Last WIPocalypse 2012 - VERY picture heavy

At the beginning of the year I didn't expect to get as much done as I have managed to get. I really only had a couple of projects on my list that were kitted up and ready to go.

I had two projects I was really working on, one was Carres du Printemp by Jardin Prive.

I finished the stitching not long into January but it took me almost 12 months to finally finish them as biscornus with little ribbons attached.

But they looked awesome on my Christmas tree this year!

The other project that I had going this year was Boxers a kit from anchor.

I had two and a half dogs done out of 4 at the beginning of January and managed to get it all done and framed by July. It now lives on the wall in my Mother's bedroom. 

I started this one in August 2011 so it took a little less than a year to complete.

Of course I had a lot of new starts this year. A number of random smalls but I won't show those ones off here.

In March, I made a start on Sampler Aux Fleurs by Jardin Prive.

I managed to finish it this year in mid August and finally got it framed in November!

I used DMC varigated purple no.52 I had lots of fun with all the different designs and I found I love samplers.

In January, I made a start on Afternoon Tea by Randal Spangler, my first HAED design.

Although I started this in January I didn't finish my first page until May.

I was so excited about a page finish and now I can boast 2 and a bit pages finished for the year.

I love the colours in this piece even when it was mainly black the design and colours really just stand out. I hope to have another page finish not too many months into the new year!

I started Winter Fairy by Joan Elliott and I have done quite a bit I think for the fact I might work on it one day a month at the moment.

I should hopefully get a finish next year on this one as it isn't hard I am just not motivated with it. Too many other projects on time limits.

I also made a start on '99 by ink circles. This one is a secret project because I'm hiding it from Phill so I can surprise him. It was meant to be Christmas this year but it will be more like Christmas next year.

I think that is now all the big projects. There were a number of little ones but that is too many pictures.

Happy Stitching and good luck for next year!

Caitlin

Shopping with men

I took Phill shopping today to Spotlight. It was really fun :D

I had a list of threads that I wanted to get and they are 89c a skein and I had 33 to get to make these ornaments. Though I didn't tell Phill how many I wanted.

This is where it gets funny. The people at spotlight wouldn't know one skein from another and they have the label for the perle thread above the stranded cotton. It's priced at $5.99 so as I kept handing Phill skein after skein I think he was starting to freak at the price! Because of course he had no clue what he was looking at.

I didn't find one of the colours I wanted and Phill started looking in the perle threads for the same colour because apparently I can use those just as well and he couldn't understand that although the numbers may be the same the thread definately wasn't.

So I came back with 32 new skeins of thread and really excited to start some cross stitch in the new year!

Pretty colours :D lots of brown, red and green to make it look exciting.

I also found a book store called All Books For Less :D and they really mean that. The normal price is $5 a book but they have a special 'til new year of $3 a year.

I bought 4 awesome craft books at $3 each. They are knitting and crochet not cross stitch but lots of cool ideas.

At that price I will buy any books! I need more bookcases.

WIPocalypse update coming tomorrow :D my year in stitches!

Caitlin

January 2013

I haven't talked about my plans for January 2013 and for all of 2013. I haven't really known what I wanted and I have had a couple of ideas banging around in my head.

I was fascinated by the Ultimate Crazy January challenge this year but I thought I would add my own twist. I was so behind on ornaments this year even though I started months in advance I had no real plan. Which unfortunately left me with about 4 ornaments actually finished finished and another 10 sitting on the spare bed looking pretty. I didn't really feel motivated.

My plan for this coming year is simple. I am going to use January to make starts for a number of Christmas ornaments of varying sizes and designs that I WANTED to stitch this year but just didn't feel motivated or organised enough for.

Here is the start of a list and I still need to get all the threads and any fabrics I still need... though I have a tonne of aida and small stuff that should work.

So now with all the talking up I have just done about the projects lets get some photos going :D
1., 2. & 3.

Gingerbread Men

 I love the simplicity of these gingerbread men and would love to do all 3 of them. I will probably keep the red and white colouring but that could always change before I start.

I love three designs from the Just Cross Stitch 2012 ornament issue. I actually loved a lot more but I love the simplicity of these 3 more than anything.
4.
Mistletoe - by Acorn House

5.
Happy Holidays - by Country Cottage Needleworks

A few simple colours and it looks really pretty. 6.
Roaming Reindeer - by Blue Ribbon Designs

Roaming Reindeer had a companion piece that appeared in the ornament preview issue and I fell in love with that design as well.
7.
Woodsy Winter - by Blue Ribbon Designs

This one has a really cool owl, which is just exciting!

Now I love Joan Elliott's designs and I love the look of all her stuff. To make this easier on me I got the Joan Elliott Christmas collection with one of the WOCS magazines this year. I'm not interested in the sayings but even taking out those I could easily stitch for MANY days.

The book is separated into 4 sections the first being 'Winter Wonderland'
I love the designs in this section.
I am definitely going to stitch the santa shown below.
8., 9., 10. & 11.

With the Santa counted there are 4 designs that are the same size and shape in this section that I am interested in but they don't all have pictures :(

In the next section 'More Than Words' I'm thankfully not interested in any designs.
That lack of interest is made up for in the next section 'Festive Friends' which has the cutest reindeer trying to ski.

12., 13., 14. & 15.
There are another 4 big designs in this section that I love and 4 little faces as well.

16., 17., 18. & 19.
The last section 'Angel Delights' has 4 big designs as well and a couple of cute little ones but I will probably avoid those.

I also love Rhona's Christmas designs I have stitched MANY of her penguins.

20., 21., 22., 23., 24. & 25.
I bought a couple of months ago her Angel Wishes chart and I want to do all the angels there are 6 all told.

I think 25 designs is a good start for January. I also have all the Christmas designs I finished last year that I never finish finished.

I am not sure how I will actually go as I need to make up a thread list and visit spotlight but it does look promising.

So this is my January goals/plans but not my goals for all of the year that will be dealt with in the WIPocalypse post.

Happy Stitching everyone.
Caitlin

Merry Christmas!

A big Merry Christmas from Australia! We've had an enormous day here with family over for most the day. They have only just left.

I finally finished mum's present last night and she LOVED it :D

I made her a boxer from Planet June. It was so cute and adorable :D

Everyone else got combinations of ornaments some of the baubles a couple of the cross stitch ornaments and mainly the crocheted ones. They only took a short time to make so I ended up with a couple of smaller ornaments per person.

I already have plans for next year but I will post about that in the next day or two.

I will leave you with this Christmas video :D

From my favourite group celtic woman

Happy Stitching and Merry Christmas!

Caitlin

Craft Group

I went to the last craft group of the year at my cafe on Monday. The lady that 'runs' it (is the most knowledgeable) brought along some Christmas crochet ornament patterns to share. She had a whole pile of stars and other ornaments.

I wasn't feeling much like stitching which is what I took along so I borrowed a hook and some yarn and hopped to.

I made a WHOLE pile of ornaments. They take a very short time to whip up and they look so pretty!

I am very proud of myself I FINALLY learnt to read crochet symbols and I don't understand what too me so long! They're so easy to read!

Also while I was sitting there she made me a santa ornament for my tree.

But because I had to leave it didn't manage to get finish finished so I need to buy a pom pom for the nose and put two eyes on and sew in the threads but that is easy enough to do.

I was also given the pattern for this little guy and I may have to make a pile for family as well but not this one he's MINE!

So I haven't been stitching at cross stitch much at all but I have been crocheting and knitting. Not sure why but I am drawn to them at the moment. I think it's because I don't have to think too much.

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin

Mystery Piece Revealed!

Well noone guessed what those two squares were for, and because Debbie was getting kinda desperate for an answer, here is the big reveal.

Those two squares...

That look like licorice allsorts, which is kinda bad because I can't eat them on a diet.

Make a Tea Cosy!

It is for my sister for Christmas she put in a request and even gave me the exact pattern she wanted me to make. It was fairly simple but I couldn't find my size 6 needles so I used 6 1/2needles and I think the squares are a little too big but oh well. It looks really cool anyway.

After this I will wrap it up and put it under the tree ready to give to her on Christmas day :D

Happy Stitching
Caitlin

mystery project :)

I want to see if anyone can guess what these squares will be made into :D

I'll tell you in a couple of days what this becomes :)
Happy Stitching
Caitlin

More Finish Finishing :D

So I was bored this afternoon and wanted to actually achieve something so I went to my craft room and finished 5 things.

To start with I finished a keyring. The stitching was done last term so it should have been easy but noooooo....

Now I have a keyring to put on my car keys thankfullly.

Then I started on my Christmas ornaments. The small ornaments I didn't want to do up as a pillow so I just backed them with felt and put some ribbon in there as well and glued them together. They look cool.

I finished these two exactly the same and added a little bow. You haven't seen the stocking at all I have been kinda working on it this week. I haven't been stitching much though I have been cleaning.

I finished the little ornament I got from Spotlight, such a pretty little finish :D

I also finished up a shoe as a Christmas ornament because I couldn't think what else to do with it!

So I will leave you with a photo of all my work this afternoon 5 beautiful finishes :D

Happy Stitching
Caitlin

PITCH PERFECT!

OMG That movie was amazing. Now if you don't like musicals or movies with a lot of singing this one is not for you.

Now for everyone else, this movie starts with a competition. The singers are competing at the nationals when everything goes wrong.

Fast forward to next year where the girls have only two singers left. They have to create a whole new group. Although it follows the whole group the main character is Becca a feisty girl who is exactly where she doesn't want to be. She gets forced to interact with other people, and in the process does her best to push them all away. It follows her journey from a loner to part of the group.

Now the best part of this movie is not the story it is the music. The singing is awesome! A whole pile of amazing singers doing a Capella. I love choirs singing so there was no doubt I would enjoy this when they turn around and have an ALL MALE GROUP! The girls are good but the guys are amazing. I love listening to guys singing together. The Bass is awesome. Also the songs are really interesting and always changing.

So if you want a good night out with awesome music I would highly recommend going to see pitch perfect.

Oh and the number of very funny and stereotypical Australian character is quite funny. Fat Amy is hilarious with her talk about crocodiles and dingos. We all wrestle them!

Oh and one of my favourite songs, that I can get the video for as they remix a song to make it actually sound interesting.

Enjoy the movie
Caitlin

Pitch perfect

Seeing pitch perfect tonight so review to come later. Until then enjoy your Friday night out/in.

I Finally Finished Finished Something

So it took me a year since I finished these in January. I even had them made up into their biscornus at that time. All I needed to do was put the ribbon on so that they could be hung up on the Christmas tree. It took me a year to bother to spend about an hour and a half on finishing the ten biscornus but now they have pride of place on MY Christmas tree. They are my treat for myself.

And some close ups!

I also have got some stitching done :D I kept working on Winter Fairy. This one is just calling me at the moment :D

before

After

Happy Stitching :D
Caitlin

Blog Theme Update

I was getting bored with the theme I had. Not quite sure whether I like the heading still but I love the choices of colours. Very different and pretty.

Hope you like the new look :D It may change again in the not too distant future.

Look What I found :D

This is a quick post to show off my latest find. I went to a book sale at the Cystic Fibrosis book store. They get a tonne of books from the library. Anyway with 50% off they had this book in one of the boxes!

I LOVE Joan Elliott and I was Ecstatic to find this piece. I only paid $1.40 for this book! Though I bought another 17 books in the sale this was one of the best.

Happy Stitching.
Caitlin