3 weeks!

I finished the model! I stitched from when I got home last night (a little after 4pm) to 10 pm with about a 1/2 hour break for dinner. I wasn't sure at first, but everything was moving along so quickly - and I finished it! Now I can take a breath and figure out what I want to work on before the next model comes.

A reminder on what I have going:
-crochet, reworking a pattern for a pair of mens slippers then making a pair and felting them
-crochet, figuring out where to add rows/stitches to the pattern for mary janes so I can make a pair to felt
-crochet, figuring out the pattern for a shrug and making 2
-crochet, time to start making baby sweaters!
-cross stitch, the stocking for Kaitlyn
-cross stitch, Harbor Vista
-cross stitch, Ghost Wool
-cross stitch, Blue Dragon
-cross stitch, consignment design
-cross stitch, time to start on my wedding sampler
-cross stitch, go stash diving to find a dragon UFO for the year of the dragon project

January 31st

Model Stitching Update
After only a couple of days I'm really happy with the progress I'm making on the model. There are 4 words on this model. Two in a large font and two small. I've finished the two small ones and one of the large ones. The rest of the design is basically a vase with flowers in it. As this piece is not solidly stitched it's going to go rather quickly. I'm guessing it's only going to take a couple of weeks if I can put as much time in on it as I already have.

January 2012

Crochet:
I'm going to start with the crochet projects. I finished somewhere between 30-32 peppermint candy coasters and felted them all. I made 4 pair of fingerless gloves, 6 scarves, 2 hats, 2 cowls, 2 pair of baby shoes, a baby blanket and a neck warmer along with 6-8 washcloths. All for Christmas! And I got them all done in time too.

The projects currently in progress:
1. Adapting a slipper pattern to fit an adult male, then deciding how to make them 1/3 larger because I want to felt them.
2. Adapting a pair of mary jane slippers so that they can be felted.
3. Finding a crochet shrug pattern that I like that is somewhat short and lacy even with a medium to chunky yarn so I can make shrugs to go with the girls dresses for the wedding.
3. Finding a fingerless glove pattern that is either lacy or cables to make for me for the wedding.
4. Finish the amigurumi alligator for my granddaughter and start a different animal.
5. Work the crochet along from Bernat's blog when they start it in February.

Modelstitching:
I finished the model I received and sent it back last week. I have already received my next model. Everything is pretty much going to take a back seat to this since she wants it ASAP. It's not a huge design and it's basically white on white (my first) so I'm curious as to how long it's going to take me to get it finished.

Cross Stitch:
Challenge #1 ended last year with only one old WIP finished - Rose Arbor by Mirabilia. I'm going to carry this over into 2012 and try to get two old WIPs finished. The two oldest ones I have available are Castle Sampler (Teresa Wentzler) and Emerald Mermaid (Mirabilia). Unless I feel the need to go stash diving, these will most likely be the two I work on, however little time I will have. (Which I will mention in a moment.)
Challenge #2 ended last year with very few new ornaments made. Although I did get one done right around ringing in the new year. Jason wanted a snowflake ornament made in honor of his mother. I got it stitched and now it just needs to be stuffed in time to put on the tree when we decorate it this year. Just now, thinking about my circumstances, I've decided to let this challenge be over for this year and reactivate it for 2013. When I restart this again it will be to make ornaments for all the children in the family - my daughter and granddaughter, niece and nephews. I've already started the tradition of giving a Christmas ornament every year to my daughter and now granddaughter, might as well bring the others into it too.
Rotation - Blue Dragon Fairy, Harbor Vista, and the sheep one I can't remember the name of. These will be worked slowly, maybe once a week or so, and in between model stitching jobs. I have already picked up Harbor Vista again. After Christmas was great because I had lots of down time after finishing all the Christmas gifts. It was nice to have a project to work on without thinking of starting up something new. I've almost got page 2 complete!
As for my situation that I mentioned above: I'm getting married this year. I took out a loan (from my 401K) to pay for the wedding and honeymoon and we've had to live on some of it. My fiance has been unemployed for a solid 3 years now. (Since before we met. And yes, he's been constantly on the lookout for a job and applying anywhere and everywhere.) Anyway, short of getting a second job (which there is nothing out there) I'm doing all I can to make more $$ to put in our wedding fund. I'm lucky that I found a Designer that pays her modelstitchers in cash. (I've done some stitching for a Designer who pays in stash and she still owes me well over $300. It's difficult when you are only getting paid in their designs. I don't mind stitching them for her but I don't like them for me.) So I'm putting everything on the back burner and stitching up every model job I can get my hands on between now and October. The sooner I can get a job done the sooner I can get another one and have the potential to earn more money. So that's where my lack of time comes in. Always working a model job. Of course, that's just this year until October. Who knows what'll happen after that?

November 2011

Challenge #1 - Old WIPs has been shelved. At this point I know nothing else will get done on this for the rest of this year. As I only finished 1 old WIP in 2011 I will make it a goal for 2012.
Challenge #2 - ornaments - this one too has been shelved. I will not get any of these done for the rest of the year either. I will most likely try to pick this one up again next year as well.
Rotation - this too has been shelved. I have done a lot of work on Blue Dragon Fairy to say I put in a good effort this year. I still try to pick up Harbor Vista once every two weeks or so. View was going to wait until Harbor was done anyway.

Model stitching - I finished all 3 parts that was my last job. Then she sent me another one. This one is quite a bit larger and will take longer to finish.

Crochet - this is going well and fairly quickly. I'm able to finish at least one coaster per day. I need 4 more to make my minimum. Then I need 4 more washcloths, 2 hats, 2 scarves, and 2 pair of fingerless gloves. I'm also hoping to get at least 1 amigurumi done too. Blanket #2 is finished and blankets #1, & #3 are on hold as they take a long time to finish. All the coasters made up to last weekend have been felted. If I can finish the last 4 I need I will get them all felted this weekend.

I also found the cutest pattern for turkey coasters! I made two (they're somewhat more involved than the peppermint candies) and I decided that they needed two pumpkins to make the set. The turkeys are acrylic but the pumpkins are wool. Don't know if I want to felt the pumpkins yet or not.

August 2011

Monthly update: Challenge #1 - Old Wips - little to nothing has been done on Emerald Mermaid this month. Explanation to follow below. Challenge #2 - ornaments - same as Challenge #1 Rotation - Blue Dragon Fairy, Harbor Vista, and View from the Veranda - same as above Explanation: I made a contract and received a new model stitching job that pays cash! With as strapped as we've been all year any extra $$ really helps. The designer that I'm working for really needed me to get part of the job finished and sent back to her in early September to use for a trunk show. I went a small step further by sending it back two days early! (Yes, I am rather proud of myself when I can beat a deadline.) Anyway, most things took a back seat while I was getting this first part done. However, I did manage to get some crochet and felting in the mix. Crochet Projects: Baby blanket #1 - pink and yellow baby Jacquard yarn, round/flower pattern that is my favorite - gift for boss' first granddaughter Baby blanket #2 - blue, green, yellow, pink/purple overdyed yarn, geometric pattern that I found and is super easy! - request from my daughter for her baby

Baby blanket #3 - blue and green, my favorite pattern, gift for my first grandbaby Baby bibs - easy and quick to make, having fun using cotton for the first time hobo bag - daughter's request, using Tunisian stitch hat - new fall/winter hat for me with felted flower on the side

felted skull - gift for my pirate

felted bowl - for halloween candy that I need to cross stitch skulls in glow-in-the-dark thread

felted coasters - Christmas gifts for my family and friends (this one's going to take a while) So I have two more parts to stitch on the model stitching job that I've already got one started. I have also contracted two consignment jobs because a stitcher can't do so much anymore but wants projects done. I'm good with that. It gives me something to stitch, I don't have to worry about how/when I have $$ to frame it or even where to hang it, and it brings in a little more $$. I see it as a win-win situation. I will do my best to post some pictures tonight.

July 2011

Challenge #1 (finish old WIPs) - I picked up Castle Sampler as my old WIP but Emerald Mermaid was calling to me. I had much less work to do to have a finish so put Castle Sampler back. Her body and the seaweed below her are completely finished, except for a little backstitch on one arm. I need to finish her hair, her tail, and the seaweed above her body. Still a bit of work to do. However, I managed to get quite a bit of beading done around her head. She looks really good!

Challenge #2 (ornaments) - I'm working on an Ink Spot to make into an ornament.

Rotation:
Blue Dragon Fairy - I've slowed down on this one but still pick it up regularly. LOTS of work yet to do.
Harbor Vista - I'm still on page two but I'm closing on at least half the page completed. I hope to have page two completed and start on page three in August.
View from the Veranda - I've barely started on this one. It's taking a back seat until Harbor Vista is done.
Emerald Mermaid - She is coming along rather well as I said above.

Lots of crocheting baby items this month and probably will continue. I'm striving to split my time between cross stitch and crocheting.

May

I had this idea that I wanted to consolidate my blogging and my modelstitching "business" into one webpage so I wouldn't have to go to so many places on the web. Then I looked at how long I've been blogging here and how long it actually takes me to make a post. I think for a while I will just continue doing what I'm doing.

So to update the year so far:

Challenge #1 - to pick up some of my older WIPs and work on them until they are finished. So far I've finished Rose Arbor by Mirabilia

Challenge #2 - to make ornaments. So far I've stitched a Halloween ornament.

I have to consult my daily log (at home) for any other finishes. I think there's one or two

Rotation:
Ink Circles - Ink Spot #7 (Challenge #2)
Kustom Krafts - Blue Dragon Fairy, Harbor Vista, View from the Veranda
TW - Castle Sampler (Challenge #1)
crochet project

This is going really well. I'm putting 1 strand of thread into the Ink Circles project daily, 1-2 strands into Castle Sampler, 1-4 into Harbor Vista, and as many as I can into Blue Dragon Fairy. I found that I made a counting error and I've been trying for about a month to get it all filled in and back to where I can follow the chart. I think that I made it to that point yesterday. Soon I will have a whole page fully stitched!

That's it for now. I will try to blog at least once a month