January WIPocalypse

 In January I participated in Brringo on the Magazine Monthly Cross Stitch Group.  So I worked on quite a few different projects with a few new starts.

I worked on Cat's Paw for 2 days.  I am changing the colors of the cat to match one of ours.  She is a calico with lots of black and brown/orange and some white.  I might have to change the colors of the flowers to show up better as they are pale yellow.  This is the first time I am attempting to make my own changes on a project.

I worked one day on Crane Paradise.  Hard to see but working on another wing.

Dandelion Fairy Kingdom.  I continue working on this project on the weekends.  I did finish page 10 and have made a good start on page 11 (will need an updated picture of that page).  There are a total of 30 pages with this pattern.  I am not sure I will have enough fabric for all 30 pages.  I think I started this with the wrong orientation.  Hoping to get at least another 10 pages in before the fabric runs out (2 more rows of 5).

Flamingo Mill Hill Kit was a new start as part of Brringo.  I hope to finish it off in February.

I worked 2 days on Freedom by Joan Elliott.  

Homestead Harvest by Linda Myers was a new start as part of Brringo.  I stitched on it one day and did part of the top border.

Butterfly Fairy Night by Larnarte was worked on 2 days.  I am still struggling with this one but have not given up.

I started Owl #4 for my next grand nephew who will be born in mid April.  I did give the first 3 to my brother and sister-in-law for Christmas.  I made them into banners and they were well received.

I stitched on Possum Song for one day.

Princess  & Dragon by Teresa Wentzler was a pull out chart from Cross Stitch Collection.  This was another new start for Brringo.

Reindeer Ornament was worked on for 2 days.

To Everything there is a Season got one day of work.

Jolly Snowman by Joan Elliott was worked on for 2 days.  I made alot of progress on this one.  I love the colors.  The border is gold Krenick.  That part is slow going.  But I am looking forward to working on this one again in February.

Hodge Podge Soup was worked on for 2 days.  Hoping for more progress on this one in February.

Give Thanks to God Sampler was worked on for one day.  I am still enjoying this one.

This month's question is: 

Describe your stitching style – are you a one-at-a-time stitcher? Do you stitch on rotation? Are you a chaos wrangler? Are you comfortable in your current stitching style, or are you still searching for that stitching zen?

I started back in the late 80's as a one at a time stitcher.  Then I progressed to multiple wips with a firm rotation.  Now  I enjoy all my projects and stitch on ones that fit the prompts in the Magazine Monthly Challenge facebook group.  I feel this helps me touch all my projects more regularly.  And I am starting new projects even though I might not be finishing any.  When I do finish a project they tend to sit in my under the bed box and never get FFO'd.  Maybe when I retire I can work my way thru the under the bed box.

January I managed to stitch every day on all of my projects and added 4 new starts.  I have no new starts planned for February. 

WIPocalypse 2022

 This is the intro post for WIPocalypse 2022.  This is a group where you try to finish all of your WIPs before the end of the World.  I enjoy participating in this group because it is no pressure and a good way to track your progress for the year.  There is also a lot of eye candy looking at other participants projects.

My name is Cathy and I have been stitching since I was 8.  I started as a one at a time project stitcher.  But I would get bored before the project was done and went a long time with no stitching.  Then the internet came along and I was browsing and found other stitchers.  I then started a rotation with multiple projects.  I was good at keeping my WIPs to 4 or 5.  With retirement approaching, I have been kitting up  projects and starting more.  I now have 12 wips.

Besides participating in WIPocalypse, I participate in the facebook group Full Coverage Fanatics.  I am doing the 22,000 stitches in 2022.  I am using my Dandelion Fairy Kingdom project.  In 2021 I stitched 31,013 stitches on this progress.  4 and 1/2 pages.  My goal for 2022 is to do 35,000 stitches and finish 5 and 1/2 pages.

I am also participating in Magazine Monthly Cross Stitch facebook group.  For January I am doing the Brringo challenge.  Stitching for 25 days on whatever project is called.  I will have 3 more starts for this challenge.  All of my current wips are on my board so I will stitch on each one of them this month, some more than once.

I tend to work on large projects and two of my January starts are large and one is small.  Here are my planned 3 January starts:

Homestead Harvest by Linda Myers

Holiday Flamingo by Mill Hill.  This is a small one.

Princess & Dragon by Teresa Wentzler from a Cross Stitch Collection magazine.

I have my fabric prepped and all ready to go for both large projects  After starting these it may be a while before I start another project.

 I have a 2022 WIPocalypse page with all of my projects.

For 2022 I want to get a lot of progress on my projects, take some camping trips and enjoy time with my husband.

December WIPocalypse

 This is our last post of WIPocalypse this year.  We are to recap our year of stitching.  In 2021 I had 8 finishes.  My largest was a HAED Faces of Faery 90.  This year I did add more smaller pieces to my rotation which helped with the finishes.  I did have quite a few new starts in 2021 bringing my total wips to 12.

This month I worked on:

Dandelion Fairy Kingdom.  Finished page 9 and started on page 10.  I did meet my goal of stitching 21,000 stitches in 2021.  I actually did 28,919 stitches.  

Bebunni was a kit from World of Cross Stitching #227.  This was one of the small finishes.  I just finished this 12/18/21.

I finished Owl #3 on 12/12/21.  I made all 3 into wall hangings and gave them to my Brother and Sister in Law for Christmas as they were all personalized with their grandkids names and birth dates.  I will be starting Owl #4 in January for another grandbaby (great niece or nephew to me) due in April.

Possum Song was started11/22/21 but I had to rip it all out since it was not placed correctly on the fabric.  I re-started this on 12/23/21 and hope it is placed correctly now.

I stitched some more on To Everything there is a Season 

I had a new start in December.  Jolly Snowman by Joan Elliott from Cross Stitch Gold December 2010.  This one has gold krenick in the borders.  Very slow going since I am using smaller lengths to keep it from fraying.  But it does add sparkle.

I worked some more on Hodge Podge Soup.  Love the colors in this one.

I worked some more on Give Thanks to God sampler.  I love the colors in this one too.  The fabric color is not showing up it is kind of an olive green. 

I have updated my 2021 Wipocalypse page with pictures of all of my projects as of today.  I enjoy looking back and seeing how much progress I have made.

Since I still have a week of 2021 I will continue working on Dandelion Fairy Kingdom.

I look forward every month to see everyone's progress.

November WIPocalypse

 The question of the month is: What new discoveries did you have in the stitching world this year?

I know this is not "new" but I did buy and download my first PDF chart.  I am normally a hard copy chart person.

I did have a finish this month.  Let's Mingle and Jingle.  I left off the background motifs.

 This is stitched on 18ct white opalescent  fabric.  The sparkle is not showing up in the picture but it does look like the snow in a snow globe.  I started this 12/23/20 and finished it 11/3/21.

This month I also stitched on:

Crane Paradise by Pinn

 

Dandelion Fairy Kingdom by HAED.  I continue to work on page 9. I would like to finish this page before year end.  

I finished my second Owl.  Started 8/21/21 and finished 11/13/21.

And started Owl #3.  I need to make all three of these into hangings to give to my brother and his wife for Christmas.  The 2 finished owls both have added the name and birth dates of their grandchildren.  And I have found out another grandchild will be added in April 2022 so I will get that Owl stitched up and ready for personalization.

These Owls are from Cross Stitch and Needlework September 2014.

I had a new start Possum Song by Mama Witch Cross Stitch.  This is the PDF that I bought.  Stitching this on 14 ct black Aida.  I love the colors.  It is a round design and I did not start it on the correct place on the fabric.  So I need to rip out all of these stitches (696) and start over.  I hope to get it ripped out and started correctly in December.

I worked some more on To Everything There is a Season from Cross Country Stitching June 2011.

 

 And I worked on Hodge Podge Soup from Cross Country Stitching October 2013.  

 

 

October WIPocalypse

 Here are the projects I worked on in October.  Not as many different projects as September but progress has been made.

Cat's Paw I finished the border and the words

Dandelion Fairy Kingdom.  This is my weekend project and I am plugging along.

Freedom I started on the R.  Only one more letter after this and lots of backstitching.

Let's Mingle & Jingle.  I have the cross stitching done and working on the back stitching.  I hope to have this one finished this month.

I continued working on my second Owl.  I wanted to have 3 done and FFO'd by Christmas to give to my brother and his wife.  I am doing one for each of my great  nieces and nephews.  And I just learned another Great is due in April 2022.  You will be seeing alot of these owls.

Reindeer Ornament got worked on as I had to take an online CE class.  I still need 5 more classes so I should get more done on this one.

Give Thanks to God sampler got worked on some more.  I love the colors in this one.  I do not like the fabric as it is too loose.  I am stitching it hand which does slow me down. The fabric is really more of an army green looks kinda of grey in this picture.

Question of the Month: Do you prefer Halloween or Christmas stitching? I do not have a preference.  Looking at my WIPs I do have 2 Christmas ones in the works  Lets Mingle & Jingle and Reindeer ornament.  I stitch on whatever catches my eye trying to keep a balance of small, medium and large projects.

September WIPocalypse

This month I was part of the ABCingo event on the Monthly Magazine Challenge Group.  I really enjoyed this challenge.  A letter was picked daily so I stitched on whatever project I had assigned to that letter.  I only had to do 100 stitches but usually stitched more.  I did have a few new starts.

Bebunni was a new start.  It was a kit from the magazine World of Cross Stitching #227.  I started this on 9/3/21 and here is my progress:

I worked on Cat Paws with 329 stitches

Crane Paradise was stitched on 458 stitches

Dandelion Fairy Kingdom was stitched on but not as much as I usually work on it.  I did finish page 8 and started on page 9. 785 stitches

Give Thanks to God Sample from Cross Country Stitching October 2013 was a new start on 9/7/21.  I am stitching it on 18ct Davis Putty Khaki.  The fabric is so soft that when I put it in my hoop it stretched the holes out.  So I am stitching this one in hand. I like the colors in this one.  Here is my progress with 587 stitches:

Hodge Podge Soup was another new start on 9/18/21 from Cross Country Stitching October 2013.  This is my 3rd project from this magazine.  271 stitches:

Let's Mingle and Jingle by Ursula Michael.  I worked on this one and put in 703 stitches.

Butterfly Fairy Night was worked on 215 stitches.  I still struggle with this one and will continue to keep putting in a minimum number of stitches to get it done.

I started on my second Owl from Cross Stitch and Needlework Sept 2014.  My goal is to have 3 Owls finished and made into wall hangings to give to my brother and sister in law for Christmas. 300 stitches

On 9/9 I started the Reindeer Ornament from Cross Stitch & Needlework magazine January 2009.

225 stitches on Reindeer Ornament
 

To Everything There is a Season from Cross Country Stitching June 2011 started on 9/2/21. 478 stitches.  Stitched on 18ct Rustic Oatmeal

This gives me 12 WIPS.  More than I usually have on the go.  I will continue to focus on Dandelion Fairy Kingdom, Lets Mingle and Jingle and my Owls.

This month's question from Measi is:

September 26 – List five projects you have unstarted in your stash that you’d like to start sometime in the (relatively) near future.

I would like to start this Flamingo Mill Hill kit.

 

Homestead Harvest by Linda Myers.  I have this one all kitted up.  Once I finished something this one will get started.

I bought this kit of some Hedge Hogs off Stash Unload and would like to get this one started.

Possum Song.  I saw someone stitching this one and had to have it.  I downloaded it as a pdf (which I normally only have hard copy patterns but I really wanted this one.)  I have it kitted up and this one is up next to start.  Even if I do not finish anything.

Princess and the Dragon by Teresa Wentzler.  This was a pull out pattern from one of the British magazines.  I have this one all kitted up.

I still have a few days left in September with 5 projects left I need to put 2 hrs on each.  If I accomplish that it will be the first time I have stitched every day in a month.