2019 Review

Wow, what a year! And a lot of it not for good reasons.  Now the New Year is here, I'm looking at the positives and hoping for a fabulous personal and stitchy year.

For now, here's a review of my stitching during 2019.  I didn't have many concrete goals for 2019 since my stitchy bug had only just got back, so lets look at those first.

First, my planned finishes:

1. Bands of Variation SAL(BOV) - Finish - COMPLETE!

Yes, you read that right, I had a finish! I'm so happy about that! Here's the before and after picture:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Working on it just one evening a week didn't work for me, so I decided to focus on it to get it finished.  So happy I did!

2. Safari Friends - Finish - COMPLETE

START:

FINISH:

I'm so happy with how this turned out! Unfortunately it's not framed yet because my iron wasn't working properly.  As soon as I get a new one, I'll iron it and get it framed and of course share the FFO (Fully Finished Object) with you!

3. Playtime Kitten - progress, finish page 1 and maybe finish completely?! - PART FINISHED

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I know she's in the frame in the finished picture, but I'm so pleased with how much I've got done.  I finished the leaves, flower and butterfly, along with the back stitch and making progress on her back.  I hope you'll agree that she's sooooo cute!

4. Love Spring - finish all cross stitches and start back stitches - INCOMPLETE!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

So not a great amount done on this, but I'm happy on balance on getting so much progress elsewhere.

5. Mini Think Pink - Finish page 1 - INCOMPLETE

FINISH:

Although not a page finish, I almost completed a quarter of the page in the first 4 months of the year, I then moved on to focus on the 2 finishes above, so I'm not so sad about this.  I've also been enjoying the new parking method and only using 1 needle, rather than 80 odd! 

6. Christmas at Home - start if 2 of the above finished - INCOMPLETE

I didn't start this because by the time they were finished, I had other new starts in mind!

So now for the unplanned new starts!

7. Teddy Tags 

START:

FINISH:

I won this mini kit off Kerry In Stitches Flosstube and intended on doing all 8 of the teddies for my stitch group ladies, unfortunately I ran out of time due to me being ill,, and my little boy being ill at other times, so I am pleased I got these 4 complete, and I shall finish the other 4 in 2020 for the ladies that missed out.

8. Penguin Christmas Tree Decorations

I actually completed 2 of these decorations, I had planned just the one for my secret Santa - so if you see this - SURPRISE! However, my colleague got wind that I was making gift tags and decorations and asked if I would make one for his son - this one was for him.  The actually finishing was rushed, and not great, but I hope they liked them.

So, me being me, couldn't stop there...I joined a group called Magical Stitches in April, which really spurred me on to do a certain amount of stitches in a week or month based on certain Harry Potter themed tasks.  So below is the progress of a few more WIPs!

9. Paris

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I didn't get that much done here because the confetti is dense, and I didn't like the cross country stitching that was there before, it can be fixed to be like Mini Think Pink, it will just take some time.

10. A Day in the Life of Hello Kitty

BEFORE:

AFTER:

So after all that confetti, it was nice to have some blocks of colour.  However, I'm not going to lie, it got pretty boring, quite quickly!  I do love the design though, so I will finish it sometime.

11. Greek Steps

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Another WIP used for a task or two, I really did enjoy this and it's not to far off a finish, so maybe 2020 - a finish?  Who knows?

12. Millennium Sampler

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Although this is only 100 stitches, I’m so pleased this has come out again. Hopefully it will star in 2020 too. 

13. Frogs Kissing

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I literally only did a handful of stitches, I'm not sure you can tell any difference! Oh well, this is another one I need to sort out the parking situation.

Wow 13 WIPs worked on! I didn't realise it was that many! I have done a lot of stitching in 2019! Still not as much as pre pregnancy, but I'm happy that I'm stitching at all.m

So in conclusion, that’s 3 new starts, 3 finishes and 13 designs stitched on. I’ve decided to stop counting the hours I stitch for since it was so hard to remember to do and a headache I didn’t want to get in the way of my stitching.

And here are some kits I have been gifted.  The first I won on Facebook!

So surprised! But I think this one would be another one for me to stitch for my little boy's room, what do you think?

This one is a gift as part of my Secret Santa:

I love the kit, and it's certainly one I'll do at some point.  As for Michael Powell, I adore his designs, so if I need a Christmas design, I'll have plenty to choose from!

So that concludes my review, watch out soon for my plans for 2020!

In the meantime, Happy Stitching!