Tag: first love wedding record

Wedding Sampler Progress

The 2016 Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery sampler is being released tomorrow and I’m so excited to start it! Of course, two days ago, I realised that I didn’t know where I had put the kit and the fabric so had to tear apart the house looking for it. Crisis averted, they’ve both been found and I am all prepared and eager to begin stitching it. I’m hoping I can match 2015’s pattern of finishing within a few days of release, rather than 2014, of taking 18 months to finish it…

In the meantime, I’ve been putting some serious effort into the wedding sampler and I’m pleased with how well it’s been going. I’ve been doing a combination of stitching this when I get home from work at night, and watching Friends, because apparently I’m the last person in the world to watch this, so I’ve been bingeing on Friends (I’m already up to season 3!) whilst plowing through my stitching.

Today I went along with mum (who is to blame for my craft obsession) to a new-ish stitching group which takes place near us at The Quilt Shop in Eltham – it’s a new shop which opened up a few months ago and it’s nice to have a craft store near me! I’ve only been along a couple of times but there is a sit and sew session on Monday and Friday every week, and working shift work means that I may actually be able to make some of the sessions. I was working on the sampler again and here’s where I’m up to:

We have an eye (I just need to do some backstitch on both of the eyes but will wait til I’m finished for that) and the girl’s hair is well and truly starting to take shape.  My goal with this one is to finish it, with the exception of the name & date, by the end of February. Here’s hoping?

I probably won’t get much more done on this in the next few days because I’m going to be working on the Pumpkin Passport once it’s released, and I’m not sure how big each month will be, but I’m hoping that my rate of progress on stitching will continue once my two Heaven and Earth Designs patterns come back into rotation.

Wedding Sampler

Well, in an effort to prove to myself that I actually did a decent amount of work on this in a bit over a week, as well as continue to remember to blog, I’ve got some progress shots of the wedding sampler!

Here’s where I was at the beginning of the year:

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And, here’s where I am now:

  
I’m really loving how this doesn’t seem to have any shape and then all of a sudden, the face appears! Plus, I’ve finally given them both mouths so they look less creepy.

Next up I’ve been told I have to work on the eye…

I’ve managed to finish all of the missing gaps with the boy’s clothes, except for the tie – I seem to have no form of logic when stitching this and just seem to be going wherever I can stitch with the same colour thread so I don’t have to rethread my needle. 

Regardless, this seems to coming along at a fairly reasonable pace, which is good as the 2016 Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery sampler is released in a few days and I need to firstly find the kit and make sure it’s ready, and I’ll be pulling that out as soon as the pattern comes out. 

New Year: New Goals

I know I say this frequently, but I’m still useless at remembering to update my blog. I am, however, putting up pictures every couple of days on Instagram (username: alexhulett) so feel free to go and follow me over there as well!

That being said, it’s a new year and I’m determined to both blog more frequently, and take on less new starts until I at least knock off a few more existing projects.  I started trying to concentrate on this in the last third of 2015 and I’ve been making some decent progress.  Last year I made a post of all of my goals that I wanted to achieve… let’s see how I went?

Once Upon A Time Sampler: Complete!

When I posted this last year, I was extremely behind on this sampler, which was released in 2014. Beginning of 2015:

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And by the end:

I really enjoyed stitching this one, even if I did have to rip out about a third of the border due to a counting mistake.

Story Time Sampler: Complete!

This was a new start in 2015 as it was last year’s sampler. At the beginning of the year, shortly after the pattern was released:

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And, at the end of the year:

I’m quite proud that I managed to stay on top of this one throughout the year, and almost every month was completed in the first few days from the clue release. I definitely think that stitching the frames for the whole year at the beginning helped, as it meant that once the clue was released I could just get straight into stitching it.  I’ve signed up for the 2016 sampler and I’m hoping that this record continues!

Mini Watching It Fly: Progress, 5/15 pages complete.

This is one that I only picked up again in November, but here’s where I was at the start of last year:

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And, here’s where I am as of a couple of days ago (I was determined to finish the page before the end of the year, which I managed to do):

I’m finally starting to get some more of the pattern out – I think the next pages over to the right is where I start the actual girl and I’m hanging out for that. I love this pattern so much, but I think I got burnt out – my mode of attack for this one in 2016 is to try and aggressively stitch and complete one page and then move onto another project for a couple of weeks so I don’t get burnt out and sick of this and put it away for months, like I’ve done at least three times already.

Tribute to “Dogloaf”: Complete (except for back stitching).

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This is another one which I finished at the beginning of 2015, although posting about this has reminded me that it still needs the backstitch:

The pattern is still incredibly detailed as it is, but I think the back stitch will just make it ‘pop’. As I’m saving to get this and a few others framed, there’s no urgent rush but I should probably get around to it at some point!

Travel Memories: Not touched.

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There was bound to be a couple, right? This is one of two that I haven’t even touched – not for dislike of the pattern, but because others were calling to me first. There was no real intention for the finished project in mind, so I’m happy to keep this one in my ever growing stash until it’s needed.

First Love Wedding Record: Slight Progress

At the beginning of last year this is where I was with it:

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And here’s where I am now – if you look closely, I promise you’ll see I’ve actually done a bit, even if it’s only a few stitches:

This is actually what’s currently sitting in my Q-Snap as I’ve pulled it out a couple of days ago to start work on again.  It’s such a cute pattern (although the mouthless boy is still creeping me out, I think I need to focus on that soon!)

Christmas Celebration Sampler: Complete!

This one was almost all finished except for the border:

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Which, for some reason, I didn’t pick back up until mid-year, and then promptly knocked out in a week:

And has now been added to my pile of completed Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery projects that need to be framed.

Dimensions Christmas Ornaments: Not touched.

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Another one I want to do, and have no other reason for not touching except it’s not as high on my priority and rotation list and have others that I wanted to do first. Maybe in 2016?

Hogwarts Crest: Barely touched.

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I admit, I actually forgot about this one for quite a while. I’ve done a few more stitches on it but wasn’t actually that much to even bother taking a photo of. I started this one maybe 3-4 years ago, so I’d really like to finish it at SOME point. Or maybe at least the house crests in the middle!?

Mini Red Riding Hood: 2/16 pages complete.

The first two pages stitched up remarkably quickly (and I’ve learnt that I much prefer the large sized chart over regular in terms of reading, and smaller page sizes!) – I’m hoping that this year I can try and do another 2-3 pages. It’s a Heaven and Earth Designs chart so I have no illusions of completing it within a couple of months, but I’m hoping to at least try and steadily stitch on this so it doesn’t end up as long of a WIP as the grey blob has been.

A Very Merry Christmas Town: Complete!

This was a new start this year – another Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery design that was released mid-year and was their Christmas sampler released over four months.

It’s fairly adorable and nice to have a new start *and* a finish!

Woodland Sampler: Complete!

Another new one – I bought the pattern a couple of years ago, the threads a few months later, and then a friend bought me the fabric for my Christmas present in 2014. I think this one took me a little under 2 months all up, but it’s super cute and finished:

The only thing I changed on this was the year (from 2013 to 2015). With this, I think I’ve finished all of the FPS yearly samplers, and am up to date – so this year I’ll only be doing the current year, not 3 at once, which will hopefully free up some time to do other projects!

I’ve also got a TON of embroidery projects to catch up on that have completely been put on the back burner, almost all exclusively Rosalie Dekker (formerly Rosalie Quinlan) Designs.  I haven’t taken pictures, which will have to wait for another blog post but in the interest of trying to hold myself accountable and see where I’m at for the beginning of the year:

Best Friends Forever BOM: Super behind. I’ve completed about half of a stitchery, and there’s 32 to go. I reaaally need to work on this, it’s been almost 2 years since I signed up! I guess I’ll put this down as 0.5/32 stitcheries complete
Simply Blessed BOM: Doing slightly better, I have completed the first two and have made a small start on the third one, and this one’s only a year and a half old! 2/9 stitcheries complete
United Stitches BOM: Not doing much better in this, I’ve completed one and a half stitcheries, and I think I’ve received about 10 in the mail! Added to this, because it’s a “stitch and switch”, it’s more like 20 stitcheries as all of them need to be done twice and swapped with my partner (who, thankfully is my mother, who understands that I have far too many WIPs and it’s going to be a while before she gets hers!) 1/20 (and growing!) stitcheries
Flowerville BOM: The newest BOM from Rosalie, I’ve promised myself that I won’t start this one until I’ve made at least some impact on the above three.  This one is still being mailed out – so I’ve got 5 months so far sitting in a pile, waiting. I’d like to at least tackle one of them – they’re in gorgeous Cottage Garden Threads, but I need to wait otherwise this will end up like the others and not at all done! Not started

Well – that’s my round up of all my craft for 2015, and my goals for 2016. I feel like I didn’t get much done in terms of finishes, but when I’ve put it all out there, as well as the before and after shots it looks a bit better. Here’s to another year of successful craft!