February 2014 – Alex Jayne

Month: February 2014

27
Feb
2014

Progress – and some new projects!

categories: craft

Wow, I’ve been incredibly slack at not only my own blogging, but also keeping up with everyone else! Sorry about that – I expect I’ll be going on a commenting spree shortly, I have tons of posts lined up in my reader that I need to comment on, as well as a bunch more from the WIPocalypse that I need to actually start reading.

I’ve been keeping up with my craft at least, and have some updates! No more updates on the cross stitches at this stage as I’ve got other things in the rotation, but I’ve made a bunch of progress on the wonderland latch hook:

I think from my calculations, this is about 70% complete? I’m putting most of my energy into this one as I can’t wait til it’s finished (although I may put off the binding for a while) and it will look soooo good. As a reminder, it’s almost as big as me and is about 1.3m wide. Yeah.

I also received my first delivery for the “Best Friends Forever” block of the month from Jess over at A Patchwork Quilt. Love the stitcheries and the fabrics – I doubt I’ll be starting this one for a bit and will probably have a few months at once to start with, but at least I can quilt as I go.

The fabric is Rosalie Quinlan’s “Candy Bloom” and by the end of the program I should have the entire set for use in the quilt. So colourful!

I’ve also signed up for Rosalie’s new block of the month, “Simply Blessed”, also from Jess (sign up link is here) and will be doing it in the French colours.

I honestly did not need another project but I am in love with the stitcheries – plus, at least these stitch up faster than my cross stitches!

I spent the last couple of days down at Rosebud with the hubby and spent a lot of yesterday relaxing and stitching. I could’ve taken some of my current projects, but in my typical fashion I’ve instead decided to start two more projects, adding to my WIP list!

These are both projects that I need to have completed by December – oh sure, it’s months away, but given my tendencies to purchase or start new projects, I wanted to at least start them and work them into my WIP rotation so that I wouldn’t be madly trying to finish them in time.

This is for my nephew – I’m planning on having it finished up in time for his second birthday at the start of December. Isn’t it such a cute design!? I love how colourful it will be in the end.

This is going to be a Christmas present – I don’t want to reveal too much of it, just in case, but it has three snowmen on there and is just adorable. There’s a bunch of satin stitch in the scarf of the second one, and you all know how much I love that…

Here’s hoping that next post, I can have some more progress pictures to show you (and haven’t started any more new projects!!)

19
Feb
2014

Wipocalypse: February check in

categories: craft

I’ve been busily crafting and have actually managed to make progress on three of my WIPs! Okay, technically two existing ones, and one which I’ve just started – but now it’s a WIP so it doesn’t really matter, does it?

It’s also time for the February wipocalypse check in (a few days late, because I’m shocking at remembering dates). This month’s topic is “How many projects do you generally feel comfortable having in progress at a time? Tell us about your one-at-a-time or rotation habits!”

If you know me, at all, you’ll know I’m hopeless with WIPs. I’ve currently got at least 9 on the go, although admittedly I’m only working on about 4 or 5 of them currently. I think this is my max – although having 3-4 is probably better.

Previously I’d struggled with keeping up with all of my WIPs as I tend to get sidetracked by the new shiny projects, but I’ve just come across a new way of keeping up with them – setting myself mini goals. I’m going to be aiming to get to a certain point on each of these projects before switching off to the next one. That way I’ll not only ensure semi-regular progress, but I’ll also be more motivated to finish them to move onto the next thing! I’ll be giving it a try for a month or so to see what kind of progress I make – depending on how I go, I may change up my rotation habits, or see if I can’t introduce a 4th WIP into the mix.

My progress, this month, on things has been decent – I’ve finally pulled out ‘Watching It Fly’, and I’m still trucking through the latch hook.

This is the start I’ve made on my Once Upon A Time sampler. It’s my first time stitching on linen and took me a bit to get used to counting – I had to redo a couple of sections repeatedly because I kept messing up the whole ‘over two’ stitches bit. I think now I’ve got a bit more of the border out, that I shouldn’t have as much trouble.

I’m definitely not going to be caught up by the time March is released, but it’s surprisingly quick to stitch up now I’m getting the hang of linen, so maybe by the end of March I’ll be all caught up?

The epic latch hook is making some more progress, too – I think I’ve actually done one more column but forgot to take a picture of it. I’ve been powering through and found that watching TV shows whilst doing it is really helping, because it makes me race against the clock to try and finish 3 squares (300 pieces of wool!) by the end of the 42 minute show. So far, I seem to be doing mostly okay with this target, so I think I’ve found something that works for this. It’s still just over half done, but I’m pulling this one out next from the rotation to make some more solid work on it.

Just look at all this confetti in my ’50 million shades of grey’ (actual title: Watching It Fly’) cross stitch! I finished this section last night, and it did my head in having to stitch 4 or 5 stitches of the one colour. Knowing the Heaven and Earth Designs I am aware that it could be a lot worse, but it’s still frustrating. I do love how it turns out, though.

So much grey and white! But I managed to finish the section I was aiming for, after pushing myself when the endless grey was driving me crazy. Don’t get me wrong, I love this piece, but it can sometimes make me loopy when stitching it. I think once I get past this page it won’t be so bad, as the next ones have more in it to break up the monotony at least.

Here’s hoping by next month’s check in I’ve made some more progress to show you all! I’ve also received another block in the month in the mail yesterday which I’ll blog about later – gorgeous, but I am refusing to let myself start until I’ve knocked at least two WIPs off my list. More incentive, at least!

How are everyone else’s WIPs going? Are you as insane as me?

14
Feb
2014

Less work, more crafting

categories: craft

Phew! Finally at the end of my ‘work week’ – 8 days in a row. I will be looking forward to not having my alarm on at 5am tomorrow, let me tell you …

I did however get a nice surprise at work from my delightful husband – he got oriental lilies (my favourite) delivered to work for me, which are absolutely gorgeous.

Also pictured – the single long stem rose that one of our residents gave to me, and the bunch of roses that I grabbed from one of our other hotels. They had a regular guest check in who brought in probably a dozen bunches of flowers of the staff, and when I was over there they offered me one. I’m hoping I have enough large vases!

I’ve also had an exciting week with the mail – my Cottage Garden Threads came in yesterday from A Patchwork Quilt and has such a great variety of colours. I’m really looking forward to getting these monthly. It’s got a progressive stitchery which has designs to show case each thread colour – I probably won’t get started on that for a while, but it should look fantastic when it’s complete. Sharon over at Lilabelle Lane is much faster than me and has already sewn her four threads from this month!

I also got the rest of my supplies for the Once Upon A Time sampler! I’m very impressed with how fast the postage was (especially considering I’m still waiting on something I ordered in October to be delivered – and the resent item – I think I may have to give up on that one!)

The threads were from The Workroom in Canada – a couple of you asked how come I bought them overseas. It turned out that they had the thread packs all made up, and these turned out to be cheaper, including shipping, than buying them here, because they offered a small bulk discount. I also purchased the thread before I bought the pattern as I was spreading this out over pay cycles, so it meant I didn’t have to wait to find out what threads I needed.

The fabric is hand dyed linen from Picture This Plus, and is the fabric that the original was stitched on. It’s my first time stitching on linen, so I suspect this will be a bit of a challenge to begin with, but what is crafting without trying new things?? I’m hoping to make a start on the border of this over the weekend, and hopefully get myself up to date in a couple of months so that I’m stitching as each month is released.

And of course, the latch hook of epic proportions is continuing. Not much more progress from the previous picture, but at least I’ve got colours other than green in this section.

I’m rather impressed with my efforts though – I may just finish this before my August deadline!

12
Feb
2014

Latch hook progress

categories: craft

I’ve been busy with work lately, but due to my messed up sleeping patterns (thanks, hospitality shift work!) have been making some significant progress on my Sierra Wonderland latch hook.

This is about 6500 pieces of wool – or, about 40% completed. Such a change from when I pulled it out a couple of weeks ago!

These latch hook designs are a bit strange – when I’m doing them, I can see the picture up close, but it’s sometimes tricky to see things like the shading and the 3D bits such as the tree trunks. When I take a whole photo of the piece though, it suddenly ‘pops’ and I can see the whole thing. I can’t wait until I’ve done more on this!

I can, however, do without the chunks of green! This section featured mostly shades of green (dark green, green, and light green to be precise…), with smatterings of yellow throughout. I’m coming up to the mountains and I couldn’t be happier!

I’m also looking forward to new parcels arriving in the mail – I know, I know. I’ve just received the threads for my Once Upon A Time cross stitch sampler (excellent postage from Canada, incidentally – I selected the option with an estimated 4-6 weeks and it was here in about 7 business days!), and I’m eagerly awaiting the linen to arrive so I can make a start on that. I’m part of the group on Facebook and it’s somewhat torturous watching everyone stitch this, especially as February just got released.

Lastly, Jess over at A Patchwork Quilt posted to say that the Cottage Garden threads have come into stock, so I can’t wait for those to be delivered as part of a monthly thing – a couple of people have gone into their stores and have picked them up and the overall sampler looks amazing. I’ll be sure to post once I’ve received that!

I finally have a few days off from work coming up in which I’m planning a “stitch and bitch” with a couple of my crafty friends, so I’m going to hopefully pull out the lovingly titled 50 million shades of grey and get some more work on that one done, to slowly attack at some more of my goals. And – hopefully remember to post more often (or have more to post about!)

04
Feb
2014

Challenge accepted…

categories: craft, goals

I’m horrible at starting projects, then abandoning them in favour of a new one. My husband knows this all too well, and knows that one sure way of making sure that I finish it is to tell me that I’ll never finish it – so I do, just to prove him wrong.

18 months ago I started a massive latch hook. I did a small section – then promptly got caught up doing something else. After finishing my other two latch hooks, I’ve been making some solid progress on this latch hook. Glenn naturally thinks that I’ll get distracted very soon, and so we have set a challenge.

I’ve been given 6 months to finish this – so, the beginning of August. This seems like a decent amount of time, but I get distracted, have a number of other projects going on – and of course, there’s the small matter that this latch hook is as big as me.

Yeah. The finished size is 30″ by 50″.

I’ve been making decent progress, though, and have been texting daily updates to a friend who has promised to shame me if I don’t do enough!

I love the design of this, and it’ll be worth it in the end. When I finally get there!

I’ve also found a new cross stitch project – it’s a “Once Upon A Time” sampler that is released monthly. I’m coming into it a bit late – February just got released, but it’s was so adorable that I couldn’t pass it up!

I’ve ordered my fabric and the threads – they’re coming from the US and Canada respectively, so I suspect it’ll be another month or so before I can really get started. Gives me more time to work on other projects, at least!

Each month is a secret until it’s released, so I’m looking forward to seeing what other fairy tales are featured.

If anyone else is interested (all their designs are adorable – I’m eyeing up a couple others as well) they can be found at the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.