WIPocalypse – February 2018

Feb28

After making the decision to try to finish stitching the blue conversion of Mirabilia’s Red in time for this month’s Mirabilia retreat, I really pulled out all the stops and smoke was coming from my needle! I managed to do it, but only just, and oh my goodness I was shattered at the end of it all!

I have to say, though, I’m so incredibly proud of her – she’s one of my favourite Mirabilia finishes (the other one is Enchanted Mermaid) – and I was very pleased to see that she took 3rd place in the unframed category voting at the retreat! Here she is in all her beautiful glory (albeit a bit wrinkled from the journey to the retreat):

“Red” by Mirabilia – using Beverly’s blue conversion
Stitched on 32ct Haven by Picture This Plus
with Beverly’s choice of threads and beads (with a couple of small bead changes by me)
Started 30 April 2017 – Finished 4 February 2018

I then sat in a stitching funk for a week or two before deciding to finally put the finishing touches into this very, very old work in progress. This has been a gradual work in progress over so many years it’s not funny! It finally got stalled again last year when I couldn’t find my gold paillettes – I managed to find a supplier in the US and bought a few vials ready for any future projects. This is probably the most challenging canvaswork project I’ve ever attempted, but it’s now done and dusted and in the finished pile. I don’t ever want to use metallic cord for drawn thread ever again in this lifetime, but gee I’m proud of this one!

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“Flight of the Bumblebees” by Ruth Schmuff
Stitched on recommended congress cloth
with all recommended threads and embellishments
Started 1 January 2007 – Finished 17 February 2018

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28 February – Gadgets! Show us your favourite stitching gadgets!
Oh my goodness, I have so many stitching tools that I love, I’m finding it hard to decide what to post. I guess the two things that I just can’t live without are my lap and floor stands and my OTT-lites. I also find Thread Heaven invaluable for using metallic threads in canvaswork so I get less tangles. I could go on and on … 😉

Oops, I just realised I never posted my first WIP finish for the year – I managed to put the final stitches into Mill Hill’s Starfish back on 10 January, so that’s another WIP crossed off the list this year!!

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“Starfish” by Mill Hill (kit)
Stitched on 28ct Cashel linen by Countrystitch ~ colour xxx
with kit threads and beads

Spooky time by Lizzie*Kate

Feb25

I’m now all caught up with the Hallowe’en ornie SAL – here goes my choice for February’s theme of Candy corn. I’m terrified of spiders, so stitching that charm on wasn’t much fun … I have a feeling that’ll be giving me nightmares in the future when it’s on display 😉

Spooky Time by Lizzie*Kate

“Spooky Time” freebie by Lizzie*Kate
Stitched on 32ct Thunderstorm Belfast linen (no longer available)
with Silks4U silk threads

On a stitching roll …

Feb25

I’ve had two major finishes this month for the February WIPocalypse, but you’ll have to wait until Tuesday before I show those (unless you’re friends on Facebook, in which case you’ve already seen them!). The finishes are “Red” by Mirabilia, and “Flight of the Bumblebees” by Ruth Schmuff – pictures will follow on 28 February 🙂

This last month is quite possibly the best stitching month I’ve had in ages for finishes … after I finished Flight of the Bumblebees I decided to stick with canvaswork for a while longer and picked up a new start that was going to be my canvaswork choice in my upcoming rotation. I managed to start and finish this one in a matter of days – and reminded me just how much I love doing canvaswork … the interesting stitches and all different thread textures never cease to amaze me and give me so much joy to stitch!

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“Earth Spirit” by Northern Pine Designs
Stitched 18ct Sandstone mono canvas
with recommended threads and beads
Started 17 February 2018 – Finished 18 February 2018

After Earth Spirit I decided to grab some fabric and start catching up on my monthly SALs – starting with the Hallowe’en Ornie SAL. For the month of January the theme was “winged creatures”, so I chose this design by The Prairie Schooler.

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“Eeek” (from Bump in the Night chart) by The Prairie Schooler
Stitched on 32ct Thunderstorm Belfast linen (no longer available)
with my choice of threads: basic black silk by Hand Dyed Fibers and an amber silk by Silks4U
Started 19 February 2018 – Finished 24 February 2018

The next item on my list for today is to stitch the January ornie from a JCS Christmas Ornie SAL on Facebook … then it’ll be time to catch up on the February ones for both Halloween and Christmas.

WIPocalypse Jan 2018

Jan27

All of a sudden I decided I’d attempt to finish Mirabilia’s Red (in blue) before I attended a Mirabilia retreat … considering I’m back at work full-time again after Christmas, this is possibly a very tall order. If nothing else, though, it’s meant I have a WIPocalypse update so there’s something positive 😀

Here are my before and after shots … sadly I had to frog almost 2 inches of the dress two days ago, so that’s slowed progress down quite a bit. Here’s how she looked at the start of January (and this photo shows the fabric colours more accurately than the other photos):

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Red (done in blues) by Mirabilia

And how she looked before the frog came to visit … darn you, you annoying frog!!

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And how she looks today. I decided to give the bottom of the dress a miss for a while and work on the cape instead. I also can’t quite work out which stitches need to be done in 310 and which ones in 939 where the cape meets the dress, so I thought I’d stitch all the sections around there first, and come back to those to make a decision afterwards 🙂 Still not 100% sure I’ll be able to get her finished in time for the retreat, but I’ll keep going anyway just in case a miracle happens 🙂

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Hopefully in my February update I’ll be showing the finished version 😀 Now onto the monthly question:

27 January – What SAL’s are you participating in this year? and If you are participating in the Olympic Stitching Challenge, what challenge are you accepting? What are your goals?

I’m having an easier year this year with SALs, and only intend participating in a few of them. I’m not starting until February, though, so I’ll be playing catch-up with the JCS and Halloween ones:

Hallowe’en Ornie SAL – One of my all-time favourite SALs each year. I’ve got my January ornie decided, just need to kit it up with fabric and threads. I’m always a bit haphazard with these as life gets in the way, but the great thing is you can jump right back in when you’re ready, and Jo does an awesome job keeping the SAL active.

JCS ornie SAL (Facebook) – Another SAL I ended up ditching last year as life got in the way, but I’m hoping to continue with this one again this year and using the ornies I didn’t stitch last year as my ‘wild cards’ for months I’m not too keen on the design. Often, though, I’ll still stitch designs I’m not keen on originally, as I’ve found the stitched version is a lot nicer, and it’s good to taken out of your comfort zone every now and then.

Stitch from Stash – I’m not doing this officially with any formal group, just keeping myself honest and doing it on my own. I am in an Aussie Stitch From Stash challenge group, though, so that helps to give me a kick every month. My financial situation has changed dramatically since the apartment move late last year, so stitching stash is no longer a priority.

Gifted Gorgeousness – Thanks to Jo for bringing this one to my attention. Once I manage to get back into some new starts etc this year, I’ll be contributing to this blog as I have a number of different charts etc I’ve received from friends over the years that I’d love to see finished.

WIPocalypse – obviously 😛

I’m not doing the Stitching Olympics, as I’ve already got my rotation sorted for the year and want to get back into a routine again after Red is finished. I think doing the SO may derail me, so I’m going to forego it for now … but never say never haha.

Final stitching stash – it’s a goodie!

Jan10

After being generously gifted a copy of Walking the Water’s Edge by Diane Herrmann, I needed a piece of vintage eggshell mono canvas so I could make a start. I didn’t know of any local suppliers (but now I do, woohoo) that sell coloured canvas, so I made a big enough order to warrant the postage and ordered from a US supplier. Not for the first time with them, I’ve had to wait for well over 4 months for this order to arrive – and even then I was contacted just before Christmas saying they couldn’t get the chart or three of the threads for Bora Bora and what did I want to do. I ended up cancelling all the Bora Bora part of the order and getting a refund, then jumped online and ordered directly from Needle Delights Originals (and managed to get a pre-Christmas discount too, so the savings paid for the postage – double score!!).

I have to say I’m REALLY impressed with the kit from Kathy that turned up today at the same time as the other order – the canvas is cut to size and already edged with tape ready to be put onto stretcher bars. I have to say it’s the most excited I’ve been about a stash haul in quite some time … I’m sooooooo in LOVE with Bora Bora and all those scrumptious and luscious bright threads. I don’t think it’ll be very long before I cave into temptation and start stitching this one! I think this just might be the project of choice in my canvaswork rotation once I start it in February.

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I also ordered the kit for Double Delights – Charbleu while I was at it … another one with lovely rich colours that will be a really quick stitch.

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Next up were three more canvaswork designs – strangely enough also by Needle Delights Originals 🙂 I don’t have the threads for these ones yet, so it’ll be quite a long time before these are stitched unless I substitute from stash (although I’m not sure I have any threads I could use really). Anyway, I’ve got plenty to keep me going for now …

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This was the rest of the delayed order – some Congress Cloth, 30ct Legacy linen, the previously-mentioned canvas, and Floss-away bags primarily (and a few stretcher bars).

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The Congress Cloth, Legacy linen and AVAS threads are for me to stitch this little beauty I bought a few years ago from Gay Ann Rogers – Pride and Prejudice, the Needle Book Edition. Note this is NOT my work, but taken from Gay Ann’s website. The full range is shown at the link above, however not normally available for sale – I just bought the needlebook instructions, and not the bookmark. I couldn’t decide which fabric to use, so I bought both – if I don’t use the Legacy linen for this one, I’m thinking of re-doing my version of CA Wells’ Pyramid Etui so I’ll likely use it for that as an alternative.

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So all-in-all a very very VERY good stash day indeed! I’d better make the most of it, because 2018 is my year to stitch from stash … not that I’ll need any with this lot 😉

WIPocalypse 2018 kick-off and craft goals for 2018

Jan6

I didn’t want to set too many ‘goals’ this year because I have a tendency not to meet them … instead I’m thinking of these goals being like the Pirate’s Code, they’re more ‘guidelines’ 😉 It’s my lofty wishlist, because it’s full of my crafty hopes and dreams for the year even though it’s unlikely most of these will be fulfilled 😉

Cross stitch and embroidery

I still have way too many WIPs not yet finished, so I’d like to whittle a few of those down by the end of 2018 – although I have a large number of new starts I want to do too. It’s going to be a fine balance of new fun projects as well as getting some older (and perhaps not-so-loved) ones done at the same time. I won’t list out the new starts in detail (aside from a couple), but I’ll give details of existing WIPs and what progress I’d like to see on them.

Cross stitch WIPs:

Starfish by Mill Hill

Red (done in blues) by Mirabilia

Quaker Diamonds by Rosewood Manor

Red Lace Sewing Case by The Drawn Thread

Egyptian Garden Mandala by Chatelaine

Quaker Christmas II by ByGone Stitches

When Witches Go Riding by The Prairie Schooler

Three Kings by Jim Shore/Mill Hill

Starfish by Mill Hill – this is the first project I wanted to complete in 2018, and I put the final beads into the piece late last night, so one goal ticked off the list already √
Red by Mirabilia (in a blue conversion) – I’d like to totally finish this, and it’ll likely be my sole project for January as I’m going to a Mirabilia retreat early February and I’d love to make serious progress by then (getting her finished would be even more amazing, but highly unlikely)
Quaker Diamonds by Rosewood Manor – 20 hours (ie two rotation slots) or two larger motifs completed
Red Lace Sewing Case by The Drawn Thread – add the felt/beads and do the finishing … and finally gift it to the intended recipient
Egyptian Garden Mandala by ChatelaineE – Finish the bottom half
Quaker Christmas II by ByGone Stitches – Complete the motifs underneath Let There Be Peace on Earth (ie up to the three sailing ships) … but if not, at least finish the Let There be Peace on Earth motif in the centre
When Witches Go Riding by The Prairie Schooler – I’d like to totally finish this, maybe doing some elements as part of the 2018 Hallowe’en SAL again
Three Kings by Mill Hill/Jim Shore – I’d love to finish this … but if not, at least finish two of the three kings in the centre
Progress on three other UFOs/WIPs, yet to be decided (but top contenders so far are Paris by Country Threads, Sailor’s Valentine by CA Wells, Cottage Etui by CA Wells, Pyramid Etui by CA Wells, English Garden Sampler by Teresa Wentzler, Raphael’s Raspberries by Forget-me-nots in Stitches, Starry Snowman ornie, and Hardanger scissor fob)

Other needlework WIPs:

Flight of the Bumblebees by Ruth Schmuff

Hearts & Berries by Marg Low

Make a Christmas Wish by Marg Low

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Oriental Poppy by Jane Nicholas

Pomegranates and Beetle by Jane Nicholas

Honesty and Heartsease by Jane Nicholas

Stumpwork Goldfish (EGA Group Correspondence Course)

Dragonfly by Jane Nicholas

Flight of the Bumblebees by Ruth Schmuff – finish this by adding the embellishments
Hearts & Berries by Marg Low – I’d like to totally finish this into the bag
Make a Christmas Wish by Marg Low – I’d like to totally finish this and get it framed before Christmas
Travel Cord Buddy by Michelle Marvig – I’d like to totally finish this
Stumpwork – choose one old stumpwork UFO and make some progress

New starts:

Start (and hopefully finish) at least two canvaswork projects
Start a new HAED (or maybe two – one mini/QS and one larger one)
Choose a project (or two) that has specialty stitches – eg hardanger, band sampler

Crochet

My goals here are much loftier than the cross stitch goals – but probably important to keep the impetus up while I’m learning so that the lessons I learn are more ingrained into my brain cells!

Finish my striped blanket
Make at least one (hopefully different) granny square or other blanket square every week
Complete at least three months crochet projects from “Crate Crochet” (assuming I can afford to continue receiving them for that long and I deem them to be value for money)
Make a coffee cup cuff
Small granny square pincushion
Make a shawl
Start an Atlanticus (mandala) blanket
Restart my Spice of Life blanket

Quilting

Make some small pincushions
A very simple goal here of starting a queen-sized bed patchwork quilt for myself
Maybe start my Piece and Plenty quilt
Maybe start my The Blue Collection quilt (but highly unlikely)

I’m already laughing at my wishlist for the year … but if you don’t dream, you don’t achieve 😉

Stitchalongs/Challenges

While my intentions started off great in 2017, my follow-through was woeful. This year the goals are essentially the same, but with everything else in the previous list taking priority, these may or may not happen this year.

WIPocalypse 2018 – my favourite challenge every year, and probably the one thing that brings me back to my blog to post my update each month 😉
Smalls SAL – time to start working through some of my folders bulging to the brim of small freebie designs from last 10 years and actually stitch a few!
Hallowe’en Ornie SAL – I still have loads of Halloween stitch I want to do, including a bunch of new purchases last year by The Drawn Thread – even if I don’t manage the SAL all year, I’d like to make some progress here.
Stitch from Stash 2018 – My change in financial situation this year means being very frugal with my craft spending. I did a big splurge in September, which is finally due to arrive this month, so that’ll keep me happy for a while. The only items I should be buying this year is anything Limited Edition (but unlikely), and any DMC etc I run out of that I need to complete a project.

WIPocalypse December 2017 – year in review

Dec30

The best part of the year is going back through your progress from throughout the year. I felt my progress was woeful this year, but on review there was still some decent stitching done, along with a few finishes along the way. Going back through the progress piccies has also given me the spark back to get a couple of them finished that were oh so close to hitting the finishing pile. Sadly, though, there are also a huge pile of new starts I want to make, plus I’m a bit addicted to crochet at the moment which is seriously impacting my desire to stitch, as I’m having too much fun learning new crochet techniques!

Due to my financial situation changing a bit this year as well, it does mean that I’ll be stitching from stash in 2018 as much as possible, so any new starts will be coming from my existing stash (which is definitely in the S.A.B.L.E. range, so shouldn’t be an issue – that’s “Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy”). But on to the WIPocalypse question for month, and the 2017 recap!!

December 31 – Recap your accomplishments for the year! (Your finishes, your final before/after photos, etc).

Well, definitely not the best year for me for getting some progress done on my WIPs … but I did at least manage a little bit of progress (more so earlier on in the year). Here’s a recap of projects where I did make some progress, along with their before and after photos, and the two projects I managed to move into the “Finished” pile:

Finishes:

Topiary Garden(?) by Textile Heritage – Yippee, the first (but sadly only) UFO finish for the year!

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Daisy Blue by HAED – A HUGE milestone for the year, my favourite finish for 2017!!

Daisy Blue by HAED

Progress made:

Quaker Diamonds by Rosewood Manor – a wee bit of progress managed during one rotation slot.

Quaker Diamonds by Rosewood Manor

Red Lace Sewing Case by The Drawn Thread – the stitching is finished except for the beading/adding the felt pieces.

Red Lace Sewing Case by The Drawn Thread

Paris by Country Threads – I managed to finish the letter R, but had no plans to start any of the other letters this year.

Paris by Country Threads

Egyptian Garden Mandala by Chatelaine – to say how painful I find stitching this one, I made decent progress this year. I can’t guarantee it’ll be finished in 2018, but I do intend putting a few more stitches into it next year.

Egyptian Garden Mandala by Chatelaine

Quaker Christmas II by ByGone Stitches – Another one I struggle with, but the odd stitch or two was put in this year to make a tiny bit of progress.

Quaker Christmas II by ByGone Stitches

Flight of the Bumblebees by Ruth Schmuff – I’m sooooo close to getting this one finished! I just had to order some replacement gold paillettes to replace those I’d lost (or used elsewhere, which is more likely) – now these have arrived I had no excuses not to finish this early in 2018.

Flight of the Bumblebees by Ruth Schmuff

Grandma’s Cushions Stitching Accessories by The Cat’s Whiskers – I managed to stitch the remaining accessories this year to match the scissor pocket stitched a while ago … everything still needs to be put together though.

“Grandma’s Cushions Stitching Accessories” by The Cat’s Whiskers

New starts (now WIPs for 2018):

While I managed to get a good head start on some of these, my stitching mojo disappeared after October, so progress halted on these.

Red (done in blues) by Mirabilia

Make a Christmas Wish by Marg Low

Starfish by Mill Hill

Three Kings by Jim Shore/Mill Hill

Hearts & Berries by Marg Low

Travel Cord Buddy by Michelle Marvig

When Witches Go Riding by The Prairie Schooler

Some new starts became finishes:

While not WIPs at the start of the year, I did manage to start and finish the following projects – mostly small ornies for an ornie challenge … and sadly most of my challenges petered out from the middle of the year due to a lack of personal motivation.