WIPocalypse 2020 Check-In: July 26, 2020

July's topic for discussion is:

"What new charts or designers are catching your eye this year?"

Given that is my first year back stitching after a long hiatus, a LOT of new (to me) designers have popped up on my radar.

Just scrolling through the downloads on my iPad, I find:

Online downloads from designers new to me, including:

• Frau Rosa Stikt!! where I have purchased two patterns: "Strandhauser" and "Durch Das Jahr Mit Frau Rosa" (in German)*
• Long Dog Samplers were I copped a freebie of "Pandemic"
• Sassi Stitch Boutique where I have purchased "Say Their Names" in both a long and a square format
• Seba Designs where I have  obtained "Sandy's Seasons",  "Chakra Master", and "It's Snowing"
• Owl Forest were I obtained "Emerald City" (in Russian)*

Online downloads which predate 2020:

• House of White Birches "Celtic Crosses" by Mike Vickery
• Jardin Prive SAL de Noël 2019 (in French)*
• ​X Squared "Green Butterfly Heart"
• a blackwork by Banu Demirel

Patterns in my recent downloads from designers I have stitched before, including:

• Glendon Place's "Hope and Strength"
• Napa Needlepoint's "Five Bargello Mini Socks"
• Dureen Jones' "Garden SAL"

Older downloads not kitted up include:

• Ajisai's "Fuchsias in Bloom"
• InkCircles - several of the "Knot My 2017" charts

And of course, I'm always in the market for a new Michael Powell!

Clearly WAY more than I'll ever stitch! Heck, "Pandemic" alone (20 pages, over 300 m of floss and a yard of fabric...) will likely occupy a whole year at least, assuming the fabric and floss I ordered ever arrive!

*Isn't it wonderful that one can stitch a chart even if one cannot read the language of the originator! And I now have saved a translator on my browser for any missives from designers!

~~~~~WIPS~~~~~

While "stay at home" orders here in Ohio are slowly lifting (we're on a "mandatory mask" order right now but cautioned to "go out" only if necessary), I have had the time to do quite a bit of stitching.

I have put in no time in on "Love Is..." but quite a lot on "Biltmore". I am moving into the third color now: 

I still have not dared to try re-starting "Save the Stitches" until I have cleared the decks of these other two WIPs.

~~~~~Travelling Needlepoint~~~~~

No progress to report on "Butterfly on Scroll".

~~~~~Completions~~~~~

None to report, unless you count finishing the monthly stages of two of the four SALs described below.

~~~~~SALs~~~~~
I have stitched on all four SALs...

1. "52 Weeks of Blackwork" by Purple Peppermint; various randomly selected shades of pink, purple and blue DMC on 28ct tea-colored evenweave. Completed weekly installments Week 27 through Week 30, plus some additional borders. Week 31 comes into my mailbox on July 29.

2. Linen & Threads 2020 SAL "Friends and Family", stitched on 28ct "Lavender Sunset" (not very lavender) Jobelin using Threadworx "Rocky Mountain (1070).  July installment completed on July 6, 2020. August installment due online on August 1.

3. "Christmas Shadowbox Sampler" by  Faithwurks Designs & Just CrossStitch. Installment 3 was finished June 18 (not counting beads and other embellishments) on 28ct slubby white linen.  Installment 4 due in the next issue of Just CrossStitch.

4. Stitchonomy 2020 SAL, part 3 "Fantastic Fungi", officially started mid July. A pattern is released every other day. There have been twelve patterns so far in the Pattern (a border and eleven fungi), only eight of which have been made public on Facebook: I will post the public eight below:

The fabric is Jade lugano, 28 ct, and the floss DMC as called for in the charts (except for the border where I used DMC 310). I have added backstitching to sharpen my images

~~~~~ In the Pipeline~~~~~

Nothing new at the moment, although fabric and floss for "Pandemic" are on order and stalled somewhere in a majorly malfunctioning postal system.

~~~~~Goals for August~~~~~

I still am not at all inclined to get out there and play, travel or otherwise risk my health. So I will continue to "stay home" as follows

• I am still watching many more online chats, tutorials and the like for paper crafting which can take up as much as 8 hours a week that otherwise could be devoted to stitchery. 
• I  have signed up for a year-long art community where members engage in facilitated learning through monthly mixed media art projects and challenges. The second challenge and project is scheduled for August.
• I managed to get back up to 14% of my storage space on my DVR, and then backslid to 11% again.   I have several recorded television programs to catch up, all of which do not lend themselves well to stitching at the same time.
• I am sticking to my goal of at least 30 minutes a day of reading, both for pleasure and for enlightenment (I love histories and biographies).

I have been rationing my stitching time to two or three hours a day, for about five days a week. And the release of SAL installments varies from project to project so planning a rotation is still iffy, at best.

What I HOPE to do in August is: 

• a) keep up with "52 Weeks of Blackwork": the installments, weekly on Wednesdays, are small and, along with some additional border stitching, are doable in one night of stitching per installment
• b) complete "Fantastic Fungi" SAL  (I believe there are four more patterns to go...) 
• c) try to stitch on "Love Is..." 
• d) continue with "Biltmore" in any open day . 

The "Christmas Shadowbox" SAL installment 4 isn't due out for another month and there are no new projects on the horizon (other than the elusive "Pandemic"). "Save the Stitches" may or may not enter into my stitching rotation.

Meanwhile, I'm saying home, keeping healthy and hoping the same for all of you!