May WIPocalypse

 Question of the Month:  How do you personally distinguish between a Work in Progress (WIP) and an Unfinished Object (UFO)

If a project is not in my pile that I pick from to work on regularly and involves a feeling of dread, it is a UFO.  I have all WIPs at this time.  No UFO projects.

This month I worked on:

Autumn Sampler.  I worked on this one 3 times in May.

 

Crane Paradise.  Added 525 more stitches.  I did have to frog quite a bit in the white flower as I kept making counting mistakes.

Dandelion Fairy Kingdom.  I try and stitch on this one every afternoon. But I do find myself falling asleep while I am stitching it.  In between naps I did manage to finish page 22 and started page 23.

Funky Cats.  I worked on this for 2 days. Lots of black stitching.  I did go and buy more black floss as I didn't have any more in my stash.

Gnomes I put 2 days into this one.

Homestead Harvest.  Added 394 more stitches

Hedge Hog kit from Riolos.  Finished the first Hedge Hog and have started on the greenery.  using the acrylic threads in the kit which makes me nervous that I will run out.

I finished Moonlit Owl, a Mill Hill kit on 5/3/24.

Butterfly Fairy Night 241 stitches added. Slowly making progress.

Folk Reindeer added 156 stitches.  This will be my travel project in June.

QS Magic Island by HAED getting closer to a page one finish.

Jolly Snowman added 418 stitches

HC Anderson & Other Fairy Tales SAL by Cloudsfactory.  I finished the May installment which was the Three Little Pigs.  This one seems to take me all month to finish the monthly installment.

Unplug & Go Outside I got to add some different colors.

My husband and I like to go to Antique Malls and Thrift Stores.  I found a few stitchy items:

I found this kit.  The thread colors in the kit look much brighter than the picture

I got this small frog kit for 50 cents and a package of mill hill beads and some other beads.

June will be a busy month, 2 camping trips, and a hiking trip with my sister.  We slow down in July as my husband will have surgery and we will stay home while he recovers.

I had one day of no stitching in May

April WIPocalypse

 WIPocalypse question of the month: Which designers have you discovered lately? Etsy has alot of cute patterns by people I have not heard of.  But I have not bought any as I am on a pattern diet.  So far I have not had the urge to buy anything.  I have plenty of patterns in my stash that I want to stitch.

Here is what I worked on this month as part of the Magazine Monthly Challenge:

Crane Paradise.  I am down to the last 2 pages.  I moved the scroll rods and put in 730 stitches.  This is one I would like to have finished this year.

Folk  Reindeer.  Took this one camping.  3 days of hard rain so I got alot of stitching and reading done.

I put 168 stitches into Moonlit Owl by Mill Hill.  I hope to finish this one in May

Princess & the Dragon was worked on for one day.

Butterfly Fairy Night I worked on twice in April for 401 stitches.   I wanted this one finished this year also  I need to get a move on

Unplug & Go Outside worked on for one day.  It goes pretty fast since I have just been stitching one color.  Getting ready to add another color.

Autumn Sampler 230 more stitches put in

Hello Autumn I have finished the flowers/pumpkins and started on the truck

I also stitched on the following projects:

I worked on the Hedge Hog kit by Riolos with the acrylic yarn.  I finished the face.  It makes me nervous stitching with this floss/yarn.  I am hoping I do not run out.

Sari Doll I finished this one on 4/28/24.

I finished the April installment of the HC Anderson Fairy Tale SAL by Cloudsfactory.

I worked on the Joy Seasonal Heart.

Funky Cats started the ear of the first cat.

QS Magic Island by HAED. 792 more stitches added.

Dandelion Fairy Kingdom is my focus piece and I try to stitch on it every day.  I am close to finishing this page.

In April I stitched 28 out of 30 days.  My stitch count is down as I am spending more time outdoors.

March WIPocalypse

 WIPocalypse  Question of the Month:  What colors – and brands – of floss do you love using? Do you have a particular color that you absolutely love?

I use DMC.  I love the bright colors - red, purples, greens, blues.

I stitched on the following projects for the Magazine Monthly Acrostic:

Crane Paradise I put in 766 stitches.  I would like to have this one finished by the end of the year.

Butterfly Fairy Night 369 stitches added

Autumn Sampler 438 stitches added

Funky Cats  still stitching the border 242 stitches

Give Thanks to God Sampler.  Magazine Monthly Challenge had a pop up challenge to put 5 hours or 500 stitches into a wip that was close to a finish.  I picked this one and put in 764 stitches to finish it.

Close up of the bottom

 Close up of the top part of the sampler.  The fabric is kind of an olive green color.  The colors pop and I love the bright colors.  That is what drew me to this project.

Unplug & Go Outside by Emma Congdon 240 stitches

Moonlit Owl 203 stitches

Gnomes I finished the backstitching and will start the next Gnome.

Here are the other projects that I worked on that were not part of the Magazine Monthly Acrostic:

Dandelion Fairy Kingdom.  I work on this one in the afternoons during the week.  I finished page 21 and got a good start on page 22.  5,714 total stitches in March

Homestead Harvest I worked on this one twice to finish the fall tree.  556 stitches

Hedge Hog kit by Riolos.  I worked on this one and the hedge hog now has a face.

Sari Doll 170 stitches added

QS Magic Island b HAED.  I have been stitching on this one on the weekends.  Still on page 1.  I have added 2,025 stitches this month.

HC Anderson Fairy Tale SAL by Cloudsfactory.  I finished the March installment.

I got a total of 13,148 stitches in March.  Not sure if I will get as much stitching done as the months get warmer.  We have one camping trip scheduled for April.  And I am walking nice days on my own and any kind of weather with my sister.  Usually Mondays we do at least 5 miles.  Tomorrow we head to Pokagon State Park.  It is supposed to be rainy and colder.  I have been getting my hiking gear together as we will do more than 5 miles. All of this is conditioning to get ready for a 20 mile timed hike the end of June.

 

February WIPocalypse

 Question of the Month:  What stitch-a-longs (SALs) are you participating in this year?

This year I am participating in: 

Magazine Monthly Acrostics

Cloudsfactory HC Anderson Fairy Tales SAL - first time stitching a Cloudsfactory design.  Trying to keep up with the monthly releases. 

Full Coverage Fanatics Epic Journey Challenge

WIPocalypse

Here is what I worked on in February:

Gathering Pinecones by Hillside Sampling.  This was my oldest WIP.  I finished the alphabet and added 2 more pinecones doing specialty stitches I could do.  Not the called for stitches.  Left off my initials and date.  Added a pinecone button and it is finally finished.  Stitched with called for floss and fabric.  Glad this one is done and in the under the bed box.

Sari Doll worked on this one twice in February.  Small but alot of stitches

 

Butterfly Fairy Night worked more on filling in the moon.

Unplug and Go Outside by Emma Congdon.  Finished the top word.

What a Hoot Owl Teapot from Cross Country Stitching October 2012 is finished.  There is several more in this series and I will stitch them as I find my magazines with the charts.  Second finish for 2024.

HC Anderson Fairy Tales SAL by Clouds Factory.  February Installment is done.

Homestead Harvest.  Worked on the fall tree.

Give Thanks to God Sampler.  Added more leaves (and still more need added) and started working some bushes.

Jolly Snowman worked on his blue scarf.

Autumn Sampler still working on filling in the diamond.

Joy Seasonal Heart added the second owl.

Hedge Hog still plugging away on this one.  It moves slowly as the kit flosses came on floss cards.  I am a bobbin stitcher and having to un-tie and re-tie the floss to the floss cards takes up alot of time.

 Princess & the Dragon.   Working on the area under the castle.  I have been looking thru my Teresa Wentzler patterns to pick out my next one when this one is done.

 

I have also been working on my 2 full coverage projects.  I started QS Magic Island in January as one of my new starts.  When I kit up a new project of any size I keep the floss for that project with it either in the project bag on in a floss box.  Here is the floss box for QS Magic Island.  I love the colors and how full each bobbin is.  Staring at this box makes me happy.

And my progress on QS Magic Island 1,656 stitches this month.  Still on page one which does have large areas of solid stitching.  I stitch some solid area then add some of the confetti area.  14ct 2 strands full cross.  I like that this one is starting with the design right away and not a page of just background. 

Dandelion Fairy Kingdom.  I am past the halfway point of page 21.  Hope to finish this page in March to keep on track to finish 5 pages in 2024.

 

I fully finished one of my previous finished from 2023 Possum Song by Mama Witch Cross Stitch.  I finished this in a 12 inch hoop.  I did have to add some extra black Aida to make it fit.  The 10 inch hoop was too small and cut off part of the design.  It did not seem this big when I was stitching on it.