H..h...h...happy dance

Did you count the h's in the title?
Well, you should have done, because that is how many finishes I have had recently.

In no particular order, we have:

Merry Christmas to You by My Big Toe Designs from Just Cross Stitch ornie issue 2016.

And then, Prairie Schooler's Santa Waving Good Night from the same issue.

Next, Lizzie Kate's Flip-Its from 2001 - January

Finally, David Tennant which was from an Etsy seller ( I can't remember who!)

David Tennant was for Rachael's birthday - her 18th birthday!  How on earth did that happen?  How can I be the mother of an adult. Don't worry, we have already had the 'you may be an adult but it's my house, my rules' chat!  

I did underestimate the time it would take me to stitch it and ended up stitching on it until 3.30 am on her birthday.  Thankfully, Rachael slept in until 9.30 so I did get enough sleep for her big day!!! She had a wonderful time and the restaurant we went to, gave her a really good night with complementary drinks and a special dessert.

So what's been happening in the world of Shebafudge?

Well strangely enough, lots of stitching!

I have had another finish on Poppy Dance. That's 6 full pages done.  6!! Full pages!! Of a HaED!! By me!!  Can you believe it?  There are only another 19 pages to go although I think only 9 or 10 of them are full pages, with the rest being partial pages.

Poppy Dance - Marianne Broome - HaED

I have also finished 2 of the 12 designs for the JCS Ornie SAL on facebook.  I'm in shock...the kids are in shock and I think even the cats are in shock!

The Little Stitcher - Blue Snowman
2016 JCS Ornie issue

Medina Originals - Waving Santa
2016 JCS Ornie issue

I am also doing what used to be known as the Catholic Teacher's Certificate (now CCRS).  So far, I have submitted 3 assignments and all 3 have come back as distinctions which I am really pleased about. There is one more to submit this academic year, so fingers crossed for a full house.

Rotation, rotation, rotatiom

Well....the tapered rotation is going well. I did change it very slightly and decided that my first slot will be my HaED slot. I finished the page on Poppy Dance and then started a new design called Kitty Heaven. I am doing the first page as the challenge in the Facebook group. It's much more confetti-ish than Poppy Dance but will be gorgeous in about 20 years time.

I also got these charts recently.  It was the combination of vouchers for Christmas and the Sewandso sale.  There are 3 more but I don't seem to have a photo of them.  Anyway the whole lot cost me £14 - bargain!!!

Boxes of Shame / It's a shame

Recently, after reading one of my favourite blogs - Jeremiah's Mom recently, we had a discussion on boxes of shame.  The idea being that she will 'finish' finish the 29 pieces that she had stitched but boxed up.  She challenged me to examine my box of shame...biiiiiiiig mistake! I have 38!!!! 38 stitched but nothing else done with them pieces...oh...dear. I think I might need to do something about them.

Now onto the 'it's a shame' part of my title. Well really, that's not fair to say.  Rachael has received an offer from Lancaster to study Biochemistry.  This was her first choice uni but because she didn't do so well in her AS levels in chemistry, we thought she would be unlikely to get a place there.  She applied to go there for biology, just in case, as that was a grade lower than biochem. She is pleased as punch and absolutely over the moon that she will (hopefully) be going there.  I'm pleased as it is only an hour away :)

The rotation is going well - 7 hours into round 1!!

2nd finish of the year

I have a second finish of the year.  This is the ORT ornie for 2016 orts.  I actually had a bit of a disaster with this one.  I obviously did more stitching last year than I thought and I had to make a second one, a larger one to accomodate them all.  Oh well!

So far the rotation is going well!  (Other than making this one, obviously) and I have stitched 3 and a half hours on Poppy Dance. I forgot to take a photo of it before I started stitching though - doh! I have almost finished another page, so I will take it off the Q Snaps once I do and take a photo.  This page is looking gorgeous, lots of pretty reds and oranges. I hope my mum is going to like it when it is finally finished.

I hope everyone else is having a great start to the new year too. 

Tapered Rotation

Hands up...who has heard of a tapered rotation?

Well, I hadn't but Karyn of My Stitching Nook has posted about trying this for 2017.  It sounds brilliant as I have been trying to work out how to get loads of progress on Poppy Dance but also on some of my other projects too.

The idea is that you choose XX number of projects to stitch XX number of hours on.  So for me, I think it will be 6 projects and 10 hours.

Then:

• Round 1 - you stitch on project 1.
• Round 2 - you stitch on project 1 and then project 2.
• Round 3 - you stitch on project 1, then project 2 and finally project 3.
• ...and so on for however many rounds you decide to do.

So my 6 projects are going to be

1. Poppy Dance - Marianne Broome
2. Under the Sea/Fantasy SAL's - Durene Jones/Kate Worthington
3. iStitch Advents for 2015 and/or 2016 - Carol Ridyard
4. Witchful Thinking/Tomb it May Concern - Pickle Barrel Designs
5. Flip-its 2001 - Lizzie Kate
6. Everyone Brings Joy - Waxing Moon Designs

As you can see, I have added in a couple of SAL's that I am doing/did/should have done so should more or less keep up with those.  There are some smaller designs that will see finishes pretty quickly which should help keep the motivation going and reduce my WIP/UFO list too.

Wish me luck, you know what I'm like :)

First finish of 2017

First start of the year and first finish too. This is my ort ornie for 2015 (no, that's not a typo). I'm not sure which is worse...not making the ort ornie for over a year, or the fact that I carefully guarded them for a year!!