The obligatory end of 2013 soon be 2014 post

Okay, so here it is, the breakdown of my 2013 targets!

2013 Targets

Start a Joan Elliott start - DONE
Top row of black on Heather - DONE
2 Pages of Dragon Rider - FAIL - I'm horrified to discover I only did half a page!
2 pages of Lancelot and Guinevere - FAIL -  again, only half a page
Colour top row of Clara - FAIL - at best I've done half a page, but she's very pretty!
2.5 pages of Chakra Fae - FAIL (kinda) I got rid of it, decided I didn't like it!
Finish Passione Ricamo SAL - FAIL (kinda - again) Also got rid of it!
3 Girls of the World - Fail - I nearly did one
Winter's Majesty - FAIL - absolutely none
2 pages of Pride and Prejudice - So Close, one and a half pages
2 pages of Dwarven Leader - FAIL - again, about half a page
Finish something - DONE - woohoo, thank goodness for a friend getting married!

 

Here's a review of my stitching progress in 2013, and mostly this proves that I haven't really achieved much this year!

Apocalypse Princesses was started this year so this is my full progress here!

 

Clara at the end of 2012

 Clara with a bit of colour, not much colour I know, but a bit!

 

Dragon Rider at the end of 2012

 Dragon Rider as it is now, half a page progress!

Dwarven Leader was also a new start this year, so I don't have a before picture

 

Heather was a SAL start for 2013 so this was started on the 1st of Jan, and I loved working on her. Looking back to getting back to her again!

 

The lovely window of Lancelot and Guinevere as it was at the end of 2012

 The lovely beginning of Lancelot's head, only half a page again, so embarrassed!

 

How Elizabeth and Mr Darcy started 2013

 How they ended 2013

 

The beginning of my first Joan Elliott project,  and she is lovely, and I adore the fabric!

 

Winter's Majesty, sadly this is by before and after picture, I haven't worked on this at all, I'm so ashamed.

 

China was all on her own at the end of 2012

 She nearly has a friend by the end of 2013

Which leads me on to my 2014 targets. I've tried to be a bit more realistic, but they're still probably a bit optimistic

• 1 page of Joan Elliott
• 1 page of Dwarven Leader
• 2 and 2 half pages of Dragon Rider
• 1 and a half pages of Lancelot and Guinevere
• 1 page of Winter's Majesty
• 1 colour page of Clara
• 2nd row of black on Heather (seeing as it was one of the few challenges I managed this year I thought I'd be equally ambitious again)
• 1 page of Tale of the Red Swans (new start for 2014)
• 1 page of Rendezvous (new start for 2014)
• 2 and a half Girls of the World
• 1 and a half pages of Pride and Prejudice
• Start Japanese Chatelaine (new stat for 2014)
• 1 page of Apocalypse Princesses
• Finish something (unlikely, but hey)!
• Start a birth or wedding sampler (people keep getting married or having children, I figure I try and get ahead).

This list looks longer but it is less ambitious that last year, it's just that it contains more projects... hence why a finish is so unlikely
 And I have a few non stitching targets as well:

• Learn to make crotchet Granny Squares, I have a ridiculously ambitious project in mind!
• Write 10,000 words a month - it's less that 350 a day, so not as horrendous as it sounds, and I figure being very ambitious means that I might actually achieve something
• Start looking into the logistics of  a stitcher's retreat. It was a plan that really didn't materialise in 2013, so I thought I'd start slowly progressing with it this year!
• Get better at gingerbread houses (you should see the monster we created this year)
• Ditto, start to improve on cake decorating as well!
• Become a better blogger, I've been most remiss since starting my new job as I didn't seem to have much free time, but as I've got a bit better at my job and gained a bit more free time as a consequence I will try to blog regularly and keep commenting on others blogs as well!

So that's my ridiculous targets, what are yours?

Final update of the year!

Here it is, my final update of the year, Apocalypse Princess', which I'm still loving, and it's suddenly looking much more logical after I looked at this picture than it has done the last few days looking at my stitching!

I'm hoping to get this page finished by the end of the year (mainly because I have another SAL starting in the New Year), and yesterday was the first time that I thought I might actually achieve it!

Coming to the end of the year

Greetings all, firstly an apology for my appalling photography this week... the trouble is I leave for work in the dark, come home in the dark (I'm sure I'm not the only one) so I never have any natural light to take pictures in!

Anyway, here is my latest update of Apocalypse Princesses... I know it doesn't look like much, much I'm working on some of this little white spots! My intention is get this page finished by the end of the year so that I can start a new project in the New Year for the Aimee Stewart SAL (can't wait, I accidently got two lined up)! 

And here's an update on a project that hasn't seen the light of day in quite some time. Dwarven Leader, artwork by Jankolas, charted by Paine Free charts (art work now retired)! The lovely Kim has been encouraging us all to work on our Tolkien themed works by putting a day aside each month for us to work.

 

Hopefully some time in the next week or so I'll be able to put up my New Year targets and sort out how badly I've done with all of this years targets.

 

And finally, Merry Christmas!

A little bit of colour

A little update on Apocalypse Princesses by Paine Free Crafts/Tess Fowler, and I'm absolutely loving working on this, I just wish that I had more time to, because it's such fun! You can almost, almost, see her hand taking shape! Hopefully I'll get some time this week and will be able to get another progress pic in before the Christmas madness kicks in.

And the fact that I'm mentioning Christmas madness also means that it's approaching that time again. The time of year where I start evaluating last years targets (mostly I completely failed) and considering next years.

 

Happy stitching all!

Another start

Because that's what I need, yet another start... but I signed up to the Paine Free SAL on facebook, and I do absolutely love this chart. It's Apocalypse Princesses by Tess Fowler, and it's just fantastic. I don't have much to show, but at least with starting with the black you can already see the very beginning of it coming together. Sadly, as we're in the run up to Christmas, and busy at work, I'm not going to get as much done as I would like to on this, but I'm hoping to finish the first page before the next SAL starts (another start, and technically I've agreed to do another as well). I am enjoying it so far!

 

Secondly, a little bit of progress of World Collection, but I got distracted by the SAL, I meant to get my next girl finished, but the distraction meant that I didn't!