December WIPocalypse

It's a few days late, but as the topic for this  check-in is to recap our 2015 stitching accomplishments, it gave me a few extra days to stitch - which didn't happen but it was a good thought.

2015 was a good stitching year.  I had 18 finishes, mostly smalls, but given the limited stitching time I have, it is quite a lot.  All of my finishes can be seen in the tab above titled Finishes (catchy isn't it?).  I put a list of WIPocalypse projects together about this time last year, unfortunately, there will not be much difference in my 2016 list. From the list, I had two finishes:

Holly and Hearts Sampler by Lizzie*Kate

and Spring in the Air by Just Nan

I had some progress on all the others on my list:

Mirabilia's Santa's Magic went from here:



 to here: 

Elegant Doily by Kayann's Kreations was here on January 1st:



and here when I put it up last: 

Secret Victorian Garden started the year here:

 and ended it here:



Shakespearean Fantasy and Christmas Presence from Heaven and Earth Designs were blank pieces of fabric the beginning of the year and are here today:

 

I kept up with my rotation fairly well this year.  The last couple of months have been "stitch what I want when I want" and very relaxing, but I can feel the rotation calling again, so will most likely start it up after the first of the year.  I also did better than expected with my SALs and checking in - well I did until the end of August when they started to get away from me.  I have pared back the SALs for 2016 to a much more manageable three (if you are interested in participating in any of them, the badges at the top of the page should be clickable and will take you to the respective pages). 

I have this week off from work and have a stitching plan worked out (which I have already deviated from) which could have me finishing one or two more smalls and making some progress on Secret Victorian Garden; however, I will not be too upset if I don't. I do have a new start planned for January 1st, Just Nan's Christmas Soldiers stocking, and have several other pieces that I will be starting throughout the year, or I may start them all in January and create a rotation around them, or something else will come to me in the next couple of days and throw this all out the window.  This is the first year in a long time that I have not had a solid stitching plan in place this close to the new year and I am not sure if that is good or bad.  I suppose as long as I am stitching it doesn't really matter. 

I hope you all had an enjoyable and productive stitching year and that 2016 will bring more of the same.

December WIPocalypse and YOTA - 2014 Recap

Before I get started on my recap, Happy Birthday to DSister! I was digging through pictures but couldn't find any of the two of us when she was a baby.  The closest I got was this one:

It was taken Easter 19-something-something when she was 2 and I was 4 or 5 depending on when Easter was that year.  That foliage behind us?  I think it's honeysuckle that got a bit out of control.  The year after this picture was taken, a chicken took up roost in it.  No we didn't live in the country, we were only a few miles from the campus of the University of Oklahoma in Norman - we figured she was someone's Easter chick that got away (or was allowed to get away as it wasn't cute any longer). We fed her graham crackers and named her Chicken Licken.  Unfortunately, chickens are not good house pets so when we moved to Michigan, we couldn't take her with us.  So one weekend, we caught her, and found a nice farm that took her in.  I am sure she spent many long, happy years wandering around the farm yard doing whatever chickens do and died peacefully in her sleep of extreme old age.

So besides my sister's and DBIL's birthdays and their anniversary and Christmas, December means - recaps!!  As it's the first Saturday of the month and a full moon, there are two recaps, WIPocalypse and YOTA.  Fortunately they are both WIP focused SALs so it is great that the final post for 2014 for both of them falls on the same day.

I had five pieces on my WIPocalypse/YOTA list this year.  I am really pleased with the progress that I made on all of them.

Santa's Magic by Mirabilia went from here:

To here:

Enchanted Swans by Just Nan started here:

And was finished on January 3rd:

Elegant Doily by Kayann's Kreations went from this:

To this:

The section shown in the before photo is on the left in this photo

I had a bit of a switch up with my Chatelaine piece.  I started with Serengeti and went from here:

To here:

Before it was put away in favor of Secret Victorian Garden.  SVG went from this:

To this:

The lower right section in the before photo is the upper left in this one.

And finally, Three Tulips by With Thy Needle and Thread went from here:

To a finish on April 10th:

So two finishes from my list and good progress on the other three. I don't know if either of these SALs will continue into 2015, but I will continue with my WIP reduction plan. 

Speaking of 2015 SALs, Gifted Gorgeousness, DESIGN and A New Stitchy Start 2015 are still taking sign-ups.  Heather at Stitching Lotus has announced that she will continue with the Smalls SAL for 2015 and is taking sign-ups and Mel at Epic Stitch has a page up, although sign-ups are not open yet, for Stitch from Stash 2015A. Clicking on the SAL's name should take you to the sign up/information pages for each one.

Secret Victorian Garden went on the frame today and I may take a break from the rotation, honestly I have been rubbish at doing any stitching the last couple of weeks so I don't think it will make too much difference, and just leave it on the frame for the rest of the year. I am also gridding fabric for three, yes three, HAED starts (two fairly smalls ones for HAEDs and Shakespearean Fantasy) and am finding it rather relaxing so will throw that in every so often also.  I do hope to have one more small finish this year, but am not really pushing too hard as I have a ton of holiday crafting and baking to finish up over the next couple of weeks.

November Stitch From Stash and other things

For all you folks in the US:

A big welcome to my new followers.  I really appreciate you stopping by and reading about the craziness that is my stitching life.

Besides the start of holiday stressing, November means the beginning of announcements for 2015 SALs.  I always say I am going to cut back on them, but never do. I was waiting on the official sign ups for a couple of mine from this year that will continue into next when Jo at Serendipitous Stitching announced the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL.  The SAL is a way to show people that have gifted us stitching items, how much we appreciate their gift.  I have two charts, Snow White Santa by Mirabilia and Shakespearean Fantasy from HAED, that fit the SAL theme perfectly, so Gifted Gorgeousness became my first official SAL of 2015.  Snow White Santa is slated to go into the Santa slot in my rotation but won't be started anytime soon as there are a couple ahead of him, but Shakespearean Fantasy is slated as my New Year's start - I am working on rotation revisions but believe that instead of both my off Fridays being set aside for smalls, one will be for smalls and one for SF.  Anyway, if you're interested in participating, the SAL name should take you to the sign up page.  If it doesn't work, the blog name should take you to Jo's blog and you can navigate from there.  In the spirit of the SAL, Gillie at Random Thoughts from Abroad is having a give-away for those of you living outside the US - 15 skeins (your color choices) of DMC floss.  I forget that DMC is a loss leader in the big box stores so not everyone has access to the $.39 to $.44 prices.  And in line with Gifted Gorgeousness, my mom stitched this pretty towel for me:

Speaking of Shakespearean Fantasy I have all the threads, except black (even being the thread stasher that I am, do not have 41 skeins of black) pulled and need to bobbin them (yes, I know that is not everyone's favorite way of storing their threads, it's not mine either but it is the easiest way for me to store all the threads for this project and no I will not be bobbinating the black.  I am planning to purchase a cone of thread and will keep it in the project bag) and will be buying the fabric around the beginning of the year.

Why am I waiting until the beginning of the year? Well, I have, so far not spent anything on stitching stash this year and just because I can, I plan to finish out the year that way.  What a perfect segue into my Stitch from Stash report.   Stitch from Stash is hosted by Mel at Epic Stitch and is a way to get the stash spending under control and reduce that stash a bit.  We get a budget of $25 (or the equivalent in your currency) each month for "must haves" and are allowed to carry over the unspent amount to the next month.  For November I had:

Carried over:  $250
November Budget:  $25 + $50 exception
Available:  $275 + exception
Spent:  $
Balance forward:  $300.

I had two new starts from stash Garden Fair:

and He Tends:

Since my last report, I stitched on each project in my rotation!! Yea me!!! 

Santa's Magic has been on the frame this week and went from here:

to here:

I have started filling in the beard with Wisper and am not enjoying it, so I stitch an area of beard and then go to something different (I finished the glove and a bit of the cuff shadow) so that I don't get overly frustrated.  Santa  is on the frame through tonight, so I hope to have a bit more progress on him.  Lizze*Kate's Holly and Hearts Sampler goes on the frame tomorrow.  As I have next week off and no plans I hope to finish part 2 and a good bit of part 1 - because I'm stitching it upside down (to fit my stitching style) I did part 3 first.

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 June

The first Saturday in June.   Other than being a "how did we get here?" moment, it is also YOTA time. YOTA you ask?  Yes, YOTA.  It's a WIP slaying SAL hosted at Pull the Other Thread.  No real stress, just pick a WIP or two or five and stitch.  On the first Saturday of every month, post your progress.  Repeat as many times as you would like.

Kayann's Kreations' Elegant Doily has been on the frame for this week.  If you have read any of my comments on the doily this year, you will know what I have been stitching - eyelets.  Lots and lots of eyelets!

Here are a few of the eyelets that I have stitched so far this week:

And here is what I have left to eyelet:

This will stay on the frame for the rest of today, so hopefully I can settle in and add a few more eyelets.  Santa's Magic goes on the frame tomorrow.  I do need to mow the lawn tomorrow so may not get a lot done on Santa tomorrow but I am working from home this coming week so I will actually have time at night to stitch so my reduced stitching time tomorrow may not make a huge difference to what I can get done.

April Showers

If April showers really do bring May flowers every time I say this line that silly joke pops into my head.  Oh you don't know it?  Well, "if April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring?  Pilgrims!!! - it was hilarious when I was eight!!!  than it will be VERY colorful here in central Virginia this month. We had almost 5" of rain over a three day period this week.  Lots of roads closed due to flooding but fortunately, no major damage near us.  There was some rather dramatic footage of a portion of a street collapsing onto a train track in Baltimore but fortunately, nobody was hurt.  It all cleared off Thursday afternoon and it has been beautiful since.  Hopefully that wasn't our entire summer's allocation of rain!

Reading through my blog list I came across this idea - use mason jar lids as mini-pie pans - I think that is an absolutely ingenious idea and will have to give it a try soon.  Although not with rhubarb...

In case you missed them, there are a couple of SALs starting up.  Blackbird Designs has a very cute sampler and By the Bay Needleart is hosting a mystery.  According to Donna, this mystery is not a seaside theme so very interested in seeing what direction she is taking.

It is the first Saturday of May which means it is time for a YOTA post.  YOTA is being hosted at Pull the Other Thread - and she has an amazing finish shown on her post this month!  YOTA is a WIP finishing SAL and do I have WIPs!  I have really enjoyed the focus on getting things finished that this SAL has given me. While I still have a lot of things in various stages of stitched, I have fewer than I did a couple of years ago so I am happy.

If you check out my WIPocalypse SAL post for April you can see my progress on several of my pieces.  I have worked on Elegant Doily  and Secret Victorian Garden since that post so will only show my progress on those two.

Secret Victorian Garden went from here:

To here:

And Elegant Doily  had more eyelets stitched as it is hard to see progress on a large white-on-white piece I'll only show portions of it from now on.  

This will stay on the frame for the rest of this evening.  Santa's Magic will take its place tomorrow.