the next few weeks as well] will feature a lot of immediate [nearly] gratification. I have finally arrived at the smalls section of my Crazy January Challenge list. The first small piece is Jane Greenoff's Blackwork Owl. I have a bit of a thing for owls: I collect owl figurines of all sorts, I have a lot of jewelry in which owls figure as the main subject, and I stitch owl charts frequently. I posted a photo of progress on the owl earlier this week and hope to finish the piece in the coming week.

In addition to my small owl, I snuck four of my Town Square SAL pieces onto the CJC list, killing two birds with one stone. Here is Knotted Tree's Post Office. I stitched it in the suggested colors but I am not all that thrilled with the main brickwork color, Bluecoat Red. It's too bright a pink for aged brick. After all, the date says 1809. I would have thought Old Red Paint might have been a better selection but I don't dislike it enough to frog the whole deal and start over. And, finally, I have started on DeeBee's Designs' Town Square Church.

As to that Town Square SAL. Six people signed up to participate and contribute to the SAL blog. But there has been no activity on the blog since Rita's post in February. I am hoping that by posting a succession of small finishes on the blog, I can re-generate some interest in the project. In fact, of the six contributors, only Rita and I seem to be doing any contributing. I guess everyone is busy with other stitching. A project like the Town Square really has to capture the imagination ... I am using my Town Square finishes for a themed Christmas Tree: Small Town, USA ... and hope to have a least 12 done by the time Christmas rolls around. I had though of doing a quilt but decided that would be too much work. The Christmas Tree seemed a much more workable plan.

I think the stitching goddess must be smiling down on me since she arranged that the "smalls" section of my Crazy January Challenge projects should hit the rotation at the same time as Tracery Dragons. At least, I'll have the immediate gratification of some quick, easy and visually appealling finishes to help me get past the initial ugly duckling stage of the BAP.

And I managed to squeeze in one sewing finish: a gift tote using a small free chart called Erin's Garden once available on a blog that, regrettably, no longer exists. And I am showing a photo of an earlier gift tote finish now being put to good use: filled with books and sundresses for my 2 year old grand-daughter's 2nd birthday. It will be mailed to the West Coast Monday morning, even given the fact that it's going to an island, priority mail should get it their well in time for her birthday next week.

One More Crazy January Challenge

I wanted to finish up one more Crazy January Challenge this month: Black Bird Designs' Bird in the Hand. This is another absolutely lovely piece from the ladies at BBD. And it has the added bonus of being a relatively quick stitch ... monochromatic, so no time consuming color changes; straightforward cross-stitching without any specialty stitches to distract or slow the stitcher; and just plain easy. Every now and then one needs simplicity. And this simple piece is a nice change of pace from my recent cross-stitch finish, Autumn Faerie ... I still have to tackle the beading on that piece but that will have to be a later-on-in-the-weekend project. Right now I want to finish my bird. All that being true, I am having a problem with the fiber I am using, GAST's Raspberry Parfait cotton overdye. Normally, GAST floss and I manage to get along quite nicely but this particular card of fiber is giving me substantial aggravation. It snarls during the stranding process, sometimes so badly it is just easier to literally cut my losses and snip away the knot. And while stitching, it keps creating slip knots and even the occasional double slip knot, for good measure. It even feels coarser than GAST normally does. I suspect the dye agent is the culprit though I usually notice this with blacks and dark blues more than with a medium red. Anyway, here's a photo of the progress at the end of the dedicated day in the Crazy January Challenge and another of progress after Thursday and Friday stitching.

It feels as though my stitching momentum is gathering force. In years past I have had many more finishes noted in the sidebar by this time of year ... but numbers aren't everything ... I am working on much larger pieces this year than I have in the past. Oh, there are still a few smalls but not nearly as many as swelled last year's Finish List. Even so, by the end of this month I will have added three pieces to the 2011 list: The Autumn Faerie, The Gilded Cage and Bird in Hand. That's one BAP, one medium sized piece and one smallish-tending-toward-medium project. Not bad at all!

June will be different though. I'll be starting the next BAP but that will be balanced by four ornament sized Crazy January Challenge projects. And most of the CJC projets are nearly half stitched already. It shouldn't take too terribly long to finish them up. And, there won't be an exchange project in the rotation this month either.

And a little stash enhancement is going on. I have ordered the last ThreadGatherer Silk'n'Color needed for my Primitive Needle piece, The Black'd Skie, a Crop-a-dile tool for making up floss tags, and the Heaven and Earth Designs chart The Tangle Fairy ... all from 123stitch. I was disappointed to discover that they could not order The Enchanted Lair's Teatime for me though ... it would have made a nice addition to my dragons in a teacup series. I'll have to see if I can find it elsewhere. I also called Dyeing to Stitch in Virginia Beach to get some of the chenille trim that the folks at BBD have been showing in their recent pillow finishes. I ordered 2 five yard lengths of each of the available colors ... all five of them. Ann said they would be adding more colors to their line of chenille trims soon. I'm sure I'll hbe ordering more.

PS: I posted an In Search Of post on the 123 message board regarding Teatime. Jo at Dinky Dyes responded that she had the charts in stock and would send one on to Joanne at 123stitch ... so I should have my little dragon in a teacup quite soon. I do love the Internet: how else would a stitcher in the northeast USA be able to purchase a chart from an online shop headquartered in the southwest USA with help from a thread dyer from Australia?

A Finish and a Few Other Matters

The Gilded Cage is finished. I almost regret having come to an end of this lovely little design. It has been such a joy. Everything about it has been a delight: the design itself, the Needlepoint Inc silks, the fact that the chart was received in a RAK.

Since this morning the sun shone for the first time in nearly a week, I decided to take the scenic drive to work, along the Hudson River and past the marina. Last year, driving past the marina, I got a bit of a lift every morning when I saw the most charming little boat moored at one of the docks. It was one of those old-time all wooden motor launches, varnished teak or mahogany [hard to tell which from the road] with some antique gold paintwork about the cabin and the shine of brass rails. It just made me smile every morning to see it nestled in among all the towering fiberglass that glinted showily in the sun ... proof positive that some people still placed a value on the old-fashioned solidity of by-gone workmanship. I fantasized a bit about owning that boat or something very like it. Well, the boat isn't in its usual place this year ... I am hoping that means the owners are still enjoying it in some other space ... perhaps they retired to a cottage on the Maine seashore or somewhere along Cape Cod. I don't want to believe that hard times forced the sale of a boat so obviously well-tended and loved.

The drive along the river always starts my day off with some beautiful sight. Here is a photo of a house I would enjoy living in. The view on three sides is river ... lovely enough to make you forget that the view on the remaining side is of elevated troughs leading from a gravel quarry to a dock for barges. On the left side of the house, slightly obscured by the trees, are a first and a second story porch: the perfect place for relaxing and viewing the river. There was a haze on the water this morning and sky and water were just about indistinguishable.

Crazy January Challenge: The Gilded Cage

This has been such a pleasurable stitch I will be truly sorry when it comes to an end. I have only the dark red, dark green and pale tan areas left to stitch. And, I will be using Needlepoint Silks again in the future, most definitely. These are some of the most beautiful silks I have used in a long time. Thread Gatherer remains my favorite but these are a very close second, edging out Belle Soie and Caron by a nose.

I am seriously considering sending this piece to Jill Rensel for one of her fabulous mats and frames but wonder if such a small piece that already has a border would look good matted. I'll have to go to her blog and check out some of her photos before making a decision. I don't want the framing to overpower the piece but I do feel that this piece does deserve something special in the way of framing. Partly because it is such a lovely design and partly because I have enjoyed it even more than most projects.

I didn't get to work on my TW Autumn Faerie over the weekend as I had hoped ... things just got too busy. On the plus side I did manage to squeeze in a lovely visit with my mother on Sunday ... with the added bonus that one of my nieces dropped by for a visit while I was there ... two for one!

April Goals Assessment

First, the photo of the Ort jar ... which needs pressing down a bit if it's going to last the year ... right after this photo is taken. Quite a lot of color this month since I have just been flying on Teresa Wentzler's Autumn Faerie. It also has a lot of autumnal colors from the Witches Stitch, Too! piece and even some spring-like colors from the Easter Rabbit and the PS Spring House, Autumn Barn and Winter House. All in all, a lot of stitching has been going on.

APRIL GOALS

BAP: Continue work on TW's Autumn Faerie. Wentzler Wednesday has made quite a difference in the progress made on this piece. Finished Section II and made a healthy start on Section III.

Crazy January Challenge: Finish the Day 3 & 4 projects. Homespun Elegance's The Stitcher is done [that's Day 3] and Homespun Elegance's Witches Stitch, Too! [the Day 4 Project] is also done. I'll be skipping over the Day 5 piece for now. When I did the floss toss, the orange overdye Thread Gatherer's blend of wool and silk looked quite nice on the Mississippi Mud linen from Silkweaver. BUT it looks awful when stitched, it brings out a hidden military ambition in the fabric ... makes the stuff look like jungle camoflauge ... not something you see when you look at the fabric by itself. So until I have the time and patience to salvage this expensive material and floss by doing some very gentle frogging, I'll just move on down the list.

Sewing/Finishing: Get as close to the bottom of the finishing basket as possible. Laughter edging toward hysteria!

Surface Embroidery: work several hours a week on Encrusted Crazy Quilt Block See note above.

WIPs & UFOs from 2010: Continue work on Workbasket's Quaker Sampler, the Jacobean Elegance afghan, the Fertile Circles Needlebook and the Beach Find Pansies panel. Nothing on these.

Off-goal Stitching: Finished Martina's Easter Rabbit freebie and three PS promotional card minis: Fall barn, Winter and Spring houses.

MAY GOALS

BAP: Finish stitching and beading The Autumn Faerie

Crazy January Challenge: Day 6 project Barrick Samplar's The Gilded Cage and Day 8 project Blackbird Designs' A Bird in Hand. N.B.: The Day 7 project was finished the same day it was started. These are both medium to small sized projects and ought to be easy to complete within the month. Unfortunately, I discovered when I pulled the kitted up project bag from my CJC tote that The Gilded Cage still requires some back-ordered floss ... great gnashing of teeth ... this is the second time that has happened when I was ready to work a CJC project. So I may be moving on to the "smalls" section of my CJC list sooner than planned. I have three ornaments from the Town Square SAL on my list. At least, I'll have some quick finishes to add to my CJC sidebar.

Hooked on Exchanging: Stitch a PS Autumn piece and do the sewing finish on it in time for mailing by June 1.

Sewing Finishing: Get as close to the bottom of the finishing basket as possible.

Surface Embroidery: work several hours a week on Encrusted Crazy Quilt Block.

WIPs & UFOs from 2010: Continue work on Workbasket's Quaker Sampler, the Jacobean Elegance afghan, the Fertile Circles Needlebook and the Beach Find Pansies panel

A Week Without A Wentzler Wednesday

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. And I am not entirely surprised that it did happen sooner rather than later. I bailed on my Wentzler BAP in favor of my Homespun Elegance Crazy January Challenge piece, Witches Stitch, Too! The appeal of my Crazy January Challenge is that all these projects were selected because they have been calling my name for a very long time ... they are all pieces that have fired my imagination for one reason or another.

I busily stitched on this piece Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, whenever the opportunity opened. It was just plain fun. The fact that there are so many small motifs offered me the instant gratification of getting a complete graphic every hour or so. I also changed things up a bit to make this pieces more of an homage to The Stitcher which I completed earlier this month. By eliminating the red-violet zig-zags and replacing them with buttons and a miniature skein of floss, I now have a very nice companion piece to the original. I love the antique rust colored button with the "braided" edge effect. I am thinking I may need to add one or two more small mother-of-pearl buttons in soft shades of taupe, rust or brown. There still seem to be a few empty spaces.

Granted I spent most of the week on the project above but somehow, Good Friday seemed to call for a less frivolous project ... so I started a Spring PS piece on spec ... I have finally joined Hooked on Exchanging and the first exchange I will be participating in is a PS season exchange. I have no clue what season I'll be assigned but I can always make this up for myself if I am assigned Summer, Fall or Winter. I won't be showing a photo since this may end up being part of an exchange but I will say I am pleased with the little piece. I'll also be stitching a Winter and Fall piece ... all three are charts from those PS promotional cards and are very similar in format. Now if I could just find a summer card, I could make a floss tag set for all four seasons.

The Current Crazy January Challenge WIP

I worked on Witches Stitch, Too for today. It is finally beginning to take shape. It seemed to take forever to stitch the floor but the individual motifs are going quickly enough.

I am trying to keep to a disciplined rotation that balances my 2010 WIPs and UFOs with the 2011 Crazy January Challenge. With the exception of one off-list new start, Martina's Easter Bunny freebie, I have been quite faithful. Maybe by the end of 2011, I will not only have 15 Crazy January Challenges finished but will have whittled down the list of 2010 WIPs and UFOs, as well. I am hoping I have time to squeeze in a few new starts from my mis-named Current Projects binder. I have quite a few Quaker animal charts from Workbasket, quite a few dragon charts and at least half a dozen Autumn and Halloween charts in that binder. Then, there is the next Teresa Wentzler BAP in the pipeline. As soon as I finish the Autumn Faerie, I'd like to start The Woodland Angel Christmas Stocking.

I do believe I'll have to create my own self-imposed 2012 Crazy Challenge, using whatever UFOs are left in my basket as the base ... or maybe I should tackle my sewing finishes. Or, maybe, 2012 should be my Year of the Dragon since I have eight dragon charts that I am itching to stitch. I've got to get a grip ... I am not even half way through 2011 and I am planning for 2012! Stitching has gone from a passion to a compulsion, it would seem.

Weekend Progress Report: February 27, 2011

I have been ignoring everything but my Crazy January Challenge pieces so far this month ... with the pleasing result that The Ice Dragon's Kingdom is nearing completion and the less than pleasing result that everything else is sadly in arrears. This is a serious departure from my usual habits. I tend to be a rotation stitcher, not a one-project-at-a-time stitcher. But something about the Ice Dragon is riveting my attention. Perhaps, because I stitched so many smalls in 2010, I need to focus on larger pieces in 2011. Anyway, as things stand now, I have most of the dragon's body done, some of the trees and a tower or two of the castle stitched and all of the border done, except the corner boxes. For some reason, the first box was easily enough stitched. Then when I attempted to work the second, all I did was frog ... not once, not twice ... but three times. Silly, I know, since it is a really simple motif. I just had a mental block, I suppose. I have two of the necessary flosses needed to complete this project on order from 1-2-3 stitch. I received an e-mail last Thursday that my order was on its way. I hope to find the fibers in my mailbox when I get home from work today.

As last seen, my Dragon looked like this

... but it is now fleshed out so much further

With only one day left in February, it's time to return to at least one of my 2010 WIPs. On Monday, I'll work on the Autumn Faerie, exclusively. But before I do, just a small Ice Dragon-related vent: Anchor Marlitt discontinued their white floss ... I believe I have enough to complete my dragon ... after all, the chart only called for one skein and I have that. But, come on, people ... who discontinues a WHITE floss??!!?? I could understand an exotic shade of purple or some rarely called for shade of apricot or peach being discontinued ... but WHITE !!??!! What is that all about? When the kind lady at 123stitch informed that #800 was discontinued, I was flabbergasted.

However, the rest of my pitifully small goals list remains neglected: Workbasket's Quaker Sampler, the Jacobean Elegance afghan, my own Fertile Circles needlebook and the Encrusted Crazy Quilt Square. There haven't been any sewing finishes so far this month either and this was supposed to be finish-it February. Things are not looking good for the February goals.

On another note entirely: I broke down and ordered my first chart of the year: Blackbird Designs Wild Lilies, one of the latest Nashville Market offerrings. I will continue to limit myself to five purchases a year [as I have been doing for the past two years] in the hopes of maintaining some control of my stash ... as a result, I am being very selective in my choices. I saw two other maybe/somedays among the Nashville Market designs but only this one definitely makes the cut for now.

Weekend Progress Report: February 20, 2011

Crazy January Challenge Project: Dragon Dream's The Ice Dragon's Kingdom. This was all I worked on this past week but a photo will have to wait till Monday evening. Since Monday is a day-off [President's Day], I will have additional stitching time and I want to wait till I can show the greatest progress possible.

Weekend Progress Report, Feb. 13, 2011

Crazy January Challenge Progress:I know several of my blogging friends are outstripping me with three or four or more Crazy January Challenge finishes, while I am still working toward my third finish. I started my list with a largish and very detailed project, the Sue Hillis Cookie Baking Santa, and am now tackling the really large Ice Dragon's Kingdom from Dragon Dreams ... while the others jump-started their lists with ornaments and other smalls. Don't get me wrong, I have four ornaments on my list [one of them, the Day 7 Connecticut Heart ornament, is already finish-finished and up on the ornament tree] and further salted the list with some medium to small pieces ... I just didn't start that way. I am trying to do the projects in chronological order and, as a result, scattered my smallish and less complicated pieces throughout the list ... rather like water holes in a desert ... to help me keep the momentum going.

All that being said, I am making steady progress on this, mainly because I can't seem to put it down ... I am usually a rotation stitcher with 3 to 5 projects on the go at any given time. You might even call me fickle, picking up something different every day or so. While I still have five projects in my current stitching bag, I seem to be focusing on my Crazy January Challenge projects exclusively. Proof positive that the projects I chose for the challenge really were calling my name and quite insistently, at that. I have a few quibbles about this project, though, not the least of which is the fact that this is one of the older DD charts, printed on a dark sage green card stock that makes reading the chart somewhat difficult for my aging eyes. There's been a bit of frogging going on as a result. On the other hand, I have mastered the Marlitt thread. I will never like working with rayon floss but I have found that maintaining greater tension while laying this floss tames it quite nicely. I have three sides of the border done and a wee bit of the "picture" where it overlaps the border stitched as well. I am reasonably confident that I will be able to finish this piece this month. That would make two Crazy January Challenge projects finished in one month ... not bad, considering both were on the largish side. But that will be it for the challenge projects this month. The Day 3 project will just have to wait till March 1st. My 2010 WIPs need attention lest they turn into UFOs.

I'll post a progress photo on Tuesday, at which time I hope to have the entire border done.

Weekend Progress Report, Feb 6, 2011

Well, Mother Nature continues to give me additional stitching time ... three more snow days this week, or more precisely, two ice days and one snow day. This gave me time to make some progress on my various goals for the month.

Sewing finishes: I did a bit of assembly-line ornament finishing Friday as part of my Finish-It February program. My husband insists that I give him credit for all his help, so here goes: thank you, Bill for holding the end of some floss for all of thirty seconds [albeit, the process was repeated three times] while I, at the other end, used my hand drill to make twisted cord. Yeah, I think that about covers his contribution. But, seriously, he is very patient with my stitching obsession. Only last evening, he murmered in a slightly bewildered tone, " I think you'd do that 18 hours a day if you could." Well, almost ... but even I have to allow time for bathing, eating, reading, exercising, working, housekeeping ... preferbly in that order.

First, The Victoria Sampler State Heart: Connecticut, which was my Day 7 Project for the Crazy January Challenge. This went up immediately on my wrought iron tabletop tree ... in time for Valentine's Day. Though I live in NY, I stitched this lovely little bit of out-of-state frippery as a souvenir of three Stitcher's Hideaway Retreats in Mystic, Ct. I know I have raved about these retreats before, but it can't be said often enough how well run and enjoyable these events are ... kudos to Sue Donnelly.

Second, Aury's 2010 Red, White and Blue Quaker Heart. Another piece that went onto the Valentine's Day ornament tree, though I will pull it out again for the May/June/July patriotic holidays.

Third, Wild Heart's Designs' Fire Station [for the Indy 2006 Town Square SAL]. This was my December 2010 piece for the SAL, the stitching finished up in January and the assembly/sewing finish in February. I really do know how to drag a small project out!

Also a crafting almost-finish: a frame I have customized for one of my mermaid stitching finishes from last year ... I figure what with the high cost of framing, I should try my hand at framing my more casual pieces myself ... the heirloom pieces will still go to the professionals, but the day to day home decor will become do-it-yourself projects. The frame was painted a peachy sand color and decorated with oyster shell fragments, polished by the waters of the Chesapeake Bay which I gathered during two recent Western Shore [Md] vacations. I am thinking of giving the piece a high shine with multiple coats of clear varnish ... perhaps even painting in some appropriate quote from Edgar Allen Poe or TS Eliot or Homer between layers of varnish to give the words the appearance of floating between sandy bottom and watery surface ... I'll have to get out my handy-dandy Bartlett's Quotations and look up mermaids to see what I come up with.

And Some Stitching:

Crazy January Challenge, Day 2 Project: Dragon Dreams' The Ice Dragon's Kingdom . Got a bit more of the border done ... not the most exciting part of the project, to be sure ... but I enjoy watching the piece take shape in my hands. I am stitching a bit of the picture that overlaps the border ... it helps to keep my count accurate and to avoid the disappointment of stitching areas that don't meet up properly. Rachel, with whom I am doing a very casual SAL on this piece, chose a different route ... starting dead center and working outward.

All in all, a very satisfying and productive stitching week ... my Crazy January Challenge, Day 1 Project finish may be seen on the Feb. 3 [Thursday] post ... and that project was the sole focus through the early part of the week.

A Crazy January Challenge Finish

What with the Tuesday and Wednesday Snow and Ice Storm here in the Northeast, I had additional time for stitching ... even though I had planned ahead and brought home a satchel of work ... grading all the 7th grade quarter finals.

Imagine a flourish of trumpets for this, my first Crazy January Challenge finish of the month:

Sue Hillis' Cookie Baking Santa: admittedly, not the best photo I have taken but we must make allowances for an aging camera.

... note the optimism, I am implying there will be at least one more Crazy January finish this month. I'll begin working on the Crazy Challenge Day 2 project, Dragon Dreams' The Ice Dragon's Kingdom, tomorrow though I am still lacking one of the Anchor Marlitt flossesneeded for the body of the dragon. I expect I shall have to substitute a similar shade of DMC Satin [rayon] floss but I will cross that bridge [or should I say, stitch] when I get to it. The piece is not quite a BAP, though moderately large and involving the use of the rather unwieldy rayon floss, so it should take the whole month. But it is followed in the queue by two medium sized Homespun Elegance pieces that ought to work up very quickly, The Stitcher and Witches Stitch, Too. I set up my list knowing I'd tackle the projects in chronological order and I tried to mix it up a bit as to size and complexity.

January Goals Assessment/ February Goals

I thought this year I would do something a little different when posting these monthly reports. In the past, they have been rather dull looking, without photos ... so I will now head the post with a photo of my Ort jar ... as a visual symbol of progress made each month [or not]. I will not be participating in the official TUSAL since that would require posting an ORT jar photo on the day of the new moon, something that I don't really keep track of. In any case here is the photo, no particular color or group of colors dominates, probably because the Crazy January Challenge has had me all over the color pallette with a wide variety projects.

JANUARY GOALS

CRAZY JANUARY 2011 CHALLENGE: Start a new project each day from January 1 - January 15. Then starting on January 17, pick up the Day 1 Project: Sue Hillis's Cookie Santa. DONE. This has been both a wonderfully exhilarating and intensely frustrating challenge. While I was thrilled to pull and start a fair number of charts that have been calling my name for a very long time, it has been difficult to put each one down and move on to the next. I feel like one of those bratty 13 year old princesses who has a new best friend every day. I have made substantial progress on the Day 1 project ... it's one of the larger pieces on the list ... so I am not too upset about having to carry it into early February. I do see a finish in the very near future, though.

BAP: Continue work on TW's Autumn Faerie: NO. Just two hours worth of stitching all month but I suppose that's better than nothing ... I got caught up in the Crazy January Challenge.

Surface Embroidery: Continue work on Encrusted Crazy Quilt Square. I didn't have time for this what with all the Crazy January stuff going on this month. I shall make time for it in February.

Sewing Finishes: Keep up with current finishing and finish two items from backlog finishing basket. NO.

And though, it wasn't part of the monthly goals, I didn't entirely abandon my 2010 WIPs and UFOs. I resurrrected the Jacobean Elegance afghan from the UFO sidebar list and stitched one of the Flower blocks. I completed another motif and two more letters on Workbasket's Quaker Sampler, stitched the bee charms on an old Heart in Hand piece called Wee Bee and stitched my Quaker Santa Bride's Tree ornament as well as the Town Square Fire Station ornament, The Victoria Sampler Connecticut Heart ornament and the Aury Quaker Red, White and Blue Heart ornament.

FEBRUARY GOALS

Crazy January Challenge: Continue work on projects in chronological order, as much as possible given the back-ordered thread situation.

BAP: Continue work on TW's Autumn Faerie

WIPs: Continue working on 2010 WIPs and UFOs: Workbasket's Quaker Sampler, the Jacobean Elegance Afghan, the Fertile Circles Needlebook and the Beach Find Pansies panel

Surface Embroidery: Continue work on Encrusted Quilt Square, moving onto the purse strap once the purse front is done.

Sewing Finishes: Keep up with current finishing and finish one or two items a week from backlog finishing basket.

Weekend Progress Report: January 30, 2011

I can't believe it's been a week and a day since I last posted. Normally, I post my Weekend Progress Report on Sunday evening, but I was just too tired to do so last night. It's been a very busy work week with less time for stitching than I would have liked. The usual 12 hour workdays at the beginning of the week were followed by more hours than usual in the later part of the week. I had to give up the better part of my usual Friday day-off to the annual archdiocesan consultation luncheon, a three hour event with an hour commute on either end. And Saturday, which usually ends at 10:30am after morning classes, ended up being extended to 3:00pm for Confirmation interviews. I suppose this balances out, in part, the snow days in the past two weeks. The weather forecasters are predicting another storm for Tues/Wed, adding another 2-5 inches of snow followed by significant icing. Normally a prediction of 2-5 inches of snow would have me concerned but at this point, it seems mere icing on the cake. The "significant icing" is far more worrying since it will cause many traffic accidents and, probably, accidents due to falls and slips, as well. At this rate, I don't expect to see bare ground in my backyard and above the retaining wall till June ... well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration ... but there is already an 18 inch layer of snow in the backyard at present, accumulated over the past three storms ... and it just keeps getting higher and higher. We had two days with temperatures above freezing this weekend, but are back to temps in the teens again today.

The Crazy January Challenge: Sue Hillis' Cookie Santa: The last time I worked on one of Sue Hillis' Charmed Santas, I actually stitched four in a row, picking up the next as soon as I finished one. These pieces are addictive ... probably because they supply the instant gratification of lots of small finishes within a finish. For example, on Tuesday, I finished the cookie jar in one before-work sitting and on Wednesday, I finished the tray of cookies on the same shelf of the kitchen work bench. I like to backstitch discrete sections as I go along which increases that sense of completion. The tray of cookies was a bit of a pain to stitch: 12 color changes in a small area [approx 30x15 stitches], not quite confetti stitching, but darn close. I continued to stitch on this through the later part of the week, whenever I had the time ... and, consequently made some pretty impressive progress. It should be finished early in February and then it is on to the Day 2 Crazy Challenge piece, The Ice Dragon's Kingdom from Dragon Dreams.

Aury's Red, White and Blue Quaker Heart: I managed to finish the stitching on this one Tuesday morning before going into work. I really enjoy stitching Aury's designs ... quick stitches but with just enough complexity to be a challenge suitable to a "travel" project ... neither too hard nor too easy. Since I now need a new small and portable travel piece, I'll be moving one of my UFO's, the Fertile Circle's Needlebook, back into the rotation. The Crazy January Challenge has me a bit worried about ending 2011 with twice as many WIPs and UFOs than 2010, so I am making a conscious effort to keep some of the older stuff in the rotation as well.

And, the continuing back-order saga: no joy as yet on the floss needed to finish Dragon Dreams The Ice Dragon's Kingdom [Day 2 project of the Crazy January Challenge] which was ordered from The Stitchery Row ... I really need to call them and ask how that is going. But I did get an e-mail from Needle in a Haystack, letting me know that all but one of the back-ordered Perfect Palette flosses needed for Primitive Needles' Black'd Skie [Day 15 project of the Crazy January Challenge] are on the way. In both cases, I have enough of the needed materials to make substantial progress on these projects. It's just annoying to know that I placed the orders in mid-December and am still waiting. I blame the economy since I suspect small businesses can no longer afford to carry very deep inventories. Consequently, rarely called-for specialty flosses and new and unproven brand lines tend not to be readily available. I don't think I would have had this problem ten, or even five, years ago.

Weekend Progress Report: January 23, 2011

Before I discuss actual stitching, I want to do a little stitch-related happy dancing. As a 40th wedding anniversary gift, my husband has enrolled me in the Sturbridge Stitcher's Hideaway Retreat scheduled for this summer. Thea Dueck of The Victoria Sampler will be the instructor ... it'll be my second time with her, a real bonus to my way of thinking ... she is a phenomenally gifted designer AND teacher. Those two skill sets do not always go together. The setting will include an historic hotel and possibly, a trip to Old Sturbridge Village's back rooms where they keep the antique textiles and embroideries. Whatever the added field trip is, I know it will be imaginative ... Sue Donnelly runs the best events I have ever attended ... and I have been to several CATS and one or two EGA events ... so I do have a standard of comparison! Anyway, what could be a better gift than a stitching retreat? And, because he didn't want to be empty-handed on the day of the anniversary, he gave me a box of Godiva chocolates, as well! What a guy!

Yesterday, we celebrated two First Confession liturgies in the parish ... so a workday that normally ends at Noon was extended till 3:00pm ... resulting in a little less stitching time than usual ... Saturday afternoon after work/before dinner is usually primo stitching time. I have been trying to limit my rotation to five projects that I work on steadily. It is my attempt to avoid morphing any of the Crazy Challenge pieces into UFOs and to still manage to work on the WIPs and UFOs from 2010.

But such as it is, here are photos of progress since my last post.

Crazy Challenge Day 1: Sue Hillis' Cookie Santa. Steady progress on this. It has been my focus piece since Wednesday, so I have gotten quite a bit done. I am doing the back-stitching as I finish a significant section. I tend to like the immediate gratification of seeing the finished look of a project ... even before I have earned it with a real finish. I am reasonably confident I can finish this Crazy Challenge piece by the end of January or very early in February. The second challenge piece on the list is Dragon Dreams' The Ice Dragon's Kingdom. I look forward to getting back to work on that piece although two of the flosses needed [one of the Anchor Marlitts and one of the Kreinik VF Braids] are still on backorder. Even so, I am hopeful that I can work with what I have ... I'll make a gentle reminder phone call this week to the shop that has the flosses back-ordered. If they can't promise delivery within a week or two, I'll cancel and look for another source. I had really hoped to do all the challenge pieces in order. But some of them require such unusual [for me] flosses that this may be problematic.

Picking up where I left off

As I have noted several times, the hardest part of the Crazy January Challenge was putting a piece down just as I became interested in it. So I was delighted to be able to return to one of my Crazy January Projects. Since I had Martin Luther King Day off [Monday, for my international readers] and then had the added bonus of a day off Tuesday because of weather related school closings, I was able to devote an unusually large amount of time to stitching in the early part of the week.

Crazy January Challenge: Day 1 Project: Sue Hillis' Cookie Santa. I completed the cross-stitching portion of the border and began working on the table and the flour sack.

Crazy January Challenge Days 13, 14 & 15

The last three Crazy January Challenges

January 13: La D Da's Town Square School House. I was able to put in a solid hour before work and managed another half hour at my lunch break and a little more time after supper. So, it is moving along fairly nicely.

January 14: WDW's Town Square Town Hall. I got quite a bit of this done, stitching on and off throughout the day. In fact, I am nearly done with the main part of the facade stitched in WDW Lancaster Red.

All four of the Town Square SAL pieces that I included in this challenge happen to be ornament size and so will stitch up relatively quickly. This is a nice bonus since two of the other challenge pieces [Sue Hillis' Cookie Santa and Dragon Dreams' The Ice Dragon's Kingdom] qualify as large projects and one [Primitive Needle's Black'd Skie] might even qualify as a BAP .

January 15: Primitive Needle's Black'd Skie. This one doesn't even warrant a picture since I have done a very minimalist start on this, merely binding the edge of the fabric and marking my starting place at the lower left corner. I am still waiting for half of the floss to arrive ... I really dislike backorders. Why can't all needlework shop owners be like the lady in Wiscasset, Maine whose philosophy is to carry the "whole" line of any floss or fiber she carries. Unfortunately, she did not happen to carry a line called The Perfect Palette ... which I had to order from another shop which shall remain nameless as I wait impatiently for my back ordered floss.

And one last photo on this topic: the Crazy January Challenge Tote. I hope to be able to stitch these in chronological order, though I may have to skip around a wee bit since I still have some threads on back order. First up, tomorrow, will be Sue Hillis' Cookie Santa. I have set up a side bar and I will note the date of each finish as I accomplish it. Next year, I think I will do as many others have done and adapt this challenge to work on UFOs and WIPs though I sincerely hope that throughout the course of this year I will have whittled my current UFO list [also a sidebar] down to a mere half dozen or so.

Crazy January Challenge: Days 10, 11 & 12

January 10: TW's Tracery Dragons. I wanted to pick out something rather special for this day since it is my 40th wedding anniversary ... something big and wonderful and especially challenging to stitch. I thought this would fit the bill.
I am using the recommended DMC and Kreinik fibers but have substituted a 32ct Belfast linen, Silkweaver's Romance, for the recommended fabric. I am determined to stitch as much from stash as possible this year. I received this chart as a Christmas gift from my daughter in 2009 and it has been calling my name ever since. I realize this doesn't look like much of a start, the really interesting stitching won't happen till I have the border done and even then it won't look like much till I do the back-stitching ... such is the nature of a Teresa Wentzler piece.

January 11: Town Square SAL Knotted Tree Needle Art's Post Office. This looks like it will be another ornament sized piece, albeit a bit large at 4 1/2" by 4", like the Fire Station. Now that I have taken the time to really browse through the whole set of charts, I realize that the vast majority of them are sized for ornaments. It was just a weird coincidence that the first four I chose to stitch were not. So rather than re-chart design after design as quilt block size, I am going to deal with reality and stitch the pieces as charted. Next year, I hope to add a Small Town Americana-themed tree to my Christmas decor, decorated with these ornaments and some red, white and blue miniature lights as well as my red, white and blue Quaker hearts and any other ornaments from my collection that seem to fit into the theme. Those few pieces that are larger ... well, I am going to borrow an idea from Rachel [of the What Seems Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day blog] and finish those as cubes with dark blue fabric printed with white stars and elaborate red, white and blue bows so that they will look like presents placed under the tree.

January 12: Town Square SAL Church by DeeBee's Designs. Another large ornament. I didn't get very far at all on this one since I started it at 9:00pm and only worked about half an hour on the piece ... and that included time spent kitting it up. I know a lot of folks kitted up all their 15 challenge projects way back in December. I, on the other hand, am proud of the fact that I managed to put all the charts in one binder and ordered whatever floss I needed back in December. Of course, some of that floss is still on back order ... including some I will need for my Day 2 project. Worse comes to worse, I'll just have to stitch my challenge products out of chronological order. Not a hardship, since I love them all.

We are coming down to the home stretch on this Crazy January Challenge and I have to admit that I had my doubts early on as to whether I'd be able to start 15 projects ... it is really irritating having to abandon a piece to the newly dubbed Challenge tote just as I have gained some momentum on it ... it has also been disappointing to make so little progress on WIPs and UFOs left over from 2010 over the past few weeks ... but soon all that will be a thing of the past and I shall return to my normal stitching routines. I do wonder how long it will take to work through all the Challenge pieces ... some are quite small to be sure, but others are rather complex. I hope to complete Sue Hillis' Cookie Santa in January. It had been my original intention to work through the remaining challenge pieces in chronological order ... such a rational plan, don't you think ... but I foresee the need to skip around a bit. The Bird in Hand and The Gilded Cage are quite insistent about being moved to the head of the queue.

Today is another snow day, so again I was able to get in a bit more work on some 2010 WIPs instead of devoting all my stitching time to a new start:

I finished stitching the back of my Workbasket Quaker Santa Bride's Tree SAL ornament and assembled it. So consider that one stitching and one sewing finish. It was a bit of a disappointment not to have all of my Bride's Tree SAL ornaments done in time for this year. I still have to stitch the November Angel but though I Have a vision of the finished ornament in my head, I haven't had time to sit down and turn that vision into a usable chart.

I then picked up the Town Square SAL Fire Station. I had started this in December but never got around to finishing it. It is stitched on 28ct linen in a color called Meditation using the recommended overdyed floss. I will finish it as a padded flat ornament and trim it with handmade braided cord. I believe I have some bright navy fabric printed with pale blue stars in my fabric stash to use as a backing fabric.

Weekend Progress Report: January 9, 2011 [Crazy January Challenge]

This will be a very long and picture heavy entry ... I have got a bit of catching up to do.

First an answer to a comment. When commenting on Zucca [the Day 5 Project], Rachel asked if the Thread Gatherer Sheep's Silk is wool. Yes, it is a wool so finely spun that it can be used, strand for strand, just like silk. It has a higher loft though and sits higher on the fabric, giving the piece a bit of a dimensional look. The wool is surprisingly sturdy though it looks as though it would shred if you so much as breathe on it. It's probably most frequently used for crewel embroidery, but I liked it for this project. And, hey, the name of the color, Pheonix Rising, just pleases me inordinately.

Next up, a problem: In my cleaning frenzy before Christmas, I put away a half yard of 28ct linen [Country French Latte] that I had intended to use for three of my Crazy Challenge projects, the three Quaker animals from Workbasket leaflets. Unfortunately, I put it away so haphazardly that I have absolutely no memory of where it might be. So I have had to substitute three other pieces for those Quakers. I will find the linen eventually and put those pieces into rotation, perhaps later this year ... but for now, I am moving forward with new selections for January 7, 8 and 9.

Now, for some more Crazy January Challenge photos:

January 7: The Victoria Sampler's Hearts of America: Connecticut. This a kit and it includes 25ct antique white Laguna. DMC floss and Kreinik VFB. A quick stitch, I actually finished all the stitching in one 24 hour period, early afternoon Friday thru Saturday morning! I will finish it as an ornament to hang on my table top tree now decorated with heart ornaments in honor of my wedding anniversary [Jan. 10 - 40 years] and Valentine's Day ... since I just put away the Christmas ornaments after Little Christmas. Eventually I would like to acquire the charts for New York, Virginia, Maryland and Maine from this series ... it would be a nice way of documenting my husband's and my life journey together: the places we have lived and the places we have especially loved to vacation.

January 8: Blackbird Designs A Bird in Hand. In keeping with my determination to stitch as much as possible from stash, I have substituted 32 ct Belfast linen in the color Flax and Gentle Arts Sampler Thread Raspberry Parfait instead of the recommended fabric and floss. This is a smallish piece, only 71x75 stitches ... so it ought to finish up pretty quickly once I return to it. I plan to finish it as a small pin pillow for my smalls basket.

January 9: Jean Greenoff's Blackwork Collection: Owl. This came as a kit so I am using the enclosed mystery ecru evenweave and the DMC 310 and gold metallic thread included. This is another small piece. I'll be finishing it up as an ornament for my Halloween tree.

And, I couldn't leave out this photo of the continued progress on Day 6's project, The Gilded Cage. The photo on my original post showed only the progress made in the morning, when I actually started that little lovely. But I continued to stitch on it in the evening when I got home from work and into the morning of Day 7. As I keep repeating, I am having quite a bit of difficulty letting go of each project. I guess I have some serious stitching separation anxiety going on here. This bodes well for the future, giving me confidence that I will happily pick up these pieces again and finish them before the year is out ... but I am not too happy at the moment.

And with the cancellation of classes due to snow this Saturday, I was able to spend some time on some WIPs leftover from 2010:

Workbasket's Quaker Sampler. Got one more motif nearly done. Now all the colors being used in this project are represented. This is a bit of a slow go since I am stitching this on a 40ct Silkweaver linen called Mississippi Mud. A beautiful fabric but as the day turns to evening, my eyes get a bit weary stitching on the 40 ct.

Last, but certainly not least, is this little lovely that was just lacking embellishments ... my friends at The Stitchery Row finally found three brass Bee buttons that suit it perfectly. I plan on finishing this up as a pillow or a stand-up to use in my living room during the summer months. I'll have to give it some though. The chart, Heart in Hands Wee Bee, was a PIF from an overseas blogging friend, Nic, who doesn't seem to be blogging much anymore, I am sorry to say ... I always enjoyed reading her blog entries on Girl As Mad As Birds. I hope she is well.

All in all, not a bad bit of stitching for the past three days!