First Framed Finish of 2013!

If you can remember way back in January I had my first project finish of the year with my WIP of Carl Larsson's Letter Writing.  When I went on vacation in the US last April I took it with me to my favorite framer who does and AMAZING job on all my pieces and here is the final result!

Here is a close up where you can see the stitching and design a little better.

I received this in the mail last week and I just wanted to show off the finished product.  Enjoy!

Birds SAL Progress Part 2 Week 3

Hello and Happy Friday everyone!  As usual I have been plugging away at my Birds SAL piece.

Here is where I ended last time...

And here is my slow progress for the week...

And here is where I am today!

I did meet my goal of reaching the far right side of the design but there is still quite a bit left to do!  I was starting to feel like I won't catch up but seeing the progress and how far I came this week is inspiring me again :)  I almost have 3/4 large flowers complete and now I am on the last page of the design even though it is quite a large page.  I am definitely past half way now but I am still pressuring myself to finish ASAP so I can start to get caught up with the rest of the stitchers.  It's not really having to pay for the design but I am a sucker for a deadline and I really, really want to meet it!

Well I am off to stitch some more but I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and Happy Crafting!

It's Lulu!

Well almost if you read the sign to this Metal fabrication shop in Kinshasa, DRC... I took this pic years ago when I lived in DR Congo since the shop beared my nickname!

I finally got all of my African pics loaded onto my PC a few weeks ago.  So this is a teaser pic and I promise I will share many more pictures from my life in Kinshasa with you all soon :)

2013 Crafty Goals Check in

I really can't believe that it's June and we are now halfway through 2013!  I thought I would do a quick  6 month check in with my yearly crafty goals to see how I am doing...

Crafty goals for 2013
1.  Finish at least 3 WIPs.  I have finished 2 WIPs so far and am currently working on the third that should be done by the end of June!
2.  Finish top piece of Congo Rainbow Quilt.  I haven't even pulled this project out yet.
3.  Finish Family Christmas Stockings.  I need to get this project out and just finish it up with plenty of time before the holidays start this year.
4.  Stitch at least 2 pieces for World of Charity Stitching.  So far I haven't done this but I am thinking once I get caught up on my SAL to start a small piece.
5.  Finish Norway Map Cross stitch so I can purchase the Norwegian Bunad design.  I haven't started this one either but I almost bought the Bunad design but stopped myself a few weeks ago.
6.  Participate in a SAL (stitch a-long). Yes!  I am currently working on the Flowers SAL.
7.  Make at least 4 small ornaments to give to others.  I am almost finished with one ornament!
8.  Complete another page of Girl with a Pearl.  Not yet!
9.  Start a HAED project.  It is purchased and I have started the gridding.
10.  Start Valentines quilt.  No piecing or sewing yet but I did purchase material for the back while I was home in March.
11.  Make and send out Valentines Day Cards.  Unfortunately did not happen but I am OK with that.
12.  Start retirement gift for my Dad.  He retired in February and I still don't have the kit I would like to do on order...
13.  Complete 2 Wedding samplers as gifts.  Not started yet...

14.  Finish Grandparents Christmas Gifts and send out. I should have added this big project to the original list!  I finally finished decopaging the EIGHT painted frames with Holiday paper cut out pieces for Halloween and Thanksgiving back in February! Below is one of the finished pieces :)

Hmm I still have a lot of projects to work on to meet all the goals...but so far I am happy with my progress that I have achieved!  Plus I still have another 6 months now to try to finish up a few things :)  Is anyone else having better success at achieving your stitching or crafting goals?

May YOTA

Well I took a few months off from this great YOTA idea of finishing up Works in Progress, but now I am back.  I have been trying frantically to catch up on a SAL that I have fallen terribly behind on but I decided to pull out this very old Needlepoint WIP to try to finish up.  We will call this project Chi Omega Pillow.  Back in college I joined this Sorority (*It is actually technically a Fraternity maybe I'll share the story next time) and my Mom being the avid Goodwill shopper that she is found this there and thought of her only daughter...ME!  The kit had everything and I think I probably started it sometime around 2003.

Here is how it has looked since I started it those 10 long years ago...

And here is how far I am on it today...

Unfortunately somehow in the past decade I lost or ran out of some of the wool colors.  So I have had to rework it a bit.  A few weeks ago I thought I knew of a shop in Oslo that carried what I would need to finish it, and I travelled all the way downtown with my daughter and this kit in my backpack, only to find out they stopped carrying Needlepoint supplies.  But on another day I stumbled into another craft shop that did have the wool, but I didn't have the kit so I tried to remember what I thought I needed from memory.  When I got home it turned out I was ALL wrong and the new wool was much thinner than the old.  So I am trying to finish this with the products and colors I have left.  I took out the yellow bit since I thought I was out but then a few days after finishing it up in red my little girl came walking out of our storage room with a bunch of yellow wool!  

Anyways I am enjoying working on this project for a few reasons.  First it brings back lots of fun memories of my Sisters and all of the adventures we had in College.  Also I am enjoying not having to look at a chart and count it out, and lastly the tent stitches on this needlepoint seem to be going so much quicker and the wool gets better coverage than cross stitch cotton thread!

I didn't finish it yet but I should have it done by next month for sure!

Birds SAL Progress Part 2 Week 2

I didn't get quite as far as I would have liked this week...but c'est la vie.  I have been splitting my time between this and my YOTA project that you can find out about tomorrow ;).

Here is where I left off last Friday...

And here is the progress I made during the week!

Not as much as last week, but for a few days my little girl decided she didn't want to take a nap :(.  I am trying not to lose my momentum.  I came close to my goal of reaching the right edge of the design and I did complete another large flower so I am 2/4 done with the large ones in this part!  Yesterday I had to finally stop when I broke the eye of my needle.  I seem to have that problem quite often...do you all experience that regularly or is it just me?  This was a brand new needle I bought for this project but I guess it has seen a lot of use :)  Well I am off to get back to stitching on this so I can try to catch up to the deadlines.  Happy Stitching!

Birds SAL Progress Part 2

Hello again.  I am so happy that I am back to a regular schedule of posting once a week again!  Well this week I had the itch to stitch big time but it sort of fizzled out on Wednesday.  I got quite a bit done on part 2 which I can hopefully finish in 2 weeks or less so I can move on to part 3 and get closer and closer to getting caught up with everyone else on this SAL.  Thank you so much to everyone for your encouraging words on my last post.  They really meant a lot to me and helped me cover so much ground this week!

Here is where I had left off with Part 1 completed...

And Part 2 daily progress...

And here is where I ended up after the first week!

I got quite a bit done this week!  I am hoping to have the roses finished out until the far right edge of the design if not more by next week.  I really do LOVE the colors the designer chose in this piece.  I thought I liked the lighter set of the pink and purple but the darker shades make the images pop and the others look more faded.  

Thank you for sharing this stitching journey with me :)  Happy Friday and Happy Crafting to you!