December WIPocalypse and TurtleTrot Combined!

It's time for the final check-in for both the WIPocalypse SAL and the TurtleTrot SAL. Technically the WIPocalypse was on 12/6 but I decided to combine them together.

My original list for them were as follows with my progress, etc:
1.) Pinocchio - Wish Upon a Star: This was a new start this year so I ended up at this point when I put it away for this year.

Pinocchio - December SAL check in

I worked on this one a lot this fall and made some really great progress. I would estimate I am a little over 1/4 complete on this one.

2.) NOEL - This one is a finish. you can see it finished into an ornament in the upper right of the picture below. For some reason I cannot get it to rotate at all. The pic below captures all of the ornaments that I completed this year. 

2014 Ornaments completed

3.) Santa and Westie Stocking - No progress at all

4.) ABC's of Family - No progress at all

5.) Flower Cards - I don't have a picture but there is only backstitching left to do on this one.

6.) The Lady and the Flag - This was a finish this year!

Completed and Framed
The Lady and the Flag - November 2014

7.) Dream Catcher - this was a total redesign from a stamped Lab Blanket kit into a counted project on AIDA. It was a relatively quick stitch for its size. It was finished in the fall and my FIL had it framed below:

Completed and Framed
Dreamcatcher Redesign - November 2014

8.) Snowman Ornaments - These need back stitching completed and are different than the ornaments pictured above. I should have them done by the end of this week.

9.) Nativity Set - Still need to completed Back Stitching on the camel and a wise man.

10 and 11.) Winter and Fall Mandala - This were so much fun to stitch. Here are some un-framed and the whole set framed for your enjoyment.

Winter Mandala

Fall Mandala

Seasonal Mandala's unframed

Seasonal Mandala framed
November 2014

 
So I made a lot of progress on the goals I set for myself which I set for myself. I am planning on take part in the WIPocalypse next year and am determining if I will do the TurtleTrot soon.

There are still a few things that I need to complete before the end of the year so I better get back to stitching.

Happy Stitching!

November Turtle Trot Update!

My Turtle Trot Update this month is rather small. I only worked on one project on my list: Pinocchio's  - When you which upon a star. At last check in I was here:

Pinocchio - When you wish upon a star
MCG textiles Kit from Thomas Kinkade Print
October 15th, 2014

At the time of my picture, this morning I was here:

Pinocchio - When you Wish upon a Star
MCG textiles from Thomas Kinkade
November 11, 2014 

I have moved the q-snaps to the Upper right portion of the pattern. I had hit a few issues with the Floss in the kit in that it was the wrong color and I didn't have enough of it but the customer service at MCG was AMAZING! From the time of first email to replacement floss received was less than 4 days. They were always so polite when I heard from them. This month I am planning on working on Christmas ornaments and hopefully some other WIPs.

Happy Stitching Everyone!

Long Time...no Blogging - WIPocalypse and TurtleTrot check in

Well...It's been almost 3 weeks since I blogged last and I am going to try to catalogue what has been happening.

First..the week of September 29th, I went on Vacation with my entire family to Florida. We went to Ormond Beach which was delightful. The weather was manageable, the niece and nephew handled the plane rides like champs and I even explored a local yarn store in the area called "A Ball of Yarn." I did manage a few stitches on a Christmas ornament Whimsies pattern but it wasn't even worth taking a picture. My dear SIL's father took a turn for the worse so she left and it was all hands on deck with the kids. I can say it gave me a much greater appreciate for the innocence of kids. :)

Then, once I came back, I have been a working fool at my day job. I am an engineer and have been putting in 10-12 hour days. That is not to say I haven't been stitching when I have time but the progress is not the greatest unfortunately. Here are some progress pics below:

1.) Pinocchio's When You Wish Upon a Star

Last Check in - February 2014

September 30, 2014 Progress Picture

October 15, 2014 Progress Picture

You may notice that I changed how the grid was marked between the January and October Pictures. I found that the Soluble blue pen is better for this design. Also, I received an award at my day job that lead to an amazon gift card. I used that the purchase a few of the Thomas Kinkade Disney Kits I didn't already have: Lady and the Tramp, Peter Pan, and The Disney Castle.

I also worked on a new Quilt top and finished piecing it entirely. I just sent an email off to my long armer about when I can drop off the one pictured below:

Riley Blake - Evening Fat Quarter Bundle

My Goal is to give it to my grandmother for Christmas this year.

I also have been knitting on the seed stitch wrap. The color order was brown, taupe, cream, red, cream, taupe, brown. I have completed the transition from Cream to taupe and have done about 3 inches on the Taupe. I forgot to take a picture of this one as well as the baby blanket that I am halfway on.

My hope is that I can use this post to check in for WIPocaplypse and TurtleTrot to get up to date thus far. I also need to get back into the Monthly goals realm because it keeps me accountable to finishing things.

Here are my answers for the WIPocalypse Prompts I have missed:

August 10 – Topic:  Tell us about your oldest and newest WIPs.

    My newest WIP is the Pinocchio project early this year. My oldest WIP is the Resting Tiger that is referenced on my WIP page. 
September 9 – Topic: Who is your favourite person to stitch for, or do you prefer to keep your stitching yourself?

  My favorite person to stitch for is either my grandmother or one of my parents. They love everything I do so that makes it enjoyable.October 8 – Topic:  Are you a Halloween or Christmas stitcher?

   I am a huge Christmas stitcher. I love the small satisfaction of finishing Christmas ornaments.

 

Happy Stitching!

The Beading may kill me

This past weekend was IHSW but was also when my dear grandmother was visiting. I didn't complete as much as I wanted to but I did finish the back stitching on "The Lady and the Flag" and started beading her myself.

The Lady and the Flag
8/22/2014 progress

 For those of you beading veterans...I think I should have started on a smaller or maybe less intensive project. I love how the beads look but they are time consuming. I have also found that in some long sets of beads in a row I need to drop one due to space. I am not sure if the linen size was smaller than originally designed as the pattern and fabric were all bought for me.

Happy stitching!

Dream Catcher Happy Dance!!!

I completed the Dream Catcher product on Wednesday evening 7/23/2014. The picture of it is below:

Dream Catcher - complete 7/23/2014
16ct. AIDA, Called for DMC
Adapted from a lap blanket kit from Herrschners.com

This is another project that is off my WIPocalypse/Turtle Trot list. The goal for this weekend is to finish the cross stitching portion of the Lady and the Flag.

Happy stitching!

July Turtle Trot/Wipocalypse Check in and Progress!

First...I am slacking on my posting this Month but I do have some progress on one of my TurtleTrot/Wipocalypse projects. I have been working on getting Dream Catcher completed. My last post on it showed progress to this point:

Dream Catcher progress as of 6/23/14

I have turned the corner on the bottom left now and am in the home stretch as with the progress pic below:

Dream Catcher progress as of 7/10/14

I also have been working on the seed stitch wrap and made another color change. I am at 25.6" which exceeds my goal of hitting 10 more inches or 25" total from the month of July. 

Seed Stitch Wrap progress as of 7/10/14

I also celebrated my Nephew's Birthday the first weekend over the fourth of July and made him some "Thomas the Tank Engine" pillows. He was so excited with them and at 3 there is not much his Aunt can get him excited about toy wise :).

This weekend I would like to finish the Dream Catcher and finish my Christmas Table Runner. Happy Stitching everyone!

WIPocalypse Official Check-in: May

It's time for another WIPocalypse check in. I worked on and completed 2 projects from my list.

1.) First up we have NOEL. I can only seem to find the last progress pick but I only needed to finish the N which is done. This is going to be made into an ornie for my Grandparents in Law.

2.) in my previous post I finished the Winter Mandala.

Not bad with 2 finishes. My post is only 5 days late too so I guess that isn't too bad.

The Prompt for this month was:

What designs or themes do you really wish you could find?  What do you think is missing among stitching designs?

For a long time, I thought there was a lack of architectural pieces. but there have been additions recently by Thea Gouverneur for example. Otherwise, there are not really any designs that I have been looking for recently that I could not find.

Happy Stitching everyone!

WIPocalypse Check-in

It's time for another check-in for WIPocalypse. If you would like more information as to what this is, see the button in my sidebar to the right. I worked on 2 of the projects on my list since the last check in, these were also the 2 projects I worked on for TurtleTrot (that I missed the post for :( ).

1.) NOEL - this project is a kit from 1975(before I was born) that was handed down to be from my dear Husbands grandmother. It is on 30ct. even weave stitched 1x1.

NOEL (circa 1975)
The Carolina Cross Stitch Company
30 ct. even weave 1x1 DMC

I only have a little of the light green to finish on the N and I can call this one complete.

2.) Dream Catcher - this is one that I blogged about earlier so here is the progress when I put it down.

Dream Catcher - March WIPocalypse check-in

Dream Catcher - April WIPocalypse check-in

Besides posting about the progress on Projects we are supposed to answer a prompt from Measi:

How do you keep your stash organized? This one is an interesting one for me as I am slightly OCD when it comes to organizing things. First, for Cross Stitch Items:

I have a 4X4 cube shelving unit from IKEA that houses all kits, floss, fabric and patterns. I am in the process of digitizing that inventory. I keep the fabric that is not kitted to a pattern in a bag labeled with the count, color, and size if possible. Floss is wound on labeled bobbins or kept in labeled ziploc bags. Kits are organized by subject matter and designer. Patterns that I have kitted up are in bags with the pattern, floss, and fabric. finishing items, needles, beads and kreinik are kept in an antique spice cabinet in on a shelf.

Yarn is kept in 2 places: In the 4 blue cubes in the last picture above, I have cotton yarn for dishrags and baby blanket yarn. I have a shelving unit on the wall that i won in an auction that has 30 cubby holes that can hold up to 4 caron simply soft skeins each.

Fabric storage is something that I am still figuring out. Currently, quilting yardage is folded in 2 large 31 totes. Precut items are in one of the black cubes in the picture above. My goal at the end of this year is to have all items in this one room in my house.

I will say that some in progress projects are next to the couch in a large lined basket where I typically stitch.

Happy stitching everyone!

I love pretty fabric! and Turtletrot check in

This past week was extremely productive. I was able to get some work done on my first quilt. I started with a layer cake of Barcelona fabric from Moda. I followed the tutorial for the Double Slice Layer Cake quilt from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. It was super easy to follow. Here are some progress pics.

Barcelona Quilt check in - 3/10/2014

I made the 42 quilt block and sewed them into 6 strips. The strips need pressed and joined into one large block. I was also able to chose the borders and backing that I looked good.

Border and backing colors

In the above picture, the grey fabric is for the backing. The blue, green, and darker blue in the bottom right is for borders. I determined the order as of yet but that is coming.

It is also the day for TurtleTrot Check-in. I worked on Two pieces since the last check-in:

1.) Autumn Mandala

February Check in

Completed 2/18/2014

2.) Dream Catcher: I have no before picture as I changed the material I was stitching on.

March check-in

This is the last photo I took of the Dream Catcher. I have made some more progress including finishing the Feathers and some more of the border on the right hand side.

This past week was productive and the weekend was spent celebrating my DH's birthday. This weekend looks to be rather productive too.

Happy stitching everyone!

TUSAL #2 (late again) & Turtle Trot Check-in

I realized late yesterday that I had totally missed  the TUSAL post on 1/30/2014. I decided to take a pic of my Jar on 2/9/2014. If you are wondering about the TUSAL, check out the button on the right side of my blog or click here.

The bulk of the ORTs in the jar are from the Autumn Mandala which coincides nicely with the Turtle Trot Check - In. The only project that I have had time to work on was the Autumn Mandala.

My previous check-in on it was the following:

Autumn Mandala by Ink Circles
16ct. AIDA
DMC 2 over 1
1/21/2014

I have worked heavily on it in between some travel for work and feeling under the weather to get this far:

Autumn Mandala
2/10/2014

I also found time to start and finish a dish rag:

Dish Rag
Lily's Sugar and Cream
2/7-9/2014

I also cast on for the baby blanket for the little girl my friend is having. Hopefully my next post will have some progress on it.

Happy Stitching everyone!

Turtle Trot Check-in

I made a little progress on 2 of my Turtle Trot Projects. TurtleTrot is a SAL hosted by BAP-Attack:

1.) The Lady and the Flag:
   At last check-in (12/24) she was here:

Before I left for my trip to MN, i was able to complete all cross stitch on the bottom half of her. And she stands at here on 1/10/2014:

2.) Pinocchio : I added a few stitches in him on 1/8-9. Since I never posted a start picture before, here he is as of 1/10/2014.

I will posting updates with belated christmas gifts that are stash additions, etc. I may even recap my travel odyssey from MN home to OH that took almost 2 days.

Happy Stitching everyone!