January 2024 - Cloudy = Crafty

How was January in your area? Here in central Indiana, it was cold and cloudy - I hear the cloudiest January in 25 years. It made for a perfect month of crafting as there wasn't much desire to be outside. My daughter wrapped up her holiday visit home mid-month and we really enjoyed having her here. She is also happy to be returning to school for her second semester. She already seems like more of a New Yorker and mastered the plane/bus/train/bus trip back with ease. 

I started the year with plans to finish off my temperature stitch that I used to record the high temps in Indy each day - all seemed to be going well until I got close to the end and found that I would have three unstitched motifs, meaning I had missed three days along the way. I went through the whole piece day by day and was glad to find that the gaps happened in November/December. I spend the better part of a week pulling out stitches back to the first missed date and then putting the right ones back in. I am happy in the end to have done that, no one else would have known but it would have bugged me! The highest high was 92 and the lowest low was 21 degrees, a relatively mild year all things considered. I didn't use the top of bottom end of the range in my piece, but had I decided to do it again for 2024, I'd have used the bottom end! I found a box frame at Michael's that should work well for the finish and hope to finish it up soon.

Mini Temperature Stars by Zahra Design Studio (on Etsy)

I stitched the key to go on the back of my finished piece
so I would remember what the colors meant.

I stitched on several other things over the month and had two other partial finishes, so will share them as the series grows through the year. The first is Hinzeit Crystal Reindeer. I think I bought the patterns for this one around 2010 and saw a stitched model last summer at Acorns and Threads in Portland - I loved their shop model and picked up the 36 count White Opalescent linen while there, planning for it to be a Christmas day start. I am really enjoying stitching on this piece and finished Dasher in January. There are seven more reindeer to go and I will attach the crystals at the end so they don't get caught up in my q-snap. 

My second partial finish is part of the Lizzie Kate Green Flip-its series, which I am stitching as part of a SAL (stitch-a-long) with Alison from Mrs. AZ Family Zoo Stitches on IG. We both had this pattern ready to stitch in 2024 so decided to stitch along together. I am stitching mine on 32 count Meadow Rue linen by Lakeside Linen with the called for fancy floss. It is such a fun stitch!

I also had a quick ornament start and finish this month, as I am joining Carol in the #12in24ornamentstitchalong - I may not get 12 done, but plan to stitch several ornaments through the year with the plan to give them as gifts next Christmas. My first one is Winter Squirrel by The Victoria Sampler from the 2011 Just CrossStitch Ornament issue. I stitched it on a piece of mystery linen which is a light grey-green and used the DMC threads as they were in my stash so it was a quick and easy start. I plan to order a tart tin to finish this in, as called for in the magazine. 

In addition to some good stitching, I have two FFOs (Fully Finished Objects) to share. The first one was framed at our local Michael's with a frame my mom found at another Michael's on the "oops" wall. It took the framer a few tries to get it right and we wound up putting batting behind the stitched piece in the end so it would fill out one strange spot in the linen, and I am happy with the end result. 

Ghostyard Goblins by The Nutmeg Needle stitched on
28 ct. Taupe linen with called for threads, stitching finished in 2023

My second FFO was an easy one, as I already knew how I wanted to finish it. I made a pillow with veleteen left over from another finish on the back and mini pompom around the edge. I think this will be a cute one to put out in the fall. It was a quick stitch and a quick finish!

Mr. McGobbles by Pinker N Punkin, a freebie on her blog.
Stitched on 18 count Oatmeal Aida with called for DMC threads.
Stitched in 2023 

In the sewing room, I made a little progress in January too. I made my first quilt back and binding for the year and then got the back loaded to my quilt frame and started quilting a UFO (Unfinished fabric object). I got just under the halfway mark by the end of the month and plan to finish and bind it before the end of February. 

A picture from the back so you can see the backing fabric and just a peek of the quilt top. I am custom quilting this with ruler work and free handed quilting. 

I am also slowly working on taking apart my reindeer blocks and getting the components to the right size so they will fit together the right way (the first few I put together were were not right). I was up to two completed blocks by the end of the month and will carry on with fixing them as I feel like it. I know I will love them when done and have learned an important lesson about measuring along the way for blocks with a lot of pieces. 

Reindeer blocks for Reindeer Xing by Lella Boutique

I also started a crochet project in January - a new cowl - but it isn't far enough along to show well in a picture. I rarely pick up crochet first in the day, but am trying to be intentional to stitch several rows each week so that it will progress quickly. Hopefully I will have a good picture to show you at the end of February. 

I will continue this year by sharing my finishing, stitching time and stash results each month - I find all three of the metrics really help motivate me through the year. 

Finishing Stats:

Stitching projects: +2 finishes, -2 FFOs = 36 to be finished

Quilting projects: -0 FFOs = 10 quilts waiting to be finished (I added Reindeer Xing which hadn't been in the stats before now as it has stalled a bit)

Stitching time with Kate at Life in Pieces: 

28/31 days with at least 15 minutes of stitching = 90%

Stash reporting with Donna at quiltpaintcreate: 

Fabric added this month: 0 yards

Fabric used this month: 3 1/8 yards (quilt back and FFO)

Net fabric used in 2024: 3 1/8 yards

Thanks for reading about all my crafty activities in January - it has been a good start to the year with projects in all of my major crafts and I look forward to seeing what I get up to in February! Wishing you all a little warmth and sunshine.