July Stitch from Stash

I wasn't planning on posting again so soon, but as I am going to be busy for the next week with travel, a family reunion and catching up with my parents and sister, it seemed a good idea to do this one now.

 is hosted by Mel at Epic Stitching and is a stash reduction challenge with a very nice $25 (or your currency equivalent) budget each month.  Your unused budget amount rolls over each month, so you could, in a relatively short period of time, have a very nice bit of money for a splurge.  Mel also built a free month into the challenge so in the event you did spend your roll over money and your budget and a bit more, you call your "freebie" month and just sit back and enjoy your new stash.   With that, here is my July report:

Carry over:            $150
July Budget:              25
July Purchases:           0
Balance Forward:  $175

Updates on my rotation pieces can be seen in my WIPocalypse and IHSW posts and looking back, I haven't started anything new since my last SFS post. 

It was a hermit and stitch weekend!

The third weekend of the month means....   Yes, it was time to hermit and stitch.  I had a whirlwind trip to South Dakota last week for work, so I really didn't have any plans for the weekend other than to catch up on sleep (the two hour time change really got to me this trip) so stitching fit right in with the plans.

While not an IHSW piece, Elegant Doily had one more day on the frame after my last post, and here's where it ended up last Saturday:

Another good stitching round should have the eyelets done!!  I am going to have to soak this once it's completed to try to get rid of the discoloration on the blanket stitches.  Not sure what caused it but I am sure I can figure a way to get it out.  As I'm not really in love with this piece, I'm not fussing over the possibility of extreme measures to clean it. 

Winter Sheep by Little House Needleworks is my first IHSW piece.  This is part of my Smalls SAL but I am going to have to do some fast stitching if I am going to finish it this month.  Here's where I left it yesterday:

It used to be that I couldn't stitch larger pieces in hand but smalls were fine, now nothing seems to work in hand hence the hoop.

Santa's Magic had its turn in the rotation and went from here:

To here:

I really do need to get the beard finished.  Unfortunately, all those blank spaces are done in Wisper and while the result is perfect, the journey is awful.

After Santa, Lizzie*Kate's Holly and Hearts Mystery Sampler went on the frame. It went from here:

To here:

On my monitor there are all sorts of wavy lines on the photo, if you click on it, they go away

I am on vacation for the next two weeks YEAAA!!!!!  but probably won't get too much stitching in.  I get on a train heading to Michigan Wednesday morning and while I am taking a couple of smalls with me just in case the stitching urge hits while I'm on the train or at my sister's, I do tend to read more than stitch while I'm traveling.

July WIPocalypse

Tonight's full moon is a "super moon", the first of three.  It didn't appear to be too different from previous moons last night, but yesterday morning? OH MY!!! I didn't get a photo as I was driving (slamming on the brakes on I-95 for no apparent reason is frowned upon - although it does seem to happen a lot) but it was an amazing orangey/red.  Even though I know the scientific reason for the color it still caused a moment of "eeekkkk" in the more superstitious corner of my brain.  Anyway, the full mean means it's check-in time for .  Measi at Measi's Musings hosts this SAL. Another low stress SAL (I do favor those don't I?).  Make a list of WIPs that you would like to finish and/or see progress towards a finish and stitch.  Post your progress once a month.  See easy.  To make it a bit more interesting, this year's SAL has questions for each posting.  This month's is "Do you start your holiday stitching this early?  If so what do you hope to accomplish this year?"  I tend to have holiday stitching, mostly Christmas, going all the time.  I try to stitch an ornament a month (I have yet to finish-finish any) and have a Santa/Christmas slot in my rotation for the larger pieces.  You can see the ornament finishes in the "2014 Smalls SAL" tab up top.  My only real plan for holiday stitching is to make progress on Santa's Magic and keep up with the ornament stitching.  If I actually finish-finish a few ornaments that would be a huge extra for me.

As he's already been mentioned, here's my progress on Santa's Magic:

He was here at my last WIPocalypse report:

And as of today, he's here:

I showed the progress pics of Chatelaine's Secret Victorian Garden last week with my YOTA update, which leaves Elegant Doily by Kayann's Kreations as the last piece on the WIPocalypse list.  It is on the frame this week and, as usual, I have been stitching eyelets.  But, there is an end in sight!!  Here's where it is right now:

The diamond shapes and the outside "borders" are all that's left!!!

Here's a close up of that flower motif in the middle:

This is on the frame the rest of today.  Santa's Magic will take it's place there tomorrow.

First Saturday in July

Okay, it's the first Sunday, but the weather was so beautiful that I was out more than in yesterday - this time of year you have to take advantage of the low heat and humidity days when they come around - and missed posting.  So the first Saturday of the month means it's YOTA time.  The YOTA SAL is hosted at Pull the Other Thread and focuses on stitching on those WIPs that may have been languishing for, in my case, months years decades I do have several that are well over the decade mark but they haven't yet hit their second... yet.
My focus the last week has been Chatelaine's Secret Victorian Garden.  I found two separate areas that had counting mistakes one thread off on each fortunately, they were sort of free floating individual motifs so they didn't impact any other bits so I only had to frog and re-stitch those two motifs.  Here is where it was:

And here is where I left it:

Here's a close up of one corner:

There will be beads in the Jessica flowers so the centers will eventually be, well, centered.  I started part 12 on the two sides with the thought that I was almost finished, I conveniently forgot that the bit rolled on the rods is *really* empty.