January's TUSAL

Well this is my first TUSAL post: Totally Useless SAL!! This is where you keep all your floss 'trash', broken needles and tiny scraps of fabric and place them in a pretty jar. Yep, totally useless:) I picked out a pretty green glass jar, but it is pretty small, so I'm not sure if I'll make it the whole year with this jar, but I still really like it:)
You can also see that I'm coming along with my January Wordplay too!! I'm hoping to finish it up tomorrow:) That'll be my 4th finish for the month!!!

Aspirations/Resolutions/Challenges #2

Oops, forgot to continue these:) How's that for getting off-track rather fast!! LOL First off, I did add a weight-loss ticker at the bottom of my blog, so I can keep track in a public way of my progress.

My second goal for the year is to read more. I looked and looked all over blog land for a reading/book challenge that I thought would work for me - and goodness there are TONS of reading/book challenges out there. However, since I really want to focus on weight loss and stitching, I didn't want a challenge that was too much or very restrictive. Most of the ones I found either had you reading 50+ books or had you reading a certain type of book (ie, young adult, mystery, horror, etc). I even found one that had you read 50 new (new to you anyway) books and watch 50 movies that you've never seen in a year. I like the movie idea, but that would mean about 1 book a week. If I didn't want to stitch so much I could do that, but it would take up a good deal of my free time.

SO, in the end I joined GOODREADS and set my own goal of 12 books in a year. I thought this would be VERY easy, however I'm only half way through my first book, so I guess this will be at least slightly challenging:) The only rule I put on myself is that I can only count books that I am reading for me. See, I read and read books as part of our homeschooling. We do read alouds for our Bible/religious studies (like missionary tales and stories of historical figures and their religious beliefs, etc), for our history studies (some of the same as biblical studies, also historical fiction, biographies, etc) and a couple here and there just for fun that we are interested in. We go through several books each month for our schooling but those won't count for this challenge. I do usually really like what we are reading, but it isn't for me. SO while some of my books will be from my dd's 'library', only the ones that I choose to read for my own entertainment will count for this challenge:) And she actually has several that I want to read. (NOTE: my dd is a book-hoarder:) She has a teenie-tiny room, but has around 250 books in it, which she has organized into categories (mystery, animals, fantasy, etc) and is presently cataloging into an excel spreadsheet alphabetically by title. At least it gives her practice typing and alphabetizing:).

I have one (maybe two depending on how I decide to go after it) more 'aspirations' for the year that I'll blog about soon. I am also real close to getting another stitchy project done and am hoping to be able to post a pic by the end of next week!! :)

Jan 13th, 14th and 15th projects

Well, I got a bit behind with the blogging end of things, but I did keep up on the stitching side:) So here is what I chose for my final projects...
This is the new stocking from Blackbird. I received this chart all kitted up from my SIL (Marianne Meyer of Midnight Stitching) for Christmas and I love it!! Hoping I'll get a chance real soon to finish this one up quickly:)

This is 'Squirrel' from JBW. Another quick stitch just as soon as I can work it in. I changed the colors some, not sure how I feel about my selection though. May have to make some revisions, we will see.And my last project is Summer Ornie from Prairie Schooler. I now have all 4 of these started and am excited to have the whole set!!

I have already started thinking about my new starts for next year as I'm going to try and not start anything new beyond the 30+ WIPs/UFOs that I already have started and I'm finding new ones that I'd like to do!! :) Oh, my I think this has become a sickness!! LOL Maybe if I get most of the 30 done this year I'll try my hand at the Ultimate Crazy Challenge next year (a new project for EVERY day of Jan). Hmm, or maybe not:)

Jan 12th Project

My project for today is Oh, Christmas Tree from With thy Needle and Thread. I really like charts that make into something other than just a picture to be framed and hung on the wall. I have only actually had one project framed ever (and it wasn't even me that had it done. My wonderfuly SIL had it done for me for a birthday). So I usually lean toward projects that can be made into pin cushions, small projects that can fit into a tuck, ornies and things like this that will be sewn into a snowman pouch:) So another project started and only 3 more projects left and then I will start working really hard to get these all done!!

Another Giveaway

Heather of Heather's Stitching Story is running a really great giveaway for anyone who love CCN's and LHN's charts. Happy Stitching and Good Luck!! :)

Jan 11th Project

Today's project is from Barbara Ana's Designs and is called Thanksgiving Biscornu. I love making biscornus (sp?) because I get to hand-stitch them together and don't have to frame them or use a sewing machine to finish them up!! I can use a sewing machine, but I very quickly get frustrated with it:) I much prefer when I can hand sew something together!!

I just barely got a start on this one as I am trying really hard to get some older projects finished off. I am challenging myself to finish 30 projects this year. That is going to be a huge challenge as I think I only did 13 in 2011 and maybe 17 in 2010. I'm doing well right now though as I have 3 done so far for 2012. But I usually hit a major slump in late spring and last year I didn't get back into stitching until mid fall, though I usually start to rebound by late summer. Reverse seasonal depression? Not sure it's that serious, but it happens every year. More likely just major burn-out:) Either way I'm hoping to get lots done before that and maybe I can come out somewhere near this goal by the end of the year. A good deal of what I started this year are pretty small and easy, so that will help a lot!! :) We will just have to see.

Jan 10th Project

Real quick tonight as I am very ready for bed:) This is one of the 2 charts from Autumn Spendor by With Thy Needle and Thread. Love the colors in this one and will be sticking to the recomended threads. I am doing this one on 32ct Summer Khaki. Should be another quick and easy one.

Other Aspirations/Resolutions/Challenges #1

Contrary to how it has looked on my blog lately, I do have a life outside of stitching:) Actually I only stitch around a 1/2 hour to maybe an hour a day. I would like to stitch lots more than that, but well, I do have a family, though a rather small one, and they don't find my stitching nearly as important as I do!! LOL


So I thought I would list the 3 other things that I aspire to accomplish this year in order to give myself some kind of accountablity. I am planning on posting one per day (though it might not be consecutive days). If anyone wants to join me on any of these, or ask me from time to time how I am doing (or if I am still doing;) any of these things, please feel welcome.


First things first. I NEED to lose some weight. I am a bit over 100 lbs over my ideal weight (and I'm not talking super model skinny ideal weight, but just a healthy weight for me). So my goal for this year is to lose 1 lb a week. I think that is doable and if I stick to it I will be half way to my final goal in a year. Not bad considering how long I have been overweight and even 50lbs gone would do my body a world of good.


My action plan at this point is...

1. Exercise -

I have the Wii Fit, bought a year ago and hardly used:)

I just bought 'Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition' workout video - sadly I thought I could skip level one, but umm, it kicked my hiney!! :) So right now my goal for this is to keep working at level one until I can move up to level 2.

I'm not sure yet, but I may join our YMCA club. It is 25 min away from home though, so I'd only use it when my dd is in gymnastics or swim class, and maybe on Saturdays when I'm in town to do the shopping, but that is 2-3 days a week and most of that time I'm just sitting there anyway.

During the spring and fall I can ride my bike and take walks down our dirt road, but we have really cold winters and really hot summers, so right now I'll stick to indoor workouts.


2.Diet -

Hmm, well, I'll get back to you on that:) We are trying to eat more fruit and veggies and no fried foods, and have been doing that for a while. So keeping with that and cutting my portions down some.


3. Record Keeping

Keeping track of what I eat and when I eat it. Maybe this will help with the diet end of it.

Keeping track of weekly weigh ins - posting monthly weigh-ins on my blog.


4. Rewards:)

I'll have to come up with these as I go, but so far...

10 lb reward - New pair of jeans:) Which I really need anyway, but I'm going to wait until I reach this goal.

20lb reward - Haircut and style. I rarely get my hair cut and done up, so this will be a real treat:)


Well, that is all for this post. Will post another 'Aspiration/Resolution/Challenge' in a day or two.

WIPocalypse

My first offical WIPocalypse post!!! The goal for WIPocalypse is to finish as many WIPs and UFO's as possible throughout the year. These can be ones that you've had around for many, many years all the way to new ones you just started. Then we are to post pics of any finishes and all progress we make each full moon. So this is what I have to show off for this month...
This one is NOT finished. Despite my best intentions of finishing this one off today so I could brag about another one done, it just didn't happen. Too many interuptions happened instead. But this is progress and I am still hoping to finish it off tomorrow. This is one of my new starts for this year, so if you scoll down a bit you can see my start on it.
This is an older WIP (I thought it was from last year's Jan 15, but it was from before that). This is Blessed is the Meek from Little House Needleworks' Saltbox Scripture series. I'm super excited that I finished this one as I only have one more to go in this series and they will all be done. I'll post a pic of all of them together when the last one gets done.

And this one is another one from this year's Jan 15 (so scoll down some and you'll see my start on this one as well). Really happy to get this done as it is always nice to finish a couple off when you are starting so many of them:)

Well, that is all for this WIPocalypse post, hoping for many more to show off next time!! :)

Jan 8th and 9th Projects

This is getting to be a habit:) Though this time it had more to do with having a busy weekend and just being too wiped out to get on the internet at night than doing too much stitching. As you can see below, not much stitching actually got done:)
For my Jan 8th project I choose Winter Ornie from Prairie Schooler (this can only be found in the 2006 JCS Ornie Mag issue). I am doing this on 32 ct Lambswool with suggested threads. I have the charts for all the rest of these and am hoping to get them all done this year!!!

This one is Margaret Harris from Blackbird Designs and can be found in the Honeysuckle Manor book. I changed just about everything for this one. The recomended threads were all silks and while I'd like to someday try them out, I haven't done so yet because of cost. I also changed fabric to 32ct Antique Copper. In addition I am going to change the year, town name and even redesign the house somewhat as well. I want this one to reflect our present house and the township we reside in.

I only got the moon stitched on this one as I was really trying to get another project finished so I could show it off on my WIPocalypse post, but sadly it still didn't get finished, so I could only show my progress, but I aim to finish it tomorrow for sure:)

Well, until tomorrow, my stitchy friends (which, really is in about 23 min!! :).

Jan 6th and 7th Projects

I've been so busy stitching that I didn't even get to posting anything yesterday:) I really like my day 6 project!! In fact I almost decided to finish it today (day 7) instead of starting a new one, but I was a good girl and left this one alone to start the new one:) This is Bountiful Stars from Blackbird Design's Patriotic July stocking booklet. I changed the colors because I didn't like the 'red' they used which looked more pink to me and didn't make me think 'Patriotic'. It's coming along really quickly and I can't wait to make it into a little stocking!!

This one is 'Blessed are the Peacemakers' from Little House Needlework's Saltbox Scriptures series. I have finshed the other 3 of these and am really excited to finish this one off and then decide how I want to display them. I've thought of framing them and hanging them one at a time during the corresponding season, or making a cube out of all 4 of them and turning it to the corresponding season OR making a small wall hanging quilt out of all of them to hang year round:) Just not sure yet. I changed a couple colors in this one too. I really didn't like the purple with the other fall colors and so changed that to red instead, I am also using a deeper orange than it calls for and I also changed the brown a little, though only because I didn't have the color it called for, but it is really close.

I have 2 finishes (so far) that I will show off on Monday durning my WIPocalypse post. So exciting that I actually getting some stitching finished:)

Jan 5th Project

I had a nice, easy stitch planned for today as I knew I would be heading into town for the afternoon. I still thought I could finish this one today though. No such luck!!! I ended up having some problems with the blackwork and had to take it out and start over. I'm sure I'll get this one done tomorrow though:) This is a freebie card from Prairie Schooler that I am doing on 32 ct lambswool. Like I said, it's a nice, easy stitch and I'm enjoying it very much:)

Jan 4 Project

My 4th project is a freebie that I found while looking around the web one day. Unfortunately I have completely forgotten where I found it. Usually the printed page will say on the bottom of it what the website is, but this doesn't say anything at all. I do know it was a non-English blog, but other than that, really couldn't tell you where I got this now. Sadly it wasn't even that long ago that I printed this off. What does that say about my memory? :)

Anyway, I'm also doing this one for my dd, she loves cats of all kinds. I am stitching this over one on 28 ct white fabric.

Jan 3 Project

My 3rd Crazy Project is a Little House Needleworks ornie called 'He's a Flake'. I'm doing this on 32ct Twilight Blue linen which is just a bit bluer and a bit darker than the dove linen that it calls for. I didn't work on it much today as I am really close to being done with an older WIP (from last year's Crazy Challenge) and am really hoping to get it done in the next couple of days:) So I will probably focus on it and only just start the next couple until the WIP is done.

Jan 2 Project

My project for Jan 2 is January Word Play from With thy Needle and Thread. I'm doing this on 32ct Summer Khaki with most of the called for floss colors. I love this series, though I will be making few changes to a couple of them as I go. I want to do the whole set, but want to change things like the witch in Oct since we don't celebrate halloween, and santa in December's since we've never celebrated Christmas with santa. I have several other designs from With thy Needle and I don't think it'll be hard to sub in a little here and there. This one is going pretty fast and I hope to finish this one off this month:)

Jan Challenge - Day 1

My 1st project for the month is a HUGE one:) This is my first HAED and I can already tell that it's going to take me a long time to finish it. I'm doing this one for my dd who really loves tigers. It's being done over one on 32ct ant. white linen. That tiny little square is less than an inch sq and already I've stitched 455 stitches in it!! :)

Great Giveaway!!

I found a really generous stitchy giveaway in blog-land today. It is on CrafyMoo's blog and she is giving away some really nice charts, fabric, and even a $20 gift certificate to 123 Stitch!! Now that's my kind of prize:)