Floss Friday #114

Last Friday of October already. Honestly this week has felt like the last week of October but I still have 7 more days of October! How exciting. The November WIPGO projects are out and we will take a peek. By default, that means we know the December projects as well. I have chosen not to go there. I am excited about winding down October and starting on November. Let’s get started!

November WIPGO Projects

The goal each month is to work on the project at least five times or have a finish.

Project 14: Mr September ~ A Calendar Gnome by Charlie’s Needle

I normally like to show here where I am starting and in the recap a “before” and “after” photo to show how much I got done. BUT I have Mr September on my Calendar for this week. Thus, I am sharing my September progress. While my goal is five times this month, I am feeling pretty optomistic that I will be able to finish Mr. September in November. That would be exciting because I really want to start Mr. January next. I didn’t get to start him before because the cloth I wanted wasn’t available. I now have it in my grubby little hands.

Project 16: Winter Baskets from the Triple Play Pillow Series by Hands on Design

Once again I am super excited. I had prepped this one this month because I was planning to start either November or December so now I will defintely get to start November. So excited!!! Did I say I was excited. I have absolutely loved this series combing my quilty heart with my stitchy heart. This one is ready to start. I randomly label these charts as #1, #2, and #3 in order they are in the leaflet so I can track in my project book. I am not sure which # the snowflake one is but I am starting with that one. Totally giddy with anticipation. Of course, this is definitely 5 times in November goal as there is no way I could finish all three in one month anyway.

Starts & Finishes

Now that we have taken a look at my November WIPGO projects, let’s jump back to October. Looking at my planning calendar, I have one finish and one new start. Check it out.

FINISH: WIPGO Project: Fall is in the Air by FQS It’s Sew Emma Stitch Quarterly project

I gave myself a heart attack just now. When I went to load the pictures above, I didn’t see the finish then I was wondering did I not do it. The cover photo is what I originally put as my finished photo and it was missing the word Fall. 😝 Then I was thinking about how I could finish the stitch. I felt like I really did finish so I went and looked at photos on my iPhone and yes there it was! I just didn’t upload the photo to WordPress. Whew. Now we can look at how cute this project was. My favorite fall stitch on platinum 14 ct aida with the called for DMC floss. The fox still remains my favorite thing to stitch for this one. He is just CUTE! I finished early so I had one extra day. I have switched back to October Snapshot trying really hard to finish that one this month. Check out my progress below.

START: September Monthly Markings by Heart in Hand

I was super close to starting and finishing in the same evening but just ran out of time. This is September so I am trying to figure out what the building is suppose to represent. School? The little red bird was fun to stitch.

This project is being stitched on 16 ct dirty aida with the called for floss – DMC, Classic Colorworks, Weeks Dye Works, and Gentle Arts.

WIP Updates

I managed to work on other projects than I originally expected. *Bonus Stitching*. Three of these will definitely be finished in October as planned.

WIPGO Project: October Snapshot by Pine Mountain Designs

This project is in my new app MARKUP-RXP and it has been frustrating not to know my acually % of completion. Yesterday I was able to finally fix that. I am 87% complete! As you can imagine, I am anxious to finish this one off. It has been exciting to start and finish in the same month such a large project for me. I like the shading of the lettering for October.

Fruit of Plenty by Modern Folk Embroidery

I wrapped up the motif this week and finished the outer border. I am ready for the intensity of the inner border before moving on to Page 7. I am in love with this sampler stitch. I will be getting to the last two digits of the year soon. Do people put the year started or finished?

2024 SJ Temperature Library by Kristi’s Corner

It pleases me to be current with this year long project. As you can see we went from outrageous temperatures of up to 104F here in San Jose to low 70’s. Next week we will be hitting the 60’s. The October shelf will definitely be a rainbow.

Autumn Stitching Season by Stitching with the Housewives

There are three houses in this chart and I am working on the center house. I am liking working on this particular evenweave. The holes are so easy to see even for my old eyes. This was one of my experimental charts in my new cross stitch app. It is showing a ton of extra stitches (almost 1000 more than actual). Yesterday I discovered how to fix that after emailing with the designer of my app Markup RXP. While I am loving the app, the learning curve has been steep because of the lack of searchable help. So, if anyone is using this program and has questions, send me an email. I may have figured it out.

This is my first of this four part series and so far, I am enjoying it.

Snowman Collector: The Shepherd by Cottage Garden Samplings

I continue filling in the left side of this Shepherd’s coat including the sheep he is holding. I don’t know if you can tell, but the snowman’s arm and hand are now there as well curved around the sheep with a leaf (finger) hanging down. The coat is done with Weeks Dye Works Cocoa. Looks so good in person.

Every time I work on it, I pick out a few more of my original border I stitched and replace with the B5200 silk version. I love how white it looks.

October Year of Celebrations Season 2 by Hands on Design

I keep plugging away on this one. I got most of the bits and pieces done. I am down to just one color left to do – CCW Wagon Wheel. I have to do the mirrored image on the right side and then add the veins to all the leaves. So close to being done! That white pumpkin with all the cool faces…..

Seaside Tiny Town by Heart in Hand

Nala ended up with the foot stool last night. She starts there most nights but her brother will decide he wants to sleep there and jump up and sit on her until she moves. I am suppose to be able to put my feet up but for the past month I don’t always get to. It is like sleeping with a toddler. They turn longways.

I was able to finish both the pink house and green house last night on my tiny seaside village. I have loved everyone of these tiny towns but I am really enjoying all the other things the seaside town has.

Upcoming Plans & Thoughts

With a week left of October I have every day planned out except for Halloween. I am leaving that open to see what I might need to work on. Here we go:

• Finish October Snapshot
• Finish October Year of Celebration Season 2
• Finish September Monthly Markings
• Do October 19th – 24th temperature library books
• Work on Fall Harvest
• Work on House on Pumpking Hill
• Work on Mr September
• Work on February Month 2 Month

Someone will get extra love I just don’t know who yet. Either Fall Harvest or House on Pumpkin Hill since Mr. September will be November WIPGO project. Or maybe August Stackables or Autumn Stitching Season.

I did receive happy mail this week from 123 Stitch. I got my Snowman Kisses, Snowman 2023, and Snowman 2024 by Primrose Cottage as well as Prairie School Santa 2024 patterns, some cream and sugar fabric, and so DMC floss for one of these projects. (No I didn’t write it down and don’t remember. 🙄)

One of my Dec WIPGO projects – Autumn Beauties was finished this month so I need a subsitution and I was thinking one of the above would be fun. I have time to decide. And as a perfect end to the WIPGO year will be Monthly Markings as a Dec project too. I will be finishing up the last of the squares and doing the borders around the whole project.

November Plans & Thoughts

With one week left of October, I have begun to think about what projects I might want to start in November. I had decided on only two so far – Santa’s House and Winter Baskets. After finishing August Calendar Crates, I will be adding September Calendar Crates to the start list. Then I have my year long projects – Year of Celebration Season 2 and Monthly Markings.

2025 Plans & Thoughts

While thinking about those starts in November; they led me to thinking about my smalls for 2025 and I have definitely picked one already ~ Monthly Doodles by Heart in Hand. Still thinking about what’s next. I have to review what I have on hand before looking at new stuff. Any suggestions?

My daughter Caitlin stitched Seattle Washington temps for 2023 in this adorable galaxy by Climbing Goat Designs (photo above) that I want to do for 2025. Climbing Goat Designs also has a couple of Stitch A Longs for 2025 that I like: 1. Animals Tree of Life and 2. Mythical Creatures: A Field Guide. Both sound fun. I am going to have to go to her Etsy. She is always doing SALs and I have loved all of them. I saw a Hubble Telescope Stitch with hexies that look cool. She even has an advent calendar for Christmas this year. Decisions. Decisions. Decisions.

I guess I am getting overly optomistic because when I finish October, I will be down to 16 TOTAL wips. I started January with 17 so feeling a bit …. Cocky? Excited? By end of October I will have 54 finishes. Crazy. Now to turn all of those into FFO’s. Good goal for next year … maybe.

Anyway. Everyone have an awesome fall weekend. Stay safe and have fun.

Peggy Stockwell in San Jose, California