WIPocalypse Check In December 2020

 Well here we are at the end of a surreal year! Stitching is the one thing that has been pretty much as normal for me this year, I haven’t had any more or less time to stitch and I’m pretty happy with the progress that I’ve made. 

I started out the year with 33 WIPs/UFOs. In 2020 I finished 12 of these, and made some good progress on Canadian Beauty, which is really the only larger WIP I’ve worked on during the year. 

I’ve also made a few new starts. Most of these were smaller projects such as cards that I’ve also finished but I do have 3 to add to my WIP list:

- Winter Animals SAL by four boys and a NL girl

The bear and owl from this were completed and fully finished and will be in my Fully Finished Gallery post next month. The moose is currently being fully finished:

and I’m stitching the bonus pattern with the fox. 

- Jannlynn Vintage Toys Christmas Ornaments (I completed 2 of these but there are another 6 to be done)

- Biscuit coasters cover kit, which currently looks like this:

So I end the year with 24 WIPs, and that finish rate makes me pretty happy.

Canadian beauty went from here 

To here 

I look forward to working on the bottom half in 2021.

Most of the other things I’ve already shown on fully finished posts, or I’m saving them for the next one. But I did want to show off one project here. It’s the project I designed for my secret Santa swap. This is a swap I did every year with a great bunch of friends on Facebook, we first met when we were all planning our weddings and now we chat about our kids and everything else really. When I got Vicky in the draw I was excited to design this, because I know she likes family keepsake ornaments. So here it is:

I had a lot of fun designing and stitching it, and I really would like to find time to design a few of my own projects in 2021. But more on that goal in the next post, which will be the 2021 WIPocalypse goals post.

Fully Finished Gallery December (part 1?)

 I’ve been looking forward to this post as I have a few finishes to share!

The majority are Christmas cards. The first seven come from a set that was in Cross Stitcher (issue 231). I started stitching them years ago, so I’m very happy to check one old project off both the WIPocalypse and fully finished lists! They’ve now all been sent to family. There was an 8th one, and another card I did with a very old piece of stitching that I think I probably did as a teenager, but I forgot to take photos before sending them. I may be able to get photos from the recipients to share later I guess. 

The next one, is the cute dog I shared in my WIPocalypse post - it is also now on the way to its intended recipient. I’m not 100% happy with how I finished it as it was a little rushed so I could send it, I must put more planning into the actual card making part next year. 

My final finish for this post is the ‘Peace on Earth’ SAL  by Joan Elliott. I finished stitching this last year and I really wanted to get it framed in time for this Christmas so I spent some of my birthday money on a frame for it. I haven’t managed to get the border 100% straight so may take it out and have another go at some point. 

I do have a bunch more things I intend to finish off before Christmas so I may do another post before the link up closes, or they may end up getting saved for January. See you all then!

WIPocalypse November

 Another couple of months skipped 😕

Since the last post I have mostly been working on Christmas stitching. I completed the two ornaments (and Lucy’s birthday card) which I put in the last fully finished gallery post, so I won’t  show them again here. I have also been working on some Christmas cards. 

The ones above are from a cover kit, and I’m just starting to stick them all together and finish them. They will need to be done in the next week or so to be sent, so I should be able to show them off in the next fully finished gallery. 

This moose is part of the winter animals SAL. I also stitched the owl, but I’m not sure where I’ve put him!

Then I have been stitching this rather adorable dog for a card for my husband’s aunt and her partner, who are big dog lovers. It’s almost done, just needs a bit more white and some backstitch.

I’m also working on a secret Santa present, which I designed but I can’t show that yet (and I will only show it if I get the recipients permission). 

Now for this months question: 

What new discoveries did you have in the stitching world this year?

I haven’t spent a lot of time searching out new things this year, but I have been looking more at designers I haven’t stitched before on Etsy. The only one I have started is the Winter animals SAL from fourboysandanlgirl, but I’ve also bought a couple of patterns from other designers to try out next year. 

Fully Finished Gallery November

 It’s been a while since I’ve finished anything so I’ve been away from this SAL for months, but I have a few finishes finally!

The first two are Christmas ornaments from an old dimensions kit. They will be Christmas presents for Lucy, but she doesn’t read my  blog so here they are:

The kit came with all the materials for making them up, so they were easy wins for the most part. It was my first attempt at making my own cording though, and that took me a few goes to get right. 

The last finish is a birthday card for Lucy. It is from one of the themed alphabets in an issue of Cross Stitcher from last year. The card and trimmings are very pink as pink is her favourite, although it doesn’t really go!

That’s it for now, hopefully I’ll have a lot more next month as Christmas approaches.

WIPocalypse August Update

 Well, I’m back again having missed another month. I wasn’t feeling particularly inspired to do loads of stitching over the summer so progress was fairly slow until recently. 

In the last two months I have worked on Canadian Beauty a bit more during Joan Elliott July, and then I started some new small projects during August. 

Here is where Canadian Beauty is at:

I started 3 new smalls and finished one of them. The first ties in really well with this month’s question, which is:

Have you participated in any of the mystery SALs on Facebook (or other social media)? What do you think makes a successful mystery SAL?

I purchased a mystery Winter Animals SAL from Etsy Seller Fourboysandanlgirl. I liked the subject, was feeling ready to start some Christmas stitching and I wanted to try out and support a designer I hadn’t stitched before. There will be four patterns, and so far I have completed the first, which is this cute little bear:

I really enjoyed stitching him, he was very simple and quick to stitch. I’m going to make him up as an ornament and give him to Lucy at Christmas. I think the key to a good mystery SAL is having just the right amount of mystery, so the theme is clear and the size of the design, but the actual pattern is a mystery. Also having options is good, there are some options on the text for this one. I remember when I did the free Joan Elliott Faces one a few years ago, some people didn’t like the Cat so they just chose pieces from her other patterns to replace it. 

The next piece I’ve worked on is also a Christmas ornament for Lucy. It is from a Jannlynn kit with 8 ornaments based on vintage toys. I’ve had this for years and I don’t remember where I got it. Lucy has seen it in my kit box and asked for the train so I promised I’d make it for her one day and I’m keeping my promise. It’s nearly finished, I only need to finish the border and do the back stitch. And of course the making up, but I’ll worry about that later...

The last project I’ve worked on is another cover kit. It’s three biscuit-themed coasters. This one is to work on, on rainy days when Lucy and I ended up watching films (Or more accurately the same film over and over again...). I need something that is for Lucy, but that I don’t mind her seeing, and isn’t too irresistibly exciting for her. That way she lets me work on it for a while but doesn’t bug me too much about when it will be finished!

So that’s it for his month, fingers crossed that I’ll remember to post for September. 

WIPocalypse June Update

So I missed May entirely, but I’m back for June. I have done some stitching, but not huge amounts, partly as I’ve spending lots of time outdoors in the lovely weather.

Most of my work has been on Canadian Beauty. She went from here:

To here:

And here’s a close up of her face!

I’m really enjoying working on her at the moment so I haven’t felt the urge to start anything new. I joined the Joan Elliott July group, so I’ll be working on her more in July and I’ll make sure to get a few stitches in on Canada Day. 

I’ve also finished a couple of small Christmas projects that were on my WIP list. First, this cute little bear:

He’ll be for Lucy of course, and she’ll think he looks like Pooh. Hopefully I’ll get him made up for a Fully Finished Gallery soon. The other one I’ve finished is this one:

I have bought some backing fabric for making this up, so again it’s coming to a Fully Finished Gallery soon!

The last finish was Lucy’s little initial necklace:

 I gave it to her and took this photo a couple of weeks ago and I haven’t seen it since. It must be in the house somewhere but I have no idea what she’s done with it!

Fully Finished Gallery May

I’m sneaking in at the last minute for this one. My excuse is that I was waiting to finish Lucy’s Pooh cushion. If I’d just posted on the 10th I’d have far more time to finish things for next month, but oh well. Anyway, here he is:

I think this is the first patchwork I have ever done. I bought a board and rotary cutter but I am still bad at cutting and measuring. I think he turned out well though, despite that. Lucy loves it anyway!

The other projects I fully finished I have already shown on my WIPocalypse post.

There are three festive houses:

And a cheery guard magnet:

That’s it for this month! 

WIPocalypse April Check In

Each month we check in on all the projects we want to finish before the end of the world, and answer a question about our stitching. This month’s question is about our oldest WIP/UFO. I’m not sure which of the WIPs I’ve listed is the oldest. These two (no. 29 and 4 on my intro post) both date from workshops at a stitching show in 2011 - they are the oldest I can date for sure.

My oldest UFO is this: 

 It’s a collection of very unfinished small designs I started as a child (early 90s probably). I don’t think I can ever finish them! The tree was from a set of seasonal charts in a magazine (likely early cross stitcher or Needlecraft?) of my Mum’s. The blue border was my own design done on graph paper. It was going to be a horse. I remember being excited about it, I’m now sad this is as far as I got. I don’t even remember what the rainbow was...


Now for this month’s update. Pooh is finished!

Here’s where I am with Canadian beauty (bad picture sorry):

I also finished off a couple of my cover kit projects. Christmas houses:

Soldier Fridge Magnet:

I also have a tiny new start, guess what it’s a another cover kit and it’s for Lucy:

It will make up into a necklace for her.

I did a mini review of what I have achieved so far. I started out with 33 projects, and added 2 new starts. I have completed 9, which is over 25% so I’m pretty happy with that. My goal for May is to complete a couple more nearly finished cover kits and to make significant progress on Canadian Beauty. If I do that, I think I’ll deserve a proper new start or two in June. 

Fully Finished Gallery April

On the 10th of each month we post our finished objects for Rachel’s SAL aimed at reducing our bag/box/drawer of shame. You can see all the other lovely finished items here. I am a late of course as it’s the 18th already, but oh well. I have two finished items this month, one I am happy with and one not so much. 

First, I have this happy little bunny ornament on our Easter tree! I had stitched it years ago and actually started to sew some backing fabric on to make a pillow ornament. But then I stopped, presumably I missed Easter and then lost interest. I missed Easter this year too but I managed to get it finished off in time to did a picture before we take the tree down. It was my first time ruching ribbon for the edging and I’m very pleased with the results. 

Second is Baa Baa Black Sheep, which I finished stitching a year or so ago. I am not so happy with this one. I had ordered the mount with the wrong dimensions again, so I had to take a craft knife to it. I can also still see creases in the fabric. I may redo it eventually but I wanted to give it to Lucy for Easter so I rushed it through. I do love the pattern though, it’s from the Historical Sampler Company. 

March WIPocalypse update

I’m late for my update this month, because I don’t have all that much to show so I haven’t felt motivated to do it. Lockdown isn’t terrible, but with a three year old I don’t get any more time to stitch and I guess my mind has been on other things!

I have only worked on two projects this month: Pooh and Canadian Beauty.

Pooh is really coming along, and I think he’ll likely be finished this week. The plan after that is to make him up into a cushion case with some Pooh and friends fabric I’ve bought. Here’s my progress over the month:

I’ve only done a small amount on Canadian Beauty but at least she has half a face now:

Measi’s question for this month was about if we have ever adopted WIP from someone else. I can’t think of any time I have really done this. I did have a half complete project in my stash for years (given to me in a bunch of stuff found at a sale) but it didn’t grab me enough to work on it, particularly as the stitches were the opposite way round from the way I normally stitch. I passed it on a few months ago via a RAK Facebook group and hopefully the new owner will love it more than I did.