April WIPocalypse

 Here is my stitching for the month of April

Dandelion Fairy Kingdom.  I finished page 11!  This page did have alot of confetti.  It took me 3 months.  I also started page 12.  This page looks to have some large blocks of stitching as this is the face of the fairy and she has a large forehead!

Freedom by Joan Elliott.  Almost finished the R.  One letter left and plenty of backstitch

Homestead Harvest.  Did more work on the left side border and started on a cloud.

Butterfly Fairy Night.  Struggling on with this one.  200 + stitches

Owl #4 is finished!  Just need to personalize with the Baby's name and birth date.  I should be hearing any day now if my new great niece or nephew is here.  I will need to start Owl #5 as another one is due in August.  I really enjoy stitching these.  Love the bright colors.

Possum Song.  This is an easy stitch and is coming along nicely.  It is my first downloaded pdf chart.  I have downloaded another chart that caught my eye and hope to get it started this year.

Princess and the Dragon by Teresa Wentzler.  This was my focus project this month and I got 600+ stitches in.  I m really enjoying this one and can't wait to pick it up again. The chart came from a magazine Cross Stitch Collection and is very easy to read.

Reindeer Ornament.  I had another 4 hour continue education class and got alot done.  I am done with my classes so I will need to fit this in and finish it off.

Jolly Snowman by Joan Elliott (two Joan Elliott's in my rotation🙋😀)

Hodge Podge Soup.  Still loving working on this one.

Give Thanks to God Sampler.  Stitching this one in hand (note no wrinkles)  Love the colors in this one.

Question of the Month: What is your favorite store (either online or brick and mortar) to purchase your supplies?  I am lucky to have a local LNS- Stitch N Frame.  They do great framing at good prices.  I enjoy going there and browsing and coming home with unexpected purchases.

Heading off for a camping weekend.  Might have some rain so I am taking a project to work on.

For May I would like to start a new project.  We will see if I take the plunge and add another project.

March WIPocalypse

 This month's WIPocalypse question is: Tell us about a technique, designer, pattern, or anything else in stitching that you’ve been nervous or afraid to try.

I am nervous to stitch on linen.  I have a Chatelene in my stash and that pattern also makes me nervous as it needs to be stitched on evenweave or linen.  One of these days I will give it a try.

Here are the projects I stitched on this month:

 

Cats Paw went with me on vacation to Florida.  I had alot of stitching time and made good progress.  I did change the cat's colors to match our calico cat.  This one could be finished this year.

 

Crane Paradise put another 137 stitches in.

Dandelion Fairy Kingdom continues to be a focus piece worked on Fridays, Saturday and Sundays.  Still trying to finish page 11 but it is close.  Maybe in April.

Flamingo by Mill Hill I finished on 3/27/22 and totally finished it.  First finish of 2022

Freedom by Joan Elliott put in another 119 stitches

Butterfly Fairy Night I put in another 156 stitches.  This one is on even weave and I continue to struggle thru it.

Owl #4  143 stitches more.  Baby #4 is due the end of April so I need to get moving on this one.

Possum Song put in another 218 stitches.

Princess & the Dragon by Teresa Wentzler put in another 214 stitches.  This one will see more work on it in April as it is one of my focus pieces and I hope to put in at least 500 stitches.  I am really enjoying this one.  The chart is from Cross Stitch Collection and is easier to read than most of Teresa's patterns.

Reindeer Ornament put in another 184 stitches.  I need to do another continuing ed class so maybe in April it will get some more work on it.

To Everything There is a Season put in another 236 stitches.

Jolly Snowman by Joan Elliott put in another 212 stitches

Hodge Podge Soup put in another 217 stitches.  Love the colors in this one.  I think this one could be finished this year with a little dedication.

 Give Thanks to God Sampler put in 284 stitches.  Sitching this one in hand so no hoop rings.

I am still participating in the Magazine Monthly Magazine Acrostic and I have my projects picked out for April.  I would like to finish Cats Paws this month as I have several new starts kitted up.

Februrary WIPocalypse

The question posed for this month is: What stitch-a-longs (SALs) are you participating in this year?

I am not participating in any SAL's.  I do participate in the Magazine Monthly Challenges and I am doing the stitch 22,000 in 2022.

I worked on almost all of my WIPs this month.  Hodge Podge Soup, Jolly Snowman and Dandelion Fairy Kingdom were focus pieces this month.

Hodge Podge Soup 681 stitches

 

Jolly Snowman 504 stitches

Dandelion Fairy Kingdom working on page 11 2,063 stitches

Then each of these projects were worked on:

Reindeer Ornament  277 stitches

Possum Song 229 stitches

To Everything there is a Season 278 stitches

Freedom by Joan Elliott.  296 stitches.  The R is half done and then just the F to complete

Give Thanks to God Sampler 170 Stitches.  Still loving this one.

Flamingo Mill Hill Kit.  I just need to cut it out and attach beaded legs.  Hoping to finish in March.

Homestead Harvest by Linda Meyers.  309stitches.  Did more of the border.

Crane Paradise 205 stitches

Princess & the Dragon by Teresa Wentzler 255 stitches.

Cats Paw 197 stitches.  This will be one of my focus pieces in March.

Owl #4  341 stitches.

In March I hope to continue stitching every day.  We are spending a week in Florida with my Mother-in-law.  I will be taking Cats Paw and Owl #4  I hope to get some stitches in each of them.  Baby #4 is due in April and I need to get this one done and made up into a banner.  I have been told that Baby #5 is coming in August so I will need to start another owl.

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.