2015 Cross Stitching Review

Hello all - Hope you've had a very Merry Christmas and looking forward to a happy, prosperous and stitchy New Year!

I've had a brilliant year cross stitching wise, a couple of finishes and one too many starts as well!

My year in numbers:

• 8 current WIPs
• 2 finishes
• 6 starts
• 456.5 hours stitched
• 12 WIPs at the end of the Year!

That last figure is more than 100 hours more than 2014 so I've been very busy! I'm hoping to do around 500 this year linked in with my 10 hour rotation - 50 rotations- but my goals and targets will be in my New Year blog!

So here goes, all the pretty pictures and last year's goal (if applicable) and a before and after picture.

I'll start with my finishes and my proudest Achievement.

Samantha - GOAL - finish by the end of March - COMPLETE 

I was so proud of finishing this since it was one of my longest WIPs and did for the 10 year anniversary of my Nanna's memory.  It was also featured in the World of Cross Stitching magazine.

Samantha by Lanarte

STARTED: May 2006

FINISHED: 24/03/15

28 Count Peach Linen, 2 over 2
Approximately 170 hours (146.5 timed hours plus estimate)

Before:

After 61.5 hours:

Strawberry Ice - No goal as this was started and finished in 2015

I decided to have a new start for the Great British Bake Off as I'm a huge fan and managed to finish it for the finale!

Strawberry Ice by Michael Powell

STARTED:

FINISHED:

14 count cream aida, 2 over 2 & back stitch
19 hours work

Frogs Kissing - GOAL - Start and Finish - INCOMPLETE

Unfortunately this was a design that I initially struggled with and it's not got finished this year, however it will get finished, hopefully next year.

Here's what it looks like so far after 147 hours work:

Moving onto my new starts for this year:

Playtime Kitten

This one was from the World of Cross Stitching magazine and I've really enjoyed using the hand dyed fabric, it's got a hint of sparkle in it too!

15 hours work:

Sammy Squirrel

This was a design I fell in love with from Gecko Rouge which was the first of two SALs this year.

No start picture, but this is what she looks like now:

As you can see I completed page 2 on the last rotation! So happy I made this much progress.

Beverley's Owl

Another Gecko Rouge Design, the SAL comes to an end in February, but I'm happy to make some decent progress on her.

23.5 hours work:

Love Spring

My final new start was actually my Christmas Day new start since my hubby bought me Love Spring which is in the same series of Love Tree both by Bothy Threads.  I'm really enjoying this and have made loads of progress in such a short space of time!

10 hours work:

The tree branches are actually in metallic, but it doesn't show up too well here. What do you think?

Now moving onto my existing WIPs.

Snowy Friends - GOAL Finish Page 2 - INCOMPLETE

This target just wasn't going to happen with all my SALs going on, but I am happy to have made some progress.  Apologies for the quality of the before picture, it really shows the difference on my phones!

Before: 

After: 11.5 hours

Beacon Ridge - GOAL Finish Page 2 - INCOMPLETE

I'm so close to finishing page 2, it's definitely going to be finished next year. So excited about page 3 too - there's a bit of the lighthouse on there! 

Before:

After: 26 hours

Ladybug Love - GOAL Finish Page 1 - INCOMPLETE

Once again a failed task due to the unplanned new starts. However, I'm pleased with the progress.

Before:

After: 10 hours

I love how the detail is coming out and you can see where the lips are going to be and the wings are looking beautiful!

Lakeside Village - GOAL Get Halfway - INCOMPLETE

I've actually finished over a quarter of this beautiful design so shouldn't feel so disheartened on this large design - looking forward to this appearing in my rotation again in the New Year!

Before:

After: 12 hours

Frederick the Literate - GOAL 20 Hours Stitching - INCOMPLETE

Almost did this with 12 1/2 hours stitching complete, but the progress is pretty good!

Before:

After: 11.5 hours

Greek Steps - GOAL Finish Page 1 - INCOMPLETE

I've been stitching this one over the past week and a bit and nearly finished page 1 as you can see! The building is almost appearing now!

Before:

After: 24 hours

Loads of progress, really pleased, maybe a finish next year???

Happy New Year and Happy Stitching all! xxx

2015 Stitchy Goals

Happy New Year all!

As promised, I've had a good think at what my goals should be for this year stitchy wise.

I know I'll be over ambitious and that's fine as on the whole I'll stick to my current rotation which is to stitch whatever is shouting the loudest!  There are a couple of priorities so I'll start with those first:

1.  QS Frogs Kissing - Start and Finish New Start!

This is my Heaven and Earth BB SAL, they didn't do one last year so I'm excited that it's back! There's 6 pages to be do and hoping to have it complete by the autumn.

2.  Samantha - Finish by end of March

I've mentioned this before, but this design s so precious to me since it was bought with my Nanna's inheritance and she passed on 10 years ago in April so I'd like it to be framed and hung on the 15th April.

• Now onto the not such priorities, as they are current WIPs, you know what they look like!

3.  Snowy Friends - Finish Page 2

Shouldn't be too difficult as I'm about half way through that page.

4.  Beacon Ridge - Finish Page 2

Just started this page, but it's all background and blocks of colour so should stitch up quickly.  May do more as can't wait to get to the top of the lighthouse!

5.  Lady Bug Love - Finish Page 1

I've sort of fallen out of love with this one, but I think she still deserves some attention!

6.  Lakeside Village - Finish half way

I think this is possible since it's my comfort design when the HAEDs have got to me!

7. Frederick the Literate - 20 hours complete

I can't pretend that this one will get much attention, so have attached an hour figure rather than an amount.  Maybe it'll grip me and I'll end up doing a lot more!

• Now onto the possibles!

8.  Greek Steps - Finish Page 1

I think this could be done if I'm in the mood.  It's definitely a sunny weather design, so we'll see if we get some nice sunny stitching days this year!

9.  Sweet Shoppe - New Start!

This I got as a reward for helping HAED sort out their data for the new website and I'm head over heels for it.  I really would like to start it, but no targets as such as a reward for finishing Samantha.  Isn't it gorgeous?

10. Loneliness of Autumn - New Start!

I showed you that I'd bought this one in 2014 and have not got all the threads I need and again would like to start it, possibly after Frogs Kissing is done.

The idea is to keep the number of WIPs down and just enjoy the stitching!

It's not stitching related, but I also want to read for at least half an hour every day since I now have over 40 unread books on my book shelf and I want to enjoy all of these that I've coveted for so long!

I'll post updates as often as possible, but at least once a month so that's my other resolution.

Happy Stitching xxx

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