Stitching Review of 2014

Hello all,

Well I've had a made few months of card making, present buying and wrapping and only just finished a special Christmas present in time for the big day.  I'm now on holiday so can finally indulge in a bit of my own stitching!

In total, I've stitched (so far) this year  352.5 hours!

This is a bit more than last year, so it definitely shows how much I'm stitching even if not blogging!

I'll begin with showing you my latest new start (an finish)!

 

This is my gorgeous Nephew Jude and I decided earlier this year to stitch him an advent calendar using a design from World of Cross Stitching magazine, modifying the word 'Noel' to read 'Jude'.  I then added pockets for the chocolates, the fabric is silver lurex 14 count aida.  I'm really pleased with the outcome and am going to send the photos to the magazine.

Another Christmas one I finished at the end of August, Rudolph:

Now I'll move onto my ambitious goals for this year!

1.  Finish County Durham - COMPLETE

I was really pleased to have completed this one as it'd been a WIP for a while.

2.  Finish Samantha - INCOMPLETE

Before   After  

I'm a little disappointed to have not done more on this one, but I fully intend to finish it by April 15th since that is the 10 year anniversary of me loosing my Nanna.  I used her inheritance to buy this kit and I think it's a nice way to remember her since she taught me to stitch.

3. Finish my Secret Project - COMPLETE

As you've seen, I did finish this and it was called The History of HAED.  I'm still really proud of being involved in it!

4.  Finish page 1 of Beacon Ridge - COMPLETE

I actually picked this one up a couple of days ago so I've actually done a bit more on it, I'll post more update pics soon!

5. Start and finish page 2 of Snowy Friends - INCOMPLETE

Although I didn;t finish page 2, I'm really happy with how much I've done since is confetti laden on 25 count.

6.  Finish page 1 of Lady Bug Love - INCOMPLETE

Again, I'm disappointed that I hadn't made as much progress as I'd wanted to do.  There's a lot of confetti in there even though it doesn't look like it and lots of shading but it will be worth it when finished!

7.  Get half way on Lakeside Village - INCOMPLETE

Before    After 

This was a case of being over-ambitious, but I have made some solid progress on it this year!

8.  Start and get half way on Frederick the Literate - INCOMPLETE

Again far too ambitious and hardly did any of it I'm afraid!  Oh well I hope to do a lot more on this is 2015.

Well, that's my review of 2014, I'll post tomorrow about my aims and new starts for 2015.

Happy New Year all my Stitchy Bloggers! xxx

Secret Project REVEALED!!!

Hi all,

You may remember that last year I told you I had started something new, but I couldn't tell you since it was top secret! But now I can!

As you know, I am a big fan of Heaven and Earth Designs (HAED).  I' also respect and enjoy chatting with the founder of HAED Michelle Sayetta.  When she was going through a tough time just over a year ago, a group of ladies on Facebook decided to make her something that would show her how much she is loved.  This is the story of The Gift.

First we had to decide on a design to choose and how we were going to split the chart up.  It was obvious really when The History od HAED by Randel Spangler had just come out so it was decided.

It was then divided and sections chosen.  I opted for section K.

Everyone had to stitch their section on 25 count magic guide 1 thread over 1.  I'd never stitched on it before and the confetti in the design was a nightmare at times, but here are my progress pictures:

getting there...

onto the yellow book...

And a finish!

Now was the hard part, washing, drying and packing up my precious piece of stitching and mailing to the US.  I was so nervous for the couple of weeks it took to get there, but it finally did get there safely.

The person putting them together (Lesli) thought of adding a banner with our names on:

And here are all the little sections put together as a masterpiece!

Work in progress of the quilt being worked together.

Drum roll......

Here is the finished piece!

Michele was overjoyed by the finished stitching and now it hangs pride of place in her office.

I was so immensely proud of my part of this and I'm so glad it worked out so beautifully.  So there you are... mystery uncovered!

Happy Stitching! x

My new frame!

Hello all!

So here's my monthly update as promised and I have a new gadget to show you, here's my long awaited millennium frame with Snowy Friends on it:

I have to say it's the best tension I've ever got from a roll frame. But I did have to wait over 2 months to get it so if you order one please be prepared for a wait!

I've done a bit more on Snowy Friends, but I've been working on Samantha quite a bit recently as she was shouting at me the loudest! So here is the section I'm working on I my easy clip frame:

I'm getting close to finishing this one so if I continue to make such good progress, maybe another finish this year. 

Happy Stitching!

Stitchy Summer Updates

Hello all!

Well I did it again, another long time between posting! I've made a promise to myself that I'll post at least once a month so have set up a reminder to do it the last weekend of every month.

Well, I have had a new start (and finish)! I was tired of stitching my HAEDs so plucked for a cover kit of Rudolph as I felt like doing something for Christmas!

 I think hes super cute and really got me in the mood for making Christmas cards! I'm going to use this as a centerpiece for a larger Christmas card as the mount and frame just doesn't do it justice!

I have also been working on Samantha, Greek Steps and Lakeside Village, but my photos don't want to upload properly, so I'll hopefully be able to add them later.

But I got Snowy Friends out last month and gridded page 2 for it and here's roughly where I left it:

It's not a terribly good photo, but I've finished the first column on page 2 and might get that out today as I'm having a Stitchy Day!

I also treated myself to this chart:

It's called Loneliness of Autumn from Love thy Tread.  It really reminds me of my time in New York so I've ordered some threads from my floss fairy so will have a new start I think before the end of the year!

I've also set up a Twitter account, I'm @ArtySam5 if you would like to look me up!

I'm going to update my Arty Sam blog, but here's a sneaky peek of my latest bespoke design:

I saw these printable images online and I thought they were gorgeous so I got them last week and the person who ordered it loves the card so hope the parents of the twins do too.

So I suppose I better go and stitch, but I'll post more pictures later (I promise)!

Happy Stitching!

An overdue update!

Hello all!

I knew it'd been a long time since I'd posted anything, but February! So sorry about that.

Initially it was due to me focusing on my secret project which took a lot longer than I thought.  I can't share it with you just yet, but I should be able to have a special post with all my WIP pictures and the finished article, plus the reaction of the recipient.

So once that got finished in May, I turned my attention to some of my other WIPs.

I finished page 1 of Beacon Ridge:

So that's 1 more of my annual targets complete! But this is just page 1 of 20, so a long way to go yet!

Next I moved onto Ladybug Love:

  

I'm hoping to have a page finish very soon and then that's another annual goal!

In the evenings I've been stitching non-HAEDs since Ladybug is on one of my big frames and my Husband won't put up with it in bed! lol!

So here's an update of Lakeside Village:

I've finished all the full stitches in the top left hand corner, now I just need to do all the background - there is a lot, but as it's all half stitches, it should stitch up fairly quickly!

I've done a tiny bit on Samantha, but I'll wait until I've done a bit more before sharing a picture with you all.

There, I hope you've had your fix and I promise I'll not be as long before I post another update! 

Happy stitching!

County Durham - Finished!

Hi all,

I'm pleased to say that I've finally finished County Durham!

Classic Embroidery by Angela Beazley

14 count ivory aida

2 over 1, backstitch & French Knots

Started: December 2005

Finished: 8th February 2014

Total number of hours: 79

Looking at those figures, I'm really surprised at how long it's taken me to finish it!  I suppose that's a symptom of having so many gorgeous WIPs!

I'm going to be finishing off those Valentine's cards today and then doing a bit of my secret project - I can't wait to show you it when the recipient has got it!

Then I'm picking up my Summer Olympic new start - Lady Bug Love, which I'm really excited about!  My yearly goal for this is to finish page 1, so I'm going to try and finish that next.

Hope you're all having a lovely day,

Happy Stitching! xxx

County Durham Progress!

Hello all,

As promised, here is an update of County Durham:

Although I didn't get as much done as I wanted to (I wanted to finish it), at least you can see progress.

I'm really hopeful that next weekend I will get close to finishing it, but that depends on the number of valentine's cards I have to make.

I hand make all my own cards and make lots to order too, especially for my work colleagues.  At some time this year I'll finally get some pictures put on my Arty Sam blog.

Happy Stitching! xxx

County Durham Sampler UPDATE!!

Hello all,

As promised, here is my update of County Durham.

I'm really close to finishing this one now, but am rotating it with my Secret Project.  I'm hoping to get it finished before the Olympics start because I'm getting my Olympic new start (Ladybug Love) out which I haven't touched since 2012! 

Following on from my blog party, I'm going to have a giveaway next month if I reach 100 followers!

Happy Stitching! x

Grow Your Blog 2014

This year I'm joining in with the Grow Your Blog event!

Well as you can see from my blog title, I'm called Sam and I love to stitch, mainly cross stitch.  I also create cards and have other crafty projects.

I have 10 WIPs (Work in Progress) at the moment which are listed in my tool bar.  My blog was listed in the World of Cross Stitching magazine as Blog of the Month where the editors thought it fascinating bout how I juggle all my WIPs!  In truth I don't juggle them, I try different rotations and see what feels right at the time.  I think that so long as I'm stitching then it doesn't matter what!  

I'm currently stitching a map of County Durham and will post a picture tomorrow to show all my new followers!

It looked like this the last time I posted here:

I've done a lot more since this picture was taken, so I'd love to share it with you tomorrow!

I'm totally stoked to have you read my blog and I hope you hang around to see what I've stitched and possibly even become a follower!

Thanks for popping by and Happy Stitching! xx

My HAED goals for 2014

Hi all, just thought I'd leave a short post with the link to my HAED goals for this year.  I'm trying to keep them small for the purpose of this competition, but in reality I'd like to do so much more! :)

My HAED goals 2014

For those of you that do not have a Yuku account, or access to the HAED BB, here they are:

• Finish page 2 of Snowy Friends
• Finish page 1 of Beacon Ridge
• Finish page 1 of Ladybug Love

I'm going to post a picture of County Durham at the weekend, I'm making good progress and hope for a finish in early February!

Happy Stitching!

An update of Fred!

Hi all, it's me again!

As promised here is my latest new start Frederick the Literate (Fred) after 10 hours:

It's the first time I've worked on black aida and it's pretty tricky doing the black on black, but I think it's going to look lovely as the coverage is great.  However I think I'll have to unpick and redo the brown on the right of the picture since the needle it comes with is enormous and really difficult to use so when I switched back to my size 26 it was much better!

I'm going to do my secret project now for 10 hours then 10 hours on County Durham and I'll share a picture of that in a couple of weeks.

For now, goodbye! x

A New Year, a New set of Goals!

Hello all!

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and New Year, I know I did!  I got loads of presents which even included lots of stitchy items! 

I got the following yesterday for an American friend and boy how generous is she!

I also got 6 pieces of fabric including 2 pieces of 25 count Magic Guide which are big enough to start a QS or mini design! But first I must finish some, so here are my goals:

1. Finish County Durham
2. Finish Samantha
3. Finish Greek Steps
4. Finish my Secret Project
5. Finish page 1 of Beacon Ridge
6. Start and finish page 2 of Snowy Friends
7. Finish page 1 of Lady Bug Love
8. Get half way on Lakeside Village
9. Start and get half way on Frederick the Literate

The eagle eyes of you will see that I have had a a New Year New Start! It's called Frederick the Literate, but I may decide just to call him Fred:

I will post a progress picture soon as I'm almost up to 10 hours and will be doing my 10 hour rotation again. I am going to have a focus piece (my Secret Project) but will alternate between the projects I'm closed to finishing and those that need the most done on them.

I'm really looking forward to my stitchy year and growing my blog too!  I'm in the progress of updating my template as the old one I had has expired and I don't really like this template - so watch this space!

Happy New Year to you all!

Sam x