Late for almost everything in April :(

Unfortunately, my stitching schedule went out the window for April.  My dad was in the hospital for a few weeks so the month was mostly spent in the car driving back and forth to visit him.  He's out now so things should return to normal.

Anyways, for April's WIPocalypse I didn't get as much done as I planned.  Only 2 projects received any attention.  The tulip sampler has one more square finished:

And the great pumpkin conspiracy has another pumpkin and some blue zigzags:

For the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL I finished Nevermore (which is a birthday present for a friend):

 

For the Halloween ornie SAL (this month's subject being tombstones) I took pieces of Nevermore for my ornament:

 



 

And then I started a new project that the Sampler Life group is stitching.  I love this square from Faby Reilly:

 

 

 

Just what I need .... another project ;)

 

And last but not least, for the final days of April, I decided to pick up Primitive Santa and put in his coat sleeve.

 

 

 

And that's it for April's stitching.  I hope May is a better month.

 

 

WIPocalypse update for March's full moon

Of course the big news was finishing Mary Wigham but I was too excited to wait a couple days to post her pics for March's WIPocalypse update.  If you want to see Miss Mary in all her glory, just check out my previous post.  And yes, I'm still grinning and dancing.

I did a little stitching on Autumn Log Cabin this month and I am now officially around the corner.  I'm slowly getting closer to finishing this one.

And then I picked up Rosewood Manor's Tulip Sampler (an attempt to drag Spring back to Pennsylvania ... ugh!  will the snow ever go away?).  Another square done and the beginnings of a second one.  Not too shabby ;)

And finally, The Great Pumpkin Conspiracy has 4 new leaves and another bird.  Without actually counting stitches, I'm guessing this one is a little under half finished.  I think I'm going to get off the ground and move to the sky next time I pick this one up.

This is the first time I've tried a stitching rotation with so many projects.  It's going well so far and definitely keeping my interest.  It's a relatively informal rotation.  I didn't set an amount of time to stitch each piece or a particular day for a project or whatever.  Instead, I made a chart of the projects I wanted to work on this year and the months.  As I work on a project that month, I put a checkmark next to it (which makes me happy).   I stitch on the larger pieces for a day or 2 or 3 or whatever before switching.  While the smaller ornaments are stitched until finished.  Easy peasy pumpkin pie :)

I'm looking forward to the time change this weekend ... it'll be great having more daylight in the evenings.  Surely Spring can't be too far behind.

 

The first WIPocalypse

I managed to get lots of stitching done since the last full moon.  Mainly because the dogs and I didn't have many classes in January . . . . .  sad for them, happy for stitching.  The Tulip Sampler got many x's and back stitching added to it.  One large block and 2 smaller ones are now finished:

 

I also spent time on Flower Power, finishing the third band of lattice and the words.  However, I decided to revamp the words a bit by making them a little fancier than the pattern:

I like my letters but don't like the way they ended up on the fabric.  The first line looks great, the second I don't like.  I hated to have the orphan "may" just hanging there by itself so I began the second line of verse on the same physical line.  Hmmmmm, not the best layout.

Soooo, I did a little 'photoshop-ing' and changed it to look like this:

I like this better but . . . . before I go ripping it out, I'm going to let it set for awhile.   I may think of a different and perhaps, better, way of doing it.  I really prefer things centered but didn't feel like charting the whole thing out because what usually happens when I chart things out, I do it wrong and things don't get centered correctly  -- driving me totally nuts.  BTW -- the little zig-zaggy lines aren't complete.  There's more to be added to them.

I finished 2 smaller projects that have been sitting around for some time now.  The first is Get into the Spirit by Brittercup.  This was one of my 2011 Crazy Challenge choices that was never finished . . . until now that is:

And this one is probably 4 or 5 years in the stitching.  It's one of those cute Mill Hill beaded kits on paper called Bountiful Kitties.  I'm tickled pink that it's finally finished.

 These two are finished because I joined a couple SAL's --  the Christmas Ornament SAL  and the Halloween Ornament SAL -- devoted to stitching an ornie a month.

And there you have it, a months worth of WIPocalypse stitching.  I hope February is just as productive for both you and me. 

The last WIPocalypse for 2012

Even though I had lots of Christmas stitching to do, I managed to pick up the Tulip Sampler in December and finished the big square on the bottom plus two smaller squares above it :

I also found some time to work on Flower Power from Anne Strite-Kurtz. This was a 2011 Crazy Challenge piece that didn't get very far in 2011.  I finished the third band -- hooray!

This year has been a fruitful one for me - stitching-wise.  I finished quite a few stitchy items . . .

and still have quite a few to go . . .

These (and any others that may strike my fancy during the coming year) will be the ones I concentrate on for the 2013 WIPocalypse.  Wish me luck.  And I'll also wish you good stitching luck in 2013.  May the games begin . . .

My IHSW was a good one

I got bunches of great quality stitching time in (hurray!) amongst household chores (blecchht!).

The first thing I worked on had lots and lots and lots (and omg! lots) of little black cross stitches that looked something like this:

Unfortunately, since it's a surprise for a friend, I can't show you the whole shapely thing but suffice it to say, there is lots (and lots and lots) more blackness than pictured above.  By the time I finished all the black -- I needed some

 * C O L O R *

sooo, I switched to the Tulip Sampler and finished all the green blocks (granted, most of the time I was stitching with one color, ie, green -- but at least it was a change from black --  it's the little things that make life exciting, don't you agree?)

And then my last IHSW piece for the weekend was a new start -- the Christmas SAL from Carole.  I didn't get much finished on it and I'm already behind (because I just found out about it last week) but I think it's going to be a fun little sampler (as her SAL's usually are):

I switched out the colors and am going for a different look than the traditional Christmas one.  So far, so good.  If you want to participate in Carole's SAL, I think you have until the end of the month to join.

Have a good one! 


Oh . . . .  and thanks for all the comments on Eek!  Those guys really crack me up!  I may have to stitch them for myself as well.

A Blue WIPocalypse

For the second August WIPocalypse update I pulled out Adriana -- something that hasn't seen the light of day for a few months.   I started the final part of this SAL and want to get it finished.  There isn't much more to do in the way of x's but there is a bit of bs-ing yet.  It shouldn't be a problem because the bs-ing is mostly outlining -- kind of mindless.

Another piece I worked on (though not very much) was the Old European Sampler.

Actually, I got a bit disgusted with it and that's why I pulled out Adriana to work on.  For some reason, I don't enjoy working on this piece.  Maybe it's the colors? (though I did a Santa in the same colors and had a blast with him)  Or maybe the tightness?  (it is driving me a bit bonkers)  Maybe the fabric? (normally I like lugana)  Maybe the size? (I seem to want to stitch smaller things right now, go figure)  Maybe the repetition? (it does seem to go on forever)  Whatever the reason, when I went to bed Saturday night, I decided I was done with it.  Finished!  No more.  I would put it away and just forget about it.  I have lots of other projects I enjoy doing so why bother.  The end!

But after working on Adriana on Sunday, I cooled down and will give it another go.

I also managed to do a little more on the Tulip Sampler.  I thought I would get more of the big square done but only the border is completed.  I decided to do the border in rice stitches instead of cross stitches just to be a little different.  This is such a pretty pattern and I just love the colors.  And when I finish with tulips I'm going to start Halloween Quilt Sampler another Rosewood Manor piece with lots of bs-ing in it.  I already bought the pattern :) 

I have another update that isn't WIPocalpyse related -- I'm almost finished with Along Came a Spider.  Madame Spider just needs her legs.  The pattern calls for 4 -- egads! that will not do!  My nephew would never let me hear the last of it if I didn't give her the proper number of legs.  And the proper number she shall have -- 8 black hairy ones!  EEK!

Have a good weekend!

And Happy Labor Day!

One more Christmas Friday post

I remembered to take a picture of the Christmas ornies for my nephews:

I bought some tiny black buttons to put on the Candy Sock over the stitched black buttons.  I think that will make a cute addition to it.  These 2 patterns are so cute -- I may need to stitch a pair for myself in my spare time.

I also got another square done on Rosewood Manor's Tulip sampler (the tall skinny one on the bottom).  For some reason or other, this one made me nervous -- all that backstitching just wasn't relaxing this time.  I was sooo glad when it was finished!  I hope this doesn't happen again -  there's still tons of bs-ing to do on this piece.  The square under this one is big and has lots of cross stitching in it so I'm planning on doing it next.  Hopefully that will be more fun and then I can go on to another session of bs-ing with a fresh, happy attitude.

That's the plan.

 My weekend is going to be spent grooming dogs, doing laundry and stitching.  Should be fun!  I hope your weekend is just as fun.

WIPocalypse -- July update

I spent alot of time stitching since my last WIPocalypse update.  Unfortunately I didn't do anything on White Christmas -- the hardanger piece.  Instead, I picked up the beagle puppy (started January 2011) and stitched lots on it.  All that's left to do is the collar, eggs, grass and backstitching:

I'm planning on making the grass green (instead of the original straw color) and adding a few small lazy daisy flowers in it.  This piece should definitely be done by the next update.

Another WIP from 2011 is the Tulip Sampler by Rosewood Manor.  Because of all the backstitching on this piece, I'm going slow on it so that I don't burn out from said backstitching.  Probably only stitching one or two squares a month.  I finished the 2 squares in the pink rectangle over the weekend:

The original plan was to finish one of the squares over the weekend but things went so smoothly, I finished them both.  I have to say that even though there is tons of backstitching, it isn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Dare I say, I'm finding it almost relaxing.  I think it's because there is a pattern to it within each square -- making it almost mindless.  Imagine that!

And lastly, I worked on the Old European Sampler and am still making headway on it -- slowly but surely:

With a little luck, I should get around the corner in the near future (maybe by the weekend since this in my Mon-Fri stitching project).   I think once this is done, the piece will go faster -- or at least seem to go faster.

I hope everyone that celebrates it, has a safe and fun 4th of July!

IHSW for June

I managed to get a bit of stitching done over the weekend.  Not as much as I had hoped to do but enough to make me happy.  I finished one quilt square on the Tulip Sampler and started another.  Granted, I didn't get much done on the new square (which is really a rectangle), but it's a start:

I love the look of this piece but all that backstitching is so daunting to think about.  My approach here is 'one square at a time -- don't think about them all'.  It appears to be working.

Prior to IHSW, I picked up the beagle in the basket project and finished the beagle!  Hooray!  I wanted to finish the entire piece during the week but that didn't happen.  I could have worked on it over IHSW but I was tired of beagle colors and wanted to see different, prettier colors (thus the Tulip Sampler).  Anyway, here it is:

The original puppy has a red collar but I'm leaning toward a pink one .... though I do like the red one ... decisions, decisions.

Not too bad for a week's worth of stitching if I do say so myself.  I hope your weekend was as productive and I'm off now to see if they were . . . .

Toodles!

June WIPocalypse

I'm late but I did get lots done.  And so without further ado .......

Almost all the white bells are stitched in White Christmas (only have 3 more sets at the top to stitch -- woo hoo!).  Once this is done, I can start the cutting.

The Old European Sampler has been gathering dust so I pulled it out and got some done on it also. 

The Tulip Sampler hasn't seen the light of day since January of 2011 when I first began it as part of the 2011 Crazy January Challenge.  I just love the colors in this one and intend to give it some major TLC.

The next few pics are a biscornu and some ornies that have been stitched for some time and needed to be "finished".  The biscornu is called Tumbling Spools (I think).  I forget the designer's name but it was offered in an EGA magazine issue from 2010 or maybe 2009 (hmmmm ... memory like a steel trap).

I decided I wanted to add the 4 buttons on the underside corners to match the spools.  Who knew that I, a lover of pink, didn't have a single pink button??  After a quick visit to JoAnn's, I do now.

These 3 Christmas ornies were from the 2011 Crazy Challenge also.  I finished the actual cross stitching in 2011 but never made them into ornaments until now.  As of now, I'm thinking I may remove the red beads from the sugar shocked reindeer's cording.  I'm not sure I like it.

And even though this isn't part of WIPocalypse (unless you count the "finishing" part) I want to include this lovely stitched by Linda B as an exchange from the Fair and Square group:

Hmmm .... can you tell I've added "finishing" to my WIPocalypse list?  When the world ends, I want to get all my little stitchings "finished".

Crazy Days 7, 8 & 9

On Friday, aka Crazy Day 7, I started another Sampler Girl pattern.  I love, love, love this particular quotation because I hate, hate, hate the heat:

"What dreadful hot weather we have.  It keeps one in a continual state of inelegance."

Talk about understatement.  Anyway, I got quite a bit of it done:

Saturday, I started the Tulip Sampler by Rosewood Manor.  I just love the colors in this one.  Considering I spent most of the day in Pittsburgh visiting an old college friend, I think I got lots done:

On Day 9 or Sunday, I began a canvas piece designed by Cheryl Schaeffer for the Rainbow Gallery.  This will be my Santa for 2011.  Isn't he cute? 

Even though it doesn't look like I got much done, there was a bunch of prep work for this one.  First I had to paint the canvas blue and let it dry.  Then I had to iron it.  And before attaching it to the stretcher bars, I had to straighten a bunch of tacks.  The only tacks I had that weren't in use were badly bent and mangled, ie, totally UN-USEABLE.  Rats!  And of course, I needed to gather some threads for it (I currently  have 2 -- the green and yellow border colors.)

The pattern called for French Blue 18 count canvas.   I only have white congress cloth.  I thought about just stitching it on white but I liked the blue wall.  I thought about making the wall blue with a background stitch but decided against that.  I decided to paint the canvas instead.  This is kind of fun 'cuz I never know exactly what I'm going to get.  I was trying for a lighter blue but the one I got is okay.  I may have to change the color of the chair and ottoman -- I'll just have to see what hits me when I get there.

While I was waiting for the blue canvas to dry and between loads of laundry, I spent some time stitching on my Sticklounge project, Odds & Ends by Tams Creations:

This is such a fun piece but because I made an error near the 3 o'clock position and because I decided to not try to figure out or correct the error, I have been compensating the little objects to get back on track by 6 o'clock.   Since I don't know where the error is, I really hope my circle ends meet.  I'm going to be extra diligent to make sure this comes out okay. 

If not, I'll just put a little charm over the offending area.  What you can't see isn't there -- right.

See you tomorrow ....  go crazy, keep stitching!