It sure was a busy September. I was on the road a lot, so I missed quite a few Fridays. I had a great time at the Quilt Retreat at Zephyr Cove on Lake Tahoe. I shared a little more in the To Do Tuesday #156 post.
The latest trip took me to Redmond/Bend, Oregon for a long arm training with Gammill as well as a shop hop one day. Learned a lot and met a lot of great people. The teachers were fantastic! I can’t wait until next year to do it again when I have more experience with my retrofited Statler.
September WIPGO Update
Project 14: October Calendar Crates by Stitching with the Housewives
I started this project in August and was thrilled that it was a September WIPGO project. My goal was 2000 stitches. It took me longer to hit that goal than anticipated.
This project went with me on my trip to Oregon. The lighting was terrible in the hotel room so it was slow stitching.
I did a little bit every night after class.
When I got home, I was able to wip out the last of my 2000 stitches. I don’t have much left to do – right of the house and below the house. Love, Love, Love the floss colors!
Project 18: Home Grown (Stitch Quarterly by Fat Quarter Shop)
This was a new start for September.
The hardest part was outlining the letter, then it is pretty easy with just fill. Went pretty quickly!
Starts & Finishes
While I had plans for more starts and finishes, I just didn’t have time. I ended up with a total of 2 new starts and 2 new finishes. I shared the Start of Home Grown and the Finish of Patriotic Tiny Town here.
Chill by Winter Gathering Friendstitch
We received this pattern ahead of time for the virtual retreat called Winter Gathering by Friendstitch. Was a very quick and fun stitch.
WIP Updates
I was originally going to update you through today, but since it has been so long, I am only going to do September WIPS I worked on. We can catch up on the others next week before I head off on another adventure.
2025 SJ Temperature Moon Phases by Climbing Goat Designs
I had intended to do June & July when I started September. It became evident real quick, that I was being an eternal optomist. I changed my goal to June. #sigh. I got close (June 25th) but not quite there.
Stitching Quaker by Primrose Cottage
I made some nice progress on this adorable quaker project. The buttons are adorable …. And the tomato …. And the scissors with fob. Okay, the whole this is just darn fun to work on.
November Stackables by It’s Sew Emma (FQS)
I finished up the ear of corn 🌽 and started the pumpkin pie 🥧 slice. So fun to work on!
House on Pumpkin Hill by Hello Liz Matthews
Just love working on fall projects! I can’t believe how much I am getting done! The cat is still my most favorite part of this one.
Autumn Stitching Seasons by Stitching with the Housewives
Whoo Hoo! I finished the center house and was able to start the house on the right! This is so easy to work on!
Patriotic Quaker by Primrose Cottage
I was planning on keeping this one in the lineup until I finished. I quickly realized that wasn’t going to be possible. After working on two different nights, I packed this one away until next spring/summer but not before completing the cool on point block!
Fabulous House: Santa’s House by Cottage Garden Samplings
I was tempted to pull this non autumn stitch. I didn’t. It will be hard to see most of the work I did on this one this month as it is white on light gray. It is hard to see.
Fruit of Plenty by Modern Folk Embroidery
I continue plugging away at this one each month. This time I focused on filling in the motif borders.
Snowman Collector: The Postman by Cottage Garden Samplings
I don’t know why, but this time when I worked on this project, it flowed. Yet I redid his collar three times!!! Now it is right and I am ready to continue on!
Field Guide to Dragons by Climbing Goat Designs
I diligently worked on adding more feathers to this blue dragon. I made great progress but for some reason I didn’t take a picture of the whole thing on the 26th 🙄
Virtual Cross Stitch Retreats
Silly me signed up for two virtual retreats that actually were happening at the same time and even started on the day I was driving home from the quilt retreat. But since they were fairly cheap, I did it anyway. To be honest, I was really too tired to do anything in my classes I signed up for so I just watched.
Friendstitch – Winter Gatherings
No pictures to share. They have done it for five years (this was the 5th) but they are not planning to do next year. Overall, I thought it was exceptional done. “Chill” was the prestitch. We were supposed to finish it during the four hours live virtual retreat. I was too tired from driving home the day before. I watched everything. The retreat box had a lot of goodies. The finishing supplies for “Chill” was included as well as a Mad for Plaid bag with a Shepherd’s Bush pattern. We also received supplies for the large chart included. We had a total of five charts included with all winter themes. I look forward to working on them after the Thanksgiving holidays.
Harvest Moon 🌖 with Lindy Stitches
While I had two classes, they were NOT cross stitch related. I had all the supplies for both but didn’t do either of them. This Virtual Retreat was Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Friday was shopping day which I missed. Ce La Vie. Missed Saturday morning because I was doing Friendstitch instead. BUT Harvest Moon was recorded so after joining all the live sessions, I went back to watch the recorded things I missed. I enjoy the interviews with the different designers. I still have not joined any of the WIP dating or stitching tables. Just not had the time. I hear they are lots of fun.
The next one is the original one Jingle Ball with 12 classes and 12 different designers. I hope to sign up for that. Signups start October 17th. The event is usually the first weekend of December.
Reflections & Plans
I love this quote! It is the truth. When I was working on Mr. Postman I embodied the spirit of this quote.
Plans for first half of October
- October Calendar Crates
- House on Pumpkin Hill
- November Stackables
- 2025 SJ Moon Phases
- Autumn Stitching Season
- Home Grown
- Fieldguide to Dragons
- Santa’s House
- The Postman
- Fruit of Plenty
- Stitching Quaker
- Crescent City Velaris
If it works out (which it probably will not 😬), I would love to start a few new fall projects like Pumpkin Pals, Passing Through, Pop of Halloween, and Boos & Hisses. That is me being totally optomistic. I will focus on starting the Halloweeny stuff first.
If you made it all the way to the end of this LLOONNGG post, congratulations and thank you. I will post next week, but probably will not post at all while I am in NYC. Have a great weekend everyone!
Peggy Stockwell in Vancouver, Washington