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. 

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!