Floss Friday #80

Welcome to this week’s edition of Floss Friday where I share my projects I worked on this week. We will also be recapping February and planning out March. Once again… Welcome!

Starts & Finishes

Amazingly I had two starts & finishes this week. Didn’t realize that my two year long small projects were both this week. Let’s take a look.

START & FINISH: January Year of Celebration Season 2 by Hands on Design

This series I will be stitching individually. I have been waiting for some missing flosses and they finally arrived last week. Did I every tell you I love snowmen! While this color pallet isn’t my usual colors, I really like how they play well together. Those cardinals were definitely a nice touch. Just loved stitching this trio of snowmen!

I wish I could tell you what I am stitching on, but I think it is 16 ct french cafe mocha aida. I am using the called for Classic Colorworks floss. I had not worked with Toasted Marshmallow before. It looks good.

START & FINISH: January Monthly Markings by Heart to Hand

This project I decided to do as one piece because I love the designers border as much as I love each individual square. It just felt … right. I hemmed and hawwed for weeks before deciding to go with 16 ct dirty aida. Originally I wanted to do something darker but my choices were not available in a piece large enough. I have stitched on dirty aida before and it is actually a very nice … tan brown. Now that I am working on it, I am happy I went with it.

This project requires both Weeks Dye Works and Gentle Arts floss. I am not positive I have all the colors I need as there is not one list of all the colors, but I know I have everything I need through March.

I love the whimseyness of this stitch. As I told you, this border drew me in from the start. I was surprised how fast January went and can’t wait to do February. I have high hopes of catching this one up in March.

WIPGO Recap & Update

Just a reminder that this is an instagram/youtube/facebook challenge that I particiapte in. You should be able to locate any details on instagram under @WIPGO_Official handle.

FEBRUARY

Project 3: Shabby Winter Calendar by Cuore e Batticuore

I had hoped to be able to do more than two more days during February. Alas, there was some restitching involved during the month. I found that it takes me approximately 2 days per square. While I love this border, I have found where I have made mistakes in prior sittings which require some…. Creative problem solving. LOL! The colors are fabulous with this project. This little people were a lot of fun to stitch.

Project 24: Stitch Quarterly Project Wintertime by Fat Quarter Shop

I wasn’t exactly prepared for this project pull. I was very undecided on how I was going to proceed and put it out in the world. People voted for me to work on Wintertime project that was the latest FQS Stitch Quarterly release. What a pleasure to work on. I had a hard time putting it away for now. Don’t be surprised to see this one again soon….

MARCH

Project 1: Snow Village by Country Cottage Needleworks

I worked on this project this week and I am so delighted that it came up for March. While my goal is to work on it for five sittings, it would be so satisfying to finish it this month. (Sigh). That is the optomist in me. This week when I worked on this one, I was finishing the brown of the stand when I realized, it was wrong. So the frog came out and I ripped all the brown out and redid it. I didn’t quite get it back to the stage before I took it out.

I am looking forward to finishing the last four charts of this project. But my actual WIPGO project is five sittings working on this project. Stay tuned.

Project 10: Stitch Quarterly Project Fall Harvest by Fat Quarter Shop

This may look familiar to you. I had considered working on this as my stitch quarterly project in February. So glad I didn’t. Once again the goal will be work on this for five sittings.

WIP Updates

In addition to Shabby Winter Calendar, Year of Celebration, Monthly Markings, and WinterTime, I also worked on these older projects.

December Snapshot by Pine Mountain Designs

While this is actually a seasonal stitch, I am close to finishing this series so I figure taking it out once a month will just help me plug away. This wreath was interesting to stitch. I like how the designer mixed the colors.

Mr August – A Calendar Gnome by Charlie’s Needle

I can’t believe how long these guys take. I assume it is because how dense the coverage is. So last night, I set a goal of finishing the hat. And I did for the most part. His hat was stitched with CCW Spinach. Love how it looks. I also went ahead and added some nails in the cart and some wings on a couple of bees before calling it a night.

Upcoming Plans & Thoughts

I started February with 20 Active WIPS. I had 3 starts and 3 finishes which means I ended the month with 20 active WIPS. After some consideration, I decided to put away all my winter stitches except for the WIPGO Snow Village and my series stitches – January Month 2 Month, Snowman Collector, and December Snapshot. That was 6 projects I moved to the inactive pile.

I reviewed my inactive WIPS and decided that this month I would pull out Let’s Talk Spring and WIPGO project Fall Harvest. I decided to hold off on pulling out Sail Away for at least one month maybe two. Instead I am going to start a new series Fabulous House with the third in the Series – Green House, Blooming Tiny Town, May Stackables, and Hummingbird Sampler (my favorite). That’s a lot of new starts but I am excited to get started.

Six out. Six in. I am not sure where my math went wrong, but I have a list of 13 active WIPS for this month. I must have put 7 away instead of 6.

I will be continuing the February portion of all three of my year long stitches in March – 2024 Temperature Library, Monthly Markings, and Year of Celebration Season 2. I have been counting Monthly Markings & Year of Celebration as starts & finishes each month but not the Library. I have zero logic to go with that. LOL!

With that all worked out in my head and on paper, here is this upcoming week’s cross stitch plan:

• Work on Autumn Basket finishing light green and light orange
• Work on June Calendar Crates finishing top border
• Start & Finish Monthly Markings February and maybe do the blue in the border.
• Work on WIPGO project Snow Village twice
• Work on Snowman Collector – maybe finishing his shoes
• Finish the February Temperature Shelf in the Library

I realized that I haven’t had any pictures of my kitties recently but they are still being as mischieveous as ever. Simba is still sitting on my keyboard every chance he has. While stitching he comes at least once if not more into my lap to try and stand on the project while head butting me and stealing my clover clips. Meanwhile, Nala every morning leaves me a present on the stairs a plastic bag that she digs up with fabric in it. She is obsessed with finding these. Here I think I have everything put away, yet she still finds them.

Have an awesome weekend everyone!

Peggy Stockwell in San Jose, California