2016 re-cap and catch up

I will admit, this has been the worst year for me blogging since I started this blog way back when in 2005.  I just didn't have it in me to bother with it this year...

I'm not going to make any promises or new year's resolutions that I'll try to be a better blogger but I will admit, I am not ready to give up my blog just yet. So to those of you who are still around, thank you!

I would like to wish everyone a belated Merry Christmas as well as a very happy new year!

Now onto stitchy stuff!  Let's do a quick recap of 2016 first, and then I will show the newest additions in the catch up part.  This will be a longer post, and definitely filled with lots of pictures!

Here are my finishes for 2016:

from left to right - 1. kitty stitchable key chain, 2. Tea Break by Jardin Prive
3. Home Sweet Home by Les Grilles du Maryse, 4. Pushing up the Daisies by Raise the Roof
5. Bluebird Alphabet  by Just Nan, 6. Geranium by Nora Corbett
7. Blue Village by Satsuma Street, 8. Stitch by Cherry Wood Designs
9. Love Cube by AAN

10. Disney Villains by Cloudsfactory, 11. Mother's Honour Due by Blackbird Designs
12. Remember Me by Sheepish Designs, 13. Darth Vader by Natalineedlework
14. Yoda by Natalineedlework

I forgot to add in pictures of my two small crochet finishes for this year...

And my wips for 2016... I must say that though I've never been a one at a time stitcher, this is the most wips I have had in a very long time!

1. Mini Twist 1-6 by Northern Expressions, 2. Madonna of the Garden by Mirabilia
3. Autumn Quaker by Rosewood Manor, 4. Feather and Friends - Butternut Road

5. Cornwall Cottage - Rosewood Manor, 6. Reflections of Canada by Ink Circles
7. Summer Bouquet by Lanarte, 8. Death by Cross Stitch by Long Dog Samplers

 

 

I received a very lovey stitched gift from one of my best friends, Time to Stitch by Needlework Press. She did such a beautiful job, both on the stitching and the sewing! I just love it!

 

 

 

Also for Christmas I received a stitchable key chain, and on Christmas Eve, I stitched it right up. I love how it turned out!

 

 

 

Now onto the new additions, since my last blog post... for the months of November and most of December (up to the 23rd) I was actually a one project at a time stitcher... something I am normally not... but I got it into my head that I wanted to stitch something for my two great-nephews as gifts... so off I went!

 

First one I did, in November was Yoda by Natalineedlwork on etsy.

 

 

I stitched it on 32ct Jack's Rum jobelan by Stephanie, using the called for colours except Yoda's skin... the pattern calls for dmc 935 and I found that to be too dark, so I switched it to dmc 3363. The words making up Yoda, in case you can't read it, say "Do or do not, there is no try"  I love how it turned out, and my husband did a fantastic job at stretching and framing it!

 

Next up is Darth Vader, also by Natalineedlework on etsy.

 

 

I stitched him on 32ct Loki jobelan by Stephanie, using the called for dmc black, but I did change the red of the light saber to dmc 815... I much prefer the darker reds to the more christmasy red it called for. Here the words say "You don't know the power of the dark side"... and again my husband did the stretching and framing.

 

My newest wip, is Death by Cross Stitch by Long Dog samplers...

 

 

 

I'm stitching it on 28ct Queen Anne's Lace jobelan by wichelt, over two... so yes it will be huge... I ordered a full yard of the fabric...and the design itself will be 26x32 inches big... add the min of 3 inches per side for framing and you have one huge piece of fabric!  I am using dmc 3799 and I bought a 100g cone of floss for it, which is roughly 450 yards of floss... hopefully it will be enough.

 

I do have a bit more stitched on this since taking the picture but I'll save that for my next update.

 

Edith and I will be starting a new Sunday SAL on January 1st, and the pattern we picked is Portrait of Veronica by Mirabilia.  She has everything all ready to go, I'm still deciding on fabric, but hopefully I will have that all picked and ready to go later on today.  As you can see my side bar (and blog) is all updated for January!

 

And last but not least... my tusal updates... I am behind with November, and December's new moon was yesterday, so I'm actually on time with that one!

 

This is from November, as well as the year to date

This is December as well as the year to date

 

I decided to jump on the bandwagon this year and make an ornament from my orts.. however, I saw on one of my stitching facebook groups something that someone did that I liked even better... it took making the ort ornament one step further... They made three, one with the dmc lables, one with the dmc number labels and one with the actual orts...  Sooo off I went to Michael's and got myself some clear fillable ornaments and this is the final result.

 

 

 

I choose the smallest size they had, and for that reason, I had to cut down the number labels so they would fit better.  I really like how they turned out, and now I just need to find some pretty ribbon so I can put them on the tree!

 

thank you if you read this far!  That is it for me for now... and until next time, happy new year and happy stitching!