Saturday, July 12, 2014

WIPocalypse Check-In: July

Hi all,

Thanks so much for the encouraging comments on my previous post!  Please forgive my tardiness in replying: life was a bit hectic for awhile, but by next week it should slow back down.

The WIPocalypse question of the month is: It’s halfway to Christmas.  Do you start your holiday stitching this early?  If so, what do you hope to accomplish this year?

I do start my holiday stitching this early, in fact, I probably am stitching on something Christmas-related all year long.  This is partly because I love Christmas/winter designs, but also because during the school year I don't have a lot of free time, so I get my projects started early in order to ensure finishes by Christmas. This year I have several gifts I am making family members for Christmas, and I have 2 of them partially complete: one a stocking, and one a picture that is not a Christmas design, but will be a Christmas gift! (My progress is below...luckily no one else in my family blogs, so I don't have to worry about them peeking!) Besides these, I am planning on making a set of 4 ornaments for my parents, which I will start once one of my current gift projects is complete.

My Stitching Progress:

"Aurora Cabin" went from here:
 
To here:
I completed most of the forest hills (mountains?) to the left, which despite all of the confetti went fairly quickly because they were half stitch instead of full!
 
"Checking His List Stocking" went from here:
 
To here:
 
 Santa's bag is full, and he has a (partial) sash!
 
And "Napping Kitten" went from here:
 
To here:
 
 
 He has a face! : )  I'm very excited about how quickly this one is coming together.
 
I did not have a page finish for "Quiet Time," because I spent most of my stitching time with my other projects, although I did make some progress on it! I will post an update once I have a page complete.   Thanks for looking! :)

Friday, June 13, 2014

WIPocalypse Check-In: June

 
Hi all,

Full moon, Friday the 13th? Pretty spooky. ( :  According to an article on theweathernetwork.com, there won't be another full moon on a Friday the 13th until the year 2049! 

Superstition aside, the WIPocalypse question for the month is:  Have you ever been to a stitch gathering such as a retreat or a festival?
I haven't, but that is certainly an item on my bucket list!  Maybe next year. ( :

Now to my stitching progress: this is about two weeks of progress since I joined the SAL on May 28, and I have actually accomplished a lot for me in this amount of time, since I am a slow stitcher (and easily distracted!)

My first HAED "Quiet Time" by Sara Butcher went from here:



To here:




I am determined to get the first page of this done by my next WIPocalypse post!


"Aurora Cabin" went from here:
 
 To here:


I stitched in the black, white, and light green in what-will-become the tree to the far right, and the white on the tree at the left edge.


I made the most progress on "Checking His List Stocking", which I am spending the most time with because I have never finished a stocking before and since I don't have a sewing machine and will therefore likely be finishing it by hand, I want to leave myself plenty of time to figure it out before Christmas!

The stocking went from here:


To here:
 
 
There are bunnies! ( :  I am hoping to finish them tonight.
 
And I had a new start!  Although I haven't done much of it yet, I began "Napping Kitten" by Dimensions, which I am planning on completing as a Christmas present for my sister:



It will look like this when it is finished:



So, I made some progress on my goals for the year, although I'm not near any finishes yet! Hoping to be even closer to some by next month!

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Welcome and WIPocalypse


Hi all,

Welcome to my blog!
I have been cross stitching for several years (9? I think?) off-and-on, and now that I am in graduate school (and on summer break!) have finally devoted some real, consistent time to stitching.
I have stitched several small/medium items for gifts in past years, and am currently working on the two largest projects I have tackled (and the first I have worked on for myself!), "Quiet Time" (HAED - Butcher), and "Aurora Cabin" (Dimensions). I am also working on "Checking His List Stocking" (Dimensions) as a gift for my BF (sshhh! ( : )

In addition to cross stitching, I enjoy reading, writing, playing the piano and playing with the queen of my apartment, my cat Little One.

I'm new to the blogosphere, so please forgive my fumbling as my technologically-challenged self figures this out!



Through the HAED forum, I came across a link to the WIPocalypse SAL, hosted by Measi:



I realize I am a bit late to the game here, but I figure this type of challenge will help me complete my yearly stitching goals as well as keep me from procrastinating over blog entries.

Here is my list of 2014 goals:

Current WIPs:
"Aurora Cabin" (Dimensions) - finish
"Checking His List Stocking" (Dimensions) - finish
"Quiet Time" (HAED) - finish 4 out of 25 pages

New Starts:

Nativity Ornaments (4 - Kooler Design Studio) - finish
"Napping Kitten" (Dimensions) - finish
"The Wave" (Dimensions) -start (any amount!)

This might be a little too ambitious, because once August comes around I will be quite busy with school again, but here's hoping I can get the bulk of this done! Looking forward to getting to know all of you fellow stitchers!