WIPocalypse January check in

Hey folks,

It's been a busy old stitching month. Would you believe I didn't stitch on one gifted piece, hence no GG check in, but boy, did I get to work on those wips! You can see my 18 in 2018 chosen projects here., so let's speed ahead to my check in post for Measi's Wipocalypse

Year of WIP's 2018

Hello Friends

Happy New Year!!!!


As I said in my last blog, I'm taking part in the Year of WIPS as part of Soulful Stitching on the book of face. The challenge is to have a minimum of 15 wips of any size and complete at least half. This will also tie in nicely with Wipocalypse 2018 hosted by Measi which I'm doing again this year.

Just in case you are new here...I'm Kerry - married mum of two kids 7 & 12, (2018 brings me a teenager argh!!!) I work as an office administrator and I'm half way through a diploma in business admin. I've been stitching for 13 years and have other crafty hobbies too Jewellery making is one that has been a big thing in 2017 for me and I've loved beading with my 7 year old. - some of which has featured from time to time in my floss tube videos - I'm Kerry in stitches there and Kerry_in_stitches on Instagram. 

Here are the starting points for my chosen wips, date I started and my target for it. Despite being numbered they're not in any particular order. 

1. Giraffe Silhouette by Maia - Started 3rd March 2017 - Target finish. 

2. M'lady's Greenhouse by Gaynor French (Stitcher Anon) Started 31st May 2017 - Target finish

3. Cityscape by Zweigart in WOXS 251 Started 18th September 2017 - Target page 1/3 finish 

4. Blackwork Lady by Lesley Teare in WOXS, Started12th November 2017 - Target finish  

5. Spring Frills - Just Nan - Started 4th March 2017 - Target finish.

6. Blackwork Houses - Susan Penny in CrossStitcher 310 - Started 29th October 2017 - Target finish.

7. Garden Shed (Fancy Outhouse SAL) by Michael Powell - started 3rd December 2017 - Target finish.

8. Calendar SAL - Palko Lap Blog - Started 10th March 2017 - Target finish.

9. Tiny Christmas SAL - Armada Designs - Started 1st December 2017 - Target finish.

10. First Snow - Drawn Thread - Started 19th September 2017 - Target finish.

11. Winter Village - Stone Street Stitchworks - Started 26th December 2017 - Target finish.

12. Have Faith - Design Works - Started 28th December 2017 - Target finish. 

13. Japanese Bookmark - Anchor - Started January 2012 - Target finish.

14. Elizabeth Shephard - The Scarlet Letter -  Started 31st December 2017 - Target 2/4 pages.

15. Celtic Cross - Textile Heritage -  Started 7th January 2018 - Target finish. 

16. Celebration flag - Susan Penny for Cross Stitcher 305 - Started 5th January 2018 - Target finish for the #RoyalWeddingSAL

17. Sweet Heart - Stone Street Stitchworks - Started 7th January 2018 - Target finish.

Still to start before 18th January

18. Cityscape -London by Jody Rice of Satsuma Street (CSC 202) - All kitted up and ready to go - probably tonight! Target for a finish too

So as you can see I only intend to carry 2 forward into 2019, I am also doing a year of starts which includes 18 new starts for the year. These will be mostly small or medium charts from my collection of Bent Creek, Heart in Hand, Trilogy and Lizzie Kate and hopefully all the Main Street Series too. Most of these are partially kitted too so Stitch from Stash hosted by Stephanie (OhSewCrafty) (but on Facebook) is completely do-able too.

I hope 2018 is a fantastically stitchy crafty year for you all.

WIPocalypse - July edition

This post might almost be on time!! Wipcalypse is hosted by Measi and gets us working on the projects languishing down the side of the sofa or under the bed.

I have a finish, this is big, big, huge news!! it is the Anchor Traditional Sampler, oh yes the Anchor Sampler that has been a wip since the end of 2013 and was a present from my In Laws in 2012.

This was the first picture I put on my blog of it.

the last picture I posted was a couple of weeks ago for Theme-Tas-Stitch's Just One July...

and a further 806 stitches and 22 french knots later here it is (and in need of washing and ironing!)

Measi also posts a question each month for us and this month it was:

What are your oldest and your newest WIPs?

Well, The anchor sampler was my oldest until earlier this week so now it is...

Blackwork band sampler from Kincavel Krosses - started spring 2015.

My most recent is MLady's Greenhouse Sal by Gaynor French of Stitcher Anon and hosted by Lakeside Needlecraft. This was started last month. 

They are both going to be focus pieces for August. That will leave 12 days of Christmas as my only pre 2017 active wip (started October 2015)

I missed last month's check in but the question was Show us your stitching space!  Where do you sit, and what is going on around you while you stitch (TV, audiobooks, etc)? I wanted to show you my little stitching corner anyway. I usually watch Netflix or something I can happily ignore like a rom com I've seen 100 times before. I sometimes have sport on - I love Tennis and F1 so stitch whilst watching those too along with Olympics and sporting events like that. I watch a bit of floss tube too. I have been known to watch Floss tube on my phone and have sport on TV at the same time whilst stitching!

I have gained a little room when we moved last year so I now have the small table too. I keep a small basket of odds and ends in, it usually has floss waiting to go back into my floss boxes, small finishes, hoops, the odd hair band, earphones and my phone tripod. My chart stand stays up on there and you can see I've been working on Tea and Cakes this weekend, there is a little tub for orts and my thread cards for T & C.

I still have my little unit that has things like my button tin, fray check metallic threads and other stitchy stuff. The two storage draws on top hold beads, needles and other small random bits. I have my two pin cushions - the cactus holds mainly pins and the jar has needles and is full of beads for jewellery making. You can see my wip basket full of the fab project bags I picked up at home bargains and my full DMC collection underneath. My favourite Gromit mug hold a half drunk cup of cold coffee (as always).

So that's all about my stitchy corner too. One more blog post to write and I'm all caught up!!


Hope you all had a great weekend. Happy Stiching

Wipocalypse May check in

Hi Friends,

Wipocalypse time again (hosted by Measi) where we work on those pesky wips living down the side of the sofa! And yes, late again for the link up! Only 5 days this time!

For this month's Wipocalypse I worked on all my wips including my quilt would you believe! These are pics of the ones that were the original wips from the start of the year.

Wipocalypse April

Wipocalypse time too (hosted by Measi)and another week late link up! Birthdays, college work (essay on employment rights anyone!) and illness all contributing factors along with the desire just to stitch!

I did loads on Blackwork birdsong which I know is a very new wip. I just need to stitch the metallics and beads that I'm substituting for the french knots.

Progress too on Anchor sampler - I got the right border completed. I had from the green horizontal border down to do.

12 days of Christmas - a start on day 10.

a bit more on the Celtic bird

my new work in progress is my stitching bullet journal!! I'm totally loving creating the pages and have monthly stitching plans, wish lists, inventories and lots more.

Just a really short post. I'm taking part in MAYnia on facebook so I'm working on all my wips and 8 new starts too. SO much fun!

Have a great weekend

Kerry

WIP (a little bit late) ocalypse

Hi Everyone,

I can't believe how hectic the last few weeks have been, it's certainly been March Madness for everything in our house. I'm 5 days late for WIPocalypse hosted by Measi. A SAL where we do battle with the WIP's down the side of the sofa in an attempt to get the pile under control!

Here are my worked on WIP's for the month:

Anchor sampler - one kit fits all SAL's!

Blackwork seasons - Just a start made on the Autumn band.

I should have done some on 12 days but the mood really didn't strike.

March Madness has also given me a whole host of new WIP's  - 13 to be exact.

January.
February.
March.
Just Nan.
Celtic Bird.
Redwork alphabet.
Lizzie Kate Friendship.
Gilmore Girls.
Maia Giraffes.
Blackwork Birdsong.
Jubilee Heart.
Cactus Hoop.
and whatever comes out of the JOD tomorrow.

And on to the WIPocalypse question of the month...

March 26 – What stitchy blogs, groups, or flosstubes do you follow and why?

All of the blogs I follow are in my side bar. I follow most because they are a source of inspiration, encouragement and it's nice to feel part of a community. It has been where I have discovered many new designers and also been stash enabled once or twice! Some blogs really cheer me up and  make me laugh Many blogs i follow were found through other blogs and joining in with SAL's and a few I followed back at the start of my blog in 2012 no longer blog. It's also lovely to think that others out there want to see what I've been creating too.

I only do the Wipocalypse group on Facebook, but there is a private group for my travelling box friends and we often use that for advice especially with crochet problems. I don't do flosstubes - if anyone can recommend one or two, I'll give them a go.

Happy Stitching

Kerry

WIPocalypse February check-in

Hi everyone,

It's been a busy few days for blogging and apologies for things you may have already seen this week. Firstly a couple of people commented on the tiny hoops from Tiger in my last post. These are they so you know what you're looking for. 

WIPocaylpse - January check in

Morning friends,

That's always a dangerous thing to say when it's fast heading to midday and you have a tendency to take ages to write a blog post.

Right last Sunday of the month means WIPocalypse hosted my Measi so here are my offerings this month.

I have two finishes to share - you will have already seen these so just to tick them off the WIP list we have...

Finished birth sampler, you can read more about it here.

I also finished the little tree decoration in my last post.

Right on to new stuff and this is the biggie...Progress on The twelve days of Christmas. The design is by Paulette Stewart at Plum Street Samplers and was released as the Christmas 2015 SAL I didn't get quite as far as I had planned but considering I was here at my last check in with this project.

and now I'm here - it's not bad progress. I love the wreath around the Goose's neck

I also brought 2 frames for completed stitches in my box of shame...progress! I just need to do something with them now.

I have a present to make this week and then I shall be back stitching this for Theme-Tas-Stitch in February along with that pesky biscornu. 

Edited:

 Oops I forgot the WIPocalypse question: What SALs are you taking part in this year?

I’m taking part in 3 SAL’s this year and hosting one of my own.

Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted by Jo and we post on the 15^th of each month about our stitching that is for gifts or made up of items gifted to us (thread, chart, fabric etc).

Smalls SAL hosted by Heather –posting on the last Friday of each month we finish something small each month of our choice.

Wipocalypse  hosted my Measi – posting on the last Sunday of the month about the WIP’s we’ve worked on.

And...

 Theme-tas-stitch is a SAL I am hosting each month where we use pieces in our stash to stitch around themes set. Many of you will remember Theme-a-licious - well basically I contacted Heather and asked if I could re-launch it - she said yes so here we are. More details can be found on the tab at the top of my page.

Have a great stitchy week friends

WIPocalypse 2017

Hey Folks,

So a few days late, but here is my introduction post for WIPocalypse 2017 hosted by Measi. Most of you will be familiar with how it works but basically it's an easy going SAL where we choose our own projects that are Works-In-Progress  and post about our progress on the last Sunday of the month. There is usually a question too about us and our stitching. this month it's just introductions...

Here are my 7 WIP's going in to 2017...

Wipocalypse

Hey folks 

I'm a bit late with this month's wipocalypse post. It's been a crazy busy week as my eldest has left primary school today. We've had various leavers events this week so I've been dishing out drinks at the inflatables party on Wednesday, leavers disco and parents drinks in the pub last night and tonight we've had a family movie. We watched Ant Man, I did find some bits rather amusing but for the most it seemed rather predictable. 

Any hoo, back on to wipocalypse. I've not done a huge amount on the sampler this week with everything that's been going on but I did finish the butterflies. 

They were a cover kit from Crazy. I managed to squeeze a 4th butterfly on the fabric and my daughter picked greens for the final one. 

So on to next month's wipocalypse:

Olympic Stitching Challenge!

(Pinched from measi's blog) As we go into the July WIPocalypse, it’s time once again to start thinking about Olympic stitching plans. If you do want to participate in the Olympic Stitch-a-Long challenge, we’ll be running three mini “competitions,” and it’s up to you to decide how you want to approach it.  Hopefully one of these options appeals to you!

1. a rotation challenge (for those who like to work on a bunch of different pieces)
2. a distance challenge (for those one at a time stitchers, or anyone else who wants to do some serious focusing on a particular piece)
3. a color challenge (stitch only in the colors of the olympic rings on your WIP pieces, OR… your nation’s flag).

So here are my plans:

Plum street sampler 12 days - finish days 5 to 8

That blimmin' winter biscornu - finish the thing!!

Bunny card - finish 

Blackwork seasons - finish summer and any more progress I can make. 

My plan is to do 3 days on 12 days and then rotate daily through the rest and then back to the start. Theoretically this will cover points 1 and 2. I love the idea of the Olympic Rings challenge - 12 days covers red and green, biscornu is stitched on blue fabric and of course black work covers the black! I've nothing yellow so I'll shoehorn something in somewhere! 

I might even pinch Jo's medal idea and award myself gold medals if I complete any of the above, plus bonus medals for anything I make significant progress on during that period if I reach my targets. 

This challenge runs 5th - 21st August so I shall carry on with the anchor sampler until the 5th and then see how things are doing. I've a few new kits in the basket calling me rather loudly...

Have a great weekend. 

Edited as didn't publish Friday night. 

Wipocalypse June

So here we are on the other side of the Monday marathon madness. I managed 3.5 hours of stitching and stitched on 6 different projects. I actually got excited when the Blackwork came out of the jar! 

So the six were...

3 of the butterflies 

Also to come out was the 12 days of Christmas. 

I managed to get a whole band done on the blackwork seasons sampler. 

Lastly was a little Dragon Dreams dragon I decided to stitch for hubby for our wedding anniversary, I did put in 2 sessions on it one when I got up and then in the evening. It was a good thing as I couldn't find the anniversary card I brought for hubby so frantically finished the dragon and made it up into a little card. 

I've decided that I'm going to do it again tonight, but take the anchor sampler out of the pot as I'm doing that for Just One July. It was actually a lot of fun. 

Lastly the monthly question:

Question of the Month

Do you find yourself more productive with stitching in summer or winter?

I'm not sure it really makes a difference really. My stitching bug wanders off whenever it pleases, I often have a big hiatus in January but that's about it!

Happy stitching friends 

What was I thinking!

Hello everyone, 

Serendipitous Jo is definitely an enabler. Not only does she show us some amazing stitching using stunning threads and fabric, she has these mad ideas to work on all her WIPS on the longest day (Monday 20th) and invites fellow bloggers to join in.  I must have been bonkers to agree to join and promptly dug out my 7 WIPS and then started 5 cards too (4 butterflies and a bunny) ready for next month. So tomorrow will see me work on these 12 projects for 30 minutes each and we'll see how many I get to. I'll post the results in my Wipocalypse post this week. 

Not pictured is the little dragon dreams dragon I'm working on for my wedding anniversary on Tuesday. Last minute decision to make something yesterday so I'm stitching like mad in between cooking a roast for Father's Day and the tennis  and F1. 

The projects are all written down in the jar so I can pick out which to stitch and ready in the basket so hopefully I'm all good to go. 

Wish me luck!