Ornament SAL – December 2013 Check-in

Posted on December 30, 2013 by Heather

We’ve done it, ladies! A whole year of ornament stitching! Way to go!

logo_stitchinglotus_2013_ornament_sal_200x231

My final ornament for the year is Santa Won’t Miss a Few, designed by Jennifer Aikman-Smith of Dragon Dreams for a class at the fall 2013 Creativ Festival.

Santa Won't Miss a Few, designed by Jennifer Aikman-Smith of Dragon Dreams

Santa Won’t Miss a Few, designed by Jennifer Aikman-Smith of Dragon Dreams

It is stitched with DMC thread and Kreinik braid on a wired aida band. To be totally honest, the band was awful to stitch on. The weave was very loose, and I’m not completely happy with the results. But, the design itself is super cute!

And here are all the ornaments I stitched this year:

What did you stitch this month? Please enter you link in the form below so we can all visit your website to see your fabulous stitching. And, if you’d like, please leave a comment below, and a comment on any of the sites you visit. We all love to get comments. 😉

The list will stay open until January 5th-ish, and I will try to do the draw for the prize some times on either January 6th or 7th.

SmallsSAL2014

Don’t forget, I will be running a Smalls SAL in 2014. Check out this page for all the information.

Also, be sure to check out my 100 Days of a New Year giveaway. It ends tomorrow night at midnight EST.

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

Resolutions, 100 Days and a Giveaway

Posted on December 27, 2013 by Heather

It’s almost the new year, and that means it is time for some resolutions. If you’ve read my post about 2014 Stitch Alongs, then you know I’m planning on doing a bunch of stitching and cutting way, way back on my stash purchasing.

I’ve been thinking a bit more about other crafty sorts of resolutions I’d like to set for 2014, and I’ve come up with a short list:

  • sew a couple of new purses
  • finish the 2012 block-a-month quilt from Craftsy
  • try some more knitted colourwork
  • tackle double knitting
  • finish up at least my mom’s stocking and one other project from my Turtle Trot list (I’ll be posting that on January 10th)

When it comes to non-crafty resolutions, I’m going to be getting a little bit of help. I’ll be working my way through 100 Days of A New Year, and excellent guided ebook from Jennifer Tankersley of ListPlanIt (a great site for keeping and making lists).

100 Days of A New Year guides you through the start of the year, day by day, and helps you to set and achieve goals. The activities in the book are nicely supplemented by 75 lists and planning pages, as well as a 60-day free trial for ListPlanIt. There is also a Facebook page where you can connect with other people working through the book.

So, what kind of activities are we talking about? Well, 100 Days starts off by getting you to set up a navigator (notebook) to organize all your goals and plans. From there it moves on examining goals by life area, creating time-lines for achieving your goals, taking deep looks at debts and savings, and so on. And, best of all, every Saturday is set aside to get caught up. (Hey, we all fall behind on things once in a while. Having one day a week to get back on track is an excellent idea.) Jennifer has even scheduled things like Valentine’s Day preparations and Easter celebrations, along with links to some great Pinterest boards for inspiration.

100DaysCover

100 Days of a New Year

The ebook is only US$8.00, but for a short time you can get it for only US$5 by using the code 100DAYS3OFF. And, if you’d like to see what it is about before purchasing, check out this preview. If you do decide to get it, let me know. I’d love to work through some of it with someone. 😉

And, guess what! I have two free copies of the book to give away. Just leave a comment between now and midnight on the 31st (EST), and you will be entered.

11 Comments | Posted in Crochet, Cross Stitch, Knitting, The Outside World |

Ice Storm

Posted on December 26, 2013 by Heather

We’ve had an exciting week around here, Christmas notwithstanding. Around 1:30 am Sunday morning, our power went out thanks to a vicious ice storm. After hearing from Toronto Hydro that power could be out for over 72 hours, we decided to flee to my parents’ home about a 45 minute drive away.

Toronto Ice Storm 2013 (from flickr user Roozbeh Rokni)

Toronto Ice Storm 2013 (from flickr user Roozbeh Rokni)

Thankfully, we were one of the lucky ones. We were back up in about 36 hours, before the things in our freezer had time to melt. Over 300,000 people were without power at one point, and over 40,000 people are still waiting to have their power restored.

Toronto Ice Storm 2013, Forest Hill (from flickr user andreakw)

Toronto Ice Storm 2013, Forest Hill Road (from flickr user andreakw)

Of course, this also meant that I lost essentially two days to prepare for Christmas. But, at least I was able to have Christmas in my own (warm) home, thanks to the hard work of Toronto Hydro linemen and linemen who came up from the States and across Canada to help out.

Christmas went off without a hitch. (Although, the toilets didn’t get scrubbed and the floor didn’t manage to get washed before our guests arrived. I figured cookies and other yummy eaties were more important than pushing around a mop).

Any guesses as to what the little man likes to play with?

Any guesses as to what the little man likes to play with?

Now, we are just crossing our fingers and hoping that we don’t get any more bad weather before the power grid is up and running properly. Thankfully, we are expecting some above freezing weather this weekend, which should help melt some more of the ice.

I sincerely hope your Christmas was less eventful. 😉 And I hope the last week of the year goes smoothly for everyone.

 

2 Comments | Posted in Site News |

Merry Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2013 by Heather

Merry Christmas! I hope Santa was good to you, your turkey is moist, and you have lots of leftover stuffing!

victoriansanta

 

1 Comment | Posted in Site News |

2014 Stitch Alongs

Posted on December 19, 2013 by Heather

The start of the new year is creeping closer and closer. Expiry dates on milk and eggs are already listing 2014, so you know it isn’t long now! And, with a new year comes a new crop of stitch alongs (SALs). SmallsSAL2014 This year, I will be hosting the 2014 Smalls Stitch Along. You can find all the information here. But, in short, you stitch a small design every month and share it on your blog on the last Wednesday of the month. And, there will be a prize at the end of the year. 😉

tusal I will also be taking part in the TUSAL for the 5th year. This non-stitching SAL was original started by Yoyo of Just Dragon My Needle, and is now hosted by Sharon of It’s Daffycat. She hasn’t posted details on the 2014 version of the TUSAL yet, but I expect she probably will very soon. turtles Next up is the Turtle Trot, hosted by Claudette of BAP Attack. This year we will be choosing 10 works-in-progress (WIPs) to work on throughout the year. We will share our progress on the 10th of every month. I don’t think I’ll have any problems coming up with 10 WIPs… You can find out all the details here.

Stitch from Stash 2014 button

Mel from Epic Stitching has started the Stitch From Stash SAL. This SAL is another one that isn’t about stitching, but rather about cutting back on our stitching related spending. I reached SABLE (stash accumulation beyond life expectancy) about, oh, ten years ago. So, I think I can manage spending less than $25 a month on stash for the year. The rules allow for one month to splurge, which I figure will be my Creativ Festival kits in October. Is it wrong that I desperately want to do a huge online order in the next two weeks?

I think that four SALs is enough for me for one year. But there are lots of other great SALs out there.
WIPocalypse 2014WIPocalypse is run by Melissa of Measi’s Musings. It is very similar to Turtle Trot, but with some monthly themes and prices. I may end up signing up for this one too. 😉 Details are here.

Heather from It’s Geek to Me will be hosting Theme-a-licious again this year. (Whenever I email her I feel like I’m talking me myself. 😉 ) Check out all the detail here. In a nutshell, each month has a theme, and you work on a piece that fits that theme. Post dates are the beginning of the month.

Just Nan SAL 2014Zeb over at Keep Claim and Cross Stitch is hosting a Just Nan SAL. All the details can be found here. This is another one that I’m tempted to do, but I think I only own two Just Nan designs. That isn’t enough to get me through 12 months of stitching. 😉

I’m sure I’ve missed a few SALs. Unfortunately, I fell behind on blog reading through the end of November and beginning of December. So, if you know if any SALs I’ve missed, please let me know. I’ll add them to this post. Be sure to include a URL, please. 😉

Also, let me know which SALs you’ll be taking part it.

 

5 Comments | Posted in Cross Stitch |

Dragon Pin Cushion

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Heather

I’m on a roll! My third finish from this past weekend is Dragon Pin Cushion from Dragon Dreams. It is one of the classes I took at the Creativ Festival back in October.

Dragon Pin Cushion, designed by Dragon Dreams

Dragon Pin Cushion, designed by Dragon Dreams

It is stitched on 18 count canvas, and used DMC thread, Kreinik #8 braid, and just a little bit of Caron Waterlilies. The purple line in the border is the Waterlilies, and will be different for everyone who stitches this. Jennifer brought in a big bag of Caron to the classes, and allowed us all to choose the colour we liked best.

What a sweet little dragon face.

What a sweet little dragon face.

I still need to finish this into a pin cushion, obviously. Unfortunately, it will be early January before I get a chance to get my sewing machine out. Still, I’m very pleased with this super cute finish.

5 Comments | Posted in Canvaswork, Cross Stitch | Tagged , , , ,

Elegant Reindeer

Posted on December 17, 2013 by Heather

Every year, my LNS, Gitta’s, has an open house on the first Saturday of December. Everyone who makes a purchase gets a little package of free charts and a kit for an ornament designed by Kathrin Ellison. (If you purchased the ornament issue of A Needle Pulling Thread, you can see several of the ornaments they have released.) This year, sadly, I missed the open house because I was sick. 🙁

Happily, Kathrin still had a kit for me!

Elegant Reindeer, designed by Kathrin Ellison

Elegant Reindeer, designed by Kathrin Ellison

The design is called Elegant Reindeer. The fabric is 22ct Meran in Navy. The fibres are DMC floss, DMC flower thread (antlers), and PTB.

Antlers, whipped and unwhipped

Antlers, whipped and unwhipped

I really like how the antlers look. They are done as wrapped back stitch. At first, I thought I would just leave them as back stitch, but when I started wrapping them, I decided that it looked fabulous!

Speaking of Christmas ornaments, don’t forget that the last check-in day for the 2013 Ornament SAL is December 30th. I’ve already got my ornament stitched. How is your stitching going? And there is lots of time to sign up for the 2014 Small SAL. All the info is right here.

8 Comments | Posted in Cross Stitch | Tagged , ,