Reviewing, planning, and goal setting

2013 was not my best year. It had some major lows (like the passing of my mom) and not many highs. For some reason, I had the forethought to not get involved in any blogland activities this past year - no TUSAL, no WIPocalypse - and I rarely remembered to participate in IHSW (International Hermit & Stitch Weekends). I did a decent job keeping up with my own blogging except for the first few months after mom passed.

When you look at my goals for 2013, it looks like I did a really good job (even though several of the goals were add-ons throughout the year).

My goals for 2013 were:

• Complete 3 pages of Drama Queen 2 pages completed
• Finish Cirque des Carreaux DONE
• Finish Rules for Life DONE
• Start & finish Metamorphosis (mini blue) DONE
• Start & finish Frozen Flower DONE
• Start & finish Metamorphosis (fire) DONE
• Start & finish Birds of a Feather DONE
• Start & finish Metamorphosis (tone on tone blue) DONE
• Start Sunflower Bee STARTED
• Start Ciara Blue STARTED
• Start Baked Alaska STARTED
• Start Evening in the Park
• Finish Elizabeth

I managed to finish 13 stitchy projects and 2 crochet projects this year. There was a definite blue trend in my stitching in 2013 -- forshadowing perhaps? I was disappointed that I didn't manage to start Evening in the Park. I love this Chatelaine design and have had the materials for it all kitted up for months now.

For 2014, I've decided to join the Turtle Trot SAL hosted by BAP Attack. This SAL is intended to help make progress on some older projects. The rules are as follows:

1. You must have a blog, because you'll be posting links to it.

2. Pick 10 unfinished projects to work on.

3. Take a picture of them and make a blog post by the 10th of January.

4. Each month, by the 10th, post whatever progress pics you have.

5. Post a link to your progress post on BAP Attack's blog.

I'll post about my choices for this SAL in another post.

In general though, my goals for 2014 are:

• Finish 3 pages of Drama Queen
• Finish Elizabeth
• Finish Welcome
• Finish Wise Wisdom
• Start & finish Damask Square
• Start Eron the Wizard
• Start Evening in the Park
• Participate in "Turtle Trot SAL" each month

Here's hoping for a happier and stitchier New Year!

Double Update

There is something about seeing substantial progress that is both deeply satisfying and highly motivating. :)

Christmas Day was a very chill day for me, most of which was spent working on Ciara Blue by Blackwork Journey.

This piece is often mind-numbingly repetitive and boring, but it is also stunningly beautiful. Even though there is still a long way to go, I am excited about the finish.

My desire to work on the blackwork was inspired a little by doing the backstitching on the first owl in Wise Wisdom by Stoney Creek. As you can see … backstitching makes such a difference!

Working on some of my WIPs (like Ciara Blue) that I haven't touched in months certainly rejuvenates my stitchy bug.

A little more skirt

I've been working on Elizabeth again. She's very relaxing to work on. Big and blocky = easy peasy stitching!

There's still so much more skirt to go though.

A wise start?

I've been thinking about my stitching plans for next year (that'll be another post) and I decided to look through all my patterns and see if anything jumped out and yelled "Start Me!" To be honest, I want to start it all, but that's not realistic. Surprisingly, nothing that wasn't already a planned start landed in the to-do pile (we'll see how long that lasts).

That being said, there are a few new starts waiting … along with a rather large pile of WIPs and UFOs.  I didn't mean to start anything new till January, but that did not go as planned. I started Wise Wisdom by Stoney Creek.

This is one of those patterns that normally wouldn't appeal to me, but the moment I saw it, I knew who I had to stitch it for and why. So it was bought and has been sitting in the to-start pile for a few months. It is a wonderfully simple pattern and I am whizzing through the first part faster that I expected.

Done in Time

I spent the last week working on the crocheted scarf for my dad whenever I got a spare moment (which were few and far between). I managed to finish it and block the fringe yesterday!

This morning I trimmed up the fringe and got the rest of it all blocked. I'm really quite pleased with it.

And I was especially pleased that I finished it before heading to my Dad's place for a pre-Christmas visit. However, the weather (an impending ice storm) has squashed my travel plans. Now it looks like I won't be able to visit until early January. Guess I didn't need to rush after all. Although it does feel good to be done. No more crocheting for a while though ... I need a break!

A definite difference

I wasn't planning on it, but I ended up taking the weekend off. No schoolwork, no guilt, no nothing. It was WONDERFUL!!

So instead, I spent the weekend stitching, watching soccer, and napping. Glorious! I decided to work on Elizabeth again. Mostly I've been stitching stuff for other people during the last few months, and this piece is for me.

Here she is the last time I updated the blog:

I've put a few stitches in her on and off since then, so here she is before I started the weekend:

And here she is as of tonight:

It feels so good to see such progress on a piece for me.

I love packages in the mail

I do. I really, really do. I LOVE getting packages in the mail. Unfortunately, that usually results in a corresponding dent in my wallet. :(

But I digress … today the sweetest little bundle turned up … a fat eighth bundle of Twirl by Me & My Sister Designs for Moda.

So cute!!! And there's more in there then you'd think - 38 different fabrics!

I don't usually go for these colours (I am not a pink, orange, or yellow kind of girl) but I just fell in love with these fabrics the instant I saw them! It's taken a while to track them down too, since the collection came out a year or so ago. I originally had just wanted a jelly roll, but I like that I ended up with the fat eighths - more versatile.

Now to wait for another package … so I can start planning what to do with these fabrics. :)

Still crocheting - slowly but surely

I've been working on this since the end of August I think. I promised my dad 2 years ago that I'd crochet him a red and black scarf. Here's my progress so far:

I'm crocheting it in an unusual way … lengthwise instead of widthwise. I don't think I need much more before it's wide enough. :) This is a ridiculously easy (though time consuming) project -- nothing but single crochets and slip stitches.