June Achievements & July Goals

I can't believe half the year is over. It seems like just yesterday I was toasting in the new year!

Goals for June:
1. Finish Swirling Peacock's tail.I got a huge chunk of it done but I'm not finished.
2. Finish the next Heart. No. I think I should just accept that I don't feel like fixing the Hearts, so they're on indefinite pause.

Goals for July:
1. Finish Swirling Peacock.

Keeping it short and simple (and potentially achievable) next month.

May Achievements & June Goals

So May is a month that happened.

Goals for May:
1. Finish the next Heart.I didn't touch it.
2. Finish Cinderella. Done.
3. Start something new. Swirling Peacock is about 1/3 done.

Unexpectedly This Month:
1. I only posted once. I have to do better in June.

Goals for June:
1. Finish Swirling Peacock's tail.
2. Finish the next Heart.

April Achievements and May Goals

I didn't do too well this April. Not with stitching and not with a lot of non-stitchy things. I hope May is better.

Goals for April:
1. Start and finish the next Heart. I started it, but I haven't even finished the outline.
2. Finish all the stitching on Cinderella. Done and I've started the beading!
3. Finish the "secret project". No. I didn't touch it.

Unexpectedly This Month:
1. Finished Mediterranean Mermaid.

Goals for May:
1. Finish the next Heart.
2. Finish Cinderella.
3. Start something new.

March Achievements & April Goals

I can't believe it's the end of March already. I feel like this month was terribly unproductive :(

Goals for March:
1. Start and finish the next Heart. Heart of the Northwest Territories is done.
2. Finish all the stitching on Cinderella.I didn't even touch it.
3. Finish one mitt. No. I think I'm done with this for now. Knowing me, I'll probably pick it up again in the summer.

Unexpectedly This Month:
1. Started my new project that I can't post until it's finished because I was asked not to. All I can say is that it's not cross stitch, but it is counted work and I'm enjoying it so far.

Goals for April:
1. Start and finish the next Heart.
2. Finish all the stitching on Cinderella.
3. Finish the "secret project".

February Achievements & March Goals

So it turns out I forgot to make goals for January, so everything was an unexpected achievement ;)

Goals for February:
1. Start and finish the next Heart. Done
2. Finish Steampunk Serpent. Done.
3. Finish one mitt. No. The weather turned a little mild so I put it away because I thought spring was coming. Of course, it's -30 right now.

Goals for March:
1. Start and finish the next Heart.
2. Finish all the stitching on Cinderella.
3. Finish one mitt.

January Achievements & February Goals

So it turns out I forgot to make goals for January, so everything was an unexpected achievement ;)

Unexpectedly This Month:
1. Started Steampunk Serpent
2. Started and finished Heart of Alberta.
3. Started a pair of fingerless mitts.

Goals for February:
1. Start and finish the next Heart.
2. Finish Steampunk Serpent.
3. Finish one mitt.

Looking Back

Continuing a fine tradition of looking back at the year! 2010, 2011, 2012 (on hiatus), 2013, 2014

This year's finishes:

And a look at numbers:
Total finishes: 19
New starts: 21
Pieces started and finished in 2015: 18
WIPs at the start of the year: 7
WIPs at the end of the year: 9
WIPs that didn't see a single stitch this year: 4
Oldest WIPs: From 2009

Fastest finish: 2.75 hours (Mill Hill Mandolin)
Most time consuming piece: 91.5 (Celtic Autumn)
Pieces that took 10 hours or less: 16
Pieces that took between 10 & 50 hours: 1
Pieces that took between 51 & 100 hours: 1
Total hours stitched in 2015(approximately): 499.5

Previous years
2010: 825
2011: 635.5
2012: 687
2013: 731.5
2014: 646
2015: 499.5

I had some general goals for 2015 and succeeded 50% so I'll call it a day.
General Goals for 2015:
1. Finish Celtic Autumn. Done.
2. Finish at least one page of Autumn Winds. Yes.
3. Start and finish one of the following: Cirque des Cadeaux, Cinderella or Tradewinds. No. I've done a huge chunk of Cinderella but no finish yet.
4. Finish-finish at least 6 smalls. No. I never even took things out of the finish drawer.

All in all, not a very good year (both stitching and in other matters). I finished a lot of smalls (yay Smalls SAL), but I didn't finish anything big. I put a lot of it down to reading and playing video games. I also had multiple days where I didn't put in a single stitch. I just don't have any time to all the things I want to do. When will my prince come and take me away to my life of idle luxury?

General Goals for 2016:
1. Finish Cinderella
2. Finish Mediterranean Mermaid
3. Start and finish either Cirque des Cadeux or Cirque des Coeurs
4. Finish the rest of the Hearts of Canada

November Achievements & December Goals

Goals for November:
1. Start and finish a Heart. I almost forgot but managed to whip out Heart of PEI last Thursday.
2. Finish Boo Club. Done.

I kept them short and sweet this month and finished them off :)

Goals for December:
1. Start and finish a Heart.
2. Finish-finish some wallhangings.
3. Pipe Dream: Finish Cinderella.

October Achievements & November Goals

Goals for October:
1. Finish Boo Club for Halloween. No. I only got about 5 hours in.
2. Finish Cables and Columns, since I want to wear it this winter. Finished it off last night. It still needs to be washed and blocked and I'm not sure how to do that since I don't have anything suitable I could pin it on. Maybe I'll just wear it as is.

Unexpectedly This Month:
Not so much "unexpectedly" as much as "I forgot to put on the goals last month": Finish a Heart.

Goals for October:
1. Start and finish a Heart.
2. Finish Boo Club.

Smalls & Goals

This month's finish for the Smalls SAL is Heart of Manitoba.

Do the individual parts of Boo Club count as their own finishes? Because technically I had to play six times for the whole design so two parts are one pattern, right?

This month's review:

Goals for September:
1. Start and finish two Heart. I stitched one, but I completely forgot I was planning on stitching another!
2. Finish at least 6 of 12 Boo Club sections. Done.
3. 10 hours of Cables and Columns. 8 hours. But considering how many times I had to frog, it was probably 5 hours of actual progress :(

Goals for October:
1. Finish Boo Club for Halloween.
2. Finish Cables and Columns, since I want to wear it this winter.

August Achievements & September Goals

Goals for August:
1. Start and finish the next Heart. Heart of New Brunswick! Done and done.
2. 10 hours of Cinderella. Not even a minute
3. Start Boo Club. Yes. Two parts done and a third started.

Unexpectedly This Month:
1. Started Venetian Opulence

Goals for September:
1. Start and finish two Heart.
2. Finish at least 6 of 12 Boo Club sections.
3. 10 hours of Cables and Columns

July Achievements and August Goals

Goals for July:
1. Start and finish the next Heart. Heart of Nova Scotia is done.
2. 10 hours of Autumn Winds. Yes. And I'm almost done this year's goal of one page.
3. 10 hours of Cinderella. 4 hours.

Goals for August:
1. Start and finish the next Heart.
2. 10 hours of Cinderella.
3. Start Boo Club.

June Achievements & July Goals

Goals for June:
1. Finish the last Mill Hill ornie. Done! They're all cut out and waiting for their ribbons/hanging method.
2. Finish Mediterranean Mermaid. Everything that can be done is done. I'm waiting for my LNS to get some beads. So I guess I'll be done something in October?
3. 10 hours of Autumn Winds. 6 hours.

Unexpectedly This Month:
1. Started and finished Heart of Canada.
2. Started and finished Heart of Ontario.
3. Started and finished Heart of Quebec.

Goals for July:
1. Start and finish the next Heart.
2. 10 hours of Autumn Winds.
3. 10 hours of Cinderella.

May Achievements and June Goals

Goals for May:
1. Finish a Mill Hill ornie. Violin is finished.
2. Start something big. I started Mediterranean Mermaid and haven't put her down.
3. 20 hours of Autumn Winds. Not a single stitch.
4. 20 hours of Cinderella. 3 hours at the start of the month before I started MM.

Goals for June:
1. Finish the last Mill Hill ornie.
2. Finish Mediterranean Mermaid.
3. 10 hours of Autumn Winds.

April Achievements and May Goals

Goals for April:
1. Finish a Mill Hill ornie. Yep. Mandolin was finished at the start of the month.
2. Finish-finish a small from the Drawer Where Things Go To Wait (Forever). No. I completely forgot and didn't even look at my finishes.
3. Put 20 hours into Autumn Winds. Only 10 hours this month.

Unexpectedly This Month:
1. Taught myself to knit.
2. Finished a ruffle scarf.
3. Started a cable scarf.
4. Finished Celtic Autumn.

Goals for May:
1. Finish a Mill Hill ornie.
2. Start something big.
3. 20 hours of Autumn Winds.
4. 20 hours of Cinderella.

March Achievements and April Goals

Goals for March:
1. Finish a Mill Hill ornie. I finished French Horn and even cut it out.
2. Finish the castle and trees in Cinderella. I ended up frogging the metallic backstitch (and then frogging and stitching all the surrounding DMC since it got fluffy and shredded) so that I could couch it. Despite all that work it was probably faster than struggling to backstitch with the Kreinik. I'm never doing that again!
3. Put 20 hours into Autumn Winds. I put in exactly 20 hours.

Unexpectedly This Month:
1. Stitched a lunch bag.

Goals for April:
1. Finish a Mill Hill ornie.
2. Finish-finish a small from the Drawer Where Things Go To Wait (Forever).
3. 20 hours of Autumn Winds.

February Achievements and March Goals

Goals for Febuary:
1. Finish Mill Hill Harp. Done.
2. Finish the castle and trees in Cinderella. So close. I have two colours and the backstitching to go. Apparently the castle and grounds are a lot bigger than I thought.
3. Finish Celtic Autumn if the Kreinik comes in. It didn't come in, and so I haven't finished it.

Unexpectedly This Month:
1. Turned Cool Christmas into a journal cover.
2. Started and finished Chocolate Needleroll.

Goals for March:
1. Finish a Mill Hill ornie.
2. Finish the castle and trees in Cinderella.
3. Put 20 hours into Autumn Winds.

January Achievements and February Goals

Goals for January:
1. Finish a Mill Hill ornie. Yes!
2. Finish all DMC stitching on Celtic Autumn. Yes. And I was about halfway through the Kreinik when I ran out and my LNS is out of stock, so I need to wait for it to be ordered in.

Unexpectedly This Month:
1. Started and finished Midnight.
2. Started Cinderella.
3. Started Mill Hill Harp.

Goals for February:
1. Finish Mill Hill Harp.
2. Finish the castle and trees in Cinderella.
3. Finish Celtic Autumn if the Kreinik comes in.

Year End Wrap Up

Now in it's second year! 2010, 2011, 2012 (on hiatus), 2013

This year's finishes:

And a look at numbers:
Total finishes: 18
New starts: 20
Pieces started and finished in 2014: 17
WIPs at the start of the year: 9
WIPs at the end of the year: 11
WIPs that didn't see a single stitch last year: 8
Oldest WIPs: From 2009
WIPs to discard: 4

Fastest finish: 3.5 hours (Pearls & Rosebuds Biscornu)
Most time consuming piece: 231.75 hours (Egyptian Sampler)
Pieces that took 10 hours or less: 7
Pieces that took between 10 & 50 hours: 8
Pieces that took over 100 hours: 3
Total hours stitched in 2014(approximately): 646

Previous years
2010: 825
2011: 635.5
2012: 687
2013: 731.5
2014: 646

Looking at the numbers I'm shocked to realize that almost everything I stitched this year was a new start. The only pre-existing WIP I worked on was Deco Spirits. I kept thinking that surely Egyptian Sampler, at least, must be an oldie, but it was my New Year's Day start. I've also decided that there are some WIPs that I just hate working on and it's time to accept that I will never finish them. As such 4 projects will be exiting the house with today's trash. Farewell Hardanger Angel, Blue Moon (2nd try! It's just not meant to be), Sampler Bookmark and Ocean Biscornu.

Looking forward: I'm going to start making monthly goals again since I think it does help me have a better idea of what I'm working on. I really, really, really want to start finishing up my old WIPs and assembling some of the smaller finishes languising in my Finished Drawer.

General Goals for 2015:
1. Finish Celtic Autumn
2. Finish at least one page of Autumn Winds
3. Start and finish one of the following: Cirque des Cadeaux, Cinderella or Tradewinds
4. Finish-finish at least 6 smalls

Goals for January:
1. Finish a Mill Hill ornie
2. Finish all DMC stitching on Celtic Autumn

I hope everyone has a great stitching/knitting/crocheting/crafting year next year!

Year End Wrap Up

I didn't do this last year because of my lost mojo hiatus but I remember doing it in 2011 and it was pretty fun. So stats ahoy!

A quick look at everything I stitched this year:


And a look at numbers:
Total finishes: 15
New starts: 13
Pieces started and finished in 2013: 10
WIPs at the start of the year: 12
WIPs at the end of the year: 9
WIPs that didn't see a single stitch last year: 5
Oldest WIPs: From 2009

Fastest finish: 5 hours
Most time consuming piece: 170.5
Pieces that took 10 hours or less: 7
Pieces that took between 10 & 50 hours: 4
Pieces that took between 50 & 100 hours: 2
Pieces that took over 100 hours: 1
Total hours stitched in 2013(approximately): 731.5

I'm in disbelief over 731.5 hours. I can't believe I stitched so much, specially since I've been convinced I was in a slump for the first half of the year. Previous years for comparison:
2010 - 825
2011 - 635.5
2012 - 687
2013 - 731.5

I have lots of plans for next year: doing WIPocalypse (since some of my old WIPs fill me with shame), StitchingFromStash (because I really need to stop buying more stash), Smalls SAL (because I have so many little pieces of fabric that I need to use up and I just keep starting big things).

Here's hoping that 2014 is an year filled with stitching for us all!