A finish and a few new starts...

It looks like we all have survived another end of the world, just as expected by many. The mercury is still down - I'm not in the mood for shopping or even going outside. But I'm always in the mood for stitching. You will not believe it - I finished my Pirate Santa!

Really, he is all done and hanging. I started to stitch him a long time ago, he was a WIP and, for some unknown to me reason, became an UFO. It was on my December challenge list to have him done and now I can put a check mark beside his name.

And since we have enter a new season I wanted to start something new. I looked and looked through my stash and couldn't decide... then I spotted Paddy's Luck, all kitted up and ready to go.

Yeah, that's the one I want to stitch. Let's bring some rainbows and sunshine and let's forget the cold, dark winter!

I'm stitching Paddy on the 22ct antique tan hardanger with two threads over one. What you see there are about 360 stitches of 54,015 and some. Long way to go!

Yesterday I checked my mail and to my surprise I found there couple kits from Scarlet Letter. (Well, I shouldn't be so surprised, I ordered them a month ago.) Nicola of Stitching By A Cornish Sea Shore is celebrating her 50 birthday by dedicating a whole 2013 to charts from Scarlet Letter (she must really love them, eh?) She has created a blog Nicola's Scarlet Letter Year and many of us joined her to celebrate her birthday by stitching her favorite charts. I not only never stitched them before, I never even heard of them! Anyway, for the start I bought two kits (time is an issue so I couldn't be bother with buying charts and try to kit them up). To make Nicola happy I started both of them:

A lovely c. 1800 Gift Pincushion is stitched over one on 26 ct linen with 1 strand of silk. The silk is lovely to work with and my previous practice with HAED makes this an easy stitch. I am a little disappointed with the kit as not everything what suppose to  be included was included. The most worry I have is about floss. For example the package says that there should be 6 strands of dark navy silk but included was only 5... I've contacted The Scarlett Letter and we'll see what will happen.

And the second was a lovely quaker

stitched also with silk. (Ignore that tiny blue mark on the top. It is from my water erasable marker, it will disappear with a little water). The instructions are saying that I should use only 1 strand of silk over 2 threads of fabric (it's 36ct linen). The coverage isn't the greatest but when I looked at it from 5 feet away, it looks perfect.

So there, one little finish followed by three big starts - not bad eh? Now I have to work on some other WIPs so they don't become UFOs (unfinished objects).

So long my friends,
Evalina

Weekend update

I had tons of work to do and no time for stitching... well things sometimes do not work the way we have plan... The weather plays tricks and is messing up with my internal barometer. Yep, I do have one. We had some very cold days lately and a very high pressure. I felt fine. Last night front from the south brought a very low pressure, south wind and a lot of snow. The mercury went up but can you guess what the low pressure t did to me? GAVE ME A MIGRAINE! I set at my desk quarter to six this morning, turned on computer and was ready to start working. Just I wasn't feeling so good. After a third cup of coffee I wasn't feeling any better. So I checked email and some blogs and decided to stitch just a little. Well, with my fogged up brain I also lost my eyesight. After a few stitches I went back to bed to take a nap. After a nap I stitched some more - no work done, not even a little. On the bright site - I have a stitchy update! I added another motif to Songs of the Season

Sorry, I'm just too lazy to take it off from q-snaps but you can see the progress. And I was working a little on the Pirate Santa. (To see 'before' pictures, scroll down to previous posts). The tree looks fuller and my pirate can see! He has only one eye, but after all he is the pirate.

So long my friends,
Evalina

November wrap-up

November is practically over. It was a good month, a month with no excuses. I did not accomplish what I had plan but, never less, at least it got me thinking. I'm lacking will power! So, what to do about it? After a lot of research I found a book written by Kelly McGonigal: The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why it Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of it. Brilliant! I have it in an audiobook and digital format (since I live middle of nowhere these two formats are the easiest and fastest to get). She talks about all the excuses possible! I think if I follow her program I will finish all my stitching projects, file all the back income tax returns and loose weight. There is many books on goal settings and I do not have problem with that. I'm actually very good at goal settings and New Year resolutions and so on. I have all the good intentions, but always there is always 'something' on the way and there is always 'tomorrow' or 'next week', or 'next year'. The only thing that I really accomplished and I'm proud of it is quitting smoking. But that was years ago... somehow I've hanged...  Not for long though. Here are my plans for December:

• Work on Willpower following the book

• Finish my lovely pirate Santa (I'm almost there)

• Keep working on 'Songs of the Season'
• Buy floss for my new bell pull
• Start on Scarlet Letter kits right after they arrive. I'm not sure which one but I think I will start with the pincushion
• Read one book a week. I've just started the Neverlove by Angela Brown. It's awesome! I've started to read last night and now I'm half way through. Beautifully written and it is one of those books that make you keep turning pages and are impossible to put them down
• File back taxes 

That's all, we'll see where I will be by the end of December!

So long my friends,
Evalina 

Pictures!

As promised earlier, here they are!

Frost was busy painting my windows...

I look at the outside thermometer and literally froze

Mind you, the winter didn't start yet... birds didn't mind at all

but I was stitching! Here is my Pirate Santa

and Computer Catastrophes

So long friends,
Evalina

IHSW - Saturday

I thought I would accomplish a little more this Saturday... well, I stared my day with visiting other blogs, yahoo groups etc. and before I knew it, it was a lunch time!

Regardless my late start I stitched an ornie that I will try to finish today (actually make an ornament from that stitched piece)

and worked a tiny bit on my Pirate Santa...

Now it is only 7 in the morning and we'll see what a new day will bring...

So long my friends,
Evalina

IHSW - Friday

It was a first day of International Hermit and Stitch Day hosted by Joyce and since it was a cold day in the Yukon I hermit inside my cabin and didn't go outside even for a minute. I changed my working hours, I work 10 hrs a day for 4 days and I'm taking Fridays off. It saves me couple hours of commuting to work and gives me an extra day off!

In the late morning I was distracted by visitors:

awesome looking Pine Grosbeaks. They do not visit often but yesterday they were all over!

And, of course, I was stitching. I decided to pick something from my last crazy January challenge, something that I could finish during this weekend. Pirate Santa looked like a nice project, so Pirate Santa it was!

Today is as cold as was yesterday so thanks to Joyce for IHSW! I will work on my assignment (yeah, I'm taking another course - managerial accounting is on today's burner) and I will stitch and stitch and stitch some more! I have no idea which project will grab my attention, please comeback later to check it out.

So long friends,
Evalina

Trapped

It got cold in the Yukon. Yesterday temperature dropped to 40 below 0 and it was just to cold to drive to work. So I was trapped at home and I liked it! I stitched and stitched, and worked on my first assignment (I'm back to school again working for that accounting designation), cooked and baked. It was an awesome day! Today is even colder, so I'm trapped again and have tons on the agenda for the day. 

Yesterday I worked on my Project 1 form Crazy January Challenge (CJC) - Shiver me Timbers, here is the progress:

It is a lovely project to work on and made me fell in love with pirates. I have in my stash pirate Santa and he will be my Project 15 for the CJC!

Let's talk about other projects for the challenge:

Project 10 - Birds of a feather

now

and, when done

Project 11 - Heart of the Valley. Not a new start but it deserves to be finished.

 now

 

when done

Project 12 - Provence. Again, not a new start but I would love to finish this year

now

when done

Project 13 - Ships and shells from HAED

now

when done

Project 14 - Temple of Bastet. Yes, I know, you think I'm crazy but it is a Crazy January Challenge! This is another HAED design and since I only worked on protecting fabric edges and installing it on the scroll frame I do not have much to show you. What I can do, is to show you how the finish project will look like

Now I'm set with my stitching plan for 2011 and many more years to come. 

So long friends,