December Goals and 2009 plans

I am a little late to be posting December goals, as it is already the 8th, but I am going to do it anyway as an attempt to get myself more organized. I am in full stitching mode again and I have several goals in that regard for next year. I also have joined a WIP elimination group on Legacy, so I am going to "fess" up and post that here as well.


December Goals:

1.Marriage of the Minds:do a daily strand
2. Pinkes Sampler:dividing band 2 and 3, rows 2 and 3
3.Mary Tavish(model stitching):focus project, complete 5 hours before working on anything else.
4.Biscornu, design for my guild and send to model stitcher
5.Golden Age sampler: frog out mistakes.

Here is my WIP elimination list for 2009. These are my top 10 WIPS.(yes I have more than 10, but we won't talk about that right now!)

1)Marriage of the Minds, Drawn Thread~I am about 80% of the way finished. Really want to finish this in 2009 for my 25th anniversary. I started it for my 20th!

2)Houses of Hawk Run Hollow, CHS~a little less than 30% done, as I am on the last house in the top row. I would truly love to see a finish on this one as I have been working on it for about 3 years, 2009 will be 4!

3)Golden Age Sampler, Sharon Cohen~I am stuck and need a little help/practice with the detached buttonhole. I hope to get some help with this one at the sampler guild next spring. I truly love this sampler and have been in love with it since 1995!

4)Her Majesty's Glove, Sharon Cohen~50% done and I love this one, I really want to complete it! This is a smaller project, and I feel I can start one of Sharon's sweet bags if I finish this one.

5)The Unicorn Sampler, Scarlet Letter~about 20% complete.

6)And They Sinned, Dames of the Needle~barely begun, but I love this one and I already know where I want to hang it!

7)Days of Advent,Mary Beale~only the first block is done. I am really uninspired to finish this, but feel I must because it cost me a small fortune as I bought all of the silks for it.

8)The Pinkes Sampler Project, Darlene Osteen~about 10% complete. I just started this one and I'm really into it, so it will probably be my first finish.

9)Song of the Sea, Ruth Ann Russell~a very old WIP, about 90% completed, I've GOT to finish this one!

10)Angel of Spring, Lavender and Lace~this is for my mom and really needs to go to the top of the list!

Aside from all of this, I also plan to get at least one doll completed for sale a month. I am focusing right now on the embroidered and colored pencil enhanced, old fashioned girl dolls for the moment. They are the ones I most enjoy making.

A little more"Pinkes"!

Started something new!

Why? I just wanted to try all of the cool stitches on this sampler! This is called The Pinkes Sampler Project, and it is from the book, The Proper Stitch by Darlene OSteen. The very top dividing band is long armed cross stitch and double running stitch. The next row is reversible cross stitch and double running stitch. It is worked on 32Ct. Belfast linen, the color is sand. I converted the called for silk mori threads to DMC.I am going to try to work on it twice a week. I know, I know, the best laid plans!! Click on the picture for a good close-up of the stitches.

Progress on Marriage of the Minds

I got a lot of stitching done on this over the holiday weekend. Here is my progress:

Christmas Ornament by Scandinavian Stitches

From the 2008 ornament issue from Just Cross stitch.

New start

This is a little sneaky peeky on my newest design, tentatively called Mary Tavish. I am using beautiful AVAS silks(my favorite!), on 32 ct. antique white Belfast linen. What do you think so far?

A Biscornu!

I will be designing a biscornu for the members of my local needlework guild, and teaching the finishing technique next spring. So I worked on this biscornu so I could get the whole project straight in my mind. I bought this as a kit from Handcrafts Online. It is stitched with Dinky Dyes silk, the color is called tea tree.