Saturday 4 January 2014

2014 - here I come!

Happy New Year everyone!
May 2014 be a fantastic year!

This year I intend to get lots of stitching done - in 2013, despite everything going on I actually managed to get 42 finishes (mainly smalls and ornies but that is okay - there were lots of new starts and progress on bigger pieces, too - hopefully I will do as well this year with at least one or two WIPs and BAPs finished as well as lots of smalls and ornies. So, my aim is 45 finishes this year - wish me luck!

I must thank darling Jo from Serendipitous Stitching for nurturing in me a love of smalls - such an inspiration to me! (and a great help in getting so many finishes this year!)

So, what are my stitching plans for this year?

1. I will be continuing with my SALs with Linda and Debbie - Prairie Schoolers "Santa's 12 Days of Christmas", Diane Arthurs "Fall Welcome" and the Cut Thru Castle, which has a FB group as well.




2. And my SAL with Evalina and Amanda - "Quaker Christmas II: Songs of the Season" - See Sidebar for a pic of what it will look like when it is eventually finished! But this is my latest progress pic for now:


3. I will be finishing off my Joan Elliott Round Robin which I started last May - this should finish some time in the first half of the year.  I do not know whether I will ever do another RR.  I love the idea of it but I find the deadlines a challenge to meet - especially with all the drama I had last year and the fact that the person who sends to me is in Canada and whilst she always posts on time, for some reason the parcel always arrives weeks late!



4. I am also taking part in the 2014 Turtle Trot SAL - a new venture for me.

It is very simple:
Rules (copied from the BAP Attack blog):

1. You must have a blog, because you'll be posting links to it. If you don't have a blog, you can still work on those old projects, lol. You just won't be eligible for the contest.
2. Pick 10 unfinished projects.
3. Take a picture of them and make a blog post by the 10th of January.
4. Each month, by the 10th, post whatever progress pics you have.
5. Post a link to your progress post here.

I haven't yet decided what my entire 10 for 2014 will be - what I will know by the 10th January. My first is, of course, my first start for this year - Snooty Parrots Sampler:

5. I have also signed up for the Snooty Parrots Sampler SAL (see pic above) - which is a cool FB group - follow this link to check it out.

6. I couldn't resist joining up for the Crazy January Challenge again, which is another FB group.  I love groups on FB - so easy to update your progress pics and get inspiration from everyone else.
So, of course, my Snooty Parrots Sampler is my first stitch for that for the year, too!  (See, I am getting clever - everything is starting to fit in together! Ha! Ha!)
Here are my Days 2 and 3 starts:

Snooty Parrots Fob:

Alphabet Heart (freebie from DMC), you can get it here.


7. I am taking part in Cheryll from Gone Stitchin' Valentine Initial heart swap - that is what my Day 3 start above is for.

8. I am also taking part in the Australia Day Swap run by Jewells.

This is taken from her blog post - I hope that you don't mind Jewells:

"Aussie Aussie Aussie ... Oi! Oi! Oi!

G'DAY!

Australia Day is approaching (26 January) and I feel, as an Aussie, I should host an
AUSTRALIA DAY SWAP.

I sometimes feel that us Aussies aren't as patriotic as we should be and I want to play a part in some sort of good old "mate ship" and show some kindness to a fellow person and give some lovin'.

The way I thought we could "celebrate" is to send 9 items to a fellow swapper.  Now the way these items are to be chosen are – they have to start with each letter in "Australia".
For EXAMPLE:

A – Australian Made item (you could make it)

U – Utensil, Ugly fabric

S – Sunflower seeds, Smiley fabric

T – Tea Towel, Trims

R – Ribbon

A – Apron

L – Lilac, Lavender, Lolly

I – Ink pen

A – Apple fabric
That is just some ideas I have come up with on the spur of the moment… but I am sure you all can come up with others."

9. I will continue working on Tudor Tuesday, which is the Day/Night on which I try to sew all things Tudor!  This has a FB group, too (only a small group so far).

10. Plus, of course, all of my other many, many, many (too many manys!) WIPs, BAPs and UFOs.

11. I am also taking part in Vicky's Grow your own blog party on January 25th (see sidebar for the link).

12. Lastly, this year is going to be the Year of the Cat for me - I have lots of cat designs I want to work on. I found two cool series of Monthly cats - one is a Retro Cat which I want to stitch each month on the Cyber Stitchers website  You can check out the link here.

Well, that must be it for me now - off to start my Day 4 Crazy January piece - Ravenmoon Hall by Praiseworthy Stitches.

hugs, 

24 comments:

Vickie said...

Wow Kaye!! I am not sure if you have gone mad or what?! ;) Good luck!!

Anonymous said...

boy kaye you are sure going to be busy this year,i look forward to seeing your projects.xx

Christine M said...

Looks like you are going to be very busy Kaye.

Jan Gartlan said...

What an amazing list of SALs. I will check out the Aussie exchange being an Aussie and all. Lovely new starts. Hopefully this year will be a fabulous one for you

Emma/Itzy said...

You have a lot of great aims this year, and I am doing a few of the same ones too! I look forward to seeing your progress.

Melody said...

Sounds like a busy year, also sounds like lots of fun

Parsley said...

I've just started Quaker Christmas 2!

Parsley said...

I've just started Quaker Christmas 2!

Linda said...

WOW Kaye. That is one ambitious list. Good luck with it. Love your new starts and great progress on the others.

Linda

Barb said...

You are in the midst of so many great projects! Good luck!

Mii Stitch said...

Very good luck with your goals!

♥ Nia said...

Happy 2014!!! And good luck on achieving your goals :)
I can't really take part of that 10 ufo challenge.. I have only one! LOL!!! Have fun sweetie!! Hope you'll be able to finish them all :)

Shirlee said...

My dear friend! I woke up just a little while ago & have been catching up on my blog reading. Seeing your plans for the year has exhausted me & I think I may have to go back to bed!!! But seriously, wow! What a great bunch of goals! I look forward to seeing your progress! That Quaker Christmas II piece often calls to me. I probably ought to bite the bullet & get the chart. Hmmm ... something to think about : )

Chris said...

Happy New Year Kaye! Great goals. I am sure that you will have lots of beautiful finishes.

Sarah in Stitches said...

Whoa, that's a lot of projects! Looking forward to seeing your progress on all of them :D Happy New Year, Kaye!

Margaret said...

You are amazing! Your goals are wonderful! Love reading about them, and seeing your lovely work too. I want to stitch Snooty Parrots too, but haven't signed up for the SAL yet. Maybe soon!

Tamra said...

Loving all your projects and especially love the Prairie Schooler 12 Days of Christmas. It makes me want to start them too. :)

Carol said...

Wow! You are in for a busy, busy new year of stitching, Kaye!! Will love seeing your PS 12 Days develop--such great designs :)

Wishing you every happiness in 2014!

SoCal Debbie said...

Wow, Kaye! You're signed up for more things that I am! I'm glad to see your #1 goal is the SALs with Linda and me! LOL

The Australia Day exchange sounds fun. I hope you give and get great goodies in that one.

Have a great stitchy New Year!

Brigitte said...

Oh Kaye, this is a gorgeous list of goals for this year. I particularly love the #10 goal, lol. When I see your list I recognize that my own list is still too short but that shouldn't be a problem, I can add more goals, lol. I'll be following your blog this year, too and am looking forward to seeing all your great stitching.
Have a happy and healthy and stitchy New Year!

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

Moi? A good influence?! Glad to hear it!

There has been some lovely stitching going on the last year and more to come. Love the Quaker design.

The RRs are fun but Canadian Post is NOT. I usually mail to or from Sophia in Australia and we rarely have delays. This year I am only doing the band sampler RR and I'm mailing to Kathy in Canada but receiving from Measi in the US so hopefully there won't be too many problems.

Valma said...

I can hear your wings of busy bee from here =)
xxx

Stitching Noni said...

Oh wow! I am exhausted just reading about all your stitching challenges for the year. And I am so looking forward to following your progress :)
Have fun!
Hugs x

Denise SA said...

Sounds like you will be nice and busy this year

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