FLOSS FRIDAY # 31

Hello Fellow Cross Stitchers. January has been a crazy month in my little month as I have been travelling with my grandson Shaun for hockey the first half of the month. Not a lot of quilting or stitching has happened in my world recently, but definitely more stitching then quilting just due to portability of the hobby.

We got home late from Minnesota on Monday night and I have spent the time trying to just catch up. I can’t even believe that it is already Friday. Where has the time gone. Obviously we had team practice on Tuesday and doctor appointments on Wednesday so I spent Thursday trying to catch up on quilting.

So hear we are two weeks later giving you an update on my stitchy progress.

STARTS & FINISHES

Since the last time I posted, I had two stitchy finishes.

FINISH: January Nine Patch by Primrose Cottage Stitches

It was exciting to once again whip out this quick and easy project in just a few days. The 25 ct pewter lugana makes it seem like a gray day in January. This project was stitched with the called for DMC floss.

FINISH: Christmas Tiny Town by Heart in Hand

Finishing this cute little town was a pleasure. I really enjoyed working on it and am looking forward to starting the next one in the series Big Hearted Tiny Town. It was stitched on 16 ct aida Dubloon using all the called for Classic Colorworks and Weeks Dye Work flosses.

FINAL FINISHES

Will help if I told you that I bought a rolling gramercy cart to organize my finishing supplies?! Did I organize my supplies? Of course not! Don’t be silly. Soon I promise. You guessed it. I haven’t had any new Final Finishes.

WIP UPDATE

For the first hockey weekend I took the December Sampler of the Month with me and the second hockey weekend I took Snowman Collector with me. I don’t feel like I had a ton of free time either weekend but looking at my before and after pictures (last post & this post), I seemed to have had more time in Minnesota.

December Sampler of the Month by Country Cottage Needleworks

I was able to finish the center and border 1 while on my first hockey trip and this week I finished the border separations and almost finished one of border 2. I anticipate finishing this before month end. Border two is challenging but now I have a rhythm. This is being stitched on 16 ct beautiful beige aida with called for Classic Colorworks floss.

Prim Stitch by Lori Holt

Whoo Hoo! I finished Chart 9 which was my goal for this month. February I will start on Chart #10 out of 12. Getting close to having this long term project all finished. This project is stitched on 25 ct prim lugana using aurfil called for floss.

Snowman Collector: The Needleworker by Cottage Garden Samplings

I actually started this at midnight on New Year’s Day but ended up stitching the border the wrong way (short side instead of long side). On the afternoon of NY Day, I decided to just turn it and start the border over. I am using DMC variegated 4220 for the border. Without knowing the whole design, it is hard to tell if it is appropriate or not. I have my fingers crossed that it won’t look out of place later on.

Every time I sit down, I spend a few minutes picking out a few stitches from my wrong start before working on the main project. While in Minnesota, I forgot to bring extra needles and I hate switching thread every time I change colors on my needles so I worked with the color I had on my thread until I used it up. From the picture you can see I did a lot orange (722), gray (648), white, red (baked apple). Now that I am home, I hope to finish a patchwork block of his robe, one by one. Why? Because I will feel real accomplished:) Plus I will continue trying to work one white thread each sitting so as I am not stuck with just white at the end.

I did discover having my cashmere scarf around my cross stitch does not work well. I end up with lots of fuzzies in my stitching (and not in a good way).

Let’s Talk Winter (Hello Winter Hoop) by Hands on Design

This series is coming along really well. Last year I finished the 8 x 10 pieced that will be framed (soon). During the year, I finished the autumn & summer pieces that will be hooped. Now I am working on this piece that will be hooped. I finished the tag last night which was a lot of coverage. The rest of the chart should go fast now. I am stitching on 16 ct black aida with the called for DMC floss.

WRAP UP

I would love to show you a picture of Simba “helping” but after stepping on the keyboard multiple times, I shooed him off for his afternoon nap. Now he is back and harassing me while I`m trying to take photos for my post ;p

I apologize to any regulars for my lack of regular posts. Since I don’t have too many followers, I don’t think anyone will give me grief. I don’t have any idea why I get agitated when I miss the posting deadline when the audience is so darn forgiving.

2022 wrapup

I wanted to share my numbers for December and the whole year of 2022. For December, I started with 21 WIPS + 4 starts – 6 finishes to end with 19 WIPS at the end of December.

My recap for 2022: Began with 15 WIPs + 45 starts – 41 stitchy finishes = 19 Ending WIPs.

Wow! It looks like I really need to make an effort in 2023 to have more final finishes. I only have 2 for 2022. A pillow and my Hands On Design Class project.

2023 Goals

For 2023, I have decided to join the WIPGO crowd. I used the five new yearlong starts plus my 11 prior year long series stitches plus some of my oldest wips. I don’t have a formal board yet. I have not had an opportunity to figure out the how and why of it. The goal will be to work on the selected WIPs for at least 5 days out of the month. January WIPs are (#6) Let’s Talk Winter by HOD and (#10) Tiny Modernist Christmas Calendar (a restart).

I currently keep a cross stitch paper journal, cross stitch paper project log, excel inventory of patterns, wips, & flosses. I love paper journalling so I don’t imagine I will get rid of it in total, but I hope to move the bulk of the work over to a digital planner and/or notion website. This year will be experimenting to find what works best for the cross stitch. Once I figure that out, then I will convert my quilting as well.

I want to focus this year on series that I started in 2020 when I started back up with cross stitch and finishing those series so I can start displaying them in my home.

#24hours of cross stitching

Because I have been gone, I have decided that I am going to participate (hopefully all four this year) cross stitching marathons. The first one begins today (January 20-January 23). Just like the NYE 12 x 12, I saw it the morning of (this morning) and decided I should definitely participate. The idea is to stitch 24 hours on your wips over the 3 day weekend. I am aiming for 8 hours a day. Since I did the 12 hours, I know I can do 8. There doesn’t seem to be any other rules other than work on stitching for a total of 24 hours. I will let you know next week HOW I did my stitching and WHAT I stitched on. Obviously the WIPGO projects all 3 days, but what else…..

Hope everyone has a beautiful weekend. It finally stopped raining here in San Jose. Thank goodness. I am also trying to start a new habit of taking a 30 minute walk every day. So far, I have 3 days in a row!!!

Happy Stitching everyone!

Peggy