Kits And UFO Week!

Some people love cold weather, or so I'm told. Me? I just want to curl up in a ball and hibernate until Spring. Late Spring. Or early Summer. You'd think I'd be getting more stitching done, I usually do when it is cold. But this year, not so much. Mostly that is due to my schedule. I just don't have the kind of time I used to have for stitching. If I manage 3 hours a week then I've done very well indeed. What goes along with being busy? Getting tired, and I don't stitch when I'm too tired, not as rule, since I don't want to invite the frog for a visit.

More limited stitching time is something I've been in denial about for some time. I've decided to face it though and I am working out a scheme to make it work for me. Progress is a relative thing. I could honestly stitch for years without a finish and so long as I'm stitching and seeing bits of progress I am generally a happy stitcher.

One of the loveliest things about stitching is that it waits for you. I've got so many pieces started, and enough charts and kits in stash to keep me busy for a very long time. I'll just keep plugging away of course, but I've decided I need a boost for my kits. I like every kit I've bought over the years and I just acquired a few more during a clearance sale, so that is where I'm starting.

I hereby declare the first week of each month this year to be Kit Week! If I can manage only one hour or 10, the first week of each month I am going to work on one of my kits. Feel free to join in with a kit, a UFO, a crochet project, knitting, beading, sewing, quilting etc. Whatever you have that needs attention and doesn't get it very often. Have a new start every day of that week, or work on old favorites. Rediscover the love of your older projects! That is the plan at least. I invite you to join me, or make your own schedule for spending some time with something you enjoy working out. One day a month? Every other Sunday? Whatever works best for you.

I plan to begin on Tuesday, March 2nd. I've chosen that date because my first day off is always Tuesday and that seems like a good time for it.

My new kits, less than $20.00 US, were bought during a clearance sale. I had run into the fabric store for a small item and came out having spent my 20 dollars of mad money on these.

This was a quick phone picture. I will give you a better picture later, but at the moment it is cold in that room (no heat in there), so it will have to wait.

I started the little owl needlepoint one the same day I got it, then had to go to work. I plan to also start the Design Works Celtic Cross very soon.

A bit of fun on this next one. A dear friend and I decided we would try one of those kits we are always seeing that say the piece is big enough to go the length, or nearly so, of a sofa or couch.
We weren't expecting much and that is what we got, though actually it was more than expected in some ways.

So this is a really big picture.
See that floss up there? That is all there is, and it is ample, because I repeat, it is a really big picture with a tiny bit of cross stitching on the boat and the pink flowers. It is on 11 ct. Aida and we both have considered washing the thing and seeing if the colors wash out. My friend got both of these, shipped to us both in different states, for less than 20 dollars. She got them from Amazon and was going to order another and wash it to see if the colors would come out, as we both decided to keep ours and stitch them up, just as a friends thing, but they were no longer available. It is a nice Aida and you could never get a piece even a quarter this size for what she paid. This were ordered before the stash ban.

About that stash ban, it has obviously failed. I bought those kits at bargain prices. But the day before I bought a new release from Charting Creations, because I thought it would go really well with my other Charting Creations chart Family. I bought Love, just in time for Valentines.

 Charting Creations has a nice sale going through 2/14/2016 if you are interested, so now is the time to buy. Oh, and Nikki has very kindly ordered me the chart I've been waiting to come back in stock from an order I had made in December, so technically not stash ban breaking. It is Celtic Christmas, and I can't wait for it to come in. I also ordered some needles from Charting Creations, which is how I found out about the chart. They have fabulous prices on 25 packs of needles. I ordered the Permin needles, which I haven't tried before, but at $5.00 US I think I can't go too wrong with testing them.

Which reminds me. I have now tested 5 or 6 different types of needles and made notes for myself in my stitching notebook, so expect a future blog post on that!

I did do a bit of stitching, but very little. I decided to work across on White dragon and put in several hundred stitches on it, but once again, failed to take a picture and I'm not willing to go into a frigid room to dig it out just now.
I finished the second owl in the sal. I present to you Candy Cane Owl!

Isn't he adorable? I guess I haven't quite gotten over my Christmas Spirit.

I also did a hundred or so stitches on my HAED sal from last year, Hearth of Gold, but again, no picture. I put it aside until those needles come in, since I have gotten really spoiled to having my  needles pre-threaded and ready to go. It saves so much time and aggravation in heavy confetti areas!

Not feeling my best today, sort of coming down with the cold my husband has shared with me, so I am sure I am forgetting things I meant to share with you.
I will try to get pictures up of my stitching progress soon. 
Oh, and I increased the font size on the blog for easier reading.

Anywho, happy stitching until next time.
Peace