Things have gone very well this past week. I am trying to make sure I touch all of my active WIPS this month. I use to rotate through the WIPS but I found that it was taking forever to finish projects, but I made progress on everything. The month of December I am attempting a hybrid approach. I plan on making sure I work on everything this month, but continuing to work daily on things that close to being finished. Only time will tell if this is going to work.
Starts & Finishes
I was thinking I didn’t have anything to report in this section until I looked at my Cross Stitch journal. I guess that is why I keep a journal right? I am working on so many things that I don’t necessarily remember all the details of when.
Christmas Tiny Town by Heart and Hand START!
So excited to start on this. It was a busy week so I didn’t get to spend as much time on it as I would like but it felt like great progress anyway. Such cute little houses and candy canes. Can’t wait to start on the gingham tree.
November Trucking Along by Stitching with the Housewives FINISH!!!!
Wow! It is amazing how quickly you can finish something when you are focused on just one project. This was started on Thanksgiving and was the only project I had with me while I was in Seattle. When I got home, I felt I was so close to being done so I broke it one item at a time to do each day with my regular stitching. So happy to have finished. I love all the corn and pumpkins.
Final Finishes
No final finishes.
WIP Weekly Update
I worked on a total of 7 projects this week of which 5 are still WIPS.
Santa Baby by Fat Quarter Shop
Santa Baby was a December Quarterly stitch from 2020. Last year for December was a deer and this year is Mrs. Claus using all the same supplies. I just received it this week. So it looks like I need to wrap Mr. Claus up so I can at least start Mrs. Claus. I have been stitching 2 white strands every day. On a daily basis, it doesn’t seem like much, but from a weekly view, I can really see I made progress. Stitching just one color is so so so boring so seeing this progress is definitely encouraging. Not sure if I will finish next week, but definitely this month!
Snow Village by Country Cottage Needleworks
This week I set aside 2 nights to work on this one and I love the progress I made on Chart 1 – Snow Village Banner. I have almost finished the entire base including the snowmen.
Christmas Calendar by Tiny Modernist
I was supposed to work on this on the 25th of every month over 2022 but probably only remembered 6 out of 12 months. Still that is some nice progress on an out of season project. I had gotten into the groove of finishing one square in a night or two depending on the complexity of the design. To say I am disappointed in this week’s progress would be a huge understatement.
Prim Stitch by Lori Holt
I continue working on chart #9. My goal this week was to finish the blue boxes or tower or whatever that is suppose to represent. Happy to have reached that goal.
Summer Baskets by Hands on Designs
While I have been tempted to put this away, I just feel the need to finish this. Now that I have the blue stars and red stripes done, that leaves just white to do – some stripes and then fill in the middle designs of all those jade squares. I feel so close to finishing that I decided to hang on to this one into the next week so I can see if I can final bring this one to a happy conclusion.
Upcoming
After reviewing what I have worked on so far this month and what I want to work on for seasonal projects. I came up with the following list for this coming week:
- Santa Baby – keep doing 2 white strands a day
- Christmas Calendar – finish up Day 2 from last week
- Winter Calendar – start Day 3
- Snowballs for Sale – Finish wheel barrel
- Finish Summer Baskets chart 1
- Work on Modern Folk Embroidery Sampler 2021 April chart
- June Sampler of the Month – border 1 (top & bottom)
My plan is to give the Christmas projects more of my love this month, then the winter projects, but still work on non holiday projects with a focus on one project that is close to being done.
I have two more starts for this month to work in – my last Barn Sweet Barn and Mrs Claus. I need to do a thread pull for BSB and I don’t want to start Mrs. until I have finished Mr.
Looking way ahead to 2023 I am definitely going to do my first Cottage Gardens Sampling series. I have fallen in love with the first release – The Needleworker. I have order a three different fabrics to see which one I think will work best. Surprisingly enough, I was only missing a few threads which I ordered.
I am also going to start the Hello There series by Hands on Design that I have both buttons and charts for already. My other thought for this year is a temperature chart. I purchased a number of them this summer and wouldn’t you know it, FQS came out with their own as well, but I like the ones I have better. Doing the 9 Patch and Barn Sweet Barn where I can finish them in a day or two has been very inspiring and uplifting overall. I have a few other quick series that I will choose one other from unless I see something that just says must do.
Peggy Stockwell
Christmas Tiny Town is adorable, and of course I love all your projects. I get inspired when I read your posts, and I look up the different pieces as I read. I need to stop doing that – lol! I like your hybrid approach idea. I am going to pick up a small spiral notebook today and use it for my needlework, thanks to your inspiration!