December WIPocalypse- Recap time!

I’m sure you’re shocked that I missed November’s check in. Nothing crazy happened except for the normal dash to the end of the year through the holidays. It was fun but I’m tired and have had way too much good food and am ready for some quiet, snowy days to craft and recharge.

I feel like I didn’t stitch near as much as I planned this year but I fell deep down the beading rabbit hole and did craft a lot overall. Glad I didn’t really set specific goals since they would have been completely out the window. I do wish I would have gotten round to the Russian sampler I had kitted at the beginning of the year so I think I will try to alternate it and HAEDs in my 2019 stitching. I don’t plan on much in way of goals since I’m apparently easily distracted but want to spend some time in the WIP pile for sure.

For now, how about a WIP/finish recap for 2018? I tried to find the earliest 2018 pics on the WIPs for a before/after. See you all in 2019!

March WIPocalypse

I’m a little late for WIPocalypse this month but better late than never:) Life kind of got in the way and work and Easter prep have taken a lot of my time. Hoping life slows down but Spring is here and soccer is starting so April will be filled with rides to and from practice and games. 

Thank you for all the kind words on my work last month. I had a lot of fun working on the stars and actually purchased a couple Katie Dean Spring patterns to work on this month so I have some bunnies and chicks to show you...

Most of these are Easter gifts but the boys want some for home too so I’m sure I’ll do a few more next Spring but I need a little break. I have plans to try a box in April but we’ll see how fast my beads arrive as I’m currently waiting on two orders. 

Didn’t get nearly as much done on Castles as I’d have liked to but I’m hoping April will be the month. With all the beading I’ve been doing I’ve really missed stitching and my fingers are itching to get back to this one. This is the current state of Castles... 

Just about 30 days left until I leave for Celebration, looking forward to the long stitchy weekend and hopefully finding some fabric for Silver Creek’s My Christmas List which I received as part of my birthday present. 

So then April goals- work on Castles, try a beaded box and pull threads for My Christmas List. See you all in a month! 

February WIPocalypse check in

My update will be pretty short and sweet this month. My original Olympics plan got derailed by both Zelda and the stuffed beaded stars. Not only did I finish the blue one I showed last time but several more as well.  They don’t all have their little rhinestone centers yet but only because  I’ve found I need some good tweezers for placement and I want to try to glue them all in one big batch so I only have to deal with the glue fumes once.

I can’t complain too much about them taking up my stitching time though since they are going to be Christmas presents and now hopefully I won’t be frantically trying to finish things off in December. We’ll see if I can keep on track. I’m getting more requests for them by the day it seems! This is where the pattern can be purchased if you are interested. They aren’t difficult once you get through the first piece or two and memorize the start. 

The sad little bit of actual stitching I did get done was on Castles. Thank you for the kind words on the last post about fabric choice.  I decided the over one was too much to do all at once so I’m trying to alternate strands of over one with some of the regular stitching. Seeing the rest of the design start to emerge really makes me want to keep going on this one but I really need to show poor Coppervein some love in March too. Tune in next time to find out who wins my attention!

So March plans- probably more stars and hopefully a combination of Castles in the Air and Coppervein. I think I’ve got most of the obsessive Zelda playing out of my system now so hopefully that won’t eat up too much of my crafty time. Been spending some time watching our oldest son play and helping him out lately which leaves my hands free to bead or stitch so maybe I’ll have a more productive March.

In other stitchy news the registration is up for Celebration of Needlework in NH this May. We have the money and I can take the vacation time so I got registered and am counting down the days until my plane leaves. Very much looking forward to seeing everybody I stitched with last year again and making some new friends too.

January WIPocalypse Check In

Happy almost February everyone! Thanks for all the happy and stitchy 2018 wishes. I tried to hit as many blogs as 3 kids in the house allows last month and loved seeing everyone’s WIPocalypse plans. I did okay in January though of course my original plans were immediately derailed in favor of a few unexpected projects. 

I made it a couple weeks on Watergarden and then kind of stalled out here...

Got about halfway down the right hand side, not too bad for one round. And not to worry, stitchy bug wasn’t gone. The stitchy ADD kicked in because I found Castles in the Air on the WIP pile and decided now would be a good time to start the lettering so I have at least a little progress to show in May at Celebration. As you can see I’ve opted for some alternate text. It will eventually be the Thoreau quote about castles in the air. I’ve always liked that one and this seems a pretty appropriate piece for it. This one is being stitched on 32 count Lupine linen with DMC 712.

My final project for the month has been to start something not so stitchy. I’ve been following a few Facebook stitchers who have been turning out beaded stars like crazy (pattern here) and decided that these should be Christmas gifts. I’ve never done this sort of beading before but I have not had any trouble after figuring out the start. So far I’m almost done with the first one done in size 11 Delicas as the pattern suggests and I started a second with a red/pink mix of Czech glass beads almost the same size. They’re not quite as precision cut as the Delica brand but I saw them at Hobby Lobby and loved the color mix so I thought I’d give them a try. I haven’t seen anyone do anything but solid colors in the main part of the star but I love the way the first section looks so far, both colors and the way the beads are lining up. I see quite a few more stars in my future as several people have already requested them as Christmas gifts, my boys included. I know I said I was doing Mill Hill sleds for them but that may turn into a 2019 plan. Chris has already claimed my blue star and Josh has eyes on the green beads I bought but we’ll see when I get a few more done. 

I do have some stitchy plans for the next month, we’ll see if they stick. Hoping to continue the stars and finish at least the blue one if not the red one too.  I plan on trying to finish the lettering for Castles or at least getting as far as I can before the Stitching Olympics start and then picking up Coppervein for the rest of the time before check in. It’s going to be February so no kid sports and the weather is likely to be cold so hoping for lots of stitchy time as long as I don’t get derailed by the Nintendo Switch. I got the newest Legend of Zelda for my birthday this month and it has seriously eaten into my stitching time despite being passed between my husband, oldest son and me. 

June WIPocalypse

Hi there, sorry about last month. Life got kind of crazy for a bit but is hopefully settling down again. We had kind of a blur of First Communion, Celebration, end of school, soccer season, and Mom had knee replacement surgery all combined with extra shifts at work to help cover summer vacations. 

I did make it to Celebration and had a wonderful time. There is definitely no other event quite like this around me. I came home relaxed, with new friends, new stitchy ideas, some new stash, and a definite stitchy bug.  I had a chance to meet such stitching celebrities as Erin of  Fairy Tales and French Knots, Abi of you tube fame and last but certainly not least Measi herself. There were tons of other awesome stitchers too but those are the ones I know of off the top of my head with an online presence. A couple quick pics I took since I'm sure everyone has shared bunches already-

I've got lots of WIP pics since I skipped last month so let's dig right in. I got my birth
announcement framed just in time to start another soon for another cousin due in the fall...

There's Dragon Master, where there still is no dragon or master but I did achieve flame...    

 

Then there's Country Cottage Needlework's Love Birds which I stitched mostly at Celebration
and finished shortly after...

One of my stash acquisitions at Celebration was a fat half of Slate linen from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie which I'm using part of for the Hands On Design Chalkboard ornaments that came out last year. I'm thinking of adding real jingle bells to a few instead of stitched ones so Be Jolly isn't quite done yet. Here's where I'm at now.

And finally I'm almost finished with Little House Needlework's America, just in time for July 4th though I don't know if I'll have time to get it display-ready this week. 

Lovebirds and America are part of a series of seasonal smalls I'm hoping to finish for my Mom.
My parents just downsized into a condo and she's gotten rid of tons of her old decorations (non-stitched pieces) so I bought her a small easel for her new mantle (which hasn't been installed yet but will be) and have planned a number of pieces to finish flat to display there throughout the year. I've started another CCN piece too but it's in timeout for being off a single stitch that's going to cause me to frog a bunch to fix. I'll show you that one later when I'm not angry at it anymore. 

Finally, my stitching space. It isn't really all that exciting since I have to hide the stitching stuff from my twins until I'm ready to stitch but this is my recliner in the family room with my favorite fleece blanket since our family room is in the basement and it gets cold down there.
I've got a decent floor lamp with a small adjustable light and a side table big enough for coffee and a WIP.

That's all until next month, stay cool and keep stitching! 

April WIPocalypse

Not tons of progress to share this month. Spring activities are in full swing and my oldest son has started his soccer season in addition to making his First Communion yesterday at church which meant a big family party with lots of family and prep work. Completely worth it though, he had a great day and a big smile on his face.

And now I'm officially on the countdown to Celebration of Needlework, two more sleeps! 

So what did I do this month? Well, I gave the angel some wings...

And I also made a start on Castles in the Air. It's being stitched on Lupine 32ct linen from Picture This Plus with DMC 712. I'm planning on swapping the charted text with a quote so I'm attempting to work across the bottom and then I'll start placing my lines of text and work out the final version. Getting close to the edge!

Those are really my only 2 projects from the last month outside of kitting some smalls for Celebration. I'm planning on stitching until I can't see straight and having an excellent time meeting new stitchers as well as some I've known online for years. And if you happen to be there and see a stitcher with an awesome flamingo tote please stop by and say hi!