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.