My Stash Diet

It is sad, but true that I need to go on a stash diet.

This is my closet where some of my stash lives. I may post more photos of my mess later, but this will show some of my problem.
Since it is my diet, I am making my own rules.
Rules:
1. I get $25 per month to spend. I can spend the year ahead of time, but that will give me a negative total. (Don't like that idea!)
2. I will give myself $6 to $20 for Mill Hill bead kits that are completed. I have quite a collection and need to make a dent in them.
3. If anything is given away, I get an extra $5. It is out of my house so I deserve a bonus!
4. Doesn't matter when I started the piece, only when I finish it. It needs to be stitched, not framed or finished to count. The only exception is my HAED-Reptiles. I paid by the page for it.
This is from Epic Stitching who used to host a Stitch from Stash Group.

40 x40 stitches or less - $2  

40 x 40 stitches to 60 x 60 stitches - $4

60 x 60 stitches to 80 x 80 stitches - $6

80 x 80 stitches to 100 x 100 stitches - $8

*

100 x 100 stitches to 120 x 120 stitches - $12

120 x 120 stitches to 140 x 140 stitches - $14

140 x 140 stitches to 160 x 160 stitches - $16

160 x 160 stitches to 200 x 200 stitches - $18

5. My needlepoint counts. I will measure the piece and pay myself by the square inch.

6. Any monetary gifts I receive can be added to my spending money. I am starting with the money my mom and dad and my MIL gave me. Hey! They said I could spend it how I want!

7. I also do paper crafts so I will give myself $1 for every art journal page or scrap booking page I do.

I have a separate blog for it, but will keep my totals here. (I have a stash of paper supplies too.)I will have to subtract art supplies from my total too. :(

Last but not least....

I get $1 for every pound I lose a month or if my weight stays stable.  I found out in this past July that I am pre-diabetic. I have lost 20 pounds but need to lose 20 more. I have several friends who have lost 50+ pounds but have gained some or all of it back. I can't do that. I know how difficult it is to lose weight and keep it off and I feel like I need a carrot to keep at it. $1 won't break me and it will motivate me.   I may add $1 for every aerobic mile I do too. Again, it won't break me and it will motivate me.

I am a visual person and I like seeing the amount I have. I need to search for a container to put my money in although I will use slips of paper rather than the real deal. Maybe I need to find some fake money at the store....

When to post? The 30th (or last day of the month), since that is the day I am writing this? Or the 1st as that is the day of new beginnings? I am thinking the 1st.......

Remember:MY DIET, MY RULES! The above is subject to change as needed.

 

 

Zooming Along

Thanks for all the nice comments. I am still resisting the sale as I realized I have 3 of Kathy's pieces in my stash! Crazy!!!Well, actually four if you include Spirit of Jean, but I am working on it.

The Sprats Head variation went quickly and I hope adding the Kreinik will too. I am avoiding my Drawn Thread Sampler. Too much Christmas up still. Maybe next week I will bring it back out.

A Finish!

Not a great photo, but it is done! Now I have one less thing to stitch in 2017.

Which reminds me: I am putting myself on a stitching diet starting in January. Looking at the mess in my basement, I need to do something. But ...Kathy Rees is having a sale at her site. At least I thought I saw something about it on Facebook.

My Christmas Stitching

I thought I rotated this photo but the tablet disagreed.  Anyway, I got a bit more done on this kit. It won't be done before the end of the year, but I am making progress.

Spirit of Jean's Amadeus Stitch

I took some time tonight and did some stitching. Yipee! I need to add one more stitch in Kreinik to these, but it is fun to see progress.

One Bag Done

The larger Mill Hill kits have multiple bags of beads so it is easier to stitch. So I have made some progress.

Gift from Friend

Sorry for the bad photo, but look at the lovely wall hanging my friend made for me! I am not stitching much, but lots of baking is getting done.

Won't be Ready for Christmas

But I think I can get this done by February. When people see it they often are startled by it, especially kids. I don't think I could hang it in my house but I do love the colors.

Luke-Nativity Trilogy

 The above photo is from November sometime. The one below I took today. Waiting for doctors gives me time to stitch...Not sure why the color came out so funky...

Smyrna Border

First, the Nativity Trilogy ornaments will eventually go on a wreath or at least that is the plan right now. I need to finish the other 5 before I decide.

I was working on this last night and I stitched up to the bottom diamond shape when I realized I made a mistake and ripped it all back out. Note to self: DON'T STITCH WHILE YOU HAVE A COLD! After I ripped,I watched some tv then crawled to bed. Hopefully I will feel like stitching this evening.

I also need to start my list of things I want to stitch this year. I do that every year and I have a few things to finish in 2017...How about you? Do you make a list?

Mill Hill Finishes

I decided it was past time to start my finishing for the year. I started with my Mill Hill kits as they are the easiest. First I placed them on fusible interfacing, the kind that has glue on one side. Then I iron them and then cut them out. Sometimes I get fancy and use felt and glue, but not this year...
Here they are all cut out.

 The last thing I do is cut out the picture that comes with the kit and place it in my stitching journal.

I am not very good about keeping notes on my stitching, but it is fun to look and see all that I have stitched over the years.
As far as the Nativity series goes, I still have 5 more to do! Two were on my list for this year, but never were completed. The other  3 are in my basement....

Finally Some Beads!

I feel like I am making a little progress, but it sure is slow!

Diamond Pavillion Stitch

I would much rather stitch on this than cut threads for my Drawn Thread Sampler, but working a little on both helps me to get more done. This is my carrot piece. You know. The one you reward yourself with after you do something you don't like.

A Little Done

I call these needle woven pieces 'angel wings'. They were a pain and I can see mistakes, but this is my Doodle, so I am fine with it.

Smyrna Crosses

THIS is the piece I want to work on! I love geometric pieces  and canvas work. The fact that this has Jean Hilton stitches is a plus too. I just realized that I have a shadow on the piece so you can't see the colors so well. There is a lovely burnt orange up in the left corner. The colorway is African Sunset.  But I can see this in reds, golds and black canvas! Or what about purples?

Boring Stitching

I am putting the center square in my larger Drawn Thread Sampler. This piece has a lot of work before I can get to the real work on this piece. I am working on this rather than the Doodle as I am a little stressed and I find this calming.

A Smile with Eyebrows

Sugar Skull is my third project that I am currently stitching. I think it has a frame of red cross stitch (with beads too!) and then I am on to beading. Any cross stitches that I missed will become beads or be add at that point!

On to the Next Page!

Spirit of Jean is my second project. It also has a due date although I don't know what it is. I keep thinking it would look fabulous in reds, blacks and gold...

One of Three Projects

 I am currently working on both of these at once. The top one is the real deal, the Drawn Thread Sampler. I like doing the stitching one I get started. The one below is the Doodle Drawn Thread Sampler. I realized that if I truly want to do both, I need to use the Doodle as a practice piece and get cracking on the pre-work for the DTS. I have a friend who is holding me accountable as we need to have our pieces done before February. She is not as crazy as I am since she is only doing the large sampler. But she has done a lot of drawn thread before.

Close to Being Done

Well, not really. I need to find all the spots where I missed a color. Then I add the beads. Will it get done before Christmas? Maybe...

FInally Finished!

I added the beads last night and I am calling this done! Hope the members of my guild get theirs done so I can see all their different color choices.

Almost Done with My Flowers of Italy in Blue

 This is the back of my Walnetto stitch.

This is the front. I think it took me two hours to stitch! Crazy! But I had to rip it out once and slowly stitch it a second time. I am so close to finishing this....

Another Mill Hill Bead Kit

I had started this one in January. A friend has given me a new Mill Hill kit but I need to get the ones I have started done before I start another. Do you believe me?
Here is what I use to add beads:

 My son made the box with the lid with my name on it.

 I also use a tin box with a beading mat in it.

These things keep my beads in place.

Spirit of Jean

This is my new start. I signed up for this group correspondence course through Cyberpointers
in 2015. I obviously never started the thing. I received a notice that they were doing an encore of the class and I could join the conversation.  So I decided I needed to work on it. Once I got this stitch in I immediately started thinking about doing it in black and red....NO! NO! NO! I will only do one. I will only do one!

Another Finish!

I felt I needed to show this so I could justify starting a new project. Yes (hanging head in shame), I have started something new. But I will share that tomorrow!  This piece was felted by my daughter when she was 10. A year or so ago she was going to throw it away. I stopped her as I loved the colors. I did all the hand stitching on it, lined it and made it into a little clutch for my tablet.  So far she has not asked for it back.

VOTE!

I had this framed last month but decided to wait to show it until today. Don't forget to exercise your constitutional right. Go vote!

A Finish!

Well, at least he is all stitched. I now have a stack of stuff to be totally finished. But next week I teach for my guild and I must get ready for that. Can you tell that I am procrastinating?

A Few Beads

While watching the baseball game last night, I tried to do a little stitching. I figured since tension wasn't a problem on this piece (unlike the Drawn Thread Sampler), I could get some work done on this. Realized I made a mistake on the placement of some of the beads, but oh well. They are staying in!

Fairly Boring

I am plugging along on the Drawn Thread Sampler. I am waiting to work on the smaller Doodle Drawn Thread Sampler until I can get together with my friend. But this has a lot of work left on it.

Hallowee'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop

I am not much of a Halloween person and I don't do much decorating, but I love seeing everyone else's stuff so when Jo over at Serendipitous Stitching hosted this blog hop, I had to join in!

Here is my little Halloween corner, although Elizabeth is not strictly Halloween!

 I stitched the banner ages ago. My oldest was an only child at that point.

 And look at my Sugar Skull progress!

 My letter for the blog hop is:


                           N
 
To get to the next blog  Oubiette
 

Almost to the Beads

I think I just have to add a little more white and then I can add beads. A fun project!

I'm having fun with this project.

No Stitching

I have been busy with our bees. I miss my college boy when I have to extract and bottle this stuff. I love the honey and the bees, but it is a lot of work...

What I did Yesterday Afternoon

My local guild had their monthly meeting and I am leading it. Only a few showed up for the day meeting so I had time to sit and stitch. Not too bad as I did visit too!
Loved all the comments about how you track your stitching. Most of the time I don't care, I just stitch, but some projects require me to find a way to motivate. Since Sugar Skull is a gift and has a deadline, I  pretend I have a plan.

30 Minutes a Day

A friend and I were discussing a blog we found where the artist works for 30 minutes every day on a painting or page and is done. Her husband commented that she does that every day-she exercises 30 minutes every morning. So she is going to start working on a stitching project for 30 minutes a day.
It made me think, "I stitch 30 minutes most evenings on a single project."
Here it is  at the beginning of my session:

And after 30 minutes:

Not a huge difference, but progress. I was counting stitches and trying to get about 30 done a night on this piece, but minutes are easier for me to keep track of.
What about you? Do you stitch for 30 minutes on one project? Can you see progress on it?

Midnight Star

I finished this a while back and had it framed. Now I need to find a spot to hang it.
Gay Ann Rogers is having her annual sale October 20-26. Right now she has a story running on her webpage which I found kind of cute.

Drawn Thread Sampler Some Progress

The top photo is the real Drawn Thread Sampler. I had hoped to get some work done on it, but I needed to finish the bottom row on the Doodle Drawn Thread Sampler. I managed to get it done before it started storming.
 Next week is my local guild's meeting and I need to be ready to teach. That means that I probably won't work on this for a few days, but it has moved back upstairs and back into my rotation.

Flowers in the Fall

I have gotten back to work on the felted bag. I was waiting to stitch on it as I was unsure where to go. Finally just started stitching and these cast on flowers seemed to work. Need to find some beads for the center.