A Year in Review - 2024 & Goals for 2025

Hello fellow cross stitch bloggers. I have not blogged at all in a year because I have only cross stitched 2 or 3 days in 2024. I really did lose my stitching mojo. I still don’t have it back, but I’m ready to force myself to try stitching in the new year. I have been busy in 2024 with all of my other hobbies, just not with stitching. You can read about those other hobbies below.

I have always been a one at a time stitcher. I start a project and work on it until it is complete. Sometimes I would have 2 projects (1 big one at home, 1 smaller one for travelling). At the moment I have 2 projects on the go.

1. Home on the Point - I never did finish the lighthouse project. I don’t LOVE the pattern because there is a lot of blending of floss. It takes more time to try and figure out what colour to use and then I lose track of where I am on the canvas. I used to love the challenge of more colours, now I just want to see it finished. I don’t have all that much left to do for a finish. This is how it looks as of today.

This is what it is supposed to look like.

2. Summer Sweets - I bought this cross stitch kit 20+ years ago for my mom. I taught her how to cross stitch. She loved working on it. A family friend came for a visit who also stitches and thought she would work on my mom’s project. 

First off, you never touch someone else’s cross stitch project without asking them. 

Second, you don’t stitch on some else’s project unless they ask you for help or it is a round robin. 

Anyways, my Mom was left handed and stitched opposite from me (X’s where reversed), the family friend obviously didn’t know the correct way to cross stitch because she crossed her X’s whatever direction she felt like doing. She upset my Mom so much that she never finished her project again and gave it to me. I knew I wouldn’t be able to finish her project because we stitch different and she only stitched on Aida and I only use evenweave. My Mom passed away 9 years ago, so I thought I’d start this project over for myself as a reminder of my Mom.

Here is what it will look like.

Here is my progress after a few hours on August 12.

3. If I manage to complete these 2 projects I would like to finally try hardanger. I will start by stitching a Christmas ornament for my tree.  http://manya72.blogspot.com/p/free-patterns.html this site has some free Hardanger Christmas ornament patterns that I will try.

4. I also have 5 Just Nan mice to assemble. 3 Gingerbread mice (Santa, Mrs. Claus, Reindeer), and 2 witches ( Miss Witchy, Witchy’s Sister).

Other Hobbies in 2024.

READING - 1 read every day, so I managed to read 148 books (physical, e-books, and audio books). I also started a reading journal where I track the books I have read. I usually read 3 different Genres (Romance - pink, Romantic Suspense - blue, and Fantasy - green).

Dave & I don’t care to travel,  so I try to read books taken place in different countries around the world. I have maps that I colour to show where the book takes place. Ex. Harry Potter takes place in England, so I coloured England in green. I’m trying to colour as many countries in the world.

PUZZLES - We built 4 x 1000pc puzzles and 1 x 1500pc puzzle.                                                                

2025 - We want to build 2 x 2000pc puzzles and 1 x 3000pc puzzle.

CRICUT - I bought myself a Cricut Maker 3 for Mother’s Day in May. It took me quite awhile to learn the software to design and create 11 Christmas cards and 19 birthday cards. Unfortunately, I live in Canada and the Post Office went on strike in November, so I couldn’t mail my Christmas cards to Dave’s family. We handed out to family and friends who live close.

GARDENING - We have 4 metal raised garden beds (2’ deep, 6’ long, 3’ high). They are the same length, depth and height as  a 6 foot kitchen counter. This makes it easier to garden as we get older. Less bending to weed. We planted vegetables in all  4 of them as usual. We also added 2 more smaller plastic raised garden beds. When we had a turtle, she had an indoor pond where she lived and a temporary outdoor pond for her to get some fresh air in the summer. She has been gone for several years and I finally found a way to recycle her 2 ponds into raised garden beds. We just had to make 2 strong bases on wheels.

2025 - I want to create a pollinator/wildflower garden for the birds, bees and butterflies to enjoy.

WOODWORKING - Dave & I built a spice rack for the pantry door in our kitchen.

VIDEO GAMES - I still LOVE playing games on my Nintendo Switch. I am patiently awaiting a few new games and a brand new model of the Nintendo Switch coming sometime in 2025. 

Just Nan - 1 more mouse

 I finished stitching the gingerbread reindeer mouse this afternoon. 

I didn’t add whiskers to the reindeer mouse.  After showing my daughter-in-law Sarah, the Santa and Mrs. Santa mice, she noticed I used black instead of white floss for the whiskers. I always make black whiskers, I wasn’t thinking about Santa’s white beard would have white whiskers.

So, I removed the black whiskers for now. I will add white ones when I assemble the 3 of  them.

Just Nan - 2 more mice

 I thought 3 mice would be a fast stitch. I completed Gingerbread Santa Mouse last week, but too lazy to update my blog.

I just completed Gingerbread Mrs. Santa Mouse this afternoon.

Next I will start Gingerbread Reindeer Mouse.

Miss Witchy and her Sister - Happy Dance

Last night, I finally completed the two witch mice.  I will cut the whiskers to the right size after they are assembled.

Miss Witchy Mouse

Miss Witchy’s Sister Mouse

Miss Witchy and her Sister

I decided to take a little break from my large Animal Crossing project and stitch some mice.  Wednesday night, I started 2 mice because they use most of the same colours.  I am stitching them on 28ct Jobelan light gray. 

Miss Witchy Mouse 

Here is my progress after 2 nights.

and Miss Witchy’s Sister Mouse.

Here is my progress after 2 nights.  As you can see I focused mostly on the first mouse.

Miss Ghostly Pumpkin Mouse - Happy Dance

I just finished the Autumn Mouse.  I’ll try to assemble the mouse sometime this week.

Miss Ghostly Pumpkin Mouse - update #2

I stitched some more on the Autumn Mouse.  I ran out of DMC 740 on my bobbin, I need to check and see if I have a backup one.  If not, I will need to pick up some this week.

Miss Ghostly Pumpkin Mouse - update #1

I only stitched a little bit on the project last night.

Miss Ghostly Pumpkin Mouse

I have a week in between projects so I think I will start another one of the just Nan mice.  This one is from the Haunted Autumn Mouse in a House, but I’m only stitching the mouse.  Here name is Miss Ghostly Pumpkin Mouse.  

I will be stitching her on 28ct Lugana called Fizzle from Picture This Plus.

Here are the threads and fabric I will be using.  You can see a small photo at the bottom of the mouse.

FFG - March

Thanks again to Rachel at Ten Hour Stitcher for encouraging us to finish some projects.  I was going to blog about my Quidditch progress and saw Rachel’s blog and felt guilty because I procrastinated all month and didn’t get around to fully finishing anything until this morning.  Thanks Rachel, it’s all your fault.  :)

First up I used a black 5 X 7 frame for the Lesley Teare SAL I did last year.  I couldn’t use the glass because of the beads in the project.  Next time I’m ironing something I can take this out and iron it as well.

The second framed project is by Sue Hillis called Yes, I Can Drive A Stick.  I don’t usually stitch Halloween pictures, but this one I had to do because I actually prefer to drive standard transmission (cars with a stick).  So this project is perfect for me, and I stitched it on purple.  The frame is a little banged up, but I reused it from our house.

The last framed picture is called Blackwork Dragon by Dragon Dreams.  I stitched this way back in 2004.  I believe the model was stitched in one colour, but I thought it would be fun to mix it up.

Finally the one everyone is waiting to see ... Miss Strawberry Mouse.  Remember this is what she looked like before.  I love the pink on pink fabric.

I had to take her outside for a photo because it is a cloudy, rainy day here.  Every room is dark, I was getting shadows.  I assembled her today.  I love how she turned out.  I like the new tails on the mice for the seasonal houses.  It is a wire corded tail instead of the metal shaped tails.  It is hard to see the pink on pink fabric in the photos, but you can see it in real life.  

Smalls SAL - February

Here she is Miss Strawberry Mouse from the Summer Mouse in a House series.  The pattern called for white whiskers, but I have made black ones for all the other mice I stitched.  I will have her assembled in time for the FFG on March 10.

Miss Strawberry Mouse

She is almost finished.  I still need to add her whiskers, I’m getting tired, so I’ll do them in the morning.  I thought you might like a sneak peak of the strawberries.  See you tomorrow for the Smalls SAL.

Just Nan ... Summer - Miss Strawberry Mouse

I started a new project for the Smalls SAL which will be this Friday.

Here are the DMC thread colours recommended in the chart.  I’m using a 28ct pink on pink mystery evenweave.  I’m thinking it might be from Picture this Plus.  I bought it years ago from my LNS at the time.  She was always selling small remnants which are great for doing my Just Nan projects.

Sunday nights progress.

Monday nights progress.

FFG - February

Thanks to Rachel at Ten Hour Stitcher for hosting this SAL again this year.

Rosebud Tweet stitched

Rosebud Tweet assembled

Frosty Snow Mouse stitched

Frosty Snow Mouse assembled.  He is supposed to be a snowman with a carrot nose.

I love his little scarf and purple mittens.

He also has a cute pompom on his hat.

Spring Mouse, actually called Miss Pansy Mouse stitched.

Here is Miss Pansy assembled.  Now that I look at her up close, the purple on her belly is kind of weird, but that is because she was supposed to be stitched on purple (I forgot to change fabric colour, I had stitched the house on white evenweave and continued on the same piece of fabric).

I love all the purple, especially the new tails that Just Nan used in these kits.  I do think the flower stand out more on white fabric.

I didn’t stitch this, but I assembled it into a pillow, so I think it should count towards my FFG projects.  :)

This is a project that my close friend Lisa received sometime in the 80’s from a friend she grew up with in Alaska.  She showed this to me in December.  She wants to keep it, but it is out dated and would like to make it into a pillow some day.  Me being a cross stitcher and not enough things to do, told her I’d take care of it for her.  I took it home and that same night stitched the rectangle box around the pattern.  Then I had to figure out what stitch size it was so I could match the amount of stitches for the back panel.  I finished it in 2 days and gave it to her the next time I saw her, but just remembered to take a photo of finished pillow at the end of January.

The front is stitched on 14ct cream, ivory or antique white aida.

I used 28ct lavender or lilac evenweave to finish the back panel.  I happen to LOVE purple so this reminds her of me.

She LOVES it because it is from 2 of her cross stitching friends, one from her past where she grew up with in Anchorage, Alaska, USA and one from the present, after she moved to Cambridge, Ontario, Canada when she married a Canadian.  I have known her now 27 years.  We met when my oldest son was 3 months old and have been friends ever since.

Smalls SAL - January

I’d like to thank Mary for hosting this event each month.  If you’d like to join, you can find all the information about this SAL at Mary’s Thread.

I am slowing working through my Just Nan Limited Edition 3D Miniature mice.  I decided to stitch the Frosty Winter Mouse because it is still winter.  This was sold as a kit (Frosty Winter Mouse in a House).  It takes too long to stitch the houses, so for now I will just stitch the mice in the series.  Some day I might go back and stitch the houses to go with them.

Tuesday night (Jan. 28), I started stitching.  Here is my progress after the first night.

Wednesday night, I finished all the cross stitching.  Here is my progress after the second night.

Thursday night, I finished adding the beads (silver crystal and white pearl).  Another Happy Dance!!  This is my 4th finish of the year already.

I hope to have the mouse assembled for the next Fully Finished Gallery SAL (Feb. 10).

After completing the beads on Frosty, I still had some time to work on SYOA (Harry Potter) Hufflepuff banner/house crest.  I finished the white and black on the badger, but instead of finishing the letter H, I started the vertical trim on the right edge of the banner.  Next time I will try to finish the dark colour (DMC 3371) at the bottom of the badger’s neck and the letter H.