Crazy January Challenge - Angel of Compassion

Welcome to another day of the CJC! I have to admit, I'm loving this starting a new piece every day thing...I'm already planning on doing the ultimate challenge next year - 31 starts in 31 days. It's official, I've become a addict to starting new projects! Ha!

This is one of the first HAED pieces I ever purchased, and I absolutely love it. It's Angel of Compassion by Selina Fenech. I have the other three in the series as well, but this is my favorite:

Isn't she pretty?

 And here is my progress after today:

Sparkly!

I almost completed the entire column - the line on the bottom is where the first column ends. The background of this piece has A LOT of Kreinik #4 braid, but really, it looks so pretty, even this early into the piece!

I'm very excited about tomorrow's piece as it's another one I've wanted to start for awhile, though it will likely need to contest a bit with some patches I need to sew onto my daughter's Daisy Scout vest...the next semester starts up again this coming Friday, and cookie season starts too, so we need all of her patches on the vest! Mommy's sewing to the rescue!

Until next time!
~Katy

Crazy January Challenge - Tuscan Greeting....And Stash!!!

Today's start for the CJC was another one of my smaller projects, a kit called Tuscan Greeting by Dimensions:

I didn't get a lot of stitching done tonight because my in-laws are in town for the very last of the Christmas festivities, but a few stitches (even if they're all half stitches) are always better than no stitches!

It's a start!

In other fun stitchy news, I have been having fun getting wonderful stash goodies in the mail! Look, look! A few beautiful patterns from Lavender and Lace and Mirabilia and gorgeous fabrics!

Stash!!!

I'm in love with the fabrics and am quickly becoming a hand dyed fabric addict! Look at these beauties! This one is Midnight Tryst on Opal Lugana from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie:

Love it!

And these beauties are from Under The Sea Fabrics and are (clockwise from top corner) Limited Edition Mayan Apocalypse on 28-count Cashel, Midsummer Night on 28-count Lugana, Limited Edition Fiery Skies on 32-count Opal Belfast and a gorgeous misdye of Cosmos on 32-count Belfast:

So pretty!

I have absolutely nothing planned for these fabrics yet, but that's okay...I'm loving the collecting right now!

In-laws will still be in town tomorrow, but I think they'll be occupied with the kiddos so hopefully I can get a lot more stitching done on my next CJC start, which is also an HAED! Fingers crossed!

Until next time!
~Katy

Crazy January Challenge - Mediterranean Flavors

Today I started one of my two small kits from Dimensions, and the first of four kits I have in this challenge in total - Mediterranean Flavors!

Isn't it cute?

Here is my progress from this new CJC Day Three Start:

Third CJC Start!

I already have plans on where I want to put this when it's done! I was slow stitching tonight as I was somewhat tired, but I know when this comes up in one of my CJC rotation weeks, it shouldn't take long to make tons of good progress on this piece. It's one of the ones I definitely think I can finish in 2013!

Until next time!
~Katy

Crazy January Challenge - Wedding Sampler

This darn thing called working full time certainly puts a damper into my stitching time! I didn't nearly as much done on day two as I would have liked, but I'm thrilled to have another start! Today's start: Wedding Sampler by Carolyn Manning:

A Custom Piece!

I've mentioned before that this was a specially created piece just for me. I had met Carolyn on a website we both frequented and we bonded over our love for cross-stitching! As a wedding gift, she put together this beautiful piece for me with roses on the border since that was our primary wedding flower, and all of our details included. I've loved this piece and started and stopped it several times because of various reasons. This time, though, I'm sticking to it - I've been married for 10 1/2 years now, it's time!

So here is my start on this piece for the Crazy January Challenge:

Second CJC Start!

This is being stitched two over one on 14 count Aida in Crystal Fresco from Picture This Plus. It's hard to tell in the picture, but the fabric has a very old world, parchment paper type look to it in my opinion, and I think that when the piece is done, it will look like it's on a scroll, which I like! That's my one complaint about the beautiful hand dyed fabrics I'm growing addicted too - it's very hard to show just how beautiful they are in a picture!

Two starts down, thirteen to go! I have to admit, I'm loving this starting a new pattern every day business! Tomorrow I move to one of my small pieces, and I can't wait!

Until next time!
~Katy

Hello 2013...And Crazy January Challenge!

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a safe and fun New Year's Eve! I can't wait to see what 2013 has in store!

Today starts the Crazy January Challenge! Woo hoo! 15 starts in 15 days, though, I have to take a moment to admit that I cheated ~hanging my head in shame~...I couldn't wait to start the challenge that I actually started on my 1/1 piece on 12/30...oh the shame! But it is an HAED and every extra stitch can help, right?

So here it is! Start #1 for the Crazy January Challenge - Butterfly Rose Cross by Brigid Ashwood - Heaven and Earth Designs:

Butterfly Rose Cross by Brigid Ashwood

Progress as of 12/30/12:

It's a start!

Progress as of 12/31/12:

All the 3768 in the first column of the first page - there is lots of this color to go on this page!

And the progress as of 1/1/13:

First CJC Start!

Not a bad start! The first column of the first page is completely done and then some! For the CJC, I'm counting a single page finish as a finish instead of the entire piece for this one. That's the same thing I'm doing with my other HAED in this challenge which you'll see in a couple of days. Once I get one page done, it will go into my standard rotation. The other CJC WIP's will continue in the CJC rotation until they are done or until the end of 2013, whichever comes first!

Have a wonderfully stitchy new year!

Until next time!
~Katy