2024 Recap

In place of WIPocalypse this month. Let's have a fun look back at 2024...

I worked on 62 Different WIPs.

I had 39 New Starts.

I had 30 Finishes.

123,525 Total Stitches!

Finishes...

1.  Wee Bit Irish - Erin Elizabeth (Finished Jan 6th)
2.  Owl Gnome - MH Jim Shore (Finished Jan 12th)
3.  Country Life - Just Cross Stitch June 23 (Finished Jan 17th)
4.  Snowman Heart - Sekas (Finished Jan 19th)
5. Peppermint Sleds - Lizzie Kate (Finished Jan 24th)
6.  Winter Line Up - The Trilogy (Finished Feb 27th)
7. Acorn Gnome - Jim Shore Mill Hill Kit (Finished Mar 17th) 
8.  Rules for Life - Kincavel Krosses (Finished March 27th)
9. Evergreen Gnome - Jim Shore MH Kit (Finished Apr 19th)
10. Spring Line Up - The Trilogy (Finished May 2nd) 
11. Harvest Wagon - MH Kit (Finished May 9th)
12. All American - Primrose Cottage Stitches (Finished June 10th)
13. Love Beer - Hinzeit (Finished June 11th)
14. Taurus - MH Kit (Finished June 12th)
15. Thanks to the Brave - Erica Michaels (Finished June 30th)
16.  Mini Block America - Hinzeit (Finished July 2nd)
    
17.  Pisces - MH Kit (Finished July 11th)
18. The Witch is In - The Witchy Stitcher (Finished July 24th)
    
19.  Gathering Berries - Luminous Fiber Arts (Finished August 16th)
20.  Summer Line Up - The Trilogy (Finished August 18th) 
21.  Autumn Time - New York Dreamer (Finished Sep 12th)
22. Mini Block Freedom - Hinzeit (Finished Sept 29th)
23. Owe Them All - Erica Michaels (Finished Oct 8th)
24. Halloween Sampler -- Les Petites Croix De Lucie (Finished Oct 29th)
25. Autumn Line Up - The Trilogy (Finished Nov 5th)
26. Halloween Quaker - Primrose Cottage (Finished Nov 6th)
27. Christmas Celebration Sampler - Frosted Pumpkin (Finished Nov 10th)
28. Love USA - Hinzeit (Finished Nov 20th)
29. Hedgehogs in the Snow - Stoney Creek (Finished December 15th)
30. Advent Mystery SAL - Artmishka (Finished December 24th)

 I loved each one!!! I've really had a wonderful time with my stitching this last year and joining all the challenges haha. Facebook groups have definitely made this all fun and I love being a part of the community of people I've stumbled upon.

I am having so much fun planning for 2025. Getting all my crazy challenges lined up. 

So Far...

Semi Sane 2025 Goals

1. 500 a month on Beer Dragon

2. 250 a month on Yggdrasil

3. 4 Puntini Puntini Seasons (Seasonal Set)

4. Along the Nesting Boxes - Jardin Prive (Monthly section)

5. 4 Quaker Seasons - Primrose Cottage (2nd Seasonal Set)

6. Mother Nature Series from Just Cross Stitch (Keep Making Progress)

7. Peppermint Purple 2025 SAL (Try to Stay Current)

8. Mill Progress (2 times a month)

 

I joined YOW (Year of WIPs) again this year. 

25 Projects for 2025

Goal: Finish Least 13 by Dec 18th

4 Puntini Puntini Seasons

Mother Nature: Winter

In the Land of the Gnomes - Jardin Prive

Christmas Among the Gnomes - Jardin Prive

Along the Nesting Boxes - Jardin Prive

The Mandalorian - Forbidden Fiber Co

4 Quaker Seasons - Primrose Cottage

Mason Jar Lineup - Dimensions

Colorful Eagle - Kitty & Me

Irish Blessing - Herrschners

Forever in Peace - Sweet Wing Studio

The Pirate - Cottage Garden

Creepy Christmas Village - Lola Crow

Patriotic Gnome Littles - Waxing Moon

Enchanted Pumpkin - Mill Hill

Summer Time - New York Dreamer

Christmas Truck - Vervaco

Halloween Among the Gnomes - Jardin Prive

Easter Among the Gnomes - Jardin Prive

 

 

Now to see what 2025 brings. I would love to try to make a Floss Tube. Let's see if I get the courage to do that.

Dec 2nd Monday Update

 Well Hello December. I knew you were coming but you still surprised me! I guess we just can't figure out how to slow down time and life can we? No matter how hard we all try. Actually I did have a really nice long week which was needed. So let's look back and see what I worked on.

Monday and Tuesday I kept working on The Pirate by Cottage Garden that I worked on Sunday. I added 200 both days so 600 total. I enjoyed making progress on this one...

Just love that 36ct Mirage Edinburgh Linen I'm stitching it on. Really helps the design pop.

Wednesday I pulled out Lady Liberty by Keslyn's which hadn't been out in awhile. Added 400...

Thursday I marked off my last acrostic goal for the month with Enchanted Pumpkin Mill Hill kit...

400 more orange background stitches done. Slowly but surely the background is getting filled in. I will be glad to more to the next symbol haha.

Friday and Saturday I pulled out the Stitchonomy Winter 2024 SAL. Added 800...

Getting closer every stitch. Just one more section that says Fuzzy Sweaters.

Sunday I pulled out Yggdrasil after Jeremiah did a spin of my December acrostic picks. I added 200...

So talking about November. I stitched 14 different projects. 11,055 total stitches. 3 Starts. 4 Finishes. Completed my goals and had a lot of fun. Found more groups and more challenges haha. I'm insane. Now my 2025 plans are flying and I'm joining all the things so I can STITCH all the things. I will go over my planned starts for 2025 sometime soon I promise. December plans. Play all the games haha. Semi Sane is doing one with the Twas the Night Before Christmas poem. We get a prompt each day from the poem so yesterday we could stitch night, a house, or a creature. So Yggdrasil worked for creatures and the house on the design. Today the prompt is stockings/socks, something hanging, or a chimney, and of course Santa Claus. I think I have my pick ready to go. 200 for something with at least 1 item and 300 on something without as a penalty. Fun challenge. I also have two new acrostic lists...

I know I really want to work on Creepy Christmas Village but I might have to wait till after this weekend trip to make sure I have the right amount of fabric for it. Then it will be started. I have my monthly planned start another Erica Michael's...

Liberty Squared is what this one is called. 

Fred's week off went nice. Actually slow and we got everything done we wanted done which is surprising haha. He got his deer on the coldest day of the year of course haha. We have 4 processed in the freezer now. We went to a new to us grocery store. It was nice. Higher price than Walmart but a lot of different variety then Walmart. We got everything done at the laundry that could be washed haha. We even relaxed and watched some shows/movies we were wanting to have time for. Thanksgiving at Grandma's was lovely. It was great to see my cousins and family. Now we are getting excited about Christmas. Have the stuff ready to put out tomorrow. A fun trip planned this weekend with lots of shopping stops we look forward to this time of year. 

Have a great week. Happy December. Love yourself. Find all the reasons to smile. Stitch all the things!

Nov 4th Monday Update - Recap and Plans

 Here we are in November. Seriously time needs to take a chill pill and SLOW down please. Lots to talk about. First let's see what I worked on last week...

Monday and Tuesday I worked on finishing up the Halloween Sampler. After 300 Monday and 540 Tuesday it was finished...

(Finish #28) October 29th

Halloween Sampler

by Les Petites Croix De Lucie

Fabric 40ct White Evenweave

Threads Suggested DMC

Started Oct 1, 2024. Took 27 Days.

Total 3,641 Stitches

 

Wednesday I went back to Halloween Quaker by Primrose Cottage to try to finish it up. 463 Wednesday 360 Thursday. 390 Friday. Didn't finish it yet but soooo close...

Saturday and Sunday I worked on Autumn Line Up by The Trilogy. Added 254 Saturday and 567 Sunday and I'm close to finished with this one too...

So hopefully 2 finishes coming soon.

Saturday I went to a friend's stitching day event. She hosted from 10 - 5 at a gathering rental building only like 45 mins away. It was nice. 20 people showed up. We had a little bagged lunch catered. It was a lovely day. Too short of course but that's okay. Fred got a ton of stuff done here at home and it was nice to come home to lots of things marked off the to do list.

While at the gathering a friend gifted me a HUGE amount of GORGEOUS 40ct evenweave she isn't going to use...

I can't wait to find the perfect patterns to use these beautiful fabrics with. 

I also forgot to share a haul I received in the mail. I bought from Tiny Hummingbird Stitchery (on Facebook)...

Yep two more gorgeous pieces of fabrics and more charts haha. Love them all. Planning for next year coming soon. Can't wait!!

Okay see I said Lots of talk about. October Recap...

I stitched 11,032 stitches. Worked on 9 Projects. Started 1. Finished 2. I missed two acrostics but that's okay I was working on some pieces that became focus stitches instead. 

Here are my plans for November...

Semi Sane FB group has this fun challenge this month...

I was stole from one time and I stole one every day so far. So I have 12 bags right now. I was forced (peer pressure is strong with stitchers!) to join a new FB group game that is based on Roller Coaster Tycoon. Oh my it's fun so far. Basically you build your own theme park with stitches. So fun so far and seriously so motivating. So I must stitch as much as possible to keep my park growing haha. 

We have some fun plans in November. Starting our Christmas family shopping together. Fred has a weekend he in in Fort Wayne which is strategically IHSW so hopefully I'll get a wonderful stitching weekend that weekend. Anyway I have to get stuff done and go stitch. 

Love yourself. Find endless reasons to smile. Stitch all the things!

Sept 30th Monday Update - Sept and Oct Goals

 Last week of September so wrapping up Sept challenges. Let's see what I worked on...

Monday ABCingo in Monthly Magazine Challenge FB group was still going for 3 more calls. Letter R was picked for Monday. I had just started Autumn Line Up by The Trilogy and Sunday and it was still really calling me. So I stretched the R.....I am Really Ready for Fall to be here.....works haha.

Added 405 and was really happy with my progress for the day and it could go away for a bit.

Tuesday Letter T was picked so I pulled out The Mandalorian by Forbidden Fiber Co again. Got a wonderful 689 because the letters go fast since it's just one thread color...

Wednesday the last letter called was L which worked great because the last acrostic goal I had was Luck of the Irish. So two goals one project...

My goal was 200 so after adding 203 I put it away. Just added some background for the banner this time around. There was a popup bonus for a birthday. We were supposed to talk about a favorite WIP and explain why we liked it. You got points for stitching 250 stitches on it by the deadline Friday. If she picked yours as one of the top 3 WIPs you got extra points. I was really happy to see she picked mine as one of her favorites so I got max points for my team. I'm not surprised though because I used Yggdrasil from Paine Free Crafts and she has very similar tastes to me when it comes to these types of designs.

Finally finally getting close to finished with that upper left corner block...

I added 284 this time for Wednesday and Thursday.

Friday I decided to pick up my monthly planned new start Mini Block Freedom by Hinzeit. I only had the first 3 outlines done and I had the goal of finishing before the end of the month. Last night I put the last stitches in...

I put in 421 Friday and 326 Sunday. I didn't attach the charms yet because I want to get some invisible thread for that. I attached the last ones with white and don't like the way it looks. I would love to finish these two up sometime. I'm hoping to drag my sewing machine stuff all here for a few days and finish a bunch of stuff. Maybe in November. 

I also have some haul to report. There is a FB lady who buys lots of charts from stitching stores and resells them at a discount. She has a FB group called The Vintage Stitcher Shop Destash. She also has a flosstube. Anyway she had some charts available I couldn't pass up...

3 new to me Erica Michael patriotic charts and the Bee Different I fell in love with. When I looked at it after receiving I was surprised to see it's stitched on a Fabric Flair that has the beehive design on it. So that will be fun to stitch up. I just love the Bee Different idea. We sure believe in that motto.

Saturday we had a busy day so no stitching. Visited with family here and planted a new tree in Grandpa's honor that family friends gifted us. Then we went to a larger nearby town to do some errands. First we wanted to eat out a nice meal to celebrate 1 year since turning in the keys to our old house. Crazy to think it's been a year already. We ate at Olive Garden one of mom's favorite restaurants. Then we went shopping. We are attending a fancy wedding in October....I'm actually doing the officiating. So this Walmart girl needed a nice outfit. We found Jeremiah a nice undershirt and button up shirt at Burlington. Then we ran into the mall to check out Torrid. I love Torrid always have but WOW the prices always stopped me. There was a girl working and I said Please help me. She was so sweet and had a blast picking things out for me. She even one time screamed okay I love you because I was willing to try anything to look nice. They had a spot for the boys to sit. I put an outfit on and walked out laughing. Nope. I put another outfit on and honestly felt pretty. Everyone complimented me even others shopping. I tried on some other stuff with quick nopes even tried on a dress haha. Nope! So I went back to the outfit we all like and Fred said you could just tell it made me happy. I held myself high. Then she picked out a pair of shoes with a HUGE heel. HAHA nope!! But she got a lower heal and I tried it. They made me stand tall. So I grumbled at the prices and bought the outfit. It was worth it to feel extra pretty for that day. When I done checking out I asked the lady for a hug and we both started crying. I don't do pretty and boy she knew just what to do to help me out. I would definitely shop with them again. Well when I can afford it haha.

September goals were all met...

October starts tomorrow. My favorite month. My decorations are already out I just couldn't wait any longer. Spooky shows and movies galore. I joined a million challenges again haha...

I decided to do 100 a day for a fun challenge on this one...

Halloween Sampler by Les Petites Croix De Lucie. I'm doing it on 40ct White. 1 thread over 2 I think. I'll find out tomorrow haha.

Then I have a 2nd acrostic again. This new to me group Fun with Cross Stitch has a Scattergories challenge too I'm checking out. The acrostics this year are all US Capitals looks like and they also have a Aussie Capital Cities acrostic. I didn't think I needed another one though haha. I do love the acrostic type of challenges. I've stepped away from a few though. I don't want too much. Just enough to drive me crazy is enough haha. My monthly planned start for October is another Erica Michaels...

Heart & Compass is the name of this one. I have really enjoyed getting some of these charts that have long set in my stash started and I really think I will make sure to start at least one a month next year as well. What I need.....more WIPs hahaha. 

Anyway I'm off to get stuff done. Thanks for reading my rambling.

Monthly Goals

Quick recap of August and talk about September plans.

I completed all my August goals...

Monthly Stats:

9,690 Stitches

2 Starts 

2 Finishes

12 Different Projects

 

This month I have a few more calls for Dashgo...

20 have been called so 3 left. I have done okay but not perfect by any means which is okay with me. 11 squares finished and 9 not done so I guess I'm doing better than not haha. I've enjoyed it a lot and that's what matters. September has a new bingo but this one is letters...

 

Just need to plug a project into the letter called. So X was first. I used Christmas aka Xmas Celebration Sampler. 2nd was I I used Irish Blessing. Today is Q and I'm using Canine Quotes. Just 100 needed to claim the letter as complete so that's great. Prizes available for several different things at the end of the game. Plus ends the 25th so you have make up days till the 30th. I also have my monthly acrostic...

Fandom is having this fun for September...

I'm doing Option C. Using Christmas Celebration and Winter SAL from Stitchonomy. So hopefully I can work in some progress on those through the month.

I have a few starts planned as always haha...

Freedom from Hinzeit is from the pile I planned ahead of this year for monthly mix up. I think the Mason Jar Lineup from Dimensions will find it's way to started and also Halloween Quaker from Primrose. We'll see what else you know me haha. Let's have a great September. Hoping for things to SLOW down. Plus for the weather to cool down. Beautiful today. Windows open and even have long pants on. Finally!!!

Monthly Goals

 So I had a very successful July. Hit all my goals for the month...

13,495 Stitches

16 Different Projects

4 Starts

3 Finishes

 

Also all the other goals I had set through the month haha. I just keep joining challenge groups. Latest that I'm in love with is Fandom Stitching Central. So many fun things. Weekly, Monthly, and a HUGE Bingo  but Disney themed Dashgo (Dash from Incredibles) board recently added. Luckily most days they seem to work together. Like today I need Oldest WIP for two different things. Love when that happens. Anyway so let's see what I think I might do for August...

Plus Olympics challenge goes till 11th and Dashgo goes all month long...

Today SI was called so Stitch on a SAL. I am moving it to tomorrow so I can focus on my Oldest WIP today (Grow Together by HAED). Tomorrow has another list I'm stitching for haha. The planning for me in a fun part as long as I keep my mind focused which is a challenge some days haha. But I figure it's good for me to make myself think and keep my mind off negative thinking. 

Bottom line. I'm having a blast and SO IN LOVE with my stitching. Every stitch feels fun and relaxing and hey I get points and get to mark things off lists. That is so satisfying. So I know I look crazy but trust me.....I am well I mean I'm not haha. Okay maybe a little. My husband and Jeremiah just shake their head. I will plan outloud and they just go You okay? I say Yep just needed to explain it to myself. Then they both say As long as you understand yourself we're good. Haha True. If I fight with myself and lose then that's a problem. So far I'm getting along with myself haha. Okay I'm off to stitch. I need points!