December WIPocalypse

At least I'll make one SAL posting the end of the year!  This month has been a complete blur.  There was the holiday stuff, but my Dad had a health emergency on the 10th that is still playing out.  It necessitated a trip and stay in Michigan and possibly another one the end of this week.  He's recovering well from the initial problem (a perforated appendix) but developed some serious pressure sores on his heels which are complicating his recovery process.  Add to that the federal employee furlough and it's been a stressful month. 

So, in my last post I mentioned crafting - here's part of what I did for the holidays.

For my nephew, I made this shirt:

He's a research chemist so when I saw the design in Cricuit Design Space I knew I had to make it.

I did finish and get all three sets of Christmas ornaments finished and mailed out (and they were all delivered by the 1st of December so they really could be used for a countdown).  Here's the book that went along with the ornaments I showed in a previous post.  This is the cover (the decorator paper was perfect)

and here are the first two pages:

I made a bunch of Thanksgiving cards this year (two of each design) and really enjoyed working with a fall color scheme and some new die sets:

And I finished the Christmas cards: 

My parents have partridges that come around their house occasionally - they are no where near as colorful as this one. 

I also made two altered alarm clocks.  I didn't take a picture of either one, but here is the inspiration piece:


I plan to make several more of these in the future and will take a photo of at least one.

The Hubs and I had a quiet Christmas this year.  And the cats celebrated Boxing Day.  Well, Salem's version of Boxing Day:

As the last Sunday of the month/year, it's  time.  Melissa at Measi's Musings hosts WIPocalypse and will continue next year if you're interested.  One of the nice things about the SAL, other than it's emphasis on actually finishing things is that we are given questions or blog cues each month, this month's is Recap Your Accomplishments for the Year.  I'm not sure accomplishments is the best term for my stitching year.  I had fewer finishes than I've had in many years, although every finish is an accomplishment so I shouldn't complain too much.  To see a list of what I finished, look up in the tabs under the header picture for "Finishes".  As far as progress, there was some before my stitching world feel to pieces.  After that happened, I taught myself to crochet, then got involved in making Christmas ornaments, then holiday crafting and life.  My goals were to finish two pieces, neither was finished but there was progress.  The first was the Goldie stocking.  On January 1st, it was here:

and at the end of the last stitching round, it was here:

The second piece was Japanese Zen Garden by Chatelaine.  On January 1st, it was here:

and today it's here:

Next year's stitching plan isn't going to be too very different from this although I do have to finish up the baby announcement sampler which has seen some stitching time.  It went from here:

to here:

And of course, Jack will need a Christmas stocking although he doesn't seem to be too excited by that thought:
 

I appreciate all of you sticking around and reading my blog despite my erratic posting.  I do hope to get back into a regular schedule of it in 2019.

January WIPocalypse

It it's  it must be the end of the month.  WOW!  A weird month - one minute it feels like it flew by and the next it feels like it's been forever. 

No you're not seeing things there were two WIPocalypse posts this month.  Yesterday as the last Sunday of the month was the official check-in, the one the beginning of the month was a warm up and introduction.  If you haven't heard of it, WIPocalypse is hosted by Melissa at Measi's Musings and is a nice reminder to focus on those pieces we've already started rather than all those siren calls from the stash pile.  Each month Melissa gives us questions in case we can't think of anything to write about and also to get to know everyone.  This month's is: What SALs 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 can answer the second part of that question quickly - No. I am not participating in the Olympic Stitching Challenge.  I am doing obligation pieces this year again and I don't want to put extra pressure on myself.  I will be cheering all the participants on though.  As for SALs, I am not participating in any that are "release a part a month" although I am very tempted with the Guardians of Notre Dame SAL by Ingleside Imaginarium and will probably cave in a few months.  I am participating in several "let's stitch and post our progress" SALs.  WIPocalypse obviously but also:

• Gifted Gorgeousness hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching
• TUSAL hosted by Sharon at It's Daffycat
• IHSW hosted Joysze at Random Ramblings and Jo on Facebook
• Smalls hosted by Heather at Lotus Stitching and
• Stitch from Stash on Facebook

You can get to all the groups, except Stitch from Stash, by clicking one of the badges on the left hand side at the top the page.  I've been doing all of these, more or less, successfully for years.  I tend to pick SALs that reinforce my stitching goals for that year.  Basically my stitching goals for the last six or seven years has been to reduce my WIPs.  I started with 28 and am down to 17.  I know that doesn't sound like much of a reduction but I have very limited stitching time, and there have been a few starts in there, so I am very pleased.

Now that I've thoroughly answered that question - progress photos! As I mentioned, I am only working on three pieces this year:

Japanese Zen Garden by Chatelaine.  On January 1st it was here:

and today it's here:

It is stitched on 32-count Summer Sky Jobelan with Martina's DMC conversion.  The package containing my PTB is still "on it's way to destination" I could have driven to Michigan and back faster than it's being delivered so no sparkle for another week.

Goldie Christmas Stocking charted by Heaven and Earth Designs:

January 1st:

And when it went on the frame this evening

This one is stitched on 25-county Antique White Lugana with DMC.  I am stitching 1 over 1.  It is also the most progress I have ever had on HaED in a month's time.  Hoping I can keep up the pace.

And finally, The Sampler Life SAL piece despite the name I didn't count this in my SAL list as the actual SAL was finished almost two years ago:

Hello 2018

In addition to trying to keep The Hubs comfortable after his shoulder surgery, 2018 started with snow and cold.  I figured having to deal with those 100+ degree days in the summer was a fair trade off for moderate winter temperatures - 16 F is not moderate.  We're not having to deal with it for weeks or months on end, but just the time we are is plenty for me.  When I moved from New Hampshire one of the things I was looking forward to was thinking 32F was cold - I have reached that point!!.

With the start of a new year, it's time for the first 2018  posting.  Melissa at Measi's Musings is hosting WIPocalypse again this year.  If you click on the badge it should take you to the information page.  If it doesn't try clicking on the badge up top on the left. The nice thing about this SAL is that it is just that a SAL and not a contest except maybe with yourself.   You pick the pieces you want to finish or see progress on and post about them on the last Sunday of each month.  This posting is early just so everyone can introduce themselves.  Melissa also gives us blog prompts or questions each month so we have something to talk about.  This month's is:  Introduce yourself, your projects and any goals you have for this year.

I'm Susan.  I live in northern central Virginia those you that know the area or just want to look on a map, I am almost exactly half way between Richmond and Fredericksburg and about 6 miles north of Kings Dominion amusement park  in the middle of not a lot.  It's just The Hubs, me and three cats here.  I have one son that lives in Michigan along with just about all of the rest of my extended family.  I work for the US Department of Agriculture as a senior loan officer assisting small, rural communities by financing water and sewer systems.  It's not glamorous work, but it is fulfilling especially when you realize that someone will have safe water in their home and won't have to haul water from miles away yes, that still happens in the US.  My office is in Washington DC so I have a bit of a crazy commute about 2-1/2 hours each way counting all the driving, walking, waiting and riding.  I take the train most of the way so it's not as horrible as it might sound.  I used to stitch on the train, but it's become a very popular form of commuting and the trains have gotten crowded so I mostly read now.  Because of the commute, my stitching time is very limited and I don't stitch as fast as I think I do so I have a lot of WIPs. I am a rotation stitcher although I have been known to go OAAT (one at a time) when something needs to be finished.  This year, I am rotating between two pieces Goldie (a gift for my MIL and her husband) charted by Heaven and Earth Designs and Japanese Zen Garden by Chatelaine (a gift for my son).  I would love to finish both of these to give for this Christmas.  I plan to spend Sunday mornings stitching on smalls so that I have some finishes through the year.  For my smalls I am planning on finishing up The Sampler Life SAL from a couple years ago, start and hopefully finish the four The Drawn Thread patterns my parents gave me for Christmas and then start the Joyful World's SAL from a year or so ago.   To help with my stitching goals, I am participating in Gifted Gorgeousness, Smalls SAL, Stitch from Stash and International Hermit and Stitch Weekend in addition to WIPocalypse.  If you're interested in any of these, click on the badges on the left at the top and you should get taken right to the info pages.

I didn't get any more stitches into Zen my family got together and bought me a Cricuit Explore Air 2 for Christmas and I spent a lot of last weekend reading, You Tubing and playing with it so my stitching was waylaid a bit so here's where it was on January 1st.

The fabric is really a light blue it's showing splotchy white on my monitor and is my go to fabric - Summer Sky Jobelan.

I worked from home this last week didn't want to go back to the office until after The Hubs' first post-op check up so had much more time for stitching than usual.  Goldie was on the frame and went from here:

To here:

I have the rest of today and tomorrow on her and then Zen goes back on the frame.  I am thrilled with my progress so far.  I have had to keep reminding myself that this was not a normal stitching week and past performance is not indicative of future progress.