August WIPocalypse

Late and very little to show for myself!

This summer I've been mainly being a Mum and stitching hasn't really featured in my agenda much.  We've also been here and there on trips - the Cambridge Folk Festival and visiting family and we're now off for a weeks camping.

I have done a bit of work on The Flock but that's really all there is for now...

There's only a couple of weeks to the next WIPocalypse but hopefully I'll have something to show!

July WIPocalypse

Wow, yet another month gone by!

First, I'd like to thank everyone who left a comment about my quilt top, I finished it up in time for the birthday and it was very well received.

June was the month of my annual stitching weekend away with a group of friends and yet again it was just fantastic.  So fantastic that we're now planning to have two a year!  I treated myself to a new start that weekend - Snow Fence from Raise the Roof Designs.  I didn't do too much as I started having 'white' fatigue LOL.

I worked on SamSarah's The Flock this month too, here are the first two charts done and a tiny start on the second:

And my final WIP that saw some action was my Alphabet:

The other thing I got round to doing this month was finishing up my 'What a Hoot' scissor keep. This is a Cat's Whiskers design specifially for these particular scissors. It's not my usual thing at all but I fell in love with it!

Here's the front and the scissors:

Here's the inside with the needleholder and the ribbon that you can use to attach a Clover cutter:

And here he is finished up with the scissors in place:

May WIPocalypse

Well it's that time of the month again and I've yet again only managed a couple of posts between this and the last WIPocalypse post.

April was my birthday month and because of this I allowed myself new starts.  I also was celebrating because I finished up Cirque.  Here it is in all its glory:

And here's a close up of the colours:

It's stitched on 28ct black Murano and used 'Aurora's Flame' from The Thread Gatherers Silk 'n Colours.

I didn't have any other finishes this month so here's my new starts and other WIPs:

The Flock from SamSarah Designs. This is a 12 part chart release and we've had the first two so far. I got them as a birthday present and this is a chunk of the first chart done:

Bugz and Birds from Lizzie*Kate. A pitiful new start but it's my travelling piece and I haven't been anywhere to work on it this month LOL.

And my third new start which was a 15 sided biscornu from Sue Hawkins.  I have swapped out three of the five colours that came in the kit because they just weren't bright enough for me!

I also worked on my Alphabet:

and on Witchy Washy:

So my needle has been flying this month! I am now focusing on Witchy Washy as it's the third piece I want to finish for framing and I must get it and Cirque out to the framer before the end of this month.  Unfortunately for me I fell foul of 'overdyed thread colour change curse' and had to completely frog the tree that is on the left hand side of the design because the skein of Sable I used was much too brown and the broom got lost in the tree (I stitched the tree first).  I did try stitching the broom handle much darker but the bristles still got lost in the tree roots plus I didn't like how dark the handle looked.

Much cursing later I'd frogged the entire tree and the broom handle...

I've tried a different colour all together for the tree that looks more like the model pic but I'm thinking that's too grey so I'm currently working on the rest of the design and mulling over my options for the trees.

April WIPocalypse

Well it's another full moon and I have been busy!  I finished up Santa's Flight on 16th March so just in time to take it to a framer at the Olympia show.  I won't post the pics again because it's the previous post to this one but you can click to see them.

I haven't, despite my best intentions, finished up Cirque although I'm so close!  Here it is as of today:

I also had a finish and a new start this month. Get Scared from Shepherds Bush was my traveling piece but it as also a quick stitch so it's now waiting to be finished as a box top:

My new start is 'Alphabet Fun' from Bothy Threads. I saw a finished one on a stand at Olympia and fell in love so I bought the kit although I've swapped out the aida for evenweave. I've not done much but I think you can make out that A is for Alien...

That's my lot for the last 28 days but I'm more than happy with my progress. Cirque will get some more work tonight but we're away for a few days from tomorrow and I won't take it with me because I need really good light to stitch on it. I guess I'll have to look at next weekend for a finish now but definitely watch this space. I then have to pick up Witchy Washy to get it finished up for framing - I need that done by the next WIPocalypse post or it won't get sent in time to be ready for me to pick up.

March WIPocalypse

Well don't tell anyone but I pretty much threw my rotation out of the window this month in order to focus on Cirque.  There is a reason for this - I'm going to a craft show next Saturday and one of the stands is someone who I want to do some framing for me.  I want her to frame Cirque, Santa's Flight and Witchy Washy so I want to get them in a respectable state so I can discuss the framing with her.

She does have a bricks and mortar shop but it's about 4 hours drive from my house and I go there just once a year on the way up to my weekend away with my stitching friends so if I can organise the framing choices, finish the pieces and then post them to her I can pick up the finished items in June.

Anyway, that's the reason why I've not done much on the Be Attitudes Afghan but I have had some progress (Be Sweet and Be Nice are new progress):

I've also had progress on the first of the three pieces from Santa's Flight:

Plus I did have a new start which is 'Scissors by Any Other Name' from Cat's Whiskers:

And last but not least, here's Cirque:

So hopefully by the time the next WIPocalypse is due Cirque will be a finish as will Santa's Flight...

February WIPocalypse

Wow, WIPocalypse post number two already.

I've posted my Cirque progress in a previous post but I'll repost the current WIP pic now just for continuity.  Here is where I am after it had it's month as my focus BAP:

I should have said last time I'm stitching it on 28ct black murano and the floss is 'Aurora's Flame' from The Thread Gatherers Silk 'n Colours.

It's now been put aside in honour of my February BAP which is the Shepherds Bush Be Attitudes series stitched on an afghan.  When I picked this up it looked like this:

You can see close ups of the blocks in this post.

Since then it's had a weeks worth of attention and the Be Strong block is done as is the next one, Be Sweet, and I've made a start on the fifth block, Be Nice.  Once I've done block five I'll go back and finish up Be Warm.  I'm hoping that I'll get the sixth block done as well this month so it's at least half way through when I put it down.

Here's a pic of the Be Sweet block (sorry it's a bit dark but it's a gloomy day here):

And here's how the whole thing is looking:

February BAP

So my February BAP isn't one large design, it's 12 small ones that I've chosen to stitch on an afghan. It's the Be Attitudes series from Shepherd's Bush which I decided I'd stitch on a 12 panel crean afghan.

I have two minor issues, the first is that the afghan count is smaller than the required count for the designs so some of the buttons are too big (the designs came with button packs). I don't see it being too much of a problem as I'm sure I can either leave some off or get smaller versions of the same button as they're all JABCO so are bound to come in different sizes.

The second issue is the July 'Be Brave' design. No offence to any American readers of this blog but for what should be obvious reasons I don't want to add the US Flags to the design but I'm also not sure I want to replace them with UK Flags either. I'm going to have to think about my options - obviously I can just not use the buttons at all but I have to decide what to put in the middle of the stitched part of the design instead of the stitched flags.

Anyway, there's time enough for that as I've plenty to keep me busy - here's how it looked when I took the pic a couple of days ago:

Here's a close up on the blocks:

Last night I finished up Be Strong which was really just some back stitching and the yellow centres for the purple flowers on the left and made a start on Be Sweet.  Yes I know it would make more sense to finish up Be Warm first but when did I ever do anything that made sense right?  LOL

As promised...

Here's my Cirque update.

Here's how it looked when I picked it up on New Year's Day:

And here's how it looks now it's had a month of almost undivided attention:

As I said in my previous post, I'm pretty much certain to finish it up the next time it comes up in the rotation.

My first 2012 finish

Two evenings of exclusive attention and this one is now done.  It's Snowflake Snowman by Hob-Nobb Designs (who I believe no longer trade).  It was a tiny kit that included the chart and button and was stitched with GAST and white DMC.  The fabric is, I think, one that I dyed myself during a dyeing class.

I'm now at 25 WIPs and counting!

January WIPocalypse

So my first official WIPocalypse post of the year!

My focus BAP for January is Cirque de Cercles and here's how it looks now:

I've been focussing on the top right corner - here's my previous WIP pic:

I've had a new start - my Christmas present from DH - it's Santa's Flight from Shepherds Bush and here's what I've done so far (not much but it did only arrive on the 6th Jan)

And here's the other WIP I've worked on this year - Snowflake Snowman from Hob-Nobb Designs. I don't have a before picture but what had been stitched was the inner cross stitch border and half of the outer smyrna border. It's a tiny design and once the inner smyrnas are done I've just got some snowflakes to do and then there's a snowman button that attaches in the middle.

So that's my progress so far this year!

Stitching WIP List

 General Projects

1. Bent Creek - Snapperbets
2. Bothy Threads - Row of Christmas Fairies
3. Prairie Moon - Thine is the Trick and the Treat
4. Tournicoton - Coeur de Brodeuse
5. DebBee's Designs - Hot Stuff
6. Just Nan - Counting Bats
7. Margaret Sherry - Santa's Journey Afghan
8. Bent Creek - Snapperville Series
9. Michael Powell - Handmade Houses 4
10. Michael Powell - Cottage Garden 2
11. Mill Hill - Winter Wonderland
12. Lizzie*Kate - 6 Fat Men
13. Raise the Roof - Witchy Washy
14. Hob-Nobb Designs - Snowflake Snowman

BAPS

1. Lizzie*Kate - Christmas by the Letter
2. Ink Circles - Cirque des Cercles
3. Glendon Place - Murky Manor
4. Stoney Creek - Noah's Sub
5. Shepherd's Bush - Be Attitudes Afghan
6. Dragon Dreams - Dragon Virtues Afghan
7. Bothy Threads - Cut Thru Fairy Hill
8. DMC - Wild Ones Alphabet
9. Midsummer Night Designs - Heaven Above
10.The Primitive Needle - Witches Hollow
11. Teresa Wentzler - Tradewinds
12. Dimensions - Sleigh Ride

I'm pretty sure this is the complete list - I've searched around and can't find or remember any other new starts I've had in the last couple of months so now it's organising the folders with charts and floss and taking pics of them all.  I'm at 26 WIPs which is better than the starting total of 2011 which was 32...

2012 WIPocalypse Plans

So as I've mentioned several times I've signed up for the 2012 WIPocalypse - WIP stripping for the year.

My 2011 plans worked pretty well up until the last month.  I started the year with 32 WIPs and, of those, 9 are now finished, 1 has been abandoned and 3 have had significant work.

The problem is that I've had about 5 new starts recently, all small projects, so my current WIP list is probably still around 27 - I am in the process of tidying everything up and doing an official count.

However, what I do have are several BAPs (that's Big-Arse-Projects for those not in the know) so my main plan for 2012 is to work on those in a monthly rotation.  So each one will by my focus piece for a month and I will work on that and possibly some smaller projects during that month.

So the monthly rotation is:

Jan - Cirque des Cercles
Feb - Be Attitudes Afghan
Mar - Murky Manor
Apr - Cut Thru Fairy Hill
May - Wild Ones Alphabet
Jun - Heaven Above
July - Tradewinds
Aug - Christmas by the Letter
Sep - Noah's Sub
Oct - Witches Hollow
Nov - Dragon Virtues Afghan
Dec - Sleigh Ride

Trust me when I say that not one of the above will be even close to finished after 2012 (well maybe Cirque but it depends how distracted I am this month).  However I'm thinking that if this rotation works for me I should keep it up until all of the above are completed.  What I'm not sure if I'll do is give some projects two months when others are finished or start other big projects.  Still I'm pretty sure I have plenty of time to decide that LOL.

So over the next three days I'm going to compile a complete WIP list (again) and photo each one as well as make sure each has it's own project bag kitted up so I don't have to hunt around for stuff when I decide to get stitching on something.