WIPocalypse 2017 Year in Review (better late than never!)

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings

WIPocalypse is run by Melissa over at Measi's Musings and is now in it's 6th year (amazing!).  The object of the WIPocalypse is to stitch on projects that you want to complete before the end of the world! 

At the beginning of January 2017 I picked out 17 WIPocalypse projects to work on in 2017.  The full list of my 17 projects can be found on my WIPocalypse 2017 page.

This update post is going to be very quick... it is late and we now already 7 days into the new year and I need to get cracking on my 2018 post....

At the beginning of 2017 I picked a number of projects to work on with the hope that I could finish some of them.... well that didn't really work!

Results are in and they're not good!

1.   Prancer (Nora Corbett) - finished 23 April 2017
2.   Comet (Nora Corbett) - worked on during 2017 - nearly finished!
3.   Queen Anne's Lace (Nora Corbett) - didn't stitch on this one
4.   Queen of Peace (Nora Corbett) - did stitch on this a couple of times during the year
5.   Zenia (Nora Corbett) - didn't stitch on this one
6.   Deer and Grapes Mystery SAL (Jean Farish) - made good progress on this this one....
7.   Jingles Flip-It Series (Lizzie Kate) - managed to finish 1 more block!
8.   Moutons de Saisons - été (Collection Tra La La) - almost finished!
9.   Faces of Joan Elliott SAL (Joan Elliott) - did stitch a little bit on this but still hanging around!
10. Snow Story (Lizzie Kate) - finished block 2 (one more block to go)
11. Dog House Sampler (Little House Needleworks) - little progress made!
12. 12 Days of Christmas (Plum Street Samplers) - finished 28 December 2017
13. Halloween Happiness (Sandra Cozzolino) - finished 1 October 2017
14. Mini Mandala II - C (Chatelaine) - little bit of progress made during the last couple of  months
15. Fashionista Cat (Design Works Kit) - didn't touch this one at all!
16. Birdcage (Design Works Kit) -  didn't touch this one at all!
17. Halloween Sneak Peek (The Trilogy) -  didn't touch this one at all!

3 finishes.... various progress on 9 other pieces and 5 pieces that I didn't even go near!!

You have seen two of the finishes and I can now present my third finish from the list...

12 Days of Christmas - Plum Street Samplers

So pleased to finish this one in 2017... I did have to give it a real big push at the end but we got there with 3 days of 2107 to spare!

Now while I am here... I will show you a couple of other 2017 finishes that I haven't posted (this is just to make me feel better about the stats above!!)

Jingles Flip It Series - Love
Designer: Lizzie Kate
Started: 26 November 2016
Finished: 30 December 2017
Fabric: 32ct Belfast "Sugar Cane Crunch"  Stitches & Spice
Threads: Weeks Dye Works as charted

This WIP was on my list to complete all the blocks but that didn't happen.  I manged to squeeze a finish on this block in at the end of December!  In fact this was my very last finish for 2017.. number 38 for the year.

I have also started the next block "Joy"... but I am not going to show you that as I have a large bit to frog!  I was stitching on the block on New Year's Eve and picked up the wrong colour and didn't realise til I went to put it away for the night... so it is now in time out until I feel like frogging Hunter Green and restitching it with Grits!! 😒

Peekaboo Pals Zodiac - Sagittarius / December
Designer: Deborah Flynn
Started: 25 November 2017
Finished: 3 December 2017
Fabric: 28ct Brittney "Dawn of Spring" - Jodyri Designs
Threads: DMC
Chart: World of Cross Stitching magazine, issue 143

Little Heart Swirl
Designer: Northern Expression Designs
Started: 3 December 2017
Finished: 10 December 2017
Fabric: 32ct Belfast "Hot Pink" - Colour Cascade Fabrics
Threads: Jodyri Designs "Oink"
Chart: freebie from Northern Expressions Website

So that's it for now... but before I go I thought I might tell you my stats for the year

77 - Carry over WIPs from 2016 and beyond
61 - 2017 Starts
38 - total finishes for 2017 (22 - of the 2017 starts finished / 16 - finishes from the carry over WIP list)
100 - WIPs being carried over into 2018!!

Out of the 100 WIPs that are carrying over there are a couple that I think I will UFO but that is for another day...

All the best for a wonderful 2018 (both personally and stitching wise).  Fingers crossed I will be on time most months for my blog posts... and hopefully I will get back into a routine of reading blogs as well!... but for now it's goodbye and til next time...

Happy Stitching....

Whine & WIPs = Finish #20!!

Guess what...

web image

"Witch and Friends" is finished.....

I started this way back in 2014 for the Hallowe'en SAL Blog.   When I left it at that stage it looked like this:

October 2014

I then picked it up again on and off during the last couple of months of 2014;

End of 2014

and then again for the Crazy January challenge in January 2015;

January 2015

I was so close to finishing last year but unfortunately I got distracted... and as I heard someone say on Flosstube earlier.. I fell down the rabbit hole with this one!! :o)

So on 8th June I picked her up again... and stitched and stitched and stitched.... each night over the last week I kept thinking I will stitch on something else, but then I kept thinking "no, she is almost done!" so I kept going... and now she is done.... :o)

Finish #20
"Witch & Friends" - Donna Giampa (Vermillion Stitching)

Witch & Friends.... finished 16 June 2016

This lovely lady and her delightful friends is stitched on a Stitches and Spice fabric with DMC threads.  The design was published in the Just Cross Stitch Halloween 2013 magazine.

Besides stitching and finishing "Witch & Friends" I also finished a block on "Jingles"... and I have picked up "Prancer" again.

Finish #21
"Jingles - Joy to World"

There is only a couple more blocks left on this so I would like to try and get back to it again soon... but who knows!

Nora Corbett's Christmas Eve Couriers - Prancer

I have now finished the Krienik at the bottom and started on the border.... then it's the tail and onto the beading!!

So that's it for this update.... The "Whine and WIPs SAL" has certainly helped me touch some of these old and much neglected WIPs... not sure which WIP I will stitch on next... I certainly have enough to choose from. :o)

Til next time... happy stitching
hugs xx

J - Jingles

11th April "J" Post

"Jingles"

It's Saturday and it's 11th April which means it is posting Day 10 of the "Blogging from A to Z April 2015 Challenge".

Today is "J" - "Jingles"

Jingles: "Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and commonly sung Christmas songs in the world. My "Jingles" is a Lizzie Kate design inspired by this Christmas carol.

Guess what came out of stitching basket last night?  Lizzie Kate's "Jingles"!  I have been neglecting this a bit lately...

The last time I stitched on "Jingles" I was half way through the "Joy to the World" piece.... This is what it looked like when I started stitching last night:

and this is what it looked like when I went to bed last night:

As you can see I am still half way through the "Joy to the World" piece!!  I will keep this one out for the weekend and try to stitch on it for another hour or so over the next couple of days to see if I can finish this block....

Tomorrow is Sunday which is a non-posting day for the A-Z challenge.  The next posting will be on Monday for "K".  I have two "K" designs in my stitching basket and January Challenge at the moment - Koala and Katie Kitty.



Til then.... Happy Stitching and Happy Blogging!
Hugs xx

WIP update - Jingles and more...

February has now ended and March has begun.... which means it's time for me to show you where I am at with Lizzie Kate's "Jingles".

I last showed you my progress on "Jingles" on 12th February:

Progress of Lizzie Kate's "Jingles" as at 12th February 2015

After a couple more stitching days during February, "Jingles" now looks like this:

Progress of Lizzie Kate's "Jingles" as at 4th March 2015

I was hoping to have finished this block by the end of February... but didn't quite get there!  My March update will hopefully be a picture of a finished block.

So what else has come out of the stitching basket this week?

Happy Owl O Ween - Needle Bling Designs

I started stitching this design in January as part of my January challenges.  This little owl is my March choice for the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL Blog.

When you last saw this little owl he wasn't very far along.... just the top of the pumpkin was stitched:

Happy Owl O Ween - progress as at 15 January 2015

Happy Owl O Ween - progress as at 4 March 2015

Now I have a whole pumpkin and I have even managed to get a little bit more stitched.... stitching one colour does seem to mean that I can get a bit more stitched in a shorter time frame!

Christmas Eve Couriers - Prancer: Nora Corbett

"Prancer" was my Day 3 start during the January challenges.  When you last saw "Prancer" he looked like this:

" Christmas Eve Couriers: Prancer" - progress as at 3 January 2015

I haven't had the chance to stitch on him since January, but I made up for it on Sunday!  I love the way the pinks are showing up on this beautiful fabric colour.

" Christmas Eve Couriers: Prancer" - progress as at 4 March 2015

That's it for today.... tonight "Comet' is coming out of the stitching basket for a bit of TLC.

Til next time, happy stitching ♥
Hugs xx

How about a February stitching update!

Hello!  Did you miss me?  After all my prolific posting in January, I seem to have come to a bit of halt all of a sudden!

But I am back again now with a very quick update on some of my WIP's from the Crazy January challenges as well as some updates on my older but much loved WIP's.

Since the end of the January's crazy challenges I have focused my stitching efforts on three WIP's - Lizzie Kate's "Jingles", Joan Elliott's "Faces of JE SAL" and my little Winter Witch.  Below are the latest pics of where they are all at now.

Faces of JE SAL - designed by Joan Elliott
Last update on this SAL was on 16th January 2015 and she looked like this:

Progress as at 16 January 2015

After a bit of a stitching session (SAL within in a SAL) last weekend, she now looks like this:

Progress as at 9 February 2015

I am still way behind in this SAL but eventually I will catch up!  Part of the slowness of stitching on this design is that I decided to stitch the face and skin "over 1".... I am regretting that decision a little bit now as it takes so long..... but I think overall it will be worth it.  As you can probably see I keep taking a break from the "over 1" stitching other parts of the design to give my eyes a rest!

Lizzie Kate's "Jingles" - designed by Lizzie Kate
As you know "Jingles" has been around for awhile now.... and every now and then I do a bit more on them.  I picked it up again the other night and did some stitches, but as I don't officially need to do a "Jingles" update til the end of the month, this will just be a quick sneak peek!

When you last saw "Jingles" on 17th January 2015, it looked like this:

Progress as at 17 January 2015

And now "Jingles" looks like this:

Progress as at 10 February 2015

Slowly but surely this one is inching it's way to the end!  I will try and get a bit more stitched on this section before the end of the month.

and last but not least, there is:

Winter Witch - designed by The Snowflower Diaries
The last time I showed you my lovely little witch she looked like this:

Progress as at 28 January 2015

And after some intensive love and attention Winter Witch and her snowman companion are finished!

Winter Witch - designer: Snowflower Diaries
stitched on "Hocus Pocus" 32ct Belfast from Stitches & Spice
Finished 6 February 2015

So there you go my first finish for 2015!  I decided not to do some confetti white stitches around her wand and instead stitched on some pretty gold beads and blinged her up a bit!

I now have to post her on the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL Blog and I can then tick "Witches" off my stitching list!

I am not sure yet what I will do with her as a final finish yet.... so for the time being she will go in the finished file til inspiration strikes!

That's it for this very quick stitching update.  I will be back over the next few days as TUSAL is coming up soon, as are a couple of other posting deadlines. so til then....

Happy Stitching and no froggin!
hugs xx

Day 15, 16, 17 - Crazy Starts 15, 16, 17

Sorry, I meant to come back on Friday and update you on my last new start for the CrosstitchCrazy Event and of course day 15 of Debbie's Ultimate Crazy January Challenge 2015 (DUCJC2015), but unfortunately my Friday was very busy and as is often the case of best laid plans.... I didn't get a chance to do an update!

So now I will do a 3 in 1 update!!!  Day 15 was a new start but Day 16 and Day 17 I worked on 2 of my WIP's which fall under the rules of the DUCJC 2015 challenge.

First up is my Day 15 new start.... another Halloween design!!

Happy Owl-O-Ween - Needle Bling Designs

This rather different owl is from "Needle Bling Designs".  The chart is a freebie that is located on their website but I actually downloaded the freebie from a FB group that I am member of - "Pumpkin Seed Stitchers".  Ever month there is a new freebie from a different designer available for download. This is the first one that I have stitched so far, but I am sure I will eventually stitch more!

I am stitching this design on another "Stitches & Spice" fabric - Rocky Creek Canyon 32ct Belfast. Love the colours of this fabric so I think I will be using it again for something else very soon!

While I have now finished the 15 new starts in 15 days for the CrosstitchCrazy Event, I still have the challenge of stitching every day for 31 days which is the challenge for the DUCJC2015.  So with that in mind Day 16 & Day 17 were not new starts but WIP days!!

Day 16 I worked on my "Faces of Joan Elliott" Mystery SAL.  The last time you saw the "Faces" was 23 December 2014... and she looked like this:

Faces of Joan Elliott Mystery SAL status as at 23/12/14

I did some stitching on this SAL over the Christmas period and this is where I left her:

Faces of Joan Elliott Mystery SAL status as at 31/12/14

As you may notice I have started stitching her face doing 1 over 1, but I decided to take a break from all that concentration stitching when I got some of the missing colours and went back to the hair and headdress.  I then put her aside when it was time to start the crazy challenges.  And I picked her up again on Friday night and did some more on her hair and headdress, and this is where she is today:

Faces of Joan Elliott Mystery SAL status as at 16/1/15

I am so far behind in this SAL but I am not stressing as I will eventually catch up!  This is the last that you will see of "Faces" now for January but I promise she will be back in February!

Yesterday, Day 17, saw "Jingles" come out of hiding again!  The last time I showed you "Jingles" was back on 26th December 2014.  I didn't stitch on "Jingles" at all over the Christmas break so there isn't any change to what "Jingles" looked like when I started stitching yesterday:

Lizzie Kate's "Jingles" Flip-It as at 26/12/14

And this is what "Jingles" looks like after stitching on the next block yesterday:

As I won't play on "Jingles" again this month this is my monthly "Jingles" update as well...

So that is what I have been stitching on over the last 3 days.  Today is Day 18 and today I will also be stitching on one of my WIP's.

I forgot to mention on Friday that this weekend is the first IHSW for 2015.  I did remember to sign up and tomorrow I will do an update post and go visiting some other blogs to see what everyone else worked on this weekend.

So that's for now... I had better get off the laptop and get stitching before there are no hours left in the day for stitching!!

Previous updates for the FB CrosstitchCrazy Event and Debbie's Ultimate Crazy January Challenge 2015 (DUCJC2015) are listed below if you missed them:

Day 1 - Winter Witch
Day 2 - "Eek!"
Day 3 - "Prancer"
Day 4 - "Autumn Fab Fob"
Day 5 - "Comet"
Day 6 - "Koala"
Day 7 - "Sneak Peek - Halloween"
Day 8 - "Printemps"
Day 9 - "été"
Day 10 - "Joyeux Noel"
Day 11 - "Feeling Festive"
Day 12 - "New Year's Magic"
Day 13 - "Grumpy Kitty"
Day 14 - "Happy Howloween"

Til next time, Happy Stitching!
Hugs x

Lizzie Kate "Jingles" SAL December update

Constant use will not wear ragged the fabric of friendship.
~ Dorothy Parker ~

Lizzie Kate "Jingles Flip-It"

Lizzie Kate "Jingles" SAL update - stitching with Rita, Annette and Nia

As promised, here is my last Lizzie Kate "Jingles" update for 2014.  My previous "Jingles" update was in October where I showed you my progress up to the end of September.  Seeing as that was some time ago now.... here is a reminder of where I was at the end of September 2014 - 5 blocks and the snow flakes completed:

Lizzie Kate "Jingles" as at 30 September 2014

Between September and December I managed to find some time to stitch a little bit more on this lovely design.  Another 2 blocks!  But they were small ones....

Lizzie Kate "Jingles" as at 26 December 2014

I did plan to have this design finished by Christmas 2014.... but now I guess I have heaps of time to finish it by Christmas 2015!!  There are only 5 more blocks to go so don't be at all surprised to see this back in my stitching rotation again in the next couple of months, after all the next block is sitting there staring at me every time I open my stitching basket!!

So that's it for my update on Jingles, so how about an a quick update on where the other girls are at with "Jingles":

Rita - finished!! pop on over to her blog and have a look at her beautiful finished "Jingles" - well done Rita! :o)

As for the other girls.... well, like me, they are are still stitching....
Annette - pop on over to Annette's blog for her latest update
Nia - pop on over to Nia's blog for her latest update

There you go, another "Jingles" update done and dusted!  See you next time.... til then....

happy stitching and jingling!!

Stitching Noni xx

Lizzie Kate "Jingles" SAL September update

I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free
~ Michelangelo ~

Lizzie Kate "Jingles Flip-It"

Lizzie Kate "Jingles" SAL update - stitching with Rita, Annette and Nia

I know it is now October... but finally I have parked my backside in front of the laptop and prepared my September "Jingles" update.

The last time I posted an update this is what "Jingles" looked like:

Lizzie Kate "Jingles" as at 28 August 2014

and this is what "Jingles" looks like  now:

Lizzie Kate "Jingles" as at 30 September 2014

Another block done!  Plus the extra border bit!  Which means that I am nearly half way through the blocks now, but I think I can safely say this won't be finished before Christmas this year...  Oh well, there is always next year!

I know I say this every time I post my "Jingles" update, but I really do love stitching on this design. The charts are all so sweet and so very easy to stitch.  Now I just have to make some time to stitch the next block... easier said than done these days!

Rita has posted her update for August and September already, so pop over and say Hi!  And while you're visiting, don't forget to drop in and say Hi to Annette and Nia too!  Hopefully they will have updates to show us very soon too!

So til the end of October when I should have some more "Jingles" to show you....

happy stitching and jingling!!

Stitching Noni xx

Lizzie Kate "Jingles" SAL August update

We all need empty hours in our lives or we will have no time to create or dream

~ Robert Coles ~

Lizzie Kate "Jingles Flip-It"

Lizzie Kate "Jingles" SAL update - stitching with Rita, Annette and Nia

I suppose you thought I had forgotten all about my "Jingles" SAL with the girls.... well, I am here today to let you know that "Jingles" is on the move again.

The last time I posted this is what "Jingles" looked like:

Lizzie Kate "Jingles" as at 2 June 2014

and this is what "Jingles" looks like  now:

Lizzie Kate "Jingles" as at 28 August 2014

I haven't quite managed to catch up to where I should be at this stage of the game, but I am getting there!  I love stitching on this design - it is so much fun and I am really looking forward to picking it up again in September.

Don't forget to pop over and check out Nia, Rita and Annette's SAL updates for the month.  Til the end of September when I have some more "Jingles" to show you....

happy stitching and jingling!!

Stitching Noni xx