2008 Roundup

Number of WIPs on 01/01/08 - 27

Number of WIPS on 31/12/08 - 28

Number of new Stitching Starts in 2008 - 28

Number of Stitching Finishes in 2008 - 27

Number of Books read in 2008 - 65

Number of quilts finished in 2008 - 12

So I failed in my bid to reduce my wip list. Not only that I checked back to January and I only finished 3 projects from my wips, all my other finishes this year have been new starts.

So for 2009 I must do better and hopefully my rotation will give me time on new projects as well as allowing me to focus on getting current WIPs completed. If I stick to it I could have as many as 10 projects gone from my WIP list by the end of 2009. If I'm honest, I'd be happy with 5.

I also almost managed 100 blog posts this year - more than double last year - so I shall continue to try and increase the number of posts in 2009 so I can break the three figure barrier.

A Busy Weekend

Well the reward for my boast about Lia's potty training was a phone call from her nursery at 2pm last Thursday to say she'd had an extremely nasty bout of diarrhea and could I come take her home. Oh and by the way we just threw her trousers away because they were pretty much ruined...

She's fine though, other than the obvious sign she didn't show any other symptoms so I think it was more than likely something she ate. Still we used pullups over the weekend just to be on the safe side.

The big news of today though is last night was her first dry night! She bounded out of bed this morning shouting 'need a wee' and raced to the bathroom rather than her usual using the nappy and then saying she needed to go. Oh and we've now got her using the toilet rather than the potty which is great - no need to drag a potty around with us when we go visiting.

We had quite a productive weekend - several runs to the tip with rubbish, cleaning up and getting some more work done in the house. I'm hoping for some good weather at weekends so I can get out in the garden and do some clearing. Lia's birthday is a Sunday this year so we're going to have a 'BBQ open day' for friends and family so people can come when they like, leave when they like and bring offerings to be frazzled by DH. This means I've got till June to get the garden in good shape for kids to be playing.

Crafting wise I've been having fun too - I finished my Newton WIP last night and have made a bit of progress on my Redwork and Snowman WIPs. I've also done the first two squares of my Jungle Quilts. I've done the cutting for three quilts and now it's the sewing. I've had news of more babies this week so I'm now planning five quilts! It's fantastic fabric for kids though - bright, cheerful and non-gender-specific so I'm going to stick with my original design plan because it's a quick and simple one. I need to complete one quilt in four weeks, the next two by the end of April (to take to Greece) and then the final two by the end of July (we have two sets of friends due with their first babies two weeks apart).

I'll post some pics of the squares and the stitching later - it was too late last night to take any as I was waiting till Newton was done (I just had all that nasty backstitching to complete).

I'm also pleased that I've managed to read several books this month. I used to read two or three books a week pre Lia but for obvious reasons (not least my increase in hobbies) that dropped to about one a month if I was lucky. I'm trying to get at least 30 mins a day as I have a huge pile of 'too read' books that I want to work my way through.

I'm on another course for work tomorrow and Wednesday so Thursday I'll be posting my first monthly roundup of achievements plus my Feb goals. I intend to only focus on two WIPs next month - Sleigh Ride and Cirque des Cercles. Kathy's comment re CdeC reminded me why I always said I'd not join SALs because I'm so easily distracted LOL. Seriously though, I joined the Snowbird SAL to encourage me to get on with CdeC so I am determined to get back on with this one. Sleigh Ride is the same, I absolutely love this one stitched up so I want to get on with it - I'd like to have both these finished and framed by the end of the year.

And yet more stitching

I did this piece as my monthly small start:



It's Eliza Jane's Needlekeep from Brightneedle. I used the only piece of 32ct fabric I had that was vaguely close to the charted fabric - it's a hand-dyed opalescent but I don't know where from as I rescued it from a friend who hates opal fabric.

Obviously I now have to finish it properly. I think I'm going to try and have a 'finishing weekend' every month so I get one or two pieces done at a time.

Here's another couple of WIPs. My GFJ start from Stitchin'Spirations - Lost in a Blackwork Maze (I'm still considering the colours)



And here's one of the three snowmen from Stitching Kitty - I started him just before Christmas and I'm going to work on him a bit - alternating with my Newton's Law WIP

Another finish

I'm definitely on a roll...

More finishes

So another WIP bites the dust - here's Secret Snowdrift from The Trilogy

Also it was my latest quilting class yesterday and we learned a technique to make quick quilt tops - we started and completed a top in a day and here's mine:

And finally here's the quilt top I completed last weekend, the Moda Quilt in a Tin:

I'm also very close to finishing another WIP - I'm making the most of my enthusiasm to get lots done.

Currently the three of us are a bit under the weather, we're all coming down with a nasty cold - much sneezing and nose blowing has been happening today - so we haven't been particularly productive but we need to get the Christmas decorations down tonight so I'm trying to summon up some energy.

Happy New Year!

Okay so I'm a bit late but it's been a busy few days (and I've been back at work). I hope 2008 is a fantastic year for all of you and that Health, Wealth and Happiness flows in abundance.

Oh and a certain reader should be reassured that her message got through and I'll be making sure I post here more regularly this year :)

We had a wonderful New Year with friends and 2008 is starting with a big change in the Family V household as DH starts a new job on the 7th after almost 7 years at his old one. It was time for a change as he hasn't been happy for quite some time but as you can imagine he's a little nervous about his first day.

We've also got a few celebrations to look forward to this year as my Niece is getting married in August and my Sister and BIL celebrate their 40th Wedding Anniversary in September. There's a queue of babies on their way as well - six that I'm currently aware of - and my Godson's little sister will have her Naming Ceremony early in the year too.

Holiday wise we've just booked flights to Greece for the end of April so we'll have the Orthodox Easter in Athens followed by my SIL's Church wedding. We've also booked a holiday cottage in North Devon for the end of June which will be just the three of us. We have an invite to go to DH's cousin's wedding in October in North Greece but we're not committing to that just yet. Oh and we've heard good news from our American Cousins as there's an engagement there - I'd love to finally get over to meet them on their home ground (we've met them in England and in Greece but never the US) so fingers crossed that when a wedding date is set we're able to accept the invite.

So 2008 is going to be a busy one. I'm off on my next quilting course this saturday and have three more booked for this year plus there's the Stitchers Weekend GTG again in early June which will be fantastic.

I'm on a roll...

Yesterday I finished a quilt top. Okay, only a small one, but a finish nonetheless. I don't have any pictures as yet but I will try and get one loaded soon.

It's a small piece, one of the 'Quilts in a Tin' from Moda and it measures 20" x 20". I could finish it as a cushion but Lia loves it (it's very bright) so I think it'll just end up as a blanket for her animals.

It's a step towards my 2008 goals as it was one of the quilting projects I had started (I'd done the cutting) but had stopped when my old sewing machine died on me. Talking of which my new sewing machine is fandabidozi! I had lots of fun over the weekend playing and the best part is that the slowest stitch speed is quiet enough that Lia doesn't complain (she absolutely hates noise from electrical stuff).

I've also made good progress on my WIP 'Ginny' and hope to have her finished by the end of the week. I won't get any stitching done tonight as we have friends over but tomorrow it'll just be the three of us so hopefully I'll get some more done.

I've also been grouping my WIP list into bunches of 5 and thinking about new starts I can include. Can you tell I'm bored at work today? LOL

Group 1

1. Just Nan - Secret Snowdrift
2. Ginny
3. Red Threads Redwork
4. Stitching Shed - Santa Cushion - completed 28/10/07
5. Newton's Law - Keep Calm

Group 2

6. Pulled Thread practice piece
7. Blackwork Maze
8. Row of Christmas Fairies
9. Garden Party
10. Charlie is Born

Group 3

1. Dimensions - Sleigh Ride
2. Ink Circles - Cirque de Cercles
3. Birds of a Feather Dilly Bag
4. Grandma's Thread Minder
5. Victoria Sampler - Lavender Hearts

Group 4

1. Michael Powell - Cottage Garden 2
2. Bent Creek - Red Threads
3. Midsummer Night Designs - Heaven's Above
4. Just Nan - Four Wishes
5. Bothy Threads - Cut Thru Fairy Hill

Group 5

1. Santa's Journey Afghan
2. The Big Zipper
3. Handmade Houses 4
4. Snapperville
5. St Germain

Group 6

1. Be Attitudes Afghan
2. Teresa Wentzler - Tradewinds*
3. Dragon Dreams - Dragon Virtues Afghan*
4. DMC - Wild Ones Alphabet*
5. Dracolair - Dawn Awakening*
6. Noah's Sub*

I'm thinking that, given the size of some of the projects, I'm going to have to include some smaller projects that I can start and complete as a reward system otherwise I'm likely to get bored.

So my current thinking is that I can pick one additional small project to start per month as long as I have stuck to my goals and made significant progress on my WIPs.

The list I can choose from is:

Bent Creek
Cold Snowman
Snow
Snowman
First Moon Colony
Long Winter
Peaceful Forest

Brightneedle
Eliza Jane's Needlekeep

Lili of the Valley
Blossom
Dew
Petal
Pollen

The Trilogy
Spring Line up
Autumn Line up
Summer Line up
Winter Line up
Halloween Line up

Teresa Wentzler
Needle Guardian

Other
Barbara Thompson - Around the World
Meineck Design Group - Brockley

Is this what they mean by Over-Achieving?

I've completed my first WIP!

DH and I watched 'The History Boys' last night and I got on with The Stitching Shed's Santa Cushion and here he is:

I don't have a before pic but I did his hat, the star, the green border and the backstitching last night. He needs to be finished into a cushion so he's now part of my 'complete finishing' list.

I have now taken pics of the other four WIPs in my first list:

Red Threads Redwork

The Trilogy's Secret Snowdrift

Newton's Law - Keep Calm at all Times

Simply Heritage Cats - Ginny

I also had a small HD over Christmas - the Bent Creek Zipper 'Tis the Season

And finally for this pic filled post, here's our Christmas tree :)

Getting Organised

I decided that, in order to best get on with my 2008 crafting plans I'd better get organised.

So, today I have put all my working copy charts into one display book so I can easily find them when I'm switching between projects. I've also packed up all the kitted WIPs into bags that are labeled and organised the WIPs themselves into a box with a second box for items that need 'finishing'.

I'm in a sorting out mood (it's the New Year, it does strange things to me LOL) so I'm going through all my stash and organising it properly. We've got a garage full of things to go in the loft so we're going to sort those out this weekend and all of my scrapbooking stuff will go up there as there's just not enough space for all my hobbies!

Thankfully the loft is easily accessible so I can zoom up and down and get things when the mood takes me. I will be focusing on my stitching and quilting this year but I also want to get on with putting some photos in albums - I've got none of Lia's pics in albums and I also haven't done our wedding album yet either.

One of the things I received from Santa was a gardening journal so I shall be working on that as we work on clearing the garden. I've got very little knowledge of plants and so the journal will be a good way of recording my learning curve as well as the garden's progress.

And of course all of the above is a sideline when it comes to organising the house and life in general (oh and not forgetting work) LOL.

I also remembered whilst organising my stash that I have an important project to stitch this year as it's my sister's 40th Wedding Anniversary in September and I have Victoria Sampler's Lavender Heart's I want to stitch for them. Typically for me I'm being very ambitious as I've never done pulled stitches or hardanger before so I'm going to have to have some small practice pieces in my WIPs in the first half of the year...

Still, the good news is once I've mastered them and done Lavender Hearts I can then do the Heirloom Christmas Sampler for myself.

So in the light of this I've decided to focus on finishing the following in January:

1. Just Nan - Secret Snowdrift
2. Ginny
3. Red Threads Redwork
4. Stitching Shed - Santa Cushion
5. Newton's Law - Keep Calm

They're all small and should be achievable in January. Once they're done I can include a small pulled thread piece in my WIPs and then get started on Lavender Hearts once I've completed the next five WIPs which are (for the moment)

6. Pulled Thread practice piece
7. Blackwork Maze
8. Row of Christmas Fairies
9. Garden Party
10. Charlie is Born

After that little lot I'll have another look at my plans and see how I'm going. I think I'll then focus on getting Lavender Hearts done (I'd like to finish it in good time and get it framed) as well as Sleigh Ride, Cirque des Cercles, Dilly Bag and Grandma's Thread Minder. Those five are all large projects which means I'll be busy for quite some time (no kidding right LOL)

I think that's all the organising I need to do for now - but at least it's focused me on one of my plans - posting to this blog more!

The only other piece of news is that my new sewing machine was delivered half an hour ago. Why am I here posting instead of playing? Simple, I want to wait till Lia's in bed so I can focus properly which makes this a good diversion tactic

2008 Stitching and Quilting Plans

Well I didn't really manage to stick to my 2007 plans but hey, who's to say 2008 won't see me more organised LOL.

So my stitching plans are:

1. Stay on the Wagon - I'm only allowed to purchase the last parts of the Bent Creek Series' I'm stitching which means 4 x Red Thread Charts and 5 x Big Zipper Charts.

2. Finish Sleigh Ride

3. Finish Cirque de Cercles

4. 'Proper' finishing of items already stitched and also any WIPs that get finished (See list below)

5. Two new GFJ starts - Stitchin'Spirations Blackwork Maze and Bothy Threads Row of Christmas Fairies

5. Allow myself one new start for every five WIPs finished (see WIP list below) until all I'm left with is the BAPs (marked with *)

6. Okay this one may be a bit ambitious but I'll put it anyway, to work on each of my WIPs at least once during the year.

Quilting plans are:

1. Attend more classes and get lots of practice

2. Make the following quilt tops - Spring Sunshine, Dancing Pinwheels, Ohio Star Medallion, Monkey Button's Star Medallion, Road to Ireland (all of which I have the fabrics for).

3. Finish and quilt the projects I've started already.

Other Projects:

1. Country Folk - Simply Pooped Out and Jingle Your Own Darn Bells

2. Country Folk - Willy Melt

Stitching WIP List

1. Stitchy Kitty - Snowman Trio
2. Stitchin'Spirations - Getting Lost in a Blackwork Maze
3. Bothy Threads - Row of Christmas Fairies
4. Dimensions - Sleigh Ride
5. Ink Circles - Cirque de Cercles
6. Michael Powell - Cottage Garden 2
7. Be Attitudes Afghan
8. Santa's Journey Afghan
9. The Cat's Whiskers - Birds of a Feather Dilly Bag
10. The Cat's Whiskers - Grandma's Thread Minder
11. Bent Creek - The Big Zipper
12. Bent Creek - Red Threads
13. Midsummer Night Designs - Heaven's Above
14. Teresa Wentzler - Tradewinds*
15. Dragon Dreams - Dragon Virtues Afghan*
16. Rosewood Manor - Red Threads Redwork
17. The Stitching Shed - Santa Cushion
18. Simply Heritage - Ginny
19. Brightneedle - Garden Party
20. DMC - Wild Ones Alphabet*
21. Michael Powell - Handmade Houses 4
22. Bothy Threads - Cut Thru Fairy Hill
23. Anchor - Keep Calm
24. Millhouse Designs - Charlie is Born
25. Dracolair - Dawn Awakening*
26. Bent Creek - Snapperville Series
27. Long Dog - St Germain
28. Noah's Sub*
29. Just Nan - Four Wishes
30. Just Nan - Secret Snowdrift

Things that need finishing list:

1. Redwork Pinkeep
2. Alyssum Scissor Pocket
3. Spring Fever Bourse
4. Birds of a Feather Accessories

I can't believe I have 30 WIPs. I'd like to get that down to under 10 by the end of 2008 with significant progress on all five of the BAPs.

Of course that plan doesn't include all the other things I'd like to do such as gardening, reading, cooking, etc but I really need to decrease my stash so I want this list here to focus on.

Oh and the one final plan is to post more progress pics here. Every WIP I pic up with be photo'd before I work on it and after I finish my 'session' with it so I can look back on what I've achieved over the year. This will also help me post more to this blog.

Oh and finally I shall review my progress on a monthly basis