June WIPocalypse

Long time, no post! Sorry about that, the end of the school year and vacation got the better of me for a bit there. So what's been going on? Well, Josh finished up first grade and is a happy kiddo on summer break until mid-August. Soccer is over now too and we're beginning to consider a fall league at the suggestion of some of the coaches. The twins are looking and sounding much more like toddlers than babies as we approach the terrible twos. And we went on vacation:) We spent a fun week with my parents in beautiful Mackinaw City, MI and introduced the kiddos to the best fudge I've ever had. Josh can't wait to go back on a camping trip up there and neither can I!

I completely missed the May WIPocalypse check in so I've got extra stitching to report. I'm coming close to another page finish on Space Traveler...

Also picked up another HAED, Dragon Moon, and have stitched a skein (yes, a whole skein!) of 939 into the sky as I reach for the top of the first column. 

I took my Sugar Skull along for the car ride and made good progress on the black background, I also managed to bobbin all the floss for my next HAED start (graduation gift for my brother) and found some new magnets I'm going to use as needle minders.

Measi asks a fun question this month- 

Do you find yourself more productive with stitching in summer or winter?

That's actually a hard one, kind of depends on the weather we're having so it's not really the same every year. The more extreme it gets outside, the more likely I am to hide inside and stitch. 

Sounds like there is at least one Olympic challenge in the works so I've been considering my stitching plans for the next couple months. I think I'm going to take July and make it "Christmas in July" so I can get a start on ornaments and gifts and probably go back to a HAED in August. We'll see how far I get! 

January Turtle Trot

As promised there WILL be more frequent posting here this year! I've signed up for an extra SAL to help me out with that as well as keep my goals moving along. So let's get on with the Turtle Trot, hosted by Claudette over at BAP Attack. This SAL has stitchers pick 10 projects they want to make progress on and post their work by the 10th of the month. This one really appeals to me since I've got some BAPs that truly are coming along at turtle's pace so hopefully I can speed them up this year! Since I didn't participate last year I will start with some before pics of my choices this month. I've got a bit of obligation stitching to finish up (the seemingly endless birth teddy bear announcements) so progress might be a bit slow to start but hopefully will pick up soon. But back to that starting lineup...

Polar Lights Sampler


QS Pegasus and Castle Sampler


Fish City


Garden of Wishes


Dragon Moon


Watergarden


Fantasy Triptych


Dragon Master


Space Traveler


And last but not least is Flower Power which is a slow work in progress and I don't have a pic yet as I'm actually still gathering a few supplies and haven't started stitching yet. I intend to before year's end though!

So that's my Turtle Trot. Apologies if the thumbnails look a little weird. Photobucket has been doing something strange to my recent thumbnails but the full size pics look great, I promise! The next couple weeks are a little hectic in my house by the look of the calendar but I'll try to get back as often as I can and I'm definitely looking forward to reading everyone else's blogs and leaving some comments.

One last thing-Don't forget sign ups are still going on for the Grow Your Blog party, just click the pretty flowery button on my sidebar to get signed up before January 15!

WIPocalypse wrap up and some 2014 SAL plans

Another Christmas has come and gone and the little guy and I are taking an afternoon to recover at home before we get back to the normal work schedule so I thought I'd catch up on blogging and I owe a WIPocalypse post so here I am. It was a lovely Christmas by the way, lots of family and friends and presents and general happiness though not many pictures. Too much time enjoying the holiday I guess:) Anyway, my goal this year was pretty open, mostly to work on the WIPs and not increase their number. Oh and finish the Pirate Dragon which I did so that's one goal made. I did pretty well on the other one, didn't get around to as many WIPs as I'd have liked but I didn't make any more BAP starts either so that's good. For the most part I finished all the smalls I started too so I'm pretty happy with my stitching basket as we get ready to leave 2013 behind. Here's where I stand on WIPs (at least the ones that got a little love this year)...

















There was no progress made on Nativity, Polar Lights Sampler, QS Pegasus and Castle Bubble, Fish City, Watergarden, Garden of Wishes, or The Storyteller but I'm going to try hard to hit each one next year.

So outside of the WIP work there were some finishes too...















I will be signing up for the WIPocalypse SAL again in 2014 along with TUSAL, IHSW whenever I can, and I was contemplating the Turtle Trot as it seems fitting for the amount of BAPs I've got! As we're still in baby waiting mode (though we might have some exciting and probably unexpected by you news by Spring) I think I'm going to stick to working on the WIPs for the most part with some smalls thrown in here and there. I do have one, maybe two, planned starts for New Years and I'll show that off when I get it all kitted up as well as one more birth announcement so finishing #3 and stitching #4 will be my first priority in the new year then it's freedom for whatever so I'm going to try to dig out the neglected WIPs from last year. I do have my eye on some smalls as well, particularly some more of the LHN sheep virtues and one of everything from Country Cottage Needleworks (they're my new favorite) but especially that Frosty Forest series. We'll see how it goes, I try but somehow plans seem to go out the window around here after awhile.

July WIPocalypse

Meant to get a post in between TUSAL and WIPocalypse but didn't quite make it. I have been stitching though and actually have 3 WIPs to show off progress on since last time. First up, Dragon Master which is still sadly just a small stretch of floor but it is growing. Here's a before/after with a regular sized highlighter thrown in for scale...





Dragon Moon is next. Almost to the top of the first column on this one!





Finally, I've been stitching on Teresa Wentzler's Fantasy Triptych most recently. This one is destined to live above my bed someday. Oh, and in case you're not familiar with the WIPocalypse SAL- click and learn and don't forget to sign up too!





in other stitchy news, I picked up the JCS special Halloween issue and Cross Stitch & Needlework's Halloween issue at The local bookstore today. I've only had a chance to glance through so far but the Ink Circles mandala and Drac in the box are calling my name loudly already! Might be about time to start thinking about a few new starts...

We did make it up to WI last weekend (and had a great time) but I think I'll hold off on pics until next post hopefully sometime before TUSAL:). Happy stitching until then, I'm off to try to get in a few stitches before its time to go pick up Josh. Daycare is offering swim lessons this week. He seems to like it but I'm not sure how much progress he's made, seems to be a bit timid in the water so far. Oh well, guess we can't all be fish! The soccer group seems to be more his speed so far. Whatever makes him happy as long as he finds a constructive place to direct all that energy.

May WIPocalypse

Thanks for all the kind words on yesterday's post.  We've always been very open with Josh on the fact that he was adopted to the point that we made a big scrapbook with lots of photos and airline tickets and various little souvenirs of our travel to help him understand his story.  Our goal is that it's just a fact of his life, no big deal, not a surprise.  He asks to look at it every couple months or so and we talk about the pictures and things in the book.  When he asks questions we try to answer in a way he understands though the big ones haven't come up yet.  I told him yesterday was a special day, explained it, and asked if he wanted to look at his book.  "No thank you, can I have some juice?" was his response.  Mission accomplished, I guess.



So to carry on the theme of happy this week Josh's special day is followed by one for Erich and me-







Today happens to be our wedding anniversary.  Seems like a long time ago and like yesterday at the same time.  At least this morning I didn't wake up to the power going out.  On the morning of our wedding the power actually went out at my parents' house about 6am or so.  Ended up having to make an early morning wake up call to my groom and have him evacuate the apartment for a few hours so some of the wedding party and I could shower.  Outside of that it was a pretty smooth day and here we are 9 years later.  No exciting plans for today, probably just Josh's post placement visit and maybe dinner out tonight.



But before I go- I've been promising stitching pics and I actually have some.  It's also not too late for a WIPocalypse update so here goes.  Since I missed the last couple stitching life hasn't been too exciting, mostly just more QS Pirate Dragon which is so close to being finished now and Dragon Moon which was the project I took to Tulsa.  No before pics today but here's where I stand now...











As I said, almost done with QS Pirate Dragon so really hoping for a happy dance soon but also proud of my Tulsa progress.  I finished close to a page of Dragon Moon and am closing in on one of my 2013 goals of finishing off the first column of pages.  That giant star is on the last page so almost hitting the top now!

Off to do a little clean up before Josh's visitor gets here and then maybe I'll actually have some time to catch up on my blog reading.