Wipocalypse February

Hello all

A couple of days late but here is my Wipocalypse progress and I'm pleased to say there is progress!!! Whoop whoop!!!

I decided to tackle the sewing list as I know the stitching will get done. I've done 2 projects and worked on a third. I also completed Game of Thrones stitch that's waiting to be framed. 

So here are the two completed sewing projects. I started this cushion cover this time last year when hubby brought the fabric as he loves Chinese dragons. I started it and made a mistake on it. So it got shoved in my sewing machine box and ignored. I was sewing this week and thought I could finally get it done for hubby for valentine's day. It's one of those silly things that it actually only ended up taking half hour to unpick and finish. Here it is with the little Mouseloft design I did for hubs for valentines day too. 

The second was the fabric brooch that I started in a workshop at the NEC 2 years ago! Here's the original post. I forgot to take a before photo but this one shows it at the time of the workshop. I'd put in 3 of the rows of bugle beads at some point since. 

So that was where I picked it up last night. Most of the beads were included in the kit I got with the course. I added in last night a few more bugles and the blue and large green beads. 

I'm pleased with the finished brooch. It'll go with a lot of what I wear so I'm looking  forward to wearing it. 

I've been busy making up hexagons for my quilt too so I'm going to get that out and spend an hour or so on it this afternoon. 

Each month Measi is posing a question too...
 How many projects do you generally feel comfortable having in progress at a time?  Tell us about your one-at-a-time or rotation habits!

I was always a OAAT stitcher until I discovered forums and then blogging. I like taking part in swaps and SAL's and I have a few crafty friends who I love to do swaps with I have a spring themed swap coming up with Steph and the travelling box will be back in the summer. .  I have a basket full of started things (about 10) and a huge list of to-do's. I keep a little note book with a list of anything I need to stitch over the coming couple of months - there are 16 stitched projects in there, all but one are smalls. I'm trying a rotation at the moment too as I don't seem to find the time for the larger projects. This has really helped me get a couple of medium projects finished and  make progress on the sampler too. I have several sewing projects on the go too so I've tried to make time for them even if it means only doing an hour on the quilt on a Sunday and getting the sewing machine out once a month on my Thursday morning of peace! In shout - I always wish there was less started in the basket and blame March Madness entirely!!

 I'm off to catch up on my blog reading this afternoon. Have a good week and I hope my UK readers have all stayed safe in the storms. 

Theme-a-licious January round up

Hi everyone,

 So here is my first Theme-a-licious round up of 2014. Heather sets a theme each month for us to shoehorn our stitching into. This month is...

Jardin January

The holidays were a little stressful...let's relax in a nice garden. Work on any piece with flowers or gardens.

 So this was an easy one for me as I started the traditional sampler on New Year's Day. I've had a couple of rotation weeks on it and I must say with mixed results. The design isn't hard or the chart hard to read, I've just been a rubbish stitcher on this one. So here is my progress up to the end of last week. As you can see there are 3 flowers that fit nicely into the theme! 

I also did the Needlecraft Haven January challenge which was this cute little sheep design. It has a tree so I'm claiming it fits in the theme!! 

I could add in the little heart and notebook cover too as they both had flowers on, but you've seen those ;-). I'm claiming this month as a definite win!! Next month the theme is fantasy fiction so I may have to eek my Game of Thrones. Stitch out one more day as I'm very, very close to a finish as I only have about 250 stitches left on it! I can't think of anything else in my WIP basket or to do pile that fits the bill. 

Next week is my smalls rotation week so lots planned for that. Sorry that the text is all over the place, blogger just feels like it and who am I to argue.

Thanks for reading my lovely crafty friends.

Stitchy Rotation - the first round

Hi everyone

I decided this year that the only way to get a nice mix of large projects for me and still make gifts and swaps was to try a rotation. I decided to go for a 3 week rotation running Monday to Sunday. 

Week 1 is my a big project which currently is my anchor sampler. Here is where I start the next round of it. I'm going to try and get more of the borders done. 

Week 2 is my WIP/UFO week, I'll be starting or rather restarting Game of Thrones next week. When all the WIP's in the basket are done it'll become medium sized projects. 

Week 3 is my smalls week - all the cover kits, biscornu and other little things too. 

So I've done a week of each and I really feel pleased with how it is working. I've had 4 finishes (oh yes there are 3 more happy dances) 

I did the heart that was free with this months cross stitcher. I think it's too big for a key ring so it's hanging off my craft light. The second was the panel for the notebook from this months CS crazy. 

The third was the Needlecraft Haven SAL piece that is all stitched but needs making up. I'll show you that once we've had the reveal on the forum. It was a sweet little design. The SAL this year is to do12 Christmas ornaments.

So wish me luck with the sampler. I keep looking at it and thinking I'll never get this done! 

 

Wipocalypse 2014 - the first post

Wipocalypse is hosted by Measi at Measi's Musings and is a monthly SAL to try and get some of those wips in check. I've never been much of a serial starter but I took part in March madness last year as part of Theme-a-licious and this resulted in a basket full of wips that I've not done much with.

Each month has a topic and this month is introduce yourself and your wips. So I'm not really sure what to say that's not in my side bar biog. I love stitching florals and blackwork and quite a few dragons as hubby loves them. I like taking part in swaps especially ones like the travelling box I do with a small group of crafty friends. I'm more of a smalls stitcher than big projects although I have bigger projects planned for this year. I don't expect to finish the HAED on the list but progress would be good as it's been untouched for at least 3 years now.

So here are the projects in the WIP basket...

STITCHING

1. Big Bang Theory by Wee Little Stitches

2. Game of Thrones by xstitch my heart

3. Scissors biscornu

4. Donald Duck by Anchor

5. Keep calm bookmark

6. Toddlers sheep by Mouseloft

7. After the bath by Mouseloft

8. Traditional sampler by Anchor

9. Mother's Day garden by Mouseloft

10. QS Iris (HAED) by J Wall

As you can see the sampler, Iris and BBT are not in the pic as BBT is on my frame, the sampler you saw in my last post and the HAED is under the bed...somewhere! 

SEWING 

11. Fabric fan brooch

12. Chinese fabric cushion cover

13. Hexagon Christmas wreaths x4

14. Hexagon quilt

15. Felt Christmas lights garland

16. Prick and stitch bookmarks x 3 

17. Cushion cover for free motion embroidery panel

18. Do something with fabric fusion panel

Probable starts for 2014

1. Lizzie Kate stitcher in residence

2. Lizzie Kate work, pray, trust

3. Mouseloft dragon

4. Mouseloft giraffe

5. Giraffe silhouette 

6. Blackwork lady (WOXS)

7. Mother and baby Giraffes

8. Chinese dragon from latest cross stitcher. 

9. Scooby Doo by Wee Little Stitches

Some of the to do's are in pic below

There are also the 24 cover kits I plan on doing and the 12 Christmas ornaments from the Needlecraft Haven SAL 

I'm exhausted just thinking about it all! 

Edited to say Big Bang theory completed yesterday!!!

Happy dances!!

So 2 weeks into 2014 and I have my first two happy dances. My rotation is going well and I feel like I'm making progress.

One of my wips was the Big Bang Theory design by Wee little Stitches. You can find the chart here. Hubby wants it framed to go in his geek corner. 

I finished this one last week but couldn't share it as it was for Steph to say thank you for the amazing dragon she crocheted for my hubby and all our lovely gifts she sent us at Christmas. 

The design is a freebie from Kincavel Krosses. I backed it with some spotty fabric and turned it into a little pouch to hold a gift card. 

There are my first two finishes of the year. I'm on my smalls rotation week now so I'm working on the cover gift from this months cross stitcher magazine and the January ornament from the needlecraft haven SAL. 

Tomorrow I'll be posting my first wipocalypse post. Exciting! 

Bye for now

2013 - the best bits!

Hi everyone.


I thought I'd share a few of my favourite makes from 2013.

 

Here are Some of my favourite makes of 2013. I made a total of 29 stitched pieces including 14 biscornu,and also made 5 charm bracelets and a few felties including the mermaid and the fox & raccoon amongst other crafts too.

I tried some new crafts including Friendly Plastic, free motion embroidery and fusing fabric. I learnt how to crochet a granny square and took part in SAL's with varying degrees of success. The travelling box visited a couple of times and was enormous fun.and I'm already starting to think about what to make for it's next visit.

I got to visit fellow blogger Laura and see her again when she visited me. I also met another blogger Steph too for the first time. I'm looking forward to seeing Laura and Steph again this year.

I'll be back in a few days with my goals for 2013.

Happy crafting!