Hello My Stitchy Friends. Sorry about missing a week. If you follow me, then you are aware I had an impromptu trip to California to wrap up family matters and to finalize my move from California to Washington. My shoulders feel so much lighter now that everything is done.
Unfortunately, the lighting was terrible in my hotel room where I was staying. Plus I messed up on my project and was unable to successfully unstitch. Finally decided it was not worthy destroying the fabric. Let’s get to it so you can see!
November WIPGO Results
I would love to say I hit all of my WIPGO goals for November, but unfortunately, that would be a no. BUT I did good.
Project 3: Shabby Winter Calendar by Cuore e Batticuore
My goal was to finish 3 days – Day 16, 17, & 18. I finished Days 16 & 17. Love how they look. I am rolling over Day 18 to work on in December before I set aside until January. This is one of my favorite projects. The floss colors really pop on this purple cloth.
Project 22: March Month 2 Month Barn by Stitching with the Housewives
My goal for this project was to complete 2000 stitches. Totally finished!!! I am amazed at how much progress 2000 stitches made for us. Totally psyched to pick this one back up in the spring!
Starts & Finishes
November I really wanted to start a large number of fall projects as I find it easier to work on a WIP then kitting and starting a new project. Although… I love the thrill of starting a new project. It is just a lot of work. I managed to squeeze in two more starts at the end of November and one so far for December. No new finishes (no surprise there).
START: November Month 2 Month button by Stitching with the Housewives
First up was the mini chart for the Month 2 Month series for November. I secretly hoped I would finish, but realistically knew that would not happen. Still I got a lot done in the alloted time.
START: Oakly Acorn by Robin Pickens
This was another fall start that I was able to actually get some thread down. I love the colors and I look forward to stitching on this one in the future.
START: Climbing Goats Design December Advent SAL: Penguins
This is a mystery stitch-a-long. We get a piece of the chart every day for 24 days. Because I screwed up on day one and had to unstitch, I am obviously behind and now I don’t really have any hopes of finishing in December and definitely not by the 24th. But this is a cute winter stitch and I hope I will be able to finish it in January this year.
The mistake? I ended up not starting the center of the fabric (by a good two inches) thus I would not have had enough room to finish this project. No choice but to undo. We are now centered and looking good. You can’t tell from the photos but the fabric is Fabric Flair snow on aqua. It looks fabulous.
WIP Updates
While I showed the projects in WIPGO section, I decided, I would share again here additional progress photos as well as the other projects I worked on.
Nov WIPGO Project: Shabby Winter Calendar by Cuore e Batticuore
I was able to finish Day 17 before end of November and she was quite fun to stitch. I didn’t realize (remember) that I needed to improvise with my “square”. Sometimes I count wrong and then I have to make it all work. These calendar charts seem to always happen no matter how careful I am in counting. So I just go with what is.
Dec WIPGO Project: Santa’s House by Cottage Garden Samplings
The goal for this month is to finish this project. The top border and snowflakes as well as the house is done. So I am working on the “front” yard now. Just love this! Last time I worked on this I had started the reindeer. I ended up taking all of that out because I didn’t have them placed correctly. (That seems to be a recurring theme this week). All good now.
Dec WIPGO Project: Spring Baskets by Hands on Design
This WIPGO project has a goal of finishing chart #2 and start chart #3. It’s a big ask but I am game. This week I worked on the center “flowers” with the two shades of orange and green. Feeling like I got a ton of progress.
2021 Oracle Happy Holidays SAL by Oracle Tales
When I was in NY, this was the WIPGO project and I made a ton of progress then. This week I worked on the tree. I almost finished it. I am loving how the silk varigeated thread is coming out on this tree. It looks cool! This project was for only one night, but I will probably end up working on it again because I am definitely drawn to it.
Plans & Reflections
Caitlin sent me the progress she has made on the Crescent City chart – Fireheart – she is working on. Wow! 🤩. She has made amazing progress. It is definitely inspiring. Just gorgeous!
December Plans
I have pretty big plans for the month and yet I have already lost a week when I was gone. Guessing I may not achieve all goals this month. I put away all the fall projects and I am trying to focus on Christmas projects. I have out 12 WIPs including WIPGO projects with the hopes of starting 10 projects and finishing 4. LOL! Totally unrealistic, especially since some of those starts aren’t even kitted yet. Let’s take a look at what I hope to work on over the next 7 days:
- Kitting up Giver Ornament
- Kitting up Poinsetta Ornament
- Start Pop of Christmas
- Start December Stackables
- Finish Christmas Calendar Day 9
- Finish Shabby Winter Calendar Day 18
- Work on Winter Camper
- Work on Penguin Advent SAL
- Work on Stitching Quaker
My aim is to at least work on all the projects on my list.
Reflections
I received some happy mail this week from 123 Stitch AND I started opening my Advent Calendar from Catepillar Cross Stitch. That is fun. No bandwidth to start anything, but it is fun to open a box each day. So far I have 4 aida fabrics in various colors, DMC thread, 3 charts, scissors, 2 needleminders, & needles. I should have taken a photo. I am collecting all of them in a project bag. Love it! Just Fun!
I am working on setting up a End of Year WIP page for Cross Stitch and in theory Quilting. The Cross Stitch page is way longer than expected but it will be a nice snapshot for year end. It includes photos.
The Quilt one may have to be just a list with a few pictures because I have over 100 quilt wips. I am still mulling that one over. Thoughts?
I know some creatives do a WIP parade post, but I like the thought of a WIP parade page instead. Also thinking I might do a goals page. Still looking at others websites to see what they do. It might be this year all I can handle is the WIP parade pages. I already rearranged the finishes to go under Galleries.
Well I am off to do some stitching and quilting this weekend. We have had some large winter storms here in the PNW this week. Today & Tomorrow are days of sunshine before the next storm. Going to enjoy it as much as possible.
Peggy Stockwell in Vancouver, Washington