Okay -- So what about rewards -- this could be fun!

Well, now I need to think about what kind of rewards will accompany all these anticipated 'finishes'. Now this is something I could honestly get into -- ha! ha!

Rewards for a stitcher has to be something to do with stitching -- whether it's new materials for a new project, or materials for an old pattern you love. Or maybe even new stash in the way of charts or a kit.

But my first reward I think will have to be a kit by Indigo Rose. I have been looking at one of her kits for a while now, and that would definitely be something I could get excited about. Also, it will help put a 'fire' underneath me because if I finish these first 10 projects soon, that means I can get the kit too . Nothing wrong with that!

The second reward for 20 -- will have to be some special fabrics to outfit my stash as I have some 'vacancies' in colors and counts that need replenishing. I love higher count fabrics, and the vintage ones are very nice and suit my tastes for samplers as well. So maybe a yard of fabric -- and new fibers to catch up some of my missing slots in Vikki Clayton Silks or Carrie's Threads. I really do like both of them very much. So another $25 or $40 in fibers would definitely be helpful, and an incentive to reach the #20 point.

The next reward will be for 35 -- that's 15 more instead of ten, and will take more time, but I think I can manage a few more charts -- maybe some from The Scarlet Letter and a few that I missed from Market in February -- to the tune of 7 charts, and a few more special fabrics for some Smalls I want to work on -- maybe 3 - Quarter Cuts. These are also good choices for me because you don't necessarily need a lot of fabric for these smaller projects. I really do love stitching smalls, and learning new finishing techniques as well. Great subject to experiment with :-).


The next reward is for 45 -- not a big jump but the projects will take longer to finish I think at this point. So I will aim for a new Shaker Pincushion so I can create the needlework to go on the top of the wooden piece and use it with my stitching. It will be a nice reminder of my 'reward system'. I'd also like to buy some more Duponi silks, so maybe 2 yards of that in my favorite colors. I often buy from denverfabrics.com

The next reward is for 60 -- another jump of 15 projects, and these will take more time to complete because they are more detailed and bigger designs. I'd like to put down a list of items from Designers I like --

With my Needle --
The Quaker pattern Book and Ackworth Friendship;
Threads Of Gold --
Pieces of Old 1798 Quaker Pinball;
Threads Thru Time --
Diamond Sampler; Red Brick House; Robin Sampler; President's Home; Willow House and Six Chimneys;
Samplers and Such --
Samplings 6; Samplings 3 , 4 and 5; Be Just and Fear Not Sampler;
Rosewood Samplers --
Tulip Quilt Sampler.

This will give me a lot of possibilities as far as new projects for 2008 I'm sure.

For rewards 70, 80, 90, 100 and 110 -- this is what I want to put down as possibilities.

1. Catch up all the colors from Vikki Clayton for 3 of these rewards

2. Prairie Schooler --
Rain Rain; Measure of a Year; Summer Breeze; Spring has Come; Christmas Day; Birdsong I and II;
Plum Street Samplers -- Quaker Calendar I and any others that might have been released since February '07;
Patrick Woods -- Beaded Berry Bags. (acquired this one)
Papillion Creations -- Blossom Time;
Ackworth Samplers -- Companion to Beatrix Potter; (acquired this one)

3. For the last 10 --

Little House Needleworks -- Pumpkins, Love and Faithfulness, Julia Flynn, acorns, blueberries, strawberries, pear, music and books, season of plenty, rest, hope, , Elizabeth McGuire, Abigail Winslow, Mary Heaton, Lucy Fairchild,
Little by Little -- Reward of Plenty; Knowledge,
Lilybet Designs - Spots 2
The Workbasket -- Fox Forest;(acquired this one)
Just Nan - Crystal Roses
Historic Stitches -- Sarah Hartley
Sampler Company -- Charlotte and Sophia; Kind Fond Love;(acquired Kind Fond Love)
Fabrics to stitch these items....and that's it. (joined the FOTM with Shakespear's Peddler for Lakeside LInens -- which has been so nice!)

Not a bad haul if I get these all done, and it will give me more projects to work on the following year ('08). It's fun thinking about these possibilities for new stash, and I am honestly looking forward to working on many more projects from my current stash as well. Loads of Blackbird Designs, Ewe and Eye (remember them?), and Goode Huswife....so I will be busy planning new things at some point.

In the meantime, I stitch and stitch and stitch .......

Joining the challenge 10/20/30/40/50 --okay I adjusted the numbers a little -- Ha! Ha!

The rules (as posted at www.hasturtorres.blogspot.com) are:
1. Have fun reducing your stash.
2. There is no time limit- people have different size projects they would like to work on.
3. Thou shall not purchase any new patterns until 10, 25, or 50 projects have been stitched. Pattern size does not matter.
4. This challenge can also apply to knitting, beading, sewing and crocheting patterns.
5. You can make some exemptions - I am not placing limitations on this due to commitments that people might already have. Remember, though, the goal of this challenge is to reduce stash so too many exemptions will sabotage these efforts.
6. Gifts, gift cards, trades, RAKs and patterns bought with gift money are not a violation of this challenge. This also applies to purchasing patterns for gifts that give other people. Woohoo!
7. Freebies count as part of your total and you can acquire them at any point.
8. The offical start date of this challenge was Sept 1, 2006 since I have been posting about it for awhile and want to make sure the everyone's projects have been included.

My own modification will be that if, after completing the stitching on a piece, I actually "finish" it into something, either an object or a framed picture, it will count as 2 finishes. Also, the rewards will come after 10/20/35/45/60/70/80/90/100 --this will create more incentive to stick with this list of goals.

Here is the list of finishes thus far this year ---

1. Autumn Acorn by Cross Eyed Cricket
2-3. Framed Autumn Acorn -- counts as 2
4. Small Biscournu Fob for gift to stitching friend - stitched and finished
5. Beaded Scissors Fob for gift to stitching friend.
6. Pincushion with 'beaded berries' trim and wool felt backing - quaker motif on front with white grossgrain bow -- stitched and finished as gift for stitching friend.
7. Part 1 of the Judy Odell Workstation project.
8. Bless You by Heart in Hand - UFO finished stitching
9.-10. Bless You - framed (counts as 2)
TIME FOR REWARD!!!

The rest of my list of projects to finish are:

11.-12. Framed Carnation Sampler by Darlene O'Steen (counts as 2) - finished
13. Shaker Town
14. Rise and Shine by Bent Creek
15. Part 2 - The Workstatin
16. Part 3 - The Workstation
17. Part 4 - The Workstation
18. Part 5 - The Workstation
19. Part 6 - The Workstation
20. Part 7 - The Workstation
TIME FOR REWARD!!!

21. Part 8 - The Workstation
22. Finishing /Assembly of The Workstation (counts as 2)
23. Silk Sampler
24. Marquoir Sampler
25. And They Sinned
26. Edcina Pieters Sampler
27. The Millennium sampler by Indigo Rose
28. Secret Garden Needle Necessaire - stitching
29. Secret Garden needle necessaire - Finishing (counts as 2)
30. Permin Celle Sampler
31. House and Garden Sampler - House 1
32. House and Garden Sampler - House 2
33. House and Garden Sampler - House 3
34. House and Garden Sampler - Top Border
35. House and Garden Sampler - House 4 - -
*TIME FOR REWARD!!!

36. House and Garden Sampler - House 5
37. House and Garden Sampler - House 6
38. House and Garden Sampler - Left Border
39. House and Garden Sampler - House 7
40. House and Garden Sampler - House 8
41. House and Garden Sampler - House 9
42. House and Garden Sampler - Right Border
43. House and Garden Sampler - House 10
44. House and Garden Sampler - House 11
45. House and Garden Sampler - House 12--
TIME FOR REWARD!!!

46. House and Garden Sampler - Bottom Border
47.-48 Framing of House and Garden Sampler - (Counts as 2)
49. Vierlanden Sampler parts 1-12
50. Vierlanden Sampler parts 13-24
51. Vierlanden Sampler parts 25-36
52. Vierlanden Sampler parts 36-end
53. HOHRH - House 1 thru 3
54. HOHRH - House 4 thru 6
55. HOHRH - House 7 thru 10
56. HOHRH - House 11-12
57.-58. Framing HOHRH - (Counts as 2)
TIME FOR REWARD!!!

61.-62. Framing of Marquior Sampler (Counts as 2)
63.-64. Framing of Silk Sampler (Counts as 2)
65.-68. Framing of And They Sinned (Counts as 4 - it's huge)
69.-70. Framing of Vierlanden Sampler (Counts as 2)--
TIME FOR REWARD!!!

71.-72. Framing of Millennium Sampler (Counts as 2)
73.-74. Framing of Edcina Pieters (Counts as 2)
75. Carriage House Samplings - Mary Margaret
76. Carriage House Samplings - Elizabeth
77. Carriage House Samplings - Suzannah
78. Carriage House Samplings - Molly
79. Carriage House Samplings - Sarah Spurr
80. Pretty in Pink by Indigo Rose (Smalls)--
**TIME FOR REWARD!!!

81. Carriage House Samplings - Strawberry Blonde
82. Carriage House Samplings - Gingham Dog and Calico Cat
83. Carriage House Samplings - Remember Me
84.-88 Carriage House Samplings -- set of 5 - Honor, Faith, Charity, Hope, Love,
89. Carriage House Samplings - Scarlet Berries
90. Cat's Whiskers - Feed My Soul (Smalls)--
*TIME FOR REWARD!!!

91. Chessie & Me - The Journey
92. Chessie & Me - The Gift is Small Pincushion (to be bought sometime this year)
93. Chessie & Me - Bittersweet and Pumpkins Sampler
94. Hillside Samplings - Autumn WIllow
95. Hillside Samplings - Bittersweet Farm
96. Hillside Samplings - A Child's Commandments
97. Fancy Works - Lavender Rose Sewing Case (smalls)
98. Fancy Works - elizabeth R (smalls)
99. La D Da - The Mockingbird
100. Samplers and Such-Quaker Style Friendship Sampler--
*** TIME FOR REWARD!!!

101. Tsunami Sampler
102. Midnight Stitching - A Quaker Floral
103. Tranquility Sampler
104. German Mystery Sampler
105. Quaker RR -- Finish border and missing sections
106. Linda Driskell - Sampler in a year -- Angel at Gate
107. Examplar Dames - Stella Jones 1811 Sampler
108. Gigi's and Carinna's - Six Maines Sampler
109. Marquoir ABC - by Gigi
110. Blackbird Designs - Home of the Brave --

TIME FOR REWARD!!!

111. Carriage House Samplings - Alphabets A - D
112. Carriage House Samplings - Alphabets E - H
113. Carriage House Samplings - Alphabets I - L
114. Carriage House Samplings - Alphabets M- P
115. Carriage House Samplings - Alphabets Q - T
116. Carriage House Samplings - Alphabets U - X
117. Carraige House Samplings - Alphabets Y - Z and outer border work
118. La D Da - Roses are Red Sampler
119. SANQ - Spring 2007 - Ackworth Sampler Frame
120. SANQ - Token of Love design for Frame and 2nd one for Pincushion --
***
TIME FOR REWARD!!!

....to be continued...:-)

This is a long list, but I have done so well so far this year, that I think I will make a nice dent in this list by December 31st, 2007. There are so many other things I want to stitch too, that this list will be hard to stick to in some ways. What I am thinking is that when I get 10 completed, I will allow myself to start one new one that way I can enjoy working on something new as well, while I am working through some of these longstanding WIPs and UFOs. I'm honestly looking forward to a very productive Summer and lots of stitching hours.

Finally a finish --

I know it's hard to believe but I actually finished something . It's taken me a very long time to get this little piece done though I'm not sure why. Actually I am sure, I lost the fiber I was working with and couldn't remember what I used. Well, I had to find a substitute that worked and I finally found something that I could live with and put in the last stitches. You can see that the rust colors are different, but it sort of looks like it was intended, and I love the color of the Victorian Red evenweave I used and will use this color again now that I see how this piece turned out. I love red anyway, so this is right up my alley as far as color goes.

Here is a picture of my finished Cross eyed Cricket - Autumn Acorn.


Since completing this one, I have one other old UFO stitched. It's the Heart in Hand "Bless You" and as soon as I locate the frame that goes with it and get it put together, I'll share a picture here for you to see. I really am excited about getting back into my UFO basket and finishing up some old things that for whatever reason got put aside. I'm enjoying this tremendously. The framing costs are going to go up I'm sure over the next few months as I get more of these little projects finished. It's kind of exciting as there are very few of my UFOs that I don't like. Just seem to be distracted from completing them and now that I am filled with new inspiration to get back to these projects, it has been so much fun! I'm loving it!!!

As for what is next -- I will complete the Eileen Bennett Rockhom Sampler -- I have the Carnation Sampler by Darlene Osteen that needs to be framed, and will take that in this week and maybe the Rockhom as well. Then I will work on a project called "Quaker Four Corners" by The Goode Huswife; another Cross Eyed Cricket from The Country Garden -- it's a window with a flower box that says Welcome on it. I plan to make it into a door knocker, or put it in a small grapevine wreath. I also want to work on another pre-finished pillow with an insert that was sold as a kit, called "True Love" by Olde Colonial Designs. Each of these are small projects but will be used in my home immediately . So I ought to have some updates for you before too long and more pictures to enjoy. Happy Resurrection Sunday everyone!