2016 End Of Year Summary

Hello all!

As we say goodbye to 2016 I thought I would look back and summarise my stitching for the year. This record is for my benefit so some (most) of you will probably find this very, very, very boring.


Number of WIPs brought forward from 2015 - 5 suspended, 7 large, 42 challenge = 54
Plus number of new starts - 1 large, 31 challenge, 15 smalls SAL, 11 others = 58
Less number of finishes - 26 challenge, 15 smalls SAL, 11 others = 52
Number of WIPs to carry forward into 2017 - 5 suspended, 8 large, 47 challenge = 60


Now here comes the really boring bit.....

Here are the lists of projects which make up the statistics:

SUSPENDED LARGE WIPs BROUGHT FORWARD
1)  Mythical Dragon (True Colors)
2)  Rainbow Angel (White willow Stitching)
3)  QS Emerald Dragon (HAED)
4)  SK The History Of Chocolate (HAED)
5)  QS Fairy With Butterfly Mask (HAED)

LARGE WIPs BROUGHT FORWARD
1)  QS Come Softly (HAED)
2)  Mini Bookworm Fairy (HAED)
3)  Mini The Owrd Lord (HAED)
4)  Mini One (HAED)
5)  Dolphin Ruins (Rabnann - ebay)
6)  OMG Tigger Is Out (UnconventionalX - etsy)
7)  Dragon Eye (not yet blogged)

JANUARY/FEBRUARY CHALLENGE 2015 WIPs BROUGHT FORWARD
1)  Friends For Life
2)  Feline Groovy
3)  Loves Me ... Love Me Not
4)  Daisy Hugs
5)  Dreaming Of Dolphins
6)  Book Worm

7)  Carefree Summer

8)  A Tatty Friend

9)  Dandelion Time

10)  Flower Power

11)  All Aboard The Walnut Shells

12)  Christmas Wishes

13)  Daisy Umbrella

14)  Cuddly Feline Friends

15)  Choc-A-Holic

16)  I Love Butter

17)  Good Morning Nelson

18)  Winter Hugs

19)  Lickle Snooze

20)  A Windy Day
21)  Little Green
22)  Spring
23)  Coffee
24)  Gryffindor Crest
25)  Pretty Little London
26)  Start Trek TOS
27)  Summer
28)  Cream
29)  Canal Crossing
30)  Hufflepuff Crest
31)  Clue
32)  Red Foxes
33)  Sugar
34)  The Lock
35)  Pretty Little Paris
36)  Evil Minions
37)  Spotted Owls
38)  Winter
39)  Tea
40)  The Milk Train
41)  Slytherin Crest
42)  Pandas

NEW STARTS - LARGE
1)  Scarlet Macaw Preening

NEW STARTS - DEBBIES'S ULTIMATE CRAZY JANUARY CHALLENGE 2016
1)  Frankie Hedgehog - FINISHED
2)  Sally Squirrel - FINISHED
3)  Contentious - FINISHED
4)  Bert Badger - FINISHED
5)  Let's Eat Dessert - FINISHED
6)  Playful Puss 4 - FINISHED
7)  Autumn Alphabet - FINISHED
8)  Plant A Tree - FINISHED
9)  Contentious - FINISHED
10)  Molly Mouse - FINISHED
11)  Woolly-Hatted Snowman - FINISHED
12)  Summer Alphabet
13)  Save Water - FINISHED
14)  Toby Fox - FINISHED
15)  Balloon - FINISHED
16)  Sleepy Book - FINISHED
17)  Penguin - FINISHED
18)  Blueberry - FINISHED
19)  Black-Hatted Snowman - FINISHED
20)  Ollie Owl - FINISHED
21)  Keep Our Air Clean - FINISHED
22)  Spring Alphabet
23)  Santa - FINISHED
24)  Ride A Bike - FINISHED
25)  Be Kind To Animals - FINISHED
26)  Winter Alphabet
27)  French Country Witch - FINISHED
28)  Eat Locally - FINISHED
29)  Polar Bear
30)  Playful Puss 3 - FINISHED
31)  Bear

NEW STARTS - SMALLS SAL
1)  I'm On The Nice List - FINISHED

2)  Joyeaux Noel - FINISHED

3)  Joy - FINISHED
4)  Berry Christmas - FINISHED
5)  Noel - FINISHED
6)  Mistletoe Testing Here - FINISHED
7)  Heart Dolphins - FINISHED
8)  Dolphin In Hammock - FINISHED
9)  Dolphins and Ball - FINISHED
10)  Halloween Cauldron - FINISHED
11)  Witches Hat - FINISHED
12)  Snowman - FINISHED
13)  Mr. Daydream - FINISHED
14)  Mr. Jelly - FINISHED
15)  Mr Happy - FINISHED

NEW STARTS - OTHERS
1)  Humerous Alphabet - FINISHED
2)  I Solemnly Swear / Mischief Managed 1 - FINISHED
3)  Jersey Cow - FINISHED
4)  I Solemnly Swear / Mischief Managed 2 - FINISHED

5)  Ghost - FINISHED

6)  Summer Bird - FINISHED
7)  Seahorse - FINISHED
8)  Halloween - FINISHED

9)  Dolphin - FINISHED

10)  Mini Midnight Manor - FINISHED
11)  October Fairy - FINISHED


I'm really pleased that, with the exception of just one large project and five Challenge pieces (which I have still stitched on) I finished all of my new starts during the year. Numbering 52, that's an average of one finish per week - yikes!

However, this was once again at the expense of my larger projects and my 2015 WIPs.

Over the course of the year I stitched for a total of 703 hours over 365 days, missing out just one day when I spent a very long time in A&E with my son from early evening to the early hours of the next morning (it was only for a fractured wrist but there were a few more urgent cases). I was absolutely gutted to break my stitching streak, which was 540 days in a row at that point, but we had a laugh about it, despite the pain he was in!

As for my plans for 2017, I'll post about them tomorrow.

All the best and

Happy stitching :)

Rachel x

Smalls SAL - December 2016

Good morning all!

Here's my posting for the last Smalls SAL of 2016 run by Heather of Stitching Lotus.

Towards the beginning of the month I stitched one small project for this SAL. But after finishing my fourth Christmas Pals Ornament didn't want to start another WIP which I wouldn't be able to finish before the end of the year. So I opted for stitching two more small projects instead.

Mr Daydream, Mr Jelly and Mr Happy have been sitting in my pile of charts for quite a long time. The charts were freebies from my-cross-stitch-patterns.com There are a few Mr Men and Little Miss characters available (along with many, many other free charts!) so more may be making an appearance next year... or not... we'll see!

So on to the photos then:

Mr Daydream

Freebie from my-cross-stitch-patterns.com

Stitched on 16ct Cloud Spring Sky from Sewitall.com 2 over 1

Started - 9th December 2016

Finished - 10th December 2016

Total stitching time - 4 hours 10 minutes

Mr Jelly

Freebie from my-cross-stitch-patterns.com

Stitched on 16ct Cloud Pink from Sewitall.com 2 over 1

Started - 24th December 2016

Finished - 25th December 2016

Total stitching time - 4 hours 30 minutes

Mr Happy

Freebie from my-cross-stitch-patterns.com

Stitched on 16ct Sundrop from Sewitall.com 2 over 1

Started - 26th December 2016

Finished - 30th December 2016

Total stitching time - 5 hours 15 minutes

Mr Daydream in particular has always been a favourite character, being the first Mr Men book I ever owned. The others aren't far behind.

To sum up my Smalls SAL for the year, I completed 15 projects in total and at least one per month. Out of those 15 projects, 9 (from January to August inclusive) have been made into ornaments or cards. Not bad considering I find the finishing off tedious!

I didn't stick to stitching 12 LK Tiny Tidings as planned, so next year I really have no idea what I will be stitching each month. Watch this space, as the saying goes!

Thank you to Heather for continuing to run this SAL and for everybody that contributes. I hope it continues to be just as successful next year.

Back in January then,
Rachel x

Christmas Pals Santa - DUCJC 2016 Finish 26/31

Good morning all,

So, here I am back with yet another finish from my pile of January starts. This is the fourth Christmas Pals Ornament I have now completed, which has been finished just in time for Christmas Eve!

I left Santa looking like this on 23rd January:

And here he is all ready to deliver his presents tonight:

Dimensions
Stitched on 16ct Ice Blue aida 2 over 1

Stitch count 44 wide by 44 high

Started - 23rd January 2016

Finished - 23rd December 2016

Total stitching time - 13 hours 35 minutes

(estimated 14 hours)

I know I've only got two Christmas Pals Ornaments left to do but I can't say I'm enthusiastic about trying to finish another one just now. Instead I'm going to stitch a couple of little extra projects for this month's Smalls SAL. These will tide me over until New Year and my new set of stitching plans.

Happy Christmas Eve!
Rachel x

Christmas Pals - Black-Hatted Snowman - DUCJC 2016 Finish 25/31

Hello all,

Another post and another finish. This is the third of six Christmas Ornament Pals I started back in January.

The last time I stitched on him was 19th January:

But I finally completed him last night:

Dimensions
Stitched on 16ct Ice Blue aida 2 over 1

Stitch count 44 wide by 44 high

Started - 19th January 2016

Finished - 14th December 2016

Total stitching time - 14 hours 5 minutes

(estimated 14 hours)

I was hoping to get the other three finished by the end of the year but that looks less likely now that the Christmas season is upon us. I'll be happy with one more.

Happy stitching,

Rachel x

Smalls SAL - November 2016

Good morning all,

Here's my offering for this month's Small's SAL run by Heather from Stitching Lotus.

This was a freebie from the Durene Jones Facebook page (you don't have to belong to FB to access the charts). If you like smalls and you like freebies, go and check her out here. There are loads of free charts available in her albums, covering a variety of themes. Some have made it onto my stitching list for 2017 as potential smalls.

Anyway, I digress. Here's this month's offering for my Smalls SAL:

Snowman

Durene Jones Facebook freebie

Stitched on 32ct Snowfall evenweave by Sewitall.com 2 over 2

Stitch count 48 wide by 48 high

Started - 5th November 2016

Finished - 9th November 2016

Total stitching time - 8 hours 25 minutes

I made a couple of chart alterations. First I didn't stitch the snowflakes or falling snow as the snowflakes on the fabric were enough, and second I added some colourful Kreinik to the snow on the ground. I was going to use just silver blending filament but decided to make it a little more colourful. I'm not sure if I like it or not as it makes the snow look dirty. Oh well.

Currently in my Box of Shame it'll be made into an ornament... eventually!

See you next month,
Rachel x