I started off the new year right - with a finish! And then promptly started something new for a New Year's start. Then I kept going and before I knew it, even though I said I wouldn't, I joined in on the 15 Project Challenge, or as I call it the 15 Project Follies, but with my own twist on it. But here's my finish:
Mary's Best Handwork
With Thy Needle and Thread
30 ct. Parchment and DMC Threads
I started this piece when I was in Utah for the Shepherd's Bush retreat and can't figure out why it took me so long to finish it! It was a really run stitch.
Now comes the fun part and the follies. I decided to do the challenge my way, and the further I get into it I'm wondering what the heck I was thinking. But here are the first eight days with before and after pictures (where applicable). And on days the progress was quite pathetic have pity on me - with DH and DS home, well, you probably understand! LOL
Day 1 - After finishing Mary since she was a WIP, I went to something new - Elizabeth Sheffield by the Scarlett letter. She was my New Year's Day start. I love working on this one:
Elizabeth Sheffield
The Scarlett Letter
DMC and 40 ct. Mystery fabric
Day Two - I picked up And All Was For An Appil. In looking at my notes as to when I started it - well, as I hang my head here - it was my New Year's start last year!!!!!!!:
Before
After
Okay, let's keep chuckling to a minimum here! Not too much progress - but I'm a slow stitcher on 40 count fabric.
Day Three - A new start and one I wanted to start last year - Ann Rayner:
Sad, but a start. Again on 40 count fabric.
Day Four - Back to a WIP and this one I did get some progress in - Susanna Lane - I love this sampler a lot and it will probably be my next finish:
Before
After
Day 5 - A start and a disaster at the same time - Jane Atkinson by the Scarlett Letter:
Not much stitching on this one. The light thread so closely matched the fabric (again 40 ct and I have to ask myself what I'm thinking with all these 40 ct fabrics) that I was having a hard time seeing it, so I decided to start filling in the flower and then do the lighter color. That's when I found that I had made a mistake in outlining the flower with the lighter color. As you can see, I was working it in a hoop to just start it. Not a big deal with the miscount - I hadn't gone very far, but when I took it out of the hoop I realized that I started on the selvage edge and not the top edge! UGH!!! I called it a night and it will be revisited later - on scroll rods - and stitched in the right direction.
Day 6 - A WIP - Angel Song - again, not much progress:
Before
After
Day 7 - A new piece - LHN's Traveler's Companion:
Is this not pitiful or what????? But again, I don't think I sat my rear end in the stitching chair until almost 9:30 or 10:00 some nights and I go to bed about 10:30 - not much time to stitch!
Finally Day 8 - I actually got a lot of things done yesterday. I decided to hide out in the craft cave and get some quilting things done.
Worked on a WIP - cut out this month's Farmer's Wife Blocks:
Started a new Project - cut out the first installment of Civil War Chronicles (love, love, love the fabric):
Worked on another WIP - put the next couple borders on the Red and Black quilt and cut out the next set of borders:
And started another new quilt - Civil War Tribute:
So now I'm faced with this - Piecing Happiness!!!
Later in the day I literally ran out of steam - unfortunately I think that I'm getting what my son has - finger's crossed that I'm not - but I did get in some stitching on Elizabeth Clayton:
Before
After
Again, not much stitching, but a little bit.
So there you have it - the first week of the challenge. Only 7 more days to go. I'm not sure what new ones I'm going to add into the mix next week. I find that having all these projects going on at one time has been a real challenge to organizing! But the one great thing about all this is that I haven't bought anything new except for a few fibers to round out a project. That's a beautiful thing.
I've also enjoyed watching what people have been doing with this challenge and the projects that they are coming up with. Some I had forgotten about and some I've never seen before. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I seem to have made quite a list of projects that I'd like to do in the future. In the far distant future! Very far distant future!!! LOL I think I have enough on my plate right now, and we're barely over the half way point on the Challenge (or Follies).
I hope that everyone has a great stitching week whether you're doing the Stitching Challenge or not. While I haven't left many comments this week, I have been doing quick glances into everyone's blogs to see what they're doing before DH comes in and asks "What are you doing?" LOL He goes back on the 18th! I love him dearly, but.................the 18th can't come soon enough!!
Have a great stitching week!
