I Failed at Stitch From Stash....Again

   Yes, I failed again!  I really thought I was up for the challenge this time but it was, once again, not to be.  I went crazy after market at the beginning of March but I thought it would be okay.  Last year, there was a skip month and I thought I would just do that, make March my skip month, and move on from there.
   Turns out there is no skip month this time. And I was so out of bounds with the spending anyway that I would have had to not spend another penny for the rest of the year to make it legit!!!   So,  I am just spectating now and feeling a lot less guilt about my inability to turn a blind eye to all the fabulous stuff I see out there.  Let me just say that Facebook is not my friend!!
   I have just about recovered from my terrible illness with the exception of the cough.  I am tired of it and apparently so is DH because he made mention of how long I have had it, several times!  I am back to my normal routine and then some with the impending nuptials and with the wedding only 2 weeks away, things are heating up fast!!  I need to do a really good spring cleaning with all the out of town guests we will have but I haven't been able to talk myself into that just yet!! LOL!
   I did manage to get the sampler I was stitching for my friend's birthday finished and it was only about 10 days late.  I was disturbed by the fact that it was late but what can you do?? I don't think things would have gone any more quickly had I stitched while ill and under the influence of drugs!
   She received it yesterday so I can show it here now.  This is Isabella Wood by Lindsey Lane Designs.

40 ct Weeks Cocoa with the listed threads

   It was a fun piece with lots of different stitches, some of which I changed and some of which I moved around to suit myself.  I didn't feel too guilty about this since the instructions did say it was an adaptation.

This center section of strawberries is supposed to be all Queen stitches.  I've done Queens on 40 ct before and it is hard!!!  Those little cross-bars don't have enough room to lie straight so they crowd the space and look crooked.  So I only did the top strawberry in Queens and changed the others.
  Finding stitches oriented in the right direction was the first challenge.  But I persevered and managed to work it out and not have to repeat the same stitch on more than one row. The stitches I used, in order, were Queen, Tied Upright cross, Four-sided, Diamond eyelet, and Diagonal Rice. Very fun and I'm glad I did it this way!
   While I was working on the above sampler, I saw a post on Facebook of Hannah Pepper that someone had converted to the muted colors of the original sampler.  I saw that and a light bulb went off in my head!!  I started Hannah January 1st as my New Year's start and had barely started it before I began having color issues with it and set it aside.  Now, I have made a conversion to over-dyed cottons (which is what the sampler I saw was stitched with) and have restarted this sampler.  I haven't had a lot of stitching time lately but will try to get enough done to be able to post a picture soon.  I am loving it so far!!!
   Well, that's about all for now.  The kids are home this weekend to finalize some of the wedding stuff and we will be celebrating DS2 birthday which was yesterday.  Busy, busy times but the stitching is keeping me sane, I think!

Hope you're enjoying your stitching as much as I am,   Laura

January Stitch from Stash Report

   I have to admit that when I joined this challenge, I did it because I needed to not necessarily because I wanted to.  I have so many things in my stash that I really want to get stitched in my lifetime and continuing to add just because I like something at the moment seems ridiculous!  I am trying to be more selective about what I buy and I am keeping a list rather than buying as soon as I see something I like.
   I confess that it has been harder than I thought it would be.  Checking the shops online for new things had become such a habit!  Now I am getting my fix from the Facebook groups and blogs, seeing what others are stitching right now and so far that is keeping me in check.  But I read some designer blogs too and hold my breath each time they come out with something new, hoping I won't fall in love!!   So far, I have managed to get away with spending nothing!  I know, it's only January and we have  a long year to get through yet.  But we have to take these small victories where we find them!! 
    I have managed to resist new starts as well, with the exception of a couple of SALs I joined the end of last year and that started on the first of January.  I am keeping to the schedule set by the moderators on both of those and I have posted pics of those already so I won't bore you with them again here.  But, I have been working for the last week solid on AW 1662 and she is really coming along!!  Got the 2nd bargello section finished and am well on the way with the last big floral band. Once again, please excuse my knots!

This is all just filling in now!  Hope to make some real progress on that over the weekend!!

After, this band, there is just alphabet which I thing goes pretty fast so I should have a finish with this on in no time!!  I was shooting for the end of the month but we will have to see about that.  This will be a busy week so I don't know how much actual stitching time I will get. Like I always say, it always takes longer than you think!!  Good luck with finding your time to stitch this week!