January WIPocalypse

 Question of the Month:  Tell us about the oldest WIP you have in your stash.

My oldest wip is Butterfly Fairy Night that I started on 9/11/14.  This one lingers as it is my only project stitched on evenweave.  I have made so many mistakes on it - going over 3 threads, one thread etc that I am having a hard time getting it to line up.  I did finish Butterfly Fairy Day on evenweave and did not have any problems with that one.  Finally in 2024 I did get in the groove with this one and am no longer struggling to stitch on the evenweave.  I had wanted to finish it in 2024 but maybe I will aim for 2025.  Here is where I am at:

In January I participate in Brringo with the Magazine Monthly Challenge facebook group.  I worked on 15 projects.  Here are the projects:

Princess & the Dragon was on my board twice.  I worked on the border each time.

Homestead Harvest had 188 stitches added

Hedge Hog Kit by Riolos was worked on twice.  Still working on greenery.

Autumn Sampler was on my board twice

Jolly Snowman by Joan Elliott was on the board 3 times.

Owl #8 was started and was on the board twice.  I am changing the colors up on this one also.

Sun Catchers was a new start.  The prompt was a piece someone else inspired you to do.  I was watching Amy Loves Toads on floss tube and she did this piece.  I had it in my stash and decided to work on it.

Here it is after one day of stitching.

Crane Paradise was on my board 3 times.  I am working on the last bottom page.

Jolly Jingle Bell Pals - Elf from Cross Stitch & Needlework January 2009 was another new start

And my progress on the Elf - a small start

Funky Cat was worked on for one day.

Another new start was Snowflake Card by Rhona Norris from the World of Cross Stitching 209.  It was the free gift.  The prompt was for a monochrome design.  I did not have any in my WIP pile and looked for something small.  This one fit the bill.  First time stitching with Madera Metallic.  It is a nice shiny purple.  It called for some stitches in 4 strands and some in 2 strands.  And here is my finish piece.  First finish of 2025.

Unplug  & Go Outside was on my board once.  I also worked on it the last week of January to give it an extra push towards a finish this year.

Dandelion Fairy Kingdom I almost finished page 27.  I usually stitch on this one every afternoon.  There were a few afternoons I did not stitch on it and if I had this page would be finished.

QS Magic Island.  This was on my Brringo board 3 times.  I also stitch on this one on the weekends. 

January was a good stitching month.  I had 4 new starts, 1 finish.  I stitched every day.  I worked on all my WIPs except for 2.

February Plans - Finish page 27 on Dandelion Fairy Kingdom, Work the February Acrostic for Magazine Monthly Challenge, work on the 2 WIPs that did not get worked on in January.

 

2025 WIPocalypse Intro

 My name is Cathy.  I am married, two grown children and 2 cats.  Retired in 2023. We enjoy camping and hope to travel alot in 2025.

I am starting the year with 13 wips.  Pictures are on my 2025 WIPocalypse tab.  

I participate in the Magazine Monthly Challenge acrostics and Brringo in January and ABCingo in September.  As part of my January Brringo board I will have 4 new starts.

I will have other new starts scattered throughout the year.  I do not want to have more than 20 projects being worked on.

I am also participating on 25,000 stitches in 2025 with Full Coverage Fanatics.  I will also do the Tour de France challenge with them this summer.

I want to finish Dandelion Fairy Kingdom in the first half of 2025.  I only have 4 partial pages to go.  Then I will start kitting up another full coverage piece.

I tend to stitch larger projects so I am trying to add starts of projects that are small to medium.   

In 2024 and 2023 I was not buying any new patterns as I have so many in my stash that I still want to stitch.  I like to stitch projects that everyone else is not stitching.  I have bought a few patterns this month off Etsy.  It is hard not to buy new patterns when so many new ones catch my eye. I will see how I do in 2025.

December WIPocalypse

 Recap your accomplishments for the year! (Your finishes, your final before/after photos, etc).

 

I started 2024 with 14 wips.  I had 8 new starts and 9 finishes.  Here are my finishes for 2024:

Gathering Pinecones.  This was my oldest WIP started 9/8/2001.  It languished because I had trouble with the specialty stitches.  Finished in February.

 

Give Thanks to God Sampler.  I finished this one in March

What a Hoot Owl Teapot.  Finished in February

Sari Doll was finished in April

Moonlit Owl Mill Hill Kit was finished in May

Joy Seasonal Heart was finished in August

HC Anderson Fairy Tale SAL.  I kept up with the monthly installments and finished this one on 12/7/24

Owl #7.  I changed up the colors on this one myself.  Finished it 12/11/24.  I will be stitching 2 more in 2025 as 2 more Great nieces/nephews are due in 2025.

 

Folk Reindeer was my last finish of 2024 finished on 12/20/24

 

In 2024 I started QS Magic Island by HAED.  I finished 2 pages this year. One of the fairy's faces is starting to show up.

This is what it will look like when it is finished.

Dandelion Fairy Kingdom starting point for 2024.

Dandelion Fairy Kingdom ending photo.  I finished 8 pages in 2024.  I have 4 partial pages left and it will be finished in the first half of 2025

Butterfly Fairy Night starting point for 2024

Butterfly Fairy Night ending point.  I had wanted to finish this one in 2024 but didn't make it.  I did make some good progress adding 3,138 stitches this year.

Crane Paradise starting point for 2024.

Crane Paradise ending point for 2024.  I had wanted to finish this one in 2024.  The bottom section is almost fully covered.  I did add 8,008 stitches in 2024.  Possible finish for 2025?

Jolly Snowman by Joan Elliott starting point for 2024

Jolly Snowman ending point for 2024.  Added 2,711 stitches in 2024

Homestead Harvest starting point for 2024

Homestead Harvest ending point.  2,623 stitches added

Gnomes at the beginning of 2024

Gnomes at the end of 2024 1,114 stitches added

Hello Autumn at the start of 2024.

Hello Autumn at the end of 2024.  1,500 stitches.

Unplug & Go Outside by Emma Congdon a new start for 2024
 

And here is my progress  4,226 stitches. 

 

I finished my December acrostic, the SAL and the other goals I wanted to meet in December by 12/22/24.  So I decided to put aside my daily stitching on my full coverages and work on some other larger/medium projects that needed more progress.  Here are the projects I worked on for the rest of the month during my afternoon and evening stitching times

Hedge Hog Kit by Riolos at the start of 2024

Hedge Hog at the end of 2024.  4,011 stitches added.

Autumn Sampler at the start of 2024

Autumn Sampler at the end of 2024.  4,383 stitches added.

Princess & the Dragon by Teresa Wentzler at the start of 2024

I really enjoyed stitching on this one.  I added 3,351 stitches in 2024

Funky Cats was a new start in 2024.  This is what it will look like when it is finished.

And here is my ending point for 2024.  4,338 stitches added.

Here are my orts for 2024. 

And I always put them in a plastic ornament at the end of the year.  I have quite a collection of these ornaments

2024 was a good stitching year for me.  It was my first full year of retirement and I did get alot of stitching in with a total of 123,660 stitches.

I will start 2025 with 13 wips.

November WIPocalypse

 This month's question is:

How do you begin planning for the next year with your stitching? Tell us your process.

Throughout the year I look thru my patterns and magazines to keep my stitchy bug going.  If I see a pattern that I really want to stitch I put a sticky note on it and move it to the table in my craft room.  Then I look at the marked patterns regularly.  When I get the urge to kit something up I pick from one of the marked patterns.  So throughout the year I am slowly kitting up new starts. I try to keep a balance of small, medium and large.  I tend to do alot of large projects that take many years to complete.

In the past I have made new starts in January as part of Brringo and in September during ABCingo (all part of the Magazine Monthly Challenge group).  In 2023 and 2024 I only did new starts in January.  I like to keep my WIPs at 20 or under.  So for 2025 I have decided to spread out my new starts during the year. 

This month I did not get as much stitching done as I did in October.  Here is my progress:

Butterfly Fairy Night  I continue to work on this one making adjustments as I go to work around the counting errors.  165 stitches

Crane Paradise  Working on another flower  553 stitches added.

Princess & Dragon 176 stitches added

Folk Reindeer.  Just need more border and backstitching and it will be done.  Will push for a  finish in  December

Hedge Hog more greenery done.

HC Anderson Fairy Tale SAL.  Finished the November installment - Goldy Locks and the 3 Bears.  One installment left and this one will be done.

Unplug & Go Outside 305 stitches added

Funky Cats added 372 stitches

 

Owl #7.  I restarted this one and changed up the colors.  Going for a more realistic coloring.  I have the fabric ready to start Owl #8 after this one.  Then at Thanksgiving baby #9 was announced.  I have until June to finish that one.

Here are my full coverage projects:

Dandelion Fairy Kingdom.  I finished page 25 on 11/20/24 and made a small start on page 26.  This is the last row of partial pages.  About 3,300 stitches a page.  I will be pushing to have this one finished in 2025 hopefully during the first half of the year.

QS Magic Island.  I am getting close to finishing page 2.  I would like to get this page finished before the year ends.

In December I hope to finish Folk Reindeer, HC Anderson Fairy Tales SAL, Owl #7 and page 2 of QS Magic Island.