2003 Cross Stitch Updates
- December 29 - Tannenbaum is
finished! And I'm still working on Guardian
Angel. I achieved the goal I had set for myself this year - finishing
at least one project each month.
- December 22 - Friday I started Tannenbaum,
and I'm close to finishing it. Hopefully I'll have it finished by Christmas,
even if it won't be framed. I also worked on Guardian
Angel a bit more, and have most of her wings done now, and started
on the trellis/frame/whatever it's supposed to be called.
- December 15 - A new scan of Guardian
Angel - with the top of her dress done, her face and hair, and
the baby stitched and backstitched.
- December 8 - A new scan of Fancy
Pansy... with the exception of the leaves and a bit of backstitching,
the middle pansy is done.
- December 5 - I've got a new scan of Guardian
Angel up. I've moved on (at least temporarily) to Fancy Pansy,
which was screaming at me.
- November 30 - Started Guardian
Angel over. Yes, I know I'm crazy, but it was just too painful
(literally) to work on, PLUS I realized that one of the flosses I used
changed from a gray-green 503 to more of a blue-green 503 (when I started
using a newer skein of floss). I could tell,
and even if no one else could, that's what matters.
- November
28 - Some more progress on Celestial
Dragon
- November 27 - Happy Thanksgiving! I finished Dragon's
Lair!!!
- November 23 - I started and finished a Mill
Hill ornament this weekend.
- November 20 - Last night I finished
the Pansies!
- November 18 - Finally, I've got Part
2 of Christmas
Mystery scanned in. I've also got a scan up of Pansies,
a little kit I picked up at Market Night (even though it wasn't necessarily
in the new stuff). I've also finished going through my cross stitch magazines,
and I've updated My For Sale List.
- November 17 - No updates to show yet
- forgot to scan my Christmas
Mystery and Pansies. But I've been going through stuff and I have
a new page - My For Sale List. See anything
you'd like to own? If you'd like more information about anything on that
page, please let me know - I'm trying to pare down a bit.
- November 9 - Back to the old grind
(work, that is). I think we should get as a benefit a paid month's holiday.
I
finished my 10 hours on Ixlandia and
have moved on to Celestial Dragon. I also started cutting fabrics for
my cottage garden bullseye quilt - so I'll need to make a page for that
soon...
- November 7 - Happy birthday to me!
It's
the big 3-5, LOL. Funny, it doesn't feel any different from the big 3-4
or the big 3-3... Anyway, I've been working a little on Ixlandia, but
don't have a new scan yet - I'm going to work on it some more this weekend
and see if I can finish up my 10 hours on it, so that I can move on to
Celestial Dragon. And we should be receiving the second installment in
the Christmas Mystery Sunday, so I plan to work on that. I get to take
part of the day off work this afternoon, so I might get some good stitching
in then!
- November 4 - I finished up another
10 hours on Pageant Kings last
night, got out my bin of fabric for my bulls-eye quilt and started cutting
out a few pieces. I'll probably work on it a little tonight, along with
the next one in the rotation, Ixlandia.
- November 3 - We're in November already?!?
The closer we get to the end of the year, the faster it goes! I just
got through calculating my hours for October, and found that I managed
to get in 99 stitching/quilting/crochet that month. I didn't think I
was going to get close to that amount, but cool.
I
have finished part 1 of the Christmas
Mystery 2003 from Pam Kellogg. It's really pretty, but don't look
if you don't want to know what it looks like so far! You
know what else? I actually FINISHED Amy
Beth's quilt last night!!! I can't believe it - and almost 2 full
years in the making!!! I still need to wash it and take a photo, and
hopefully I can convince her to pose with her new quilt when I present
it to her. More on that next week... for now, it's back to Pageant Kings
in the ol' rotation, and on to thinking about what quilting project(s)
to work on next. 
- October 26 - Well, although October
is not quite over, I've finished another 10 (and a half) hours on Fantasy
Sampler, so it is time to move on to the next one in my rotation,
Pageant Kings - it is one of 8 projects that hasn't been stitched on
yet in 2003, so that is one of my goals for the rest of this year - to
put rotation hours into each of those projects.
- October 25 - Finished up my 10 hours
on Mother's Arms during
a Saturday marathon stitchin session. Starting at Taneya's in the early
afternoon watching movies, and ending up back at my house, listening
to a book on tape. I've also finished binding the top side of the quilt
- just 3 sides left to go!
- October 23 - Finished up my 10 hours
during the Magical
Night SAL. Heading back to Fantasy Sampler before
I move on to Mother's Arms.
- October 18 - Finished up another 10
hours on Storyteller,
and I'm diving right into the Magical
Night SAL.
- October 14 - So, I joined the Storyteller SAL,
the Fantasy Sampler SAL.
The Magical Night SAL
comes up on the 20th, and the Enchanter SAL
begins somewhere towards the end of October. Between that, I'm working
on Amy Beth's quilt and
the super-sneaky crochet gift project. Oh, and my at work project is
currently Dragon's Lair by
Black Swan. Busy month!!! Definitely gonna need some
... 
October
10 - I finished Witch
Way tonight! And just in time for Halloween too. Now I shall join
the Storyteller SAL and then get back to my Fantasy Sampler in the
rotation.- October 6 - I've stitched 10 more hours
on Unicorn Mystique.
This week I worked on it, my knitting
project (a dishcloth), and the Drunkard's
Path Quilt - I have finished all of the full blocks, just need to
finish the half blocks now. I've also been working on a crochet gift
project. Oh, and I have a new progress scan of Witch
Way - the top of that design is almost completely done now.
- September 29 - This week I've worked
on Enchanter and taken
a beginner's knitting class. I also started Arabian
Woman, which finally came in the mail this weekend!
- September 23 - Last weekend, Cheryl
(momstitches), Taneya and I had our first Nashville TWBBer's GTG - we
went to Clarksville, shopped at Homespun Corner and Hobby Lobby there,
then went to Olive Garden to eat - we had a great time! I've been working
on Lucien, Witch
Way, and the Drunkard's Path Quilt lately...
- September 9 - I have almost 3 1/2 hours
in now on a new project, Witch
Way by Just Nan, which is to be a gift for my framer Anita, who loves
everything Halloween.
- September 7 - I have finished the Autumn
Mystery, so I'm happy dancing tonight!!!
- September 2 - We got part 4 of the
Autumn Mystery, so I'm busy stitching that up at the moment, as well
as working on the quilt.
- August 26 - ANOTHER Happy Dance!!!
I finished the Iris With
Blackwork today!!! Woohoo - probably will be a while before another
BIG one, but I can't believe I've got 2 HDs from my rotation in one month.
Makes me wish I had a lot more vacation time...
- August 25 - Part 3 of the Autumn
Mystery is done - and we're all wondering just WHAT? will
be in that golden oval...
- August 24 - I'm Happy Dancing!!! I
finally finished Star Maiden this
weekend - while looking at my progress vs. the finished model, I thought
that I might be able to finish it up in about 10 hours, and I was right
(Okay, so it was more like 12, but still...)!!! I'm going back to work
on the Iris with Blackwork now,
and I have updated Cat Eyes.
- August 18 - This weekend I worked on
the quilt, got another
block and a half quilted, and I concentrated on the Iris
with Blackwork. I'm anxiously awaiting part 2 of the Autumn Mystery
project, and I have worked a couple of hours on Cat Eyes, but I don't
have a photo yet. My plans this week are to work on the Autumn Mystery
project, Iris with Blackwork, Cat Eyes, and Smokey (Moonstruck), and
of course, Amy Beth's Drunkard's Path quilt - still have a bit to go,
but getting closer and closer!
- I'm not even going to talk about being a bad girl at
Market Day at the Stitchin Post - I got several new charts, a couple
that I had ordered. Like I need more stash!
- August 12 - we got Part 1 of the Autumn
Mystery project last night in our email from Pam, so of course,
I had to start it early.
Part
1 is done, in 4.5 hours. Dragon
Heart has another round finished on him now too...
- July 22 - Smokey
(Moonstruck) has ears and eyes! I've put about 12.5 hours into
him so far. Since I am working on black lugana instead of jobelan,
I am finding that the black is not so hard to work on. I think the
sheen of the jobelan is what makes the very dark colors so hard to
work with. We brought him home Friday when we got back from vacation,
and while he still can't see, we are still hoping for the best. It
seems to be more of a neurological problem - his legs are weak, his
balance is off, but he did a lot of exploring yesterday, and even ate
dry food! CC and I are both encouraged by the baby steps he is taking.
I'm probably going to continue to work on this cross stitch exclusively
(except for the quilt I'm working on) for now. Thank you all for your
well wishes and good thoughts, it really means a lot!
- July 14 - I did start Smokey
(Moonstruck) yesterday (no scan yet, sorry) - got his left ear
about done. Smokey is still in the hospital, and the doctor is going
to start giving him some high blood pressure medicine this morning
(his bp was borderline, which may be causing his apparent blindness,
and thus the uncoordination, nervousness, et.). The good news is that
he has a good appetite when they hold the food bowl up to his nose
so that he can smell that it is there, so we will keep our fingers
crossed.
- July 12 - I have finished My
Favorite Things: The Snowman, and now I'm going to start a very
special project - "Smokey (Moonstruck)". It is a design in
the Moonlight Kitties booklet that looks similar to my Smokey boy,
who is currently in the hospital. I'm hoping he gets better soon, but
it is some neurological thing, that they haven't been able to pinpoint
yet, so we're just in a wait-and-see mode at this point. I'll update
when I have more information.
- July 9 - I'm just giddy with it - I've
finished an itty bitty project, but one that was already a WIP - my Black
and White Cat (who looks just like my Rudy Poo). Happy dance with
me!!!
- July 6 - Who was I trying to kid?!
I am a hopeless project-starter. Last Wednesday night I could stand it
no more. I've been wanting to start Iris
With Blackwork for a while now, and well, I just did! I've stitched
(and unstitched and restitched several sections - I either can't count
or am not paying attention) on it for about 13.5 hours so far. I also
quilted another 2 sections on the Quilt.
It was a great stitching holiday weekend!
- July 1 - Well, I just tabulated the
hours stitched for June (including quilting), and am amazed and pleased
to say, it totalled almost 85!! Not quite as much as Taneya, but
not too bad if I do say so myself. I
started keeping track the same way she does, with an Excel spreadsheet
stitching journal (as well as using my PunchClock program on the Palm),
so I know which projects got work for the month, and the totals on each.
- June 29 - I joined the Storyteller 2nd
Annual SAL Reunion this weekend, and got about 8 hours more stitched.
Not as much as I would have hoped, but at least you can see a little
bit of progress from the last time.
- June 23 - HAPPY DANCING again!!! Woohoo!!!
I have finally finished my oldest WIP, Haunted
House. I only had about 13 hours left, the majority of that was backstitching...
- June 19 - a happy dance of a different
sort - I ordered a new steering wheel cover for CC's Miata about a month
ago (his old one was in very bad repair), and FINALLY sewed it on tonight
(it's leather and came with leather cord and a really big needle - it
is specially made to fit his car). Here's a picture!
- June 8 - A busy and BAD girl I've been as
I have started a couple of new projects, in addition to working on Dragon
Heart and Snow Leopard. I got a few things
on clearance at Hobby Lobby last weekend, (and one chart that wasn't
on clearance), and ordered some fabrics from Silkweaver to
kit up 2 new projects - Aurora and Avatar, both by Black Swan Designs.
I don't have all of the flosses to completely kit them up, but pulled
what I could from my stash (next weekend is the huge floss sale at Joann's),
and just couldn't help it, I had to start them both, just to see how
they would look on the fabrics. The picture of Aurora doesn't show the
iridescent threads that run through the fabric, but it's going to be
so cool! The fabric for Avatar is a hand-dyed fabric called Winter Breeze
that I thought would be perfect for it. Dragon Heart has lots more progress
than last time, and Snow Leopard is starting to come along. And the Drunkard's
Path quilt has 25/45 full blocks and 4/19 half blocks quilted now!
- May 24 - Quiltwork is
also finished! Now my plans are to work on Dragon Heart and Snow Leopard,
and finish up the class project from April. I also have a little gift
project I am doing for a friend, and I hope to finish that up this weekend.
- May 21 - The
Cat Sampler is finished!
- May 19 - did I mention that I finally
finished Purrfect Lunch? Yep, on May 13,
and I hope it's the last time I EVER have to work with plastic canvas,
bleah. I also started, and have almost completed another new project
(Yes, I KNOW!) but it is going SO fast, I hope to have it completed this
week. I have new progress scans of The Cat
Sampler, the Black and White Cat silk gauze
kit, and The Snowman. I've also got 22 blocks
of quilting completed on the Drunkard's
Path quilt. I'm loving my reorganized craft room, and hoping to get
some great stitching and quilting time in this long Memorial Day weekend.
Happy stitching all!
- May 11 - the craft
room shelving installation/reorganization is complete ahead of
schedule!!!
- May 7 - Yay, Happy Dancing for Royal!!!
I think I'm going to try to finish up Purrfect Lunch next. I've been
working a bit more on The Snowman during various
waiting room visits (doctors, automotive shops, etc.) and at lunch. I've
also been working on the Drunkard's
Path quilt, and now have 21 full blocks (of 45) and 1 half block
(of 19) quilting completed.
- Oh, and before I forget - take a look at what Melanie
and I have come up with for the Ultimate
Stitchin' Store, so if we win the lottery...
- Also, here is my Memorial Day Weekend project - Craft
Room (re)Organization - I'm already part of the way into it, having
organized most of my papers and charts into binders, and supplies into
Sterilite containers. Now I need to start getting the shelves and brackets.
- April 11, 2003 - ANOTHER HAPPY DANCE
for Sister Bears, stitched in about 32
hours!!!! Other things to report - I've now got 16 blocks quilted on the Drunkard's Path quilt, I've
started working on Royal, and got Dragon Heart back
out to work on it lately. I've also been bad and started a couple more
projects - The Cat Sampler, by the Goode
Huswife, on linen - 1 over 1 (yes, I know I'm insane), and Trellis
Sampler (Patricia Andrle - I'm supposed to be working on it during
lunches at work).
- I've also kitted up another needlepoint project - it's
a surprise! Look for more on it in the coming weeks... I'm still trying
to get some of my older projects finished, and am really pleased with
the progress I'm making so far. Hope everyone else out there is having
a great time stitching up a storm!
- March 29, 2003 - ANOTHER HAPPY DANCE!!!
I put the final stitches into Cymberleah yesterday (I got to stitch for about 7 hours!), a total of about 154 hours
stitched. I think I'm going to move on to Sister Bears now.
- March 25, 2003 - A HAPPY DANCE!!! My Fantastic Fall Bouquet was finished last
night, a total of 130 hours stitched into it.
- March 16, 2003 - Friday I took a scan
of my progress on Fantastic Fall Bouquet,
and it's getting so close to being finished now... This weekend I have
been working on it also, so hopefully this week I'll post another progress
pic. As of Friday's scan, I have about 111 hours into it. I've also got
14 blocks of quilting done now on the Drunkard's
Path quilt.
- February 26, 2003 - I have something
to confess. After having been sick for quite a bit over the past couple
of weeks and not getting much done, I have started to reconsider this
big honkin' rotation I've got going. I sincerely thought it was going
to work, but I've started to feel completely overwhelmed. I posted a message
on the TWBB Rotation Stitchers, and got some great feedback.
- Because I have a few projects which will be done in 10
hours or less, I am going to concentrate on finishing them one at a time.
This will accomplish 2 things - it will give me a nice string of Happy
Dances, and it will whittle down my WIPs.
- After I finish these projects, then I think I will choose
a few of my WIPs to rotate - I don't know how many at this point. Maybe
just 3, maybe 5 or 8. I will post an update when I've made that decision.
But for now, I'm working on Fantastic Fall
Bouquet. It probably is the only exception to the list of projects
that can be finished in 10 hours or less. It's so bright and cheery that
I just don't want to stop working on it, so it will be my next finish!
Meanwhile, I will still be working on the Drunkard's
Path quilt (12 blocks quilted now!), and maybe an occasional little
crochet project.
- Here is my list of projects to be finished, in no particular
order:
- February 16, 2003 - 10 more hours complete
on Star Maiden, 10 more hours complete on Guardian,
and another block quilted on the Drunkard's
Path. I've been kidnapped by the most horrible sinus infection, so
my apologies for this update being rather brief and uninformative.
- February 4, 2003 - 10 hours complete
on Nova, and 22 more squares than before!
- February 1, 2003 - Happy Dancing time
again!!! I just finished Joy!!! Now I'll
move Cymberleah into the focus slot, and
move on to Nova.
- January 26, 2003 - 10 more hours into
(Computer Corners - Kitties) Purrfect Lunch and 10 more hours into Storyteller! We had
a fabulous time stitching Saturday at my friend Melanie's. Rindy started
a new Bent Creek project, Taneya got to work on her Storyteller, and Melanie finished her Amethyst Bell Pull! Now I get to finish Joy!!
- January 18, 2003 - Guardian
Angel now has another 10 hours completed, and I've also worked a little
on Amy Beth's Drunkard's Path
quilt. I'm about to start working on Purrfect
Lunch again this evening.
- January 12, 2003 - Cymberleah's 10 hours slot is done, and I should be able to finish her the next time
I work on her. Now it's time for Guardian Angel.
- January 10, 2003 - Oriental
Butterfly is FINISHED!!!! Happy Dance time! My first finish of 2003.
So, I've moved Joy into the focus slot,
and now I've moved on to the next row in the rotation, starting with Cymberleah.
Oh yeah, and I did
start a new project this week, but I'm only working on it during my lunch
hour at work, so there's no progress picture yet (I've only got 1.5 hours
in so far) - Egyptian Sampler!
- January 5, 2003 - Another 10 hours in
on Gothic Castle, and I'm off to try to finish
up the Oriental Butterfly!
- January 1, 2003 - First 10-hour slot
done on Pharaoh's Pet. I'm definitely going
to have to buy more DMC 796 (it requires 5 according to the chart). Thats
A LOT of blue. I'm going to go quilt a bit on Amy
Beth's Drunkard's Path, then I'll go on to Gothic
Castle.
