Wow! First Stitchy post of April. This move has definitely knocked me off my creative crafty horse 🐎. At least I did get some stitching done before the move and just this week finally got settled enough to get going again. I have a few challenges since I haven’t unpacked the craft/sewing studio yet. Let’s get caught up!
Starts & Finishes
Taking a minute to see where I left off from my last post on March 28th.
FINISH: January Square Dance by Heart in Hand
WIP Updates
As I mentioned earlier, I moved just two weeks ago and am getting settled into my new home. Heaven knows where anything is right now. ALL of my April goals are totally blown out of the water right now. This week felt the most normal as I had set aside all of my active WIPs but kits and inactive WIPS along with fabric and floss got packed away before the end of March. Sadly I was unable to begin my Prairie Schooler WIPGO Goal for April. I hope I can at least get it started but no promises. Let’s take a look at what I have worked on since I last shared:
Calendar Gnome: Mr. January by Charlie’s Needle
I was able to finish my MARCH goal of 400 stitches on Mr. January. I am in the process of filling in the gnome’s sweater. I really enjoy working on this linen. It has been very easy to work with. The thread colors are per the pattern and are beautiful.
Shabby Winter Calendar by Cuore e Batticuore
My MARCH goal was to finish Day 12 of the calendar. I got it started. I have almost finished the outline of the pitcher of flowers.
Stitch Quarterly: Hello Summer by It’s Sew Emma (FQS)
This was the first project I worked on in April right before the move. I finished the “Summer” popsicles and had started the final item “hello”.
November Snapshot by Pine Mountain Designs
This was the first time I actually pulled out a project after the move. I didn’t have any of my floor lamps so I choose to work on this project since it is on 10 ct aida and I figured my tired eyes would be able to see the holes. I finished up the “wagon” picture and started the leaf picture. I don’t have any spare needles available right now (i put them somewhere safe 🙄. It was a nice way to ease back into my nightly stitching. Coincidentally, it happened to be the first night I could watch TV. (huh?!)
September Calendar Crates by Stitching with the Housewives
I stitched again a couple days later after I found one of my floor lamps, but it didn’t have any light bulbs and I have no idea where the spares were. So I opted to work on a 14 ct Aida project and this was it! Believe it or not, the black was cloth was perfect because I could hold it up to my iPad when I could not feel the hole with my needle. Still haven’t found my needles so working with the needles in each project. Here I finished the “grass” beneath the house and truck. I worked with the greens in this project as well as the white. I attempted to fill in where I could. I worked at least 500 stitches this night so that certainly felt good.
Fruit of Plenty by Modern Folk Embroidery
The light bulbs came and I was able to use one of the floor lamps I had unpacked. But because of the shade, it really was very unhelpful. I ended up ordering a new floor lamp (which I probably don’t need but I just can’t wait any longer to find my usual stitching floor lamp). I mean the light did help but not as much as I am used to. I was still able to get over 500 stitches done on this 4 year old project. I love working on these “medallion” type images in this project. It just seems to go faster. All the dark teal is done and I was doing my “echo” line around the outside when I couldn’t open any longer.
WIPGO Project: September Stackables
At the time I pulled this out, I had no idea this was my April WIPGO project. The goal is to finish it in April. 🤣🤪. That’s not going to happen now. I finished the can of flowers and started on the Sunflower sign. I was able to get over 500 stitches done even though it doesn’t feel like I got much done. I just love this project though. Sunflowers are a favorite of mine.
May WIPGO Goals
I was shocked last night when this popped up on my Instagram feed. I realized in that moment, I didn’t even remember what my April WIPGO proejcts were or what those goals for April were. I have a week to see how that turns out, meanwhile, let me share with you the May projects
PROJECT 5: Crescent City Velaris by Woven Wild Crafts
This will be nice to focus on for May. The WIPGO goal is 2000 stitches done in May. Now that I finally have my new floor lamp which is awesome, working on 18 count should be a slam dunk.
Project 19: Winter Camper by Bobbie G Designs
Do you think I will be heart broken if I don’t find my inactive WIPS? This is one of my original projects from 2020 and I made so many mistakes that it is extremely challenging to work on now as I refused to unstitch anything. The WIPGO goal is to work on it 5 times during May. We shall see what happens. Maybe next time I will share what my sewing studio looks like right now. It’s bad. It took two trucks to bring my stuff. One was just sewing and crafty stuff.
Afterthoughts
Getting back into my normal routine is helping a lot. I still have tons to do with the California house in order to sell it and tons to do in the Washington house to get it setup. Luckily I normally work well in chaos, but I have been a bit off. In order to deal with chaos, I have a basic daily routine (and always have). If I can do the four or five things in my routine every day, then my capacity for chaos is much higher. I am working on re-establishing that routine which includes posting these blogs.
The weather here has been beyond fantastic for my first two weeks in my new home.
This is the trailhead that is about a mile from my house. Look at that gorgeous blue sky. I am attempting to get back to walking every day for 30 minutes. This week I was able to do at least three 30 minute walks which has helped a lot.
The dynamics with the cats have drastically changed. Since I am now the only human in the house, I am in great demand and they seem to be figuring out how to share the space. There is still middle of the night cat fights and wild chases, but more and more of these family nights are happening where everyone is hanging out together. My Callie Girl has always be a Momma’s girl and she has decided this is her house too. Simba really misses his favorite human (my grandson Shaun) and cries at what he thinks is Shaun’s bedroom door most nights. The length of crying is getting shorter. Nala has become an undercover kitty. She loves the new bed because she can get under the covers and spends hours under there.
Plans for this week
I never made any goals for April so that is messing with my mojo. I am thinking what I need to do this week is:
- Finish unpacking my bedroom
- See if I can find my cross stitch supplies/wips
- Begin unpacking the sewing studio
- Get a quote from Gammill
- Unpack at LEAST one kitchen box a day (maybe I will find my dishes!)
- Wrap up my March journal and make a few notes for April before setting up May
- Setup my sewing machine and work on my Dragonfruit project
- Cross Stitch every night for the next seven days. I don’t have a clue which projects right now. It seems like I need to work some more on my September Stackables but I am thinking I would like to finish Hello Summer as well. Right now it will be a surprise.
I hope you all have enjoyed the update and my journey to a new chapter of my life. Please feel free to leave helpful comments.
Peggy Stockwell in Vancouver, Washington