Greetings everyone from snowy New England!

We received about two feet of snow yesterday (approx. 60 cm for those of you not in the U.S.), and it’s a beautiful snowy wonderland outside my window today. As the storm blew through, I spent many hours stitching away and getting progress made on a couple of pieces. Thankfully the power didn’t go out, so it was just a nice, cozy day inside under a quilt on the couch!

Tonight, once the shoveling is done and my son has had a good dose of sledding over at the park, I’ll be planning my February stitching. February is always a bit of an eventful month for me since there’s a large letter writing event I love to participate in every year. Fitting the stitching in can be a little tricky! I’m excited for this year, though – because Olympic Stitching is back. And we have several events for you to choose from to move your projects forward. 🙂

Olympic Stitching

The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing will be held February 4th-20th. No need to convert to any specific time zone – wherever you are, fit the event to your time! The organized events are as follows. However, if you have an idea for an additional event – let me know! 🙂

• Marathon – pick one piece, and dedicate yourself to progress on that single piece for the duration of the Olympics.
• Olympic Flag – You may stitch on any piece or combination of pieces, but only stitch in the colors of the Olympic rings – blue, yellow, black, green, and red, as well as white (the background of the flag).
• Sprint – Choose either a time block (for example, 3 hours) or a number of stitches that you can do fairly quickly in an afternoon, and see how many projects you can work on during the Olympics. If you prefer to limit to a certain number of pieces and just do a rapid rotation, this also would count as a sprint.
• Decathlon – Pick ten pieces by ten different designers and complete at least 200 stitches OR 3 hours on each during the Olympics.

Hopefully this will give you a fun challenge to push forward with some progress!

Website Change Reminder

Please make sure to link up to https://www.measi.net (no /measiblog after it).

And that’s it for now. Have a lovely February, and I’ll see you at the end of the month!.

Happy stitching,
Melissa

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Important SAL Announcements…

Upcoming Events: Olympics Stitching, February 4th – February 20th. Details above in my post. 🙂
Also – March will be our first focus month of the year – pick one piece and plan to put at least one stitch in it per day for the month.

Question of the Month: Describe your stitching style – are you a one-at-a-time stitcher? Do you stitch on rotation? Are you a chaos wrangler? Are you comfortable in your current stitching style, or are you still searching for that stitching zen?

Next posting date: February 27, 2022

Topic(s) for next time: What stitch-a-longs (SALs) are you participating in this year?

Need all the basic info about the SAL?  Go here for all details for 2022!

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Please remember that this stitch-a-long is intended to be fun – so if you’re too busy to post, too busy/ill/etc. to stitch – no worries! Post when you can and share what you have going, even if you’ve only been able to toss a single stitch into it. If you miss a few months, not a problem – just jump back in when you’re back with us! It’s not a race or a competition – we’re all just here to cheer each other on with our progress.

Hi everyone…

So this weekend was a bit of an oops on my part. I had the initial kick-off post up on the blog and then went to do some cleaning up of the rest of my website, fix the SSL issue (grumble… still not fixed), and then… I deleted my entire blog. All 20 years of it. Completely nerfed in the blink of an eye. Cue a bit of a freak-out on my part and a HUGE amount of mental forehead thumping on the wall in frustration with myself. (don’t worry… my actual house walls are fine, and so is my head).

Thankfully Erich was able to find me one of my backups from 2018, so I just need to get things re-installed. A lot of the check-in posts are not included there, but all of the check-ins that folks have done since then are saved safely at In-Linkz. I just need to create new pages for them when some of the other stuff is back together.

But with the self-induced implosion of my website, I decided it was time to do a little reconfiguration that I’ve honestly needed to do for a few years. I’ve moved my blog to the main website address, rather than keep it in a subfolder. When I started my blog, I had plans… different sections, different topics, etc. And well… life happened. And none of those plans have really ever happened. Time to move the blog to the forefront. If any of those other plans – or anything as of yet undecided – ever do come to fruition, they can go in the subfolders! 🙂 So going forward, please make sure to link up to https://www.measi.net (no /measiblog after it).

While I keep working on getting things back up and running around here – have a lovely January stitching, and I’ll see you at the end of the month.

Keeping it real :),
Melissa

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Important SAL Announcements…

Upcoming Event: Olympics Stitching, February 4th – February 20th. Details about the events are up in the Facebook group under “Events,” but details will be added on my blog before the January 30th check-in.

Question of the Month: Introduce yourself, your projects, and any goals you have for the year!

Next posting date: January 30, 2022

Topic(s) for next time: Describe your stitching style – are you a one-at-a-time stitcher? Do you stitch on rotation? Are you a chaos wrangler? Are you comfortable in your current stitching style, or are you still searching for that stitching zen?

Need all the basic info about the SAL?  Go here for all details for 2022!

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Please remember that this stitch-a-long is intended to be fun – so if you’re too busy to post, too busy/ill/etc. to stitch – no worries! Post when you can and share what you have going, even if you’ve only been able to toss a single stitch into it. If you miss a few months, not a problem – just jump back in when you’re back with us! It’s not a race or a competition – we’re all just here to cheer each other on with our progress.

Hi everyone!

It’s been an absolutely beautiful early autumn weekend here in Rhode Island – comfortable, low-humidity temperatures with a mix of sun and clouds and a gentle breeze. The leaves are just starting to turn color now, but nowhere near the gorgeous peak color that you see in travel photos. Most things are still very, very green here. I love this time of year and try to soak in as much time as possible outside.

It’s been another productive stitchy month on my end. I’m not exactly where I’d like to be on a couple projects, but that’s okay. I’m very happy with my progress on so many pieces this year. 🙂 My brain is already itching to start on planning for 2022, and I’m trying to keep it quiet! Still lots of time to stitch in 2021.

As we go into the final quarter of 2021, though – I would love to hear your thoughts. What kinds of things would you like to change for the WIPocalypse in 2022? Do you like the format as-is? Let me know your feedback so I can plan some adjustments if the SAL needs a bit of a refresh.

October Focus Month

October will be our final focus month of the year. Pick one of your WIPs and set a goal to place at least one stitch per day into it. (or a larger goal, if that works better for you). The idea is that you won’t be able to stop at just one stitch, so you’ll be able to get a nice amount of progress on it! Make sure to take before and after photos of your project for the month.

I’ll leave you here for now. Happy October stitching!

Best,
Melissa

Important SAL Announcements…

Question of the Month: List five projects you have unstarted in your stash that you’d like to start in the (relatively) near future.

Next posting date: October 31, 2021

Topic(s) for next time: Do you prefer Halloween or Christmas stitching?

Need all the basic info about the SAL?  Go here for the details for 2021!

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Please remember that this stitch-a-long is intended to be fun – so if you’re too busy to post, too busy/ill/etc. to stitch – no worries! Post when you can and share what you have going, even if you’ve only been able to toss a single stitch into it. If you miss a few months, not a problem – just jump back in when you’re back with us! It’s not a race or a competition – we’re all just here to cheer each other on with our progress.

Happy Leap Day everyone!

I’m dealing with an obnoxiously slow webhost connection today. It’s definitely not a problem on my end… other websites are loading just fine. (sigh) So if things aren’t loading well, I do apologize. Hopefully it gets fixed soon.

I hope you had a good month of stitching. Are you spending any of the extra day we have today with a needle? I’m hoping to get a little bit done tonight, but haven’t decided yet what I’ll pick up. A lot depends on how tired I am by the time I’m able to turn on the stitching light.

March – first One Month Challenge

I neglected last month to mention that March is the first of our one stitch per day challenges. If you’d like to join this optional challenge for the WIPocalypse, pick one of your pieces and commit to putting at least one stitch per day in it for the month of March. The idea is that, like potato chips, you often can’t just have one – so one stitch will lead to more. (and unlike the potato chips – these stitches won’t have calories!). Every stitch counts – so if you can only do one, that’s okay. If you can do more, great! I find this challenge is especially helpful for those projects that you seem to be stuck in a rut with – the ones you like, but can’t seem to get moving… or those obligation pieces that you’re not particularly fond of but need attention.

If you can’t join us for March, no worries! The next scheduled one is in June. Alternatively, you can schedule your own at any time this year that works for your stitching plans.

Off to get a bit of work done around the house. Best wishes for a successful March to everyone – and see you next month!

Happy Stitching,
Mel.

Important SAL Announcements…

Question of the Month: In honor of “Leap Year,” tell the story of a time you had to make some sort of a “leap” in stitching – taking the chance on a new style of stitching, attending a meetup or class, etc.

Next posting date: March 29, 2020

Topic(s) for next time: Have you ever adopted a piece from someone else or gave up a piece to someone else? Which piece and why?

Need all the basic info about the SAL?  Go here for all details!

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Please remember that this stitch-a-long is intended to be fun – so if you’re too busy to post, too busy/ill/etc. to stitch – no worries! Post when you can and share what you have going, even if you’ve only been able to toss a single stitch into it. If you miss a few months, not a problem – just jump back in when you’re back with us! It’s not a race or a competition – we’re all just here to cheer each other on with our progress.

Hi everyone!

Another month is gone, and the changing of the seasons is in full display here in New England. Peak autumn color has now passed for most of the trees, but there’s still some beautiful oranges and reds popping through the fading leaves. I honestly love this time of year. I think it’s the season where I spend the most time outside because I prefer the cooler temperatures and the drier air.

This year I’ve managed to get a bunch of stitching in, too. We’ve had some nice weekend days where I could enjoy some stitching outside with a warm cup of coffee. If only it could be like that all year! I hope that you’ve been able to enjoy both the weather and your projects.

Onto a couple of the updates for the stitch-a-long…

October Month Challenge

How did you do? I’ll admit that my plans went a bit awry this month due to a couple stitch-a-longs that took over a bit more than expected. But hey! It happens. I did manage to get a bunch of stitching done regardless and feel accomplished – and ultimately that’s all that matters. I’m looking forward to seeing your updates for the month!

Plans for 2020

Thank you to those who have given me some feedback and ideas for next year. Keep them coming! I’ll be posting all of the information for next year’s WIPocalypse when I post the check-in next month, so you’ll have the time to add it to calendars and incorporate things into your stitchy plans. 🙂

Happy stitching,
Mel.

Important SAL Announcements…

Question of the Month: Do you prefer to stitch on a rotation or one project at a time?

Next posting date: November 24, 2019

Topic(s) for next time: What new stitches or techniques did you learn this year?

Need all the basic info about the SAL?  Go here for all details!

*~~*~~*~~*~~

Please remember that this stitch-a-long is intended to be fun – so if you’re too busy to post, too busy/ill/etc. to stitch – no worries! Post when you can and share what you have going, even if you’ve only been able to toss a single stitch into it. If you miss a few months, not a problem – just jump back in when you’re back with us! It’s not a race or a competition – we’re all just here to cheer each other on with our progress.