WIPocalypse Check-In - December 31, 2023

 

This month's discussion topic is: "Recap your accomplishments for the year! (Your finishes, your final before/after photos, etc)." 2023 Finishes (not FFO): Below are my  three finishes for 2023.  On the top is "Happiness is Handmade" by Durene Jones for Lakeside Needlecraft, finished August 21, 2023. In the center is the Halloween 2023 SAL from Stitchonomy, finished October 23, 2023. On the bottom is the Charity SAL from The Steady Thread, finished December 22, 2023. All were 2023 starts... Started in 2023 but not finished: Below are photos of projects started in 2023 but not yet finished. Both are Fox & Rabbit designs. On the top is The 2023 free SAL "Royal Garden". I fell so far behind on the border that I gave up on it and stated stitching the interior motifs. In Threadworx 0148 "Woodland Green",  two over two on 32 ct Lugana "pale green". I have 4.5 installments of interior motifs and then the borders to finish. On the bottom is "Temperature 2023", a pattern issue from Fox & Rabbit. I stitched the low temperature for the day in the left half of each heart, and the high temperature on the right. I sourced the temperatures from a web site https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/@5147978/historic for my ZIP as we do not have a reliable temperature indicator out here in the boonies. Stitched with DMC, two over two (one over two for the DMC 310 hangers). All dates are stitched excepting December 31, 2023. I am planing on adding a "key" chart of the temperature ranges of each color as well... Below are photos where work was not completed before being set aside... First is my long-term blackwork sampler by Elisabeth Almond "Save the Stitches". The last I touched this was March 28, 2022: Next are two projects essentially finished except for beading: On the top is a Christmas Banner SAL from Stitchonomy, which lacks attachment of a charm and a few beads. Photo taken January 29, 2023. On the bottom is "Hope and Strength" from Glendale Place, which lacks LOTS of beading. Photo taken December 21, 2022: Then there is a Stitchonomy SAL for 2023 called "Kingdoms of Life". I got deep into adjusting colors and just faded away with the third installment. I have the color conversions written down but never got back to stitching on this: Next up is "Kogin" from Lakeside Needlecrafts. This one really blocked me - I had issues with counting and frogged several times (you can make out reside from some of the frogged stitches if you look to he right of the three finished chevrons...) before giving up. This photo was taken January 28, 2022 (pathetic, I know)... And finally, my traveling needlepoint piece. scarcely touched because we really haven't traveled much this year. Photo taken February 24, 2023: GOALS for 2024: I probably should add a "yet to start" category because I have the patterns and the fabric and the floss but... this category is too big to count. I truly have been a "need all the patterns" person up to now but am trying my best to hold off on new purchases. We shall see how this works out! Watch for my goals for 2024 post on January 7...

WIPocalypse 2023 Check-In - May 28, 2023

This month's discussion topic is: "What project brings you the most joy and why?" Not really sure what this means. What brings me joy in stitchery is the process of working a pattern and seeing it come to fruition. There is satisfaction in completion. And happiness if the piece is to be a gift to a  close and valued friend. But I can't single out any specific project... ~~~~~WIPs~~~~~ 1. Elizabeth Almond's "Save the Stitches" sampler. Started back in February of 2014! No progress since the  last check-in. 2. A Lakeside Needlecraft SAL, "Kogin", designed by Elizabeth Almond. I began in February 2022, after  four installments had been issued. No progress... probably should be downgraded to UFO. 3. Traveling Needlepoint "Butterfly on Scroll": Nothing since February 17-19. No trips scheduled until July. 4. Two pieces requiring beading: "Hope & Strength" by Glendon Place and "Christmas Banner" by  Stitchonomy.  I had decided to do all the beading at the same time but the beading still languishes... 5. Fox & Rabbit's Patreon "Temperature Chart" for the year 2023. Stitching on 28 ct. "Star Sapphire"  Gobelin (although it looks more pale green than "sapphire" to me) using DMC floss. I'm stitching the day's  low on the left side of the hearts and the high on the right side. All temperatures are based on the recorded highs and lows from an online "past weather" temperature chart for near-by Bowling Green, Ohio (we don't have a reliable outdoor temperature thermometer for our home so  I'm assuming same ZIP code, similar temperature, although that isn't totally accurate). I am pretty much  keeping up with the days, waiting until I have roughly five days of temperatures charted to stitch each  session. I spend the rest of the time on the border and the hangers. (the picture below shows  temperatures through May 24 although there are still "hangers" for each heart to stitch from back in April!) 6.  Lakeside Needlecraft "Happiness is Handmade" SAL designed by Durene Jones. Installments one  through  five are now complete and part six is half-way there. Bands seven and eight have been issued.  I'm still finding this one hard to stitch as the Aida band supplied in the kit is kind of slippery - definitely not  100% cotton - and I don't have a q-snap frame that will anchor down the sides so it's hard to keep tension  on the band. 7. Fox & Rabbit Mystery SAL for 2023, called "Royal Gardens". Stitching on 32ct Lugana "pale green"  (this isn't an accurate color here) using Threadworx Overdyed Floss 1048 Woodland Green throughout.   I am pleased with the slight variation in the green thread so I've decided to not mess with additional  colors. I am a little more than half of the way through the January installment (still three flowers to go!)  and have the February, March, April and May pattern installments (plus the borders) in hand... I would be  faster if the frog didn't keep visiting - and if this floral piece were not so "stitch-heavy". I'm really not  enjoying the stitching as much as I usually do on a Fox & Rabbit sampler because of this, and find  motivation to keep this one going in my rotation a chore! ~~~~~planned projects~~~~~ There are other projects in the queue (new patterns collected and at least one kit ordered) but whether  or not they actually get started in 2023 is in question.  ~~~~~ That sums up my May stitchery progress. As in my April report, progress was interfered with by craft-space  (it's not really a room. but half a basement space) reorganization.  As usual, I say I hope to do better but we shall see...

WIPocalypse 2020 Check In, November 29, 2020

 The topic for this month is:

"What new discoveries did you have in the stitching world this year?"

Well, I'm not exactly sure I actually did make any "new" discoveries. I pretty much stuck to my usual techniques and designers; I didn't learn any new techniques; and I didn't discover any new tools. Possibly not surprising given how long I have been stitching and now many stitching techniques I have taken up over these decades (crewel, needlepoint, cross-stitch, free embroidery, encrusted embroidery, blackwork, knitting, quilting, crazy quilting, beading... to name a "few".).

New designers? Well, first there were the designers whose SALs I've been working on all year: Peppermint Purple, Stitchonomy. and Faithwurx.  There were the designers that I knew the names of (Long Dog Samplers; Linen & Threads) that I had never tackled before but whose designs I now look at with great desire... And then there were those whose designs I have been accumulating but haven't stitched yet: Frau Rosa, Stitchingly, and Seba. Do these count as new discoveries?

That is about it...

~~~~~WIPS~~~~~

While "stay at home" orders here in Ohio are have mostly lifted, Covid is on the rise again in Ohio and (we're still on a "mandatory mask" order right now and cautioned to "go out" only if necessary), I have had the time to do quite a bit of stitching.

 "Love Is..."  is complete! Chart from X's & Oh's, design by Jo Gatenby. Started in September 0f 2016 and left off in February 26, 2017, restarted on January 23, 2020 (photo #1), and completed on November 26, 2020 (photo #2)! 

I have re-started "Save the Stitches". Started in February 0f 2014 and stopped at the end of block 69 in April of 2015 (photo #1), this blackwork sampler by Elizabeth Almond is my last, and largest, WIP. I haven't progressed far in two nights of stitching (photo #2), but restarting wasn't as onerous as I had anticipated. 

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

No progress to report on "Butterfly on Scroll".

~~~~~Completions~~~~~

The long-standing WIP "Love Is..." (started in September 0f 2016) was completed on November 26, 2020! See also SAL #3 below

~~~~~SALs~~~~~
I have stitched on 3 SALs this past month, and completed one!

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 44 through Week 48, plus  completed the border. Week 49 comes into my mailbox on December 2, 2020.   

2. Linen & Threads 2020 SAL "Friends and Family", stitched on 28ct "Lavender Sunset" (not very lavender) Jobelin using Threadworx "Rocky Mountain (1070). The November installment was completed on November 14, 2020. The final (December) installment is due online on December 1.

3. Stitchonomy 2020 SAL, "Halloween 2020", was started in late September, with subscribers getting some advance information early in the month. The fabric and floss kit didn't arrived two days after the first pattern piece (the frame) was issued so I started using the recommended DMC colors on a lavender 14ct linen.
I made some substitutions in pattern (several cats instead of the icons provided, using an alternative set and a previous SAL pattern to create my cats; a substitute spell book for day 4); and substituted designs of my own (movie "Psycho" and "Jaws") for horror films in the last row;and used DMC4245 variegated thread for the letters and date in the frame, silver blending thread in day 2; and backstitching to pop some images...
I  used beads for animal eyes in the border and  a charm was added to the pumpkin in the middle. 

I finished this SAL on October 30, 2020, just in time for Halloween!

The fifth Stitchonomy SAL, Winter 2020, will begin mid-December... Kit is on order but I have a back-up from stash in the event mail from the Netherlands is held up somewhere along the way.

~~~~~Goals for December~~~~~

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" a except when "necessary" (haircuts, doctor's appointments, financial consultant, and the like)...

• I am still watching 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. 
• In the year-long art community, where members engage in facilitated learning through monthly mixed media art projects and challenges, I have competed the fifth challenge and project. The sixth challenge and project is scheduled for November, and I have already seen a sneak peak...
• I gave up on the television episodes in my storage space on my DVR, purchased the series in iTunes, and restored my available storage to 90%+.  
• I am sticking to my goal of at least 30 minutes a day of reading, both for pleasure (crime fiction and science fiction) 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. The release of SAL installments varies from project to project so planning a rotation has been iffy, at best.


What I HOPE to do in December 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. I just need to motivate on the border stitching...
• b) begin the Stitchonomy "Winter 2020" SAL
• c) complete the December installment of "Friends & Family" by Linen & Threads
• d) work on "Save the Stitches" 

I'm thinking that I owe myself a new start... I've been eyeing the fabric and floss for Long Dog's "Pandemic"  which sit atop my sewing basket in my bedroom, but it might be wiser to try something smaller...

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