Craaazy! January Challenge Update

Sorry about the lack of updates. I guess my plan to reduce computer usage is working far too well. I was online yesterday morning for maybe ten minutes and that's it till now. 

Time for updates!

My Day VI start:  Laura J. Perrin's heart from the May 2010 Needle Pointers magazine. My ANG chapter started these last fall and when I saw them in person I went right out and bought stuff to do one. As you can see, I cannot leave well enough alone. My heart won't be red. Think of this as a St. Patrick's tribute. Or a tribute to my favorite basketball team of the 1980's - the Boston Celtics. I'm stitching this with a gold DMC Pearl #5, one Kreinik braid #4, two Ribbon Floss - one gold and one green - and the whole thing is based around Wildflowers "Savannah."

A close-up of my blingy little needle minder. I love my little snail!

Day VII:  I started this late at night. It's Little House Needleworks' "Acorns." Just some random scrap fabric from the ornament stash. And the called for Crescent Colours. This is what? ten stitches? But I know where it is and will have no problem picking this back up. A start is a start.

Day VIII:  Queenstown Sampler Designs R. Le Tellier. Color balance on this photo not too good. I am happy to have found a home for this piece of fabric that I bought sometime in the 1990s at the Fuzzy Penguin. It's 28ct and the color was called Linen Champagne. The threads are the called for DMC. I'm charmed by this late schoolgirl sampler that was stitched by a young French Canadian girl. I started this yesterday at the Loudoun Sampler Guild meeting. My biggest project yet, but it's all cross stitch and a lot of it can be television stitching.

And lastly Day IX:  This is my late start from today. Blackbird Designs "Waiting for the Harvest." I'm stitching this with the called for thread - GAST Dark Chocolate. The fabric was dyed by me in the fall of 2009. I was experimenting on dyeing threads and soaked up the leftover dye with some random pieces of fabric. Small margins because this will be a pincushion.

Now a little update on some friends of mine who decided to play along. We were sitting and stitching at December's LSG meeting and a few people got curious about this strange plan. I said I was planning on doing it and nearly everyone at my table thought they'd give it a try. We're all attacking this in our own way. Me, I've got quite a few small pieces. My friend, Anne, is going to tackle some of her larger started pieces and a few new projects. Some of us are finding it more difficult than we thought. It's all fun and games. If it's not fun, we're not doing it!

Here's one of my friend's new blog she started to document the challenge:

Joan's Spot.

So I did the math on Challenge. 365 days divided by 15 projects equals almost 24 days per project. Some projects are obviously going to take a lot less time. I'm already 23 days ahead by finishing Day 1 in one day!