December FFG

Today is the 10th of the month which means it's time for a Fully Finished Gallery check in. Rachel setup this perfect blog SAL starting in February 2019. I like so many others have a box of shame. A place where my stitching goes to hide after I finish it. Rachel said let's get those out of hiding and get them where they belong. On display for the world to see. So that's exactly what I've been doing. I made piles and piles of things I needed to finish. I still have a lot lot to do. But because of this SAL I've got a lot done!

First things first stop over to Rachel's check in post. Hopefully you have something to share with everyone.

Now let's see what I've finished since the last check in...

Tree Shopping a Mill Hill Kit. I finished on November 21st. I cut it out and made a magnet out of it.

I finished up Cabin Fever Mill Hill Kit but needed to buy a frame for the piece in the adorable mat board I found at a store in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. I was able to find a frame I loved and got it put into the frame tonight so I could show you all the picture of how it turned out...

I love the way it looks and can't wait to display it proudly at the cabin this coming season.

December 6th I put the finishing touches on Mom's last Nautical design...

The whole set fits perfect in this basket that my Grandma Faust (my mom's mom) made so many years ago. Well 11 months fits perfect. Which means the month currently on the calendar can be displayed right in front of the basket...

I just can't say enough how much I love how this turned out. This set was perfect for her and just looks fantastic on her shelf in her living room. Now for many years to come she will have this set to display each month.

With the Christmas rush in full effect I haven't had any extra time for old finishes. Boy I really hoped I would have time. I really really hope January will be the month I can finally dig it all out again. Which will be a lot easier since I organized my storage area too!

So a quick look back on my finishes I posted for this SAL now...

February -- 5

March -- 6

April -- 5

May --  2

June -- 4

July -- 2 

August -- 6

September -- 2 

October -- 3 

November -- 3 

December -- 3

Total of  41 Now!!!!

I'm very very happy with that. 41 pieces not hiding away in my box of shame. I sure hope to keep adding to that next year. Thanks again Rachel for the push I sure needed.

#24HOCS November Challenge Recap

Tomorrow is the first. Time to start the last month of 2019. I just can't believe it. So let's do a quick recap of my November acrostic goals I setup for the #24HoursOfCrossStitch Facebook group.

 ✅ R -- Christmas Jars from Dimensions

Start on the "R"ed Jar

Total Time: 19 Hours 58 Minutes

 Guess what I just finished this one tonight!!

Now I have 3 of the 4 finished...

👎 E -- Salt Water Taffy from Joan "E"lliott

Decided to skip so I could focus on the jar. 

 ✅ W -- Autumn Blessing from "W"axing Moon Designs

New start. With all the beautiful leaves outside this one is begging to be started.

Total Time: 4 Hours 36 Minutes

Got 3 Leaves in...

 ✅ I -- Cabin Fever Mill Hill Kit

Connection: "I" really want this one finished!!

Total Time: 5 Hours 24 Minutes

Very excited to report this one is finished too!!! 

 ✅ N -- "N"autical Year November from Sand, Sea & Cross Stitch

Total Time: 8 Hours 15 Minutes

Another finish...

 ✅ D -- Beer "D"ragon from Paine Free Crafts

Total Time: 9 Hours 54 Minutes

Got 883 stitches in...

 ✅ T -- Lizzie Kate Flip It Stamp November

Connection: There is "T"urkey on it.

Another finished piece. 

Total Time: 14 Hours 18 Minutes

 ✅ I -- 99 Bottle from "I"nk Circles

Total Time: 2 Hours 50 Minutes

2 more bottles added...

 ✅ M -- Tree Shopping a "M"ill Hill Kit

Total Time: 7 Hours 26 Minutes

Started and Finished this cute MH kit...

 👎 E -- Adjust your Sails from Little Dove Designs

Connection: It's on "E"venweave Fabric

Skipped this one to finish the Christmas Jar.

So 10 letters. 8 checks. 2 not worked on. 5 finishes!!!! This acrostic SAL is definitely keeping me motivated, helping me stick to pieces, and get them finished. I'm so happy with my progress. 

The other challenge was to stitch a total of 24 hours throughout the month. I normally have no problem with this one at all. This month is no different. Checking in with a total of 72 Hours 23 Minutes.

 

Be right back with my December challenge goals.

Monday Update (November WIPocalypse)

Yesterday was the last Sunday of the month. Just one month left of 2019. How is that possible?! The new thoughts of the new year are running around in my head. I want to stitch this. Go here. Do this. Finish this. Oh I have to stitch this. Oh yeah this fun thing planned. Oh what about this piece? It needs added to the list. I love this time of year! All the new ideas and push to do better. Anyway it's time for another WIPocalypse post. This SAL is for us to finish our WIPs before the end of the world. Don't worry it will never happen because my WIPs will never be finished. So I'm holding the end at bay. Lots of stitching going on in between Christmas shopping last week. I had 2 finishes!! LOL I'm all over the place with this post. Sorry. You can tell the many many ideas in my head are distracting me haha.

So WIPocalypse. Go here to check in. For this SAL I like to keep track of what I've been working on and how many days. I write in a weekly planner every day what projects I worked on that day. Also because of the #24HOCS challenges I started keeping track of hours I've stitched each day on a stop watch too. Let's look back and see what I've been working on since my last check in...

Halloween Biscornu -- 3 Days. Finished up my biscornu on Halloween day...

Harvest Wagon MH -- 1 Day. Got a little start on this fun Mill Hill kit...

Nautical Year -- 3 Days. Got the November design started and finished up for Mom...

Lizzie Kate Flip It Stamp -- 3 Days. Got the November design started and finished for me...

Autumn Blessing -- 2 Days. Started this new piece...

Christmas Jars -- 1 Day. Pulled out this old WIP. I had finished two of the jars. Got a start on the 3rd jar...

Beer Dragon -- 2 Days. Got 883 stitches added to this one...

99 Bottles -- 1 Day. Added 2 more bottles...

Tree Shopping -- 3 Days. Started and finished this cute Mill Hill kit...

I have this as a magnet right now but I have an idea on how I want to display it. We'll see on the FFG post if it works. Come back the 10th to see.

Cabin Fever MH -- 2 Days. OMG I finished this one!!! Finally!!!

I found this mat board at Dixie Darlin in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. I assume they were made for this and the 2nd companion Mill Hill kit called Camping Out. We bought two and I'm so glad we did I just LOVE the way it looks. Now I just need a frame to pop the mat into. So happy to have this one done!!

Snowflake SAL -- 2 Days. I started my first Stitchonomy SAL. It's the Winter SAL 2019 and it's 27 tiny little snowflakes. I have 2 in right now the 3rd was just released...

I'm using a 36ct Silkweavers Solo Molino blueish fabric and the suggested threads. The snowflakes come out at noon each day. It's so much fun to look forward to what it will look like and takes just a few minutes to stitch up. Then the torture to wait till the next day at noon starts.

 7 Days of no stitching which is a lot better than past check ins.

So Tree Shopping and Cabin Fever Mill Hills are my exciting finishes I shared with you. Wohoo! I wanted to finish Cabin Fever so bad this year. Now I can start the 2nd companion one but I think that will wait till after the new year. We've started our Christmas shopping. It's also the busy Thanksgiving week of gathering food and prepping all the yummies for Thursday. It's just our house hold but that won't stop us from eating way too much. Lots of fun stuff coming up. Getting our Christmas tree and decorating. But hopefully some stitching time mixed in. Have a great week. Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate it.

Monday After IHSW Update

Lots of stitching to share. It's been a great progress filled week and weekend. First let's take a look back at last week.

Monday I started a new piece...

Autumn Blessing from Waxing Moon. I got the Weeks Dye Works threads to do this one in. Those leaves I just thought would be beautiful that way. Monday I got started on it and got one leaf done in the upper left corner...

I'm absolutely in love with the fabric too. 28ct Crystal Mello Lugana. This photo kind of shows the sparkle so you can imagine it in person I hope. Plus I love the variegation in the thread. Tuesday I got some more time with this one...

Added 2 more leaves as you can see. For some reason this one seems to go a little slow. It's a fun piece to work on though so that's okay.

Wednesday I picked up Christmas Jars again. I hadn't worked on it since Dec 9th 2017. Remember this one?

I have two of the jars finished. I wanted to get started on the red jar next. I have the two on the right finished up...

Here is my progress on the red jar now...

I took the day off Thursday to do a bunch of computer work.

Friday was the start of IHSW and my family did fantastic leaving me alone to stitch and watch TV. I got 7 Hours and 7 Minutes of stitching added to Beer Dragon. Here he was before and after Friday...

Saturday I added 200 more stitches and got to here...

Saturday I got a later start and didn't focus as hard. Maybe I was tired from the Friday push haha. I got 5 Hours 37 Minutes in still though. After getting the 200 more in on Beer Dragon I felt like moving on. So I stuck with the beer theme and picked up 99 Bottles. I got 2 more bottles added...

I have 51 bottles added now. I've also decided this one will be finished in 2020! I'm thinking about how I want to plan that. I might plan on at least 1 bottle a week until it's finished. We'll see. I'm not done making my 2020 stitching plans yet.

Sunday I only got 3 Hours and 2 Minutes but that was just fine after my fantastic two days of stitching. I started Tree Shopping another Mill Hill Kit. (Yes I really have been enjoying them lately as you can tell.) Here is what it will look like...

 Here is where I got after the first day of stitching...

I'm going to stick with this one till it's finished.

I updated my #24HOCS acrostic list on the right side. I have 3 without any progress. There is still time left for the month. Honestly though I'm happy with my progress again. Especially after this weekend of stitching. So we'll see what happens the rest of the month. I hope everyone has a great week. Mom has a doctor appointment tomorrow and we have some shopping plans. Have to start the Christmas shopping. Doesn't seem like it's that time already does it?

#24HOCS November Challenges

Now that I've wrapped up October let's see what I plan to do in November.

I'm going to hope for more than 24 hours for the monthly challenge. Normally that one isn't a problem for me. Next up then is the November acrostic which is REWIND TIME which we just did over the weekend. Now it's dark all the time it feels like. I'm going to do this one a little different. Yes I want 4 hours on each one hopefully more. My goal really is just to get the piece out and make progress at all. So I will pick a goal instead. I seem to really love doing that. We'll see. Anyway let's go my acrostic plan...

R -- Christmas Jars from Dimensions

Start on the "R"ed Jar

Remember this one?

I have two finished. Perfect that the red one is next isn't it?

E -- Salt Water Taffy from Joan "E"lliott

W -- Autumn Blessing from "W"axing Moon Designs

New start. With all the beautiful leaves outside this one is begging to be started.

I -- Cabin Fever Mill Hill Kit

Connection: "I" really want this one finished!!

N -- "N"autical Year November from Sand, Sea & Cross Stitch

Have to Finish Mom's Monthly Piece

D -- Beer "D"ragon from Paine Free Crafts

Yep got him back on the list!

T -- Lizzie Kate Flip It Stamp November

Connection: There is "T"urkey on it.

My monthly design.

I -- 99 Bottle from "I"nk Circles

Fred's piece made it back on the list too.

M -- Tree Shopping a "M"ill Hill Kit

New start. I love this one and just have to have it ready by Christmas.

E -- Adjust your Sails from Little Dove Designs

Connection: It's on "E"venweave Fabric

Just had to get this one back on the list too. My SAL partner finished hers.

So we'll see how much I can get done. I know life is slowing down finally. We brought home most of the cabin stuff since the weekends are getting really cold now. We won't be going down every weekend. We do hope to go down some time of course we would just miss it too much. IHSW weekend (the third weekend) my hubby is going to be gone all weekend. I can't decide if I'm going to have a marathon type weekend or just make a lot of progress on these pieces. We'll see what I decide later. I hope everyone has a great month. I'm hoping to start mom's piece today and get it knocked out quickly. I can't believe there are just two months left of 2019! I love hearing the plans and new challenges for the upcoming year. I'm always excited to join in. Please make sure to post details on any new challenges/SALs that you hear about. It's always fun to see what the community is up to.