MAY I share my WIP parade?

Hi All.

And here we go for 2022. I've spent up until 1 May stitching monogamously until all I had left were 7 BAP WIP 

So, I've spent a week kitting up and starting one or two projects...

Angry Cat

Durene Jones : Halloween SAL / Flowers & Bees SAL / Sleeping Cat / Stitching Sayings

Jardin Prive : Carre / ABC Sampler

Lizzie Kate - Plant a Little Kindness

Pinker & Punkin - Bees Blooms & Chickens

Stitchy Princess - Miss Sunflower

Shepherds Bush - Joy Sheep

Modern Folk Embroidery - 2021 SA Fruits of Plenty

Halloween Mag 2021 - Angry Cat/ Broomstick Brigade / Current Mood / I'm not Evil / Owl-oween.

and lastly - thanks to an intervention on the zoom meeting :

Long Dog Samplers - Tap Dancer

Now admittedly, several of these are smalls - under 50 x 50 stitches and a lot are on Aida, but there are a few BAP's - which will join with the existing 7 remaining WIPs in my list

English Floral Sampler

Shores of Hawk Run Hollow

Boothy Threads 12 days of Christmas

MIrabilia Mermaids of the Deep Blue

Jeremiah Junction - Stitcher's Panel

Jardin Prive - Histories de Moutons

Bronnybs Designs - Robert Burns Halloween

Bees and Flowers SAL

Now I have an even dozen WIPs Never mind the several designs lurking in my head that have yet to escape onto the design board.

 

Instead of Monogamous stitching I now have a weekly rotation - by type.  My weeks run Monday to Sunday and only loosely work around a calendar date.

1st week - kitting up and stitching all those lovely new charts that have spoken to me for that previous month.  This will othewise be a quick rotation of WIPS as take my fancy

2nd week  - BAP - Big A$$ed Projects

Projects and charts that are over 200 x 200 stitches in size.  Either one or however many I can put some stitching into for the one week

DJ Halloween SAL

3rd week - Christmas and Halloween.

Have you looked above?   Have you seen how many Halloween projects I have going??  Time to whip a few of these seasonal WIPs into line.  Bonus points if I FFO them

4th week - My designs.  I have so many ideas running in my head that I REALLY need to get them down on paper (or USB)  Most of them are samplers, but there are a few alternate ones here too

5th week - for some of those months where there is an extra few days. 

Bees Blooms & Chickens

Broomstick Brigade

Current Mood

I'm not Evil

Owl-oween

so many projects - so little time

ABC Sampler

Carre

Plant a Little Sunshine

Miss Sunflower

Joy Sheep

How many WIPs do you have?

Sleeping Cat

2022 Welcome back to the Blog with a WIP Parade.

HI all,

Firstly – apologies because I dropped off the Blog circuit again in 2021

After discovering Floss-Tube, I then fell down the Instagram rabbit hole, and most of my work for the past few months has been recorded there…   I did however, try to link my Instagram pics to a banner at the top of this blog.

I will re-attempt a floss-tube again this year.  I did record one 30 minute video with the help of my partner Allan, but he was being a perfectionist (I’ll blame him) and it took too long to process the video and was no longer relevant.  I just never got around to recording another one

From August, as well as stitching and quilting, I took up journaling.   I started with one journal – a brain dump of words and thoughts then swiftly moved onto a dot journal and what I refer to as my art planner.  This is the one where stickers and washi tape and drawing come into play.  I hope to keep all their images on Instagram - #bronnyb_bujo as this is a craft I hope to keep somewhat separate to my cross-stitch.  Having said that, I do have a stitching journal – found it on Etsy (Chris from As the Yoo Flies makes great stitching accessories)

This is what I now refer to for my list of projects.

Chart	Started	Finished
English Floral Sampler	May 2006
Shores of Hawk Run Hollow	Feb 2012
Jeremiah Junction Panel	2020
Meteo de Moutons 2021	Jan 2021
How Doth the Bee	Jan 2021	Jan 2021
Mermaids of the Deep Blue	Feb 2021
Owlforest Kingfisher	April 2021
Robert Burns’ Halloween	April 2021
Dreaming Girl SAL	May 2021
12 Days of Christmas	May 2021
Delft House Row	May 2021
Histories de Moutons	July 2021
One Sheep Open Sleigh	August 2021	August 2021
Cherish Dream Live	August 2021	August 2021
Life’s a Stitch	August 2021	August 2021
Halloween? I can’t I’m Stitching	October 2021	October 2021
Nightmare before Coffee	October 2021	Nov 2021
Blackbirds on a Pumpkin	November 2021
Black Sampler November – Stitchers Hornbook	November 2021	Nov 2021
Dust Bunnies	November 2021	Nov 2021
Queen Bee	November 2021
Do What you Love	November 2021	December 2021
Halloween Cat	November 2021
Christmas Heirloom Tablecloth -2020	December 2021	December 2021
Trouvez l’intruz	December 2021	January 2022

25 Projects in the year with ELEVEN FINISHES

That means only 14 projects in current rotation.   Although I participated in WIPGO last year, I have chosen not to do that this year.  Right at the moment, I am thinking to stitch monogamously on one project at a time, in an attempt to get more finishes.  Straight after finishing Do What you Love – I’ve picked up Dreaming Girl SAL again.   I hope to get at least Part 2 finished if not completing the entire stitch before picking up the next WIP – some of these do not have much to go, but I put them down in order to keep my 2021 WIPGO up to date..

2021 Haul

Although a lot of my online purchases appear to have been relating to my Journals in the last half of 2021, there were a few pdf charts purchased.

Jardin Privè, Modern Folk Embroidery, Durene Jones, Barbara Ana Designs, Creative Poppy, Caroline Manning Designs, Galliana Designs and Owlforest

These are likely to be kitted up and started at some point in 2022.

I also went a bit berserk with floss – Cottage Garden Floss and Silks4U – and fabric from Etsy – Yarn Stories and Tom & Lily Designs.  Shipping from the US proved problematic from September, due to Covid so had to source alternate suppliers of fabric and charts.  I tried to buy from Australian sellers where possible and would often be found scrounging on Etsy late into the evening.

I bought 2 mystery subscription boxes late in the year.  Cascade Fabrics December Mystery Box and Sassy Devils Pouch also in December.  I was impressed with one more so than the other and will be buying more from them during 2022

Photos of my completed works in 2021 follow in no particular order. (included is my first finish of 2022 - Trouvez l'intrudez) Perhaps next weekend I may put together a montage of my 2022 WIP – and that might keep me honest…

 

SMILE AND POINT YOUR TOES

Let’s get 2022 underway !!

Boxing Day Blogaversary, Review of 2020 and Plans for 2021

What a wind up to what otherwise was a very low-key Christmas.   I eventually put up a small tree with stitched ornaments as after such a long lockdown, just did not have my usual Jingle-Jangle mojo running.  

And as I sit in my chair this Boxing Day morning, I look up at my tree and see so many memories of Christmases Past.   I looked back to my first Blog posts – back to December 26 2008 and see the ornament that is most prominent, was indeed finished on that day.  So it is a Blogaversary and have enjoyed rekindling my stitching journey with you all.

 

2020 was for me a Year of Clarity and has been a good year to determine what is important in life.  Family, Friends and Fabric.  I have gained a Grandson this year, with the hope that I will meet him within the month.  Friendships have strengthened with enforced distancing and new friendships forged.  

Christmas Day was a festive day with family celebrating together.  I am so honoured that my Heirloom tablecloth is now used each year and has become part of the family tradition.  My sewing room is organised and has promoted more creativity throughout the year and leading into 2021 I am looking to starting up a Floss-tube to run concurrently with this blog (the aim is to kick this into production in February)

This remaining week of December, I will try to organise my stitching projects for 2021 starting by listing them here.

• '    Meteo 2020 SAL – I need to finish off December houses and to fill in the blanks with appropriate motifs
  
• '    Meteo de Moutons 2021 – This will be stitched on aida and I need to spend the time stitching the paddocks the ‘sheep’ will be housed in.  Although I have charted this, have set my own rules and will not start this before Jan 1^st
• '    Shores of Hawk Run Hollow –
  This is a long running WIP and deserves some concentrated stitching on this chart to move it along.  I do not expect this to be finished in 2021, but might aim for 2022 finish
• '    English Floral Sampler – this was high on my rotation this past year and I finished several squares, could I possibly finish P-Z in 2021?
  
• '    12 Days of Christmas – Boothy Threads – this was suggested some months ago as a 2021 SAL – Surely I only have to finish one square each month??  I looked at it again this morning, and it is a fairly intense bit of stitching, the couching has its own chart.  This might be better as a 2 year project
  
• '    History de Moutons – Jardin Privé – This was the chart that inspired me to revisit the Year of the Sheep.  I’ll be stitching the whole 4 charts as one – I really want to get this started in January
• '    Stitching, Sewing, Quilting – Jeremiah Junction – this is an OOP design from 2004 and I have started it, but would like to put some more time into it.  This will have a place in my sewing nook when completed
• '    Let’s Sew – Ursula Andrews – a mid-project sort of project – stitched with one thread of Needle Necessities on a slightly rayonish aida that was in the box of bits.
• '    Halloween – A sampler designed by me, inspired by Robert Burns.  This is the model stitch for my first chart to be released for sale in 2021 – about July
• '    Raise a glass – A sampler designed by me, inspired by vintage crockery.  This is a model stitch for a design to be released for sale in 2021 – about September

 

This is a list of more than 4 charts.  I am going to rethink about stitching charts on a weekly basis.

What are YOUR plans for 2021? 

September fades away and October beckons

 

 September not bound for finishes…

The day has dawned warm and windy here in Frankston, Victoria.  Meteorologists have warned about horizontal weather – so batten down the hatches.  When I get to stitching the past few days in the Meteo 2020 SAL I think it will show a dramatic change to temperatures.  And yes, that is on my cross stitch rotation for the coming week – to stitch September and see the changes.  I must also consider the extra motifs to fill in the blanks.  The end is in sight – it should be finished the first week of 2021 – and how quickly is that looming?  

Stage 4 lockdown in Melbourne has morphed into stage 3.4 with the prospect of easing to 3.2 in a week or so… I don’t know, it has become a bit too hard to follow as most of the restrictions do not affect me – apart from businesses closed, not travelling outside my 5km radius, with the exception of travel permit to head to work as an essential employee – (15 years’ experience has won out) – I don’t have school age children and pre-lockdown, I didn’t spend much time at cafés or shopping centres, but now I’m fanging to get to a restaurant to have a dinner out, to drive to the country to see my girlfriend or my sister – plan a weekend away.  I don’t like going to supermarket shopping anymore – I get anxious around groups of people now.  Not to mention that the Car Dealerships are closed down, but the benefit is that I am saving up a whopping deposit on my new car, ordered at the end of June.  When lockdown is eased and I CAN drive more than 5km, then I’ll have a new car to drive into the country to see my girlfriend and sister….. 

I always thought personalised numberplates for cars were a bit wanky and pretentious… but guess who has bought personalised plates??  Yep…and they arrived this week.  It’s not quite regulation to show numberplates on social media – but here is a snippet..  

 I must really pull my finger out and finish the hand embroidery on this quilt so I can get it sandwiched and quilted.  I’m still thinking of combination machine and hand quilting this one.

Reading back to my last post, I realised I missed last Saturday – I remember the weather was dreadfully chilly and I spent a lot of my time at the sewing machine – sewing for no real purpose, but trying a couple of techniques.   I had the idea that I needed to make a couple of mug-mats to go into my Stitchy Gift Bag of bits – so I had a go at a bit of Quilt-as-You-Go mug mats  - random stitching and these 2 are the result.  One has had the binding finished, but the other is waiting for the binding to be attached… which seems to be the running feature of my fortnight  - but I digress..

I then found a bit of patchwork that I had pieced and had the backing ready to go to be quilted…. (I have a pile of these that I walk past at least 8 times a day and it was on top of the pile) and of course that fell under my machine needle for a bit of distraction.  I’ve done all the quilting process now, and now I need to put some binding on and stitch it down.. I also need to darn in all the ends of the quilting, as I started in the middle of the project.  – So this is another project not quite finished.

Missouri Star Quilt Company Tutorial last week was a fun quilt of patches of Sewing Machines.  It caught my eye (as so many of their tutorials do)  Of course, I had to have a go… and an afternoon later, I have two more mug-mats quilted and ready to be finished off – the black one will probably end up with some felt applique – and once again, the binding is attached but is waiting to be finished down.

Halloween quilt is on hold for the moment.  I’m thinking how I want to quilt it – and because it is such a fussy pattern, I don’t want the quilting to distract from the pattern, particularly the bats.  I’m leaning onto just making some spiderwebs across the whole pattern…  Then, there will be binding to attach and stitch down…

Then of course I got side-tracked again..  and started another technique.. Storm at Sea is a really distinctive design and I spent a lot of last Sunday on quilt math… colouring in options for designs.. I didn’t want to make a whole quilt, just 4 patches together to get the idea of paper piecing…  I spent a few after-work evenings putting them together and neglecting my cross stitch, but hope to spend this afternoon pulling the paper sections off and putting the mini-quilt together.. Then I can sandwich it, quilt it, put the binding on and finish it – it can then also go into my gift pile.

I’ve ordered some Australiana fabric for a requested project, so when that arrives, will want to put that one together fairly quickly – until I have all the fabric together and see it, I do not have a direct pattern in mind, but inspiration will hit.

I have a new friend in my Sewing nook – Meet Jacky Lamby.   She has been gifted to me by a work colleague who is extremely modest about her crochet skills.  Jacky is a shelf sitter and is positioned to look over my shoulder and watch me at my sewing machine.  Jodie – thank you.  It is almost a backwards compliment to a hand-crafter to describe something as good as something you’d find in a shop…  but Jacky is so well made – I could imagine finding her in a baby-wares shop for an exorbitant price

Bit by bit, I’ve been finding little things to sort out the organisational aspects of my sewing nook.  I have a LOT of printed patterns, some freebies I printed around 2004-05 which I still want to stitch (someday), some magazine charts I’ve pulled out – rather than keeping an entire magazine.  I have sorted these into Stitchery/Cross-stitch/Patchwork.  I have them sorted into Christmas/Halloween, Sheep/Teapots, Samplers by Motif/Band/Alphabet and Blackwork.  I have been very good and have kept an excel spreadsheet to document what chart can be found in what book. 

Now those of you who have display folders (I may or may not have gone out and bought some 50 books to use), you will know that they are floppy, exasperating things to put on a shelf without some sort of restraining system.  I am using the Ikea Kallax unit and was finding the books just kept falling sideways and not sitting where I could put them clearly.  I went online to search for a solution and I think I found a simple one.  At K-Mart of all places, found a wire rack in the office solutions and this is the result.  Wonderful!  The books are staying upright and are divided into groups.  You can see the basket on the floor, with another lot of books, but I have to work out which of my cube squares I am going to abandon to put the books in…  I am using all the other squares, so this will be a difficult decision – but my room IS a work in progress

Nearly forgot a finish of sorts... My TOL 2020 SAL is nearing completion and of the 2 versions I stitched, I had to adjust the last couple of bands of the blue/yellow version because I miscounted the fabric I stitched it on.  So now it's finished and I've added the beads and sequins.  When life opens up again, this will be sent to the framer

I hope you have enjoyed my meandering today – I was listening to a new to me Floss-Tube – Jan Hicks Creates..   in this time of isolation, felt like I had a stitchy friend sitting next to me and telling me what was in her week…  I wonder if I should investigate floss-tube a bit more..   Do you have any channels you like to visit?  Please leave a comment and let me know.