New Year, New Beginnings

Hello all it has been an interesting start to the New Year. Unfortunately it did not start very happy. Our 13 year old rescue kitty had to be put down. His kidneys started to fail and it caused an intestinal infection that caused him to be sick and dehydrate. He was such a good boy and it was so sad to have to tel him goodbye, but I could not make him suffer. Part of being a good pet owner is knowing when it is time to let a pet go and do what is best for them.

 

 So enough with the sad. On to the new, I showed you the Bless the Beasts Painted canvas I bought from my LNS the end of October I wanted to maybe pull this out during Christmas but with family and work and baking time got away from me and I did not get to move on this. So the New Year is a time for beginnings and this is going to be an adventure. I picked petite Silk Lame Braid for the sky and I am using the Pavilion stitch. The Moon I used Gold Kreniek Silk Mori and the stitch I used was a satin stitch. The stars in the sky are Mill Hill Glass Seed Beads in gold. I spent 3 days with this and got a large bit of the sky completed before I needed to rotate. I have to work on this at a table and sitting in that position is not comfortable so I will have to work this in between my other projects.  

Pictures are 1) Full size canvas 2)Work done from last year 3)Work completed this rotation. I set a yard stick across the top of the canvas to give you an idea of the size of this. 

I have a finish. I did this before I started Santa. I am so happy with the way this turned out. I found some black satin lace to finish the edges and it looks awesome on the coffee table I made it to display on,next Halloween it is going to be wonderful. 

Finally I have a few items to share. I joined a Bag of the Month Club. Even though I am a sewer I never seem to make anything for myself so I splurged and joined this. January's bags showed up last week and they are beautiful. I love them and the lady doing the bags added in a few little goodies as a bonus. Hand-dyed floss, a floss ring with decoration and a Charm with the company's name on it. The second thing is I made an order from my favorite on-line Shop. 123Stitch.com. 5 Mill Hill patterns and a super fun Mary Poppins pattern.

I hope you are all enjoying the New Year, staying save and warm, and above all getting your stitching time. 

New Years Resolutions

The New Year came in with me sound a sleep. I sat down to watch TV with hubby and next thing I know I am woken up by the sound of gunfire across the road. I had fallen asleep about 8:30. Our neighbors across the road had several people over for a party and welcomed the New Year by reenacting the battle of the Alamo. At least that is what is sounded like. 😏

I forgot to give a final report of my personal Stitch from Stash outcome. I did okay. I wish I could have done a bit better but I did end up with a +  my final amount came to $ 87.53 I will be doing a roll over of this amount as I plan to carry on into the 2018 year.  I have made a few rules if anyone would like to follow along with me. I am going to reduce my Monthly budget from $25 to $20.


Stitch from Stash Rules
1) choose a budget anything from $25 to $0
2) keep track of purchases (an exemption is made for gift certificates, Birthday money up to $75 dollars, and vacation purchases from shops that you visit if they are more then 500 miles from your home, only once per year.)
3) keep track of stitching work (be sure to count WIP's as well as finished pieces. FFO finishing can be give a value if you would like. Taking pictures can help you calculate the amount of work completed in a month.
4) To calculate credits I start with a full page of a full coverage HAED or equivalent pattern I give $30 dollars or 1/3 of a page is $10. I would give $4 for a JBW design as they can be completed in 2 to 3 days. So that is the range of calculations used. 

Also I have my list of Resolutions/Goals for the year. I call this a soft list, I hope to get this all done but if not I can live with that. No pressure this is my hobby it is suppose to be fun not work.
New Year List
1)Finish current row of HAED
2)Finish DBCS, Army Emblem Square, Spring Village, Christmas Tree 2004 and Pumpkin Splendor.
3) Start and finish at least 2 more squares
4) Start Northern Lights by Janlynn with quote (requested by Hubby)
5) Start Zenia by Nora Corbett
6) Start Raven Queen
7) Do Bumble, start Winter and Autumn by Vicki Hastings for daughter
8) Finish 2 Bags with Gnomes

I have a small report from Death by Cross Stitch I did the section under the lion.

I hope to see many fellow stitchers and there projects this year.