March WIPocalypse

March was an extremely productive month for my stitching. Miserable weather meant we didn't venture out much and my stitching was often in my hand. I managed to complete two designs, one I showed you last post and a surprise finish.

First up is Blackbird Designs February Hearts. As much as I loved this design when I first saw it, it certainly proved to be a challenge with the differences in the floss dye lots. I kept going though and did finish it. I can't say I'm 100% happy with the results but it's not all bad. Unfortunately this wasn't the best lighting in this pic.

I stitched this on 28 ct Lakeside Linen Mocha using Gentle Art floss. It had been quite a while since I'd stitched a large piece on 28 ct and it didn't stitch up quite as quickly as I'd hoped. That basket proved to be a challenge as I could easily lose my spot on the chart.

When I finished this one I had no idea what I wanted to work on next. I spent several days looking through charts and rejected each one for one reason or another. I knew I would be placing an order for some of the new releases at the upcoming Needlework Market but it would be several weeks before I had those in hand. 

While I was cleaning out the closet in my craft room I found a bag. When I opened it I knew what I was doing next. I found a WIP which has been around for several years. In fact I picked it up again last year and posted some pics here if I remember. Once again it never got finished and was hidden away in the bag. I decided that this year was THE YEAR! Believe it or not I was entering my eighth year of working on this project. The design in question..... Paradis Perdu by A Mon Ami Pierre.  Within a couple more weeks I had finally finished it!!

This piece was started on 7 Jan 2012 and finished 20 Mar 2019, a little more than seven years from the time I started it. It is stitched on 28 ct Queen Anne's Lace using Vicky Clayton Hand Dyed silks. It's just one of those pieces that kept getting put aside in favour of something else.  I am so happy that it is finally complete!

My market purchases arrived this week and I'm browsing through them this weekend to see which design I'd like to start next. So many choices! 

May WIPocalypse

May has involved a fair amount of stitching for me but only during the first week of the month and the latter 10 days or so. The rest of the month I've been dealing with vertigo which sidelines me from time to time. 
Last month's question, What is your longest running WIP?, involved my digging into my journal of starts. I knew which piece had been hiding out in the closet but I wasn't sure just when I had started it originally. As it turned out it was A Mon Ami Pierre Paradis Perdu which I started stitching in January of 2012. Now 2012 was the first full year following my retirement and when I look back at my journal I see that I kind of went overboard on stitching that year. Paradis Perdu was indeed lost in all the shuffle and brought out roughly once per year thereafter for some token stitching. However nothing has been added to it since early 2015. 

Once more I dug it out and gave it some love. Will it get finished this year? One only knows!
These are the before pics.

I've concentrated on the alphabet mostly this month and the apple tree. Here's my  progress so far.

I also picked up Awake My Soul and it's very close to completion. All that remains is the border.

May is a month of birthdays here..... my daughter-in-law, me and my son. This past Sunday we joined Chris and Violet in a joint celebration of our birthdays as well as a delayed Mother's Day celebration. Chris and V have just returned from their honeymoon so after a great dinner at Pub Italia in Ottawa we went back to their place to view all the photos from their trip. 

Earlier in the month I paid a visit to the Tulip Festival in Ottawa. I try to make it to this event at least every couple of years. Most of the tulips can be seen at Dow's Lake which is a great location for them.

Tulips are a favourite of mine and I enjoy seeing all the new varieties.

Tomorrow I'm headed to Harrisburg, PA for the 2018 Prim Stitchers Society Retreat. I'm so excited and can hardly wait to see all my friends. Next month I should have lots of pics from the event. Until then, have a great month. Summer has arrived!

April WIPocalypse

In addition to my small finishes this month which I previously posted here, I have added some stitching to the lovely Awake My Soul.

I continue to enjoy the spring colours in this one. It's such a pretty piece. I want to do nothing but work on this one right now however I'm desperately trying to get some stitching done for gifts. I dislike deadlines and I should have started them earlier but we always think we have more time than we do, lol. Hopefully I will have a few days to devote to this for my next month's post. In the meantime I will show you some pics of recent finishes that I have had framed.

 Blackbird Designs  It's Spring Fever

Blackbird Designs   Evergreen

Both of these pieces have been framed by Patti Nicolosi of By My Hand Needl'werks. I will be picking them up from Patti at the Prim Stitchers Society Retreat which runs from May 31 - June 3. I'm looking forward to bringing them home and adding them to the other treasures on my walls.

I'm scouting through my stash now looking for a new start for when Awake is complete. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't often stick to my original WIPocalypse list. I go where my mood takes me and often something will just jump out at me and say "stitch me".  

April's question of what is your longest running WIP or UFO got me to thinking. I looked it up and a design by A Mon Ami Pierre called Paradis Perdu is my longest. I started it in Jan. 2012 and it still sits unfinished. I've completed quite a bit of it too. It's a large Adam and Eve design which I'm stitching with silks. I think the reason I've left it linger for so longer is that I'm not comfortable stitching it on the larger Q Snaps. It's difficult for me to hold in hand for any length of time and I'm not interested in purchasing one of the stand frames.  

It took me a bit of time to find these pics but just seeing it again makes me want to work on it. Now if I could only find it, lol!

Warmer weather is forecast for this coming week and with any luck I could quite possibly be stitching outdoors in the gazebo. I can't wait!

My first Stitch From Stash post

Good morning all! It's a beautiful, bright but bitterly cold morning here in Eastern Ontario. A perfect day to stitch indoors with natural light. Being the crazy Canuck that I am though, I'll be venturing outdoors into the frigid temperatures to revel in the glories of a Canadian winter!

I am so pleased to have joined with many bloggers to take part in the first Stitch From Stash group. I joined this group to try and keep check on my addiction to increasing my cross stitch stash and assist my dwindling pocketbook too. The group is now closed to new members but please stop by see how well controlled we are, or not, lol! I am going to make every effort to control my spending and stitch only from my existing stash which btw is massive!

My first stitching pic is one that some of you may have already seen on previous posts this month. I picked up an older WIP called Paradis Perdu which I started 2 years ago and added a few more stitches to it.

Hopefully I'll stick with this one a little more than I did last year and get closer to a finish.

My first start of the year is a gorgeous, colourful design that was just calling out to me from the stash pile. Welcome to With Thy Needle and Thread - The Pink Sparrow Sampler.

My second new start is an older Little House Needleworks design, The Counting House.

I've already found an error in my stitching so I'll be frogging one of those sheep in the very near future.

All fabric, floss and charts are from my current stash. I didn't learn of this group until just before Christmas and joined as soon as I found out. However I am more fortunate than some in that my stash will still increase somewhat but not by my own hand. My son gave me a GC to 123 Stitch for Christmas and my MIL always gives me a very generous gift of cash, a portion of which I earmark for framing and stitching supplies. So I will still have a few new items arriving without having to use any of my own cash. This should satisfy my urge to spend without any major damage. Of course, Market is just around the corner though, lol! By then I'm sure to have exhausted my generous gifts.
I look forward to popping by your blogs and seeing what treasures you've found to work on from your own supplies. Thanks for stopping by!

What a Hoot! First WIPocalypse of 2014

I hope everyone is off to a great start with this year's WIPocalypse. I know I am!You'll understand my title more once you've finished reading all about my stitching. If you check the pages below my header on the blog you'll see the page for this year's list of hopefuls. I've included quite a few larger projects so we'll see just how far I get this year.

I decided to start off the year with something that brought thoughts of spring especially since so many of us have had just a miserable winter so far. I wanted lots of colour, flowers, birds, etc. and I found just what I wanted waiting for me in my pile of kitted projects. Here are my first photos of  With Thy Needles and Thread Pink Sparrow Sampler. 

I'm really loving the colours in this stitch. I finished up that little dog this morning. At first I couldn't figure out what was in his mouth but now I see that it is a basket of flowers. Sweet!

Besides Pink Sparrow I pulled out another sampler that is just begging for attention. Remember A Mon Ami Pierre Paradis Perdu?
I'm surprised anyone remembers it as I haven't touched it since last winter! Here's where I left off......

and here is the stitching that I put in over the past week.

Slowly but surely!!

My first finish for the year was this ornament by The Primitive Hare called Welcome Santa - Ho, Ho, Ho.

I also stitched up this little quick stitch by The Primitive Apple. I hoping to finish this up into a small pillow along with another finish I completed for my 2014 Smalls SAL. I'll post a photo of this one at the end of the month.

When I woke this morning I had lots of plans for my stitching and then my husband called. He was on his way into work and called to let me know that he had seen two owls within a 5 minute drive of our home. Our area has become home to an influx of snowy owls recently which is rare for this area. It seems that there was an increase in the number of owls hatched this year in the Arctic and their food supply is running low. Hence their arrival in our neck of the woods. If you're a regular follower of my blog you will have seen the photos I posted recently that I snapped in the area. To date I have spotted 6 different owls and today I added number 7 to the count. 
The rest of this blog post is picture intensive with owl sightings so if it doesn't interest you, you should check out at this point.

The weather was overcast and perfect for sightings. We haven't seen any in the area of the past few days and figured they might have moved on. Boy were we wrong! As I drove along our usual route I looked up and spotted the first one flying overhead.

I slowed the car down, pulled over and waited to see where it would land. It was starting to snow and was difficult to see especially since the birds are quite often white against all that white. Can you spot where it landed in this photo below? Look closely now!

Here I am!

A little closer now....

Although I was parked at a fair distance, the owl grew uncomfortable with my stares and moved across the road to this post.

A little blurry so I inched the car a little closer so I could focus better.

Please turn your head!

Finally he had had enough of me and my intrusions and he took off where I couldn't follow.

A little further down the road I spotted this fellow watching the scenery at ground level.

He was a little too far away for a clear picture. Both of these owls tend to hunt in the same areas as do the other four which I have seen. Today I added a new owl to the group. I decided to head in a different direction and found this fellow right along a main highway scanning the fields for lunch.

These last few pictures were taken over a week ago on another of my owl forays.

The next one is a little blurry but I wanted you to see the feathered feet they have.

I've gotten a little carried away with all my photo shoots but they may never be in this area again and I feel I have been so blessed with this opportunity to view them. I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did.