January - NewFo

I'm really excited to be part of Barbara's of Cat Patches' NewFo Challenge. This is a quilting challenge, or rather, it is a challenge to start a quilt or quilting project. For more info, follow the link and JOIN IN!!!

As most of you know, I love to cross stitch, I really like to crochet as well. What you might not know is that while I LOVE the idea of making quilts, I really don't like to sew. Hand sewing is fine, machine sewing..... not so much. I can do quilt tops if I have to on a machine, but I don't enjoy it. Straight line sewing doesn't give me too many problems, I just never have the urge to get that machine out and get started. BUT I do still want to quilt, so I joined the NewFo Challenge anyway!! Hopefully this will give me the motivation to push through and get more experience which might make things more enjoyable. And I can always hand-quilt if needed:)

If you follow my blog you will know that I've been super busy this month stitching a couple blocks for LoveQuilts and so most of my time this month went to that. I was going to go to the fabric store on Wednesday to pick up a few pieces of fabric for this project so that I could get a start on it yesterday, but then I fell and sprained my ankle (which must not have been nearly as bad as the dr said because it is already feeling better- not great, but better). I was able to pick up the fabric yesterday, but was all worn out last night, so I've only had a little time today to work on this, but I'm glad I got it to this point:)

So here is my progress so far...

Step 1- Go through my pathetic and small stash of fabric. CHECK - I will really need to work on this stash:)

Step  2- Go to the fabric store and ogle and drool over the pretty fabrics. Then get a bit overwhelmed over what I should buy, but end up choosing a couple. One that I really liked, one that my dd really liked. I also bought batting and some ribbon:) CHECK

Step 3 - Set all fabrics together and decide what I want to use. CHECK

Step 4 -  Cut strips of the fabric and the batting. CHECK

That's about as far as I got. I may have some time later this evening to get those strips sewn together. I am making a Valentine's Mug Rug - or a mug mat or large coaster, whatever you want to call them. My inspiration came from HERE which I originally found on Pinterest (of course, where else would I find 'my' creativity?!?!?).

My plan is to sew the strips together, then cut them and sew them back together, maybe at an angle to make it look a bit like a crazy quilt, but I'm not sure about that yet. I did decide that I LOVE this fabric...

So it will be the backing and will make the 'rugs' reversible. I will be making two and giving one of these to my mom for her birthday which is Feb 18th, so the Valentine's theme works too:) The other I will keep for myself!!

Next month shouldn't be quite so busy with my crafty time, so I'm hoping to get started on my next 'quilting' project earlier in the month. Either way, I have already added fabric to my collection, so it's already a win-win!!

Whoop-Whoop Friday!!! 1-31-14

Another WHOOP-WHOOP Friday and I am super excited to show off what I FINIALLY got done this week!!!

Re-worked from Candamar Designs' Police Officer'

Here is the second to the 2 designs I re-worked off of Candamar Designs' 'Police Officer' chart. This block, and the one below, was stitched for LoveQuilts and will go to a 9 year old boy who is sick and in need of some comfort. I re-worked these two because another stitcher signed up to stitch the same chart. Usually LoveQuilts doesn't allow this, but because we were coming up short with military and police designs they said it would be okay. I wanted to make the blocks look as different from one another as possible, so I re-arranged the lay-out. I think it worked pretty good:)

Both re-worked from Candamar Designs' Police Officer

And here the two of them are together. I have to tell you that I am always excited when I sign up to stitch a block for a kid in need, always excited when I start stitching the block, and ALWAYS ready to pull my hair out as I'm finishing up the block!! Since the designs are usually more detailed and of a subject matter that I wouldn't stitch for myself, I'm usually ready to be DONE with the block by the end of it!! :) Though I will say that the 2nd block was really easy since it just had the words.

These have both been signed and mailed off and will join other blocks to be made into a quilt. So, now, I won't have to blog about these two again!!

If you are interested in joining in on WHOOP-WHOOP Fridays, visit Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

January 2014 TUSAL

I wasn't going to participate in TUSAL this year. I've done this for the past two years, but decided that I was done with it this year since I kept forgetting to post a pic about it last year. I found, however, that I was unable to throw away my strings and odds and ends!!! And once I saw everyone posting about it earlier this month, I decided that I was going to give it a go again. :0)

Now this wasn't the first TUSAL posting this month, we have a rare month with 2 new moons. Is there a special name for the 2nd new moon like there is when you have a 2nd full moon in a month - like with a blue moon? Umm, might need to look that up:)

 

Here are my orts for the month. Not too bad, though they are mostly all from the LoveQuilt blocks that I worked on.

 

If you would like to learn more about TUSAL or would like to join in, visit Sharon at It's Daffycat.

January Small SAL = FAIL!!!

I *thought* I would be all set to show off my 'Smalls SAL' finish yesterday, but things did not go the way I planned them!! :)

I was stitching along on this the other day...

2010 Stamp Ornament by Jeannette Douglas Designs
found in 2010 JCS Ornie Mag

 



and as I started stitching the vine I realized that the pretty, swirly red thing on the bottom should start inside the 'J' of joy. UGG!!! Since the vine connects to the red swirly thing on the bottom I had to stop where I was and get ready to redo the bottom. 'No problem,' I thought, 'this will be quick and easy!! I will just finish this up on Wednesday and then blog about it later in the day.' - I have no idea if that was my actual thoughts, I'm just making things up as I go;)

I only had to be in town for a little while yesterday, take dd to the zoo, quick stop at the post office and library, then to the gym and pick up some fabric at Hobby Lobby before getting dd again and heading home. I would have had the whole afternoon to stitch and finish this up. But my morning didn't go so smoothly. I did get to the post office and then to the library, but then I fell going down the last step at the library and hurt my ankle (AGAIN!!). (side note for new readers: I apparently have weak ankles. I hurt them ALL. THE. TIME. Usually it is my left ankle as it was this time, and usually I just sprain it like I did this time. But last year, two days before Christmas 2012 I finally managed to break my right ankle.)

So I spent the rest of the morning/early afternoon picking dd up early and going to the dr. Thankfully it is just sprained and will heal quicker than if I had broken it. And I'm super thankful that it is my left ankle so I can still drive or I would have been stranded in town!!!

Once I got home I prepared dd's schoolwork and took a nap and never did get back to stitching on this!! So this month's Smalls SAL was a fail, but at least I did work on one and I should be able to fix it and get it finished really quick:)

To learn more and/or join in on the Smalls SAL, visit Silverlotus at Stitching Lotus.

Weekly Goals/Update for January 27

(If you are looking for my Grow Your Blog Post, click HERE:)

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Another week down, it just never ceases to amaze me how fast the days and weeks go by!!! I think this week went pretty well, goal wise anyway. We had a nice warm weekend, but have been plunged back into the cold abyss of winter once again. It would be nice if we could get some snow with all this cold, but we've been dry, dry, dry. In fact we had fire warnings lately because of the dry, windy conditions. Hopefully spring with be here soon and bring some rain with it!!

Okay, so on to my accomplishment this week...
(52 in 52 goals have an * at the end of them)

1. I finished one of the LoveQuilt blocks and will be done with the other today. I will need to ship them priority, but they will get there on time!!! This will be the last time I sign up to do two at one time, and the last time that the stitching timeline goes through the Christmas holiday!! Not sure what I was thinking:) But it's all good and I'll be checking soon for the next block that I will work on. *

2. Housework schedule went well this week. I need to tweak it a bit for the days we leave in the mornings to take dd to volunteer at the zoo, but otherwise I think it's going to work. I'll leave it as it is for a month or so and then start adding one or two deeper cleaning tasks to it at a time. *

3. My goal was to work out 2 times this week and I got in 3 days!!! I was feeling much better and so I went to the YMCA on my two normal days (the days dd is at the zoo) and I also pulled out a beginner yoga video later in the week. *

4. The Grow Your Blog Party went very well and was a lot of fun. It's so nice to hear from people who are already following and enjoying your blog and from new followers. It makes me smile to hear that someone thinks my endless prattle and craftiness is worth their time and attention.

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And for this week...

1. Mail off the LoveQuilt blocks!!! *

2. Lots to post on the blog this week!! Wednesday is the Smalls SAL, Friday is Whoop-Whoop Friday and NewFO Challenge, Saturday is my Something Old/Something New and also the 2nd YOTA of this year!! I think I am also going to go ahead and join in on TUSAL as well.  I wasn't going to do that this year, but I just can't throw out my orts/strings and they are piling up now!!! What a FUN blogging/crafting week!!! *

3. Work out 3 times this week. Hoping to build up to 4/5 times a week, but have to start somewhere!! *

With all the blogging/crafting going on this week, I think these 3 will do. We also have lots of running around with a couple extra 4-H classes, taxes to be done and the normal running that we always have, this is going to be a busy week!!

So what are you up to this week?

GROW YOUR BLOG PARTY!!!

 

Well here we are again, one year later with another 'Grow Your Blog Party'. And I've got to say that I am super excited about it!! Last year I went from 14 followers to my current 108 followers, and a good deal of those came from this party!!

 

I want to say a huge thanks to Vicki over at My 2 Bags Full for hosting this blog hop and all the time and detail that she puts into this event. She says that there are over 600 bloggers participating in this hop, can you imagine? WOW!!

 

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Okay, so we are to talk a bit about ourselves and why we blog or what we blog about so here is a little about me...

 

My name is Shannon and I am a town girl (not city girl though:), living out in the country. My husband and I bought our small house and 10 acres 7 years ago and love the peace and quiet of country living. We have a 14yo daughter whom we homeschool. She loves animals and currently volunteers at our local small zoo two mornings a week. Right now we only have cats, a dog, a couple rabbits, and a guinea pig, but we've also raised a few cows, a couple goats, loads of chickens and even a couple ducks in the past. I'm hoping to be able to get chickens again this year as I love having them follow me around the place and I also love having the fresh eggs.

 

My blog is mostly about the different crafts that I do. I love cross stitching and crocheting and would like to get more into quilting and to learn how to knit. All are in the plans for this year. I participate in many SALS (stitch-a-longs) and well as challenges and blog hops, most of which you can find out about in the tab on top of my blog. Feel free to join in if you wish, most are still available to participate in:)

 

I also occasionally blog about homeschooling or do an 'Around the Homestead' blog about what is going on here. This summer we will be growing a garden again too, so I'll probably have some posts about that as well, hopefully showing LIVE plants, but you never know!! :)

 

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Lastly, I have a give-away available to anyone who leaves a comment (and no, you do not need to have a blog, and yes, this is open to everyone, no matter where you live:).

 



 

I made several of these wash cloths as Christmas presents and made a couple of extra just for you!!! There are 2 in this set and they are 100% cotton and so very soft:) I love using homemade crocheted wash cloths because they are soft and pretty and just fun to have something homemade to use while washing up. I will announce the winner of the wash cloths on February 15th, so come back to see who won!!!

 

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Well, that is all from me and my little corner of the web. Maybe I will make it over to your blog as well. Hope you all enjoy your blog hopping!!!

Whoop-Whoop Friday!!!

Time for another WHOOP-WHOOP Friday!!! And I actually have something to show off - AGAIN- two weeks in a row!! Wow, I'm pretty sure that is a new record. :0)

SO for this week I got the first of the two LoveQuilt blocks done (with the second hot on it's heels!!).

I'm not sure why the fabric looks pink?!?!? I even had decent light in the house today. It should be white fabric, but you get the idea. This was pre-washed/ironed and it looks like I forgot to put my name and state on it, I'll have to do that real quick:) The families like to see who stitched each block for them and where all the blocks come from so we are asked to provide that information for them.

I'm off to finish up the second block. I'll need to mail these out no later than Monday to get them to the quilter on time.

Oh, and stop back by tomorrow for the 2nd Annual GROW YOUR BLOG PARTY!!! It'll be lots of fun and I'll have a give away as well!! :0)

Weekly Goals/Progress Update

Last week I started posting goals and my updates on 52 in 52 and while I didn't get all my goals accomplished, it did help me to focus on the few things I really wanted to complete. I think I'll make this a semi-regular posting here so long as it seems to help me get things done:)

I got sick last week, actually I am still having some lingering issues with the stomach pains/cramps/whatever it was, so am still a bit slowed down, but getting better, so things didn't go as smoothly on my goals as I would have liked. Still, things did progress, so here is what did get done...

52 in 52 related items will have an * at the end.

1. Finished the crocheted baby blanket!!! Super excited about this as I got it done and hubby got it to his friend BEFORE the baby was born:)

2. Not quite done with the first LoveQuilt block, but real close. I still need to re-arrange the chart on the second one as well, but I do have an idea in my head of how I want it to look and it should be real easy and quick to do. *

3. Housecleaning went by the wayside while I was down, I'm afraid, but the schedule that I came up with is easy enough to jump back into, so that's what I'll do. *

4. Only worked out 2 times this week as I just couldn't be up for long without hurting again, but on the up side, I changed my eating habits thinking that maybe fattening/greasy foods was the culprit of my stomach pains and I managed to lose a couple pounds:) I stuck mostly to fruits, veggies and lean meat and it did seem to help a little. *

5. I did manage to only eat out once. The night that I ate out (pizza, and no not gluten free, but that doesn't bother my stomach, just makes my joints ache), was the night I started feeling bad- hence my thoughts on greasy foods- so I was able to make myself stay away from everything else.

6. This wasn't on my goal list for the week, but with some extra time down, I managed to read my first book just for fun!! I love to read, but when I get started I can't stop. So I bought the book, Zoo by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge, and finished it up around 4:30 that morning!!! Good thing I was able to sleep in the next day:) Needless to say, it was a good book. A bit bloody and gory, not one for the kids, but it kept you on the edge of your seat for sure. *

And here are my goals for this week - and yes, I know it's Tuesday, but hubby was off work yesterday so week took the day off school and just counted it as a long weekend. SO today is officially the first day of this week!! :0)

1. Finish the LoveQuilt blocks and get them mailed off. *

2. Back to the housework schedule.

3. Work out 2 times this week - trying to slowly get back to this since I'm still feeling a bit down. *

4. Get my Grow Your Blog post together and done by Saturday and get giveaway items done for it.

I'm going to let that be all for this week as it is a short-ish week and the LoveQuilts blocks will likely take up most of my free time.

So what are your goals this week?

1st IHSW of the Year!!!

I made sure to plant my hinny down and take advantage of the 1st International Hermit and Stitch Weekend of the year!!! Hosted by Joysze of Random Ramblings, this is a real fun stitch-a-long to give us an excuse (as if we need one:), to take a weekend and stitch to our heart's content. Since my hubby had today off work, I decided that I would count today as part of the weekend as well. :0)

Of course, I would have been stitching away this weekend anyway because I am still needing to get the blocks for LoveQuilts done that I've been working on for what seems like forever!!! I did make some real progress on one of them this weekend and am almost done with it now. Hoping to have it and the second one done by Friday.

 

This is re-arranged from Candamar Designs' 'Police Officer'. The second block I am doing will also be re-arranged from that same design, but will just use the words from the design and will look completely different:) 

 

Okay, almost midnight, so I really need to get off here and go to bed!! I was up super late last night because I couldn't put a book down. Thankfully I was able to sleep in this morning, but we will need to be out and about tomorrow morning, so no sleeping in tomorrow!!! Have a good night!!

Whoop - Whoop Friday?!?!

Another Friday come and gone. Can you believe we are already half way through the first month of the year? I had wanted to join in on Whoop-Whoop Fridays this year, and so far just haven't made it. I really had meant to post this yesterday, but ended up going to bed a bit early and didn't get to it.

I decided to go ahead and post it anyway and call it Whoop-Whoop Friday Umm Saturday!!! Works for me:)

So for this week I did FINIALLY get something completed!!! Whoop-Whoop!!!

 

This is the baby blanket I was making for the friend of my hubby. You can see in the bottom picture that I used the star stitch and then two row of half double and another star stitch. The baby's room is painted purple, and they sent us a picture of the blanket in the room, the purples matched perfectly!!! I was guessing since I've not seen the room myself:) They really liked it and that makes it all worth doing (plus I really like crocheting:).

 

Well, back to stitching for me as I need to get those LoveQuilt blocks done very soon. This weekend is International Hermit and Stitch Weekend, so those LoveQuilt blocks are what I am working on:)

January 2014 WIPocalypse

Whew!!! Just getting this posted on time!!! This is the first WIPocalypse post of the year and I didn't want to miss it. If you want to learn more about it or want to join in, visit Measi at Measi's Musings and get in on the fun!!

I've been working on my hubby's friend's baby blanket and then I started feeling a bit under the weather this week, so my stitching time has been little-to-none lately. I wanted to have a bit more done on this from last month's posting!! So between doing school with dd, taking a nap and trying to catch up on the dishes (I failed that one!!), I stitched and stitched today. It was nice to get back to it after a little over a month of working on Christmas gifts and crocheting the baby blanket.

This is my current progress on Candamar Designs 'Police Officer.' This is a block for LoveQuilts and will go to a young man who's father is a police officer, and had been in the military before. The young man requested anything military or having to do with police officers:)

 

I really need to stitch quick on this one and the next as well. They are both due in on Feb 1st!!! ACK!!! But I'm almost done with the motorcycle which is the hardest part and the next one I'm doing only has words, no pictures so it should be real quick. So I guess you know what I'll be stitching on for the next couple of weeks:) 

Weekly Goals/Progress Update

Over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Sarah has a weekly post called Make a List Monday. I think this is a great idea as I am a list maker, and when I actually write up a list, I *usually* get more done. I can also use this post to update how I'm doing on my 52 in 52 goals.

Here are my goals for the week with a * at the end of the ones that are also 52 in 52 goals...

1. Finish crocheting baby blanket for a friend of my hubby's. He is around our age and just getting ready to have his first baby. So my husband awkwardly asked what colors they did the baby's room in and asked me to make a baby blanket for them:0) I'm hoping to be done with it by tomorrow.

2. Finish the first of two blocks due into LoveQuilts. The second one should be really fast as it all words and no pictures, but this first one is a bit of a bugger with all the color changes. *

3. Continue with the house cleaning schedule I have planned. I'm keeping it real simple to begin with. I have 1 batch of dishes (I don't have a dishwasher, so it's all by hand. One batch is whatever I can get to fit on a hand towel to air dry), and 1 load of laundry in the morning before we start school. Over lunch I am to figure out dinner and start thawing whatever I will need. Then some crafting/stitching time, another round of dishes/laundry and one or two cleaning chores such as vacuuming or cleaning the bathroom (we only have one so it needs cleaned fairly often:). Then dinner, kitchen clean up and time with the family. I should be able to stick with that and then add to it a bit as I get used to it. *

4. Exercise 4 times this week. I've only managed to workout a few times so far this year. *

5. Try not to eat out more than once this week. This is incredibly hard for me, though I wish it wasn't. We don't live in town, so when we stay home it isn't a problem, but this week I have to go into town 3 times, so I know it will be a big temptation.

So what about you? Any goals for the week?

Gearing up for another GROW YOUR BLOG party!!!

Isn't this a beautiful badge?

Vicky at 2 Bags Full is doing it again!!! She is hosting the 'Grow Your Blog Party' for the 2nd year in a row. I can tell you first hand that this works great and it's a lot of fun too:) I went from 14 followers on my blog to 107 current followers.

This is how it works. First you need to sign up at Vicky's blog by January 15th, so HURRY!! :0) Then on the 25th of January you blog a bit about yourself and visit other bloggers as well. It's that easy!!! (Full rules and suggestions can be found on Vicky's blog).

Last year I did a giveaway for the party and I will be doing that again this year. I'm not positive, but I think I will be giving away a set of crochet wash cloths. I love using crochet wash cloths because they are so soft:)

If you think this is something you would also like to participate in, get to 2 Bags Full real soon to get signed up!!

1st YOTA of the year!!

Actually yesterday was the first YOTA of the year, but my plans got changed, so I did a little stitching yesterday evening and did some more this morning:) I was going to get the groceries today and have yesterday as an ALL DAY STITCH fest!!! But, hmm, I checked the weather forecast for today and decided that I didn't really want to get out in it:) Not that it was warm yesterday, but at 32 yesterday and 15 today, I think I made the right choice. I know that's not near as bad as some of you are getting it right now, but it is plenty cold enough for me!! :0)

Last year I worked on Marjolein Bastin's 'The Four Seasons' as my YOTA project and I did get a ways on it, though not as far as I'd hoped. I knew I wouldn't come anywhere near finishing it and this year I would like to work on something I have a chance of getting finished. I shared on my 'Something Old/Something New' post a few days ago that I was starting Bent Creek's 'Winter Snapperland' as my new project, so I decided that as my YOTA project I would work on Bent Creek's 'Spring Snapperland' that I started a couple years ago. At least one of them should get done this way!!!

Here is where I started off...

And this is where I left off earlier today...

This will be a pretty easy project to stitch up, just need to put some time into it:)

For those who do not know, YOTA is a Sal found on 'Pull the Other Thread' blog. If you want to jump in and join along, please feel free:)

And for a list and quick explanation of all the Challenges and Sals that I'm participating in this year, visit my post 'A New Year with New Sals and Challenges!!!'.

2014 52 in 52

Although I was going to post goals for this year, I hadn't planned on doing the 52 in 52 again this year. I failed so miserably at it last year that I thought I better not try again this year. But after looking at the goals I was setting for this year, many of them were the same, and I did get to SOME of the goals from last year and that is better than nothing. So even if my 52 in 52 list doesn't get completed (or even half completed) at least I will get something accomplished!!!

I found this idea over at Kincavel Corner. Here is a link to her 52 in 52 list.

And here is mine....

Health/Beauty
1. Lose 40 lbs (0/40)
2. Exercise 4 times a week (0/208)
3. Lower blood pressure/get off meds
4. Get hair cut 2 times (0/2)

Home/Garden
5. Come up with a house cleaning schedule
6. Stick with the schedule!!!
7. Grow something to eat
8. Can something to eat
9. Get chickens
10. Keep front of house weeded
11. Plant herbs/flowers in 2 large planters out front

Volunteer work/Charity
12. Volunteer to help at County Fair
13. Community service project with 4-H
14. Stitch 4 blocks for LoveQuilts (0/4)
15. Crochet 2 blankets for a children's charity
16. Create 2 Operation Christmas Child boxes

Crafting/Creating
17. Work through 2 art/drawing curriculums (0/2)
18. Enter photo into County Fair
19. Continue to learn new crochet stitches
20. Learn beginning knitting
21. Create 6 Pinterest projects (0/6)
22. Try to design a cross-stitch chart
23. Start a nature journal

Learning
24. Learn German
25. Finish dd's pre-Algebra book, start Algebra 1
26. Read 6 books for fun (0/6)
27. Read 6 books to learn from (0/6)
28. Read through 1 year devotional
29. Read through New Testament

Fun with Family and Friends
30. Go camping 2 times (0/2)
31. Go on 2 day trips (0/2)
32. Take dd to public pool 4 times (0/4)
33. Take dd to a play or ballet (0/1)
34. Go to the movies 3 times (0/3)
35. Take dd skating (0/1)
36. Visit my friend 6 times (1/6)
37. Go to cross-stitch get together 2 times (0/2)
38. Visit with sil 2 times (0/2)
39. Have 4 date nights with hubby (0/4)
40. See a movie with my mom (0/1)
41. Visit an apple orchard with family
42. Go to a pumpkin patch with family

Budget
43. Put money back for a horse for dd's 16th birthday
44. Save for a washer/dryer
45. Buy a new recliner chair
46. Buy a new computer chair

Blogging
47. Blog Something Old/Something New post each month (0/12)
48. Post NewFo Challenge each month (0/12)
49. Blog IHSW each month (0/12)
50. Blog WIPocalypse each month (0/12)
51. Blog Smalls Sal 6 times (0/6)
52. Blog CTTY 6 times (0/6)

Well, that was easier than I thought it would be:) I guess I've had so many ideas running around in my head for the new year that I had no problem coming up with 52 ideas!!

I'll post this to my tabs at the top of my blog and keep it updated through the year. Join us if you'd like, but if you do, please be kind and let Lady Kell at Kincavel Korner know that you are:) We can all cheer each other on!!!

Something Old/Something New

So I said in my last post that I was wanting to host a Stitchy Challenge. My version is called...

'SOMETHING OLD/SOMETHING NEW'

Here are the 'rules'...

I will be picking out an older project that I've had laying around a while (a WIP) and also a new project, either something I have but haven't started or something I just bought for myself:) Those two projects will be my main focus for the month. Around the first of every month I will post what projects I picked and give an update on how I did the month before.

What if you don't stitch? Maybe you quilt or crochet or knit. That works for me too!!! Just so long as you are picking an older project you want to try and finish and a new project just for fun!!

I would love to have you join me!! All you have to do is use the linky  wiget below to link up your post and let me know what you are working on. I'll get a 'button' created too if anyone would like to use that:)

So here is what I've chosen for the month of January...

My 'Old' project is Spring Ornie from The Prairie Schooler and my 'New' project is Winter Snapperland from Bent Creek. I thought the spring chart would balance out the winter chart:) This should keep me pretty busy!! Especially with all the other sals and challenges I posted about earlier today:)

Happy Creating!!!

A New Year with New Sals and Challenges!!!

I hope everyone had a fun and safe entrance into the New Year!! We are home-bodies so we all stayed home, watched a couple movies and ate snack foods to ring in the New Year. Then we promptly went to bed!!

I had meant to get a blog post out last week of the Sals (stitch-a-longs), Qals (quilt-a-longs) and challenges that I plan to participate in this year, but I was too 'busy' resting and relaxing to get it done:) So here it is now....

Like I said in a post last week, I've been looking around for sewing/crafting/stitching/quilting/crocheting etc, challenges and Sals to participate in this year. This is my favorite part of the year, going through my stash of patterns and fabric, yarn and material. Seeing what I have and what I still really want to work on. I LOVE planning, I'm not so good at following though on my plans, but it is fun to plan anyhow:)

So far, here are the events I'm going to try and keep up with this year...

 

1. 2014 NewFO Challenge - hosted by Barbara of Cat Patches. This is a new one for me, as well as a new-ish medium. The challenge is to start a new quilted project each month and post about it the last day of the month.

2. WIPocalypse - Measi over at Measi's Musings is once again hosting WIPocalypse. This challenge started out as a tounge-in-cheek way to help us get all our stitching done before the Apocalyse happens!!! Well, of course we have all survived, but we still have stitching to do:) So this challenge continues to help us along towards more stitchy finishes!! On the full moon we are to blog our progress on whatever we happen to be stitching and link back to Measi's blog:)

  3. IHSW (International Hermit and Stitch Weekend) - This is hosted by Joysze at Random Ramblings. This challenge is a wonderful excuse to skip the housework and busy running around for one weekend a month and just sit on your duff and stitch:) Okay, in the real world, that doesn't really happen - and my hubby isn't quite sold on the skipping housework:), so for most of us it is just a way to show off whatever work we may have gotten done over the 3rd weekend of the month.

  4. Whoop Whoop Fridays hosted by Sarah Craig over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. Sarah has a link up every Friday so you can show off what you've been working on for the week. She is mostly into quilting, but says that any kind of crafting can be shown off!!

5. YOTA - hosted by Pull the Other Thread, is another tongue-in-cheek way to make fun of all the acronyms floating about cyberspace:) It stands for 'Year-of-the-Acronym. Her stitch-a-long is geared for those 'UFOs' (officially stands for 'unfinished project', but usually refers to your oldest projects that have never been finished). On the first Saturday of the month you are to pull out an old project that you still want to get done at some point, and just work on it. Then post about and link up!! I did this one last year and while I still didn't get very far on my project, it was a whole lot more than what I would have gotten done on it!!

6. Smalls Sal can be found at Stitching Lotus. This sal is about working on smaller projects, biscornus, ornaments, bookmarks, etc. Last year this sal was all about ornaments, and I'll probably stick with that this year too as I will need to get some done for Christmas (ACK!! Thinking about Christmas already!!!).

7. Christmas Through the Year hosted by Anthea at Hibiscus Stitches. This year I had to make do at Christmas by homemaking almost all the gifts that we gave. While this was a bit stressful - it wasn't until the last min that I realized that this would be necessary this year - it did take me back a bit to my childhood Christmases. You see, my dad worked construction and winter was never good for business, so while we always had amazing Christmases, our main gifts were usually hand made. My dad was good at coming up with woodworking projects for us:) After this year I would like to continue to give handmade gifts, I just wish I hadn't been so rushed this year and could have put some real thought and time into the gifts I made. And that is what I plan to do for the coming year. Take some time out each month to work on Christmas gifts so that I am not so rushed by Dec!!! And that is what this Sal is all about, work on an item for Christmas, it can be a gift or decoration, for someone else or for yourself, and post/link up on the 25th of each month.

AND - just one more I promise!!!

8. Something Old, Something New - hosted by me!!! For a few years I participated in the January Crazy Challenge. The goal of this challenge was to start a new cross stitch project everyday for the first 15 days of January and blog about them. Then you were suppose to work on the projects all year long to see how many you could get done. I did that for 2 years and I still have around 20 of those projects unfinished - and I didn't do it last year, so you can see that I didn't do very well with it!! :) It was a lot of fun to have 15 new starts, but by day 10 or so I would start to feel overwhelmed (also the cost of getting materials for all 15 projects was a little much). I do LOVE starting new projects though, so not to feel left out I've decided to make up a challenge that is a bit more do-able for me, maybe it is for you too? My challenge is to post on the first of every month an OLD project that you want to work on - maybe one you started during a previous January Crazy Challenge?!?!?, and post a NEW project you want to work on. This way you still get to start lots of projects through out the year, but they will be more spread out AND you are working on some older projects that you have lying around (here and there and everywhere!!). I will get a button and link up posted along with my OLD/NEW projects later today. Join along if you are able and we'll have lots of fun cheering each other along!!!

Okay, that was a LONG list, and I'm sure I won't be able to keep up with all of them every month, but like I said.. I LOVE TO PLAN!! :) Oh, and if anyone knows of a crochet challenge or CAL (crochet-a-long?) that is going on, please let me know about it!!!

Hope you have some fun sals and challenges planned for your year too!!!