Happy Canada Day! And Goal Review

Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians!

Today is the day we celebrate the British North America Act (aka the Constitution Act of 1867), and the unification of British Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick into the fledgling country of Canada. We’ve grown a bit in the past hundred and forty some odd years. We now encompass ten provinces and three territories, and cover enough landmass to make us the second largest country in the world.  We are home to the world’s largest beaver dam, the CN tower, and some of the best (and worst) hockey teams around.

Anyway, enough about Canada. It is time to review my goals. In June I said I wanted to:

• Finish and frame Happily Ever After before June 24th
• Finish Montavilla Market Tote
• Start Liesl for my mom
• Find a pattern, and possibly start, the socks I’m doing on commission
• Iron and frame Sunflower Fairy (yes, I still haven’t gotten around to ironing her)
• Start Rajasthan Lotus Temple

Well, Happily Ever After did not get finished. I haven’t even touched it in almost two weeks, I think. I also didn’t get around to starting Rajasthan Lotus Temple. However, I did finish that market bag and I did start Liesl, and I even finished one of socks from the pair I am knitting for someone else. Oh, and Sunflower Fairy never did get framed. So, I guess that means I accomplished 50% of my goals. Not too bad, but not great either.

We are also halfway through the year now, so I’d like to review my yearlong goals today to.  But, um, looking at that list I can see I haven’t accomplished much… So, on to July’s goals!

For July I would like to:

• Finish and frame Happily Ever After
• Start Teresa Wentzler’s Miniature Spring Sampler (I mean, seriously, you know I’m going to want to work on this regardless of whatever else I have to do)
• Crochet two of Planet June’s Alpacas for someone I know from Ravelry
• Finished the second sock of the pair that I am knitting for someone else
• Get down to at least the sleeves on my mom’s Liesl
• Make at least a token attempt on Baby Man’s birth sampler
• Organize my yarn stash (which means buying a new bin)

I will freely admit that my yarn stash has grown quite a bit in the last few months.  I’ve bought a few big lots of yarn to do larger projects, like my mom’s Liesl, and I’ve also done a lot of trading through Ravelry. I’ve been lucky enough to get my hands on some great yarn that aren’t avaliable easily in Canada, and well, honestly, I am in love with my stash. 😉 I also love my cross stitch stash, but it is so much easier to appreciate several big balls of cotton yarn than it is to enjoy one tiny skein of silk, if you know what I mean.

Since I haven’t been sharing very many cross stitch projects lately, I thought it would be nice to share a picture of two belated birthday gifts I recently received.  The tin is from Erica of Erica’s Places, and is something I had been meaning to make for myself for ages.  It is so nice when someone knows exactly what you like! The biscornu was from a lady I attend our LNS’ stitching night with. (I also received a portable Ott light, a lovely box, some threads, and a brass bellpull. I feel very spoiled.)

And to prove that I am still stitching, and not just knitting and crocheting, here is my needlecase from the getaway I went to back in April.  I finished the stitching yesterday and also picked up some fabric.  I’m waiting to get some felt before I make the final fabric decision and put it together.

Hopefully in a day or two I will have some more progress on Happily Ever After to share. I want to get it done before I start on the new TW.