2011 Stitching Round Up

I set some pretty ambitious goals for last year and I'm pleased to see I achieved almost everything I wanted to get done. This was despite not being able to stitch for a good part of the year due to my sore shoulder. Thankfully that is on the mend now so I'm looking forward to a year with less pain and being able to do more.
I wanted to finish these 10 projects and managed to finish all of them:
1. Emperor Penguins (CS) - Finished 8th Jan
2. Debbie Bliss Bunny Toy (K) - Finished 9th Jan
3. Blackwork Chessboard (CS) - Finished 10th Jan
4. Funky Sox (K) - Finished 16th Jan
5. Autumn Sox (K) - Finished 22nd Jan
6. Herbie the Hermit Crab (K) - Finished 24th Jan
7. Midsummer Night's Fairy (CS) - Finished 5th Feb
8. Stitchers Make the Best Friends (CS) - Finished 11th Jan
9. Magicas Puntadas SAL 2011 (CS) - Finished 9th Nov
10. Poppies Kit by Golden Bee (CS) - Finished 23rd Oct  I wanted to get these 3 projects half finished - I finished two and the third is now 60% complete:  1. Noro Blossom Cardigan (K) - Finished 13th Feb 2. Earth Dragon (CS)  - Achieved 15th Nov
3. Kimono (S) - Finished 13th Feb

I wanted to stitch on these 9 projects before the year end - I worked on only 5 of them:

1. Cathay project (K)
2. DMC Linea Bracelet (S) - Finished November 21st
3. Coffee Table Runner (S)
4. Blumen in Raster (CS)
5. Four Horses of the Apocalypse (CS)
6. Celtic Spring (CS)
7. Spot of Summer (CS)
8. Winterhaven (CS)
9. I think... (CS)
  And I managed to finish 18 projects in total: 

1. Our House is Filled with Love (CS)
2. Emperor Penguins (CS)
3. Debbie Bliss Bunny Toy (K)
4. Blackwork Chessboard (CS) 
5. Stitchers Make The Best of Friends (CS) 
6. Funky Sox (K) 
7. Autumn Sox (K)
8. Herbie the Hermit Crab (K) 
9. Midsummer Night's Fairy (CS) 
10. Bird Heart (CS)  
11. Noro Blossom "Eloise" Cardigan (K)
12. Kimono Costume for Hallowe'en (S)
13. Kind and True (CS)
14. Quaker Needlebook(CS)
15. Poppies Kit by Golden Bee (CS)
16. Magicas Puntadas Romantic Sampler SAL (CS)
17. Christmas Ornament for 2011 CSC Exchange (CS)
18. DMC Linea bracelet (S)

 

Earth Dragon - possibly last update of the year

 Front on view to show the progress to date - I'm so happy to be past the half-way mark on this one and to have met my 2011 goal

And an angled shot to show the dark brown on black stitches that I think I'll despise - I know they really add to the piece but arghhhh!

December Goals

For my December rotation I have set myself the following goals: Earth Dragon to 55% - achieved :)
Cathay Knitting project to 40% - achieved :)
Coffee Table Runner project to 40%
Blumen in Raster to 14% - achieved :)
Four Horses of the Apocalypse to 8%

Farewell to February...

My goals for February:
Finish Bride's Tree Ornament #2
Finish Magicas Puntadas SAL Part 2
Finish Midsummer Night's Fairy

and I achieved them all plus managed to get some stitching done on a very long-standing WIP - Earth Dragon. I guess that means February was an excellent stitching month, as was January... let's hope this continues into March. The finishes will definitely be fewer for the rest of the year as a lot of projects I have started are huge and I haven't achieved much on them.

so my goals for March are:
Finish Bride's Tree Ornament #3
Finish Magicas Puntadas SAL Part 3 (released 10th March)
Get Earth Dragon to 30% complete

Wish me luck!

January Stitching Round Up & February Goals

I had a great January, though mostly because I picked projects that were close to being finished. The rate of finishes will slow down significantly for the rest of the year. The good news is that I only have two more projects that I wanted to finish before the end of the year - Middy - and that one could (I hope) be completed by the end of February and - Magicas Puntadas SAL 2011 which is coming out in monthly parts so can't be completed until November.

Under my self-imposed restriction of one start for every two finishes I can add another piece to my rotation once Middy is complete - Companions by Teresa Wentzler is the next piece to be started. Though in practise I haven't started some of the pieces I've added, they've just been tagged on to the bottom of the column of progress bars! At some point I will re-start my rotation and not be working on just one project at a time so they'll all get some attention, but I think that will only happen when there are just 5 or 6 projects on the list.

A round up of my 8 finishes:
Bride's Tree Ornament #1
Blackwork Chessboard
Debbie Bliss Knitted Bunny Toy
Emperor Penguins
February Friendship Exchange
Funky Sox
Autumn Sox
Herbie the Hermit Crab

I also finished Part 1 of the Magicas Puntadas SAL 2011

My goals for February:
Finish Bride's Tree Ornament #2
Finish Magicas Puntadas SAL Part 2
Finish Midsummer Night's Fairy

January Stitching Goals

On Cross Stitch Crazy we have an annual theme, the one voted for 2011 was to "WIP yourself into shape" - the idea to clear out some long-term WIPs. I have been doing this quietly on my own for the last couple of years and thought I had made significant progress and then....

I sorted out the crafting cupboard and saw my list of WIPs grow hugely (erf) - I have realised I will be working on the two finishes for one new start for at least this year and probably next as well if I am to continue WIP-ing myself into shape.

With this in mind I set some January goals:

1. Finish Emperor Penguins - achieved 8th January
2. Tidy out the crafting cupboard - achieved 9th January

As I completed these goals much more quickly than I'd expected I added to the list a few more goals...

3. Finish Debbie Bliss knitted toy - achieved 10th January
4. Finish Blackwork Chessboard - achieved 10th January
5. Finish Poppies
6. Finish Part 1 & 2 of Magicas Puntadas 2011 SAL
7. Finish Friendship Exchange piece - achieved 11th January

My Stitching Goals for 2011

Stitching Goals

Finish These Projects:
1. Emperor Penguins
2. Midsummer Night's Fairy

Get the following projects to 50%:
1. Earth Dragon
2. Blumen in Raster

Stitch on these projects in 2011
1. Four Horses of the Apocalypse
2. Celtic Spring
3. I think...

Not anywhere near as ambitious as last year but I hope to end up the year with only 5 or 6 WIPs. I have some huge projects in here which I'll be really pleased to finish as there are so many other exciting projects that I am itching to start. I am still working on 2 Finishes before I start anything new.