Last post of 2012

Again my life has been consumed by the SSP.  I'm hoping to get further along so I can start stitching on some other projects.  I will post the SSP when I'm finished.  Until then, Happy Stitching everyone!

12th WIPocalypse Post

I've been stitching my little heart out on the Super Secret Project (SSP).  I've gotten a little more than 2,000 stitches of 53,400 stitches done.  Since it is a SSP, I can't post a picture yet; which is sort of a bummer because this is the only thing that I will be working on until it is done.  Yes, I have a deadline for those 53,400 stitches and I'm hoping it doesn't sneak up and surprise me.  Fingers crossed.

October WIPocalypse - with Finishes

This has been a pretty good stitching month.  I made progress on several projects and started some new ones.  First up is the Spring Floral Cross, which I have worked on since July.  Keeping with my backstitch as I go new method, this was mostly catching the backstitching up with the cross stitching.  So far, it's looking good and it is a pretty quick stitch.

Next is my HAED Mishra, he now has two stripes.  I could have finished the page but all that is left is a whole lot of white and I'm debating doing the white after I've finished a whole row of pages to try and keep it clean.  What's everyone's opinion on that?  Should I wait to complete a whole row of pages or should I do the white page by page? Advice? 

Here are the Shells that I haven't touched since July as well.  I've made some progress on it.  I think it will be very cute when it is finished.

I've almost finished the left half of the Kitten Cuddled in a Quilt.  I wanted to have this done by Christmas but I don't think that it will make the deadline sine I have a super secret project (SSP) that I am working on now and that will be taking much of my time.  Maybe I'll work it into one of the two days a week I allow myself to work on something other than the SSP.

The Spring Sampler also received some attention this month.  Of course it was catching the back stitching up to the stitching but it is starting to come together and I know that just above that shamrock is a large area of white that is just dying to be stitched and I can't wait to have a single color for a while on this project.

Here is my free HAED Christmas Animals pattern.  I haven't worked on this since August and I'm doing full cross in lieu of tenting because this isn't as jam packed with stitches like a normal HAED.  I've almost finished the back half of the pheasant.

Here is a monogram that I've started for myself.  It will be an Easter monogram hence the pastel colors.  I've only worked on it about three times and it is stitching up very fast.  I want to have this done by April but I think I will make that deadline with no problem.  In fact I may switch between this and the Kitten for Thursday night stitching.

Finally I have two finishes, well almost finishes, they need to be stuffed and have the opening stitched shut but they will be done.  The first is actually a cross stitch that I finished in 2008 and just never got around to finishing the pillow.

The second is a gift I made. It originally said "I'll get you my pretty" but when I saw it at the LNS I thought it said "I'll cut you my pretty" on first glance.  When I looked again and realized what it said I thought it was hilarious and decided I had to make this for my sister.  I hope she finds the humor in it that I did.

WIPocalypse Post #10

I can't believe we're already posting for the tenth time, where has this year gone?  The past month has been crazy with trying to get the stocking finished for this Christmas but I did it.  Here it is all finished.

I've decided that waiting to do all the back stitching until all the crosses have been stitched is not a good idea.  I thought I was going to lose my mind and never make it through all the back stitching but I did it.  I also decided that from now on if there is a considerable amount of back stitching to be done, I'm doing it as I go.  That being said, I caught up the Spring Sampler with back stitching and managed to put in a couple of crosses as well.

The lower right seems to be stitching up a bit quicker than the lower left did.  I'm excited about that.  It will be nice to have the bottom half of this done, hopefully by the end of the year. (I don't know why the picture is rotated, it isn't in my file.)

 

I also worked on the kitten in the quilt, although I didn't get many stitches in, here is the progress.

Finally is my HAED Mishra.  Poor Mishra has had a rough go of it this round.  I started him with full crosses with 1 over 1 on 25ct.  Then I was introduced to tenting and I decided to frog all of the stitches and start over with half crosses with 3 over 1 on 25ct.  Then I decided that 3 over 1 was too bulky on the back and that I didn't like it so I decided to start over again.  This time I did 2 over 1 on 28ct and so far I'm liking it a whole lot better.  So, in pictures we started with this:

Went to this:

Was introduced to tenting and frogged all of the above and arrived at this point (again, I don't know why it's rotated):

Hated 3 over 1 on 25ct and started over yet again with 2 over 1 on 28ct and after a couple of hours stitching have ended up here:

I like the 2 over 1 on 28ct much better and am going to stay here for this and all future HAEDs.

I hope everyone had a productive month.

Happy Stitching!!

 



Pay It Forward Stitchy Exchange

I've been chosen by Rahenna to participate in a stitchy Pay it Forward (PIF) exchange! What does that mean?

Rahenna offered a handmade gift to three people... and part of asking to be considered was agreeing to do the same. So Rahenna will receive a gift and was inspired to gift three more people... and each of those three (including me) will offer three gifts! In other words, Rahenna will be stitching for three friends, who will stitch for three friends and so on and so on.

It's your turn to get a handmade stitchy gift from me! I will be making gifts for three people who want to be part of the PIF. I will make and send my gift to you some time in the next 3 months. I need to get the stitching done before I start my HAED challenge next year. :)

Here's the rules!

1. Understand that you will be expected to offer three gifts to others if you participate.
2. Leave a comment here with your email address so I can contact you. :)
3. If more than three people are interested in the PIF, I will choose randomly.

I'll leave this open until the end of October. Lots of time to decide if you want to commit! :)

August Part I

We'll I've decided that the three day rotation wasn't going to work for me after starting my HAEDs.  I've moved to a one week rotation and it seems to be working much better.  I actually feel like I'm making progress and even have a finish this month.  This new rotation also means that even though there are nine projects in the rotation I won't be posting about them every month.

First, here is my finish. I finished the "Valentine" monogram.  I love the colors but now think that I should have done it over one instead of over two.  It just seems too big.  I'll keep it around and, who knows, maybe eventually I'll redo it over one.

Now for the progress.  The two HAEDs were started under the three day rotation so there isn't much to show this round.  Here is the tiger HAED Mishra is suppose to look like when it is finished.

And here is where I am:

The Christmas HAED that I am working on is actually one of their free patterns and has actual spaces in the chart that have no stitching.  Here is what is supposed to look like when it is finished.

And here is where I am:

I know that most people start the HAED designs in the upper left hand corner, but for some reason it is easier, and makes more sense to me, to start in the lower left corner.

My last progress is for the Cuddled Cat in a Quilt.  I don't have a picture for this one and it was slowing me down working on it for some reason. So I searched for the design online and found a picture on eBay.  Looking at the picture all I could think was...I don't remember this being what it is suppose to look like.  LOL, oh well, I'm making more progress on it now. 

Thanks for stopping by and happy stitching everyone.

WIPocalypse July

My seven projects currently in rotation are moving along quite well.  Sometimes it feels like I'm not making progress but every stitch is one stitch closer to a finish.  I'm hoping that by the next post I'll have at least one finish.  Most likely it will be the monogram which will then be replaced by a new monogram. :)  I'll also have posts on the two HAEDs that I'm starting.  I doubt it will be much as I'll just be following the same three day rotation. Now for some progress pictures...

First is the monogram that I've been working on for February. I'm beginning to have doubts about doing it over two threads but it is almost finished so I'm not starting over. Here is what it looks like when I finished this round of stitching:

Then I worked on the Spring Sampler. I think that when I completely finish one of the four pages I'll really feel like it is coming along. Here is the current status of it.

Here is the current status of the stocking that I am working on.  I'm hoping to have this completed by this Christmas.  If it starts to get close and I'm not done I may have to adjust my rotation to complete it on time.





My mother tiger and two babies is slowly coming together.  I didn't get as much progress as I wanted on this as I had hoped since I had to frog a large portion out from the last posting.  I've restitched all that I frogged and then some.  Here is what it looks like now.

The seashell design has been a pretty quick stitch. I definitely feel like I'm making progress on it.  Here they are now.

The cat in the quilt is still moving very slowly.  It is amazing how hard it is to stitch this when I don't have a finished pictured to refer to, but I will finish this sooner or later. :)  Here's where it stands today.

Another project that is in my rotation is the Janlynn Spring Cross. This is a quick stitch and I have a good feeling that I might get this done this year. It is nice to get to some of the bright colors.

 

 

I'm excited about the further progress and to see just how much I can get stitched on the two HAEDs I'm starting this period.

Happy Stitching!!!

WIPocalypse June Post

Since I started feeling better and still had lots of time on my hands while recovering I became a stitching fool  I started a modified Margie rotation (so named for the woman who inspired me :D).  I work on a different project every three days.  So far it seems to be going well.  I have six projects currently in rotation. I added a new one after all this progress and at the end of June I'll be adding two HAEDs.  Yes, you read that right, I will be adding TWO HAEDs to my rotation.  It'll probably take me 10 years to complete just one of them with this rotation but I'm enjoying the different projects.  Now for some progress pictures...
First is the monogram that I've been working on for February.  Here is what it looks like when I finished this round of stitching:

Then I worked on the Spring Sampler. The color changes are still making me crazy but I feel like I'm making some progress on this.  Here is the current status of it.

I've also started four new projects.  The stocking is an old WIP, so old that I can't even remember when I started it.  Here's what it is suppose to look like when it's finish.

Stocking:

Current Status:

Tigers when finished:

Tigers now:

Shells when finished:

Shells now:

Somehow this last WIP has lost the finished picture and to be honest it is sort of bothering me that I don't know what it is suppose to look like when it is finished.  I do remember that it is suppose to be a cat curled up sleeping on a quilt. This is what the Cat looks like now:

All of the projects are going well and I'm enjoying stitching on them and am looking forward to posting my progress in July.  I'm a little nervous about starting the HAEDs but I love the patterns.  The rotation seems to be working out well too.  I never get bored with a project and in the case of the Cat when I start getting frustrated with it it is time to move on to something else.

Happy Stitching!!!

WIPocalypse #5

I haven't made much progress for the fifth post as I was getting ready for surgery. after my hysterectomy I wasn't up for much more than sitting on the couch watching movies. I hope to have a lot of progress for the sixth post since I've been feeling better and up to stitching more.

Happy stitching all!!!

WIPocalypse April 2012 - With a FINISH!!!! YAY!!

I have a FINISH!!!! YAY!!!  I finished the Donna Kooler All Creatures Great and Small Sampler for the Best in Show charity fundraiser.  Here is what the sampler looked like when I posted for March.

And here is how it looked when I took it to the framers.  I'll make sure to post a finished framed picture on the Yuku forums. I really hope that someone likes it and bids on it during the silent action.  I think it is adorable!!

The other project I worked on was the pink monogram.  Here is how it looked when I posted in March.

I decided that I didn't like the way the medium and dard pinks were looking so I frogged all of those stitches and reversed the colors.  I'm much happier now with the way the colors all go together in this configuration.  Here is how it looks now.

I feel that I made much more progress this month, it might just be because I can say that I finished something.  I'm hoping to have the pink monogram done by next post.  Wish me luck!

Thanks for stopping by and happy stitching everyone!

WIPocalypse March 2012

Ahhhh, the sweet feeling of progress!!!!!  I focused almost all of my time on the Donna Kooler All Creatures Great and Small sampler.  I need to get this finished in the next week to week and a half so I can have it professionally framed and ready for the fundraiser on April 22nd.  I hope that someone in the silent auction loves the piece as much as I have loved working on it.

Here is what it looked like from the last update:

I did all the back stitching on everything below the row of cats.  I also backstitched a couple of the cats but am missing a color to finish the second and fourth cat.  I know I should go and get it but I'm sure I'm going to run out of at least one other color so I figured I'd just make a note of where I need to finish some stitches and keep on going.  I then started stitching on the top half of the design and ended up here.

I did work a little on the monogram but not much.  Here is how it started:

And here is where I put it down to concentrate on the sampler:

I know, I know...you can hardly see any progress.  This is a quick stitch and as soon as I get the sampler done and off to the framers I will be able to focus on this and several other projects.

Thanks for stopping by and happy stitching!!!!



WIPocalypse February 2012

I put the Janlynn's Spring Sampler away and thought I would work on some other items just to feel like I'm make some progress.  The Spring Sampler with all the color changes had me feeling like I stitched and stitched and stitched but just wasn't getting anywhere. 
So for February, I decided to work on the Donna Kooler Animal Sampler that I am doing for a fundraiser that benefits an animal shelter her in Las Vegas and a monogram design that I designed myself for my half bathroom. (One of these I'll get around to actually decorating my house). :(

The monogram started out like this:

Here is how the monogram looks as I finished work on it for now:

The Animal Sampler started out like this:

Here is how the Animal Sampler looks as I finished work on it for now:

I feel like I made pretty good progress but I really think that I could have done more.  I had a little over a week this month where I just couldn't bring myself to pick up the stitching at all.  Life had other plans for me.  I am hoping March will be more productive and could possibly bring a finish.  Here's to hoping any way.

Happy Stitching All!!!