No Longer a Mystery

It's all done! I finished this New Year's Day. It will become a pillow in a week or two, I think. The pictures don't show the glittery bits of the fabric. I think it came out pretty well, though if I knew the design beforehand, I probably would have picked something else.

Every New Beginning is Another Beginning's End...

This is the beginning of Chatelaine's Workshop 01, a specialty stitch tutorial. The stitch to be done - Jessicas. I just started, so haven't done any yet, but there are a lot on this small piece. As I've been finishing pieces, I've been able to start new ones. It's great to get something fresh on the plate.

Tuscan Update

The first 'garden' is almost complete - all that's left is the Rhodes stitches around the outside. The part that takes the longest are the little Algerian eye stitches in the squares - it's sixteen passes in such a small space, but it looks good. Only three more to go, then finally to part four.

Goals for 2009

I wonder if I can be a bit more realistic in my goals for this year. I hope so! Anyway, here they are, in no particular order:

1. Finish Medieval Town Mandala. Doable, probably.

2. Make significant progress on my other Chatelaines, including finishing Workshop 1.

3. Complete Diamond Iris, an ANG Chapter Project Book project - this MUST be done by July 1, as I'm teaching it for CyberPointers.

4. Complete Midnight Garden by Orna Willis - the stitchalong I'm leading for CyberPointers. It starts Saturday.

5. Finish Bibendum.

6. Make 20 ornaments. These will probably be mostly temari.

7. Complete Cobblefield Road - this should be quick, as I'm about nine tenths of the way there.

8. Make a stocking for my husband.

9. Work The Traveler by Teresa Wentzler and the house by Barbara and Cheryl into my rotation.

10. Complete Lady of the Flag.

11. Do one crewel piece and one goldwork piece.

12. Make myself a purse.

13. Keep my rotation to ten pieces, no more.

14. Finish at least two UFO's and old WIP's.

15. Reduce my stash significantly.

I hope I can do all these!

So Close!

I'm almost done with this, and will probably finish it this week. Since this picture, I've finished the squares I had and received the final four. Oh, and we're starting a new project today in the group! It's a quaker sampler called "See the Star", really pretty. Look for it soon here.

How'd I Do? Looking Back at 2008

Last December, I posted my stitching goals for this year (http://blog.fiberholic.net/2007/12/stitchy-goals-for-2008.html). It's time to call myself to account and see how I did.

1. Complete the Medieval Town Mandala. I started it in May of 2006 and have been working steadily on it since then. It's about time it was done.

Not done, but I did make progress on it throughout the year.

2. Work two pieces that have been languishing for over a year into my rotation. Both are quite a ways toward completion. One is The Traveler by Teresa Wentzler. The other is a Barbara and Cheryl house.

Still not done, but will be in my rotation as I complete things in January.

3. Finish Crewel Choices. This has an actual deadline of the end of January.

Done!

4. Finish Celtic Knot. This one also has a deadline of the beginning of March. It's for my in-laws' 50th wedding anniversary.

Done!

5. Complete an ornament a month. It doesn't matter the method. Just make an ornament each month instead of bunching them all up at the end of the year.

Well, I did end up doing twelve, but they were bunched up at the end of the year and were mostly temari. I'm going to try to get better this coming year.

6. Complete the Take It Further Challenge. This means incorporating whatever the challenge is into a piece every month.

I managed to complete the January one and then got snowed under with other things.

7. Complete, on time, the two GCC's I've signed up for that start in the next couple of weeks. One is the 17th Century English Sampler and the other one is the Swiss Sampler.

English Sampler was completeded - Swiss Sampler was not started.

8. Make a new stocking for my husband. His got fused together in our last move and it's not well finished. He needs a new one.

Not yet started.
9. Complete Lady of the Flag to be raffled for charity.

Significant progress, but not finished.

10. Make significant progress on the Chatelaine pieces I'm working on that are not specificially listed otherwise in these goals.

Made progress on Tuscany but not the Victorian Garden.

11. Complete Midi Mystery 2. It was started in July of 2006. About time I got it done.

Done as of a couple of days ago.

12. Make one goldwork piece.

Did not make, BUT ... I received Luck of the Irish with its kit in the mail a couple of days ago. It will go into my rotation also in March.

13. Stitch Velo Bibendum for my husband. I haven't made anything specifically for him in a while. It's time.

It's started.

14. Make myself a purse. I don't have a single item of stitching that I wear or carry with me that's completed.

Not yet started.

15. Stitch a design created by my daughter Tory.

Done! It's the project for CyberPointers' January program.

Obviously, I could have done better. On the other hand, I could have done worse. Overall, I completed 48 pieces this year, including some big ones. I'll write my goals for next year tomorrow. They'll probably be overly ambitious too, but what's the worth of a goal if you don't try to stretch yourself?

Triangular Additions

The pieces of this I've been doing lately are big, so it looks like I've made a lot of progress. I added a second pipe and three triangles. The next bits are going to look like less done because they're all small Jessicas.