Summer is over!

Don't worry... I am just talking about my season mandala! I finished it late Saturday night :)




I then continued on with Autumn. This is where I managed to get by Sunday night




We will see how much I get done this week, since I slaked off with my course readings during my holidays...

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Summer mandala

I did not manage to stitch as much as I wanted during my holidays, but plan to stitch as much as possible this weekend!

Here is where my summer mandala stands as of this morning. I just finished putting dinner in the crockpot, and am going to get back to it 😃





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Location:University Ave E,Cobourg,Canada

Spring Border

I managed to finish the border on spring this weekend.

Spring as of February 12'12

Winter done and progress on Spring
February 12'12

I also thought I would post one more pic. This time of Sheldon.  This was taken last Sunday after a very scary experience with him.  He seems to be doing better which is good

Groundhog Lied!!

So most of the groundhogs didn't see their showdow.   This means spring is around the corner.
Well in this house, Winter finished a little ahead of schedule...

Winter Mandala ~ Ink Circles
40ct Linen, DMC thread
01-Jan-12 to 03-Feb-2012

And today Spring has started :)

Winter almost done?

If the blog post title made you think of weather, then spring is 49 days away.  Not close enough in my opinion!

Actually this post is about my seasonal mandala, Winter.
I have been trying to steal as much time as possible to work on this.  I am really enjoying it!
Last night I finished the 3rd quarter.  Can't believe I only have a chunk left to do.

BEFORE

Winter Mandala Jan22

 AFTER

Winter Mandala Jan 29

Close up of the quarter

Well that is all the update I have for tonight.

IHSW, TUSAL, Retreat, and WIPS

This is going to be one large post, as I have lots to share!

IHSW
First, this past weekend was the Internation Hermit and Stitch Weekend.  Although I was with a group most of the weekend, I did get some solitude before my good friend Dani arrived at Retreat.  Just to prove I had a bit of Hermit time, I took a few pics ;)

Chair for Dani

Where Liane eventually sat

RETREAT
This weekend was also the Knowledge and Needles Winter Retreat.  I arrived just after noon and got all set up.
I will share my progress further down in the post, but here are some finishes from some others.
For more pics, check out Dani and Ann's Blogs :)  Fran will most likely post some too.

Finish by Anne W.

Clare did this one

Dani's two crazy challenge finishes

Liane's finishes

WIP UPDATE
At retreat, I worked on my Winter Mandala by Ink Circles.  Here is a before and after pic.  As usual I did a lot more than I thought I did!

Winter Mandala @ Jan 17th

Winter Mandala after retreat

Sunday afternoon I decided to pull out my HAED and stitch a few blocks.

Magic Evening Nov 24th

Magic Evening Jan 22

TUSAL
Tonight is also the first TUSAL of the new year.  This is organized by DaffyCat
At the beginning of the year I emptied my ort container like I have the two past years.
So here is my froggy and my Ort container after January has been added.

Lots of orts in froggy this month.  Most from Winter Mandala

Ort Container for January

stress relief due to winter?

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I had a reading and assignment weekend.  After dinner Saturday, I pulled out my winter mandala for some stress relief.

I did the same Sunday morning and Sunday night after dinner again.

Unfortunately last night, I did not any stitching done.  Tonight when I got home from work, I went right to bed to try and kill a headache.  After getting up I did some laundry and finished up one assignment question. 

Here is where I am as of tonight... finally some colour getting added :)

Full Winter Mandala

Close up of bottom right corner - COLOUR!

Well that is it for tonight... I am going to stitch for an hour and then back to bed.
Thank goodness I am off for some major stress relief this weekend... :)

winter day 3 + a little tease

I am currently at home waiting for the furnace guy to finish the yearly checkup.  Figures... I could have stitched for a few hours, but no... HE HAD TO ARRIVE ON TIME!!  LOL we can never be happy can we.

Last night I did manage to get a bit done on my winter mandala... although not as much as I wanted.  For about an hour after dinner I had no desire to anything at all

Here is where I was as of last night

Winter - January 3

Not the greatest pic, but I did put a bit of colour in

Later in the night, I decided to put winter away and do a scissor fob.  I was wanting to do one of my new scissors, but don't have any pink beads.  Then I remembered a stitchy friend.  She pointed out last year that I had not given her a fob like I have done with some other stitchy friends.  I told her I needed to find the perfect charm for hers.  Well about a week after that, I found the perfect little charm for her.  I knew I had all the beads I needed for hers, so got to work on it.  I am pleased with the result.  I won't be giving it to her for a few weeks, and since she is a reader, I can only give you a sneak peak.  I am sure this will be more of a tease for the recipient though ;)

what will it look like?

Well it looks like I will be heading to work soon.  Hope you all have a great day

Winter day 2 + new challenge

Yesterday I had intentions to stay at work and then walk over to my Photo Club Meeting.  By 3pm I was tired, and just wanted to go home.

I ordered hubby and I pizza to pick up and went home at 5.  After working on my blog and a bit of course work (not as much as I should have), I worked on my 4 seasons mandalas.

Here is where I got to before going to bed last night

Winter as of December 2'12

Last night before bed I looked through a few blogs and noticed Daffycat had a great summary on some SAL's and challenges going on in 2012.  There was one on her list that I had not heard about before, so thought I should check it out.

From Daffycat's Blog:

Finally, we have Becky's BAP Challenge. This is a project to stitch between January 1st and December 31st of 2012. The project must be at least 10 x 12 and not a current WIP. There is a prize to be given away (a $100 GC) drawn from those that finish their project. This challenge is a post-any-time but does need to be updated when there is progress.

If you are stitching on a smaller fabric count, you just need to follow the "at least 175x200 stitch count" rule.

I was happy to see that the 4 mandalas together fit in this category and I have joined the challenge!