It’s the end of June….

2020 is half over. How many are excited to see it end?

Wipocalypse 2020 Question is how are you doing on the goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year?

How many of you feel like January was more than 6 months ago? How many feel like real life ended in March and you’ve been in either hibernation or a horror movie for the last 3 months?

I feel like I’ve been in hibernation. I went into quarantine with plans to stitch like crazy while on work from home meetings. It wasn’t 2 weeks in when my kids suggested that I get a switch lite to help with stress reduction. I told them I wasn’t stressed. My oldest son told me to sit down and explained that even if I thought I wasn’t stressed, this was the first time he’s ever seen me swear while trying to thread needles.

So I bought a Switch Lite and Animal Crossing New Horizons. I have a 5 star island and play daily which hasn’t helped my stitching time. I also haven’t done much writing or made a new floss tube video but I’ve been doing well at work and my team is amazing.

But for the last three months, I’ve been on auto drive. I’ve played video games and done not much else but work, eat food my amazing husband prepares. I’m up 10 pounds and I’m having problems with my hands and feet swelling and going numb while I sleep. It’s partially menopause, partially stress, partially not drinking enough water and eating too much salt, and sleeping in a way that impinges the ulnar nerve. It makes me not want to stitch much.

I started the year with goals to participate in WIPGO 2020, the purple peppermint Blackwork SAL and plans to finish several large WIPs this year.

As far as I’ve done on Purple Peppermint Blackwork SAL

I didn’t actually start the Purple Peppermint SAL in January but everyone’s work started looking so good, I couldn’t resist anymore and I started it and then I didn’t like the way it was looking and I stopped. I had forgotten that Blackwork works better worked from a diagonal, horizontal or vertical pattern. I know it will get better after I finish the first row and roll the fabric but for the moment, I’m having trouble motivating myself to work on it.

My first start of quarantine and what I work on when not gaming.

I thought it might help to have a project near my desk for when meetings got boring. Considering that I started it the end of March, it has some progress but not as much as it could have been.

The only thing finished during quarantine which isn’t a video game.

I did actually finish something though. This square was on my WIPGO list and I did actually complete it, looking at my chart I finished it May 6, 2020.

I have done at least a 1000 new stitches on this during the year.

My WIPGO board had 1000 stitches per square on this project. I did finish 1000 stitches on June 1, 2020 but I’m behind by 2 squares so it still needs 2000 stitches for me to be caught up. However, I look at it and I just can’t seem to motivate myself. In fact, in an attempt to motivate myself to stitch more, I started this Waxing Moon Designs.

My 2nd quarantine start

Here’s hoping that I can start waking up out of this hibernation and actually start getting things accomplished towards the goals that I set back in January. However, I’m not really planning on accomplishing much this year if it continues the way it has since March.

March Wipocalypse check-in

Question of the Month – What newer designers and product creators (fabric or floss dyeing, etc) out there have you discovered and recommend?

I am not one of those people who cruise Etsy or Google looking for new patterns. I have enough in my stash of the people I discovered around the turn of the century when I started stitching again. My go to designers are Teresa Wentzler, Dragon Dreams, Sue Hillis, Just Nan and Mirabilia/Nora Corbett.

I would say the newest designers I have discovered are Armada Designs – I won her Dragonite at one of the Con volunteer events which led to me joining the Class Schedule Stitch Along. I’ve fallen behind on that one but I did finish January this month.

I did make some modifications but I’ve loved how clear and simple this design is. I’m looking forward to the rest of the design. It kills me how people in the SAL Facebook group make comments that would really hurt me if I were the designer.

I think back to how Nora Corbett has said it really hurts when people say, “well my wallet is safe” when she releases a design. People, think before you say things online. Would you say that to someone’s face if they were standing there? Then maybe you shouldn’t say it online.

Another new to me designer is Clouds Factory – I’ve been working on last year’s Fabulous Women Stitch Along – I’m behind again and finished February but haven’t finished March yet.

I’ve been adding beads to it but I learned that the beads do not work well with the Q-snaps so I didn’t bead Virginia’s necklace. I’m going to bead at the end.

I’m also working on the SAL from Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery for this year – Into the Jungle. I’m staying current on this one.

I’m glad that we do have new designers and I love seeing all the new stitchers on Flosstube. I love also seeing the experiments people do with dyeing their own fabric too.

I did buy a tie dye kit to try on some Aida when I get ready to start Bothy Threads Alice in Wonderland. That’s some time off though, I have a lot of things kitted up ready to start and many that need to be finished first.

I’ve found a new job and I’m hoping that gives me more time to stitch since it includes travel time.

Choices for the next WIP to work on…

I am hours away from finishing Fruit Bell Pull by Teresa Wentzler.  I probably won’t finish it tonight but it will be finished tomorrow.  I have only a little backstitching and the border on the last block left.  That means it’s time to pick the next project or decide to move to an active rotation.

Being the data geek that I am I have multiple options when I sort my spreadsheet. If I go with the oldest projects I’m looking at Pegasus started in 1982.

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OR Rainbow Unicorn started in 1983

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or if I stick with Cross-stitch Dragon Ride from 2000

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If I sort by Percentage complete, I’m looking at the Dr. Who Quilt
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Or The French purse kit I inherited from my Grandma
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If I go with projects with the fewest remaining stitches. Those would be Tempest and Ecology
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Or I go with the Carousel Horses which are on the highest count fabric and my eyesight is going. (Summer is the closest to complete)
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It’s a good thing that I have an evening to decide what to work on next.

However, suggestions are appreciated.

Stitch May-nia results as of May 22

There is still one week of my May-nia left for this year but This is what I’ve accomplished: AutumnQueen2016
Mirabilia’s Autumn Queen 4.5 hours close to 1000 stitches
Overdyed Dragon
OverDyed Dragon by Dragon Dreams 2.75 hours
DrWho
Dr. Who Quilt 1.5 hours
FruitBellpull
Fruit Bellpull by Theresa Wentzler 1.5 hours
SomethingWicked
Something Wicked by La-D-Da
FortunateTraveller
Fortunate Traveller by Theresa Wenztler 1.25 hours stitching 1 hour sorting pattern
Tidepools
Reflections of TidePools by Ro Pace – 2 hours
Fall Carousel
Fall Carousel Horse by Theresa Wentzler 1 hour
Not pictured
Anniversary Roses by Lauren Sauer
Bucilla Purse Kit from 1943
Final picture –
Mardi Gras Quilt I’m working on…20160522_194808

For more information on my new stitching process – check out my new blog – Agile Crafter

 

Wipocalypse Check-In – Stuck in a rut?

February Topic: How do you overcome that feeling that you’re in a rut with a particular project?

Wait, you’re supposed to overcome that rut feeling? You mean you don’t just say, okay, time to move to the next project in the rotation and put that one back in storage?

Eventually though that time comes when that not so fun project comes back up in the rotation. That’s when that feeling of dread comes into play.  I can slog through 5 to 10 hours on any project doing 2 threads a night.  What I do in those situations is find something I really want to work on an promise myself, I can work on the fun project after I finish 2 threads on the boring project.   It’s that same principle of “you can have your pudding after you eat your meat.”  The thing is though that often, the 2 threads turn into more and, in some cases, I may even fall back in love with the dreaded piece.

The next analysis comes with why did I fall out of love with the piece. Sometimes a piece gets put up because I made a mistake and can’t find where it is and I start thinking if I let it sit then I’ll find it the next time I pick it up. Yeah, unless I leave a note, I forget that I put it up needing frogging and I’ll start stitching and have even more to frog.
Another reason for falling out of love is boredom. I don’t really like doing large blocks of the same color. Doing those large blocks is good for gauging if my tension is correct. However on the other end, too much confetti gets boring too. The bests designs have a mix of confetti and large color blocks.
On some occasions, I can no longer remember where I plan to hang the finished piece, or I have a falling out with the person to whom I was gifting the finished piece. I know that’s the case with “O Christmas Tree.” The person who chose it, called a silk and linen ornament “kitschy” not realizing the time and money I spent making it. Since then, I haven’t stitched anything for her.
Sometimes, I’m getting too close to finishing a piece and completion anxiety sets in. See I spend so much time with my pieces that they become friends and it’s hard to let them go. Those are cases where I just need to power through it and think about how lovely they will be completely finished. Knowing how they will be finished and visualizing them in their final space helps with that.

So why do you stop working on pieces?

Combined monthly entry – WIPocalypse and Stitch from Stash

Just so you know, I’m combining the posts for the two stitching related groups I belong to this month.  The topic for WIPocalypse is tell us about your oldest and newest WIPs.  My oldest WIP by date it was started is the purse I inherited from my grandmother’s house.  I finished the front piece of the purse and I was working on the side strip when I got bored.  I also found a great monogram to put an M on the back since we share that initial.  The oldest piece I have that I started is one of two Dimensions kits you can see at the top the list on the Stitch from Stash page shown at the top of the blog here.

The newest WIP I have is La-D-Da’s The Raven which I started so I could have a travel piece.  It’s a piece that my middle son asked me to do for him.  He’ll be home from the Philippines in November.  So this is as far as I’ve done on it.  wpid-20140823_202835.jpg

It’s part of three La-D-Da pieces I want to do for the kids.  The second is Something Wicked this Way Comes and the third is Toil and Trouble.  It’s hard to tell from the little that I’ve stitched that it’s the last word and the raven’s head.  I’m using a piece of hand dyed oops fabric from Picture this Plus that Marilyn gave me from their reject pile.  I’m stitching it with Fibers to Dye for silk threads which is all from my stash.  That leads me into the next blog entry that is needed for this month.  Stitch from Stash.

This month we got a free $25 to spend above the monthly budget of $25.  With that in mind and in order to support Laurel’s Stitchery’s move to Rainbow Stitchery I bought the 4 Nora Corbett witches which I’ve wanted.  If you remember, last month, I bought the fabric to do them with.  The total cost for the 4 patterns and the embellishment pack for Gigi came to 40.25.  The odd part is that it was originally charged to my credit card and then credited back.   So I have all four ladies in hand and nothing charged on my card.  I’ve emailed Laurel to make sure she got paid.

In the meantime, I’ve been going like gangbusters on Fire and Ice.  Here’s a progress picture from tonight.

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I’m only putting in 1-3 threads a night but it’s amazing the progress I see every day.  I’m sure that as I enter some of the more densely packed parts that progress feeling will flee.  However, I’m almost out of Anchor 897 so I needed to go pick up a new skein.  I’ve also been itching for a new start so I kitted up Goblin Market from Counted Illuminations and I was short a few threads.  While I was at Craft Center picking those up, I found that they had Toil and Trouble – the third La-D-Da piece in stock.  I’ve had it on my list for 2 years now and the shop requires a minimum of $10 if you want to use a debit card so I grabbed the pattern too.  The total for thread and the pattern was $11.54.  So my total for the month is 40.25 + 11.54 – $25 = 26.79  which is a little over budget but I’ve been under some months so I should still be good.

I’ll try to drop in more next month.

Stitch from Stash – July

I was a bad girl this month.  I started off by running out and grabbing the Halloween issue of Just Cross Stitch only to find nothing in it of interest. So there went 9.99 down the drain.  Then I couldn’t find my graphite paper to work on my Tolkien quilt so there went 2.99. And then came Picture This Plus Christmas in July… and I have been aching to do Sabrina and Elizabeth from Mirabilia on the same fabric so I got a half yard of Twilight and I used Thutmosis fabric viewer to pick out Echo for Luna, Gigi, Emi and Ana. Doesn’t matter that I don’t have the patterns yet. I bought the fabric at the Christmas in July Sale. So put me down for 96.75 when it would have been 129 at the regular price.
Oh and I did do some stitching in July. Mainly on Fire and Ice.

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Amazing what a few hundred stitches will do.

May Stitch from Stash Post

I didn’t post much this month but I didn’t feel like I stitched a lot either.  And despite the new Nora Corbett pixies coming out, all I bought this month was fiber I needed.  The puppies played with the ball of Perle cotton I bought and that gave me the excuse to go buy the Subtlety for the Star Trek quilt.  I didn’t go pick it up until I ran out of floss for the side piece of the antique purse.

wpid-20140528_212306.jpgThis is where I am on the side piece.  It doesn’t look like I’ve done much and there is so much more to do on that side.  This is now my travel piece but I’ve switched to a smaller purse which means I’ve been carrying paperbacks instead of stitching projects.  But I have a great new purse on the way from Think Geek – This is my Handbag of Holding…and it’s on sale right now…

So I did figure out why I haven’t worked much on the Fruit BellPull.  With the puppies, I have to put everything away immediately after I put my stitching down or they play with it.  Setting up to stitch a blended thread project is a pain so I’ve decided to leave it set up in an area where the puppies cannot get, or we believe they cannot get to.  I’ve actually got more work done on it since I’ve done that…

wpid-20140528_212141.jpgWell since Fruit Bell Pull moved, I needed something to work on in the TV room.  The next item up on the rotation was Fire and Ice, so I’ve been working on it but again, I’ve been spending more time on Android games instead of stitching.  I did do a few stitches though…

wpid-20140528_212113.jpgSo that is the report for this month…Except I almost forgot – total spending this month 2 cards of Subtlety and 7 skeins of floss comes to a total of 10.69 USD including sales tax.

Wipocalypse Check in for May

What designs do you wish you could find?  Actually there isn’t anything really missing in my stash.  I have a few items on my wish list but I can’t think of anything that is burning in my head screaming “Why can’t you find me?” Okay maybe a beagle picture I can customize but I’m sure I could find one if I actually hit Google.

If I’m 100% honest with myself there haven’t been any designs in several years that I had to run out and buy except Persephone and Cassiopeia from Mirabilia and Christmas Quilt from Emie Bishop.
At this point in my stitching experience if I really wanted a design I couldn’t find, I would create it.

So what did I work on this month?

Well, I went up quite a few levels in Candy Crush Dreamworld, still stuck on Candy Crush level 500,  lots of levels  in Pet Rescue, and 4 scenarios in Gems Journey.  I ran out of black floss for my needlepoint purse.  And I did get work done on my TW Fruit Bellpull although it doesn’t look like much.   As the weather warms up, I may put a quilt up on a frame outside. Then I may have something finished to show off next month.

Wrapping up the year…

So I finished 25 projects this year but only 3 of them were started before the start of 2013.  I started the year with 36 WIP’s and 27 Items in the Fuppy pile.  I’m ending the year with 33 WIP’s and 30 items in the Fuppy pile.  So instead of having a lowered number of items on the total list, I’m still in the same boat.  I think the key for the next year will be to get the FUPPY pile worked on.