Dragons on the Tree

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Heather

I’ve managed to both fall behind and to be right on schedule with Christmas this year. With less than three days to go, all I have left to do is some grocery shopping, a bit of baking, a little bit of wrapping, and some light cleaning. Fingers crossed that things continue to go well!

Despite a sore back, the tree went up last Thursday.

ChristmasTree (2011)

There she is! Really, it isn’t about ready to tip over. Clearly, I took the picture at some sort of weird angle. And it was pretty dark and deary here yesterday, with rain off and on the whole time.

And, I do remember saying I had a couple of ornaments to share. But, after putting everything on the tree, I forgot which ones I hadn’t taken pictures of yet. The only one I could remember was Christmas Cookie Theif by Jennifer Aikman-Smith. I took this as a class at the Creativ Festival in October, but it is now available for sale on PatternsOnline.

Christmas Cookie Thief by Jennifer Aikman-Smith (Dragon Dreams)

So, Christmas, bring it on! My gifts are finished, my tree is up, and by bedtime tonight, I’ll be ready! I hope they rest of you out there are ready for the holidays too.

3 Comments | Posted in Cross Stitch | Tagged , , ,

2012 Plans

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Heather

I’ve learned a lot of useful things this year. Perhaps the most useful things I’ve learned overall is that having the right tool for the job makes everything easier. But beyond universal truths, I’ve also learned a few things about myself. First, I’m probably better at aiming for abstaining rather than moderation in some things (stash shopping, I’m talking about you!). Also, I tend to do much better when I have a concrete plan rather than when flying by the seat of my pants.

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I’ll be taking part in a few different SALs next year. Hopefully, they will give me some structure, much like my ornament of the month project did this year. So, along with trying to clear up some WIPs, I’ve also got monthly themes to work with. That gave me the idea of setting up a (tentative) list of what I’d like to work on each month. (The themes come from Geeky Heather’s Theme-a-licious, the monthly WIP projects are inspired by Measi’s WIPocalypse, and the monthly TW projects are my personal goals for next year.)

  • January – garden theme
    • Egypt Garden (WIP, theme)
    • Gingerbread House (WIP, TW)
    • Bargello Basics (WIP, TW)
  • February – fangirl theme
    • Think Snow (theme, TW)
    • any WIP
  • March – madness (work on different project everyday – I don’t expect to do well with this theme)
    • To Everything There is a Season (TW, theme for at least one day)
    • any WIP
  • April – amazon (large projects)
    • 12 Days of Christmas (WIP, theme)
    • Grazing Bovines (TW)
  • May – memories (old WIPs)
    • Summer Keep/Winter Keep (theme, TW, WIP)
    • 12 Days of Christmas (WIP)
  • June – jumanji (animals)
    • Hummingbird (TW, theme)
    • any WIP
  • July – jolly (Christmas)
    • 12 Days of Christmas (WIP, theme)
    • Christmas Animals (theme, TW)
  • August – altius (new skills)
    • Cutwork Compass Rose (WIP, theme, TW)
  • September – smalls
    • Delightful Dragon Fob (TW, WIP, theme)
  • October – obligation
    • 12 Days of Christmas (theme, WIP)
    • Geometric (TW)
  • November – nail it (finishing nearly done projects)
    • 12 Days of Christmas (WIP, theme [hopefully!!])
    • Creativ Festival kits (theme, WIP)
    • Here Be Tiny Dragons (TW, theme, WIP)
  • December – delightful (anything!!)
    • bookmark (TW)
    • any WIP

 

You’re probably wondering about all the “any WIP” listed. Well, I currently have a (slightly out of date) list that has 45 WIPs on it. Shameful. Some of those WIPs are covered by my monthly TW projects, and I decided to pick a few others to concentrate on next year so that I would have some variety.

  • 12 Days of Christmas by Joan Elliott (which is listed specifically several times)
  • Egypt Garden by Chatelaine (which I don’t expect to make much progress on, but which I love)
  • Love, Peace and a Cure by Lizzie*Kate (which I think is close to finished)
  • Santa of the Forest by Lavender and Lace (an old piece that I would love to see finished)
  • small canvaswork projects from A Needle Pulling Thread (these are by Carolyn Mitchell, but I forget the name of the design…)

What about new projects, you’re probably wondering now. Well, I have another list. On it are over 70 projects that are either kits or that I have kitted up and are ready to go. I haven’t decided on the fabric for a couple, and I need to pull the DMC for a few others, but they are all essentially ready to stitch. From that ridiculous list I’ve picked the following pieces to start next year, when the urge takes me or as a reward:

  • Down the Garden Path by Lynn Nicoletti
  • Voyage at Sea by Dimensions
  • Yo Ho Ho by Sue Hillis
  • 12 Days of Christmas by Victoria Sampler
  • Friendly Full Moon Witch by Chatelaine
  • Elizabeth by Mirabilia
  • various small ornament kits from Mill Hill

I’m not planning to start all of them. But, I did want to give myself a bit of a variety so that I wouldn’t feel too restricted. (I will probably start the Chatelaine or Mirabilia design in January, as my new year start. Although, I am still waiting for the fabric for the witch.)

So, really, I’ve set myself a plan that includes more projects that many people have in their entire stash. And I’m not even thinking about any classes I might take during the year. But these lists will help me to remember that I don’t need to buy anything new. I can want all I want, but I don’t need anything.

 

2 Comments | Posted in Cross Stitch, Knitting |

Cursed Socks

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Heather

Sometimes things just aren’t meant to be. Unfortunately for me, it looks like some yarn I really love isn’t meant to be a pair of socks.

You may remember that back in September, I tried to work on a pair of socks while I was away for a short holiday in Las Vegas. They didn’t work out too well…

6x2 Rib Socks

Yuck! They didn’t stripe at all like they were supposed to!

So, I ripped them out, and started from the toe up, using no particular pattern. Things went pretty well…

Purple Striped Sock

…until I got to the heel. I’ve tried four different times to come up with a nice heel for these socks. But I gave up after my last attempt when I ended up with this:

Pointy Heel!!

Who’s heel is shaped like that?!

So, I ripped the sock out. The yarn has returned to my stash, to sit for goodness knows how long and think about what it did wrong.

2 Comments | Posted in Knitting | Tagged ,

Colds, Eye-less Santa, and An Argument with a Sewing Machine

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Heather

My goodness. I didn’t intend to be away from my blog for so long. Unfortunately, we’ve had a rolling series of colds here for close to a month, and the last two weeks were my turn to be sick (from two different colds!). And, with Christmas being so close, I’ve spent my time split between sitting on the couch pouting because I’m sick and working on Christmas gifts. Thankfully, the are all done but one (and some buttons that need to be sewed on…).

I have also managed to find some time to work on my very last ornament of the month. This time it is from the 2006 Just Cross Stitch ornament issue. It is called, originally enough, 2006 Santa and is by Vermilion Stitchery.

2006 Santa by Vermilion Stitchery (WIP)

He is a little creep-tacular without eyes, but overall he’s still a pretty good looking guy. He’s stitched on 28 count white something-or-other using a ridiculous number of colours of DMC floss. I’ll be switching out the gold Kreinik in the border for PTP.

And, miraculously, I managed to finished a couple of the ornaments I worked on this year into something that I can hang on my tree. (Which, sadly, still isn’t up. I am so behind schedule this year!) Unfortunately, I only finished a few ornaments before I got into an argument with my lovely new sewing machine. I believe it is now more or less fixed (I just need some very fine sand paper to buff out a dent in the needleplate). And if it isn’t, it will only take a $30 part for me to make it right myself. The problem: I was sewing on my serger before I moved to the sewing machine, and you use those two machines a little differently. Oops!

Anyway, three finished ornaments for my tree:

Finished Ornaments (Front)

They are, starting from the top left and going around, Home for Christmas by Julia Lucas Designs, Joyous Noel by Teresa Wentzler, and Christmas Kitty by The Cat’s Whiskers.

Finished Ornaments - Back

And here are their backs! If you’ve got sharp eyes, you may have noticed that that is the wrong side of the material facing out for Joyous Noel. I thought about picking it out to fix it, but the linen I stitched it on is very loose, and I didn’t want to risk ruining it. Really, it doesn’t look so bad in person.

I’ll have a few more ornament finishes to share in a couple of days, once my tree is up. These ones were all done on perforated paper, which means minimal finishing. Yay!

I hope everyone else is got their holiday plans well in hand. Other than the tree not being up, I’m actually doing well. The rest of the decorations are up, only a handful of presents remain to be wrapped, Christmas dinner and breakfast are planned (with the grocery shopping taking place next week), baking is sort of started, and the cards were mailed ages ago. Assuming we can all avoid another round of colds, I think we are all set!

4 Comments | Posted in Cross Stitch | Tagged , , ,

2012 Stitch Alongs

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Heather

Well, look at that. We’ve made it all the way to the beginning of December. That means we’ve got just under, oh, 31 days of 2011 left. And that means, of course, it is time to plan for 2012!

So far I’ve decided to take part in three stitch-alongs:

  1. The TUSAL – in which I will be collecting all (well, most) of my orts in a jar and sharing a picture once a month; you can find out about it on Daffycat’s blog here
  2. WIPocalypse – in which I will be working my way through some of my old works-in-progress (WIPs), and sharing pictures on the full moon; you can find out about it on Measi’s blog here 
  3. Theme-a-licious – in which I will be working on a design to fit the theme of the month (see link) and sharing progress on the 15th of the month; you can find out more on Geeky Heather’s blog here

So, if I take the themes of Theme-a-licious, and add in my own project of stitching one small TW a month and my WIPs, I’ve got myself the beginnings of a plan. Just what that plan is, I’m not really sure.

3 Comments | Posted in Cross Stitch, Memes & Collabs |

Ornament of the Month – November

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Heather

Here it is: the penultimate ornament in my ornament of the month project: You Are My Gift by Jennifer Aikman-Smith of Dragon Dreams, from the 2010 Just Cross Stitch ornament issue.

You Are My Gift from Dragon Dreams

I apologize for the poor picture. I didn’t take advantage of the whole hour of sunshine we had today, and ended up taking this when the light was fading. Anyway, it is stitched on white 28 count lugana (I think), using the called for DMC.

Although I plan to start my holiday decorating tomorrow, which means putting away the serger and sewing machine that are currently living on my dining room table, I am hoping to get this ornament and a few others finished up into something I can hang on the tree. Pictures forthcoming, of course!

3 Comments | Posted in Cross Stitch | Tagged , , ,

A Year of TWs

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Heather

As you may or may not be aware, I’ve been stitching one Christmas ornament every month for the whole year, taking one from each of the Just Cross Stitch ornament issues from 1997 through 2010 (I started in November 2010). It hasn’t worked out entirely as planned (what ever does?). A few times I had to substitute a different ornament from the same issue. But, as of this month, I’ve only got two more to do, much to my delight. Finishing them into ornaments is, of course, a whole different issue!

Since the year is quickly careening to its end, I’ve started planning for my 2012 projects. I’ve been running a little poll in the sidebar of this blog, asking your opinion, dear friends, on what I should stitch next year. So far, I’ve had 11 votes, and small Teresa Wentzler designs are winning 7 to 3 over Halloween ornaments, with one lone vote for Christmas ornaments. So, I’ve started to look through all my TW designs with an eye towards what I’d like to stitch next year, and what I can reasonably get done in a month. Front runners include the hummingbird freebie and at least one bookmark. Most likely, the majority of what I’ll be stitching will be her older, simpler, smaller designs from back issues of Just Cross Stitch and other magazines.

And just to help get us all in to a Teresa Wentzler sort of mood, here is my latest finish: Joyous Noel.

Joyous Noel by Teresa Wentzler

It was stitched on a random piece of 34ct something using the called for DMC. A big thank you to Christine of Christine’s Journal for lending me the magazine.

If you’d like to check out all the TW’s I’ve finished, I’ve set up a page. You can either click here, or click the TW Project link at the top of the page. I’ll be updating it as I finish more designs, and I will eventually add pictures of all my WIPs too. You can also check out my gallery of TW designs on Picasa.

7 Comments | Posted in Cross Stitch | Tagged , , ,