Books read

I've been zooming through books recently and my 2012 finish list looks like this:

6th Jan - The Magic of Christmas by Trisha Ashley
7th Jan - Twelve Days of Christmas by Trisha Ashley (yes I did indulge myself and spend a whole day on the sofa reading!)
20th Jan - Starter for Ten by David Nicholls
23rd Jan - Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell - M.C. Beaton
25th Jan - Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came - M.C. Beaton

I enjoyed all of them although none of them were more than light reads really but that's exactly what I need right now. I found the Agatha Raisin books by chance a couple of years ago as The Book People did a 10 pack of the first 10 in the series and they're good for a quick read - murder mysteries of the fluffy kind. I discovered they had a second 10 pack at the beginning of the year and couldn't resist (£10 for 10 books!) There are currently 22 in the series so I'm sure at some point I'll get the last two.

I read One Day by David Nicholls last year (although I didn't bother to see the film as I enjoyed the book enough to be sure the film would probably disappoint). Starter for Ten wasn't as good (IMHO) but it was a fun read.

My first 2012 finish

Two evenings of exclusive attention and this one is now done.  It's Snowflake Snowman by Hob-Nobb Designs (who I believe no longer trade).  It was a tiny kit that included the chart and button and was stitched with GAST and white DMC.  The fabric is, I think, one that I dyed myself during a dyeing class.

I'm now at 25 WIPs and counting!

January WIPocalypse

So my first official WIPocalypse post of the year!

My focus BAP for January is Cirque de Cercles and here's how it looks now:

I've been focussing on the top right corner - here's my previous WIP pic:

I've had a new start - my Christmas present from DH - it's Santa's Flight from Shepherds Bush and here's what I've done so far (not much but it did only arrive on the 6th Jan)

And here's the other WIP I've worked on this year - Snowflake Snowman from Hob-Nobb Designs. I don't have a before picture but what had been stitched was the inner cross stitch border and half of the outer smyrna border. It's a tiny design and once the inner smyrnas are done I've just got some snowflakes to do and then there's a snowman button that attaches in the middle.

So that's my progress so far this year!

Reading plans

I kind of lost track of the number of books I read last year but I think it was around 40.  I've decided this year to keep a rolling blog post going with all the books listed as I got bored of scrabbling around trying to find titles and counts last year.

Books for me are the same as stitching and quilting when it comes to stash - I estimate I have around 200 piled up in my wardrobe waiting to be read so I am determined to be good and reduce that number rather than buy more.  I think I'll give myself a limit of 1 new book for every 25 I read as I'm not sure I can cope without buying any books at all but in the spirit of WIPocalypse I need to reduce the piles.

So my first finish of the year was last night and it was The Magic of Christmas by Trisha Ashley.  It was a good read, a nice light chic lit type of book perfect for the season and very charming and moreish.  I'm contemplating reading her 'Twelve Days of Christmas' next as I'm not quite devoid of the Christmas spirit yet but that may change after the postman has been today as I'm waiting for my next Aunt Dimity book to arrive.  I'm definitely addicted to these stories and have three in my 'to read' pile but the one I'm waiting for preceeds them in chronological order and I'm way too OCD to read out of order LOL. 

Quilting Plans

My stitching plans are very specific but my quilting plans are a little less so because I'm not sure how much time I'll have to devote to it.  Nevertheless they are quite ambitious LOL.

1. Quilt all the tops I have made up - Mermaid, Safari, jelly roll, flannel, DH's quilt.
2. Finish my Mother's bag (we don't talk about this one, I know I'm the worst daughter!)
3. Make up four cushion covers for my MIL
4. Work on the stitchery parts of the Tail Feathers quilt
5. Make one Christmas project a month - I have five advent calendars to do plus a Christmas wreath project and I'd like to make some Christmas cushion covers too but I'm not sure what else I'll include
6. Work on the Baby Jane blocks - I'd like to do at least one a week
7. Make the Amy Bradley Happy Halloween quilt
8. Make a jelly roll/layer cake Halloween quilt
9. Make up a pirate quilt kit
10. Make up the tops I have started - spring fever and pink hearts

I have absolutely no idea how long all that will take me so I'm probably going to review it every couple of months and see how I'm doing.

I know that this month I'm going to work on completing a Christmas table runner and place mat set that I cut just before Christmas and have started sewing together.  I'm also going to layer up and quilt Lia's flannel quilt and hopefully the quilt for DH as well as he requested an extra long one for stretching out on the sofa and still having his feet covered!

I absolutely will finish the bag for my Mum too...

Happy New Year!

Wishing you all a very happy and healthy 2012!

In the spirit of the WIPocalypse here's a picture of my January focus project - Cirque des Cercles.  I will get it on the frame tonight and put some stitches in.