2004 Updates

  • December 22: see my progress on Butterfly Fantasy so far
  • December 20: an update for the cutie Snow Leopard
  • December 18: I got to bring Lucien home from the framers! He is absolutely gorgeous.
  • December 9: I finally finished my ornament for the tree this year! See my Willow Tassel Ornament
  • December 6: Smokey (Moonstruck) has both front paws now.
  • December 2: I am back into my rotation, finally! I plan to work on Smokey (Moonstruck) over the weekend, and hopefully have a new progress pic on Monday.
  • For now, I should post my goals for this month - I have several things I want to accomplish, but don't want to make this list too large because of any holiday obligations that may come up.
  • December goals:
    • Finish the fuzzy scarf (#1) I'm knitting GOAL COMPLETED
    • Crochet 2 more squares on the 63 squares afghan GOAL COMPLETED
    • Quilt one block each week on Scott's Ships quilt (essentially 4) GOAL COMPLETED
    • Stitch one Christmas ornament GOAL COMPLETED
    • Finish the 6th round of my rotation GOAL COMPLETED
  • November 27: Lucien is finished!!!!! I'm happy dancing all over the place today, woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • November 21: Lucien is probably about 94% complete (can you believe it?!?). Barring any unforeseen roadblocks, I believe I really should be able to finish him by the 30th (a little over a week), especially with the holidays off Thursday and Friday.
  • November 2: Goals - Well, since I did such a bang-up job in not meeting last month's goals, I've decided to reduce the number of goals for myself for November. It's getting close to the end of the year, and with the holidays, who knows how much time I'll have to work on everything.

    Lucien still won't let me work on the rest of my rotation, so we'll see if I can finish him this month!
  • November goals:
    • Crochet 3 more squares on the 63 squares afghan almost, but only 2 were completed
    • Work on Scott's Ships quilt YES!!! And I actually finished piecing the quilt top!
    • Finish Lucien YES, woohoo!!!!
    • Stitch one Christmas ornament sigh, no once again
    • End the month with 27 WIPs left YES, and I'm so happy to be down to only 27 now!!!
  • October 31, 24, 19, 13: I haven't yet finished my round on Lucien, but I have posted a new progess scan. I might as well just admit - Lucien has me under his spell!!!
  • October 8: Finished my round on Fantasy Sampler, and I've brought out Lucien to work on now.
  • October 4: I finished Trick or Treat on the 1st! Of course, I took it to get it framed before I remembered that I was supposed to scan it. I also finished up row M on Nova.
  • October goals:
    • Crochet 3 more squares on the 63 squares afghan Yep
    • Finish piecing all of the sashing strips and squares on Scott's Ships quilt (nope, didn't work on it at ALL!)
    • Make it through another round in the rotation (nope, because Lucien wouldn't let me)
    • Finish the blue Sweet Dreams doily Yep, finally, though I still need to weave in the ends and wash and block it
    • Stitch at least one Christmas ornament (okay, so this one was a dream anyway... maybe next month!)
    • Frame Dragon Heart Yep, and it's so beautiful, hanging above my bed...
    • Frame Yorkie Yep, ready to wrap :)
    • Still have only 28 WIPs at the end of the month YES!!
  • September 28 - Snow Leopard has a little more belly and hip now
  • September 25 - I've pretty much given my Smokey (Moonstruck) a right front leg and paw.
  • September 19 - I finally finished DRAGON HEART!!! So I'm down to 28 WIPs now!!!
  • September 17 - I finished the upper left corner square on Fantasy Sampler (the pegasus), and now I'll be moving on to Dragon Heart.
  • September 11 - A teeny, tiny happy dance - Yorkie
  • September 3 - I finally get to reveal what the "super sneaky cross stitch gift" is! Last night we had a baby shower at our LNS for Taneya and Kem (who are both due in October). I stitched In the Arms of an Angel for her. It was so hard to keep it a secret, and I thought she might have guessed, but she said she didn't have a clue that I was working on it! :)
  • September 1 - So how did I do for August? Pretty good, because I had several finishes. I almost made it all the way through the rotation this month. Last night I picked up Snow Leopard and started working on his left paw, but I haven't finished his slot in this rotation (round 4) yet. I also didn't finish the Mystery E finishing, because I haven't yet found the bellpull hardware for that.

    I am including all of my goals, not just cross stitch, because although cross stitch composes the majority of my WIPs, I do also quilt and crochet (and occasionally bead something).

    I'm really excited about only having 29 cross stitch WIPs currently (after a high of about 36). I'm planning to add a small gift to the rotation this next round (5), but once I finish Dragon Heart, I should be back to 29 WIPs, slowly working my way down to a more manageable (for me) WIP list.
  • September goals:
    •  Crochet 3 more squares on the 63 squares afghan I only crocheted two
    •  Work on Scott's Ships quilt YES!
    •  Start Yorkie Yep, and it's finished!!!
    •  Finish Dragon Heart Yes, and WOOHOO, this is one of my proudest achievements this year
    •  Make it through another round in the rotation Yep, yay!
    •  Crochet another doily well, I'm about 85% through with it, but not finished yet...
    •  NO new stash purchases! Okay, how about no new cross stitch stash purchases... we won't talk about the flannel quilting fabrics I bought at the Labor Day sale...
    •  However, I am allowed find some bellpull hardware and finish the Mini Mystery E finishing! Once again - this did NOT get done
  • August 30 - Legends of the Dragons is FINISHED!!!
  • August 22 - Dragon Heart is SO close now!
  • August 15 - I finished Row K on Nova. Then I pulled out Castles by the Sea, and actually finished it too!
  • August 14 - The little "make it and take it" from Jennifer Aikman Smith at this year's Stitchin at the Beach is finally completed!! Seashells sachet
  • August 6 - Tabby Cat Sampler is finished!
  • August 4 - A new progress picture of Snow Leopard. I have finally made it to the bottom left corner of the design!
  • August goals:
    •  Crochet 3 more squares on the 63 squares afghan GOAL COMPLETE
    •  Work on Scott's Ships quilt GOAL COMPLETE
    •  Get really, really close to finishing In the Arms of an Angel (aka super sneaky cross stitch gift) GOAL COMPLETE
    •  Make it through another round in the rotation
    •  Finish the Tabby Cat Sampler GOAL COMPLETE
    •  Finish the little Make It/Take It seashells pillow from Myrtle Beach GOAL COMPLETE
    •  Finish Castles by the Sea and figure out which of my TW wips will go in that slot for next month GOAL COMPLETE
    •  Find some bellpull hardware and finish the Mini Mystery E finishing!
  • July 30 - All of the regular cross stitching on Legends of the Dragons is now complete. Backstitching and over-one stitching to be attacked next round!
  • July 26 - Dragon Heart has gotten a few more stitches, and the blue dragon almost has a face!
  • July 18 - Castles by the Sea is 90% complete!
  • July 11 - Row J is finished on Nova.
  • July 7 - I've started the Tabby Cat Sampler, and am just over halfway finished with it!
  • July 5 - I've finished up the second round of my rotation, with some good progress on Snow Leopard. Storyteller just didn't get much progress during the SAL because of burnout and other distracting things like work.
  • June 24 - I've started working on Wisdom in Legends of the Dragons. This weekend I'm going to participate in the Storyteller SAL. Give da draggie some love!
  • June 20 - I have a good portion of Castles by the Sea finished now.
  • June 16 - I finished all of the stitching on Mini Mystery E!!!
  • June 15 - I've worked on the lower left corner of Dragon Heart. I haven't quite finished it, but I made some good progress this round!
  • June 8 - Row I is finished on Nova, but I don't have a new progress photo yet.
  • June 6 - I decided I needed a quick finish, so I got out my Shamrock Heart kit (I kitted it up just before my Myrtle Beach trip in February, but didn't start it then), and finished it - what a nice little finish! I have also finished my first round of my new rotation, ending with some good progress on Snow Leopard's back and left hip.
  • May 30 - I finished Magic during this round of Legends of the Dragons.
  • May 24 - I finished up this round on Castles by the Sea, and the beach scene came together very nicely. Now I'm off to stitch on Legends of the Dragons.
  • May 17 - I picked up the framed gifts - Dragonflies and Voyage at Sea Thurday night at Sit n Stitch. I finished up a round on Dragon Heart and Part 2 of Mini Mystery E, so now I've moved on in my rotation to Castles By the Sea. I went a little out of order because I got Mini Mystery E's second part (of 3) on Saturday. This rotation is moving along quite nicely! I'm going to work on Castles until I finish the top beach/castle scene this time around.
  • May 10 - So I started my new rotation, and I've worked my way through Row H on Nova. I've now moved on to Dragon Heart, working on the gold dragon some more this time. I should have a progress scan of it in a few days. As I posted in my blog over the weekend, I'm already feeling a sense of accomplishment with this new rotation. I will get to see several of my WIPs frequently, so hopefully I'll be seeing quite a bit of progress on each of those which I included.
  • May 1 - I've finished the Dragonflies!!! I will get to start my new rotation very soon now!
  • April 25 - I've finished parts 1a+b of Mini Mystery E and all of Voyage at Sea!
  • April 19 - I've been working primarily on Voyage at Sea, Dragonflies, and the 63 squares afghan. I also got my materials in the mail Saturday for the Mini Mystery E by Chatelaine, so of course, I had to start that - and finish Part 1a. I LOVE Queen Stitches!!!
  • April 4 - I had another great weekend, but didn't work as much on cross stitch projects. I did fill in a bit more on Voyage at Sea, but most of Saturday was spent quilting on my cottage bullseye quilt (no updated pics yet) and most of Sunday was spent crocheting along on the 63 squares afghan. I finished squares #4, 5, and 6.
  • March 29 - This weekend was beautiful, relaxing, and I worked on Aurora and Avatar, which have both been screaming at me for a couple of weeks now. I'm going to put them back to bed now that I've fed them a few stitches each and continue to work on some of my other WIPs.
  • March 23 - Happy dancing time again! I have finished Mermaid Magic. Of course, I still can't post a photo, but trust me, it's gorgeous! This weekend I worked on Legends of the Dragons, finishing up Majesty and just starting on Magic. Now that I've finished the baby afghan for my new nephew, I can get back to working on all my other WIPs.
  • March 8 - It's itty-bitty happy dancing time! Last night I finished the little Black Cat project that I had started on the flight to Myrtle Beach. I've loved this design ever since I first saw it, so I'm glad to finally be able to add it to my finished pieces!
  • March 1 (March, already???) - Whew - I'm back from Myrtle Beach, and had SO much fun. I've started 5 new projects. The one I seem to be working on the most now is a class project from Karen Weaver of Black Swan Designs called Mermaid Magic. It is really cool. But right now I'm unpacking and trying to wind down. I did post about my trip, so if you'd like to read all about it and see the photos I took, go to my Stitching at the Beach 2004 pages.
  • February 23 - As I posted in my blog a few days ago, Smokey (Moonstruck) had been meowing at me quite loudly, so I pulled him out and put some more stitches into him. I'm so very excited about this weekend, because I'll be at Myrtle Beach for the Stitchin at the Beach retreat with Teresa Wentzler, Karen Weaver (of Black Swan Designs) and Jennifer Aikman-Smith of (Dragon Dreams) all teaching classes. I can't WAIT!!!
  • February 17 - I stitched some more on Dragon Heart, have a little more progress on Dragonflies, and worked on a nametag for the Myrtle Beach stitching retreat coming up at the end of the month. I'm not sure if I'm finished with the nametag yet - I might want to add a few more stitches (or embellishments) to it.
  • February 14 - I have finished Row G on Nova!
  • February 10 - Well, let's see - I started a new project called Dragonflies, and have a good bit of progress on it. I've also updated Voyage at Sea again (worked on it during the Super Bowl and now it's back at work with me). I've got Dragon Heart and Nova out and have put a few more stitches in both of them, but again - no progress pics yet. I'm kind of hoping to focus on the Dragonflies and get them finished up before my trip to Myrtle Beach at the end of the month. I'm not sure if I'll make that goal or not, but it's worth a shot. wink
  • February 1 - Where the heck did January go? I worked some more on Arabian Woman this weekend. Also on Nova and Dragon Heart, but I don't have a new progress pic of those yet.
  • January 28 - I've finished Guardian Angel!!!
  • January 20 - I finished row F on Nova, so I took a new progress photo. Some of the blocks are really pretty. I've also stitched a little more on Guardian Angel and Voyage at Sea, but don't have new progress scans of those yet - maybe in a few days.
  • January 11 - Stitched some more on Guardian Angel and Nova this weekend - GA has a new progress scan, but Nova doesn't yet - I'll probably wait until I finish row F or G....
  • January 6 - I started *another* project - a gift for my brother... I don't have enough in it yet to take a progress scan. I also stitched on Guardian Angel some more last night, but Voyage at Sea jumped into my arms last night as I went into my craft room...
  • January 2 - Wow, the new year is here already. Guardian Angel continues to scream at me. I don't want to put any pressure on it, but it might be another happy dance this month...