Admitting Defeat?

When I started the Ultimate Crazy January Challenge 10 months ago, I thought it was a great opportunity to make myself stitch a bunch of the little projects that had been piling up in my stash drawer. Deciding on 31 projects was tough, and I threw in quite a few silly little kits, etc so that I could have more finishes.

What a mistake.

I have felt pressured to complete a bunch of projects that I really am not enjoying, just so I can say "I finished X number of projects." It's stupid. I'm wasting my precious stitchy time on things I really don't care about, don't know what I'll do with once I'm finished them, and that I've outgrown and simply don't like anymore.

So it all stops now.

I will no longer waste time finishing projects just to finish them. I'm going to stitch only on the projects I love and that I really want to complete and hang on my wall. So say goodbye to the Mill Hill ornament kits, the Imperial Pansy kit, and the Stained Glass Pansy. Available to good homes for free!

Now ... back to stitching something that excites me!

Beading Bonanza

Just a quickie post to show a little finish.

This is a Mill Hill Ornament kit called Diamond Holiday. This actually took much less time to do than I had anticipated, although the beading was a little tedious.

Hopefully between now and Christmas I'll find the time to finish it off as a proper ornament. I see felt,  ribbon, and a hot glue gun in my future.

This also marks the completion of my personal goal of finishing half of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge starts. Hurray!! This is finish 16 of 31. Can you believe it? I might even have another finish or two before the end of the year!

Second UCJC Finish!

I haven't had a lot of time to stitch lately, but I've been plugging along, and finally managed another finish, the 2009 Snowflake ornament by Tor Rhuann Designs!

It doesn't quite look like the pattern though. As I got into the backstitching, I realized that my choice of fabric for this project was totally wrong. When I had originally looked at the pattern, I had seen all of the backstitching that outlined the snowflake and automatically thought that aida would work. Now that I was tackling it, I realized that almost everything in the outside border was charted for evenweave. I would have had to poke holes in the aida constantly in order to do the border. No way, no thank you! So, I decided to ditch the outer border, and I just backstitched around the outside to add a little more bling. I think it worked really well, and I am quite happy with it. :)

Look at that bling! This is the first time I've stitched with Petite Treasure Braid, and it was wonderful to work with. Kreinik and Accentuate are nice, but this was really lovely stuff.

Hurray for finish #2, and it's not even the end of February yet!

A WIPocalypse Finish!

It's that time again ... WIPocalypse is drawing near and we must finish projects!!

So, I did. :)

I finished my first ornament of the year: Christmas Eve Flight by thesamplergirl.com.

I did not forsee this as my first finish from my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge. Funny how things work out. Now I need to figure out what I feel like stitching next!

(Only 30 more finishes to go .... hrmm, might be a tall order.)

2012 UCJC - Day 29

I was so not in the mood to stitch today. I am burnt out from all these new starts. I dreaded starting today, and I dread starting projects for the next 2 days. But ... after getting this far, I'm going to finish the stinking challenge.

Anyway, today I started the last of the tiny kits - Sapphire Snow Christmas Jewels Charmed Ornament by Mill Hill.

2012 UCJC - Day 28

Another fun and easy start today!! I was working on a freebie ornament called Christmas Eve Flight by thesamplergirl.com.

I made decent progress too. :) It's stitched on 18 ct white aida using DMC 321, 433, and 826. The blue might be a bit bold, but I like it!

2012 UCJC - Day 22

Not much to see today, but it's still a start.

This is Snowflake Tree - part of the Festival of Trees Charmed Ornament line by Mill Hill. I actually stitched this same ornament last year and I loved the look of it so much, I'm stitching it again!! It's a pretty easy stitch and shouldn't take me long to complete, once I get a chance to put some time into it.

2012 UCJC - Day 13

My stitching didn't start off too well today ... but it ended on a good note. :)

Today I started the first kit in my UCJC line-up - a Mill Hill bead kit called Diamond Holiday from the Christmas Jewels Charmed Ornament line. It's stitched on perforated paper, and as I started I was rather disgruntled with it. The first stitches just looked all funky and funny and awkward. BUT I was good and kept on going even though I wanted to put it away.

I'm glad I kept at it because it's starting to come together. I'm about half done the cross stitches, then it'll be on to the beading. It should only take another evening session or two to finish it (once UCJC is done).

And it begins ... 2012 UCJC - Day 1

I've been so excited the past few days just waiting for the 2012 Ultimate Crazy January Challenge to start! 31 new starts in 31 days -- how crazy am I??

So here I go ... Day 1!! Today's start is the 2009 Christmas ornament by Tor Rhuann Designs. (Check my UCJC page for a picture of what it should look like when finished.) I love the look of assisi-style designs, and it feels good to get a head start on my ornaments for next Christmas. I'm stitching this on 18 ct white aida with HDF silk (Ethereal Ice) and PTB Silver.

And my progress today:

I also have a card to share today. I played around with creating my own washi tape the other day using authentic Japanese origami paper. I love how it turned out, and it was fun to make an Asian-inspired card.

A "little" stitching

I have all of these huge projects on the go ... each with thousands and thousands of stitches. So crazy me took a break, and decided to stitch something much smaller.

My first Mill Hill Beaded Ornament kit: