Smalls SAL January update

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Stitching Lotus

Oh dear... another late catch up post!  January was a good Smalls stitching month... prepare to be blown away by my finishes for January!

Finish #1/2018
Rubber Ducky - Mill Hill kit
Started: 15 September 2016
Finished: 15 January 2018

Finish #2/2018
Holly Jolly Xmas - Emma Congdon / Stitchrovia
Started: 23 January 2018
Finished: 26 January 2018
Fabric: 28ct evenweave (tea/coffee dyed on a light green base)
Thread: "Aussie Plum" Jodyri Designs & Petite Treasure Braid PB10
Source: Cross Stitch Crazy

Finish #3/2018
L-O-V-E - Hands on Design
Started: 26 January 2018
Finished: 27 January 2018
Fabric: 32ct Jobelan "Hot Pink" - Colour Cascade Fabrics
Thread: "Oink" & "Parisian Chic" Jodyri Designs
Source: Freebie from Hands on Design website

Finish #4/2018
Snowy Days - Little House Needleworks
Started: 6 January 2018
Finished: 29 January 2018
Fabric: 32ct Belfast "Antique Ivory"
Thread: DMC, Classic Colourworks "English Ivy"
Source: Just Cross Stitch magazine Christmas Ornament Issue 2014

So how's that for a great stitching Smalls month!  I am so pleased to have so many finishes in one month.... but don't worry I am sure that the momentum will probably not continue much past February!!

Til next time... happy stitching!

WIPocalypse 2018 - January update

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings

The object of the WIPocalypse is to stitch on projects that you want to complete before the end of the world, or the end of the year - whichever might come first! WIPocalypse is run by Melissa over at Measi's Musings and is now in it's 7th year.  

For 2018 I am going to try and work on 18 projects (ie 18 in 2018!).  The full list of my projects can be found on my WIPocalypse 2018 page.

Well here we are... the end of the first month of a new year has well and truly come and gone... and I am now very late for my update on my "18 in '18" projects.

During January I worked on 5 of the chosen 18 projects - pictures below are what each piece looked like at the end of January:

12 Days of Christmas - Little House Needleworks

Started: 25 December 2017

Fabric: 28ct Brittney Opal "Celebrations" Jodyri Designs

Threads: DMC

Quaker Christmas II (Songs of the Season) - ByGone Stitches

Started: 1 January 2018

Fabric: 28ct evenweave "grey"

Threads: DMC 816 & 895

Boo Club - Lizzie Kate

"Spooky"

Started: 1 January 2018

Fabric: 28ct Lugana (studio session -Wicked Garden) Colour Cascade Fabrics

Threads: DMC & Weeks Dye Works

Happily Ever After - Frosted Pumpkin

March Block (Billy Goats Gruff)

Started: 2 January 2018

Fabric: 32ct Belfast "Dark Fantasy" Colour Cascade Fabrics

Threads: DMC, Dinky Dyes, Jodyri Designs

Question of the month: What SAL’s are you participating in this year? and If you are participating in the Olympic Stitching Challenge, what challenge are you accepting?  What are your goals?

As per usual, I am participating in a number of SALs this year:

- Stitch Maynia SALs (FB group)

- LHN/CCN Stitching Group SALs (FB Group)

- Long Dog Samplers - Castles in the Air (FB group)

- Pink Sparrow Sampler SAL (FB Group)

- Jane Austen Reading & Stitching SALs (FB Group)

- Halloween Ornie and Christmas Ornie Blog

This year I have decided not to sign up for any of the designer mystery SALs that are out there... there are so many of them and I just have too many other things I want to do!!  I still haven't completed last year's mystery SALs!

I am thinking that I will do the WIPocalypse Olympics rotation challenge as that will line up the the Stitch Maynia Olympics challenge...  I am all for re-purposing my SALs and stitching plans as and when I can! 😉

That's it for this month - til next time, happy stitching

Gifted Gorgeousness January 2018

Well here we are again! Another year... and another chance for me to try and be a good blogger and post once a month for the GG SAL!  Last year was not a good posting year, but hopefully this year will be better!

My plans for 2018 are to post at this time of the month with my progress on my Halloween Ornie Blog WIP.  Why is that do you ask?  Well.... my reasoning behind this is because my chosen Halloween Ornie project is a giveaway win from late 2016.  The post on my win is here should you wish to review it.

Giveway prize from Nifty Needle Nannies 2016
"Boo Club" - Lizzie Kate
Started: 1 January 2018
"Spooky"
Fabric: 28ct Lugana "Wicked Garden" Colour Cascade Fabrics
Threads: DMC black & white, all other WDW as per chart

The photo above is my start on this piece.  I have done more... but I forgot to take the photo last night in preparation for my post... Oops :0(

I do, however have a photo of when I was stitching on this piece last Friday.  My cute little stitching buddy thought she would help mummy stitch! Actually I think it was more a case of enough stitching Mummy.. time for a cup of tea and biscuit!!  ;0)

So that's it for this month.  The next opportunity for you to see this piece will be at the end of the month when I post my Halloween Ornie Blog update.

Til then, have a great stitchy week... and happy stitching

Jo from Serendipitous Stitching hosts the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL.  The GG SAL is about stitching charts/kits or using fabrics & threads that we have received as gifts, won in giveaways or anything that is intended be a gift or giveaway prize... or anything else that you can loosely use the word "gift" for!!  If you wish to sign up for this SAL, click on link here, or the button on my sidebar and you will be re-directed to Jo's blog.

WIPocalypse 2018... here we go again!

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings

The object of the WIPocalypse is to stitch on projects that you want to complete before the end of the world, or the end of the year - whichever might come first! WIPocalypse is run by Melissa over at Measi's Musings and is now in it's 7th year.  

For 2018 I am going to try and work on 18 projects (ie 18 in 2018!).  The full list of my projects can be found on my WIPocalypse 2018 page.

Introduce yourself, your projects, and any goals you have for the year!

Well, what can I can say about myself.... I have big plans that occasionally I manage to complete... truth be told I actually hate setting goals because I know that I will always struggle to complete them... but here we go again for another year of lofty goals / lofty heights to stretch for!

I have decided to again try and stitch on/complete the same number of projects as the year we are in - ie 18 projects for 2018.  Below is the list of 18 WIPs I have chosen to work on:

1.    12 Days of Christmas - Little House Needleworks

2.    Quaker Christmas II - ByGone Stitches
3.    Boo Club - Lizzie Kate
4.    Little Sheep Virtues - Little House Needleworks
5.    Happily Ever After - Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery
6.    Jingles - Lizzie Kate
7.    Snow Story - Lizzie Kate
8.    Moutons de Saisons "été" - Collection Tra La La
9.    Pumpkins 4 Sale - Country Cottage Needleworks
10.  Henry VIII - Cloudsfactory
11.  Dog Park - Satsuma Street
12.  Nantucket Rose - Lavender & Lace
13.  Shimmering Mermaid - Mirabilia
14.  Orchid Fairy - Nora Corbett
15.  Mini Mandala II "C" - Chatelaine
16.  Eightsome Reel - Papillon Creations
17.  Eiffel Quaker - Jardin Prive
18.  Coffee Saves Lives - Heartstring Samplery

The first 3 projects are the ones that I will stitch on every month for the Halloween and Christmas Ornie blogs.  The Little Sheep Virtues I have started for the LHN/CCN FB group monthly series SAL and everything else is a "would like to finish if I can" choice!

The lofty goals are the Mira, Nora and Lavender & Lace WIPs.  The Jardin Prive and Heartstring Samplery WIPs would be wonderful stretches but I won't hold my breath on those ones either!!

To make things even more interesting, I am going to try and stitch from stash as much as possible through out 2018... I spent way too much money in 2017 on stash enhancement!  I do have to get a couple of the Sheep Virtues charts, but as I don't need them til towards the end of the year I am hoping I will have some finish credits to use to buy the charts! 😉

I will post starting point pics of them all on the page that I have set up for the 2018 WIPocalypse at some point over the next week or so when I get myself organised!

Good luck everyone with your choices for the year!

Til next time, happy stitching

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....