Challenges/Stitch-A-Longs, Stitching, WIPocalypse, Works in Progress

January Stitching Wrap-Up

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Noby (orange) and his littermate Elly (black) many years ago in their younger adult days

The rollercoaster that I’d mentioned in my January 16th post continued through last weekend, and so I’m now behind in updating what’s been going on in my stitchy life. Along with Carol’s passing, we had to say goodbye to the last of our original band of (pre-Max) cats, Noby, who crossed the Rainbow Bridge on Saturday at the ripe old age of 17. It wasn’t unexpected – he had been quite ill for a long time, and we’d been avoiding facing reality over the holidays. I’m glad he’s no longer suffering and that he’s able to run free with his sister and the extended cat family we had. I miss him though – even his annoying, gross habit of sneezing right in my face.

Work has been kinda busy lately too – the usual uptick of meeting preparations seems to be coming about a month earlier than normal. It’s not a bad thing, but I felt like I was caught a little flat-footed the past couple weeks. I made some good headway to get back on track early this week though – so all good there.

With the emotional and work weirdness, my stitching hasn’t been quite as productive the last couple weeks. I’m still quite happy with what I accomplished, though!

Apache Wedding Blessing by Kooler Designs as of January 21, 2023. Stitched 2 over 2 on antique white linen with charted DMC.

I completed both of my remaining WIPGO goals for January in the last two weeks of the month – two days of backstitching on Apache Wedding Blessing, and two days on Mute But Not Silent.

For Apache Wedding Blessing, I focused on the top left corner of the piece – outlining that upper feather and then running the straight line outlines for a couple of the poles. I’m happy with two nights of progress. I may bring this with me to Stitcher’s Hideaway later this month to get a bit more basic backstitching in on the poles on the other side. I would estimate I’m about one third through the backstitching at this point, and then I have a little more tension cleanup work on the left hand side where I originally pulled a bit too tightly. I’ll be fixing that side by simply running a tent stitch over my existing stitches to fatten them up a little bit.

Mute But Not Silent by Amy Mitten as of January 23, 2023 – stitched one over two on 32 ct Lambswool linen with charted silk floss.

On Mute But Not Silent, I decided to focus on the first of the two large H’s. While a good chunk of the work was double running stitch outlining the outside, I did also add some cross stitches in the center of the structure of the H to give it a bit more dimension. I still need to add a four-sided stitch into the center of each of those circles, and then that H is complete… and I can move on to the next one. These Dutch-style letters are quite ornate! And they don’t match each other – the stitches are put in different configurations, so I need to count almost the entire time.

Even though this is a “murder mystery” piece, I do know what the entire piece looks like. I posted it here on my WIPGO Week 4 post. The mystery will be linking the individual motifs to the storyline so they make sense. Definitely a fun way to stitch a piece – and have a little extra “if you know, you know” behind it on the wall.

Fruit of Plenty by Modern Folk Embrodiery as of January 21, 2023. Stitched 1 over 2 on 40 ct Toasted Almond linen with DMC 800 and 840.

With my WIPGO stitching completed, I decided to pull out a couple pieces that were yelling at me to get some work done and threw them into the option pit for Semi Sane’s “Choose My WIP” challenge.

The first was Fruit of Plenty from Modern Folk Embroidery. I managed to get a little over 1,000 stitches in on this one in about a week of puttering. I’m very happy with the progress. And it will get more in February since it’s a featured WIPGO piece!

I outlined the entire cartouche you see centered here, plus filled in some of the blue at the top of it (where the “2” is shaded in). For February I’m going to try to finish up this section, which represented the February block in 2021. It’s super-intense stitching, so I do not expect to keep up with this throughout 2023. But I’m going to push it as far as I can this year. My goal was a modest three months completion. I should make that just fine.

Temperature Tree by Stitchin’ Mommy. Stitched 2 over 2 on 32 ct “Dreamin'” Lugana by Silkweaver with customized DMC.

For the final week of Choose My WIP, I stitched on the 2021 Temperature Tree by Stitchin’ Mommy. I have had a heck of a time overcoming the tree trunks on this one. Not sure why I’m struggling so muich – but I just have hit one of those ruts. I’m sure once I get that final trunk in, this piece will move a lot faster as I stitch in the individual leaves. I’m very happy to have added three limbs onto the tree – just a little more to go! About one and a half limbs!

This piece will definitely get finished this year. I already have a couple of other temperature projects waiting on the wings that I’d like to start – but I won’t until this one gets done. The heart you see is custom. This piece didn’t have a year or initials added in as part of the design, so I decided I’d carve my initials and the two-digit year right into the tree. I’d waffled whether I would change this to 2022 or… since it’s now 2023, the current year. I decided to leave it as a 2021 piece. I already have found a couple other fabulous temperature record pieces that I’ll work for the most recent years.

I will post my WIPGO Week 5 piece tomorrow, even though it’s not Wednesday. For now I need to head to bed… it’s been a long day and I’m wiped out!

If you want to see what else I worked on in January, my weekly updates are here and here.

Stitching, Works in Progress

WIPGO 2023 – Week 3 – Apache Wedding Blessing

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This week for WIPGO, I’m focused on one of my oldest WIPs – Apache Wedding Blessing, designed by Kooler Designs and published by Janlynn. This piece was chosen by my college friend and sorority sister, Ivanna, upon her wedding. We’re… now almost 20 years later and it’s still not quite done. (sigh) So the goal now is to have it completed for her 20th anniversary.

My notes say I started stitching on this in January 2006. That’s probably about right. It was my first ever attempt on linen, and oh boy… there are some tension issues! I was stitching just a wee bit tightly! But thankfully the spots where my tension is particularly iffy, I can just repair by going over the stitches with an additional half stitch to plump them up and fill the space.

This piece went out into the world for an Unfinished Object Round Robin in 2011. The notes and thank you that I sent with it is still in the poly project envelope – intentionally. That way I can give some thank you credit to the lovely women who helped complete the cross stitching before it went dormant when I became pregnant with Max – Siva S. in Canada, Rachel B. in New York, Erin C. in Florida, Linda M. in Oregon, and Kristle M. in Nevada.

Apache Wedding Blessing by Kooler Designs as of January 14, 2023 – stitched 2 over 2 on 28 ct antique white linen with charted DMC threads.

What’s bogging me down now is that infamous thing that was so common in stitching of the 1990s – all of the backstitching to define the images. Most of it is pretty straight forward… outlining all of the frame poles and the feathers, plus the Canada geese at the top. But there are a few different colors for the backstitching, and the chart is a little difficult to read due to the limitations when it was printed. I’m getting there though. The most difficult part really are those feathers, just to see where lines cut in to define a few of the individual feather strands. Some of them lie right on the 10×10 grid lines (grrrrr…) so I have to play it by ear a bit.

Honestly, though – there’s not THAT much left to do. It’s just that mental block with backstitching that I need to overcome, and I can push through this one. It’s long past time to get this piece completed, get it framed, and present it to my friend. I’ll be adding this one to my MAGIC list for the Tudor Rose Sampler Guild for 2023 to kick my butt into gear!

Challenges/Stitch-A-Longs, Family & Friends, Stitching, Works in Progress

What I Stitched This Week – Jan. 9-15, 2023

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The past seven days have been a heck of a rollercoaster here in Measi Land. I celebrated my 48th turn around the sun on Wednesday with a wonderfully relaxing day off. Then it quickly turned sad, as one of my Stitching Sisters of New England friends, Carol, passed away early Saturday morning. She was older – I refuse to go down the “elderly” road – and had been looking frail over the last few months, but it still came as a shock. So my brain and emotions are all over the place. My stitching circle has had a very rough couple of years between members dealing with cancer, heart attacks, other hospital-related illnesses, two Sisters’ deaths, and the losses of loved ones. Somehow, though, we just keep moving, reminding ourselves to hold each other a little closer in our hearts. I’ve been a bit more distant from the group as a whole lately as I work through some personal emotional/mental stuff. This is my reminder to stop hiding, even when everything in my brain wants me to.

I’d planned on making a WIP Parade FlossTube this weekend, but it’s just not the right time. Sometime soon – once I take a little breath about everything.

(deep breath)

So… despite that rockiness, it was a pretty good stitching week.

ABCs of Parenting by Lizzie Kate – as of January 12, 2023 – stitched 2 over 2 on 28 count cream Monaco with customized DMC colors

I started the week with some work on my ABCs of Parenting by Lizzie Kate, which was the second of my four WIPGO pieces for the month. It also wound up being the focus piece for Week Two of “Choose My WIP” over on Semi-Sane Stitchers on Facebook. I featured it this past week with my “before” photo here. It stitches up pretty quickly, and I’m happy with my WIPGO progress on it. I may put this in as one of my monthly focuses later this year for WIPocalypse, because I could probably get it done easily if I just did a length or two per night on it.

Flying Lesson by Silver Creek Samplers as of January 14, 2023 – stitched 1 over 1 on 18 ct Hazelwood Aida from Fiber on a Whim with charted DMC threads

On Friday night I just felt like curling up with something fairly easy as Erich and I watched The Matrix Resurrections for the second time. I grabbed Flying Lesson by Silver Creek Samplers and threw some green and black stitches in to complete the header text and the very top of the witch hat. I fully expect to finish this piece for Halloween this year. Once I get that witch hat and the moon behind it completed, the rest of it will go super fast. Hopefully it comes up on an early WIPGO month and I can just devote a week to it or something. It may come up next week for Choose My WIP – it’s only down by one vote right now! Maybe I’ll toss it in the ring for Week 4 if it doesn’t win this week. I’d like to get that hat done so I can move on from black floss for a little while.

The Fruit of Plenty by Modern Folk Embroidery – as of January 14, 2023 – stitched 1 over 2 on 40 ct Antique Ivory linen from Silkweaver with DMC 800 and 840.

I’d originally planned on working on my 3rd WIPGO piece for Saturday and Sunday. After the news about Carol, though, I knew I needed a night to work on one of my pieces that she’d expressed a lot of interest in. Solid color stitching, some basic rows, and nothing complicated. It helped ground me and let me work through my thoughts, both happy and sad, as I stitched late into the night after everyone else was upstairs. On this piece, I added the light blue at the top (where you see the “2” outlined), carrying it down the right side of that brown-outlined triangle. This is the other piece that is currently up for Choose My WIP for week 3, winning by one. If it wins, I’ll be working the blue down to the right (to outline the “0”) to form the other side of the octagonal motif just to the left of my needle minder in this photo. For those familiar with how this stitch-a-long was divided in 2021, it’s the February portion. I have January’s complete and have moved down into April a bit to let that blue Assisi-style band flow naturally. I do plan on roughly stitching the piece generally in month-release order. Where it makes sense to skip around to form a motif across the month dividers, though – I’ll make the jump.

Apache Wedding Blessing as of January 15, 2023 – stitched 2 over 2 on Antique White linen with charted DMC threads

Finally yesterday I started on my WIPGO piece, although I have to admit I’m just not feeling it. It’s one of my oldest pieces and all I have to do is backstitching – a LOT of backstitching – and a bit of fill-in repair where my stitches were way too tight. This was my first piece ever attempted on linen, so my tension was way off in a few spots – and I think that is part of my mental block about getting it done. I’m just annoyed with my stitches in the top left where I first started. I need to add a stitch over the originals to fatten them up here and there, and they’ll look much better. I’ll be doing a bit more work on it tonight – backstitching, and then it will sleep for a while. One of these days I’ll just suck it up and push through the rest of it. For now? No. I’ll just do what my goal was for WIPGO, which was the entire point of my goals. Some of these pieces I won’t be feeling as much. That’s okay. WIPGO will let me at least touch them for a couple days so I can remind myself where I am on everything.

So what’s in store this week? Apache tonight to complete my WIPGO goal. Tomorrow night I’ll be joining Abi Bellastitch on her #StitchYourAlphabet SAL. She’s working ABC Hornbook by the Primitive Needle. I’ll be working Alphabet of Stitches by Morning Glory Needleworks, since I have that fully kitted and partially basted. Wednesday/Thursday/Friday will be Choose My WIP focus, which will lead me into the first 24 Hours of Cross Stitch Marathon next weekend and a batch of “whatever I want” chaos.

A busy week – both past and upcoming! Hope all of you have a good week – see you next weekend!

Challenges/Stitch-A-Longs, Stitching

WIPGO 2023 – The Introduction

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This year I’m going to do a weekly series to re-introduce the majority of my current projects back onto the blog through a WIPGO post. I’ll be showing the finished photo and the status of it as of the night I post, and a little background on the project. By the end of the year I’ll have all of the two WIPGO boards I’m running this year introduced. Think of it as a (very) slow motion WIP parade. A more live-action WIP parade will be coming to my FlossTube soon as well.

If you’re unfamiliar with WIPGO, it’s a play on BINGO. Pick 25 goals (or 24 with the traditional “free space”) that will challenge but not overwhelm you. It can be on a single project, or as many projects as you choose. It can be specific or as broad as you like. Put the goals into a 5 by 5 board, just like a bingo board, and number the squares 1 to 25. Every month on the 25th, the founder of WIPGO, Jessie, pulls two numbers randomly and those are your goals to complete for the month. On the month she pulls #13, there are three goals active. The goal is to get as many squares completed as you can over the year. Totally for fun – the only rewards are ones you make for yourself and maybe some silly bragging rights on Facebook.

This year I’ve decided to run two boards with almost all of my current WIPs spread across them. My goal is very simple – just stitch for two days on each project. No stitch or time minimums. Just put some stitches into each project this year. If by chance I finish a project before it gets called – I have a couple more projects I can add into the boards that are started. Otherwise I’ll leave them as a free space to put some extra love into something.

Here are my two boards:

January’s called numbers were 6 and 10 – so this month I’ll be putting stitches into The Colonial Sampler by Betsy Stinner (Earth Threads), Apache Wedding Blessing by Kooler Designs, Mute But Not Silent by Amy Mitten, and ABC’s of Parenting by Lizzie Kate. Those will also be the projects I feature here this month.

It seems like a lot – but that basically equals a week and a day out of the month to get stitches into four separate projects. Not that bad, honestly. I’m planning to do most of my stitching on these projects on Friday and Saturdays.

On Sundays I’m planning a wrap-up post of all of my stitching for the week, and then you’ll hopefully see my progress if I keep myself on a bit of a schedule! 🙂

Challenges/Stitch-A-Longs, Stitching, Works in Progress

MAGIC 2022 Plans

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Last year I joined the Tudor Rose Sampler Guild (abbreviated TRSG going forward) to participate in an online class for Amy Mitten’s Mute But Not Silent project. The class was great – a blend of new-to-me stitches (cut work!!!) and some history about Dutch samplers. I’d also been curious about joining a formal stitching guild, but have felt the EGA to be a bit too intimidating and not quite cross-stitch friendly, so it was nice to discover a group that is supportive of cross stitch and a variety of different styles. I’ve enjoyed putting names to faces with some stitchers who I’ve seen in Facebook groups over the years, too! The group is local to the Dallas, TX area, but for now they are meeting virtually. Until it goes back to in-person meetings and isn’t accessible, it’s a great opportunity for me to learn, branch out, and get a sense of how a guild membership can work (and as they’ve been doing this for over 20 years – it’s going quite well!)

One of the things that TRSG does every year is a project called M.A.G.I.C. – My Annual Good Intentions Contract. MAGIC goals are ones stitchers choose themselves for projects that they’ve already started that they intend to finish – either in stitching or to be fully finished (FFO’ed) if stitching is already complete. There’s a form on the membership website to enter in your pieces (due by February 1st), and a couple progress check-ins will be done during meetings through the year. Totally fun, just to keep folks motivated. 🙂

So I’ve entered my M.A.G.I.C. list for the year onto the website. Now I just need to get these suckers done this year! My list is as follows:

Witches Wheel (Glendon Place) – The stitching on this is done, but I have all of the beading to do. Ideally I’d also like to get this framed so I can enter it into this year’s Big E fair.

Jade Band Sampler (iStitch Designs) – I am currently on week 11 of 30 on this sampler. If I just stick with this, I should be able to complete this easily in 2022.

The Castle (Teresa Wentzler) – I completed the stitching on this way back in 2005. It’s never been framed, and that needs to be rectified. So this is a FFO goal.

You Were Hatched (Teresa Wentzler) – I have the Celtic braid corners to complete on this ornament before FFOing this in time to hang on my tree next Christmas. I’d had this stalled for a while because there was a time that I was going to create this into Max’s birth sampler… but then I went another direction. So ornament it will be!

Mirabilia Round Robin (Mirabilia – customized) – Completed back in 2011!!! Not framed!!! What’s wrong with me?!? So yes – big FFO goal for the year. This needs to go on my wall. Soon.

A Stitch for Sweet Freedom (Lindy Stitches) – This cute little piece is one I started last January for Inauguration Day. I’d like to have it completed by the end of this year.

Apache Wedding Blessing (Kooler Designs) – Crosses are done, but I completely burned on the backstitching on this. The friend it was intended for will celebrate her 20th anniversary in a couple years, and I’d like to have this done for then.

Bird & Berry Box (Barbara Jackson) – This project was via a class I took through Celebrations in 2020. The class was short and I didn’t really get to work on it much, but I’d like to get all of the smalls stitched and assembled this year.

Winter Welcome (Park Hopper Bart) – I received this pattern in the recent Nice Box from Black Needle Society, and it’s so stinkin’ cute!! Not large at all, and it’s a design that should also be easy to frame. So my goal is to get this both stitched and FFO’d.

Christmas Pin Pillow (Kathy Barrick) – This is another project I received fully kitted in the Nice Box. I started this on New Year’s Eve, and would like to complete it this year. My goal is to only finish the stitching for now – if I can FFO it, great. I’m not sure yet how I will finish it (kinda need to get a sense of the finished size first).

Flying Lesson (Silver Creek Samplers) – Silver Creek is quickly becoming one of my “whimsy pattern” favorites. I received this project in the Black Needle Society’s Trick or Treat Box in October. My goal is to stitch it. Unsure for finishing quite yet.

I Love USA (Mani di Donna) – In 2020, Celebration of Needlework was held remotely, like so many other things. I supported the retreat by paying for my membership and my normal classes, even though I’d be sitting at home in front of my computer. Mani di Donna’s project was one of the eight via the Round Robin class on Friday evening – an event I enjoy participating in every year. It’s a small fob and flosswinder set. My goal is to do both the stitching and finishing for this.

Temperature Tree 2022 (Stitchin’ Mommy) – My intention had been to complete this tree in 2021, but I wasn’t able to get things done… so it’s becoming a 2022 temperature tracker instead! Fully stitched. I’ll FFO it in 2023.

It’s a lot of things to try to finish, but I’m optimistic. Many of these projects are either small, or just need final framing. In true “me” fashion, I made it official by creating a planner checklist page for myself. Now that it’s in writing, it’s an official goal! 🙂

I am, of course, a planner nerd. 🙂
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