WIPocalypse October 2018 Check-In

I worked on a bunch of things this month as I've settled back into a 5-day rotation on my projects, which seems to be working pretty well.

First up was Key to My Heart.  Design is from Tempting Tangles, and it's stitched 1/2 on Briar Rose 32-count linen from Hand-Dyed by Stephanie.  Floss is Black Current hand-dyed floss from Colour and Cotton.  I finished up almost all of page 3 - there's just page 4 and a bit of the motif that splits across those last 2 pages to finish up.

Next up, I worked on my Desert Mandala from Chatelaine.  I'm super pleased to report I fixed the burn hole in this upper right-hand corner, and then actually made more progress on the stitching, finishing up the border and the motifs in the upper right-hand corner this go-round. 

I then had a new start - this is Eternia with artwork by Aimee Stewart and charted by Heaven and Earth Designs. 

 I ordered this as a quick-stitch version, but then decided to crop it down even more, and to also remove the background as I went along.  I've started this on a Colour and Cotton hand-dyed 28-count evenweave, which I think will be perfect for the moody gray-blue background. I just got her face finished up as she rests against the horse's neck but I love it!

Next I worked on Autumn Fairy by Joan Elliott and got most of her head/hair/head-dress done. I'm stitching this on a hand-dyed evenweave from Chromatic Alchemy's FOTM club from last year, in the colorway Feronia. 

Next up was another new start, and another HAED piece - Lady of the Woods with artwork by Steven Roberts.  This one will keep me busy through the end of the month but so far I'm really enjoying working on her!

WIPocalypse September Check-In

I think, thanks to randomly adding a day here and a day there in Arbitrary August, I wound up with a bunch of finishes for September.

October Word Play by Brenda Gervais (which isn't really a WIPocalypse project since I started it in September 2018 as a new start):

Mill Hill's Best Friend Santa (also not really a WIPocalypse project since it was started this year too).

Welcome Autumn by The Drawn Thread - which was a WIPocalypse project, albeit a small one. 

I also spent a few days working diligently on my Witch Way from Heaven and Earth Designs with artwork by Molly Harrison.  I do love these color so!  I moved on to page 2 of... I think... 12?  This is the mini version, but I don't think the detail is suffering a bit from being a "mini" on this one.  Absolutely LOVE working on it!

July 2018 WIPocalypse Check-In

Just two projects that I've worked on this month:

First, I finished stitching Believe, which is a Mill Hill Buttons and Beads kit.  Super fun to stitch and I love the finished product.  I replaced the perforated paper with a 14-count hand-dyed Aida in Balsam from Hand-Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie (which was part of a Stitchy Box from 2017).  I also went ahead and finished it up with a "faux Xmas package" finish look this weekend.  I love how it turned out and can't wait to display it over the holidays.

The other project I've worked on in July is my Witch Way full-coverage piece, charted by Heaven and Earth Designs with artwork by Molly Harrison.  Here's what it will look like when it's finished:

And here's where I am currently.  Still working on page 1, and while I thought I might be able to get a page finish this month, I don't think that'll actually happen in the next couple of days, so I'll hold that over until September. 

Stitching Progress

I used late June to do a bit of a check-in on my stitching projects to see where I was with regards to my goals for my yearly stitching resolutions:

I am trying to get my active WIPs down to 12 by 2019.  Good progress on that front, as I am down to 13 as of this week. I finished the stitching for the Mill Hill Buttons and Beads "Believe" Santa. It needs a press and to be fully finished, but I'm counting it as done.  Super fun to stitch, but whew - a lot of work as it has tons of beads and is basically full coverage.  I did switch out the perforated paper that came with the kit to put this on a 14-count hand-dyed Aida.  I've got some blueish-green batik fabric to back this with.  Undecided on a flat fold or a little pillow, but since I'm waiting on the fabric, I've got time to decide.

Also got my The Winter Garden back from the framer and they did an amazing job - I absolutely LOVE how this one came out.  The combo of that antique barn red mat with the slightly distressed, whitewash-looking frame absolutely delights me!  I couldn't wait until the cold weather to display this, so it's out on my sideboard already. 

My other goal was to get a page finish on all of my full coverage pieces this year too.  I've currently got 4 in progress: Winter's Encounter, Six of Swords, A Stitching Shelf, and Witch Way.  All but Witch Way have had a page finish, so I'm tackling that one next.  Here's the current progress:

I'm going to work on this for the remainder of July or until I get this page done, whichever comes first. 

I'm looking forward to taking a bit of a break from monogamous stitching to participate in Arbitrary August.  That'll be a randomly-generated WIP to work on each day in the month (minus a few days I'm on travel), so I'll be able to at least put a few stitches in multiple different pieces and should be a nice way to work towards my final goal of the year which is to touch all of my pieces at least once. 

Still on the fence about a new start for my birthday this month.  I'm so close to reaching my magic number of 12 active WIPs, I sort of hate to bump that number up again - and since I've got a couple of weeks until my birthday, I 'm going to mull it over a while longer. 

Weekending

We had a lovely, quiet weekend here - with actual RAIN!  We definitely could use a ton more, but every drop helps at this point and hopefully kept the fire up in the Caldara quieter than it would have been with higher temps and lower humidity.

Lizzie and I took several long, 4-5 mile walks this weekend and it was lovely to be up early and enjoying the cooler temperatures and cloudy skies.  We mostly puttered around the house, although I did meet a friend for coffee Sunday morning to celebrate her birthday, which was really nice.

This weekend I put in a fair amount of time working on a WIP that's one of my older cross-stitch works in progress: The Winter Garden.

Here's a photo of what it'll look like when it's finished (not my image - from Stitching Bits and Bobs):

On Saturday, I finished up the central house and most of the cedar tree to the right of it:

Sunday, I powered through the snowflakes in the cedar tree (which I think are getting washed out, but they are there), and then finished the two hellebore plants.

That'll leave me with the pine tree and the holly plant, and the speciality-stitch snowflakes up at the top border on this right-hand side, so I'm in the home stretch!  Still planning to try to get this finished before the end of the month! 

Weekending - Mid-June 2018

I puttered around the house this weekend, finally getting some yard things taken care of I had been wanting to get done.  I watered our big trees in the front yard (although I've been keeping up with that each weekend during our current drought, as I really do not want to lose our two big ponderosas), put mulch down around the stairs to the back deck, replaced a few numbers on our mailbox post that had fallen off and did a bit of weeding.  I think the plan for the terraced section by the back deck stairs will be to put in a large raised bed with some perennials (herbs maybe?), and then plant daylilies around the base of that to have a 2-height feature back there.  I'd love to have a little fountain as well but I suspect we'd have the mule deer standing on the back deck trying to drink out of it if we did.

Otherwise, I hung out with this pretty girl - went for a couple of runs together, and then holed up in the nice cool downstairs of the house.

I did a bunch of knitting, none of which I can show you since it's all deadline/design knitting, but I did put a WIP stitching project back onto the frame to work on.  This is one of my older WIPs - The Winter Garden, design by The Drawn Thread.  I was just shy of the halfway mark when I quit working on it - and I don't think I've put any stitches into it in about a year.  Here's my starting point on Friday night. (Please ignore the wrinkles.  I had it just loosely put on the scroll rods at this point.)

And my progress on the house at the end of the weekend.

I finished up the front door, added some more windows and the ivy, started the roofline with snow and the smoke from the chimney, as well as the topiaries flanking the front door and the cardinal on the roof.  I'm out of both the Chalk (the white) and Blue Spruce (dark green for the roof and windows), so I ordered another skein of each of those yesterday, but I'll move on to finishing up the Heath plants under the empty windows and keep moving to the right while I wait for those to arrive.  I have 4 plant/trees to complete on the right to finish this one up: Heath, Cedar, Pine and Holly, and my plan is to just keep working on this one until it's done!

May 2018 WIPocalypse check-in

I attempted to have a (mostly) monogamous May project month, and I'm actually pretty pleased with my progress.

I finished up A Bowl Full of Scaries.  Pattern by Plum Street Samplers.  Stitched on 36-count linen in the Legacy colorway from Picture This Plus, using Colour and Cotton hand-dyed threads.

Super happy with this finish since it puts me firmly with 3 out my hopeful 6 finishes this year.  I have also FFO'ed it, but I need to get a photo of that apparently.  That finish only took me until May 5th, so I switched over to working on A Stitching Shelf next. 

Also very happy to have achieved a page finish on this one.  (Page 2 done out of a gazillion).  Artwork by Aimee Stewart and charted by Heaven and Earth Designs.  I'm stitching this 1 over 1 full  crosses on Magic Guide 25-count. 

Finally I tackled my Desert Mandala Chatelaine.  I started and finished the first landscape vignette, which is at the top center - Monument Valley, I think?  I've got three days left in May to put in a few more stitches on this one, so I will probably tackle the triangular shaped section just above the landscape before I put this one away until June.  Absolutely LOVING working on this one!

On deck for June, I'm looking at trying for a page finish for Page 1 of my HAED/Six of Swords project, as well as trying for another page finish (or other small item finish) before moving back to the Chatelaine at the end of the month. 

February 2018 WIPocalypse Round Up

Technically a day late since it's the 1st of March, but having finally succumbed to the cold/flu/virus/plague thing making its way around the country, I'm feeling like only a day behind is an achievement right now.

I was surprisingly productive in February with 1 new start, 2 finishes and a page finish on a full coverage piece.

First up, I started and finished Simply Autumn by The Drawn Thread.

I stitched this 1 over 2 on 32-count Dirty Linen and substituted all the called-for Gentle Arts threads with Colour and Cotton hand-dyed floss.  I also omitted the sampler alphabet - I loved the little white farmhouse and wanted this to be another small for my fall display.  I need to fully finish this, but I'll do that this weekend.

I also finished up the Shepherd's Bush Every Heart pincushion. 

This was stitched 1 over 2 using the kit-supplied flosses (a mix of cottons and silks) on the kit fabric, a 32-count linen. Stitched as charted, and I did get this one fully finished and ready to display. 

I also managed a page finish on A Stitching Shelf.  This is page 1 of a gazillion. 

Otherwise, I continued to work on my Desert Mandala by Chatelaine.  The first interior border is finished (the cacti), and I started work on the speciality stitch deco-style border which I'll focus on again when it comes out for its 5-day rotation this month.

Finally, my plans for March include another 5-day rotation on my Chatelaine, two 5-day rotations on Six of Swords, and a few other random choices slotted in as I go.

January 2018 WIPocalypse Check-In

I was pretty pleased with my progress on things this month: One finish (actually an FFO), and good progress on 3 other projects as well.

I finished the February Word Play WIP.  Design by Brenda Gervais.  I stitched this 1 over 2 on a 32-count R&R Reproductions linen in Creme Brulee'.  I used most of the called-for GAST threads but substituted a Classic Colorworks (Cherry Cobbler) for the red that I didn't have and Colour and Cotton's Heirloom Gold for the palest yellow that I was missing.

A fun, cute small-ish stitch and a nice balance to the seemingly never-ending list of BAPs I keep starting.  I finished this off with a red/natural cotton ticking backing and I have it out on a table in the living room near the door.

I managed a page finish on my Winter's Encounter.  Charted by Heaven and Earth Designs with artwork by Laura Prindle.  I'm stitching this 1 over 1 full-crosses on a 25-count Easy Guide Lugana with DMC.

I made some good progress on my Desert Mandala. Design by Martina Rosenberg/Chatelaine.  Mostly the called-for floss with a couple of minor substitutions and I'm stitching this 2 over 2 on a 28-count Lugana from Picture This Plus in Calypso.  This month's rotation I managed to finish half of the cacti around the interior border.  Next month, I'll move the fabric down and work on the top half.

Finally, I put in 5 days' of stitching on my Six of Swords from Stephanie Pui-Mun Law's Tarot series.  Charted by Heaven and Earth Designs and worked in the called-for DMC.  I'll be putting in another 5 days on this at least this month as I'd like to meet my page finish goal on it. 

The January Question of The Month is: What SALs are you participating in this year, and if you are participating in the Olympic Stitching Challenge, what challenge are you accepting?

I'm really only doing this WIPocalypse SAL and the Full Coverage Fanatic group themed SALs.  I may pop in and do a few of the Stitch Maynia ones as the year progresses, but I am so swamped at work for the next 3 months, I don't really have bandwidth for the Olympic challenge, unfortunately, but maybe for the summer Olympics when they roll around again!

Stitching Update: January 16, 2018

I rotated back to my Winter's Encounter project for the past 5 days and made some good progress on it.

I managed to finish all of page 1 (which is the top left-hand corder of the piece), and added another 300 stitches just below that page to start page...uh.... 5, I think it is?  Whatever the next row of the pattern would be - and that puts me just over the halfway mark in that first column of stitches!

This one will be on hold for the next 5 days while I work on my Chatelaine Desert Mandala.  I think I will probably work on that and then switch off to another full coverage piece, my Six of Swords tarot card image by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law for the remainder of the month. 

I'd like to see if I can make a page finish happen on Six of Swords while it's up for rotation as my "Air" element project in the Full Coverage Fanatics group.

Stitching Update: January 11, 2018

A few things to update y'all on over the last week:

I finished up Wipocalypse/Year of WIPs 2018 project #1.  This is February Word Play by Brenda Gervais.

I stitched this 1/2 on a 32-count linen from R&R Reproductions in the Creme Brulee colorway.  I used mostly the called-for GAST threads, although I didn't have 2 of the colors, so I substituted Cherry Cobbler from Classic Colorworks for the red and Heirloom Gold from Colour and Cotton for the pale yellow in the center of the flowers.  I backed this using a red and white striped cotton ticking fabric.

I'm quite fond of the little Colonial couple - super cute!

Since I had set aside 5 days in my rotation to work on this project, and it only took me 2 to finish it up, I used the remaining 3 days to pull out the Every Heart pincushion from Shepherd's Bush.  This little kit came with everything to stitch up the design - pattern, linen, needle, threads, buttons and finishing ribbon/seed pearls.  I didn't quite it finished, but I did make enough progress I think I can finish it up in February during my WIP project 5-day rotation slot. I'd really like to have this one to display during July this year!

Finally, I got my Colour and Cotton FOTM club fabric.  This gorgeous colorway is "Oasis" and it's shown here on 28-count Jobelan. 

Happy Stitching!

Stitching Update: January 4, 2017

A quick update on my stitching progress for this week.

• While it's not cross-stitch, it is stitching.  For my New Year, New Start, I began my holiday gift from last year from my SIL/BIL/nephews that they picked up on a tour to France.  This is the motif of Harold on his destrier with his hunting falcon from the Bayeux tapestry.  It came as a kit with the stamped pattern on fabric and wool threads to use.  I was happy to find several tutorial videos on YouTube.  The best of these (IMHO) were the series by Sarah Homfray.  Her explanations are super clear and she's shot video looking down at what she's working on in which you can see the entire piece.  I made a small start on mine, choosing to start work on Harold's sleeve.  I plan to pick this up occasionally throughout the year and see if I can get it finished over the next 12 months. 

• Next up, I've been trying to put in at least 100 stitches a day (more if I can squeeze it in) on my Winter's Encounter.  This is the mini version from HAED. Artwork by Laura Prindle.  I'm currently at about 6% complete on this and I want to try for a page finish this month, which I'm pretty sure I can accomplish. I've reached the top right-hand corner of page 1, and the bottom left-hand corner as well.  I love how many colors go into a seemingly monochromatic mane and snowbank!

• Finally, I've just started working on my February Word Play by Brenda Gervais.  My goal is to finish this during the month of January.  I've only put a few threads into it so far this month, but it'll get some focused time next weekend with any luck and I'm hoping to make really good progress on it then. 

2018 Wipocalypse and beyond!

If you watch my podcasts at all that are stitching related, you'll know I'm planning on participating in several online-hosted stitchalong-type things in 2018.  Nicely enough, my plans fit together pretty well for all of these to triple-dip as I work on things this year.  I'm planning on participating in Stitch from Stash 2018 and since I'm the group founder/moderator of Full Coverage Fanatics, of course I'll be working thru most of the yearly SALs I created over there.  I'm also doing my own indie Year of WIPs challenge, basically following the guidelines in the Soulful Stitchers group, but not all of them, so I'm going rogue on that one. 

In addition, I'm going to be participating in 2018 Wipocalypse - it fits in really nicely with my work down the WIPs goals, and I'm of the opinion that any sort of public forum helps keep me accountable and on track. For 2018, I've set up a separate page here at the blog, which has all of my current works in progress.  Pictures there of what they should all look like when they are finished.

Here's my grand plan for 2018:

1. Finish 6 of the small-sized pieces. That will include: 
1. A Bowl Full of Scaries.
2. Believe.
3. February Word Play.
4. Every Heart Beats True.
5. Welcome Autumn.
6. Key to My Heart. 
2. Work on each of the other pieces that are not full coverage designs for a minimum of one 5-day rotation over the course of the year.   Those will include: 
1. Autumn Leaves.
2. When Witches Go Riding.
3. Winter Garden.
4. Desert Mandala.
5. Shoot the Moon.
6. The Star Gazer. 
7. Village of Hawk Run Hollow.
8. 12 Days of Christmas.
3. Work on my full coverage designs as pertinent for the SALs in Full Coverage Fanatics.  Overly optimistic, but a goal I'm going to shoot for is a page finish on each one of these:
1. Winter's Encounter.
2. Six of Swords
3. Stitching Shelf.
4. Witch Way
5. River's Edge
6. Gypsy Firefly. 

I've got a 5-day rotation set up.  I'm going to try that at least for the first couple of months and see if I can make that work for myself in terms of making some progress but not getting totally burned out on any one piece.  Since the Wipocalypse SAL is mostly blog-based (although they do now have a Facebook group - see link above), I'll be posting progress as I go along here - and will hopefully also help me remember to actually post posts during the year.  

Wish me luck!

Stitching Update: 12/07/2017

Hat trick for this week:  My stitching update.

I have two finishes this month.  The first is for an ATC swap in the Cross Stitch Card and ATC group on Facebook.  I stitched this on a 25-count opal Lugana I hand-dyed myself using a limited edition hand-dyed floss from Colour and Cotton.

The pattern is from the 2016 Ornaments issue of Just Cross Stitch. This and a few other goodies will be shipping out to my swap partner this week.

I also finished the December block for the Lakeside Needlecraft Under the Sea SAL.  I stitched this on the custom-dyed fabric from Lakeside Needlecraft, which was a blue ombre' 25-count evenweave.  I used the called-for DMC threads as well.  Design is by Durene Jones. 

I swapped out the DMC Light Effects for a sparkly green blending filament I had, which worked MUCH better.  I also used small clear opalescent size 12 seed beads for the water bubbles (rather than just DMC stitches).  I have a frame on order for this which would hopefully be here next week!

For the rest of the month, I'm going to be working on 3 pieces.  First up, my Desert Mandala Chatelaine. Sadly, the designer of this piece, Martina Rosenberg, passed away unexpectedly yesterday - she was an amazing artist and she is definitely going to be missed in the community.  I had this on tap to work on this week anyway, but it's a nice little tribute to her design skills to think of her while I stitch on it this week. 

I have the center medallion done except for beads, and I've started working on the next ring, which are various cacti.  The colors are absolutely spot-on for the high desert!

Next week, I'll be focusing on the 12 Days of Christimas, with design by Jim Shore.  I only made a small start on it this year when I began it during Maynia, but it feels appropriate to work on it during the holiday season. It currently looks like: 

Finally, the Full Coverage Fanatics first quarterly SAL is kicking off on 12/21/2017. It's a winter-themed SAL that will run from them until the spring equinox on March 21, 2018.  I'll be working on my Winter's Encounter piece, with artwork by Linda Prindle and charted by Heaven and Earth Designs. 

I had also started this originally during Stitch Maynia, but I was unhappy with my fabric choice, so I restarted it in October on 25-count Easy Guide and like that much better.  I've only got about 500 stitches in so far, so I'll be working on the upper right-hand corner with all.that.pink for a while.

Stitching Wednesday: October 11, 2017

I've been concentrating on just a couple of projects so far this month.  I put in 5 days of work on my Desert Mandala from Chatelaine and finished up all the cross-stitching for the center medallion.

The only thing left to finish on this is the backstitching of the little pink flowers/cactus leaves, and of course the beading (which are the open/non-stitches spaces throughout), but I'll be doing that at the end.  I feel like I should be able to accomplish the backstitching in one decent stitching session in November, and then I can start section 2, which is the saguaro cacti around this center piece.

I then moved on to work on my Lakeside Needlecraft Under the Sea SAL, October block.  This is block 10 of 12, so we're in the home stretch!  I'm obviously not finished it quite yet, but here's my progress so far this month on the little scuba diver:

I need to finish up the cross-stitching and then backstitch this block (and whew! there's a LOT of backstitching in this one).  Once I get this block done, I'll go back to working on my Star Weaver from Heaven and Earth Designs for the end of the month - with one exception which is I'll be starting a new October/Halloween themed full-coverage piece this weekend: Witch Way.  I love the artwork (by Molly Harrison) in this piece!

Stitching Wednesday: September 27, 2017

Trying to get back in the blogging groove after our vacation mid-month.  I'm switching up a few things and changing my rotation for the next few months until the end of the year.  (If you are interested in more than you probably want to know, feel free to check out my YouTube channel - I uploaded a new plans/works in progress video this week over there.)

Essentially I'm going to move to a smaller group of projects to rotate through for the rest of 2017 so I can finish up a holiday gift.  I'm going to work on 2 other projects - my Chatelaine Desert Mandala and the Under the Sea SAL interspersed with the focus project - my Star Weaver storykeep from HAED.

I did get the September block finished for the Under the Sea SAL from Lakeside Needlecraft. The September block gets us to the bottom left-hand corner of this piece with an uber cute sea turtle.  I think this block might be my favorite so far.

Here's the whole sheebang so far.  Three more blocks to go!  I'm stitching this on a custom-dye 25-count evenweave that was available from Lakeside Needlecrafts in an ombre-dye.  It's showing grayer in these pictures than in real life.  I'm using DMC floss as called for, and stitching this 1 over 1.

My focus project is my Star Weaver storykeep with artwork by Tom Cross, charted by Heaven and Earth Designs.  I'm stitching this 1 over 1 on 28-count Monaco. Here's my progress up to last night.

This piece is basically 3 full pages. Pages 1 and 2 are complete, and I've started page 3.  I've got about 6000 sts left on this one, so I'm going to keep plugging away on it because I really want to have it finished and framed for Xmas this year!