Happy Monday!

I have a confession to make. I was so excited to start one of the projects on my list (the mouse), that I started right away on it, and totally forgot about my Saturday SAL project. The past 3 days I managed to get in close to 11 hours of time on my little mousie. That estimate includes the time I spent gridding, too.

Some story on this, I only marked the center with my marker and started right away with stitching. I only got a few stitches in when I realized that I really will need the fabric gridded, rather than winging it. My very first horizontal line was, of course, one count off. Rather than try to fix it, I just drew in the correct line and will disregard the extra one. That explains the extra line on the fabric. I also didn't want to get too close with the marker to the few stitches that I had already done, which is why there are a couple tiny areas with no marker. It's barely noticeable, though.

Here he is so far:

I know, not much to look at right now. I also have no idea why I decided to complete one color in entirety first, but it just seemed like the thing to do. Because of the way I did this, though, I won't be able to keep track of my progress, stitch- and percentage-wise.
Also, the whole thing is actually a rectangle, but the outer corners were charted as white on white. To save my sanity and hours of unneeded stitching, I am skipping the outer white parts and only doing the oval.

Very Merry Christmas!

I had a good Christmas this year.
My husband and I looked through the house, and it does look like I accidentally threw away that fabric for the 99 beers project! I'm mad at myself over that one. My mom did owe me a little money, though, so I'm having her buy me another one rather than pay me back. I will hopefully have the replacement in about a week.
Here is the picture of the rest of my fabric stash, though!

Also, my mom doesn't cross stitch any longer. I think it bothers her wrist and her eyes. So... she gave me all of her threads!
Unfortunately, my niece had gotten ahold of it and dumped out all of the floss boxes into a pile, so they are no longer organized. Here is what I got, though! (Yes, this is one of those huge ice cream buckets, overflowing)

I have also finally completed page 2 of my ginormous Qingming project! Yay!

I will be moving on, now to another project for a while. To help me decide which one, I entered all my new and current projects into a randomizer that I downloaded onto my phone, and it chose...

Mouse Embroider!

Edit: Update! I found my beer fabric! Hoo-ray!

Upcoming projects

My new fabric order has arrived! Woohoo!
I don't have a picture of the new stash yet, but I figured I would make a post about my planned projects in the mean time. I'll post a picture of the fabric awesomeness once I can get a picture (and once I can find a part of it that I may or may not have accidentally thrown away!).

Here are my planned projects:

Chinese Phoenix, Joan Elliott

Giza (kit), Dome

Kyoto (kit), Dome

I've actually started this one, just a little bit in the corner. I'll post more on it later when I have some real progress to show.

Cut Thru Rocket

Hangin' with my Peeps, Sue Hillis

Pillage and Plunder, Sue Hillis

Boo-gie Fever, Sue Hillis

(Yes, I like Sue Hillis designs!)

The Day of the Dragon

(I couldn't find a better picture than this one)

London Calling

from The World of Cross Stitching #193, 8/2012

Panda Row

Discovery of the New World

Mouse Embroider

(Not sure of the actual real name of this one)

Kasuga Shrine, Nara

Aquarium, Susan Bates

from Cross Stitch Gold

Zojoji Temple

Aim Right

(Not sure of the actual name on this one, either)

Egyptian

(This from a Polish? magazine, and since I do not understand the language, the actual name of this one is a mystery, as well)

And last, we have the one I am most excited about (and the one that I think I may have accidentally thrown away the fabric for). A buddy and I are going to both be working on this one together. We are going to do it slowly, and actually try to sample each of the beers. Each update on this will be after we have tried a beer and stitched it. We will post our thoughts on the beer itself and what we liked/didn't like. I can't wait!

99 by Ink Circles

This is my crazy list! I don't think I forgot anything (the actual list is at home, so this is all I could remember). There is one more project I am planning to make, but I don't have the fabric for it, yet, as it is a little pricier than regular fabric.

Sleepy Hollow

IHSW, December 2014

It was IHSW this weekend! The last one of the year! I'm just glad that it will be continued. I enjoy participating whenever I get a chance. 

This month I worked on... you guessed it! Qingming! I didn't quite make it through page 2 like I was wanting, but I got really close! I only work 2 days this week, then I'm off the rest of the week, so I'm sure I'll get page 2 done very soon.

Here is where I was last update:

Here I am now:

All I have remaining on page 2 is just that small section including and below that blue spot (43) in the middle-ish, and maybe a little more lavender to the left.

I have a question for you guys that actually read my updates. I seriously appreciate my readers and the comments that keep me motivated to keep going! My question is this, do you guys like shorter times between updates, or do you prefer a longer stretch but with more progress?
I know this is a personal preference, and I figured I would get an idea of what others like. 

I set a goal for myself

I have had most of the week off from work, so I set a goal for myself to finish page 2 of Qingming by the end of this weekend. Sadly, I don't think I'm going to make it. I am certainly going to keep trying, though. I may forgo Candy Cane Christmas this week to push for the page finish.
I would probably already be done with page 2 if I hadn't started on page 3 already with those 2 columns on the left. Oh well. That just gives me a head start on 3 once I have 2 finished. 

Here is where I was as of my last update:

Here is where I am now:

On another note, for those in favor of my wild shopping spree, although my bank account doesn't thank you, you will be pleased to know that I did go ahead and buy a bunch of fabric. It should be here soon! I can't wait!