"List five projects you have unstarted in your stash that you’d like to start something in the (relatively) near future." I have to confess that, in the past year or two, during various Covid lockdowns and restrictions, I have watched a lot of live-streams and floss-tubes and the like and ordered WAY too many charts and kits from International sources (mainly English/UK but also from Germany). I have actually refereneced a few of them in past check-ins but here, I want to show photos of the kits that I really want to start work on. They are a varied lot and, sadly, all potentiial BAPs for various reasons (complexity, size, etc), so that means that I have decided that I will not be able to start on them until I finish the Elizabeth Almond "Save the Stitches" sampler and the two SALs I am currently enrolled in. Still, I will list many them below (with photos), in groups that were ordered together, from which I would select my next five starts. 1. Three needlepoint kits by Needle Delights Original, designed by Kathy Rees: "Tahiti", "Bora Bora" and "Tropical Seas". I fell in love with them after our cruise to French Polynesia, back in the 20teens:  These are speciality needlepoint stitched and require that the grid be marked out on the canvas before stitching - something I have been avoiding. 2. Two Bothy Threads kits, based on art by Jessica Hogarth: "Love Paris" and "Love London" - based on an ongoing love affair with London where we lived for 5+ years in the early 1990s:  And if I ordered London, how could I resist Paris? 3. Two Artecy kits, designs by Tereena Clarke: "London Abstract" and "London Bus" - see above about my love affair with London!  I really couldn't resist that pop of red against the black background stitching! 4. Four Bothy Threads kits from the art of Sally Swannell: The New England Homes series: "Spring", "Winter", "Fall", and "Summer". What can I say? I have a thing for houses:  Finally, 5. One kit from Charting Creations, art of Robert Finale: "Palace". We are back in London!  This is the biggest BAP of the list and probably the most difficult, given all the HAED-like confetti stitches... This isn't all the candidates by a long shot though... Also in my to-do file are three pieces that started as SALs: Lakeside Needlecraft/Durene Jones “Specialty Stitches Butterfly Design” (as the name implies, this isn't a true cross-stitch but a variant using speciality stitches), Werkstatt fur Historische Stickmuster “American Homes” (more houses and a need to translate from German), and Lakeside Needlecraft/Shannon Christine Designs “Seasonal Streets” (still more houses, this one more in the line of the Bothy Threads kits listed above.). So there you have it! A classic example of biting off more than I can chew/Stitch! And the choice(s) will not be easy! ~~~~~WIPS~~~~~ I still haven't stitched at all on Elizabeth Almond's "Save the Stitches" ; it's been "dormant" since November, 2020. I made no progress on the Glendon Place sampler "Hope & Strength". I had been fitting this into the down times of the SALs I have committed to and so I usually only got in about three days in the month for this piece, but the current SAL is on a daily installment schedule and I simply haven't felt like taking this out after completing the day's installment on the SAL. ~~~~~SALs~~~~~ The Faithwurks/Just Cross Stitch Christmas Quaker, which now has five parts complete (less beads and charms) since the last WIPocalypse check-in. The next installment is due out in the digital December 2021 issue of Just Cross Stitch, sometime around October 5, 2021 Besides this WIPocalypse, I worked on one (mystery) SAL this month: The Stitchonomy "Halloween 2021" SAL, which started in mid-September. The frame was issued to Pattern Club members (I am one), and the inserts in the frame were issued on daily. We don't share until the piece is available to all participating in the SAL, so I will show only the SAL as it has been issued to the general public on September 26, 2021:  Stitched on the supplied oatmeal AIDA (14 ct) and DMC threads... There are charms to be added, I plan on adding red seed beads to the eyes of the cats and the raven, and backstitching will be necessary as the lighter colors are not showing up well against oatmeal background. No other changes to the issued patterns yet however. ~~~~~Travelling Needlepoint~~~~~ No activity ~~~~~~ In the Pipeline ~~~~~ My stitching mojo remains a little low A recent purchase is the "Sternstunden" SAL from Frau Rosa. Again, I will have to get out my German dictionary as my college German is not up to translating instructions in German. Still I like her charts a lot and hope to put in significant time on what looks to be another BAP! I am also now enrolled in Lakeside Needlecrafts' Classic Colorworks Thread Club and Weeks Dye Works Thread Club. Thesecond month installment has arrived ... ~~~~~ I received my Pfizer booster vaccination yesterday, along with the senior double-strength influenza vaccine in the other arm (turns out our CDC has indicated that there are no interactive effects from getting both at the same time so the two week delay between the two jabs is no longer observed.). No significant side effects from either; just sore shoulders (jabs were in the deltoid muscles) and stifling headache (which could also be a sinus headache caused by the aftermath of massive storms and front from the last hurricane in the southern states), both of which were eased by a single extra-strength ibuprofen. If you are vaccinated, congratulations, enjoy the "new normal", and avoid that nasty Delta variant. If not vaccinated, follow the guidelines set out by public health and stay safe and healthy out there... |
