Finished for Friday: Animal Advent 12

Another cute freebie from Brooks Books Publishing.  Glad to see the little squirrel has found a festive hat to wear.

I'm stitching away madly at Christmas gifts now, so I'll have to keep them a secret from my blog for a bit.  Just in case some intended recipient gets the urge to see what I've been up to.

I've started weeding out boxes in my garage and I'm finding treasures and trash galore.  I found a whole big folder of pictures and craft instructions lovingly removed from magazines.  That's what we used to do before we could save things on Pinterest.  I barely gave all those clippings a look before I tossed them all in the recycling.  I bet Pinterest has saved me money that I used to spend on magazines.

I've collected a lot of Christmas cross stitch patterns on one of my pinterest boards.  Maybe you'll find a project you like there.  Most of the patterns I like to collect are free.

Now back to my top secret projects...

Finished for Friday: Animal Advent 11

Here's the next finish in the Animal Advent series by Brooke's Books.  His name is Fitzwilliam Frog and he sings in a choir.  Hard to see in this light, but there are little music notes in the air around him.  I'm assuming he has a nice bass voice.

This is part of a free set of cross stitch patterns you can find at the site I linked to above.  There is a great group of people on facebook working on these right now.  Stitching is so much fun when I can do it with others - even when those people are complete strangers all over the world.

I'm almost caught up with the Harry Potter quilt block show and tell.  Today's  block is a cauldron.  I love this perfect fabric I found that looks like old stone.

Finished for Friday: Animal Advent 10

Here's the next in the series of free Advent Animals from Brooke's Books.  Isn't she cute?

As I make each one of these I decide that it's my favorite.  I just love everything about this one - her chair, her ball of yarn, her cute eyelashes.

It's been blistering hot here.  We're so used to mild weather that our house doesn't have air conditioning.  This is one of the few days I wish we did!  I can't fire up the iron and sew when it's this hot.  I'm looking forward to some cooler days next week.

I hope you're staying comfortable!  Is it Fall weather yet where you are?

Finished for Friday: Advent Animal 9

This little guy is the next in the series of Advent Animals.  I love that he has a bottle of suntan lotion in his stocking and a cocktail balanced on his tail.  The patterns for these animals are free from Brooks Books Publishing.

I'm having a lot of fun stitching these up but I'm not sure how I'm going to put them together when they're finished.  There will be 25 in all.  At the moment I think they will become individual ornaments.  Some people who are making them are creating little pockets out of them to stash Christmas candy, but my kids are getting a little old for that.

Add a comment if you have a recent finish to share for this Friday.  I'm going to start the linky party back up in the coming weeks.  I'm enjoying my return to blogging.  I look forward to visiting you, so please leave a comment. 

What I Learned While Starting 15 Projects in 15 Days

finish #1: freebie from Bent Creek

1. Starting a project is the hardest part.  Aristotle said "well begun is half done" (maybe without the rhyming). Just getting all of the fibers and fabric organized for each project took weeks of effort.  But the payoff to all the careful organizing was a palate of great colors to work with and the perfect fabric all ready to go.

   

   A Christmas Carol by Cross Stitch Collection Magazine

2. It's hard to make time for myself a priority.  I tried to get an hour of stitching in first thing in the morning after my routine chores were done.  I felt the pull of a dozen different things calling me all the time.  The payoff was huge though, in my sense of purpose and accomplishment each day.  

   

   Animal Advent # 9 by Brook's Books

3. Everybody starts small.  It has been a revelation to see the other stitchers display their work on our facebook page.  Most of us only got a few dozen stitches in each start.  Yet some of these projects will go on to be enormous and epic.  I think in my mind I imagined that the people who do these types of projects have some superhuman power that lets them do thousands of stitches a day.  No.  We're actually all the same.  It's about showing up and sticking to it.

   

   "Gift of Peace" by Lavender and Lace

4. New supplies are a lot of fun.  The multiple trips to the store for floss (I need to go again today!) has actually been as much fun as getting a new box of crayons used to be when I was a kid.  Luckily, it's a cheap thrill. 

   

   "Alice and the Mad Hatter" by The Floss Box

5. I have enough cross stitch patterns in my stash to probably last me the rest of my life.  All the free patterns on Pinterest haven't helped.  I am confident that I will never need to search far for some new project to do.

   

   "Poinsettia Elegance" by Dimensions

6. If I tell myself I'll take a break "just for a minute" I'll never get back to it.  Quick lunches turned into lunch/laundry/errand/read a book.  It takes a lot of self-discipline for me to sit back down and quiet my mind again once I've interrupted it.

   

   "Night Owl" by Prairie Schooler

7. There are patterns for everybody.  See my ground hog day project above.  I have loved watching other stitchers display their work and their goals.  We all have different tastes, and I respect everyone who devotes so many many hours to this hobby.  I'm pretty sure a lot of my choices fall in the range of very silly.  I also seem to have an obsession with Christmas.

   

   Animal Advent #10

8. I love my ott-light.  I could not live without it.  Some stitchers like to work by a sunny window, but I need bright, clear light to really see what I'm doing.  I also use the magnifier attachment a lot.  Some of these projects feel like doing brain surgery.
   

   

   "Bookseller" by Mill Hill

9. I cannot stitch without some coffee in me.  I'm a morning person, but I really can't get my brain around fine details before some caffeine has hit my system.  I will miss you holiday blend.  Hello French Roast!

   

   "Once Upon a Time" by the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery
10. Facebook is my biggest distraction.  I can't even imagine how much I'd get done if I had the self-control to quit looking at everyone else's progress.  Also cat videos.  I'm an addict.

    

    "Give Thanks" by the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

11. Every stitch matters.  I tried to get as far as I could each day.  Some days this didn't look like very much at all.  Family needs, cleaning routines, life, and sadly facebook all took time.  But every stitch that got done brings me closer to finishing everything. I'm especially reminded of this looking at the people who started enormous projects. Every minute is worthwhile.

    

    "Bless our Home" by Country Cottage Needleworks

12. My quilting has fallen by the wayside.  Now that the initial 15 days are complete, I'm going to balance my work going forward and get back to doing some quilting.  It's fun to focus so much on one hobby, but I love my other pursuits too.

    

    "Haunted Hotel" by Mill Hill

13. Making my brain switch gears every day seems like good exercise for it.  I worked on many different types of fabric, different types of charts, different levels of difficulty.  This is so different from how I usually work on a project.  I will enjoy going back to working on something intensely for days at a time, but I think it will also be fun to mix it up a bit more in the future.

    

    "Autumn Harvest Festival" by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

14. Working on this challenge has helped me deal with missing my oldest daughter who is so very very far away in Scotland right now.  My hobbies have always been my therapy, and this particular challenge was so absorbing for my brain and my time that I couldn't dwell on missing her.

    

    "Story Time Sampler" by the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

So now what's the plan?  I will work on whatever strikes my fancy that day, although at the moment I think I will get some of the smaller pieces done first so I don't actually have all of these in rotation at the same time.  It's nice to have one off the list already.  I'm a little behind on stitching up the Advent Animals.  If I want to finish it up this year, I have 17 more to complete.

Cross Stitch Crazy 2015

I'm looking forward to starting new projects and going on new creative adventures this year.  I've joined a facebook group that's challenging members to start new projects each day for the first 15 days of the year.  There are projects I've wanted to do, but they'll never get anywhere if I don't get them started.

So here is the January 1 start:  "Once Upon A Time" by Frosted Pumpkin.  This is a fairly big piece, with fairy tale scenes for each month.  January features Snow White.  Isn't she cute?

I have been busy with various other projects over the holidays. 

This is the latest in the Animal Advent series.  Isn't she adorable?  I'm behind on these, but I've included them in my 15 starts for the new year so I'll get back to them soon.

Drama Girl leaves for her semester in Scotland tomorrow.  I'll take down the Christmas decorations after she leaves.  Then the house will feel so empty!  I'm glad to have some projects to distract me so I don't get glum.  I will miss her so much.

Animal Advent #4: Duncan Dog!

Here is the latest in the series of animal advent characters.  It's not too late to join in on this stitchalong!  You can find the free patterns over at Brooks Books.

I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with these.  Might make them into individual ornaments or might put them together as some sort of advent calendar.  Luckily I have about two years to figure it out.

Linking up today with the Smalls stitchalong at Stitching Lotus.

Slow Sunday Stitching: Mary Mouse

Here is Mary Mouse, the third in the series of Animal Advent patterns available free over at Brook's Books.  I think she's adorable.

On to catch up on a few more little projects today.  Now that the kids are out of school I have a little more time to put my feet up and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Linking up to Kathy's Quilts.  Happy Sunday!

Animal Advent Stitchalong

Brooke's Books Publishing is hosting a stitchalong featuring these cute advent animals.

There will be 25 free patterns released over about two years.  I think I can keep up with these since they're quick and easy.

These will also count for my April check-in for the smalls stitchalong hosted by Heather.

My ort jar is filling up nicely.  There is a lot of wool in there from the needlepoint Santa I've been working on, and a lot of wrappers from new floss I had to buy.  Also quite a few dead needles.  If you're a scrap saver, join in on the Totally Useless Stitchalong hosted by Daffycat.