2019 Smalls SAL Wrap Up and Next Year Reveal

Today is the last check in for the 2019 Smalls SAL. The idea of this fun SAL was to stitch up something small each month. So at the end of the year we know we will at least have 12 finishes. Even better if they are finished finishes. This is my 4th year participating. Mary is hosting now. Stop over to the check in post here to see what others have posted for the check in.

The first year I thought about this project I had in my stash that was a year long monthly set. I thought how perfect. I've stuck to that theme now and I really enjoy sitting out my monthly pieces the beginning of each month.

This year I found the perfect Nautical set to do for my mom. But I couldn't stop there could I? No, I picked a set of the Lizzie Kate monthly sets too for my side. I'm so happy I finished BOTH sets!

I was looking for something in my hope chest and found this basket my Grandmother made a long time ago. It is the perfect fit for Mom's Nautical set. Here is a photo of the set laid out...

Funny story. I went to use the December fabric and noticed a stain on it. So I switched out fabric. As you can see in the photo I used a smaller count obviously. Of course I didn't notice until it was finished. It looks fine until you sit them all side by side like this haha.  I really enjoyed doing this set for mom. Reminder they are from Sand, Sea & Cross Stitch book.

For my set I used the Lizzie Kate Flip It Stamps...

I really enjoyed this set as well. I really enjoyed how each month had 3 little buttons worked into the design.

I'm glad I did both sets. I'm also very glad they are finished haha. Plus I kept up with them which shocked me and most of you haha.

Next year I picked just one set to do. I will finally reveal them to you now...

This calendar was in a 2016 Cross Stitcher magazine. I seen another blogger stitch up one or two of them and fell in love. I searched and searched and couldn't find the pattern. They are called Lili of the Valley. When I was attending the PA retreat they had a free table and I couldn't believe my eyes when I seen this calendar. I can't wait to stitch them up.

Smalls SAL

Yesterday was the last Friday of the month. Which means it was time for a Smalls SAL. The idea of this SAL is to stitch up something small each month. So hopefully we'll have at least 12 finishes at the end of the year. I started this SAL a few years ago and decided to use it as an excuse to stitch a year long monthly design to display. I've completed 3 sets now thanks to this SAL.

Stop over to Mary's check in post to see what others have finished this time.

This year I decided to stitch a Nautical set for my mother and I'm doing a Lizzie Kate set for myself.

I completed both November pieces...

I can't believe I only have one left of each set to call them complete. Yes I already have next year's set picked out. Don't worry haha. It's a set of fairies. One for each month of the year.

I also finished a small Mill Hill kit called Tree Shopping since the last check in...

I love the way it turned out.

See ya next month with hopefully my last two pieces to complete these sets.

September Smalls SAL

Prepare for a bunch of updates again. Lots to report on again.

On the last Friday of every month (or the Monday following because you were so busy haha) we are to check in for Mary's Smalls SAL. Stop over to her check in post to see who has posted and what beauties they have created this month.

I joined in this SAL a few years before Mary hosted it. I loved the idea of trying to work on some smaller pieces throughout the year. Then I had a perfect year long chart in my stash with little monthly designs for each month. I found this perfect shelf my Grandpa made and wanted to have an area setup for each month/season to display. So I made my goal to finish my first set. I now have 2 completely finished monthly sets because of this SAL.

This year I picked 2 sets. A nautical set for my mom. Also I picked Lizzie Kate Flip It Stamps for my shelf.

So far this year I've kept up with finishing them each month. Luckily I continued and finished up the September pieces...

That's my only finishes this month. I'm excited to stitch the last 3 months and have picked out next year's set already. I will make you suffer though and I'll share that with you later. I'm really excited to have them added to my shelf next year.

Smalls SAL

The last Friday of the month is check in for the Smalls SAL. Yes Yes I know I totally missed it but the check in is still open so I'm jumping in before it's too late. Stop over to Mary's blog to see who stitched up what cuties this month.

I started this fun SAL a few years ago with an excuse to stitch up small monthly pieces. This year I'm doing two. One Nautical set for my mom and one Lizzie Kate set for me. My goal is keep up and so far I've done good with that goal. I know I've posted them a thousand time this month but here they are again haha.

Mom's Nautical set is from the Sand, Sea & Cross Stitch booklet. I love how each one has turned out and will be starting September hopefully today.

My set this year is Lizzie Kate Flip-It Stamps. I love how they have worked in 3 little buttons to each design.

The other thing I finished this month that is considered small is a Hinzeit piece called Love2Stitch...

(Finish #28) August 29th
Love2Stitch from Hinzeit
Stitched on 28ct Lavender Jobelan from PolStitches
Threads are Suggested DMC
Charm Came with Pattern
Started for Longest Weekend Marathon June 24th
Took 4 Days. Total Time 5 Hours 36 Minutes.

Now to start the September pieces to keep up with my goal. This is the time of year I start to wonder what I will work on next year for this SAL. I have several choices and pick a different set depending on the day haha.

July Smalls SAL

Pardon me while I catch up. First up is the July Smalls SAL. On the last Friday of each month we are to share anything we finish that will qualify as a small. So this way at the end of the year we have at least 12 cute finishes. I started this SAL a few years ago and used it as an excuse to stitch up monthly pieces each month all year. This year I'm doing a Nautical set for my mom and a Lizzie Kate set for myself. Stop over to Mary's check in post to see what others have stitched up this month.

So first up is the two July pieces...

Sand, Sea and Cross Stitch book Nautical Year July for my mom. Lizzie Kate Flip-It Stamps July for my set. Also this month I finished another Mill Hill kit...

Flip Flops. Love the way they all turned out. I'm looking forward to tomorrow so I can start the new monthly designs. First up is mom's nautical piece. Good luck on getting your smalls done too!

June Smalls and Update with a Finish

Today is the last Friday of the month which means it's time for a Smalls SAL update. For this SAL we are to stitch up a small piece each month. Hoping we will have at least 12 little finishes each year. I joined a few years ago and used this SAL as a perfect excuse to stitch up monthly pieces for the whole year to display on a seasonal shelf I have. This year I'm stitching two sets. One for my mom and one for me.

Mom's set is a Nautical set (of course haha) from Sand, Sea, and Cross Stitch book. My set is Lizzie Kate Stamps.

Here is Mom's June all finished up...

Here is mine all finished up...

I enjoyed both of them yet again. I really look forward to stitching them every month. Almost time to start the next pair.

I just finished another piece that will qualify as a small too Wednesday...

(21) June 26th

Beach Ball Mill Hill Kit

2019 Spring Bouquet Collection

MH18-1916

Using Kit Materials

Stitched on Perforated Paper

Started June 24th for Longest Day Marathon Weekend. Took 2 Days.

Right now I made it a magnet but we talked about finding something to glue it to like I did the snowman Mill Hill earlier this year. We'll see. I backed it with cardboard to make it more stiff and Mom has it sitting on her shelf unit in her living room.

Yesterday I pulled out Cabin Fever Mill Hill. Remember during the Longest Day Weekend Marathon I made a mistake with the section I was trying to stitch up...

I made a mistake on the outline of the section so everything was off inside of it. It took me forever to rip it out. I had to be careful so I didn't hurt the paper underneath the stitching. I finally got it out and restitched though.....correctly even haha. Then I did a little bit more on the fire block in the bottom right section too. Here it is now...

Here is a reminder of what it will look like when finished...

Perfect for our cabin right? I know. For some reason I just hit a done wall with these larger Mill Hill kits. I was working on it yesterday for a long time and then my needles just say Okay I'm done. I don't know why. So I put it down. I at least made some nice progress on it finally.

We are off to our cabin for the weekend as soon as hubby gets off work today. Supposed to be a hot one this weekend. Glad we have AC! I'll pack some stitching just in case I have time to work on it.

See ya Sunday for a WIPocalypse update. Have a great weekend.

May Smalls SAL Check In

Today is the last Friday of the month which means it's time for a Smalls SAL check in. Mary is hosting it over at her blog so stop over and see what people have posted. I use this SAL as an excuse to stitch up a monthly piece all year long. This year I'm doing a Nautical set for my mom and a Lizzie Kate set for myself.

Even though we've been busy busy with our traveling the end of April and beginning of May I was able to finish both April pieces and both May pieces. I didn't get to join in the April Smalls post but you can scroll down and see those pieces if you like in my previous posts. Here are my May finishes again though...

Tomorrow is the first day of June so I have my June Nautical piece packed to go to the cabin for the weekend just in case I find some extra time while there.

Other future plans I would like to share with everyone now. After finishing up my two June pieces I want to start Adjust your Sails. Bridgette who sent me the pattern is going to stitch it along with me. I will work on that until the 3rd full weekend of June which is starting June 21st. Fred has plans and will be gone all weekend. It's IHSW weekend plus Jo will be hosting the Longest Day SAL. I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do. Stitch on one piece the whole time. Stitch on a bunch of different pieces for a certain period of time. I just couldn't settle on an idea. Then I woke up one night and was laying in the bed. I swear I do the best thinking in the middle of the night. An idea popped in my head and I'm so excited.

Friday morning I will start. I'm going to put all my WIP names in a tin. Jeremiah (or mom) will pick a WIP out. I will make a goal on that piece and write it down. Something like finish an area, finish a symbol, certain number of stitches, or certain amount of time. At the end of that Jeremiah will pick out the next paper. Then I thought why just do that Friday for the Longest Day SAL. I'm really looking forward to it. So I'm going to keep at it for the whole IHSW. So Friday morning until Sunday evening at bed time. My other goal is watch as many TV shows off my DVR as I can because I'm so far behind.

Now I can't wait!!! I've warned the family. I'm going to make sure everything is ready and waiting for me to stitch stitch stitch. Will you be joining in? What's your plans. Let's make it a big one. Bring in Summer with a bang.

March Smalls and WIPocalypse Posts

Two updates in one since I was so busy over the weekend at the Fancy Works Retreat (Update coming soon too don't worry!)

March Smalls Post was the 29th. The idea is to stitch up some small things for each month. I like to use this SAL as an excuse to do up some year long monthly pieces. This year I'm doing a set for mom and a set for me. I finished up both March pieces...

 Mom's is the top one from Sand, Sea, and Cross Stitch booklet a Nautical Year long set. The bottom one is Lizzie Kate Flip-It Stamps set for me. I also had time to get a cute little Saint Patrick's Day piece done...

So there are 3 smalls for the Smalls Check in.

Also yesterday was the March WIPocalypse check in. The idea of this fun blog SAL is to finish all our WIPs before the end of the world. Don't worry I will hold it off forever because I will never finish all my WIPs since I keep adding to them all the time haha. I use this SAL as an excuse to keep track of how many days I've spent on my projects. So let's see what I've been working on since the last time which was February 24th.

Ocean in a Bottle -- 10 Days. Here is where I was before this time...

It's finished now...

Nautical Year -- 4 Days. Started and Finished this one. Shared above for the Smalls Post.

Lizzie Kate Stamp -- 4 Days. Started and Finished. Shared above for the Smalls Post.

Kiss Me Freebie -- 1 Day. Started and Finished. Shared above for the Smalls Post.

4 Seasons Winter -- 3 Days. Was here before...

Made it to here...

Snowy Owl Snowman -- 5 Days. I had only one day on this one...

I finished it in this time frame...

Other projects are coming with my retreat update next. I only had 4 days of No Stitching so that's great for me too.

We also get a neat question from Measi to discuss Question of the Month: What newer designers and product creators (fabric or floss dyeing, etc) out there have you discovered and recommend?

Oh so many. I love adding new designers and items to my stash. Hence why I will never be caught up haha. I love it all though. So many new designs came out this year at the market. I look forward to stitching as many as I can of course. As far as recommending....keep your eyes open. How can you not find things you want to stitch? I wish I had that problem haha. See ya next check in. April 28th. 

February Smalls SAL

February is a short month so here we are already at a Smalls SAL check in. The idea of this fun SAL is to stitch up something small each month. Maybe even finish it. Then you know you will have 12 things finished up at the end of the year. I used to be really bad about doing small pieces. Now I'm really enjoying the push to fill up my 3 layer shelf with a monthly seasonal type display.

I joined this SAL 4 years ago and picked a year long monthly piece. Now that's what I've stuck to. I have 3 full year long sets thanks to this SAL. This year I decided to do 2 sets. Lizzie Kate Stamps for me and a Nautical set for my mom.

My goal is to finish them each month throughout the year.

I got both the February pieces finished and even FFOd. (Fully Finished Off). I also finished up a little Valentine freebie for the Valentine Blog Hop this month...

So I finished 3 in January and now 3 more in February. I'm very happy with my progress. Have a great weekend. We are off to have a weekend of fun with friends.

January Smalls SAL

Today is the last Friday of the month. Wow already?? This means it's the first check in for the new Smalls SAL that Mary is hosting at her blog now. Stop over here to see what people have stitched up this month.

I have joined in 3 times before and this is my 4th year. I like to use this SAL as an excuse to stitch up monthly small pieces to add to my shelf unit for a monthly seasonal display. This year I have picked out 2 sets a Nautical set for my mom and a Lizzie Kate set for me.

I finished up both of the January pieces...

This month I also finished up a small Sea Turtle Mill Hill kit...

So I think he deserves a mention too. Have you done any small stitching this month?