A New Start..and Ahead on my SAL's!

This might be the only time I'll ever get to write this...but I'm ahead on my cross stitching goals right now! That means that I can do some WIP catch up. And we all know what that means... new projects! WIPs My original goals for the week was to get Row 4 of Sew by Row done. Well, I'm loving this one so much that I decided to keep this one moving along. I'm going to do a new row every week--originally I was going to do a row a month. I just finished up row 5 which are the irons. I even did the backstitching, which I had planned to save for the end. This pattern is just a joy to stitch. It's easy to read, well-chartted. And the pattern just makes sense. I highly recommend this one. It's a good evening-after-work stitch. I'm using Cloud 25 count lugana and the called for DMC floss. I really love this lugana. It is nice and soft, and the holes are easy to see.

Then, my big committment for the month was to finish another part to my Spooky Hallow SAL that I'm doing with Happy Little Stitch Girl. This pattern is by Little Stitch Girl and it is so much fun! I am a big Halloween fan, and I just love the detail on this one. However--it does take me quite a bit of time to finish. Each scene is 110x71, and I try to get that done in week each month. This is part 6, and it's the Pumpkin Park. The model was stitched on 28 count even weave, but I decided to use 18 count aida so that I could get a big enough piece of fabric to fit all 12 scenes on one piece. I started using DMC but immediately could tell that wasn't doing the stitch justice. So now I'm using a mix of DMC and the called for Classic Colorworks threads. I am so happy I made that switch because the varigation adds to the spookiness.

Because these two SALs went so fast, I decided to do some WIP catch-up this week. Each day I put at least one thread in several of my WIPs: I added to the red banner in Mistletoe Lane. This is an It's Sew Emma (Fat Quarter Shop) pattern that I'm way behind on. This is on 28 count lugana using called for DMC's.

I added the little lion to my Milady's Needle sampler (May Health and Peach Attend Your Days), but his eyes were giving me trouble, so he got put right back away. I'll pull him out again this week and fix his poor eyes. My LNS, the Stiche Niche, started this as a SAL last year, and I got behind. I'm stitching on 32 count Weeks Dye Works Parchment.

And just today I had a long overdue start--another Halloween Stitch. Hello Halloween is by Sue Hills Designs. I'm using 14 count Fabric Flair and the called for DMC. I'm not crazy about these colors so far, but I'm going to stitch all the words on teh bottom and see what happens.

STASH I decided to go ahead an order and kit up Plum Street Samplers Sweetheart Hill. I'm going to start this on Valentine's Day. My LNS was out of R&R Beeswax, which is what the pattern calls for. So, I got 40 count Platinum Weeks Dye Works. I'm using the called for Classic Colorworks/Weeks Dye Works floss. I CANNOT wait to start this next month!

GOALS FOR NEXT WEEK This week I'll be doing a WIP parade of stitching. Right now this is my plan: Monday: Harvest Chalkful by Hands on Design and Priscilla Tuesday: Milady's Needle Sampler mentioned above Wednesday: Mistletoe Lane mentioned above Thursday: Sew by Row Friday: Sew by Row Saturday: Start next week's commitment of the February Sampler of the Month by Country Cottage Needleworks Happy last day of January!