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!
