Goodbye 2012!

It's hard to believe today's the last day of 2012! It's been a good year for my family, with buying a new house, both me and hubby getting new jobs, my daughter going into 1st grade at her new school and my son growing bigger by the day...here's hoping 2013 is an even better year!

2012 also saw me return to cross-stitching after a long hiatus. Granted, it's only been about six months since I came back into the stitching world, but I'm definitely back with a vengeance! This week or so off with Christmas holidays and the family fighting the flu has been hard without stitching. I'm eager to get back to it!

So at the beginning of each month, I tend to look back over my last month's goals and make goals for the next month. This being December 31st, I'm going to do something a little differently...let's look at my year in review!

2012 brought with it five finishes, four of which were done for World of Charity Stitching:

Knotted Hearts - WOCS Project - 7/23/12 - 7/26/12

Have a Heart - WOCS Project - 7/27/12 - 7/28/12

Birdhouse Neighborhood - WOCS Project - 8/8/12 - 8/18/12

May Lily of the Valley Teacup - WOCS Project - 10/14/12 - 11/10/12

Tribal Penguin - 10/28/12 - 11/17/12

This year also saw me start six other WIP's that will carry over into next year:

Christmas Countdown - Dimensions

Flames of Desire by Lee Ann Seed - Heaven and Earth Designs

Italian Vista - Dimensions Gold Collection

European Bistro - Dimensions Gold Collection

My Witch's Brew - Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe

Beauty and the Beast Falling in Love by Thomas Kinkade - Candamar Designs Disney Dreams Collection

I have met many new stitchy friends on blogs and facebook. I've been exposed to a TON of new designers and websites I never knew about before and have learned more about stitching than what comes in a kit. I have fallen in love with hand dyed fabrics and with stitching on something other than Aida. I have enjoyed documenting my own stitchy journey in this blog and in pictures. I've absolutely loved it all!

So, goals for 2013...

1. Year of the Stash - I'm dedicating 2013 to being the Year of the Stash - I have added several patterns to my collection this year and I have tons of DMC thread already. In 2013, I want to expand my horizons. I've signed up for three Fabric of the Month Clubs for hand dyed fabrics (so far). I'm going to be looking at using different threads and beading techniques in my pieces. I want to use the groups I'm a part of to be exposed to more new designers and patterns and projects. I want to increase my stash to help increase my choices of what I want to work on and create!

2. Crazy January Challenge - I want to successfully start all 15 projects in 15 days and will be very pleased if I can finish at least 1/3 of the projects in 2013. I have some small projects that I think are very doable to complete this year...the rest, perhaps not so much, but that's okay!

3. Finish at least one of my 6 WIP's from 2012 - not sure which one it will be, but I'd like to finish at least one of them this year!

I plan on making more goals on a monthly basis as I always do...but I think these three big themes are a good start for the year! Can't wait to see what 2013 brings! Happy New Year!

Until next time!
~Katy

Another Finish and Another Giveaway

I did it! Two finishes in two weeks! That doesn't happen often and won't happen again for a long while, I don't imagine, but Tribal Penguin is finished!

Tribal Penguin - 10/28/12 - 11/17/12

I'm really pleased with how this piece turned out and loved working on it! But now, it's time for me to give it away and give the joy of this pattern to someone else! The rules for this giveaway are simple. Respond to this post indicating your interest to receive the traveling pattern and one week from today, I will draw a name to determine the lucky recipient! Easy peasy!

Until next time!
~Katy

A Finish!

First, thank you everyone for your kind words about my new job. I'm very excited about it and can't wait to start! We had a great day at the zoo with the Daisy Scouts, though I am incredibly worn out! Walking over 3 miles while wrangling six Daisies and a 2-year old will take that out of you! My son, the aforementioned 2-year old, walked every bit of those 3+ miles and loved it...and crashed in my arms on the train ride home! But it was a very nice day!

Despite being exhausted, I was able to put in the last of the back stitching and personalization on May Lily of the Valley Teacup! Yay!

 May Lily of the Valley Teacup - WOCS Project - 10/14/12 - 11/10/12

What a great ending to a rotation week! Next week, I'm back to Tribal Penguin...could I possibly get two finishes done, two weeks in a row? Who knows! But I'll certainly try!

Until next time!
~Katy

Birdhouse Neighborhood - Complete!

Okay, so I lied. I said I wasn't going to post until the end of the weekend, but I finished Birdhouse Neighborhood tonight and wanted to share it!

Birdhouse Neighborhood - Complete!

I still need to pick out the fabric for it that I'll send with the piece for the quilt. I plan on doing that next weekend when I am out finalizing school supply shopping for the first day of school. I'm very happy with how this turned out, but I'm looking forward to getting back to my rotation of WIPs!

I hope you're all having a wonderful IHSW!

Until next time!
~Katy

Have A Heart - Complete!

Wow, this one took no time at all! Between chores and such yesterday, I settled in and watched the Olympics and got this project done before bed yesterday!

Have a Heart - Complete!

Sorry for the not so great quality of the picture. Today, I'm going to head out to get the fabric for both this and Knotted Hearts and then swing by the post office to put them in the mail. I'll try to get another picture of each with their respective fabrics before I send them on their way!

Today I probably won't work on my WIP's as much, primarily because I need to work on my daughter's Daisy Scout vest. She has a troop event next Saturday, and I want to get the badges she received at the end of the year put on her vest before the event.

Here's her vest:

The front of her vest currently

The back of her vest currently

 And here's what I need to put on!

She's earned a lot of badges!

Once I have this done, then I will definitely be diving into Italian Vista again! Working on these other two projects has made me miss it!

Until then, happy stitching!
~Katy

Knotted Hearts - Complete!

I knew I just needed one more good night of stitching to finish up Knotted Hearts! I really love this design and love how this turned out. It was a quick, easy and fun project to do, and I'm saving this design in my stash for the future. I can totally see using this pattern in all sorts of colors and for all sorts of projects.

But here it is, my first completed project for WOCS!

Knotted Hearts - Complete!

I'm going to wait until this weekend to mail it in so that I can find a good fabric to use with it for the quilt square, but I'm very, very pleased with how this turned out!

Happy Stitching!
~Katy