2017 Recap: Do All the Crafts

Hello, howdy, and hi! I always like to do a recap post so here is 2017's little collection.  I've copied the list from my finishes page and created a small collage for each craft, including a few images of stuff I hadn't yet shown on the blog due to various present restrictions.

2017

1. February - Casserole Potholder - thermal crochet, freebie pattern found here, modified by me
2. February - Small Potholder - thermal crochet, freebie pattern found here
3. May - Mock Honeycomb Dishcloth #1 - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
4. June - Little Cowboy Afghan - crochet, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
5. June - Mock Honeycomb Dishcloth #2 - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
6. June - August Gladiolus - 14-count ecru huck towel, freebie pattern found here
7. July - Rubber Ducky Washcloth - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
8. September - Sunflower Coaster - crochet, pattern cobbled together by me
9. September - Zinogre - 20-count light tan jobelan, pattern by me
10. October - All Hallow's Eve - 14-count black Aida, pattern by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery
11. November - Star Stitch Dishcloths (4) - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
12. December - Fan Bookmarks (6) - crochet, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
13. December - Snowman Mitten - 14-count brass ornament, kit by Bucilla
14. December - Clothespin Angel #4 - crochet, pattern from Leisure Arts leaflet 2518
15. December - Creeper Hat - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry), modified by me 

Knitting

knittin's

I felt like this turned into a year of dishcloths!  Apart from the hat, that's all I knit this year haha.  The final count was seven (two of each color of the variegated yarn).  The purple and green ones are done in a "mock honeycomb" stitch which makes a delightfully dainty-looking cloth.

The hat was a Christmas present for my husband!  It was my first time doing Fair Isle knitting which I'm pleased to say wasn't difficult at all once I figured out how I was most comfortable holding the second color.  I did make a rather silly mistake though.  The pattern calls for size 6 needles and I accidentally used size 9!  My needles don't have the little underlines to denote those two sizes apart haha. I didn't realize this until I went to put the needles back in their case after the hat was finished.  The gauge was close (mine was 5.5 stitches per inch to the called-for 5) using them, though.  The pattern idea came from here, along with a modification here.  I changed the look of the face to fit the in-game creeper.  Also, it had to have a pompom.  :)

Crochet

hookin's

Crochet was a bit more varied!  The potholders were finished early in the year as a sort of therapy for the move.  Next up was the star baby afghan and sunflower coaster.  Lastly was the thread clothespin angel.  What a fiddly little pattern!  I had to pay close attention to the pattern reading as commas were VERY important haha.  I changed the called-for colors, giving her a bright red dress and a metallic sheen halo (FYI metallic crochet thread behaves much better than metallic floss).  She was fun and I hope to make more in the future.  I certainly have enough thread to crochet an army in a rainbow of colors!

Cross-Stitch

stitchin's

Like last year, this was again a bit sad for cross-stitch finishes.  I am happy to have made my first flatfold for a Halloween stitch, as well as stitched my first Frosted Pumpkin piece!  And the brass ornament was a fun idea.  I did manage another one of my Flower-of-the-Month huck towel finishes, and another Monster Hunter side for the cube.  I even managed to work some on Final Fantasy III (last shown on here for last year's recap!).

It went from here

to here.

Not much of a change but there is a little difference, most notably the right side of the picture with his cape and sword.  I found a new (to me) floor stand that allows me to sit back more comfortably to work on these larger pieces so I have been grazing on it.  The goal is to have it finished in February as the local framing shop runs a special on free museum glass.  I would like it and FFVIII framed at the same time and possibly explode from the excitement.  Even if I just manage FFVIII framed, I will probably still explode from the excitement!

Goals

That's it for 2017's crafty endeavors.  It wasn't as much as last year but still more than previous years so I'll count it as a win, especially with how rough the start was!

As far as "goals" for next year, one item of interest is the 2018 Ravellenic Games.  I enjoyed working on projects during the 2016 Ravellenics where I finished a hat and a pair of house slippers so I'd like to challenge myself again for the new one.  I'm still trying to decide what I'd like to "compete" in.  Cross Country Living is a strong contender since I've already a project in mind.  Toy Bobsled also sounds fun and perhaps a way to get me to actually try my hand at amigurumi!  Or perhaps Sock Hockey.  I've attempted my first pair of socks which has ended in total disaster (wrong yarn, waaaay wrong yarn) but I don't want to be defeated.

I was out of all SALs this past year.  I know I'll be rejoining Gifted Gorgeousness (this is 2017's link).  Other than that, I'm not sure what I'll be doing.  I don't enjoy facebook or flosstube as a medium so that knocks out a few.  I've never stopped collecting my ORTs though I no longer take pictures of them for TUSAL.  I'm considering WIPocalypse (2017 again) as it would fit in with my posting style but because I have very few projects ongoing at a time WIPs are actually scarce!  Plus I don't think I'd link up because of the facebook thing.

It seems I like to stick to broad-spectrum SALs where I can work on whatever rather than ones that have a specific theme.  Maybe I should see if there are any KALs or CALs out there that could help broaden my horizons.  I would love to hear your suggestions!

Thank you all for helping my 2017 get brighter.  Here's to 2018!

2015 Recap & 2016 Ambitions (Image Heavy)!

Aloha world!! I hope you had a Merry Christmas and received all your stitchy desires. :D 2015 is drawing to a close so I thought I'd better start working on my recap post since our Internet is probably going to protest the whole way.  We've just had a ton of rain, more than was really necessary and I think all of our state is closed due to the drama it has caused.  They've moved the planes at our local airport to higher ground because the Mississippi River is in major flood stage.  We are up on the bluffs so no danger here unless getting stuck in the muddy driveway is a danger!

Cross-Stitch
I managed 2.5ish SALs this year! In order to not have so many images in one post, I made a (rather ghetto) collage of them.

2015 finishes!

One SAL was Gifted Gorgeousness hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching. I think it was the most successful even if it doesn't have the most finishes.

1. I designed and stitched a Muppet "baby sampler" for a friend's first baby! I think turned out really cute (sorry, I won't show the whole thing because it contains the full name of their child). Would you believe I still have it?? We've been trying to get together for a while but life has just not played fair. I am afraid to mail it because it's somewhat large and with the glass and questionable mail services...! 
2. Next was the Dolphin Trio, a Dimensions kit given to me eons ago which turned into my longest WIP that I just sorta snacked on when the mood hit. I am so happy to have it finished!  It is not finished-finished but you know how it goes with finding Perfect Frames.
3. Next was Rathalos, a wyvern glyph from Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, a game both my husband and I love playing together.  The plan was to also stitch Rathian to go with him but silly me mentioned how nice a cube would be so four more are being planned.  Rathian colors continue to be a struggle.  Maybe I just don't like olive greens!

before

after

The next SAL was the Flower of the Month SAL hosted by Alyssa at Brownie's Chair.  This SAL seemed to fizzle out at the year went on though several did manage to keep posting about it.  I finished January, February, April (March was finished years earlier!), and May.  They are all done on 14-count ecru huck towels.  Since this post will also serve as the last FotM update, I made a tiny bit of progress on June's flower.  It felt good to get back to Xs after all the yarny things I've been doing lately!  And while I was stitching on this I thought to myself, "Hmm, these look somewhat like Rathian colors."  And then it hit me, these ARE Rathian colors!  I think.  But they do look right in the floss toss.  I'll probably fret some more over them though. :b

before, dug out in June

Lastly was IHSW hosted by Joyze at Random Ramblings.  I decided to work on Final Fantasy III during the weekends of this SAL took place/I felt like it!  It started off with a troublesome mistake which I finally put on my big girl panties and fixed it by means of doing the letters.  I keep feeling disappointed in myself over this piece thinking I hardly had any progress but with the before and after, it doesn't look too bad.   And the mistake is fixed!  I shall be very glad when I never have to stitch on it again though.  This one is determined to drive me nuts.

after

Crochet

just three more!

Since learning this in 2014, I feel like this year was a year to kinda expand my knowledge.  I joined a CAL that went waaaay too fast for me haha. But now I know Very Well how to do corner-to-corner crochet thanks to the zillion squares in the Christmas blanket yay!  I have all nine of the main ones complete now and have the others planned out in charts.  It is so very tempting to say yay~ I am done with the squares ahaha.  But I will be good and make three more so my blanket will be a more acceptable (to me) blanket size.  Rudolph was a Pain In The Buttocks.  Holy moly.  That mouth area was enough to drive me bonkers.  The gingerbread man was pretty rough too.

hey, more Rathalos colors?

doily in action oooo

I also made my first doily and first pair of house slippers, both of which I'm happy to say went over really well with Mr. Husband. :D  It's nice to have such an appreciative guy.  I will be making another pair of the slippers for myself (bluuuue) as my house slippers are currently disintegrating.  You can find the free pattern for them here (ravelry link).  I am disappointed to say this little doily is all that I managed to get finished, though.  Even though each motif takes about 1-1.5 hours, there just aren't enough sneaky hours in my day without ignoring everything else that needs done!  But now I don't have to be sneaky so I'll be able to work on them more often.

Knitting

dishcloths!

kitty prints scarf

This was my new adventure for the year!  I taught myself from books and am continuing to learn through a little group that meets roughly every two weeks at the library.  I first made some potholders (gotta start somewhere) and am currently working on a scarf that wants to curl like there's no tomorrow.  Since it is just the one skein of yarn, I take it almost everywhere with me.  The doctor's office, Mom's house, hotels...  I am a rather slow knitter so far though.  I am very excited to learn socks and then no foot will be safe from my needles!

Miscellaneous

this is Halloween, this is Halloween

My husband's company called for wreaths for their Christmas party with the "requirement" that they be the main colors of red, black, and white.  There was only one solution to that in our household! :D  We had a lot of fun making this and I learned a new thing about Mr. Husband -- he's really, REALLY good at picking colors and making little felt flowers (those swirlies at the bottom were all made by him proud peacock wife moment).  Sally's hair is a bit long in this picture; I trimmed it afterwards to make it even with the bottom of the wreath.

soooo tasty!

Next were these little ornaments made for some friends we have over for game night.  This little cat is named Airou and he's from the Monster Hunter world (same as Rathalos and Rathian).  They're made from felt and stuffed with yarn ORTs and felt scraps haha.  I love how these turned out and I think I should probably make another one for ourselves. :D

Overall and Ambitions Onward
I think I did okay for 2015.  I learned a new skill and that's always an amazing thing!  I also bought two patterns online (Frosted Pumpkin patterns, too! Eee!) for the first time ever (if you don't recall the vaaast majority of my stash is freebies and/or thrift store finds).  My goals for 2015 (this post) were mostly met *scooting FFIII under the bed* and thanks to the generosity of some stitchy friends, I got TWO needleminders!  They are remarkably useful inventions and I'm not sure how I survived without them.  One thing I mentioned in passing without any real goal was getting a calendar for my stitching.  My husband provided a small planner from his workplace (he does everything digital so he doesn't need it) and it worked rather well to track hours/days!  I hope he can get another one for this year and I will include crochet and knitting in there too.  Maybe.  :)

I'm not going to be overly ambitious in 2016 and just do what I want (like I don't already :b).  I have already signed up for 2016 GG so I can continue putting a dent in my gifted collection!   I love this SAL!  I don't know if the FotM SAL will continue but I will keep working on my huck towels because I want the set to be finished.  If IHSW continues I'll try to make appearances in it once in a while.  TUSAL will keep going too, maybe with yarn ORTs this time, oooOOOooo.

I WILL HAVE FFIII DONE IN 2016.  RAR.  famous last words

I think that is all from me.  I hope you all have a fantastic 2016!  My husband and I are rather stick-in-the-muds.  We'll probably just go to bed tonight and not watch any ball drop.  But we will have black eyed peas for supper on New Year's Day. Greens will have to be a salad haha. :)

2014 Recap & 2015 Ambitions (Image-Heavy)

Welp, I'm still not used to writing 2014 so it must be time to add a new year into the mix. 2014 was not a spectacular year for me in the creative world but as it was better than 2013, I suppose there are small victories to be joyful about! :D  This is an image-heavy post for those of you who may have somewhat questionable Internet connections.  It took me several days of adding things to get this post fixed up.

Cross-Stitch

Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein

As a part of MMMM, I managed to get two little Halloween stitches worked up which "effectively" caught me up after skipping one in 2013.  They're adorable, easy to stitch, and are festive... yet still took me an absurdly long time to get done.  I was afraid of the Mrs's hair for far too long.

Noel ornament

Also a part of MMMM, my only Christmas stitch for the year, yikes.  I'll have to buckle down and get two done for next year to catch up.  :b

Pusheen Sailor Moon

A gift for a couple of hobos overseas who decided the time was right to get married.  My sanity was tested with all that pink.  It was an interesting experiment in finishing though, I had never used lace or added ribbons for hanging or had a felt backing like this.......  yes, it was an adventure and was ONLY two months late!  A miracle!

Mother's Love

A quicky kit worked up one IHSW in summer.  I snuck it onto my mother's fridge one time we were down there and I am not entirely sure she has noticed it yet (she has MANY magnets haha).

Crochet
A new hobby for me, picked up in October.

A giant potholder!

My first finished crochet piece.  Pattern was for a dishcloth, decided to make two and attach them together.  Mom got this for Christmas and loved it.

little snowflakes

My foray into thread crochet!!  I've always loved the snowflakes (and angels, and wreaths, and doilies and and and...) and I'm so happy to report I know how to make them now!  I made these as a thank you for the ladies in our class.

scarf with inspiration gloves

My scarf, yay!  I'm a bit impatient to wear it out into the world but so far, our December has been quite mild.  Maybe it'll be a new scarf for a new year.  :)

jellyfish hat?

And I squeezed in a last minute finish while listening to my husband yell at the WiiU playing "Dark Souls Pokemon" as he calls Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate.  I now have a goofy, floppy, matching hat!  It started out as a beanie and well, I have no idea what happened.  I guess my increases didn't increase fast enough and I wound up with a sort of basket that I put a ruffle on.  Lol.  Please note the little paws that came creeping into the picture after I sat the hat in front of the Christmas tree.  Peanut likes to help.

Misc

STL Cardinals

mahna mahna

Made up these little onesies for a friend's first baby.  I cut the little pieces out of felt and stitched them on and had a terrible time with wrinkles until I discovered the magic of iron on hem tape.  I particularly like the way Mahna Mahna came out, he was fun to make.  :D

2015 Ambitions
I'm not sure I want to call them goals as if I inevitably fail, the self-abuse kicks in and I'll never get anything done haha. :I Anyway, this year brings stitch-a-longs! MMMM was my first dip into the SAL world and I didn't fail miserably so I'm braving two more (so far).

First, Gifted Gorgeousness as hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching. Giving gifts, received gifts, shoehorned gifts, stitch them all!

tossin' bobbin

• Muppets Baby Sampler - designed by me, gift for friend.  This has high priority, higher than anything else ever at the moment.  It's all ready to be started once I get a copy of the pattern printed on a printer that is not mine.

• Dolphin Trio - kit from several years ago from my husband's grandmother.  Poor thing isn't bad to stitch but it's been a UFO for far too long for my taste.  Last touched May 2012.
• little kits in stash after I finish the first two.  Still to be sorted through.



seventeen hours!

• finish FFIII - GIFT FOR MYSELF?!?!  I won't sneak this in here.  Maybe.  Lol.  I do want to finish it though, and get the next one started (I won't get overly ambitious here and declare I will finish two next year hah). Last touched March 2014.  Must acquire big girl panties to resume.

Next, Flower of the Month as hosted by Alyssa at Brownie's Chair.  These are really nice freebie patterns that I've been interested in stitching for a while now.  I've completed March's years ago on a huck towel and am thinking to put the rest on 'em too because I like matching sets.  This might be hard as it's difficult to find ecru towels around here! I found one though (with a coupon even!), so I've got January's kitted up and ready to go!  None of the colors are the ones called for, hah.  I only had two of the greens and nothing really "matched" them so I just made up my own scheme.  :D

There will also be the usual IHSW (hosted by Joysze at Random Ramblings) and TUSAL (as hosted by Daffycat).  Joysze's is a monthly signup and Daffycat's signup will be posted soonish. And of course, make all the crochet things.  Already my ravelry library is approaching SABLE.

Two other contenders are a) TAST (Take a Stitch Tuesday) on Pintangle and b) Frosted Pumpkin's Story Time SAL.  I like learning new stitches and TAST seemed like a good way to expand my horizons.  I dunno what I'd do with the stitches though.  Maybe just a doodle cloth.  And the Frosted Pumpkin is just plain cute.  It's a bit pricey for me though so I'm holding out for a sale or more courage maybe lol.

Random goal: Get/make a needle minder! (!!!!)  I've always wanted one of these and I have an old pin that I think would be cute but regular magnets are not strong enough to hold a needle, bah!  This is something I've never come across in a thrift store, and believe you me, I've looked.

I feel like my little selection pales in comparison to, oh, everyone else's but I hope I can achieve them.  I also feel like I need a calendar for what few I have joined eek!

Wishing you and yours a

with glitter! :b
See you next year!

Whoop-de-Doo and Dickory-Dock

Hello, world~ I feel like I've been silent for too long. The blame lies totally with our ISP which oddly improves when it rains. Luckily we have a rainy Christmas Eve! (It's Christmas Eve, eeeeek.) What better way to spend a rainy day than catching up on stitchy blogs (sorry for the comment spams)? I've gotten the entries down to 100 but I can tell my Internet is starting to die with the load so I had better get this posted before I lose everything (autosave doesn't play well with bad Internet)!  So what have I been up to?

COOKIES! I always make cookies to send out at Christmas and this year I decided to make double batches of everything so we actually have some left over for ourselves after shipping them all over the country. I spent 12 hours one day just making all the doughs, then the next two days baking and creating. This year's lineup was Thin Mints (not like the USA Girl Scout variety, more like peppermint patties), Cocoa Crinkles, Snickerdoodles, Cranberry Almond Bark, Rocks, Cran-Orange Shortbread, and the ever popular Snickers (a mini Snickers candy bar wrapped in peanut butter cookie dough). I ran out of the mints much to my husband's Great Sadness so I made up another batch a few days ago just for him. :b  I didn't take a picture of the finished hoard but I had every tupperware thing I own filled, plus a pitcher and an 8-quart stock pot!  This is also the time of year I desperately wish for a KitchenAid mixer haha.

Crochet World: Aaaaaaaaaaaa I have a scarf! And of course I ran out of the white mystery yarn two little lines from the end. I found a tiny ball of a close lookalike, enough for one line. Then I found a skein of not-quite-as-close lookalike for the last line. Should've just bought new, laaaaaa~~ >_> But! I have enough of the blue and definitely enough of the sorta-close white left over that I may attempt to make a matching hat!

with inspiration gloves

As you can see from the picture, the last skinny line on the right side is not quite as white as the others.  Sigh.  It can be the hidden part, right? :)  Also present are the inspiration gloves (not at all created by my haha).  The scarf wound up being 66" long and it honestly could've been longer (original plans were 60").  I like to bundle up into a Rosey Ball when I am forced out into the cold. 

I listened to everyone's advice on this post, thank you muchly! I had four votes for evenweave and two for linen. I rummaged through my stash to see if I had either before I went shopping and this is what came out of the black hole of stash.

options!

From left to right in a very horrible picture (sorry!), MCG Textiles 28-count evenweave, white; Zweigart pastel linen, pink; Flamingo Mills 22-count hardanger, white.  It's amazing what one can find in a thrift store (Rosey Motto?)! The evenweave was bought on sale at Micheal's though... I think. It was quite a while ago. Anyway, pink isn't gonna work out for this piece and I use the hardanger for my FF pieces so with everyone's votes and the process of elimination, we arrive at evenweave, weeeee~

tossin' bobbin

I feel like this is a fun floss toss; I love all the bright colors. Out of the 30 the pattern selected, I had about 10 so I got to go shopping for floss~ And then wrap some bobbins~~ I might hire myself out to wind bobbins; I love doing it. Some (most) of the colors are still pending judgement. The pattern maker I use is a bit hit-or-miss with picking appropriate colors so I have to see what I'm up against when I actually start stitching.

someone stole my spot

I think I've talked myself out for the non.  I'll try to get up a post detailing 2015 stitchy shenanigans if I survive tomorrow.  Merry Christmas to you all, and to all a... sleepy kitty?

MMMM #1

Aloha new (and old) friends~ I think I have you followed back but if I don't, feel free to kick me in the pants with your URL!

At the end of September (wasn't it just May?), I went rummaging through my kit drawer to figure out just what I'm gonna stitch for Mega Mini Month Madness. I pulled out anything and everything that looked "mini". Then I went through my stash of magazines/books/leaflets and marked interesting small things. Then I went into my Internet folder.

I don't have a huge stash (unless one considers the online folder) so there's not much to choose from. Even still, I probably shouldn't make any particular goals. One a week would be great but then y'all would have to be watching for those flying pigs again. ;)

As you can see, I started with the tiny kit on the bottom right. I decided I needed to torment myself and "adjusted" the white to contain a strand of light effects floss. Which I cannot for the life of me railroad. !@#$%&

Anywhoodle, despite my first world floss problems, this is a super simple stitch that will hopefully be done over the weekend. Fall is always a busy time of year for me so I am glad to have an excuse to sit down and stitch... assuming I don't fall asleep when I sit down! :)

Hope y'all have productive fingers again~ ZZZzzzzzz...

Blog Hop #3: Setting Goals

I found this nifty blogging prompt from Julie's blog and Heaven knows I need more to ramble about, ahaha. Here is the current prompt (can I go back and do the other ones too?!):

• Do you set stitching goals for yourself and how do you plan them out? (Weekly, monthly, annually?) What are your current stitching goals (if you don’t mind sharing)?
  
  
• In addition to setting goals for yourself, do you have a special reward that you reserve for when you reach a stitching goal?

Hmm, do I set goals? I suppose in a rudimentary sort of way, I do a daily sort of goal. I'm quite content with my goal being "finish this piece" before starting a new one. I've found that's rather... odd in the stitching world, ahaha (I have only two on-going projects and one is back on UFO status). I don't know if that contributes or alleviates my random stitching blahs. In my current piece (FFVII), I'll try to get a "section" done. Usually that means a single color filled in or a whole letter fully stitched. I do tend to make yearly goals although they're a bit more like "let me see, I think this and this and maybe that would be nice to accomplish but things usually happen so I won't get my panties in a knot if things don't work out." I might be a little lackadaisical. :)

I don't reward myself for completion because I've honestly never thought about rewarding myself for any goal! Maybe if I started bribing myself with Skittles for successes, things would explode with stitches.

My train of thought derailed as I thought about this. It made me realize that out of all the things I've ever stitched (apart from tiny kits), only ONE piece was ever framed. All the rest are neatly rolled up in scrap fabric and stored away! I think a new goal needs to be "get those things framed and displayed, you silly hobo!" Don't you agree?

Visit all the blogs in this round of the Stitching the Night Away Stitching Blogger Blog Hop: Find the instructions on how to participate in this round by clicking here.

2011 Recap & 2012 Ambitions

Well, hello there, outside world! We still haven't got Internet and prospects are looking grim for ever having it! For a modern technology lover, this is most definitely a hit below the belt, haha~ I spent this weekend attempting to catch up on everyone's blogs but please forgive me the lack of commenting as of late. I am reading everything (hopefully everything -- Blogger is still acting wonky for me) and enjoying everyone's progress and holiday posts (I've lived my Christmas through y'all!). :D

Since I've got no new progress of my own to post, I thought I'd do a recap of my victories in 2011! It was a rather slow year of stitching for me; too many other things seemed to be happening!

Companion Cube - January

First accomplishment was a badge of the Companion Cube from Portal (video game for the unfamiliar). I was in such a hurry to make it into a badge, I forgot to do the backstitching detail! I designed the pattern in KG-Chart but didn't have the specific flosses in my stash so I worked with what I had. I took a darker gray and blended it with white for a lighter appearance. I think it worked pretty well but you can tell I'm not a railroader, ehehe~ Despite its unfinished-ness, I still really like it and it resides on my purse for all to admire.

Sunflower Tag - August

After a long expanse of no completions, I finished up this little piece for my guy's wonderful grandmother. It was a quick stitch pulled from a sampler in BH&G's America's Best Cross-Stitch. It was also my first attempt at learning a new stitch - blanket stitch! I felt wonderfully accomplished for it was quite an easy stitch and really helped make the edge look neat. Now if I could only cut straight. :D

Christmas Crewel - September

I started to pick up the pace and get some things done during this part of the year. Mostly because it gets too darn hot to do anything but sit inside an A/Ced room! This was a crewel kit I picked up at a yard sale. It had been started but I think the amount of French knots may have terrified the previous owner. I love French knots and these weird ones were especially fun. They could be "messy" and look perfectly fine! I did run out of the right green for some of the boughs and had to substitute in something from my stash. It doesn't quite match and was an absolute nightmare to stitch with but I'm glad I persevered and finished it!

FFVIII Logo - September

Possibly the crowning achievement. I'm planning to stitch all the logos in the main Final Fantasy series (again, a video game for the unknowing) but the order is somewhat haphazard. My boyfriend chose the first one and his favorite is Final Fantasy VIII. I designed this pattern in KG-Chart and promptly ignored most of it. Even still, it was fun to design and stitch and I learned a lot about the pattern making process! In retrospect, I almost wish this wasn't the first one I stitched because it's one of the more complicated logos. The gradient was very hard and there's only one area of it in the completed project that turned out as close to perfect as I could wish (the area directly above the T). I've taken that learning experience and applied it to the next FF pattern!

Halloween Blair - October

The last completed project of the year was my Halloween stitch! I designed this pattern from images in the Soul Eater manga (Witch Blair in kitty form and the Soul Eater logo on the "Soul Pumpkin"). I also charted out the font from the Pumpkin font found through a Google search. Limited to only items in my stash, the colors are a little bit darker than I would have liked but it turned out pretty well methinks! Especially considering this was the first pattern I drew completely from scratch in KG-Chart!

Only five completions and two of them were smalls! And no Christmas completions! Ah, how terrible~ I'm hoping to do much better this year. I've got the next Final Fantasy pattern ready as well as the materials for it. I'm raring to start stitching it but I still have to get some things in order at the new place. Maybe I could do some smalls to pacify/motivate/relax me. I really like making the badges.

As for some ambitions for 2012, I'm hoping to get at least two more FF logos under my belt (three or more if I really buckle down). I want to attempt a new style of embroidery (hardanger, perhaps?) or at least learn another new stitch. I'd also like to stitch a few Christmas cards. In terms of pattern designing, I was hoping to really get more active in the Sprite Stitch request forums but without Internet... Quite a damper! Maybe I'll actually finish the Dolphin Trio which is turning into a UFO. I'm signed up for this year's TUSAL (found a jar, wee!) and I'd like to join in a few (all?!) IHSWs! Internet being an issue (yes, I'm going to complain about this way too much), however, posting results won't be as punctual as I'd like but hopefully it'll work out!

I apologize for the wall of text and will let you have your eyeballs back now, haha. Enjoy your stitchings! :D