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.

Just Nan SAL and an update on everything else

It's time for the  check-in.  Zeb at Keep Calm and Cross Stitch started this SAL.  Unfortunately, she hasn't updated things in a while, but it has helped me pull some of my Just Nan's out of the stash, get them started, and, in a couple of cases, actually finish them.  I have made one of the slots in my rotation a dedicated Just Nan slot, so you will be seeing more of her designs in the future.  I am currently working on Spring in the Air.  It just came back into the rotation today, so no new stitching yet as I am busy coloring snowmen for our Christmas cards, but I do hope to get a few stitches in later today.  Here's where it is right now:

Lizzie*Kate's Holly and Hearts Sampler finished up its week in the rotation yesterday.  I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped - I spent most of my week off doing gift crafting, sewing and planning - but I am happy with any progress at this time of year.  Here is what it looked like last night when I put it away:

I am still mulling over my stitching plans for next year. I was planning to cut back on SALs but have found a couple that sound interesting.  The first one I found through Leonore's blog Needle, Pen & Sword and is DESIGN (Designers Everyone Should Immediately Get to Notice)

.  The goal is to introduce others to designers you enjoy and see who everyone else is talking about.  You just need to have a WIP from the designer you choose to introduce and post about them on the last day of the month.  There is an outline of things to talk about on the website.






The next one,  , is hosted by Tammy at I want to do one more stitch.  Another easy SAL, if you are thinking of starting a new big project on January 1st, join the SAL, share your start and your progress.  No definition of "big" was given so you aren't locked into a HAED, Chatelaine or TW, although I suspect there will be a fair number of them.

Speaking of HAED, I was digging around in my fabric stash looking for a piece to do my HAED SAL and this  freebie on and found an entire yard of 28-count antique white Jobelan. It wasn't labeled for a specific project or projects and I don't remember why I bought it, but it is what I was going to order for Shakespearean Fantasy, so after a little measuring and cutting, I have one less thing on my "to buy" list.  And yes, I did eventually find pieces for the smaller HAEDs.  Hurray for a ridiculously large stash and a bad memory!!

November Small SAL

I woke up to a downpour and now it is:

Yep, snowing.  This isn't the earliest I have ever seen snow, but it sure is the earliest I have seen snow here in central Virginia.  I do hope it isn't an indication of how the winter is going to go.  If it is, I have plenty to keep me busy inside.

 is one of the SALs that has kept me busy this last year.  Heather at Stitching Lotus hosts the Smalls SAL.  You define what a small is and post a photo of it on the last Wednesday of the month.   In the last month, I finished Shepherd's Bush's Garden Fair from the She Tends leaflet:

And started His Flock from the same leaflet:

I think I have my stitching plan/rotation for next year worked out - I will continue to focus on whittling down that WIP list there on the right but have a couple of new starts worked in just so I don't feel deprived.  As usual, it is all subject to change at any time.

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.

Procrastination

I started back to work this week.  On the whole, things went well; however, my mind has not returned to free-time-is-short-get-things-done mode.  I kept putting things off or finding other things to do - Pinterest is a great time waster although I have found some great ideas for gifts - thinking I'd have plenty of time later to do them and ended up getting very little done.  I expect it is going to take until after the first of the year to get my rhythm back as I have a lot of vacation time to use up before the end of December.  I get vacation time and sick time as separate pots of time so while I was recuperating, I was using my accumulated sick time and have close to three weeks of vacation time to use before the end of the year or I will lose it.  I have already donated a bunch of time to other folks that have used all their leave due to illness but I'm not going to lose the rest of it.

With all that said, here is my progress I use the term loosely on Kayann's Kreations' Elegant Doily

What?!?!  You don't see any progress?  Well, I went from one spider web finished to three and a half!!  Yes, that is the sum of my progress on this piece for an entire week.

On a brighter note, I did start and finish Shepherd's Bush's Her Garden Fair which is the second piece in the She Tends portfolio.

These pieces are fun and quick stitches.  The only drawback is that charms play such a large part in the design and they are expensive.  I was fortunate that I had disposable income and kitted these up during a sale a number of years ago.  If I had to purchase them today, I wouldn't be able to.

Before Elegant Doily went into the rotation, I had a bit more progress on Chatelaine's Secret Victorian Garden but I forgot to take a picture.

Mirabilia's Santa's Magic is on the frame for this week - hopefully I can concentrate a bit more on it than I did Elegant Doily.

November WIPocalpyse

Whoosh!!  No that's not the sound of the wind (although it is blowing a gale out there), that's the sound of my time off going by.  I was given the all clear from the doctor yesterday to resume normal activity, so I am back to work on Wednesday.  Six weeks looks like a huge amount of time on the calendar, but I am really not feeling like it has been that long.  It has been nice to stitch, read and just relax, but the real world intrudes.

 has really kept me on track the last couple of years and Measi has announced that she will be continuing this SAL in 2015 with the same guidelines as this year.  If you're interested, you can check 2014's out here. 

As I have already posted several WIP updates on my YOTA post, I will only post what I have worked on since then.  So here is my progress this week (so far) on Chatelaine's Secret Victorian Garden.  It was here:

And today, it is here:

I have finished through part 10 on the right corner and parts of 9 and 10 on the left.  This has a couple more days on the frame so I think I will concentrate on the left corner now.

In addition to showing our progress for WIPocalypse, this year we were given topics for each month.  This month's is: What is your favorite and least favorite materials to use in stitching?  Hmmmm, this could get long....

Fabric.  I prefer a 28- or 32-count evenweave but usually choose based on color, so if Aida is the only fabric in the color I want, I will use Aida, preferably a higher count as it evens out the background a bit.  I have a lot of pieces kitted up using Belfast and do like it but there can be a lot of slubs and those are just annoying.  I really like Picture This Plus and Lakeside Linens fabrics because of the colors and quality.  If I use a hand-dyed fabric I go in for the more subtle pieces as I want people to see my stitching and not the fabric.

Fibers.  Silks!!!  They are a joy to stitch with.  I really like Gloriana and Thread Gatherers for variegated colors and NPI for solids. I don't do a lot of stitching with silks, I was fortunate to be able to purchase a number of fully kitted Chatelaines from European Cross Stitch  and treasure each one, but I have also kitted and stitched them with DMC and they are still amazing.  I use DMC for the majority of my stitching.  They have a great color range, the colors are consistent (although I have heard of some issues with dyelots recently - not something I have dealt with) and they are readily available.  I do not get along well with Hand-Dyed Fibers or rayon threads.

Patterns.  I prefer black and white patterns on multiple sheets.  Santa's Magic really irritates me because it is printed on one huge sheet.  I made working copies but if I didn't have access to a copier, the pattern would be destroyed by now.  Chatelaines are the only pieces that I prefer to stitch from a color chart.

Tools.  My absolute favorite tool is my Needlework System 4 floor stand.  I have had two other floor stands over the years and this by far is the best.  Yes it was pricey but I also know that it is probably going to outlast me so it was worth the investment.  I have an Artisan Design Ergo lap stand and a K's Creations lapstand that I use for smaller projects and really like them too.  I prefer Bohin needles for their smoothness and strength, I bend needles and have had problems in the past with eyes breaking but not with these.  DSon gave me 100 of both size 26 and 28 a few years ago for Christmas, so I am set for a long time.  I also use John James petites in size 26 and 28.  I am not much of a scissor fiend. I do have several pairs but no favorite and I use whichever pair I can find.

I think I will start the next part of Shepherd's Bush's She Tends this afternoon and go back to Secret Victorian Garden tonight or tomorrow.  Elegant Doily goes on the frame Sunday.

A Little Weekend Stitching

I had plans for stitching this weekend.  I really did.  But, I let myself get sidetracked, on what I really could not tell you but I didn't sit down to stitch until late in the afternoon.  Ah well, progress was made and that's the important part.

Another important thing - a huge Thank You for a RAK!!!  I woke up this morning to an email from Heaven and Earth Designs saying that Pull the Other Thread had gifted me with this chart:

 

It is Shakespearean Fantasy and includes representations from 18 plays.  I haven't had a chance to see the piece up close enough to figure them all out, but I have got Hamlet, MacBeth, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet and Richard III (I think).  To say that I am thrilled is an understatement.  I have spent the day, up 'til now, looking at the color list, pulling threads, and generally planning. I love the planning process for a new project!!  Thank you again!  Now to get around my being intimidated by HAEDs and actually start!!

 

As I mentioned, I did little stitching this weekend.  Saturday afternoon/evening was Just Nan's Spring in the Air's last day in rotation and I did finish band three and get a start on band four:

 

And yesterday saw Chatelaine's Secret Victorian Garden go on the frame for its week of stitching.  It went from here:

To here:

The backstitching in the windows and the trees were done during the last round of the rotation, I am not sure why I don't have a photo showing that.  This is my last week of recuperation and I am determined to get a good portion of this corner done, so I should get stitching!!!