Wall Quilts

I spent a bit of time in the sewing room yesterday, and snapped a few photos since I had everything out.

February's is all set to be quilted.  I've set it aside until March is complete though.  It shouldn't take very long to quilt this since I'm doing them by machine, but the March quilt has oodles of applique pieces, so it's taking a bit longer than the other ones.

I have started on the applique for March.  The little border squares are all done, as are the tree trunk and branches.  This one has a lot of layered pieces, so I can't just lay them all out and iron away like I was able to do for most of the other quilts.  I got a bit carried away last night when putting the leaves on.  I only meant to do the ones you see pictured on the left side, but wound up doing all of them.  Oops, now I need to be a bit careful since I hadn't finished with the birdhouse.  Knew I shouldn't have started on those leaves until I had the birdhouse done, but figured I could start since the iron was hot.  It will take me a couple of days to finish sewing around the pieces that are already on this since I'm not spending a lot of time downstairs this time of year.  It gets cold down there!  I've been doing a bit each time I go down to do a load of laundry.

April's base is completed and ready for applique pieces.  I need to get some more fusible webbing before starting on those pieces.  Since I have to wait on that, I looked ahead at other months to see if I had the right fabrics to complete their bases.  I just might have the right ones for May and June.  Getting the bases out of the way will help speed things up later.

I completed about 600 stitches on the reindeer yesterday.  I got lucky and hit some areas where there weren't a ton of color changes so things went a bit faster.  I think I'm going to continue filling in the area in the center and work my way back over to the right side where the sleigh is.

Weekend Recap

I decided to put Basilisk away Friday morning so I could catch up a bit on monthly themed projects.  I don't have photos yet, but I did get quite a bit done on the quilted wall hangings.  February is all appliqued and ready to be quilted, the base for both March and April are pieced, and I've begun the applique for March.  I've decided to concentrate more on March now instead of trying to finish up February.  I will probably only be able to get one completed by month's end, so I'd rather it be the one I will hang next instead of one that will be put away for next year.  I'll come back to February and work on it when I get a bit ahead of the game.

I also worked on the February cross stitch design until it was finished.  Now I just need a frame for it.  I'll be out and about later this week, so I'll pick up a couple of them.

I managed to get a bit of the March design done too.  I'm going to leave the supplies for these out instead of tucking them away.  That way, I can work on them when I have a time to stitch, but not enough time to make headway on the big HAED projects.

I'm still plugging away a bit each day on Paul's sweater.  Just about to the point where I start working on the body and skip the sleeve stitches.

I love this pattern, and the yarn I'm using.  Here's a bit closer look at the pattern stitches used.  It's hard to tell in these photos, but the top portion is ribbed using post stitches.

Because I'm never happy with just 100 projects, I started 2 more.  These will be worked on primarily on the weekends, but I may pull them out when my eyeballs need a break from reading HAED charts.

The first is a Plum Street design that I am doing as a SAL with my friends, Amanda and Brandi.  We have agreed to show our progress each Friday on Facebook to keep each other accountable for finishing.  I am in love with this design company and will most likely be purchasing more of their patterns.

The second is a SAL that I discovered when the Facebook group popped up as a suggestion for me.  It is a free monthly calendar SAL found on The Snowflower Diaries blog.  I'm planning to stitch them all as one piece and have it framed.  I'm stitching this over 2 on 28ct, so I need to find a pretty big spot on the wall to hang it.

I made some progress on Paul's stocking this weekend too.  I might have to work on the little boy next weekend so he starts showing up better.

This week I'm back to working on Ornament Enchanted Reindeer.  Working on Basilisk last week was a nice break, but I really want the reindeer done this year, so it's back on the frame.  I also made the decision to restart two more of the HAED projects at some point in the future.  While I really love the reindeer, and it is being worked on 14ct Aida, I find that I much prefer the look of these pieces on 18ct and higher fabric, with 18ct being my preferred choice as I don't have to use my magnifying lamp.  Both Mini Gone Fishin' and Mini Bottom of the Garden were started on 14ct. and I'm not caring for the coverage I'm getting.  I will most likely restart one of them, along with a new chart I purchased recently, later this year when I complete the reindeer.

Lots of Stitchy Goodness

Last year when I was sorting through all my craft magazine deciding which to keep and which to toss, I came across this adorable series of monthly patterns and just had to make them.  My plan was to work on them every Tuesday when I was doing my weekly Skype session with my mother and Amanda.  This was around October, and I started with the December pattern to give myself plenty of wiggle room to get each completed in enough time to be framed and displayed in its proper month.

I managed to finish the December one in plenty of time, and then as is the custom, another bright shiny new project called my name, and since these are so small and can be finished quickly, I decided working on them could be put off for awhile.

The January one was finally completed and framed about a week into the month.

 February still isn't complete, but I pulled it out and will work on it today until it is finished.

Then, I think I might skip a couple of months and jump into working on May to give myself some time to get them complete.  Or maybe not. I work pretty well with looming deadlines, it's the "if I work on this 2 hours per week I can have it done in 6 months" kind of thing that gets me in trouble.

When I tried to get a progress photo of Basilisk last night, I noticed that the clips I'm using to keep the extra fabric rolled up and out of the way look a lot like spiders from this angle.  Creepy!  Good thing that isn't the way I see them when I'm stitching, or nothing would get done.

Am I the only one who sees this?  It's not so bad on the lighter one.  Maybe I should go buy another of those and get rid of the dark one?

Basilisk is really starting to come alive now.  When I take a step or two back, I can see the flowers and blue jay, and now the tree trunks are really starting to show up.  I can't wait to get to the next page and see the lady's face take shape.  I will probably put this one away for a bit next week though.  I really want to get Enchanted Reindeer finished by end of June, and it needs some attention so it doesn't fall behind.

New Frame and Stand

It's certainly nice to have a handy hubby around.  I've been struggling with my cross stitch using traditional hoops.  Those worked fine if I wasn't stitching using the parking method.  However, I found that parking was working out better for me.  Also, the projects I'm working on are rather large, and they were a bit cumbersome using a hoop.  The extra fabric kept getting in the way.

So Saturday morning I showed Paul some photos of nifty homemade stands using pvc, and asked him to build me a basic one.  So far it's working out great!  This cost about $20, plus a couple hours of his time.

My stitching is going much faster using this.  I've completed more than 1100 stitches on Basilisk in the past two days.  It's amazing to me to see what these look like when I take photos.  When I'm working on them, all I see is the individual stitches.  It's like seeing the pixels on the TV screen when you stand right up on it.

I've completed enough on Basilisk to not feel guilty working on a new project for an hour or so.  I'm doing a stitch along with a couple of friends and we're supposed to post progress photos every Friday on Facebook.  I thought this week's photo from me would only be of my supplies, but looks like I'll have some actual stitching done.

Can't wait to Amanda and Brandi's projects!

Just Pick One Already

As I do nearly every year, I started off January with lofty goals of getting loads of my WIPs completed.  I was going to work on this one, and that one, and the other one, and that guy over there, and that cute little one in the closet, and where oh where did I put that gorgeous one I just have to get done so I can hang it in the bedroom?  If you're a crafter like me and suffer from "ooooh look a shiny new project" syndrome, you know just how my January looked.

I started off on the right foot.  I pulled out all of the projects and organized them into their own little containers to make it easier to grab what I was going to work on.  I did my very best to add all the tools that would be needed into each container so that when it was grabbed, it could be worked on immediately.  I came up with all kinds of "games" to choose what to work on since there are so many, and I do tend to get bored if I work on a large project for too long.  I worked on way too many projects each day and, though with a few exceptions, got just the tiniest bit done on each one.  When January ended and I looked at what I had accomplished, my progress was spread out over too many WIPs, so it looked like I had done precious little.

Why can't I get it through my head that this "work on all of them" thing doesn't work?  I mean, I try it just about every year, and it lasts for about a month, then I remember that in order to see real progress on these big projects, I need to work on them for more than an hour a day, once or twice per week.

Keeping that in mind, I have chosen 2 of my big cross stitch projects to work on daily.  The first is being worked on 18ct Aida, and if I do just under 200 stitches per day, will be complete by the end of the year.  Or thereabouts, considering that I may not work on it each and every day.  I have only completed 1/2 of the first page, but this one is only 9 pages.

The second is being worked on 14ct Aida, and will be complete by end of June working just over 200 stitches per day.

I have also decided that my weekends will be dedicated to one of the many smaller projects I have started.  I will choose a new one to work on if, and when, I get bored with the current one.  No more weekly choosing.  I may still use the handy RNG though, since I spend way too much time trying to decide which one of them I want to show some love to next.  Currently, I will be working on Paul's Christmas stocking, which I started 3 years ago.  I got sidetracked by a bright shiny new project before I had gotten very far, and then this was packed away when we moved and hadn't seen the light of day until now.

I don't have much done yet, but you can definitely see the boy and the girl already.

I had originally planned to continue working on that mermaid until she was done, but when I started working on her last week, I remembered why she had been put away for so long.  I started adding beads the last time I worked on her, and then realized that I couldn't put it in a hoop any more because the beads would get in the way.  I tried putting her on a scroll frame, but the beads caused issues with rolling the work up.  I tried working in hand, and don't care for that at all.  Can you say tension issues?  I have a fairly large q-snap frame that I can put it on and only use clamps on the sides where there aren't beads, but the one I have is awkward and I have problems stitching with it.  I decided to just put her away until I figure out how to resolve this issue.

Of course, there are still the quilting, sewing, knitting, and crocheting projects to be completed too.  Not sure how I'll handle those, but I'll squeeze them in here and there.

Little Monthly Wall Quilts

Not a lot of progress on the stitching front to blog about today, so I thought I'd share a few photos of the little monthly wall quilts that I finished while on break from blogging.

I finished up the November, December and January quilts.

I've got some of the February quilt pieces cut out, but I'm just not finding the time to get downstairs to sew lately.  Sebastian is a little (well huge truth be told) terror and gets into all kinds of trouble if I leave him alone too long.  I need to just stick him in his crate to whine for an hour here and there, and get downstairs to work on these quilts.  Maybe I'll do that tomorrow after my massage appointment.  Make some tea, turn on an audio book, and relax downstairs with some fabric and the sewing machine.

I Have A Serious Problem

I keep saying that I need to finish all these projects I have started, yet I am constantly starting new ones.  Oh well, I guess I just need to accept that I have a serious problem and go with the flow.

I discovered a new to me pattern company and I adore just about every pattern I've seen so far.  I just ordered the one below along with fabric to complete it, and yes, I am going to start it as soon as the supplies arrive.  I've even corrupted talked my friend Brandi into doing one of these with me.  All it took was showing her the adorable weiner dog patterns they had, and she was a goner.  I'd love to do this in beautiful overdyed floss, but I am going to use up some of the tons of DMC floss I have in my stash instead.  If I finish several cross stitch projects this year, maybe I'll treat myself to a new sampler pattern and overdyed floss next year.

As bad as I am at starting new projects, I am pretty good about really taking stock of the ones I already have going.  I really think hard about why the ones that have been sitting around for an extended period aren't being worked on.  I did that this weekend when I was supposed to be working on Time I.  I wasn't enjoying it like I was the other large HAED projects.  When I decided that it was because I was working them in tent stitch instead of full cross, I decided to "scrap" all three I started that way.  There isn't much work being tossed aside there; all three were started, then quickly left to sit while I worked on something else.  I will start each one over using full cross when I make some headway on other projects.

Once I put away Time I, I pulled out The Great Snail to work on instead.  I think instead of changing every weekend, I'll work on this one until I'm tired of it, then I'll switch.  Believe it or not, this is almost 3 pages complete.  Since I started on the lower right corner, I've been working on the partial pages at the end of each row and at the bottom of the columns.  I think if I do the next page up next instead of the next page across, I should start to see some mushrooms.  I'm loving the colors in the background, but would really like to see some detail show up so I don't get bored.

The other gift I finished that was shipped off today is the afghan I made for my niece's dorm room.  I love this pattern and maybe some day I'll make one for myself too.

And, as has been my custom lately, when I finished up that last knit/crochet project, I started a new one instead of grabbing one of the many others already in progress.  *sigh* I doubt I'll ever get better.  This is going to be a sweater for my husband.  I love the yarn this is made with (Malabrigo), it's so soft and squishy.  Most of the sweater is made in this textured rib, but there are a couple of less textured bands.  So far it's working up quickly, and I'm only working on it about an hour in the evenings before I pull out the reindeer cross stitch.  Let's hope hubby sees a new sweater next year.