February check-in

Happy February everybody!  Can you believe we are already a month into 2024?  Time sure flies...I swear the older I get the faster time goes.  Anywho....I've had a productive year so far even though we have been pretty busy!  So I thought I would do a little recap of January.  

Let's see....I have had 5 finishes so far this year with one completely finished.  I've also worked on 2 other that are not finished yet.  Quite a start!  There doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to do everything I want to, but hopefully this month I'll catch back up.  Fingers crossed!  As you know, I started Anne Thomas 1854 on New Years Day.  I'm happy to report that I have finished stitching 5 of the 20 pages of the pattern!  That's exciting to me!  I don't know if I'll be able to keep up the pace (actually I'm pretty sure I can't) but I'm going to give it the old college try.  I'm working on 40 count Vintage Pecan Butter.  Here is where I stopped last night, the beginning of page 6.  So far I have put in 14,243 stitches in Anne this month!  I'm hoping to finish 5 pages each month.  We will see how that goes.

As I mentioned before this is a big project, and the frame I'm using is giving my wrist and hand a run for my money.  It was suggested by my Canadian friend that I should use a floor frame.  I'm working on getting that set up, (thank you for that great idea) in the meanwhile...I rest it periodically by throwing in a few smalls.  I have finished 5 so far this year!!  First is The Most Wonderful Time of the Year by The Heart's Content.  Since the first of the year I have been counting stitches.  Since January 1st, I put in 2,395 stitches in this project to finish it!  

My second small is this little Christmas ornament Letters to Santa by Jennifer Redmond from the 2023 JCS Ornament Issue.  He is stitched on 32 count Vintage Blue Whisper over two and he took 1,761 stitches to complete.  

Third is Believe by Rosewood Manor which is also from the 2923 JCS Ornament Issue and is stitched on 40 count white  and took 1,068 stitches to complete.  

Fourth is Fuzzy Moon with Love x kit from For the Love of Cross Stitch magazine.  He took 1,111 stitches to complete  and he is fully finished into a Valentine Card for my lovely husband.  I stitched this on 14 count aida...and hated almost every minute of it!  Now I know why I don't use Aida anymore!  LOL!!  

The last is a Flower Heart by Samplers Not Forgotten.  It's stitched on 32 count beige over two.  It is completely stitched but it is not fully finished.  It's a Valentine surprise so I'm not going to show pictures of it just yet.  Check back on my Gifted Gorgeousness post!  LOL!!  This took 1,630 stitches to complete.    

I also started Floral Magenta by The Heart's Content.  This is another gift from the same friend who gave me The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.  This one is being stitched on 23 count hand dyed linen over one using DMC (925 I think) floss.  I love how it looks so far!!  So far I have put in 1.005 stitches.  I truly love how this one is working up!  

That's a grand total of 23,177 stitches this month!  I know I won't be able to do the same amount next month, it's 2 days shorter!!  I also have a lot planned next month, so we will see how things go.  Whew, that's a lot of numbers thrown at you!  As I said it's been a pretty productive year.  The only thing I didn't do is fully finish those things I have finished so far this year.  Hopefully soon I'll be able to have a finishing day.  We will see!  Stay tuned!  I thought I would share the gift I received from my lovely DIL.  I guess I have a reputation now....I've been crowned...Me thinks they know me too well...

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy Stitching!