Okay first things first, lets see how I did for the end of 2009.

December Goals:

Stitching

• Finishing on the Lesley and Colin trees before Dec 18th so they can be given to the recipients when next I am in Brisbane Yep, but I completely forgot to get photos of them finished.
  
• Finish page 3 of St Nick YES!!! finally it took way more hours than I am prepared to admit but it is done done done done done!
• Finish Cirques Another YES! my last finish for 2009 and my first decent sized finish in I don’t know how long.
• 3 lengths into the PINN stitch kit Yep but I will admit to the lengths provided in the it being rather short (especially when loop starting)

Knitting

Make some progress on the shawl (hopefully at least three pattern repeats) - nope didn’t even pick it up

Wow I am actually quite impressed that I managed to get so many of the things done that I wanted to. I did keep things deliberately simple but still add to that a full Christmas lunch, holiday baking and a trip to Brisbane I think December was rather successful.

So the wip project tallies as of the end of 2009 are:
WIPs: 27
Finishes This Month: 1
Finishes since project start: 3 (+2 knitting)
Items for finishing : 5
New Starts: 0
Planned Starts: 2

The wip project will definitely be back for 2010 as will a few old wip I would like to see the back of… maybe 2010 will be the year for my first HAED finish.

So …

January Goals

1. Finish the left hand side border for the PINN stitch design
2. Start Melita (HAED) and get in at least 500 stitches)
3. 5 hours into Rose of Sharon
4. Start on the HAED SK SAL – Dragon Luck
5. Start page 4 of St Nick

Knitting

1. Try and get a scarf knitted for Adam before he heads back to the US. that gives me less than two weeks o_O
2. Block Sharon’s shawl and  do the finishing for my shrug.

Well as predicted things have been crazy crazy crazy  around here as I am sure it has been for everyone over the past month.
I had a few things I was madly trying to do before the end of 2009 though and I actually managed a few of them.

I am delighted to say that I had one more finish for 2009 and actually put the last stitches into cirque on Christmas night. My plan is to get the Jarrah people to make up a custom box for it. I will probably talk to them at the craft show in March and place the order then. I am not sure if I want a deep box with a tray insert so it will have two levels or just a single level box at this point. I have a bit of time to think about that yet though.

After getting cirque finished  there was very little time to stitch but I wasn’t going to let myself start my New years start unless I had finished that dread page 3 of St Nick. So I spent a day during the week and then a number of hours New years eve night madly stitching all the confetti to get it done.
Saying I am happy to see the back of that page would be a serious understatement. I think page 4 will actually be better as there is less detail with it mostly being the boat hull and wall sections. I think there are even parts of the page you could consider to have actual ‘blocks’ of colour

I spent this morning (in between pulling the house apart looking for my fabric for my new start) planning out my goals for 2010- as usual they are probably too ambitious, but then that’s half the fun

I’ll be sure to  add my wrap of 2009′s goals and my goals for 2010 a little later on today after I have added a few more stitched to Melita. One things for sure I am going to continue with my wip reduction project and will generate a new list for 2010 and   see how I go with reducing it each month.

I hope everyone had a great holiday season and santa was good to you. I still have presents to deliver and to send out so if you haven’t heard fmor me, don’t loose hope I’m just my forever slack self as usual.

Ok so lets not think too hard on that for now.. I mean who wants to be thinking about how unprepared they are for Christmas and start a panic (not me that’s for sure). So… how about some goals then. I had grand plans for November and not much time so lets get reviewing and see how well I did.

November Goals were:

Stitching

• Finish stitching in all the 939 on Sea Beacon – Ummm that would be no (didn’t even pick this one up this month.
• Stitch my section of Jan’s RR and get it sent out before the end of the first week of November. Sure did
• 5 Hours on cirque – In all honesty I think I may of managed a half hour on this during November
• Finish page 3 of St Nick – please!!! *Sob* no, It will be done before 2010 rolls in though no matter what it takes
• At least three lengths into the PINN stitch kit Yep, in fact i may of done as many as six (though the lengths in th ekit are pre cut and rather short… especially when you loop start.
  
• Post bramble updates each week and try to be completely caught up by the end of November Maybe not every week but I am caught up and posted more than once during the month, so I am considering this a success.
• Do the finishing on the Lesley and Colin trees Umm nope

Knitting

• Signed up for the Nov KAL on the beginning lace knitters group on Ravelry. So start and make progress on the woodland lace shawl. I managed to get this cast on and do a couple of rows but no major progress unfortunately.
• Frog back my diamond lace shawl wip and restart as the short sleeved version I managed this an then some, finishing the short sleeved shrug in under two weeks

Other

• Costumes for the sci-fi party Yep (Post to come)
  
• Sci-fi cake Yep (another post to be written up )
  
• Fairy dinosaur, butterfly garden cake Yep and actually already posted pictures of this one

7 items done and 5 not done.. I am running at more than 50%  which is all good by me. I am surprised I managed that much with how hectic the month was, not to mention the logistics of flying up to Brisbane and throwing a 40th birthday party in there as well. That I wouldn’t of managed without the help of some wonderful people.

So what crazy grand plans do I have for December??? Lets bring on that mad dash to achieve something before the new year rolls in.

December Goals:

Stitching

• Finishing on the Lesley and Colin trees before Dec 18th so they can be given to the recipients when next I am in Brisbane
• Finish page 3 of St Nick
• Finish Cirques
• 3 lengths into the PINN stitch kit

Knitting

• Make some progress on the shawl (hopefully at least three pattern repeats)

I am going to try and keep it simple this month. Christmas, visitors, graduation trip to Brisbane and a hell deadline for work this month mean even this much will be rough. Somehow I don’t think I will be achieving any of the goals I set for 2009 before the 31st.. but I guess you never know.

WIP project tallies
WIPs: 28
Finishes This Month: 1 ( knitting project not listed on tally)
Finishes since project start: 2 (+2 knitting)
Items for finishing : 7
New Starts: 1
Planned Starts: 2

Just another quick post of some wip pictures before I round up my goals for November and set some new ones for the last month of the year.
I concentrated most of my minimal stitching time this month on catching up with my neglected Bramble and the Rose SAL. I am now very happy to say that is up-to-date and this picture is as of November 30. I haven’t worked out exact percentages but I think this will put me very close to 30% or so. Since most of the stitching of this was done on the train I just did the green areas and didn’t battle with taking the additional spool to do the flowers. Hopefully December month will see this page finished off completely. Bramble will be on my 2010 goals for completion I think.

The only other picture I have is my small progress on the PINN stitch kit. For some reason my stitching over two always seems so much slower and this project is no exception. The threads for this one are rougher than DMC and don’t feel the best but I am not going to substitute the threads from the kit so I will just have to keep plodding along as fast as I can. It is also a colour chart which for some reason seems harder for me to keep track on and follow while stitching. I have never worked from a colour chart before and at this point there is nothing to indicate I will be rushing out to do so again. This is another design I would like to see finished in 2010. Overall it is pretty simple so here’s hoping I can find my groove with this design and make some significant progress each month.
While I have worked on Cirques this month there is not enough for a picture, in fact I am not sure I will update it again now until it is finished (hoping I can still finish it before the end of the year).

After a big journey around the globe I have my Ravenscroft Round Robin back home and she looks stunning. It is hard to fathom that she was sent off in January almost two years ago now but the work put in to her by everyone in the round robin is beautiful.

I have a long way to go before she is finished and no idea where in my stitchy plans she will fit but I will pull out the floss box I had for her and get everything set up so she can get a few stitches here and there.
The current plan is to stitch on her every time the girls and I get together for a stitchy day.. 20 stitches once a month and she’ll be done in no time LOL.

Any opinions on which sections I should stitch up first?? (After I finish the top one I started before she went on her journey of course).

So I am still stitching along, and have even been picking this up daily. I have managed to to finish weeks 15 to 19 now with only weeks 20, 21 and 22 (which is this current week) to go to fully catch up. I should be able to make my goal of being all caught up by the end of November is I keep at it.
This is about 2.5 pages possibly a little more and by the time I have fully caught up I think the third page will be polished off with a little done on page 4. I suspect I got lost in my stitch count a long the way with all the frogging I have had to do this week (unfortunately the shadow of some frogging is still visible on the piece but should be covered up with the stitching that is to go back in that area). According to my little tracker though I am at just over 25% none too shabby in my opinion… I might even hit 50% by Christmas.

Since starting my wip reduction plan I’ve been pretty good with keeping new starts under control for a while now.. and even my stash purchasing has been somewhat restrained. This however may tip me over the edge. It is an expensive project ($35US per month over a number of months) but oh so pretty. So far I have managed to resist but in all honesty i am not sure that will last. It is being offered by the ladies associated with the 17th century jacket project at Plimoth plantation and the needlecase is done in the elaborate style of the Stuart era.

For those of you that haven’t been following the wonderful work done on the 17th century jacket project obsessively since it started should really really head over and check out the blog. Not long now until the big reveal of the completed Jacket and outfit. I can’t wait to see the finished project it is bound to be breathtaking and I am so jealous of all the stitchers that have had the opportunity to work on this project as well as the people that will get to see this beautiful piece in person.

Believe it or not I have already done one of my goals for this month.
Jan’s RR is currently winging its way across the Tasman on its way home. I actually finished this Monday night but had to wait until yesterday to send it due to the cray Melbourne Cup holiday thing they have here in Melbourne.

Well everyone else has except where I work, although by the looks of the people walking around town that day, work was a safer place to be… so many scary dresses!

I think this is it now for RR stitching… well ok I do have a section to finish on miss fudgey’s RR because I only go tit half done before passing it on. She will come visit me again before she heads for her final trip home I think.

I did cheat a little with this one though as I didn’t want to hold her up any longer than I had to so I just did one of the little sections. My plan was to stitch an additional one if time permitted, but well an 8 day visit from my father and his partner really put paid to that idea.

The chart is  morning rose (I  think) by Linda Ravenscroft and is a retired design from HAED.  Stitched 1×1 of 25ct and sectioned up by the incredibly talented Nancy, who I think did the sectioning on most of the RRs for this one hehe.

Phew ! With the Halloween posts mostly done for now I can get my goals set down before the first week of November has been and gone.

November!!! This year has just zoomed past I’m sure someone has been stealing hours from my days and days from my weeks.

Ok onto those goals summaries.

October Goals

Stitching

• 5 Hours on Cirques Sure did (probably a little more than that too)
  
• Start the Pinn stitch kit Yep though only just I will try and get a picture of this up byt the end of the coming weekend.
• Finish page 3 of St Nick (sound like a broken record with this one) Arrrgh
• 6 strands into Sea Beacon no problems with this one
  

Knitting

20 More rows into the Jacket – This is a sort of yes, I got the roes done but made an error in the shaping so I had to rip them all back out again. I put this project to the side for now and managed to finish my falling water lace scarf in stead.

All in all no too bad when you ad din the madness of Halloween and the crazy baking that went along with it. I realised that my knitting projects aren’t listed on my wip reduction plan so my finish this month won’t count towards it but I am still happy to have one less project hanging around.
November is going to be crazy again with a trip to Brisbane for Mr B’s 40th Birthday bash, another little girls birthday cake (have started the fondant decorations fo rhtis one at least) costumes for the party, decorations and interstate planning. Add to that work is nuts and there always seems to be something else to get done and I am not so sure sleep will be on the agenda for November.

Regardless of all that though I am determined to set some goals and see how I go.

November Goals

Stitching

• Finish stitching in all the 939 on Sea Beacon
• Stitch my section of Jan’s RR and get it sent out before the end of the first week of November.
• 5 Hours on cirque
• Finish page 3 of St Nick – please!!!
• At least three lengths into the PINN stitch kit
• Post bramble updates each week and try to be completely caught up by the end of November
• Do the finishing on the Lesley and Colin trees

Knitting

• Signed up for the Nov KAL on the beginning lace knitters group on Ravelry. So start and make progress on the woodland lace shawl.
• Frog bak my diamond lace shawl wip and restart as the short sleeved version

Other

• Costumes for the sci-fi party
• Sci-fi cake
• Fairy dinosaur, butterfly garden cake

WIP project tallies (4 months since project Start)
WIPs: 28
Finishes This Month: 1 ( knitting project not listed on tally)
Finishes since project start: 2 (+1 knitting)
Items for finishing : 6
New Starts: 1
Planned Starts: 2

Wish me luck

With the last weekend of October being Halloween and my love of all things spooky… it is no wonder I am a bit late with my update this month. I have been trying to fit some stitching in when I can though and while there are no pieces to remove from my wip list this month I am happy with the way things are progressing.

First up is Sea Beacon, I have been working on her on the trains to and from work. I just section off a block of 939 then spend the train trip filling in as much of that space as possible. This strategy has worked really well and seen me finish a few thousand stitches in her in October. I am almost out of 939 on this page though and should see the last of it this month. At this point I don’t know which project will work best for this strategy in the following months but Violet Sometimes may yet see the light of day once more.

Next up a little bit of Bramble. I have been trying to work on this as much as I can and have managed to catch up on weeks 9-15 worth of stitching. This still leaves me about a month behind in ‘days of stitching’ but I am determined to catch up this month so that I can be on track for December. I have managed to catch up a few more days since this picture was taken and hope to be back to weekly updates on this soon. This is very close to page 1 and 4 being complete. (Reminder of details: Design by Ink Circles, The Bramble and The Rose released in the June Issue of The Gift of Stitching- also now available from Tracey Horner as a Chart- stitched 1×1 on green apple 32ct opalescent lugana from Silkweavers using Vikki Clayton silks in a custom variegated nosegay and old maid of the forest).

That leaves my other main focus for this month which was Cirque. I have been taking it along to the Stitch and Bitch at Morris and Sons in town each week. The reactions it has been getting I find really odd for a store that actually stocks needlework supplies. Mind you they are mostly focused in the DMC range I guess, but still.. the gasps and questions about where I find patterns like that etc are somewhat surprising it is not like Ink Circles charts can’t be found at a number of the stalls often at the craft markets every few months. I have been spreading the word about Sampler cove and Ink circles and the like though… and Vikkis silks, so maybe there will be a few more converts out there in not too long. Most of the S&B people are knitters though with a few ladies doing surface embroidery and the like. I tend to alternate between knitting and stitching from week to week depending on how I feel. Cirque has benefited from the attention though and I am now determined to try and see this completed before the year is out. It will be fantastic to have a larger long time wip actually completed. No idea what I’ll do with it when it is done though… probably just throw it in a drawer. Lol.

The top right hand circle is in the process of being frogged. I missed the last intersecting circle on that row and only realised when I went to infill and none of the smaller circles would fit… I had though it looked funny and kept checking the pattern but for some reason never noticed I was one intersection short. Next time I pick this up in my lunch break I will finish the frogging and set things right. I am probably going to outline all of the remaining circles (except the small infill ones) and the border before heading back to do all the fill designs. I think it will help in seeing progress and inspire me to to get it finished all the faster.

You may of noticed there is a piece lacking from my update… Dear old St Nick is still languishing on page three. I think that page is cursed.. or I am. I also haven’t taken a picture yet of the new start I had with the PINN stitch kit. Hopefully I will have an update of both of those soon but the progress is minimal enough to not warrant a picture at this point.

Phew … long update and I still have two more to write. thanks to anyone who stuck around to the end, it seems not updating for a while has left me in the mood to ramble. Next up Halloween baking update and my goals round up / new goals for November.

So… back at the end of August I mentioned that I had gone insane and had tentative plans to have ~35 new starts. Well the charts arrived this week and I thought I would share the impressive pile of name trees I now have staring at me from my shelves. There are 15 name in total that will be stitched in different combinations depending on the family the gift is intended for. It is  a LOT of trees but I think the overall idea will be nice as family gifts for Christmas… Just not this Christmas – Not even I am that insane-

I’m still working on fabric / silk thread colour combinations at this point. I am leaning towards ordering a bunch of antique white opalescent lugana from Silk weaver though. It has served me well for ornaments and the like in the past and will provide a nice neutral background I think but with a little treat form the sparkle.

Looking at eveything I have on for the remainder of the year and my urge to make significant progress on some of my longer running works in progress I think I will hold off until the new year before really knuckling down and getting a start on this project.

In other news I went along to a stitch and bitch at a knitting store in town last night (thanks to Nic for holding my hand because I’m a big fraidy cat). The women all seem quite nice and since it is in town it is easy enough for me to toddle along to after work on Thursdays. I think I will probably keep going, if not every week, probably fairly frequently. It is in at Morris and Sons on Collins street. The interesting thing was really the varied projects that everyone had, form surface embroidery, knitting and cross stitch (I took along cirques). The skill level of everyone was really varied too, which means we should all have a lot to share and learn from each other