Floss Friday #28

Happy Holidays Everyone! Christmas is just two short days away and I finally got my Christmas tree up. I am so behind on all things Christmas. Tomorrow I am hosting Christmas Eve dinner. We went from 2 people to 6!! It looks like I will be headed to the grocery store tomorrow. I wish all of you a stress free holiday!

I got out my scanner this week and got all caught up scanning all my patterns. I like to work off my iPad instead of a real paper pattern. It is easier for me to see and I don’t have to highlight the actual pattern. Next, I organized all the ones that are kits versus just patterns and put them away.

I got my thread inventory updated for the kits (just in case I need to borrow). I also started organizing all my fabrics. Right now, it is aida, evenweave, or linen separation. I may rethink that by count instead.

In 2023, I think I will be resorting my hand dyed floss by color for those times when I pull my own colors. As I gain experience, I gain confidence to replace colors etc. It would be much easier to do if it was organized by color. I don’t think I am ready to do that with DMC, besides I have a DMC card with all the floss by color on it to look at which has color groupings as well as by number.

Starts & Finishes

It was a good week on starts & finishes. I had an unplanned start but it felt good! I had set a goal to finish 5 projects this month. This week was finish number 4. Let’s check it out.

FINISH: June Sampler of the Month by Country Cottage Needleworks

I really want to finish up some of the lingering starts from the summer. It seems to be working with my hybrid approach to stitching this month. December is going to rank pretty high on the finishing month. I enjoyed stitching the watermelon and berries but not so much the ants and seeds. The french knots and backstitching really enhance this finish.

START: December Sampler of the Monty by Country cottage Needleworks

I couldn’t resist starting the December Sampler since I have everything in the for all 12 samplers in the same bag with the June. I didn’t have much time left in my evening. The pink in this house is done!

START: December Barn Sweet Barn by Lori Holt & Fat Quarter Shop

I pulled threads from my stash this month. I was only missing one color but found a substitute fairly easy. I didn’t have much time this week during the evenings because I was working on other things. You can see the red square for the middle.

Final Finishes

While I did not finish anything, I gathered supplies to work on Cottage of the Month and Let’s Talk Winter. I hope to have something to show you next week.

Weekly WIP Update

I was able to touch on all the projects I wanted but as usual, I am a slow stitcher and didn’t get as much done as I planned. Overall, it was a productive week.

Christmas Tiny Town by Heart in Hand

I am just loving these little houses. I finished my first house and the center of town (mostly) and started my second house. So freaking cute!

Santa Baby by Fat Quarter Shop

Still plugging away at this one. Since I didn’t get stitch the weekend due to hockey, I didn’t work on this every day as planned. I managed to get in only a few days. This is one I hope to report as a finish next week. Keep your fingers crossed!

Snow Village by Country Cottage Needleworks

Wow! I finished all the snow and have started working the brown of the trees. I had hoped to make more progress this week then I did. It definitely feels good to be working on the stuff that goes ON the snow.

May Calendar Crates by Stitching with the Housewives

The night I got to work on this, I was moving and grooving people! I made so much progress. At one point, I thought I might finish the entire sign. I made a mistake a while back, but I don’t even think it’s noticeable anymore. My barn seems off from the edge of the sign but I can’t find any mistakes so I am moving some of the floating “diamonds” near the barn to occupy more space. I am sure when I get to the next phase, I will figure out where the mistake is. I just won’t be fixing it anymore.

Mr. July, A Calendar Gnome by Charlie’s Needle

I have not stitched on this since I started it in July. Once again, it was a night with not a large chunk of time, but I touched the project and moved forward. This hybrid way of working on projects has allowed me to move forward on all projects. After I finish May Calendar Crates, I will push forward on this one. I am a little disappointed that I won’t be starting Mr. January since I missed out on him last year. This series is enjoyable but detailed.

Upcoming

Next week is my last full week in December. I want to finish stitching Barn Sweet Barn and Santa Baby and hit my last project that I haven’t touched since I started it – August Snap Shot.

Here is a list of next week’s goals:

• August Snap Shot – finish the sunbathing lady
• Winter Calendar – Day 3
• Finish Santa Baby
• Snowballs for Sale wheel barrel
• Christmas Tiny Town – house #4 (on the other side of Center)
• Finish December Barn Sweet Barn
• Prim Stitch – Pineapple
• FFO: Let’s Talk Winter
• FFO: Jan Cottage of the Month

It’s a bit ambitious, but after Christmas, I have no other plans but to work on quilting my quilts and stitching my projects to wrapping things up.

I only have two more Cottage of the Months (April & October). I have decided that instead of waiting until April, I will pull together and start ASAP, then October.

For 2023, I am starting Snowman Collector. All the supplies arrived this week. I a getting everything organized. I am doing it as one piece since each chart is a different size. When I was at Michael’s yesterday, I found the perfect variegated color to use as a border (I hope). They suggest white but that sounded too boring. I can always take it out if I don’t like it.

Also pulling together supplies for Hello There by Hands on Design and a temperature stitch. I got my legend for San Jose figured out and now I keep going back and forth between the four possible stitches. I wanted to do a bookcase, but I really should have already started that. With my other 2023 starts, I need to do something simpler, either going with the cats or butterflies, probably butterflies because they are cuter.

That’s it for this week. Everyone relax and enjoy the holidays with friends and family. Eat lots of food so that you have a food coma going into 2023!

Peggy Stockwell