January WIPocalypse

It's hard to believe that we're already starting another year's WIPocalypse. Although 2020 seemed to drag on in many ways because of our isolation, the year was over much sooner than I expected it to be. Thank goodness! 

 This is the first year that I haven't posted any WIPocalypse goals or picked out any new starts for the year. That whole format just hasn't worked well for me in the past so this year I'm just going wherever my stitching leads me and pulling out whatever I feel like working on. 

I'll start my post with my final finish for 2020 which I squeaked out on December 31st! This was the kit by Shakespeare's Peddler which I had started from stash. It's called A Wassailing and it's a limited edition kit that Theresa released several years ago. Not sure yet just how I will finish this one off. I may have it framed but I'm thinking that perhaps it would look nice as a board finish on a piece of barnwood .

I knew that I had another birth announcement to stitch for my nephew and his wife who were expecting in mid January so I was hesitant to start anything new at the start of this year. I was afraid that I would enjoy the new start so much that I wouldn't get to the birth piece in a timely manner. So while I waited for them to decide on a chart I pulled out a WIP that I had started in April of 2020. 

This is Blackbird Designs Her Fair Work from the Ooh La La booklet. I pretty much only had to finish the border on this and one small motif so it only took three days to finish it up.

I realized after the finish that I hadn't changed the year of completion to 2021. I may or may not change it. After all the majority of it was completed in 2020.

I worked on a couple of smalls until I was ready to start the birth announcement. You can see them on my previous post. I found the chart for the baby on Etsy. They had picked out a pattern in November but after getting started on it I realized that the pattern was really poorly designed. It looked more like it was a digital pattern taken from a picture. I was a little wary of it but stitched a small motif. The colours were really poorly done though and the detail wasn't coming through.  So we started over and they picked another chart from a different designer.  This one is so sweet and is stitching up really quickly. I should be finished it by the end of next week. Baby was born last Saturday and I still have to chart out his name and date of birth.

I had to pause my stitching on the baby piece since I realized I was missing one of the floss colours. While I was waiting for it to ship my dear friend Lianne of 1897 Schoolhouse Samplers gifted me with her latest release. I fell in love with My Precious Jewel - Ann Alice Townshend's work. 

I pulled the called for overdyes and was missing a few. Rather than wait for an order of more floss, I decided to do a conversion to silks that I had in my stash. Most of the silks are Classic Colorworks Belle Soie and couple of NPI silks. My fabric is Picture This Plus Earthen.

 I've completed a good portion of the house already. Only the window trim remains to be done. I'm currently working on the man and woman on either side of the house. This one is going to be my go to stitch for the next month. I'm really enjoying it and the sampler is not a large one. Sorry about the colour of the fabric. It's really not that pinkish. The lighting wasn't great. I'll try and get a better picture next month.

When I tire of any of the above stitching I've pulled out Heartstring Samplery Victoria's Garden. I started stitching this one in May of last year and hope to get it done before the spring. I'll have a progress pic for you next month. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else has chosen for their new year starts!