Starting off 2012 with a bang...

Literally! At midnight, someone set off a rocket of some sort! Woke me up!

Anyway, I did stitch yesterday, in between cooking and football (although there really wasn't much football worth watching). And I have two completions to report!

The first is Learn-a-Stitch mini-sock - Cashmere Variations:


Not sure what possessed me to do it in browns,. Sort of looks like a Starbuck's sampler of teas and coffees! I used all WDW from my stash: Molasses (1268), Havana (1230), Sand (3500), Cappuccino (1238) and Harvest (4103). I think it all worked except that toe... it's a little olive green for my taste.

The second is Learn-a-Stitch - Milanese:


Again, the color selection betrayed me. This one came out looking sort of Easter-eggy, I think. This time my stash yielded up two WDW threads - Old Glory (4133 - and the real mistake here, I think) and Celebration (4123); and three DMC (335, 472, and 498).

I also picked out fabric I am going to use for my January installment of the Crazy Quilt Journal Challenge 2012 and Bead Journal Project 2012 - and based the color selection on the Color Palette Challenge going on over at Patchwork Times:


Of course, this means I need to get my sewing machine dusted off and get started, ASAP! I wonder if I can overcome my inertia there...

End of Year Wrap-up --- and plans for 2012

I thought 2010 was a low productivity year with only 17 completions but 2011 has it beat! I had 32 completions  (1 of which was a long-standing UFO) but most (25) of the completions were small needlepoint stitch exercise pieces. I did manage to hold off on starting a new piece until a current  WIP was finished. I did complete the 2011 Bead Journal Project (although each piece needs to be "finished" into a wall hanging). And my seven entries in the county fair won 5 blue ribbons, 1 red and one white (I actually made my entry fee back!)!  I am a full-fledged, non-quilting member of the local quilt guild (and their webmaster as well!); maybe one day I will actually quilt something! So I guess I didn't do so badly after all.

I end the year with 2 WIPs: "Sewing with Mama", a Candamar kit, designed by Sandy Lynam Clough, which has all the embellishment stitching to go, and "Palm Tree Elegance", a Dimensions needlepoint kit, which I worked on briefly, again while on a cruise.

I have four UFOs still in the cupboard:
"Angel of Love" - started before we moved to England in 1992!
"Celestial Angel"  - started before we moved to England in 1992!
"Map of England and Wales" - started in Saudi
"Nature's Song" (excerpted from a larger chart) - started in Saudi

to say nothing of that ancient crewel-work pillow (I'm sure the moths have done in the wool by now) and all the top work on six or seven needlepoint pieces that all predate 1992! And a slew of piece-worked tops from quilting classes in Saudi...

And then there is my Round Robin piece from 2006 --- I still need to finish that off. As well as two BJP years, and a slew of Bargello and Learn-a-Stitch needlepoint exercises! Finishing is my weak point, as you can see...

So 2012:

In addition to "Sewing with Mama" (and "Palm Tree Elegance" on next year's cruise!), I have re-upped with the Bead Journal Project; signed up for challenges at Take a Stitch Tuesday 2012, the Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2012, and the 2012 WIPopalyse; as well as signed up for a year-long online course for "Kimono - Revisted" at Silver Needle Society. There are still Learn-a-Stitch mini socks to do (five, I think), and there are the ongoing exercise pieces in Janet Perry's Bargello and Stash-Busting Clubs…

So many from Cross Stitch Crazy have joined the WIPocalypse 2012 Challenge that the theme over there (and therefore here) will be WIPocalypse as well! In addition to my regular weekly progress reports, there will be specific WIPocalypse postings on the full moon of every month and special postings for TAST 2012 (Tuesdays), CQJP 2012 (monthly), Kimono-Revisted (monthly), and BJP 2012 (monthly, I hope!). Blogging will be keeping me as busy as stitching, I fear!

This sure doesn't leave me a lot of room for starting anything "new", and that could become a problem because I've been feeling a case of start-itis coming on for a month or two now...

Last completion of 2011

Learn-a-Stitch Mini Sock "Double Cross":



I used DMC Variations 4120 and 4077,  and DMC 307, 353 and B5200. I was thinking citrus but it came out more like "Dreamsicle"! Funny how mixing yellow and white with one variegated thread makes it look so differently!

WIP myself into shape, Week 52

There is a WIP --- it's one of the Learn-a-stitch mini socks, about 60% complete, but I don't have a photo. However, I do have two more completions:

Learn-a-Stitch Mini Sock "Byzantine":



where I used WDW "Celebration" (4123), DMC Variations 4240, DMC Satin S553, and DMC 312, 552 and 553.

Learn-a-Stitch Mini Sock "Laid Stitches":



where I used DMC metallic silver (5283), DMC Variations 91, and DMC 595, 3808 and B5200.

I'll get back to that WIP after the appliance repairman comes and goes  and will probably posts a photo tonight or tomorrow.

Bargello Club 2011 - a finish

Cup Cake 2 ...

When Janet Perry sent out the instructions, she said that she found that Cup Cake 1 looked naked and needed a background, so she provided a second model with a Darning background. So this is my version: A chocolate (DMC 938, 3031 and 839) cupcake with yellow icing (DMC Varuations 4077, DMC Satin S744, and DMC Pearlescent Effects E746)  - does lemon go with chocolate? -  and a white (DMC blanc) background.

So I'm caught up with Bargello Club --- a sure sign another is in the mail! 

Another stash-buster

This is another Janet Perry "Learn-a'Stitch" exercise, called "Alternations". Shopping my stash, I used WDW "Morris Blue" (2109) and "Snowflake" (4125), three shades of DMC blues (597, 598 and 3808) and a DMC metallic silver (5283):

A Stash busting Stocking

It's a Janet Perry design in her Learn a Stitch series --- called Potpourri I:


Stitched on 18-ct mono canvas using Weeks Dye Works "Noel", DMC 561 (dark green), DMC Variations 4210 (red variegated) and DMC 30326 (red rayon), all "shopped" from my stash...
Here's hoping I can get it to load in my photo album without losing any more thumbnails!