I had a great stitchy week. Worked on mastering Mark R-XP app. I am loving it when everything goes smoothly, but not so much when it doesn’t. LOL. Typical me. I have definitely had fun playing with this app. I was surprised how inspiring it is to know you only have 4 green stitches left or that you are 78% done. Very cool. Let’s take a look at what I worked on this past week and what I hope to work on this coming week.
Starts & Finishes 🏁
It was nice to check off one more finish while starting two more projects. I especially love starting another fall project. This week I got happy mail with another Fall Stitch Quarterly project, but I decided there are enough in the hopper right now. (But I definitely had a 🐿️ moment.)
FINISH: February Month 2 Month Button by Stitching with the Housewives
I love doing this small “button” charts. They are fun and so darn cute. The large pink rose was my favorite to stitch. I love the thread Classic Colorworks Sea Shelley and how it really adds dimensions to these roses.
It was stitched on 14 ct white adia with the called for Classic Colorworks floss.
START: February Month 2 Month Barn by Stitching with the Housewives
After finishing the button, I just could resist starting the “Barn” chart (or the large chart). Stitching the January barn was a lot of fun, I can’t imagine this one being any less fun. I started in the center of the chart which happens to be the “U” in February.
It is being stitched on 14 ct white adia with the called for Classic Colorworks floss.
START: Fall is in the Air by It’s Sew Emma (a FQS Stitch Quarterly project)
I attempted to do this earlier this year as a WIPGO project, but I hadn’t scanned it yet so I was super happy to get a start on this cute fall fox chart.
This is being stitched on 14 ct platinum aida with the called for DMC floss. The lighting sucked in the progress photo so it really is a light ecru fabric as in the cover photo.
WIP Updates 📋
I pretty much nailed my goals list for this past week which makes me super happy. I did have a couple of nights where I didn’t have as long to stitch as I would have liked. Yet, I made great progress! I just love stitching fall stuff and really got into those projects.
WIPGO PROJECT: Fruit of Plenty by Modern Folk Embroidery
This multi-page pattern is now in the new app Mark R-XP and it is so much nicer and easier to follow the pattern. What a pleasure to work on now. Not that how I was doing it before was not good, it is just easier now. I felt like I made a lot of progress. I discovered a daily stitch goal which I will now be exploring.
This week I finished page 5 and moved on to page 6 of this pattern. There is a total of 9 pages. I really feel like I have summited 🧗♂️the mountain and I am now carefully working my way down the mountain. 🗻
August Calendar Crates by Stitching with the Housewives
I took the time to experiment with importing a colored chart into the new app. It was a bit of a challenge and I am not positive it was worth it, so my next experiment with this one would have to be a bigger project. I made great progress this week on this project. If I didn’t already have a long list of things I planned to finish this month, I would move this one to the top.
2024 SJ Temperature Library by Kristi’s Corner
Update on my favorite stitch for the year. I just really enjoy working on this and each week doing a few books just fills me with joy. I finished through September 12th this week. We have had some very hot days in September. They are predicting one more week with temperatures over 90 this month.
Mr. September ~ A Calendar Gnome by Charlie’s Needle
I loaded this one in the new app Mark R-XP. This is one project that greatly benefited from being in this program. I know I am slower because I am stitching on an evenweave instead of aida but I normally struggle with the colors as well. Not anymore! Such a delight and a relief to work with something I know what I am doing.
Autumn Beauties by It’s Sew Emma (a FQS free stitchalong pattern)
Even though I was on page 3 of 4 with this project, I once again experimented with uploading it to my new app. (I am still getting a feel for which charts work best). Once it was in, I just couldn’t seem to put it down as I watched the count down to finishing page 3! This project is where I discovered the daily stitch goal so I put in 300 stitches and was thrilled to end up with 600 stitches! I finished page 3 and moved on to page 4. So fun! I love these sunflowers so much. The shades of yellow being used are what makes them fantastic (CCW Finley Gold and Honeycomb).
Snowman Collector: The Shepherd by Cottage Garden Samplings
I could not get this chart to load into my app no matter what I did. I will have to rescan it on my scanner and try again or I need to watch a video on what to do when the chart isn’t straight. So after about 30 minutes, I decided I needed to get to the stitching part.
I discovered I miscounted in a previous sitting and made one of the patches too big. Instead of pulling it, I am improvising as I go to make it work. I was excited to finish all of the brown on the left side of the coat. I am using Weeks Dye Works Cocoa. I love it! I started the sheep that is in the Shepherds arm last night and having to make subtle changes. Before I do anymore, I decided I need to do the sheep’s head so I know what I am working with. I am so happy with my progress on this project.
Final Finishes Update
This week I started working on FFO for the Let’s Talk Autumn stitches. Specifically I am working on the pillow. Here is my progress so far. Next I need to layer and quilt the pillow block and then wash it 😬 before assembling the pillow. Wish me luck.
Upcoming Plans & Thoughts 💭
I have almost made it through once on all of my active WIPs and it is only September 20th! How crazy that feels after struggling for months to hit on each WIP once. I am sure finishing one of my WIPGO goals early helped. Let’s look at the plans for the coming week.
- Work on Seaside Tiny Town
- Work on December Snapshot
- Work on Fabulous House: Green House
- Final day of Fruit of Plenty (WIPGO project)
- Update Temperature Library for Sep 13th-18th
- Finish September Year of Celebration Season 2
- Pop of Autumn
I have now started all of my planned starts plus a few extra fall projects for a total of 9 this month! I have planned on 7 finishes and four are done. I am on target!
Thanks for stopping by to check out my stitchy projects. Have a great weekend!
Peggy Stockwell in San Jose, California