Category: Cross Stitch

Challenges & SALs, Finishes, Mill Hill, Sewing, WIPocalypse

WIPocalypse – March 2026

Anne S

My needles were on hiatus during March, so there’s little to show – I almost didn’t bother posting (hence the late publishing), but I think it’s good to remind me that at least I made some progress.

Sea View by Luca-S – I used this one as my focus piece for a Facebook group challenge in March. Not much stitching was done on it, but progress is progress 🙂

Stitching question

Which of your current WIPs do you consider your most difficult piece to stitch?

That would have to be Chatelaine’s Egyptian Garden Mandala. I absolutely detest the fabric I chose for it – the fabric is tightly woven with metallic threads in it, and it’s so difficult to see the holes for stitching. I’ve had to stretch it tightly on a huge cobbled-together Qsnap frame which worked for a while, but I stupidly added some treasures and beads as I went, assuming I could keep growing the frame and working outwards – I’ll never ever do that again! It’s such a chore working on this piece, I really struggle to give it any love. It’ll be amazing once (if ever) it’s completed, though.

    Challenges & SALs, Prairie Schooler, Quilting & Sewing, WIPocalypse, Works in Progress

    WIPocalypse February 2026

    Anne S

    Not much stitching to show for February due to a big mental health slump – I just couldn’t get overly motivated with anything, and when I forced myself to work on a sewing WIP that was almost finished I totally stuffed it up by lopping off the seam allowances by accident … that kinda sealed the fate of the remaining WIPs for February and I’ve been avoiding them all ever since in case I ruin anything else 😉

    Sewing

    Before my big sewing disaster I did manage to successfully complete one item at the end of January, though – a wrist pincushion that’s a free pattern by ByAnnie. I was nervous it would be uncomfortable to wear, but it’s an absolute dream to wear and use. So glad I made this, it’ll hopefully save me regularly sending my small tub of pins flying from my sewing desk (I’m incredibly clumsy these days, even more so that I’ve always been). I used Tilda fabrics from my stash for this … and had an unexpected furry model assistant in the background desperate for a cuddle 😉

    Stitching progress:

    When Witches Go Riding by Prairie Schooler – this is the only stitching project that saw progress during the last month. Surprisingly it just may get finished this year if I keep this up!

    Stitching question

    What stitch-a-longs (SALs) are you participating in this year?

    I signed up for the HAED SAL this year, and for the second year running I’ve decided to opt out from the stitching because I have so many pokers in the fire that need dealing with instead. Also I do a lot of cardmaking each month as part of Instagram hops etc, and that feels like enough commitment for the year so I don’t feel overwhelmed. From a stitching/sewing perspective, the only items I’m participating in are some monthly blog and Facebook challenges:

    • WIPocalypse
    • WIP Warriors (private Facebook group)
    • 52 week sewing challenge

    Challenges & SALs, Finishes, Mill Hill, Sewing, WIPocalypse

    WIPocalypse January 2026

    Anne S

    Oops I missed the posting date last month – I haven’t managed much stitching throughout January, but I did manage a bit of sewing, as well as sharing the bigger finish of 2025.

    The final (BIG) finish of 2025:

    I finally put the final beads in place on 31 December, with just 20 minutes to spare before midnight! It was my biggest goal to finish this piece by the end of 2025 and I miraculously found the two missing sets of beads on New Year’s Eve – of course that was after I’d ordered replacements – I couldn’t believe my luck!

    “Three Kings” by Mill Hill / Jim Shore
    Stitched on recommended linen with purchased embellishment kit
    Started 14 August 2018 – Finished 31 December 2025

    Sewing finishes

    The small drawstring pouch was finished on 31 December 2025 (before I found the missing beads for Three Kings), and the remainder were staggered throughout January. I’m determined to upskill myself to be able to tackle a larger ByAnnie project so I’ve been working through the beginner projects as they’ve recommended.

    Stitching progress:

    Sea View by Luca-S – this will probably end up seeing some monthly progress using some challenges, as I’d quite like to see this one finished by the end of the year (that could be a lofty goal, mind you, considering the small amount of stitching I achieved overall in January!). I managed 629 stitches overall, which I guess is relatively decent progress, as that takes me to 13% overall completion. I’m currently in the progress of stitching my way up to the top so that I can start working top-down. The colours make this a really pretty one to stitch.

    When Witches Go Riding by Prairie Schooler – I managed 928 stitches on this one, because I used it for a few challenges. Once the main stitching is finished, I’ll need to decide which sections to rip out. Unfortunately when I converted the DMC threads to hand-dyed ones, I didn’t have enough of the dark chocolate thread – I then tried another skein of the thread from a new order and it was substantially different. I then reverted back to the DMC colour and that was totally different again … which means for me to get a consistent look I need to reverse stitch those of those dark brown colours pfffft :/ Oh well, at least I’ve almost finished the rest of the stitching now, so then it may have to sit in the naughty corner for a while as I mull that challenge over for a bit longer …

    2024 Mirabilia Retreat Mermaid – I worked on the hair during January, with a total of 410 stitches.

    Finch Song by Shepherd’s bush – this was mostly stitched using white thread, so I took a close-up of the stitched area for the progress. I completed 219 stitches in January.

    Finishes, Mill Hill

    Cabana Beach

    Anne S

    This project has been one of the most enjoyable stitches this year – the easy to stitch blocks of colour, along with the beautiful bright hues of the threads made it such a joy to work on. I’m kinda sad it’s finished now, but on a positive note it means I can get it framed up to go on my wall for the new year! 😀

    “Cabana Beach” by Mill Hill
    Started 29 January 2025 – Finished 23 December 2025
    Stitched with kit threads and beads, but I substituted the perforated paper for 28ct linen

    Finishes

    Girls’ Night Out

    Anne S

    I managed to finish this fun project on 29 October after regularly doing 100 stitches here and there for various stitching challenges. It was such an enjoyable project to work on! I’ll likely turn it into a flat-fold for display next Halloween. The bottom photo is the closest to the fabric colour – it was a hard one to photograph!

    “Girls’ Night Out” by Just Another Button Company
    (free chart with purchase of the button pack)
    Stitched on 30ct Weeks Dye Works Lilac linen, using mostly threads as charted
    Started 14 February 2025 – Finished 29 October 2025

    Cross Stitch, Finishes

    Design Works All you need is love

    Anne S

    After finishing HAED’s Mini Sunflowers this week, I decided to keep momentum going, and after doing the required 100-200 stitches on this project for another challenge, I just kept plugging away at it until it was finished. This is now my second finish for the year.

    This was a kit by Design Works – the black aida fabric was like cardboard and they only provided half the amount of floss needed, so I wasn’t overly impressed. Thankfully DMC white was a close enough match that you can’t tell where I used my own stash to be able to complete it (thank heavens for a monochrome design). I really do love the end result, though, and it’ll eventually get framed to hang in my kitchen area.

    “All you need is love” kit by Design Works
    Stitched on 14ct black Aida (kit fabric) with a mix of kit thread and DMC
    Started 13 May 2020
    Finished 6 February 2025

    Cross Stitch, Finishes, HAED

    HAED Mini Sunflowers

    Anne S

    I have a significant finish today – after 31,600 small cross stitches, it’s now in the ‘to be washed and framed’ pile. I started this during Covid lockdowns, then it was put on hold for a few years while my mojo had disappeared. Thanks to a bunch of stitching challenges this year it gave me the urge to focus on this project and get it finished. It will eventually get sent to a very very dear friend in New Zealand, someone that I’ve known my entire life and is part of my family by choice. My goal this year was to get this to 80% finished, so I’m thrilled to have exceeded that.

    “Mini Sunflowers” by Heaven and Earth Designs / Marianne Broome
    Stitched on 16ct antique white Aida with DMC floss as charted
    Started 6 June 2020
    Finished 5 February 2025

    Cross Stitch, Mill Hill

    Mill Hill-Three Kings

    Anne S

    Oh my goodness, I’m not sure what’s happening, but I love it! I’ve managed to put a few stitches into another old WIP – this is one I really want to get finished in time for Christmas 2025 so it’ll be one of my primary focus projects for next year. Going by the progress this week, if I keep it up I think that’s completely doable. This is my current update for Three Kings by Mill Hill/Jim Shore.

    Cross Stitch, HAED, Works in Progress

    HAED Mini Sunflowers

    Anne S

    My work team cancelled my farewell lunch yesterday for my last official working day (I’m leaving due to redundancy after 24+ years), so I was feeling pretty emotional. Stitching to the rescue – I spent the afternoon putting in 1,000 more stitches into HAED’s Mini Sunflowers instead of being taken out to lunch. Every one of those stitches helped to ease my mind – stitching is amazing in that way, and I feel really blessed having my crafts as an outlet for these times. I’ve managed significant progress these last few days!

    Cross Stitch, WIPocalypse

    WIPocalypse February 2024

    Anne S

    I started well with my stitching at the start of the year, then got sidetracked with life again. But last weekend, I finally had a stitching finish – I went away to a Mirabilia Retreat in Brisbane, and I didn’t have any current Mirabilia or Nora Corbett WIPs to take with me. Nora said she had no issue with me taking other projects to work on, so I decided to put the final few stitches into Quaker Diamonds by Rosewood Manor. I think it’s the most I’ve ever stitched at a get-together, and definitely the first time I’ve finished something. It’s been feeling really good getting back into stitching again such a big hiatus. Life is finally starting to return to a bit of normality again, after four years of trauma in one way or another – yay!!

    “Quaker Diamonds” by Rosewood Manor
    Started 2 January 2016 – Finished 24 February 2024
    Stitched with Valdani floss as charted
    on 28ct Mello Cahsel linen by Picture This Plus (as charted)

    While at the retreat I also put a few more stitches into Lahaina Breezes by Laura J Perin, and started the mermaid chart that we received as part of our retreat event that was designed by Nora.

    I missed last month’s WIPocalypse stitcher’s question, so I’ve added both now:

    28 January – Tell us about the oldest WIP you have in your stash
    I think maybe I’ll choose the English Garden Sampler by Teresa Wentzler as my oldest WIP. I have other projects that were started earlier than EGS, but EGS is one project that I really want to see finished one day, whereas the others I kinda feel ‘meh’ about. I started English Garden Sampler way back in January 2002 and it’s been a bear trying to match DMC threads due to starting with the oldest dye lots – I then switched to an Anchor grey which seemed a lot closer to my original and I was much happier. It’s currently stalled because I can’t decide what saying/quote to include in place of the charted alphabet – I’m really not an alphabet lover in cross stitch, but I really love inspirational quotes, so I want to chart something up as a replacement. It’ll get finished one day …

    English Garden Sampler by Teresa Wentzler

    25 February – What stitch-a-longs (SALs) are you participating in this year?
    Because I haven’t had a consistent run with my stitchy bug, I haven’t joined any SALs this year, with the exception of the Just Cross Stitch Ornament SAL on Facebook. I haven’t joined in with the stitching as yet, but I hope to do that in the future. I have, however, rejoined the WIPGO challenge, which will hopefully keep giving me a nudge to bring my needles out throughout the year regularly.