My First Theme-A-Licious: Jardin January

I'm excited to be participating in Theme-A-Licious this year. Or doing my best, anyway. Sometimes I get distracted by other projects calling to me. Really, I have a fantastic amount of attention, and focus, and...SQUIRREL!

I'm not sure I completely understand the TAL check-in on the 15th and last day of the month. Whatever.

So in the theme of "Jardin January," or "work on a piece with flowers or gardens," I chose to start a new project that has been calling to me. "Karen? Oh, Karen? Please stitch a little section of me!!"  Now you all know that I have such a shortage of WIPs and things kitted up, right? (Ow! I think I sprained my eyes by rolling them so far into my head.)

I managed to scratch that stitch-itch by doing the first section of Butterfly Garden from The Drawn Thread. The first flower section was "buddleia." I will mostly be using substitute Threadworx cotton floss, instead of all the silks called for. (I'd break the bank if I bought all those.) I did happen to have the Silk n' Colors Grape Melange on hand that the buddleia called for. It is soooooo pretty.

Original chart pic

 

The theme for next month is:

 Figural February

Who are the people in your neighborhood...your WIP neighborhood, that is? Give your people-populated projects some face time this month.

While most of what I stitch has a person in it (or fairy, goddess, mermaid, etc.), I want to make sure that I put it some stitching time to Bellydancer No.1 from Yiota's.

See you next time!

First WIPs of 2013

The bad blogger is back.

It's WIPocalypse time again, and though the world isn't ending this year, it's a fun idea for posting WIP pics every month. :)

This year I'm going to try to participate in Theme-a-licious, too, so there is one wip that I won't share until the 31st. I'm very confused about it all, but that's nothing new.

The theme for WIPocalypse this month is to introduce ourselves and share our goals for this year.

So, who am I? Hmmm. I'm Karen. I'm a stay-at-home mom of two kids, Boy-child, aged 10, and Girl-child, aged 3. My husband, Sean, is a hard-working, put upon, computer geek, who tolerates my stitchy and stashy habit, but just barely. We live in Marengo, Illinois, USA, which is around 60 miles west of Chicago. We have a very sweet soft-coated wheaten terrier named Teddy; four cats that I adore, Bubba, Mimi, Squash, and Honeybee; and a tank of fish. I used to be a travel agent until I had the boy-child. I've got a few hobbies, but stitching overshadows just about everything. I'm trying my hand at designing cross stitch patterns, but it's going to take me a while to get the hang of it. (I'm working on a mermaid right now) I'm completely addicted to hand-dyed fabric, as you can see by looking at the "Fabric" tab above. I used to bellydance, but I haven't for a while because all my time and money has been going to stitching. I'm a little obnoxious, I freely admit it, but I think I have a decent sense of humor. Up until recently I was posting pictures of good-looking men on "Hunky Fridays." I've been a bit lax in the last couple of months. I'll try to get better, as it seems to be quite popular. Sometimes I think you only love me for my hunks. (Just kidding.)

I recently shared my "to-do" list, but for the purposes of WIPocalypse, I'll copy and paste.

2013 Stitching Plans

1.      Mermaids of the Deep Blue – Mirabilia

2.      Queen of Fairies – Passione Ricamo

3.      TOT Fairy for October birthday

4.      My 2011 Mirabilia RR – finish my square

5.      My 2011 Band Sampler RR – finish at bottom

6.      2012 Band Sampler RR – almost done

7.      Key to My Heart – Stoney Creek

8.      Handiwork Memories – Stoney Creek

9.      Spring Garden – Stoney Creek

10.  Passione Ricamo Mistery Fairy SAL

11.  Bellydancer No. 1 – Yiota

12.  RAK Project – Maidenhair

13.  The Book Store – Country Cottage Needleworks

14.  Overlook Café

15.  Mirabilia Large-Stitch RR 2013

16.  Joan Elliott RR – May 2013 start

17.  Butterfly Garden – The Drawn Thread

18.  Fire Goddess – Joan Elliott

19.  Joan Elliot 2013 Diary SAL

20. PIF project

So what have I accomplished this month? Lots!

I stitched my section of Jo's Band Sampler round robin. Her theme was "purple with an accent color." I chose turquoise. I love turquoise. My bands are from four different Just Nan patterns.

I'm really proud of and happy with this. I finished all the seaweed, and my mermaid on my Mirabilia large-stitch round robin. I really love how the softened edges came out!

My South Seas Mermaid

Tons of beads!!!

And more beads!

 I also started January's entry in the Joan Elliott 2013 Diary. I hope I can finish it before the end of January, but we'll see.

Not much worth mentioning on this one, but what the heck... I put in a few more stitches on Overlook Cafe.

I treated myself to a new start after finishing my mermaid, but like I said, it's for Theme-a-licious, so I won't post it until the 31st.

Lastly, it's not a wip, it's a finish! I received my 2012 Joan Elliott round robin back, right around the time that my FIL passed away. I was in a funk, so I didn't post a picture of it. Well, here it is!!!!

 It's fabulous and I love every stitch that went in. Thank you so much to all the ladies that worked on it!! I'll get around to framing it some time this year, I swear. I'll post another pic then.

So, there you have it, my first WIPocalypse of 2013. If you got this far, thanks for reading. See you next time.

Oh, and I just hit 10,000 page views! How cool is that? I have to go tell Sean.

A New Blogger in Town

My friend, Julie, has recently started working on her blog. She just posted some lovely WIP pix, including this one which I get to stitch on. Yay!

 

I encourage you to check her out at Red Couch Stitcher. Tell her that Karen said, "Hi!"

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

The entries for my Blogoversary giveaway were as follows:

McKenna - 2
Annie
Andie
Katy - 2
Cucki
Wagapapa - 2
Emma/Itzy
Ginny - 2
HannaHackroyd
TeaNorman
Kathy A
and Susana

I put all the entries on little slips of paper. (For the life of me, I can't figure out random number generators, and the like.)

And the winner is...

McKenna! Congratulations!

So, please email your mailing information to me at kmcewan (at) sbcglobal (dot) net

This is my 100th post. That's pretty cool, too. :)

Thank you everyone!

I'm thinking about doing another giveaway for the "Grow Your Blog" party at 2 Bags Full. Keep an eye out. If you want some more followers for your blogs, come join us!

My first ORTs of 2013

Here's a quickie ORT report.
I caught 3 of 4 kitties curled up together. I couldn't resist putting my jar in the pile and snapping a picture.

Blogoversary Giveaway!

Hello Dear Followers!

I only have a couple of minutes, here, but I thought I'd offer up a small giveaway to celebrate my Blogoversary.

I'd like to give to someone my gently used chart of Nora Corbett's Peony Pixie. This is the only full-sized chart I've finished in the last 2+ years. I've done countless partial charts for round robins and new starts, etc. But actual finishes? Not so much.

Here are the simple rules:
1. You must be a follower of my blog.
2. You must leave a comment on this post by my Blogoversary, January 15, 2013.
3. You may have an extra entry if you post a link to me on your blog.

Thank you for reading and commenting, and making the first year of my blogging enjoyable for me!

*hugs and stitches*
~ Karen

Almost a year??

I just looked at my countdown. Apparently my blogoversary is in 7 days. Holy smokes! That year went fast.

I wonder what I should do about it......

In with the new (list)

Okay, I have revamped my "To do" list for 2013. I have decided that I don't really care if it is realistic or not. I may end up starting another bunch of things this year as they call to me. Now, that's not to say that I won't try as hard as I can to meet the goals I set out for myself, but I won't be broken-hearted  if I don't accomplish everything.

The funny thing about last year's list is that on one line there will be a project that only needs a few more stitches and/or beads, and on another line there is a round robin that consists of up to eight portions. If I start to feel bad about my accomplishments from last year, I can always take a look at my "Round Robin Finishes" page. You should look there, too. I'm fairly impressed with that.

Here's the kicker, though: There are a bunch of things on this list that are very close to done, or at least more than halfway finished. So, I really want to bang those things out and cross them off my list. Can I do it? Can I be a WIP Slayer like Melanie? Who knows?

2013 Stitching Plans

1.      Mermaids of the Deep Blue – Mirabilia

2.      Queen of Fairies – Passione Ricamo

3.      TOT Fairy for October birthday

4.      My 2011 Mirabilia RR – finish my square

5.      My 2011 Band Sampler RR – finish at bottom

6.      2012 Band Sampler RR – almost done

7.      Key to My Heart – Stoney Creek

8.      Handiwork Memories – Stoney Creek

9.      Spring Garden – Stoney Creek

10.  Passione Ricamo Mistery Fairy SAL

11.  Bellydancer No. 1 – Yiota

12.  RAK Project – Maidenhair

13.  The Book Store – Country Cottage Needleworks

14.  Overlook Café

15.  Mirabilia Large-Stitch RR 2013

16.  Joan Elliott RR – May 2013 start

17.  Butterfly Garden – The Drawn Thread

18.  Fire Goddess – Joan Elliott

19.  Joan Elliot 2013 Diary SAL

20. PIF project

 

I will be finished with Cub Scouts in late March. When I say finished, I mean DONE! My hubby and I went back and forth for a while about whether we wanted to let the boy-child continue on into Boy Scouts. We had several reasons on the "no" side: 1. We're not happy with some of the things that the BSA said last year; 2. I ended up having to commit way too much time to scouting as a Den Leader, Advancements Chair, and a Committee member; and 3. There is a leader involved with several of the local troops that has had a couple of arrests for drunk driving. I'd really like to avoid him. He is a bad man, but our BSA Council can't seem to get rid of him. In the end, my husband and I have decided to keep our son in scouts with the agreement that my husband will take over the running to meetings, activities, etc., and we will strictly limit our volunteering to small tasks.

Sorry for the digression. My point was that I hope to have more stitching time after March.

So, there it is. My new list. Keep your fingers crossed that I can make a dent this year.

*hugs and stitches*
~ Karen

Out with the old (list)

So, in reflecting back on 2012, I decided to look at my original WIPocalypse to-do list that I posted in January. It's frightening, truly, how little off that list I got done.

Here is a recap of the list, along with the status of each project:

2012 Stitching Plans (aka Wishful Thinking)

1. Mermaids of the Deep Blue – Mirabilia ~~Didn’t touch
2. Mediterranean Mermaid – Mirabilia ~~ Stitched a little
3. Enchanted Dreamer – Mirabilia ~~ Didn’t start
4. Queen of Fairies – Passione Ricamo ~~ Bought some floss and fabric
5. Bluebell Pixie – Nora Corbett ~~ Nope
6. TOT Fairy for a special friend’s October b-day ~~Stitched some; didn’t finish for October birthday
7. Shimmering Seashells Sampler – Patricia Ann ~~Nope
8. Gingerbread Garden Sampler – Victoria Sampler ~~ Uh uh
9. Something bargello-ish ~~ No
10. My 2011 Mirabilia RR – finish my square ~~ Still sitting there
11. My 2011 Band Sampler RR – finish at bottom ~~ Ditto
12. 2011-2012 UFO RR (maybe someday I'll get my own back. sigh) ~~ I finished everyone else’s. Mine is gone.
13. Mirabilia RR – 2012 ~~ Done! (Still missing mine.)
14. Joan Elliott RR ~~ Done! Yay!!! Mine is beautiful!!
15. Band Sampler RR 2012 ~~ Almost done. Two more mailings.
16. Key To My Heart – Stoney Creek (for my Dad) ~~ Put in a few stitches
17. Handiwork Memories – Stoney Creek (nearly done gift for MIL) ~~ Nope
18. Spring Garden – Stoney Creek (nearly done gift for Mom) ~~ Nope
19. Hang bellpulls for sis ~~ Bell pull hardware is still sitting on my desk
20. Frame at least 50% of finished projects ~~ Not a one.

Because that list wasn’t big enough (d’oh!), I added a few new starts, too.

1.      Passione Ricamo – Mistery Fairy SAL

2.      Yiota’s Bellydancer No. 1

3.      RAK Project – Maidenhair

4.      Country Cottage Needlework – The Book Store

5.      Overlook Café

6.      Mirabilia Large-Stitch RR – January 2013 start

I guess it's safe to say that I set my sights a little high.

I will post a new list for 2013 shortly. Do you think I can make it a tad more realistic??

Did you miss me?

It has been over a month since my last post. December turned out to be a very difficult month. I don't want to whine too much about it. Let's just say, I'm glad it's over.

I did, however, make out like a bandit at Christmas. I put, pretty much, only stitchy things on my wishlists, and I got, pretty much, only stitchy things under the tree. I finally got a needlework stand!! I am now the proud owner of an Ergo from Artisan Designs. And I received tons of new charts. I also got a gift certificate to my LNS and a little cash, which already got used on...you guessed it...more charts!

Here is my spoilage:

So I'm going to do my final TUSAL and WIPocalypse posts of 2012. Just a quick report.

What did I stitch on in the last month-ish?

I did my section of Sophia's Mirabilia RR

I have finished the center shell cluster and almost all of the seaweed on my new Mirabilia round robin that goes out mid-January. I should have the last of the seaweed done today, and then I hope to get my mermaid stitched before mailing time. (I have two Band Sampler RR sections to finish in the meantime.)

Because I apparently don't have enough to stitch (major eyeroll), I picked up a little kit and had to put in a few stitches. In my defense, I wanted to have a small kit that I wasn't extremely attached to, so that I could have one to bring when I'm out and about.

And here, with a look at a year's worth of ORTs in my bottomless jar, is Mimi. I'd heard the suggestion earlier in the year about putting the ORTs out in the spring for the birds to build nests. I wonder what I should put them out in? A pie pan? In a pile on the ground? Any suggestions?

So that wraps up my TUSAL and WIPocalypse reports. Obviously the world didn't end. (Take that, you pessimistic Mayans!!) It's a good thing, because I didn't make a dent in my WIP list.

In the next day or two I will post about the year in review and make a new useless list of stitching plans for 2013.

Have a Stitchy New Year!!

Love,
Karen

p.s. I'll try and bring back Hunky Friday soon.