WIPocalypse 2019 Check-In - December 30, 2019

Sorry --- I'm late but I've been late with EVERYTHING this holiday season!

This check-in is supposed to be a wrap-up of the year: a recap of our accomplishments for the year! (our finishes, our final before/after photos, etc).

Well, given my near complete lack of stitchery  for at least 7 months of the year, this will be a short post.

In January, I was nearly totally recovered from my broken wrist and getting motivated to start stitching. My WIPs/UFOs were listed as:

• Elizabeth Almond's "Save the Stitches" blackwork sampler, started in late February of 2014 and put away in April of 2015​
• "Palm Tree Elegance", a Dimensions needlework piece in my travel bag (I only stitch on this while traveling, in hotel rooms, etc.), started in November 2010 and put away after the last road trip in July of 2016
• "Biltmore", a kit I purchased at the Biltmore Estate in July of 2014 and stitched on briefly in the coffee shop at that estate. I have stitched on it once or twice since then but made little progress from my sole published photo - in fact it has regressed a little since much of the work I did in that coffee shop had to be frogged. This piece also lives in my travel bag
• "Love Is.., an intended first anniversary gift for a niece which has missed that deadline and may not make the second as well at there ate I am going. Started in September 0f 2016 and was put away when I broke my wrist, brought out briefly in February of 2017 as a test run of my wrists ability to hold the frame, and put back after an hour and less than four backstitched letters - no shown here (and/or frogged letters!)

​I only managed to stitch on one of these - Palm Tree Elegance - which looked like this:

before the new stitches were put in on March 1, and was finished on April 26:

Now I should have pulled out one of the other three WIPS but I simply couldn't face them (two were basically all back-stitch which I found hard to control in short bursts and the third was on high count AIDA in light colors on white, so very hard to see...) so I decided to start something new, and small, and on canvas where I could get used to cross-stitches on 14 ct or greater...

​ I picked a Michael Powell twinchie key fob kit and finished one on July 9, 2019:

and got part-way through a second (below is where it stood on July 16):

Then, with a ruptured tendon to my left thumb and subsequent surgery and recuperation, no more stitching was done in 2019... Heck, I even missed the August check-in!

The hand is recovered but my mojo hasn't.  

WIPocalypse 2019 Check-In - November

The discussion topic for this month was:

"What new stitches or techniques did you learn this year?"

I usually learn new stitches when a) doing samplers (basically self-teaching using diagrams and the occasional online video), b) doing enhanced needlepoint. (that's what I call it, not sure it that is a real name for it), or doing free embroidery challenges/classes like TAST (Take a Stitch Tuesday). I did my last TAST sampler back in 2014 and while I often applied some of these free embroidery stitches in my crazy quilting, I haven't done any of that since 2015. So I guess you'd have to say I've stagnated for the past 5 years, using plain-old cross-stitch, backstitch, and tent stitch when I have stitched at all. So, since I didn't stitch much at all this year and not at all this last month, I didn't learn any new stitches.

​I did finish my physical therapy for my tendon graft surgery at the end of October and had my next-to-last surgeons' visit in early November (the 12-week period when tendon grafts tend to be totally healed). He said if the pain I had been experiencing  in the thumb joint(a gift, he said, for having opposable thumbs, AKA arthritis) and the unpredictable flash of nerve pain (possible the result of adhesions to the scar). I could cancel the one scheduled for December 17. Given the steady decrease in pain over the past few weeks (I've been faithfully continuing the PT exercises at home n my own), I suspect I will be canceling that appointment and possibly even get back to stitchery after the holiday fuss and bother is done and dusted.

WIPocalypse 2019 - October Check-In

This month's topic for discussion is:

"Do you prefer to stitch on a rotation or one project at a time?"
Well, I have to say that it varies with me. If I am working on a small-to-medium sized piece, I prefer to stick with it until it is finished. However, in the past few years, I have been stitching massive BAPs (the Ink Circles original "Roll Your Own" series and Elizabeth Almond's blackwork sampler the most recent examples) and I find that I preferred rotation with those. 

Since "Roll Your Own" is no complete, I have no excuses for one at a  time but... given my injuries to my left hand over the past three years, stitching one at a time on smaller pieces seems more likely in my future, especially since I don't seem to be able to put in the time necessary to make much visible progress on the BAPs. And I find that visible progress is now what motivates me.

~~~~~
As for my stitchery progress this past month. Again, sadly nil, zip, nada, none! I have spent the past two months in occupational therapy, getting my thumb to a workable state again. My final (I hope) visit to the surgeon is November 5 and I hope that he agrees with the therapist that I have reached my goals and no more therapy is warranted (although I suspect hand exercises are on my daily routine from now on as there is still pain in my hand when I make certain movements with the thumb,  and that pesky thumb isn't nearly as flexible on my left hand as the one on my right hand...)

WIPocalypse Check-In: Septmeber 29, 2019

This month's topic for discussion is: "What finishing style have you never tried but would love to do?"

​I can't say that there are many that I haven't tried.

I have done framing, three-dimensional (mainly boxes and ornaments but also pillows and easels/stand-ups), even banners! I can't say I've had rousing success with all of them...I still prefer a professional framer to my own handiwork and getting banners cut right, hemmed and properly lined is a pain I associate with my terrible record with making quilts (many of which have featured embroidery, although not cross-stitch)!

I have never tried using cross stitch on cards (although I have stitched on paper) and don't really see the need for that.

~~~~~

​As per usual, I have not stitched at all this month because of my wrist/thumb injury. I am out of the splint and in to strength-building PT for at least three more weeks. I see the surgeon for the second follow-up on October 3. We shall see if the thumb will ever be "nornmal" enough to allow me to hold a hoop again...

WIPocalypse Check-In, August 25, 2019 (a few weeks late here)

This month's question was:

"What do you have on your stitching bucket list?  (for example, specific projects, designers, fibers, etc)"
Well, on August 25 (the day this was supposed to be posted), I had been dealing with a cast and subsequent splint on my left hand resulting from a rupture of the flexor tendon to my left thumb on July 24 and surgery to repair said tendon on July 26. I'm still in therapy (passive exercises only) and see the surgeon on September 9 to see if the splint can be removed and active therapy. followed by stength building, can be initiated. So, clearly, I did no stitching this month!

​Getting full use of my left hand with a capable left thumb is my immediate bucket list goal. And someday getting BACK to stitching is the entirety of my bucket list right now!

WIPOcalypse Check-In, July 28, 2019

The question for the month is:

“How do you get yourself out of a stitching drought?”

Good question. Since I was in such a drought for nearly two years because fo try aftermath of a broken left wrist, I’m not really a good source for a solution. I managed to “force” myself into a finish back in April and even that didn’t have a permanent effect. I tried to use the second stitch-a-day challenge with new pieces and it seemed to be working until…

~~~~~

July 16 (I missed a day because of a late night after two days of house guests following an exhausting road trip to and from Wisconsin)  and then July 24, when I ruptured the extensor tendon to my left thumb (yes, the same hand I broke!) and ended up in surgery on July 26. The cast makes stitching, or any other two-handed activity, impossible.

And it will continue to be impossible until well after cast removal on August 12, 2019, because Physical Therapy will be require to get function back. This is practically a replay of the wrist break events and I expect it will result in similar stitchery impacts.

​~~~~~

​I did accomplish some stitchery this month, however. There was the finish on July 7 of a Michael Powell "twinchie", floss on 18ct canvas:

There was the stitching on a road trip on a kit, "Leopord Purse" by Design Works (Marilyn Robertson), floss on 14ct Aida, between July 10 and 13:

And the stitching on a second Michael Powell twinchie between July 8 and July 23:

Two frogging attacks in the second twinchie and a massive mistake in color choice in the aida piece (which I decided to live with as I didn't discover the mistake until three days in) did not help with the motivation.

All in all, the month started out good and fell apart at the end.

A Compleion!

I finished a little 2x2 square designed by Michael Powell. It's meant to be one side of a scissor keep but I think I'll make it into an ornament instead and stitch the other side as another ornament.

OK, I shouldn't brag but it's been so LONG!

Two strands of Anchor floss over one --- in an 18 ct (I think) canvas. A bear to frog so there is one mistake I simply fudged around. Luckily, Powell designs are wonky enough to make fudging invisible!

​On to the other side --- this is where it is as of today:

It would have been further but after stitching three rows in white, I realized it was SUPPOSED to be a blended white/blue thread and that could NOT be fudged around! So... I carefully frogged for half an hour, trying to save as much of the flow as possible.! ARRGH! Here's hoping I can substitute DMC on the other two charts in the kit because I suspect I will run out of what was supplied VERY soon!

WIPocalypse Check-In, June 30, 2019

This month's topic for discussion is:

"Half-year recap:  How are you doing with your goals so far this year?"

Well, I'm stitching and that is definitely an improvement after two years hiatus! I finished one WIP ("Palm Tree Elegance") in April and dithered about for a month Finally, I decided to get my hand in practice for smaller stitches than called for on that needlepoint canvas so I took out a Michael Powell kit of key fobs and scissor keeps (Beach Huts Scissor Keep X131). It is four patterns (back and front of a scissor keep and back and front of a key fob), charted for double stranded floss on a very fine canvas, so I thought it would be a good test of whether I could handle cross-stitch on linen and other even weaves. Also, it is pretty small (I chose the 2" x 2" scissor keep) so should have been a quick finish.

I started mid-month and discovered that two strands of floss on canvas is a pain, and when it's two strands of different colors, even a bigger pain --- more for the keeping my threads organized than the stitching but the length kept catching on the edges of the canvas. Irritating to say the least.
​
​I didn't get as far as I would have back in the day --- in three calendar weeks, I probably stitched only 7 days. This is the result:

Lots of confetti stitching left. It doesn't look like much here (it's supposed to be  - no it WILL be - a wonky beach hut), but there is backstitching to come.

​I'd like to say that my hands and fingers cramping were the main reason I did so little on this piece. They did cramp, but... it was more the fussing with the single strands of floss and all the confetti stitching that was putting me off. I'm not giving up, though!

WIPocalypse Check-In, May 26, 2019

This month's topic for discussion is: "Where do you love to shop for stash?" Well, given my lack of stitching in the past two years, adding to stash seemed somewhat  uncalled for. However, I did buy a few pieces that stuck my fancy - all from Michael Powell Art in the UK. I really love his pieces and have tried to collect all of them, especially when they come out in chart packs instead of kits (cheaper postage, for one thing). I have only stitched two my "collection" though: one ("Greek Window"), finished in 2010, won a second in the local county fair in 2011, and another ("Were the Heart Is", AKA "Home Sampler"), finished in 2012, won a blue ribbon in the local county fair in 2013. ~~~~~ As for my stitching this month? Total backslide. I did actually get so far as to hooping up "Love Is..." but the longer I looked at it, the  less I felt like stitching it. SO... Here's hoping something strikes my fancy in the coming one-stitch-a-day months,  although I wonder if I might just bail on WIPs/UFOs and try something new. Or I may  decide to finish-finish a lot of needlepoint ornaments and TAST stitch samplers that  languish in a pile on my cutting table. (at least that would clear up some space in  my craft room! LOL) We shall see.

WIPocalypse Check-In: April 28, 2019

This month's topic for discussion is:

"Talk to us about your longest-running WIP or UFO."

I had to go back into my files to find the longest running WIP... it is a round robin I participate in on Cross Stitch Crazy, a long gone forum on the now defunct iVillage. I started in January 2007. I stitched it on full yard of Silkweaver's 28-ct Jobelin, in the "Carol's Meadow" color.  It is a 12" x 12" square stitched with a knot garden in "blackwork" from Stitchin'spirations ("Brandon", designer Sally Rudkin) . The outlines of each individual garden plot were stitched in two strands (over two) of WDW Juniper (2158) while the blackwork fill and the plants around the outside were stitched in one strand of Caron Waterlilies "Distant Hills" (153). The garden "fence" was stitched in two strands of DMC 310 (black); the four urns at the central "gates" on each side were stitched in one strand of DMC  356 (terra cotta) and the pineapples at the remaining gates were stitched in one strand of DMC 61 (a variegated yellow-brown) with leaves in the WDW Juniper.

I sent it out to on its rounds (five other participants) with patterns for 18 possible Victorian house designs, all Nancy Spruance Victorian miniatures from three brochures: 3 copies each of Victorian Side Streets, San Francisco Scenes and Cape May Victorians, to be placed in the squares defined by the running stitches. In addition, I included a copy of fences, gates, urns and lamp posts (from Spruance's Victorian Miniatures pamphlet) which could be substituted for the embellishments shown in the house charts.

​When it came back to me in August 2007, it had five houses stitched:

And I have never gotten around to finishing it. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure "how" to finish it, other than adding at least one more house to the bottom right.  I know I have the house patterns somewhere -- that is only a matter of digging them out. And I had thought to make four blackwork motifs for the four corners but that wouldn't work if I don't compete the six "lots" on the sides...

What to do?

​~~~~~

So on to my progress in April - and yes, hard as it may be to believe, I did make progress this month! That would make it to months running of stitching and...

​A finish!

Well, sort of.. it still needs to be "finish"-finished (probably framed).

May I present "Palm Tree Elegance", a Dimensions needlepoint on mono-canvas, started in 2010, put into UFO mode in 2016 when I broke my wrist, and started up again this March:

---

I absolutely HATED the idea of backstitching this huge piece in hand (no frames here) and put it off for three days but, in the end, it only took an hour (not counting the untangling - the floss for the backstitching that came with the kit was NOT quality like DMC or Anchor, was too long and tangled terribly - and the juggling of the chart to see where the stitches were supposed to go...). The chart only called for one strand so I'm not even sure you can see it but it is backstitched on the leaves, trunk and on some pot details.

WIPocalypse Check-In, March 31, 2019

This month's question for discussion is:

"What newer designers and product creators (fabric or floss dyeing, etc) out there have you discovered and recommend?"

Well, given I have taken over two years "off" from stitching, I have to say I am not really following designers/stitching products these days so I haven't discovered anyone/anything new, nor would I dare to recommend any.

~~~~~

In March, we were challenged to do one stitch a day minimum, every day and I decided it would be one way to test my hand's endurance (it cramps badly after about one hour of trying to grip objects) and get back into a stitching routine.

Because I can't see that one stitch blackwork a day makes much sense and I wasn't sure I could guarantee more than that, I decided to go with my travel needlepoint and see how far I could take it. Since there is at least one road-trip/long weekend away form home in March, this made especially good sense (in my mind at least).

Here is the starting point:

Yes, it is going to HAVE to be blocked. Hand-held mono-canvases, especially when using basketweave, skew badly when I do needlepoint. 

The outer and inner borders had been completed as had a  portion of the middle border before I started.

After seven days, and 1570 stitches (minimum daily count was 145, maximum was 387), the middle border is now complete (with less than one half or a single pre-cut strand of the called-for color left! Whew! This is an OLD kit and I don't have any yarn in my stash of left-over needlepoint yarns that matched that color!):

Daily stitch counts - Week One: March 1 - 308, March 2 - 358, March 3 - 307, March 4 - 154, March 5 - 145, March 6 - 219, March 7 - 387

Weeks 2 (were I forgot to take a photo) and 3 were spent on the pot and the palm. After an additional     2005 stitches (maximum 272, minimum 15), I had all of the pot done except for the small pale circle (which is also a background color so I thought I'd hold on it until I got to that color) and all of the palm except the reddish areas on the leaf bases.

​There will be backstitching on both the pot and the palm but I will leave that to the very end, perhaps after blocking the piece, as it is clearly VERY distorted by being hard-held while stitching.

Daily stitch counts - Week Two: March 8 - 272, March 9 - 277, March 10 - 194, March 11 - 271, March 12 - 121, March 13 - 109, March 14 - 54 Daily stitch counts - Week Three: March 15 - 52, March 16 - 57, March 17 - 15, March 18 - 142, March 19 - 115, March 20 - 248, March 21 - 168

Not bad, if I do say so myself, since I had a really nasty sinus infection/cold (which had the focus-destroying  symptoms of mild fever, hacking cough and persistent headache) during those two weeks; and the three days in the hotel at the end of week 2 were hindered by a busy schedule AND terrible lighting. Still, I gulped down masses of DayQuil and Alavert and made it a point to stitch at least one strand each night.

Now to the background...

​Week four was essentially dedicated to the first and lightest of the three background colors, although there were a few stitched on March 28 that started color two... The weekly stitch count was 1511 (maximum - 315 , minimum - 25):

Daily stitch counts - Week Four: March 22 - 25, March 23 - 257, March 24 - 162, March 25 - 289, March 26 - 315, March 27 - 161, March 28 - 302

The final days of March were spent on the background... where one side of the second color was completed... A three day total of 826:

Daily Stitch Counts: March 29 - 262, March 30 - 304, March 31 - 260.

..., and a monthly total of 5969 stitches! ​

WIPocalypse Check-In: February 24, 2019

This month's discussion topic is: "What do you listen to while stitching?

Well, I may be strange, but I usually have the television on as more-or-less background noise. I stitch in my bedroom where I have a television/DVR set-up  and I have found I simply cannot focus on stitchery if there is no background noise.  I only pause in my stitching when something catches my attention on the program (kind of defeats the purpose of DVRing a program but...)

~~~~~

Again, no stitching this month. No excuses, just no stitching. I hope the next month of one-stitch a day in the month will jump-start me (in between tax prep, that is)

WIPocalypse Check-In - January 28, 2019

A day late and a dollar short, as usual. I should have posted this yesterday.

Anyway, this month's question is: "What SAL’s are you participating in this year?".

​Well, not exactly participating but, like in the past two years (2017 and 2018), I am collecting the monthly patterns for the sampler SALs at Linen & Threads.

And of course, once I get my motivation going and confidence revved up, this WIPocalypse.

But, sadly, the motion vacation/confidence part isn't going yet so I didn't get anything done this month... not even sorting of DMC threads (SAAAAD!)

WIPocalypse Check-In: January 6, 2019

In the event that you are not familiar with WIPocalypse, it is a yearly challenge by Measi's Musings where Melissa, the blog owner states:

"The WIPocalypse was a stitch-a-long playing up on the joke that the world will end in 2012.  It’s short for Works In Progress Apocalypse."The goal of the WIPocalypse is to make progress on your projects.  How you go about this is your choice."

Since then, there have been WIPocalypse SALs each year and this year is the start of WIPocalypse 2019.

Each month there is a "Question of the Month", an incarnation of “Stitcher Blogger Questions.” This was started on WIPocalypse in 2015 and continues through this new year.

I have participated in WIPOcalypse since it's inception in 2012, answering monthly questions to the best of my ability, and reporting on my progress (nil in 2017/2018) on my WIPs and even on a few UFOs.

This year, there is a twist in that in the months of March, June/July and October, we are challenged to stitch at least one stitch a day every day. This challenge is inspired by a 100 Day HAED Challenge via Facebook that Melissa did in 2018.  Melissa says it worked amazingly well to make great progress.  She says it’s simple, takes only a few minutes, and will help push along that project you keep avoiding or just need a little extra focus to move forward. Here's hoping this works as I plan on trying to jump-start my stitchery which has been non-existent (except for the purchase of a few kitted-up charts I simply couldn't resist from Michael Powell and Glendon Place!)

*****

Now, on to list the four WIPs (trending toward UFOs as they have languished for over two years since I broke my wrist in 2016...).

• Elizabeth Almond's "Save the Stitches" blackwork sampler, started in late February of 2014 and put away in April of 2015​

• "Palm Tree Elegance", a Dimensions needlework piece in my travel bag (I only stitch on this while traveling, in hotel rooms, etc.), started in November 2010 and put away after the last road trip in July of 2016:

• "Biltmore", a kit I purchased at the Biltmore Estate in July of 2014 and stitched on briefly in the coffee shop at that estate. I have stitched on it once or twice since then but made little progress from my sole published photo - in fact it has regressed a little since much of the work I did in that coffee shop had to be frogged. This piece also lives in my travel bag:

• and finally, "Love Is.., an intended first anniversary gift for a niece which has missed that deadline and may not make the second as well at there ate I am going. Started in September 0f 2016 and was put away when I broke my wrist, brought out briefly in February of 2017 as a test run of my wrists ability to hold the frame, and put back after an hour and less than four backstitched letters - no shown here (and/or frogged letters!):

Please note:

1. I am NOT counting some UFOs that are still in my list from 2010:

• "Antique Rose" napkins
• "Angel of Love"
• "Celestial Angel"
• "Map of England and Wales"
• "Harvest Sampler"
• "Nature's Song" (excerpted from a larger chart)

2. I am NOT counting all the finish-finish pieces that I recently put altogether in a LARGE bin in my crafting space.​

3. I am NOT counting all the kitted up kits and projects that I have stashed in my stitchery cupboard (on the left, below: I dread to think how many are in there) and (on the right below) in another travel bag (at least ten, maybe more) and my in-house project bag (at least three needlepoint pieces and several more cross-stitch pieces). 

I mean, a woman has to have some limits!

Anyway my goals include getting as much of those first four listed WIPS done in 2018 as possible.  And maybe start a needlepoint piece or three...

• This year, I will try the "stitch a day" exercises. All four of those WIPS are good candidates  but I don't think I will do a rotation --- that is where I went wrong in the first place, pre-wrist break, with all those BAPS in rotation and no smalls to keep my interest going!). 
• I will TRY to finish that "Love Is.." sampler for my niece sometime before her FIFTH anniversary.
• I WILL stitch on "Palm Tree Elegance" on two road trips and one cruise scheduled for this coming summer, but am pretty sure it will NOT be finished. 
• "Biltmore" will be on the road trips and cruise but I'm not sure I will get to it - light in hotel rooms and on cruise ships sucks when trying to stitch beige on ivory! That is why it has been frogged at least once!

My least attractive goal of all is to sort and put away my DMC floss and, if time allows, make some sense of those kits and kitted charts in the cupboard shown above.

​And I will try to be a better stitcher by putting away all finished materials once a project is done instead of piling them on the table to "deal with later" (That is what got my stitching space into such a mess, after all!). How' that for  New Year's resolution?