July WIPocalypse

 Question of the Month:  What is your comfort zone regarding the number of projects to have kitted and in progress at any one time?

My comfort level for the number of WIPs I am actively working on is 20.  Right now I am at 16 so I have room to add more starts.  I have 30 kits/kitted up projects ready to start.  The number of ready to start projects does not bother me.  I enjoy the kitting up process. 

Here is what I stitched on this month:

Gnomes.  I pulled 3 different gnomes from this leaflet and stitched it on 14ct coffee/tea dyed aida.  I finished it up by adding the wording and I am calling it done.

Penelope Pig Teapot.  I took this one to Florida did all the stitching and then brought it home to do the backstitching.  I will need to find a new travel project.  That is 2 finishes for July.

Queen of the Sea.  I also took this one to Florida as I did not want to get caught without something to stitch on.  I put in 560 stitches and just have the eye, top of fish and background to do.

Southern Magnolia.  Getting ready to start the first large magnolia.  I really enjoy working on this one.

Moonlight Laguna Mermaid.  My first Nora Corbett.  Making progress

Autumn Sampler added more stitches.  Still working on the center motif.

Funky Cats finished the top border over the next cat.  Still more black to go before I get to the 2nd Cat

QS Porthole of Fantasy.  This is my weekend stitch.  Still on page 5 but I am at 70%.  This one will be done this year.

Follow Mum added more stitches.  This picture better shows the colors than last month's photo.

 

Harvest Corn still working on the background stitching.

Princess & the Dragon.  Just have the Dragon body and a little of the Princess's dress to finish.  Then backstitching and beads.  Hope to finish this one this year.

Summer Pig added his hand and almost finished the second hand.

Owl Faces still working on face #5.

Hello Autumn  Making good progress on this one.  Could it be another finish this year?

 

Added more to Suncatchers

Jolly Snowman  I have finished the snow globe.  I just have the base to do, finish the border, a little backstitching and add some beads.  Still hoping to have this done by the end of he year.

QS Magic Island.  I used this piece for the Tour de France challenge in Full Coverage Fanatics.  I finished page 11 and made a good start on page 12.  I am on track to finish this one in 2028.  That will be the fastest I have completed a large full coverage piece.  I guess retirement does have its benefits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

June WIPocalypse

 The monthly prompt from WIPocalypse is Half-year recap:  How are you doing with your goals so far this year?

Besides making good progress on my pieces I only had 3 goals to finish these 3 projects:

Jolly Snowman at the beginning of 2026

 

And now after 6 months of stitching.  I still have alot to go.  Not sure I will get it finished in 2026.

Princess & the Dragon at the start of 2026

 

After 6 months of stitching I have this small section left.  But it is full of blends.  Still alot of backstitching and beading.  

 QS Porthole of Fantasy at the beginning of 2026

And here it is at the end of June.  I need to finish page 5 and do the partial page 6.  I know I can finish this one by the end of the year.

And here are the other projects I stitched on this month:

 

Harvest Corn by Mill Hill.  Added more background stitching

 Autumn Sampler still working on the center motif.

Moonlight Laguna Mermaid still working on the tail

 

Funky Cat working on the border over the second cat

 Owl Faces working on owl #5

 For the Magazine Monthly Cross Stitch Group there was a pop up challenge - June Bug - to stitch 500 stitches on a piece you put off stitching on.  I picked Hello Autumn.  This one is getting close to a finish and I still have no urge to work on it.

 Penelope Pig Teapot.  I stitch on this one when we go camping.  We had 2 camping trips in June.  I have a trip to Florida in July and will take this one.  It might get finished in July.

Added more stitches to Queen of the Sea.  I will take this one to Florida also.

Then I had a new start for my birthday.  Follow Mum.  It is a kit I bought at an antique mall for $2.50  It came with the pattern and fabric.  It is a DMC kit so I was able to pull floss from my stash.

 

 

This is the start the previous owner made.  I pulled out most of it as it was off by 2 stitches.

And here is my progress.  The picture is showing more yellow.  The colors are different shades of cream and white.  It is slow going as I am railroading to get my white stitches to look nice.

 

Gnomes.  I finished backstitching the third gnome.  Now I just need to add the wording and it will be done.  I pulled 3 different gnomes from this leaflet to make this one.

Added more to Suncatchers

Summer Pig finished the head and started added some background color.

 

QS Magic Island still working on page 11.  But closer to finishing this page.  Hope to finish it in July

In July I will be doing Tour De France with Full Coverage Fanatics group.  Will be using QS Magic Island for this challenge and hope to complete the yellow jersey for 3,333 stitches.  I will also be doing the July Acrostic with the Magazine Monthly Challenge group. 

 

May WIPocalypse

 This month's WIPocalypse question is: Give us five projects in your stash right now that you’d really love to start – and why you haven’t yet.

The first project from my stash is a new release

 Opossum Forager by Fine Frog Stitching.

I have 2 other patterns by Fine Frog Stitching that are partially kitted up.

I try not to buy new patterns but they do slip in.  I am trying to work thru my stash.  Here are the next older patterns I would like to start:

Rapunzel by Janlynn and designed by Sandy Orton.  I have 2 other Fairy Tale charts by Sandy Orton in my stash.

Romantic Mandarin Duck by PINN.  I did Crane Paradise by PINN earlier.

The Goblin Market by Patricia Andrle

 The Storyteller by Teresa Wentzler.  I am finishing up The Princess & the Dragon.  I like to stitch on aida.  Looking at this chart it does not have any over one stitching so I should be able to do it on aida.  Also it uses most of the same colors as Princess & The Dragon.

The reason I have not stitched any of these is because I already have 30 projects kitted up and ready to start.  But I will be working on kitting these up and getting them into my starting pile.

 

 This month I participated in SPRINGO  with the Magazine Monthly Challenge Crossstitch group. I enjoy their challenges and I do make good progress on my projects.

For S I worked on Suncatchers and it was called 5 times.  Here is the progress I made:

Before
 

After                                     

 For P it was Princess & Dragon.  Here is the progress I made:

 

 

Before 

                                                                After

R was QS Porthole of Fantasy because it is Round. Worked on 3 times for SPRINGO and a few more times also. And here is my progress:

 

 

Before 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After 

 

 

 

 

I was QS Magic Island. It was called 3 times and worked on alot more to keep it going.  And here is my progress:

 

 Before

After

 

N was Moonlight Laguna Mermaid by NORA Corbett.  And here is my progress:

 

 

Before

 

 

 

 

 

 

        After

G was for Gnomes.  I am ready to start the backstitching on the 3rd Gnome.  Closing in on a finish for this one.

 

   Before

 

After

O was for Owl Faces.  I finished the 4th owl face.

 

 Before

After

While we were camping on 4/30 I started Penelope Pig Teapot.  Here is where I got to after 3 days of stitching.  It was a cold camping trip but no Bugs!!!

 I also worked on the following projects that were not part of SPRINGO:

Jolly Snowman working towards a finish.  Still a large snow globe base to stitch

 

Queen of the Sea is moving along.

 

 Southern Magnolias getting close to starting one of the large white magnolias.  I will check the coverage and might use 3 strands to make sure the coverage is good.  I really enjoyed stitching on this one.

 

Summer Pig came out for one day 

 

Stopped at one of our favorite antique malls on the way home from camping.  I bought 2 frames (not antique) and used them to fully finish 2 of my projects:

 Stock Car #3

 

Owl Teapot 

 For June I will be doing another acrostic and challenge with the Magazine Monthly Cross Stitch Group.  It is also my birthday month and I will be doing a new start.  I have alot to choose from.