It has been a pretty productive week. I have spent some time organizing all of my kitted projects that still need to be started. It turns out I have a lot of those. LOL! I finally made a list just so I know. Over the past three years I have been a part of quite a few stitch clubs which came completely kitted. It feels good to KNOW what those are.
Starts & Finishes
No new starts this week.
FINISH: August Snapshot by Pine Mountain Designs
The lighting was terrible for this picture and it is even blurry. Sorry about that. I started this project 8/18/22 and finally finished it 5/20/23. I can’t say I worked on it even every month. There was a time in the past 12 months where I didn’t always work on stuff.
With all that aside, I really do love this project. August being my birth month, it brings back happy summer memories. It was stitched on Oatmeal 10 ct aida with DMC colors provided by Fat Quarter Shop.
Just have four left in this series – Jun, Oct, Nov, & Dec.
FINISHED: Butterfly Dreams by Dimensions
This finish felt exceedingly sweet. This was my very first cross stitch in recent years (Last time I cross stitched was back in the 1980s). I picked this up through drive through at Joann’s during Covid this one (and one other project which I never started).
I had been home about a month when I started watching Pat Sloan videos on YouTube. I started doing her QAL and she started cross stitching. It brought back great memories so I tried to get something local even though our county was shut down completely. This was the result.
Pat was working closely with Fat Quarter Shop and that is how I have ended up with so many of their clubs and projects. Hand dyed floss and fabric was not something I was familiar with. What a new world it is!
I started this project on May 13, 2020 and finished it May 24, 2023 using the supplied off white 14 count aida and floss of undetermined origin. I threw away all the leftovers because I have no idea how I would reuse it since I can’t identify it.
WIP Updates
Because I finished the above projects, I was able to squeeze in some time on some of my Jumbo projects. Let’s take a look to see how it is going.
Fruit of Plenty by Modern Folk Embroidery
Although the center design is pretty dense, I feel like it is going pretty quickly. I think the May page will move along faster than April or June. There is a lot more open space. I was thrilled when my outline matched perfectly! The center design reminds me of the tree of life. Can’t wait to work on this one again this upcoming week. Since March, I have made a point of spending at least 3 evenings on this during the month. I already filled out my July plan to include 3 times.
When I was organizing my kitted projects, I discovered a kit I purchased while in England at one of the castles that is a sampler similar to this. WHEN I finally finish this one, that will be my next sampler.
Snowman Collector: The Needleworker by Cottage Garden Samplings
I started working on the buttons this week. I just love them. They are fun. I realized though that I should finish the robe and maybe add at least the outline of his head. It looks pretty funny being headless. I can’t believe I am running out of the orange color (called Grapefruit) so I have it on my list to order some more. I don’t think I have enough to finish all the buttons plus I finally purchased the other patterns released in this series and that color is used again.
This jumbo project is another one that I have been penciling in at least 3 nights a month to work on. In June, I will be going to Reno with my quilty friends, this project will be going along with an EPP project.
Let’s Talk Spring: Framed by Hands on Design
There are 3 charts for each Let’s Talk booklet. The one above is my last one for Spring. I finished what was planned for this quarter so this is a head start on next year’s Spring where I should finally finish it up.
Sail Away by It’s Sew Emma (FQS)
I haven’t really ever focused on this project. I like it because it has a lighthouse. Unfortunately for me, I have been working on the border instead of the lighthouse. I had a couple of mismatches on the right side but I finally got all that corrected. I only planned one evening this month for this project.
Big Hearted Tiny Town by Heart in Hand
Most times the pictures are taken at night so I dont’ always do justice to the piece – above point in case. My goal this month was to finish the right side of town. That happened. I was able to get an extra few hours in on this one when I finished up the Butterfly Dreams. So I started on the left side with the mailbox and fence. I also decided to put all of my backstitching in on the existing buildings which originally I was going to do at the end.
I am hoping to wrap this one up in June.
WIPGO Project: Autumn Beauties by It’s Sew Emma (FQS)
To be honest, I really thought I would be able to finish this stitch when it got pulled for WIPGO. After the first evening, I realized there is some very dense coverage. I was only halfway done with page 1 of 4 when I started. I quickly realized I had to reset my WIPGO goal from a finish to working on five times this month. This is the result of my fourth time. I have one more planned evening (May 31st) where I hope to finish page 2 completely and I think I will work on the border and sign of page 3 next week afterwards.
I am running out of the green (Bean Sprout). I have to check my stash before I place my order next week for more thread. I eyeballed what was left to finish with the green and it would be a close call. Of course, I won’t have to worry about running out this month and I could just order in the fall when I pull this out again.
Upcoming Plans & Thoughts
I have already started planning July. Having a digital journal sure is helpful. I have fallen into “penciling” in the color of the month what I think I will be doing and when. When I actually do it, I switch it to blue (my color for cross stitch) so I know I updated it. I am still maintaining my paper journal for now but I think I will be ready to switch to 100% digital in 2024. Still working on the best method for monthly goals (not just planned work times). I also need to design a project page to my requirements.
May 31st is on a Wednesday and my week is usually Friday through Thursday so next week’s blog will include month end wrapup. The random WIPGO numbers have been pulled for June.
I spent some time updating my journals and files for my finishes and started working on my June starts. I will be putting away Autumn Beauties (May WIPGO project) and Let’s Talk Spring in June. I have decided to leave out Just My Type. I feel I have a real chance of finishing this in June as well as Big Hearted Tiny Town.
I have pulled out Works in Progress – Summer Baskets and Snow Village – to work on in June.
My planned June starts currently are:
- Hello June
- June Nine Patch
- June Celebration
- June Snapshot
- Let’s Talk Summer Framed chart
With all that being said, here is next week’s plan:
- Start June Hello There
- April Stackables – flower and egg
- Fruit of Plenty for third night
- Tea Thyme finally finish cup
- Jun Calendar Crates – house and truck
- Snowman Collector – Needlework – robe
- Final night on Autumn Beauties
Crossing my fingers that I can work on the Snowman twice next week but I am not sure if that will materialize.
I hope everyone has fun plans for this weekend. I had hoped to quilt some quilts this weekend. The house is a bit chaotic with the workers here tearing out my bathroom (as well as distracting!). For once, I haven’t seen nor heard from Nala or Simba while writing my blog because they are in hiding due to the noise. I am sure they will find me later to harass me. LOL!
Peggy Stockwell
Butterfly Dreams is so pretty. I have started throwing away leftover floss for the same reason. I’m sure there are those who recycle floss or repurpose it, but I don’t have time – lol! Since I love yours so much, I searched for the Fruit of Plenty CS and found it in blue. How did you decide on the gorgeous greens you are using? Now you have me Googling “castle cross stitch”. I need to stop reading your posts – lol! Our kitties all hide when there are big noisy men in the house, then they cautiously come out stretching and sniffing every corner. Have a wonderful weekend Peggy!
Hi Linda: I originally was going to stich it on Black with the two different shades of teal mostly because they are the colors of the San Jose sharks and I like the look. I opted to use white instead just for my poor eyes with such a large stitch. I have really enjoyed the Fruit of Plenty sampler. Some people did it with more than two colors and it looks fantastic. I have seen it stitched in shades of brown, purple, pink, reds. It really looks good in anything. I did decide to do with Weeks Dye Works which probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do with a sampler of this size. There is only 5 yards on the hand dyed floss versus 8 yards with DMC. I don’t regret though. I just hope that I bought enough floss. Lol!
Cali is currently hiding under the coach in the tv room and has been there for 3 days. As far as I can tell she hasn’t even come out for food or water. They aren’t supposed to be back until Monday so I am hoping to coax her out and do some major cuddling with her.