Gifted Gorgeousness, WIPocalypse and stuff

All the cookies and nibbles are baked, packaged and delivered. All the packages are wrapped.  All the decorating I'm going to do this year is done, so all that is left is to pack up the truck and drive to my sister's on Saturday.  Yes, I made the semi-last minute decision to spend Christmas with my parents, and my sister and her family this year.  I am looking forward to seeing everyone again.

In case you're suffering from Christmas let down already, don't worry, Valentine's Day is not far away if thisis any indication.  My son is a butcher/meat department manager and saw this box in the grocery warehouse the other day.

It's time to take stock of 2016 and start planning for 2017.  The WIPocalypse question will take care of the taking stock part and strangely enough for me, I haven't started planning my 2017 stitching.  Usually, I have everything planned out already, but not this year.  I have some vague thoughts, but haven't not made a definite plan yet. 

Before I get to WIPocalypse, let me post my  update.  Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.  It is a way to thank those that have gifted us with stitching lovelies or to show items that we are going to gift.  I have two to show this month.

The first is 12 Days from Plum Street Samplings.

Yes, it is finally finished.  These were freebies from the designer, so I am counting them as gifts.  I put the final stitch into Fourth Day last night.  The fabric is Vintage Autumn Gold from Lakeside Linens and the threads are from Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe.

The second is To Have and To Hold Bridal Sampler:

I also finished-finished the stocking I completed last month:

Jo is hosting Gifted Gorgeousness 2017, so pop on over to her blog for all the rules - well they're more like guidelines and there aren't many.

 is hosted by Melissa at Measi's Musings.  This is another low stress SAL, as all you have to do is stitch on work-in-progress and post about it on the full moon.  She also gives us blogging questions if you're in need of something to talk about.  WIPocalypse is going to continue into 2017 with one change - the check in will be the last Sunday of each month rather than the full moon.  You can find out everything you need to know here.

For this month, the blogging question is:  Recap your accomplishments for the year.

I had nine projects on my WIPocalypse tab.  I had two finishes, Christmas Presence and Secret Victorian Garden

and progress on three additional pieces:

Shakespearean Fantasy

It's About Time:

and Santa and the Mouse:

It's About Time and Santa and the Mouse were new starts this year, so there is no "before" photo.

I had some framing done over the last couple of months too.

This is Lizzie*Kate's Holly and Hearts Sampler. 

And this is Holly by Mirabilia:

I told the framer I wanted something holiday/icy feeling and she came up with this combination.  I love how the silver mat sets off the beads and sparkles in the fabric. 

It wasn't my best stitching year as far as finishes is concerned, but I am happy with what I did accomplish and there is still time to finish a small piece or two.

I started by saying that I had no stitching plan for next year, but I do plan to continue with these two SALs and Heather at Stitching Lotus has posted the information for the 2017 Smalls SAL, so that is three.  I just found a link to a Stitch from Stash Facebook group on Melissa's blog and may give that a run too.  If you're interested in quilting, Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville's Quips and Snips is currently running a mystery QAL entitled En Provence .  I have been downloading the directions and plan to give quilting a try again.   I also have plans to make one or two Christmas cards a month rather then do them all in a few days in November or December (I say that EVERY year, but maybe this will be the year I actually do!!).  And finally, I am planning a January 1 start, Dimple Designs' Enchantment of Winter.

So those are my "vague thoughts for a 2017 stitching plan".

A Good Stitching Week

Before I get to the stitching, I have to say "hello" and "thank you" to my new followers and a "thank you" to those of you that have been following for a while.  I appreciate that you take time out of your day to read whatever it is I am rambling on about.

First, the epilogue for some already finished pieces.  Friday was the opening day of the Virginia State Fair, so The Hubs and I headed out bright and early so we could start the annual junk food feast with breakfast, but also to see how my entries fared in the competition.  I'm thrilled to say:

Christmas Presence placed first in its division (cross stitch on other than Aida) and

Secret Victorian Garden placed second in its division (needlework other than cross stitch - if your piece is more than 50% specialty stitches it goes in this division).  First place went to a very pretty The Common Thread Sampler from Jeanette Douglas Designs.  Things were set up very differently this year, so I am not sure what piece took Best in Section, but there were some very beautiful and beautifully done pieces this year.  Lots of sunshine, lots of food and lots of walking made up the rest of our time there.

Now on to the current pieces.  Thursday evening I put It's About Time on the frame.  I didn't have a lot of time for stitching but I did finish a couple of blocks:



 After the fair on Friday, I worked on Santa and the Mouse for a while

I finished 3 blocks and a few stitches more.  This one is really messy due to having started in the middle and working out.  The circular shape is already forming.

Saturday I took a bit of a break from my rotation and worked on Shakespearean Fantasy for two NOVAs and The Fellowship of the Ring.  I put in right around 1,000 stitches and had another column finish. 

I finally put some decent time into the tiger head from The Sampler Life's SAL (The Two Towers).  I am, once again, not going to have a finish for the Smalls SAL this month, but I am happy with the progress and I think I fixed the error I found last time around.

And finally, I worked on To Have and To Hold Bridal Sampler.  Here's where it was before I started adding the names:

I completed DNephew's name and found it was one block off AGAIN!  Maybe The Return of the King isn't the best movie to have on while working on something that takes some concentration .  This time I put a pin in the starting spot, frogged his first name and restitched it then moved on to the rest of his name.  It is now centered.  I have finished the "and" between their names and part of his fiancé's name and feeling so much better now that the names are pretty much behind me.  They were much more of a chore than I expected.

June?!?

June?  I seem to have lost May somewhere.  If you see it, please let it know I'm looking for it.  Those two weeks that I thought would interrupt my stitching actually threw my entire life schedule off and I am just now getting back to it.  That and the weather turned nice, so the siren call of reading on the deck was difficult to ignore.

I did get some stitching done but that darn deck and all those books slowed me down considerably.  Before I get to the stitching,  Secret Victorian Garden came home from the framer yesterday.  I am thrilled with it:

The outer mat is a bit lighter than the photo shows and has a bit of texture to it.  The frame was a wonderful find.  Face on it has a beading detail that adds a bit of texture and color, but edge on,

there is an echo of the outer boarder.  Just a little unexpected extra. 

I also did some stash shopping.  Yes, me.  I know that isn't a common statement but I could not resist this:

I want to stitch EVERY design in this booklet.  I was first attracted to the dove and house in the upper right corner, but when I read that three out of print designs, Christmas Garden, Tis the Season and Blessings be Thine, were also included (Blessing be Thine had been on my wish list for years), I jumped right over and ordered it.  When I got it and looked at the rest, well, I fell hard and fast for all the other designs, so a very good purchase.

So, stitching...

Well, let's see...

Things are coming along on Christmas Soldiers and it is looking like a stocking:

I finished the flourish after I took this picture, so there is just a short stripe of ecru perle stitching and the toe left, oh and the name tag and some beads and a bit of metallic.  I would love to do a fancy finish like the cover model, but mine will be a bit plainer.

Staying with the Christmas theme, I finished the few stitches for a column finish and put a few stitches into a new column on Christmas Presence

I am looking forward to getting my rotation moving again so I can spend a bit more time with him.

I also had a column finish on Shakespearean Fantasy

All the stitches were in that green blob so I will be back to stitching black on Friday.

On It's About Time rather than stitch block by block, I did a modified cross country and carried on with a color down the column.

 I will have to see how many stitches I missed before I decide whether or not I will use this technique for an entire column.  This will be back on the frame Thursday evening, so hope to fill in lots of those empty spaces.

No classes or traveling this month, so hopefully I can really settle back into my stitching, and blog reading and writing.

April WIPocalypse

I'm a few days late for the  check-in, but fortunately Melissa doesn't put a time limit on posting.  You can find out everything you need to know about WIPocalypse on Melissa's website Measi's Musings, but basically it's a reminder to give our WIPs some lovin' before we start something new.  Melissa also provides us with "Questions of the Month" so we can get to know each other.  This month's question is:  What do you listen to while stitching?  Most often I listen to audio books while I'm stitching.  I discovered them 18 months ago and love them.  If I'm not listening to a book, there is usually music on and occasionally the television.  If the television is on, it's usually on something that doesn't take a lot of active watching as I would rather concentrate on my stitching and not the show.

So WIP stitching...  three projects in my current rotation are on my WIPocalypse list - you can see the list in the "WIPocalypse Project List and 2016 Stitching Plan" tab up top there.

The three projects are:  Secret Victorian Garden; Shakespearean Fantasy; and, Christmas Presence.

I finally finished Secret Victorian Garden - I showed the finish photo in my last post, but I'll show it again.

Shakespearean Fantasy went from here:

I love how the black makes the greens pop.

Christmas Presence was here:

and today it's here:

Didn't quite finish the column, but will fill in those missing stitches and start a new column next week.

I also had progress on two other projects that are not on my WIPocalypse list, It's About Time and Christmas Soldiers.

IAT is now here:

Quite a few missing stitches in that column

and Christmas Soldiers is here:

Those stars in the middle are two different colors, they just aren't showing up too well.

All in all, it was a good stitching week.

An IHSW check in and a finish

It was  this weekend and I officially participated for the first time in ages.  Joyce over at Random Ramblings hosts this SAL.  It takes place the third weekend of every month, so if you missed it this month you can catch it in May. 

My stitching weekend started Thursday night with It's About Time.  I added another 300 stitches.

The detail on this one still amazes me.

Friday's stitching was Shakespearean Fantasy

Not a lot of progress but I did finish all the green in the column and 150 or so more black stitches.

While I didn't get as much stitching time as I would have liked on Saturday and Sunday, I did finish
Secret Victorian Garden. 

I started this one on January 1, 2007 when it was called Mystery X.  I kept up with the monthly parts until August when I started packing for my move to Virginia.  It was in and out of the rotation, more out than in, for most of the next eight or so years, but The Hubs wanted me to enter something big in the needlework competition at the State Fair this fall, so out it came.

 

It is stitched on 32-count Carol's Meadow Jobelan from Silkweaver with the called for threads and beads.  I think I bought the kit from Drema at Needlecraft Corner (they don't carry Chatelaine kits anymore but are a really good source for materials). 

 

 

The random project picker picked Winter Watergarden to take Secret Victorian Garden's spot once I get back to my regular rotation.  I will be back stitching Christmas Soldiers next weekend and now have two wedding samplers to finish for next year as DNiece called a couple of weeks ago to tell me she's engaged. 

I took pictures!

Yes, pictures were taken last week of my stitching, but the blog was not written.  I am also behind on my blog reading and commenting - staying off the computer is giving me lots of time for stitching but it is putting me so far behind on what everyone is doing.  

The plus side of my blog slump is that I am right on time for the  check-in.  Jo at Serendipitous Stitching created and hosts Gifted Gorgeousness as a way for us to thank the people that gifted us with something stitching related.  I have three pieces this month that I fit into this SAL.  First up is Christmas Presence.  I count this one because it was a freebie from Heaven and Earth Designs for their 2015 SAL and therefore, a gift.

I am a couple of columns away from a page finish and then just a small page away from a finish.

The next piece is It's About Time:

The pattern for this piece was gifted to me by Kate at Needle and Haystacks. Another couple of column on this one and I will have a page finish.

Shakespearean Fantasy's pattern was gifted to my by Pull the Other Thread:

There are some single stitches in the green area to finish off before I have a column finish on this one.  It's on the frame for its regular Friday night stitch so another column finish is very possible.

I have been spending the majority of my weekend time stitching Chatelaine's Secret Victorian Garden.  Before ordering more dark blue beads, I decided to go through my beading supplies and was thrilled to find a large box of them. So the most heavily beaded part, the center, is done (except for the bicones and cubes).  All that is left is the rest of the border, one corner, and all the big sparklies.  

Speaking of a weekend.  It is  this weekend.  Head over to Random Ramblings to sign up.  You haven't participated before? You are missing out.  IHSW is the one weekend a month you are encouraged, by stitchers around the world, to sit and stitch all weekend. I don't know how much stitching time I will get in as the weather is supposed to be beautiful and I will want to be outside, but I am aiming for a finish on SVG, so I do have an incentive.

Lost a Couple of Weeks

Hmmm, after being ahead of things the beginning of the month things fell apart and I lost two weeks somewhere.  I have been dealing with a medical "thing" and it's been taking a lot of my time and energy.  Fortunately, it's turned out to be very treatable - I have sleep apnea and it caused a heart rhythm problem - so once I start treatment not only should the heart thing go away, but the sleep specialist is saying I'll probably have an easier time losing weight, remembering things and just be generally more healthy - who knew sleep did so much?  Of course, once the bills start coming in, I may just have a real heart attack.

I have missed two check-ins but I have been stitching in between all the tests and appointments, so I do have things to show.

The first check-in is for  which is hosted by Melissa at Measi's Musings.  She created and has been hosting this SAL since 2012 when she decided that she should finish, or at least make a dent in her WIPs before the world ended in December.  Well, as far as I know, the world is still here (although I suppose in some parallel universe it did end) and, unfortunately, so are most of the WIPs on my list.   Three projects on my stitching list/plan for this year are in my current rotation and I do have progress on all three.  Before I get to the pictures, Melissa gives us a discussion topic each month and this month's is:  Do you use hoops, stretcher bars, lap stands or Q snap frames and why? For anything larger than very small pieces or those done on perforated paper, I use scroll bars.  My hands cramp if I stitch in-hand for too long.  I have used hoops, Q snaps, and stretcher bars, but I always come back to scroll rods.  I like the tension and the fact that once the fabric is squared off and mounted, I don't have to worry about it wracking or going off square, so no blocking is required once the piece is finished.  I stitch "in the ditch" so I am only touching a very small portion of the piece so don't worry about dirt or grime but just to sure, I do cover my pieces with a clean tea towel when I'm not stitching.  For smaller pieces, I have an Elan lap stand from Artisan Designs and for my larger pieces a Needlework System 4 floor stand.  I love them both as they allow me to stitch two-handed, are easy to flip to the back to finish off ends and keep my piece within easy reach at all times.  

And what has been on my scroll rods since my last WIPocalypse check-in?

Christmas Presence from Heaven and Earth Designs.  At last month's check-in, it was here:

And today it is here:

More stained glass.

Shakespearean Fantasy went from here last month:

to here today:

and my final WIPocalypse project is Secret Victorian Garden from Chatelaine.  It was here last month:

and here is the beading of the center portion that is finished:

here is a close up of one corner:

Unfortunately, my kit was short on the dark blue beads, so I have to wait a bit before I can finish the final checkerboard and corner, but there are plenty of other beads that need adding.


The other SAL I am late checking in for is the .  Heather at Stitching Lotus hosts the SAL.  This SAL celebrates smalls in all their sizes - yes, you get to decide what is small.  All you have to do is post a picture on the last Thursday of the month.  This SAL really motivates me.  I have been using the blocks from The Sampler Life's mystery SAL for my monthly pieces.  Each one is no larger than 50X50 so a very nice size.  For March, I finished Susanne's Samplerlife Ornament from Susanne Schmidt Farbenfroh.  I used one of the new variegated DMC for it and like how it turned out.

The photo is very washed out.

The April block was released today so I am officially two month's behind, my March block was the February release.  March's block is from Thea Gouverneur and will require a bit of work as no color numbers were given, just a color chart.  April's block is a choice of three from Artecy Cross Stitch.  I don't think I will stitch all three, but it will be difficult to pick which one.

I have one more piece that I have worked on that does not belong to either SAL - well it will fit into next year's WIPocalypse...  It is It's About Time from Heaven and Earth Designs.

It was here last time  I showed it:

And tonight, it is here:

Not much time for stitching this weekend as I leave early Sunday morning for Alexandria, Louisiana for work.  I'll be back late on Tuesday, but I am teleworking on Wednesday and took Thursday and Friday off, so it shouldn't be to bad a work week (and I hope to get a LOT of stitching in next weekend!!).