Hi Everyone! Welcome back to Floss Friday. This week was a little chaotic with my stitchy plans. I didn’t get as much time as I wanted in February to finish up some stuff. March just jumped out at me. Today is finally a sunny day after days of rain. It will kick in again next week so I intend on enjoying the sun while it is here!
Starts & Finishes
I wasn’t intending on starting anything this week. It just sorta happened. Honest!
START: March Truckin Along by Stitching With the Housewives
I had this as a March start, I just wasn’t planning to do it this week. I wanted to focus on my February starts. Then I had to do some setup and upgrades on my computer which requires babysitting, so…. I found myself pulling this out and starting it. I got a little excited about the series when I realized that after I finish this one, there will only be two left!
This project is being stitched on 14 ct aida chalkboard black with called for Classic Colorworks floss.
FINISH: Let’s Talk Spring – Hoop by Hands on Design
It was very satisfying to finish this one on February 28th as part of my WIPGO project goals. I was able to squeeze it in. To do the final finish of this project, I have some perforated paper items to make. I originally did not account for this in my break down of Let’s Talk series. Those will be a new start for this month. Now where did I stash that perforated paper…..?
This project was stitched on 16 count black aida with called for DMC floss.
WIP Updates
February started with 22 WIPS. I had 5 new starts and 3 finishes to leave me with 24 WIPS going into March. Not the trend I was hoping for, but still not a bad trend. I knew that 2023 would be a lot more starts because of the small monthly series I had decided to do this year.
WIPGO Projects:
For February, those projects were: Let’s Talk Spring and Shabby Winter Calendar. For March, those are Year of Celebration and Calendar Crates.
Shabby Winter Calendar by Cuore e Batticuore
My final progress on this project was great. During February, I worked on this project a total of five times. I redid the borders as well as making sure I had plenty of space lengthwise and widthwise. Then I was able to finish Day 5 & 6 as well as Day 3. I even started Day 4! I love this stitch and now that I have figured out the borders hopefully when I pull this one out later this year for Winter, I can get further.
Calendar Crates by Stitching with the Housewives
March WIPGO was Calendar Crates. I am currently working on May in the series. So my goal this month is to finish May and to start June. To aid in that quest, I have mentally planned on working on this project at least five times. March 1st found this project in hand. I use an iPad to stitch and import the scanned pdf’s into an app called Notability. In my digital planner quest, I have discovered a thing or two about my app. I messed up months ago on this one (which is probably why it isn’t finished). So Wednesday found me doctoring the pattern with the edit tools available to me to correct my stitching. I had to do some unstitching, but not as much as I should have. I am very pleased with my pattern alterations. I don’t think anyone will even notice! If I had to guess, I would say after this week’s time, I am over halfway done with this project and am very hopeful I can meet my WIPGO goals.
Year of Celebrations by Hands on Design
My second WIPGO project for March is Year of Celebrations. For the most part, these are pretty quick stitches. I was very surprised at how far I got with my start so last night I was super happy with my progress. The overall goal for March is to complete February Celebration and to start (and maybe even finish) March Celebration. I will dedicate at least five times to this project during March.
Non-WIPGO Projects:
Mondays and Tuesdays are usually busy nights but this week I was able to get some quality time in on projects despite all the errands I had in the evenings.
Fruity of Plenty by Modern Folk Embroidery
This project is a very slow stitch for me. It is my first in depth sampler. I am loving it but I am extremely slow and it took me awhile to develop an approach to a multi page project (12 pages – One for each month of the year). I have tried to stitch on thread strand every night. I do okay for a few nights, then I forget to work on it. February I tried a more deliberate intention with a goal for three times for at least one hour each time. I barely squeezed in all three times, but I did! So…with the feeling of success still fresh in my mind, my March goal is to repeat that. I scheduled out to work on this 3 days this week. Then any other time I work on it will be bonus stitching.
Just My Type by It’s Sew Emma (FQS)
I pulled this Valentine stitch out and am not ready to put it away yet. It is fun! I love the floss and fabric colors from my stash. My February goal of finishing the Red & Pink hearts at the point of the design was accomplished! I have high hopes of finishing the left side of the heart in March. that leaves me four items to stitch – bird with red heart, double pink hearts, and pink outline on left side.
Snowballs For Sale by Bee in my Bonnet (Lori Holt)
This is another winter stitch that is going away for the month of March. I finally finished all the snowballs in the wheel barrel. It felt like it was taking forever! Winter 2023 I will tackle the snowman himself, but for now he is going into hibernation waiting for the snow.
2023 San Jose Temperature Butterflies by Stitchin Momma
This month I setup an Excel sheet to convert temperatures to my temperature DMC chart. I finished the January butterfly on March 1st and started the outline of February. I entered all the historical February highs into my excel and updated my chart for this. While doing this, I discovered that San Jose had cooler weather than it has had in years. The February butterfly is going to have plenty of purple! I am looking forward to working on this during the month.
Upcoming Plans & Thoughts
I am still working on how to use my iPad as a digital planner and figuring out my workflow. So this morning, I worked out a cross stitch plan for the next 2 weeks (subject to change) in my planner. I wrote it in Green and am turning it Blue as it happens. So cool to be able to change the color of the text so easily.
I am beginning my month focusing on my two WIPGO projects (May Calendar Crates and February Celebrations ) plus getting all three times in on my Fruit of Plenty Sampler. Then I have me stitching one night on all of my active WIPS including some Spring ones I pulled – Tea Thyme, Sail Away, and Butterfly Dream.
I put away my winter stitches – Winter Camper (which I didn’t even work on in February), Shabby Winter Calendar, Snowballs for Sale, and Snow Village. That leaves me with 16 active projects. I should be able to hit every project twice while still focusing on the WIPGO projects and other finishes.
We will be heading to California States for AA Hockey next Thursday so you won’t be seeing anything next Friday. As I have done for the past two hockey trips, I will be taking my Snowman Collector – The Needleworker to work on all four days.
I have six starts planned for March – Hello March, March Celebration, March Truckin Along, March Nine Patch, Let’s Talk Spring Perforated Paper Tulips, and June Calendar Crates.
Before some of those starts, I need to have some planned finishes – February Celebrations, May Calendar Crates, and Hello February. Of those planned starts, I think I can finish two of them during the month – Let’s Talk Spring Perforated Paper Tulips and March Nine Patch.
It’s a good thing there is 31 days in March with 5 Thursdays.
Happy Friday Everyone! Have a great weekend working on something you love!
Peggy Stockwell