WIPocalypse November 2017 Update

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 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 is going to be a pretty good update as I have managed to stitch on a number of my pieces over the month of November.  So here we go for the November show and tell!

12 Days of Christmas (Plum Street Samplers)

Fabric: 28ct Jobelan "Gold Digger" - Colour Cascade Fabrics
Threads: Jodyri Designs (Wuthering Heights, Sense & Sensibility, The Olde Curiousity Shoppe, Midnight Hour)

Day 10 has finally been started

I really need to catch up on this one if I am going to be finished by the end of December!!

Christmas Eve Couriers - Comet (Nora Corbett)

Fabric: 32ct Belfast "Arabian Nights" - Stitches and Spice
Threads: DMC as charted

This is what "Comet" looked like in my last update:

He now looks like this:

The border has been started... so we are really on the home stretch now!

Deer & Grapes Mystery Sampler (Jean Farish)
Fabric: 32ct Lugana "Autumn Glade" - Stitches and Spice
Threads: DMC as charted

August/September 2017 update

November 2017

The deer is now done... still a bit more to do on this one - I am not sure if it will be done before the end of the year now!  I have been a bit bogged down by it again....

Dog House Sampler - Little House Needleworks
Fabric: 28ct plain linen
Threads: DMC as charted

The last time I showed this one was back in October 2016... and this month was the first time I picked it up again since then!

September 2016

November 2017

Mini Mandala II - C (Chatelaine)
Fabric: 32ct cream linen
Threads: NPI Silks as charted

March 2017

November 2017

Little bit more progress... the square has increased by one more row of stitches

Fashionista Cat - Design Works
Kit - 14 ct Aida fabric / DMC threads

June 2015

November 2017

I had a good stitching session on this one during November and it's nice to see some progress at last!

and last but not least... this is also a GG WIP....

Moutons de Saisons - été (Collection Tra La La)
Fabric: 28ct Cashel Linen "Fairy Forest" - Stitches and Spice
Threads: DMC as charted

June 2017

November 2017

That border is slowly coming together and then this little cutie will be done and dusted!!

This month's question is: What finishing style have you never tried but would love to do?
Interesting question given I don't do a lot of final finishing.... I have done pillows/cushions and a couple of flat folds for those pieces that I have managed to finally finish, but one of the finishes that I haven't tried yet is a cube finish.  Maybe that is something I will try one day!!

So that's it for this update! The next check in is on Sunday 31st December 2017. That will be the last one for the year... Can you believe it? If you want to see what everyone else has posted for November drop into Measi's blog and check out the November link up page.

Til next time, happy stitching!

Hugs xx

WIPocalypse September 2017 Update

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 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.

Well here we go again... late as usual for my update.... 😌

12 Days of Christmas (Plum Street Samplers)

Fabric: 28ct Jobelan "Gold Digger" - Colour Cascade Fabrics
Threads: Jodyri Designs (Wuthering Heights, Sense & Sensibility, The Olde Curiousity Shoppe, Midnight Hour)

Day 9 has been started but that's all... still have 7 ladies to stitch before month end!

Halloween Happiness (Sandra Cozzolino)

Fabric: 28ct plain purple fabric
Threads: all DMC

The spooky words have been started... I stitched on this last night and finished another word and started on the "Happy" but haven't taken a photo so that might have to be for next time otherwise this post will never get done!

Christmas Eve Couriers - Comet (Nora Corbett)

Fabric: 32ct Belfast "Arabian Nights" - Stitches and Spice
Threads: as charted

Last time you saw "Comet" was back in October 2016 and he was looking a bit sad then...

and now he still looks sad but there is some progress!  The ribbon is all done now as well as the white spots on his body.  I have started adding the Caron Waterlilies to the tree and then it's onto the border and scattered snow (or should I say beads!)

This month's question is:

Which floss (or color of floss) do you absolutely adore and want to stash constantly?
Goodness me how hard is that to answer....

I love the variegated threads from Jodyri Designs and have slowly been building up a collection of them.  I also love silks.... and have recently purchased a grab bag from Silks 4 U which I am looking forward to trying out.  I have some NPI silks that I bought for my Chatelaines and they are beautiful to stitch with but so expensive to buy!  Some of the other over-dyed threads are gorgeous as well but my collection of those so far is meagre and needs to be increased dramatically!

My favourite DMC colour is hard to pick... I love the hot pinks and bright purples but then I see the gorgeous soft pinks and greens that I am stitching Queen of Peace with and I love them....  I absolutely adore seeing orange and purple together which is probably why I am drawn to Halloween designs so much 😋

So that's it for this update! The next check in is on Sunday 29th October 2017. If you want to see what everyone else has posted for September drop into Measi's blog and check out the September link up page.

Til next time, happy stitching!

Hugs xx

Progress Reports on my WIPs

Hi there! I'm back with some updates on my WIPs that you haven't as yet seen.  I have some new starts as well but given that this post will be quite long I think I will leave them for another post!

Advent Animals - Peter Polar Bear
Designer: Brooke Nolan (Brooke's Books)
Freebie - Brooke's website
Fabric: 32ct Belfast "Moonbeam" from Stitches & Spice

Then: I started stitching on the Brooke's Books Advent Animals for the DUCJC2015 and unfortunately not a lot has been done on these cuties done since then.... (25 designs - started 3, finished 1)

Yesterday I decided that it would be a Brooke's Books Sunday and Peter Polar Bear came out to play...  I last stitched on him in April 2015 and left him looking like this!

Peter Polar Bear - April 2015

Now: After a day/evening of stitching while watching Flosstube he now looks like this:

Peter Polar Bear - Oct 2016

Nora Corbett's Christmas Couriers - Comet
Designer: Nora Corbett
Fabric: 32ct Belfast "Arabian Nights" from Stitches & Spice

Then: Comet has been getting a little bit of love over the last few weeks.  I stitched on him during the Olympics and left him looking like this:

as at August 2016

Now:

as at 26 Sept 2016

Lakeside Needlecraft / Durene Jones Fantasy SAL
Designer: Durene Jones
Fabric: 32ct Jobelan "Silver Springs" from Colour Cascades Fabrics

Pegasus is not quite finished yet....

as at 30 August 2016

But I just had to start the Wizard as soon as he came out.....

as at 28 September 2016

He is nearly done as well.... the latest design has now been released but I will try and finish these 2 before starting the next one!!

Disney's Tigger
Designer: freebie UK Cross Stitcher Magazine

Then and Now: For Stitch Maynia Colour A Day (Orange Crush) on 24th September I found a poor little WIP sitting in the box that would be perfect for this day's stitching challenge.  I started him for an ABC Challenge in 2015 and did manage to do a little bit more on him in between April 2015 and September 2016... which I had to frog before I could restart the orange stitching again!

as at 24 September 2016

Queen of Peace
Designer: Nora Corbett
Fabric: 32ct Belfast "Hole in the Sky" from Colour Cascades Fabric

Then:

Now:

Merry Christmas Grumpy Kitty
Designer: Brooke Nolan (Brooke's Books)
Freebie - Brooke's website
Fabric: 32ct Belfast  "Arabian Nights" from Stitches and Spice

Then:

as at April 2015

Now:

This was supposed to be my Sept TUSAL photo but I forgot to post it... so you are seeing it now! (And I forgot to do my Oct photo.... oh well there is always next month!)

Mini Mandala II - C
Designer: Chatelaine Designs

Then:

as at June 2016

Now:

as at September 2016

So that's it for the WIPs for now!  Lots of stitching has been done recently... but not a lot of blog posting so this post is a little bit picture heavy... sorry...

I'll come back and show you my new starts another day - with a little bit of luck some of them might even be finishes by then!

Til next time, happy stitching
Hugs xx

Stitch Maynia Summer Olympics Challenge (Part 2)

Well, the Olympics have now come to an end which means that the Stitch Maynia Summer Olympics Challenge has also finished.

I showed you in my last post all the pieces that I worked on for the first 11 days and now I can show you what I worked over the last week or so.

I left you at Day 11 which was white for the Olympic flag....

"Santa on a Bike" (New Start)
Christmas Cross Stitch Project Book
Needlecraft Magazine - unknown year/issue
Day 12 - Cycling (or anything with a wheel)

Insert photo shows what he will look like when finished
This motif is part of a larger tablecloth design
I'm not doing his bike tyres in purple....

Day 15 - Medals - Silver

This wasn't my original choice... I did start doing a silver and purple metallic mitten on perforated plastic with some free Maderia metallic thread... and I hated it so much I threw it in the drawer in disgust and quickly stitched the yellow and silver in this one.  The mitten was frogged on Saturday and will not be discussed again!!

Nora Corbett's Christmas Couriers -"Comet"
Shoe-horn alert!!
Day 13 - Medals - Gold
Day 14 - Patriotic/National Anthems (or music related)

Added the browns of his hind legs

For gold I stitched all the gold metallic around the ribbon that forms part of the strapping/ribbon holding the presents on.

Now this is where the shoe-horn appears.... I am not currently stitching anything that could be called patriotic or music inspired so I decided that I would use the rather large shoe-horn I have to lever Comet in as a Christmas National Anthem (ie he is in the song "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer"....) LOL! :o)

Christmas Candle (new start)
Cross Stitch Gold Issue 5
Designer: Pam Johnson (Kooler Design Studio)
Finish #28
Day 15 - Olympic Torch - fire or flames

Started: 20 August 2016
Finished: 21 August 2016

Queen of Peace
Designer: Nora Corbett
Day 16 - Medals - Copper/Bronze

I pulled this beauty out yesterday and did some stitching on her (not quite as much as it looks as I hadn't taken a progress shot last time I put her away!

I did work on quite a bit though from the ribbon in the middle downwards and to the left as I wanted to get to the bronze metallic so that I would be able to say that I stitched on bronze for the last day of the challenge!

So that's it for the Olympic Stitching Challenge!

See you next time!
Til then... happy stitching
Hugs xx

TUSAL August 2016

Hello.... surprise, surprise!! I am on time for this month's ORTs report!

This month's ORTs are sitting with my latest WIP.  This is my wild card entry for the JCS SAL July piece (not quite finished.... just needs beads now which I will do tonight).  The design is called "Christmas Festoon" designed by Patricia Ann Designs.  It was published in the Just Cross Stitch Christmas 2015 edition.

What made up the ORT's this month?

Besides the red and green from the Christmas Festoon piece, I also worked on some other WIP's - pictures below:

Free Gift - Snowman and Penguin Christmas Card
Last stitched on in May for Stitch Maynia

May 2016

Now looks like this:

July 2016

Free Gift - Kate Knight Peacock
Last stitched on in January 2016

January 2016

Now looks like this:

July 2016

Nora Corbett's Christmas Eve Couriers - Comet

16th July 2016

31st July 2016

Halloween Sneak Peek"" - The Trilogy
Last stitched on in October 2015

October 2015

July 2016

I do have one more WIP but I am saving that one for the GG post later this month as it is one of my 2015 GG pieces...

So that's it for this ORT report and WIP update!

Til next time, happy stitching
Hugs xx




What is a TUSAL and an ORT Report??
Essentially TUSAL posts are all about stitching and saving our ORT's (Old Raggety Threads) and every New Moon those of us participating in the TUSAL post a picture of our ORT's, and then leave little msgs for Daffycat on her blog to show that we have been stitching and have posted our wonderful pics. 
Next New Moon - 1 September 2016