August Stitch from Stash B

Here we are at the end of August, and I've been quite quiet lately.  Sadly, I've kind of lost my stitchy bug the past few weeks, and I haven't been stitch nearly as much lately. But I'm taking a trip this weekend, so maybe I will get that bug back a bit during the trip since I don't have to drive.
 
Month: August
Spent: $26.40
Earned: $0.00

As you can see, due to the loss of my stitchy bug, I didn't have ANY finishes for this month.  A first for me this year!

I did end up buying some stash though.   Last month one of the patterns I bought was one called Summer Designs by Bobbie G. Designs.  Well, doing some research into that pattern, it turns out it was a series of patterns and I got it into my head one day that I needed the other 3 seasons to match it (you know how I am with seasons and monthly patterns).  Sadly, my go to supplier (since there's no LNS to be found near me) 123stitch.com failed me and didn't have them in stock.  But I did find another website called Stitching Bits and Bobs that did have them, and what do you know, they were even on sale.  So added to my stash this month were Winter Designs, Spring Designs, and Autumn Designs.  I have to say spring and winter are probably my favorites of all of them.

And while I was poking around, I ended up adding another pattern to my cart.  This one is called Americat from Val's Stitching Stuff.  Val has lots of cute primtive-y cat patterns, and with my love of both cats and all things patriotic, I just loved this one so much.  And since it was another thing 123stitch didn't have currently in stock, I had to add it to my order so I could get combined shipping, right? I normally don't go for primitive type patterns, but they're starting to grow on me, and I find I really like Val's patterns (although so far I haven't stitched one).  I will probably even save up for both the Just Another Button Company buttons and hand dyed floss for this one.

I wish I could have found bigger pictures for you to look at (or even had the foresight to take some of my own) so you could see all the amazing details and colors of these patterns.  Of course, when they arrived in the mail I discovered that (gasp!) the Bobbie G Designs have quite a few blended threads.  Oh frogs.  I haven't done blended threads yet, been too chicken to try them, but I suppose these patterns will be as good of an excuse as any to try them out.

In other news, the Cross Stitch Crazy 2016 group (home of the Crazy January Challenge) has opened, so I'm already planning my starts for next January.  And sheesh, I still have Christmas present to finish.  I need to get this stitchy bug back soon!  Otherwise, I will completely fail SFS Part B.  I need more earning bonus, LOL


Starting balance from July: -$33.00
August budget: $25
Finish bonuses: $0   
Total:  -$8 to spend in July
- Total stash purchases: $26.40

Ending balance: -$34.40

Hey, my red balance only went up by a dollar...

July Stitch from Stash B

Well, it's almost the end of July (can you believe it?) and I almost missed my first reporting for Stitch from Stash B.

Month: July
Spent: $64.00
Earned: $6.00

Hmm, yes it seems I blew my first two months budget out of the water.   But I'm hoping to earn a good chunk of that back soon!

Let's start out with the good news.  I had two finishes to count for July, my Tropical Drink magnet and Fish Pond square for Love Quilts.  Pictures of both can be found on my Finishes page if you haven't seen them yet. 

As far as stash purchased, I have discovered the dangerous world of Facebook stash selling groups, which in addition to eBay was my downfall this month.  But I plan on stitching my way out of the red the next few months at least.

Here's a breakdown of what I bought:

$10 - Lizzie*Kate Sweet Tooth Boxers, Cupcake and Ice Cream

I guess this is a series of four designs, so now I need to track down Pie and Candy, which I have found on eBay, although both are the same price each that I paid for these two together.  These are sort of like kits in that they come with the fabric and embellishments, but not the threads to complete the design.

$20 Mill Hill Nutcracker set

Someone on Facebook was selling her entire set of Mill Hill Nutcracker Ornaments.  If there's two things I love about Christmas is the Nutcracker and 12 Days of Christmas, and I love Mill Hill kits too, so I jumped on the deal.  I am contemplating stitching these up and turning them into a wreath.

$12 Mill Hill Mask kits

Did I mention Mill Hill kits?  These larger ones are usually upwards of $13, so when I found 2 for $12 I was so happy.  I've been eyeing these mask ones for awhile.  Not really sure why, but something about the designs and colors just catch my eye.

$7 Bobbie G Designs

Starting in September I will be joining another Round Robin group (since our Frosted Pumpkin round is coming to a close soon).  This one is sampler themed, so I've been especially focused on sampler type patterns the past few weeks.  I contemplated doing this kitchen one from Bobbie G Designs, and the seller was offering them as a set with these two other designs.  In the end I chose something else as my RR piece, but I'm excited to stitch these patterns up eventually.

$15 Facebook closeout group

This was a set of several charts and kits I picked up from a lady who was closing out her Facebook albums because she was getting ready to move.  Sadly, I forgot to take a picture, so I will have to share those with you all at a later time.

Starting balance from June: $0.00 (new start!)
July budget: $25
Finish bonuses: $6   
Total:  $31 to spend in July
- Total stash purchases: $64.00

Ending balance: -$33.00

I definitely don't want to see that red sticking around too long! 

Stitch from Stash May 2015

It's time for the May Stitch from Stash 2015-A check in.  Here we are at the second to last month, and I totally messed up this month.  So here is my post of shame.

Month: May
Spent: $75.81
Earned: $2.00

Oh yes, you read those numbers right.  I hang my head in shame.  I will now go stand in the outcast corner where hopefully they have chocolate so at least I can enjoy my time there.

So perhaps an in-depth explanation is called for.  Here's an item by item breakdown of my spending. 

15 back issues of CrossStitcher from eBay - $42
A Cross-Stitch Christmas Handmade Memories- $3.89
Soda Stitch Alice in Wonderland (kitted up) - $6.03
Soda Stitch Owl Welcome (kitted up) - $7.79
Bothy Threads Exotic Birds - $6.84
Frosted Pumpkin Sale: Summer Sparkler and Pinata Party - $9.26

eBay was definitely my downfall this month.  I have to grab those back issues of the UK cross stitch magazines when I can, because they are hard to find out here in Mississippi.  Plus, these were from the early 2000s, and I find some of the CrossStitcher patterns I like best were from around that time, so I had to get them.  I'm not as big of a fan of most of the patterns they put out lately, but the older ones, I love.

The Cross Stitch Christmas book was purchased exclusively for the Ursula Michael pattern I knew was in there, since I won the book for less than the cost of just the pattern download.  I ended up being plesantly suprised when I got the book though, since there's a few other patterns in there that I think will end up as WIPs that I really liked.

The two Soda Stitch patterns and the Bothy Threads were great deals I got from someone else, and again, since I've been eyeing those lately (especially the BT, which are REALLY expensive to get here in the US) I had to take a chance and get them.  I'm super excited to get started on the Exotic Birds pattern.  It is even more cute in person than I ever dreamed it was.  And fairly easy too, with limited backstitch and not a lot of fractionals and only a few french knots for eyes.  I love the "Cut-Thru" Bothy patterns a lot, but they are definitely a lot more involved than this little cutey!

As an English major, I love all things to do with children's lit, so the Alice in Wonderland pattern was a giveaway, and I've been wanting to try Soda Stitch patterns thanks to Katy's posts about them at her blog Just a Little Stitchin' this month.  And if I was getting the Alice pattern, the owl pattern just kind of happened as well, because, well, as I've said before, I do love owls. 

And finally, Frosted Pumpkin is having a Summer Sale.  They brought back a limited edition pattern called Summer Sparkler that I LOVED and the Pinata pattern just kind of fell into my cart at the same time.  I love patriotic/4th of July patterns, but don't like many of the ones I find.  This one has all my favorites (fireworks, watermelon, flags, ice cream) and so it was a no brainer to get it.  Besides, it was new to me, since I didn't see it last year.  By the way, in the name of all enabling, if you want to get 15% off the coupon code SUMMER is good for another week I believe.  

So, that was the spending.  As far as earning goes, my only finishes for the month have been my square for the last round of my Frosted Pumpkin Round Robin group on Facebook (which I don't count for SFS since I didn't pay for any of the fabric/floss/patterns) and my small N I showed off yesterday.  At 30 x 30 stitches exactly, it earns me an extra $2 to spend this month.

I've been working super hard on Tinkerbell, but she's not done yet, so I can't count her yet.  Luckily she will count for SFS next month once I'm done, since I'm going to need all the help I can get.  Since I went over budget this month, I won't earn anything next month except for what I stitch.  Which in the end doesn't make a huge difference since things will reset in July with 2015-B starting.  But my personal goal is to make up for all the extra spending, so even if it doesn't make a difference in the long run, I will feel better about it at least.

Here's the detailed breakdown of where I am.  Luckily some of my finishes from earlier this year gave me a little bit more room so I'm not as deep in the hole as I could be. 

Starting balance from April: $17.11
April budget: $25
Finish bonuses: $2   
Total:  $44.11 to spend in May
- Total stash purchases: $75.81

Ending balance: -$31.70

Here's to a better spending month next time...

Stitch from Stash April 2015

It's time for another 2015-A Stitch From Stash Check In!  Now that we're in April, I think we only have like two months left in the "A" period, don't we?  So if you didn't manage to join at the beginning of the year and want to maybe join up for the second half, be thinking about that. 

Month: April
Spent: $31.44
Earned: $12.00

So here's a breakdown of what I bought for that large "spent" number. Luckily, I have 3 earning pieces this month, so I know I won't go over budget even though I did buy a few things.

Purchase #1: Kawaii Winter Sampler by Frosted Pumpkin - $16.95 (no longer available)

So technically I bought this in March, but since I purchased it after I had written my check in post, I added it on to this month.  I've had this on my wish list for awhile; for some reason I like this winter one much better than the other seasonal samplers they've done in the same vein.  Anyway, this pattern was being discontinued, so it was definitely an impulse buy because I wanted to get it before I no longer had the opportunity to do so.  It is very cute and I'm not sorry that I purchased it at all, but I wish FP patterns were a little less expensive and fit into my budget plans a little bit better.  I have to wait until they go on sale to grab them normally, and I just couldn't swing the purchase 5 pattern requirement to get a discount this time.

Purchase #2: Don't Wanna by Labor of Love Designs - $8.50

Yet another impulse buy.  Have you heard of the online Needlework show?  It's great for those of us who don't get to go to great needlepoint shows like Nashville (although geographically I'm finally in a spot where I might be able to go someday, financially it's another story).  Anyway, the idea is the about the same, although vendors post picture of their new products online for stitchers to view, which they can then place orders through their favorite local needlework stores.  Sadly, I think it's closed now, but it's a bi-annual thing, so it will be back sometime in the Fall.

Anyway, Labor of Love Designs was a new designer for me, and I just fell in love with this curmudgeonly cat.  Since I don't have local LNS near me that carries these patterns I was able to order it directly for a PDF, which was nice.

Purchase #3: I Know I'm Right by Ursula Michael - $5.99

I think I mentioned over the last few weeks how much I love owl patterns?  Like, a lot.  And I also mentioned how much I enjoy Ursula Michael's designs.  So when Ursula released this as a download from crosstitch.com about a week ago, I had to get it.  It's perfect pattern for me.  And as my Mom asked last week, "don't you ever stitch anything for yourself?" Well no, I haven't really been stitching anything I plan on keeping lately, so this was a good chance to get something for me, but that could be rationalizing spending (oops).  Between the colors and the saying it was a no brainer.  Mom has always called me Little Miss Know-It-All, so this will fit right in in my room.  

Since this post is getting really long already, I'll do a separate one tomorrow to show off my finishes for the month.   I had three finishes, each earning me $4 each.

1. Hoppy Spring by Tiny Modernist (41 x 57 stitches)
2. Friends for Life from CrossStitcher Magazine (61 x 41 stitches)
3. Egg Topiary by Stickule (48 x 59 stitches)

Like I said, full pictures and report coming tomorrow on those last two since I haven't posted my last update for either yet.

So with all that, here's a complete record of where I am now:

Starting balance from March: $11.55
April budget: $25
Finish bonuses: $12   
Total:  $48.55 to spend in April
- Total stash purchases: $31.44

Ending balance: $17.11

Well, at least my ending balance number keeps going up.  Anyway, that's it for me this month.  And although I've stayed under budget, I need to remind myself to be better about NO SPENDING period.  Sigh.  But at least if I'm spending I'm keeping it low.  And it is nice to reward oneself sometimes, isn't it?

Stitch from Stash March 2015

It's time for another 2015-A Stitch From Stash Check In!

Month: March
Spent: $26.75
Earned: $8

March should have been an easy SFS month, since it was my birthday so I shouldn't have needed to buy anything.  Alas, I did make several purchases this month. 

First of all, I had run out/was missing several DMC threads for the next few projects I was planning, and I also needed some 16 count aida for an upcoming Love Quilts project.  So armed with a 20% off entire purchase coupon from Joann's I got what I needed on my birthday, along with some needles (I lost a few on the plane) and some finishing fabric.  Since both needles and finishing fabric are exempt, the total spent was $6.77.  I then had to hop over to Hobby Lobby to pick up the few colors Joann's had been out of, so that was another $2.20.

I've been telling myself to stay away from eBay lately, but I found this really great deal that I couldn't resist.  I've been trying and trying to find a copy of the Joan Elliott calendar that was released with World of Cross Stitching magazine this year.  Most of the ones you see on eBay are the abbreviated 2-chart version that was sold in US stores, and I can't afford shipping from the UK most times.  Well, I lucked out and won an auction that had not only the Joan Elliott charts, but some Margaret Sherry charts from 2012 as well (score!) with UK to US shipping less than $6.  Total spent - $2.78 US for both.  A steal!

My last purchase is where most of my budget went this month.  After posting in my March WIPocalypse update that I was wishing for a copy of Mirabilia's discontinued Lady of the Flag pattern, I had one of my blog readers approach me and offer to sell me her copy for $15.  Since I haven't been able to find it on eBay for cheaper than $20 lately, I took her up on it.  It isn't here yet, but I can't wait to see it.  It will be my first Mirabilia design.

So now I've detailed how I was naughty, time to show off my latest finish.  I did finish two small pieces as part of the Frosted Pumpkin Round Robin I'm doing, but since I didn't pay for the pattern or threads/fabric on those projects, I'm not counting those towards earnings for SFS.

But I did finish the project I am calling Sparrow On Vine:

 Ta-da!  It's really finished this time. 

This is for a quilt being made by Love Quilts.  The theme for this quilt was religous sayings, so I took this pattern of a pink bird on a green vine and added the text from a scripture in Matthew.  The bird part of the pattern is a freebie from the French blog Passion Broderie 77 and can be found here if you'd like to stitch it yourself.  This project is done on 14 count plain white aida with DMC threads, was started on January 30th as part of the Crazy January Challenge and I finished it on March 26th.  At approximately 92 x 87 stitches, it earns me $8 this month for SFS.

So that's my update for the month.  Here's where I am now:

Starting balance from February: $5.30
March budget: $25
Finish bonuses: $8   
Total:  $38.30 to spend in March
- Total stash purchases: $26.75

Ending balance: $11.55

Well, at least the ending balance number is going up...

I thought I might have another finish this month, but didn't quite finsih it before I had to get this update up.  This is the start of my latest project, which I'm calling "Hoppy Spring".  It's a bunny looking over his shoulder at some pink tulips.  It's a slightly modified Tiny Modernist design.  Here's the progress so far:

Just a cotton tail (which doesn't show up much) and a bit of bunny right now.  But it's stitching up pretty quick, so I'm hoping I can get it done this weekend.  Hopefully back with a progress update on that Monday!   

Stitch from Stash February 2015

It's time for another 2015-A Stitch From Stash Check In!

Month: February
Spent: $36.40
Earned: $16.00

And here is the breakdown of what happend.  So far, you know, I'm really not doing so well on this not-buying-stash thing.  But I just had to get this lot of back issues of Cross Stitch Gold off eBay, since these are so hard to find in the States:

And of course I ended up planning a whole new series of Christmas gifts, so that meant 4 Mill Hill purchases needed to be made:



Hmmm, expect the Christmas lights one.  That one's all for me.  I freely admit it.

Luckily, I had two finishes this month, Perfume Bottle (90 x 80 stitches) and Rainbow Mandala (67 x 67 stitches), and both were freebie patterns with fabric and threads from stash, so I was able to count those towards my final budget.  Both earned me $8 each in bonuses.  So again, thanks to Mel's generosity, I didn't actually go over budget at all.  Yay!



Actually, I had one more finish for the month so far (no picture yet though, sorry!), which was my block for the Frosted Pumpkin Round Robin sampler.  But since I didn't pay for pattern, fabric, or threads for that one, I am not counting it for SFS.  

Finally tally for the month:

Starting balance: $0.70
February budget: $25
Finish bonuses: $16   
Total:  $41.70 to spend in February
- Total stash purchases: $36.40

Ending balance: $5.30

So now I've shown you how I was naughty and bought things, let me show you what I DIDN't buy this month (although I came really close). My main temptations this month were:



Two of the Mill Hill new Owlets kits.  How adorable are these?  Between my love of owls and love of Mill Hill, I almost caved on this.

Also, this pattern:

I don't know why, but I'm really on a Mary Poppins kick lately.  Disney version of course, both Broadway and movie though.  So this pattern totally sang to me.

But I resisted!  Haha!  So now I have a little more wiggle room in the budget to use next month if needed...

Stitch from Stash January 2015

It's time for my first 2015-A Stitch From Stash Check In!

Month: January
Spent: $32.30
 Earned: $8.00

So here's a breakdown of what happened this month.  I started out totally determined to not buy any more patterns and save my stash budget exclusively for items that I ran out of (threads/beads/fabric/etc).  

Unfortunately I did succumb to buying more stash despite my best intentions not to at least for the first month (hangs head in shame).  A friend and I split up several of the Brooke's Books overstock sale lots.  So luckily by only taking some of the charts, I managed to keep my spending lower.  So that's something, right?  Here's what I ended up with:

Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy from Little Women - $6.80
Alice Dress Up - $1.70
Spirit of America - $1.70
Sugar Plum Fairy - $1.70
Spirits of Christmas Past, Present, Future - $5.10
Crystal Critters - $1.70
Spooky Critters I  - $1.70
Sweet Treat Angels of Peppermint, Gingerbread, Plum Pudding - $5.10
Spirits of Love, Hope, Peace, Joy - $6.80

Total: $32.30

Hey, I said the spending was lower, not that I didn't go over budget...

*sigh* so yes, I am technically over budget by $7.30 this month.  Not a good way to start off the year.  I'm a newbie at this whole, "not stashing" thing, and I couldn't resist the sale.  But I am determined to do better next month!

However, thanks to the two finishes I did this month for World of Charity Stitching (free patterns, yay!) I can count both Leopard Print Mitten and Giraffe Print Mitten towards my budget this month.  Both are 43 x 43 stitches, so they fall into the second earning category, which means I get an extra $8 to spend for finishing those.  So with this very generous bonus option (thank you Mel!) I actually didn't do too bad.

Here's the final tally:

Starting balance: $0
January budget: $25
Finish bonuses: $8   
Total:  $33 to spend in January
- Total stash purchases: $32.30

Ending balance: $0.70

Phew!  I just barely squeaked by.  So with renewed determination to do better next month, here's to February.  I know I will have some purchases, since I need to pick up 3 Mill Hill kits for presents, and I need to get some more threads for projects that I thought I had, but can't find anywhere.  Ugh.

So until next month!

2015 Stitching Goals: More and More SALs

Well, I had the epiphany today that it's actually getting pretty close to 2015 now, so I better finish up my 2015 goals series of posts.  So rather than do an introduction post for all of these, I'm going to put them all in one post (so I can actually focus on stitching things for them, haha).

So in addition to the 2015 Flower of the Month SAL I'm hosting, the Crazy January Challenge, and BAP Attack's Turtle Trot, here's what I have planned for the new year.

Daffycat has plans to continue her Totally Useless SAL (TUSAL) into the new year.  I've already emptied my ort jar in anticipation of starting that one.   She hasn't posted (as of this writing) the new info for 2015 yet, but this is the link to her 2014 post explaining this SAL. 

Heather from Stitching Lotus is doing her Smalls SAL again this year.  I think this will be kind of like the MMMM I did in October and November, so I'm excited for this one.  I know I will be able to work on smalls for every month of this year, it will just be a question of finishing them or not...

Measi is hosting WIPocalypse again this year.  This is a very low key SAL that is essentially all about sharing your stitching goals and progress for the year.  It will go along very nicely with Turtle Trot this year I expect.

Mel from Epic Stitching is hosting her Stitch from Stash challenge again.  This year, it will be divided into two parts.  The idea is to spend $25 (or your equivalent currency) or less on stitching stash supplies per month.   When I first heard about this back in May, I was kind of like "who is crazy enough to sign up for something like that?".  And then I spent all summer stashing wayyyyy too much, so I signed up so that I could try to keep control of it next year.  With the cut in pay that came from moving out here to Mississippi, my budget is much, much tighter than it used to be, so I will have to think careful about each and every stitchy purchase I make from now on. 

And last but not least is the D.E.S.I.G.N. of the Month, which stands for Designer Everybody Should Instantly Get to Notice. This is a series of posts that will be done by participants throughout the year showing off a current WIP from a different designer each month, with a series of reoccurring questions answered about said design/designer each month.  The idea is to introduce everyone to new designers we may not have run into/tried on our own that we think others should try (or stay away from I suppose).  I'm super excited about this one; I'm already brainstorm ideas on what to feature. 

Phew!  That's a lot.  Think I bit off more than I can chew?  Maybe so, guess we'll just have to see.