Two Finishes For WIP Wednesday!

Two happy dances to share with you all today. I could not decide on what to put up above the main body of the design I was stitching, nor could I find an appropriate font, this baby is finished as of now. I may go back at a later time and stitch a saying that is appropriate for the design, but as I have been waffling on whether to do it or not, I am keeping this as is. I truly enjoyed stitching this guy and I plan on stitching it several more times as the design is perfect for fall. 

Here is finish number one:

Design: Autumn's Bounty

Designer: Marva Owen for Black Star Designs 

Fibers Used: Crescent Colours cotton floss in Toasted Marshmallow. The Gentle Art Sampler Threads in Black Crow, Buttercrunch, Dried Thyme, Maple Syrup, Nutmeg, and Sarsaparilla. 

Fabric Used: 32 count Belfast linen in Legacy  by Picture This Plus, from their Crystal line.

Accouterments: Mill Hill beads in #03049 Rich Red 

Stitchers' Notes: Began Friday, August 3, 2018. Finished Monday, August 20, 2018. Changed pumpkin from orange to white. Substituted Algerian eyelet stitches for  Mill Hill beads in #03049 Rich Red  seed beads. Please note that this chart is OOP and very hard to find. Please also note that this chart is not for sale/trade. 

As of Wednesday, August 15, 2018:

Finished Monday, August 20, 2018:

Finish number two comes in the form of a Mill Hill kit that I purchased on a buy/sell group on Facebook. It was a bargain at $2.50, IMO. This was my first time using the included perforated paper. I am not sure that I like stitching on paper. The floss got caught in the corners an awful lot, which became annoying after a while. 

Here is finish number two:

Design: Caramel Apple (MH18-9203)

Designer: Mill Hill

Fibers Used:  DMC Embroidery Floss Art. 117 as called for in the chart

Fabric Used: 14 count Antique Brown perforated paper by Mill Hill

Accouterments: Mill Hill beads as called for in the kit. 

Stitchers' Notes: Began Tuesday, August 21, 2018. Finished Wednesday, August 22, 2018. Left off beadwork at the top of the design. 

Time for me to be off. I need to clean up my area and check on dinner. Hope everyone is having a great week. Happy stitching!

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Respectfully submitted,

C. 

Turning The Page On 2017

I am so happy that I was able to make all of my goals this year. Although I did not get close to the numbers that I made the last two years, I am still quite pleased with my results. This past year was a very busy one, and as I am no longer working out of the house, I fully suspected that my stitching would slow down a bit. 

I made my unofficial yearly goal with 12 projects stitched. I will be continuing this trend for 2018. I have chosen a Bin O'Shame piece to kick 2018 off with. As of this writing, I have 24 long term UFOs left in said Bin O'Shame. I am wanting to put a serious dent in these in 2018. I have also decided that a page finish for one of my BAPs will count towards the 12 finishes for the year. I have a full half dozen HAEDs started, in addition to Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow to finish. I truly need to put the spurs to those guys! 

At any rate, here is the official 2017 Finish list: 

2017 FINISHES

1. Now I Know My ABC’s (Winter theme) by Blackbird Designs. Finished Friday, January 6, 2017

2. Sew Bands by iStitch Designs. Finished Friday, January 13, 2017

3. Les Grande Pensée excerpt. Finished Friday, January 20, 2017

4.Spring For Rabbits by The Gentle Art Sampler Threads. Finished Sunday, February 12, 2017

5. Teacup Mice by Margaret Sherry. Finished Tuesday, February 14, 2017

6. New Years’ Magic by Brooke’s Books. Finished Thursday, February 23, 2017

7. Les étiquettes des bocaux (Jar Labels) Blue Teacup by Véronique Enginger of Les Brodeuses Parisiennes. Finished Thursday, March 2, 2017

8. Les étiquettes des bocaux (Jar Labels) Yellow Teabag by Véronique Enginger of Les Brodeuses Parisiennes. Finished Friday, March 3, 2017

9. Les étiquettes des bocaux (Jar Labels) Clothespin with Flowers by Véronique Enginger of Les Brodeuses Parisiennes. Finished Friday, March 10, 2017

10. Luck 2017 Flip-It by Lizzie Kate. Finished Sunday, March 12, 2017

11. Now I Know My ABC’s by Blackbird Designs (summer version). Finished Friday, March 17, 2017

12. Basket by Lizzie Kate. Finished Friday, March 24, 2017

13. Love by Lizzie Kate. Finished Sunday, March 26, 2017

14. My Wurk by At The Hop. Finished Thursday, April 6, 2017

15. Buttons and Blooms by Blackbird Designs. Finished Saturday, May 13, 2017

16. Tiny Flag by Shepherd’s Bush. Finished Friday, May 19, 2017

17. Winds of Change by Cross Eyed Cricket. Finished Wednesday, June 21, 2017

18. Summer by The Snowflower Diaries. Finished Friday, June 23, 2017

19. Flags and Friends by Bent Creek. Finished Tuesday, July 11, 2017

20. Strawberries and Cream By Casey Buonaugurio. Finished Sunday July 16, 2017

21. Be Kind and True by Blackbird Designs. Finished Sunday, August 6, 2017

22. Little Sunflower Doodle by SanMan Originals. Finished Wednesday, August 9, 2017

24. All Hallows Eve by Chessie and Me. Finished Monday, September 11, 2017

25. Creepy by SanMan Originals. Finished Tuesday, September 12, 2017

26. 2010 Fright Night Quaker Halloween by SanMan Originals. Finished Sunday, October 15, 2017

27. Boo! by Blackbird Designs. Finished Tuesday, October 31, 2017.

28. Yule by The Primitive Hare. Finished Monday, November 27, 2017

29. Merry One by Plum Street Samplers. Finished Saturday, December 9, 2017

30. Allégresse by Danybrod. Finished Monday, December 25, 2017.

Wishing you guys the happiest of New Years. Happy stitching! 

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Respectfully submitted,

C. 

It's Been A While

since I last posted. There has been a lot going on, which I won't go too much into detail. Suffice it to say, DH and I are in some new digs and we're settling in nicely. I still haven't really felt up to stitching since my last post. I've been really apathetic about stitching, which is unusual to say the least. I am slowly getting back into it, however. I managed to finish up a tiny finish for the smaller of our two bathrooms. We have 'themes' to our space and the smaller of the two bathrooms has apparently been deemed the 'beach/ocean' theme. We purchased a new shower curtain and some towels. I really love how it has turned out. At any rate, here is what I have managed to finish up today:

Design: Seahorse

Designer: unknown

Fabric Used: 36 count Edinburgh linen by Hand Dyed Fibers in 

Xenops 5315 (equivalent to DMC 762, very pale grey). 

Fibers Used: Crescent Colours Belle Soie silk in Peacock

Stitcher's Notes: Chart borrowed from a fellow stitcher. Chart originally for filet crochet. Converted into cross stitch. Finished Thursday, July 14, 2016. Frame purchased at Kohl's. Green glass jar purchased at Michael's craft store. Decorative trinket box purchased many years ago at a fair.

When organizing my stash, I came across this piece that was stitched by my mother. I do not know when she stitched this, but I thought it went perfect with this extra frame that I had. It is now hanging up in a place of pride in the smaller bathroom:

Design: Seahorse Collage from the book Sea Life 

Designer: Lanarte

Fabric Used: 14 white aida of unknown manufacturer (probably Charles Craft)

Fibers Used: DMC Embroidery Floss Art. 117 as charted

Stitcher's Notes: Stitched by my mother several years ago. Date of stitching unknown. Frame purchased at Joann's. Design taken from the book Sea Life #3240.

I also received some goodies in the mail. Two charts I have been questing after for a very long time and the new 2016 JCS Halloween edition. Good times!

The Goode Huswife 'Our House' design I am going to convert from DMC to silks. As I have been questing for this particular design for many, many years now, I think it should be stitched with silks. I am up in the air about the fabric, however. I know it will probably wind up being my beloved Legacy  by Picture This Plus, although I am leaning towards the Fog in an opalescent. That would be fun! :)

I finished up my part of the 2016 Tiny Round Robin the other day. I did not post pictures, but will do so now. It has arrived back to its' rightful owner. This was the third and final part on my end, and the owner likes the way it came out. 

Design: Winter Cardinal 

Designer: Waxing Moon

Fabric Used: 14 off white aida of unknown manufacturer (probably Charles Craft)

Fibers Used: DMC Embroidery Floss Art. 117 as charted

Stitcher's Notes: 3rd part of the 2016 Tiny Round Robin. Chart is a former freebie. Finished on Monday, July 4, 2016. 

My piece for the 2016 Tiny Round Robin returned to me on Saturday. I need to plan out the rest of the elements. I have a few ideas floating around in my head, however, I am anxious to get rid of my stitching apathy and I am craving some Halloween/Fall stitching. I did get a new magazine after all! 

Designers Used: Prairie Schooler and Willow Hill Samplings

Fabric Used: 18 count aida in Legacy  by Picture This Plus

Fibers Used: Au Ver À Soie  Soie d'Alger in Blanc Optique, 945, 1424, 2242 and 4122. Crescent Colours Belle Soie silk in Old Crow. 

Stitcher's Notes: 2016 Tiny Round Robin Piece. Both designs are now out of print. 

As of Tuesday, April 26, 2016:

Returned: Saturday, July 9, 2016:

And finally, I would like to close today's post with prayers and thoughts to those in Nice, France. Apparently, there has been another terror attack on French soil. My heart goes out to them. 

Allons enfants de la Patrie,
Le jour de gloire est arrivé!
Contre nous de la tyrannie,
L'étendard sanglant est levé

Vive Le France!

Respectfully submitted,

C. 

A Second Organizational Post

I am not sure about anyone else, however, when I don't feel well and cannot concentrate on stitching, there are times when I clean and organize. This was one of those times. I conducted an inventory on not only the Bin O'Shame as it is now, but those bins that have things kitted up and are waiting to be stitched. I figured that I was due for one in the five months since the first organizational post back in February. 

In that post, I had the following in the Bin O'Shame:

38 in the Small Bin O'Shame 

38 in the large Bin O'Shame 

11 in their own storage bins, 6 of those are Heaven and Earth Designs of various sizes and starts. :)

One queued up in my desk.

One in the Q-Snaps.

Total: 89.

Some of the projects were removed for various reasons such as re-stitching on a different fabric or I had lost the chart (more than likely as not I probably gave it away!). This left a total of about 81 or so projects that needed to be stitched up. I had set a goal for myself to stitch 25 of these projects before the end of the year. I accomplished that goal on Saturday, July 25, 2015 by completing the project that was to have been my father's 51st birthday gift.  Since then, I have completed one more and I am hoping to get to 30 before the end of the year. I have set aside those projects that could conceivably be stitched within the next 154 days. If I do not manage to make that goal, I am ok with that, as I managed to get the original 25 completed. Anything else is icing on the cake. :)

At this moment in time, here is what I have managed to accomplish from Tuesday, February 24, until today, Thursday, July 30, 2015:

As of Tuesday, July 28, 2015:
Original Total: 89
Removed 7 for various reasons, leaving 81 as the final total. 
26 stitched as of Friday, June 26, 2015.
Total Left: 56



Total stitched from both Bin O’Shame and Non Bin O’Shame finishes: 36 as of Saturday, July 25, 2015.

Then, naturally, being the glutton for punishment that I apparently am, I took inventory of the projects that I have kitted up and ready to go. I literally had no clue that is was this bad. I am seriously considering going through them again, and weeding some out. This obsession/hobby/addiction that I have has become totally out of bounds. Case in point: 

24 in small bin #1

17 in small bin #2

13 in small bin #3

31 in large blue bin

Total: 85

HAEDs kitted up and ready to go: 7

Combined total: 92

Combined total with Bin O'Shame projects: 148



*THUD*

I could stop buying things now and would never run out of stuff to stitch. I really should be ashamed of myself, but oddly I am not. I really am hoping to stitch at least a good portion of this mess I have gotten myself in. Next year, I am sincerely hoping to accomplish the following:

1. Pare down the Bin O'Shame projects down even more. Although I am rapidly running out of projects that will be quick to finish up, I would like to see at least 10 more gone from that bin. (I'd be even happier if I could get it down to just the HAEDs I have started!). 

2. Begin wading through the ones that are waiting to be stitched. There is no way on the face of God's green earth I am going to get 148 finished up in even 2 years, but a small dent would be nice. 

3. Stitch the following project from the Holding Pattern Bin:

A. Lady of the Flag by Mirabilia

B. Nautical Map by Maria Diaz

C. Flapper Lady by Joan Elliott

D. Fairy Tale Castle (Neuschwanstein) by Sheila Hudson

E. Any of the Primitive Needle OOP/Rare charts that I have

F. Any of the Prairie Schooler patterns that I have

The next few stitching years should be fairly interesting, to say the least. I know that if I do not get serious with paring down soon, I will *have* to do it within the next couple of years. I'm not getting any younger, and one must be realistic about these things. I will probably wait until I get another urge to paw through stash again. Then I suppose I need to figure out if I am going to sell through my blog or just have contests. So, watch this space! :D

Well, I had best be off. Tons of stuff to do. Hope everyone has a great weekend! 

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Respectfully submitted,

C. 

An Organizational And Statistical Post

I love how sometimes one thing leads to another and things just, well, snowball. I am a member of a number of cross stitch discussion groups and on one of them a member had asked how many WIPs we had. Posting of pictures was also highly encouraged. I knew I had wanted to take another inventory of my Bin O' Shame and take pictures in order to show the world that I have no self control when it comes to my hobby. Here are the results after counting and organizing them:

38 in the Small Bin O' Shame

38 in the Large Bin O'Shame: 

11 in their own storage bins, 6 of those are Heaven and Earth Designs of various sizes and starts. :)

One queued up in my desk.

One in the Q-Snaps.

Total: 89.

Keep in mind that I am sitting on a 20+ year collection of stash and I have a chronic 'Ooooo, shiny!' condition that compels me to purchase and start more than I will ever probably complete.

The good news in all this, that because of that post my craft room got a wee bit more organized. I didn't feel like stitching last night as I stitched most of the day yesterday, so I went back through the Large Bin O'Shame and took a closer look as to what all was in there. Here are the results of that particular excavation:

1. Out of the 38 in that bin, 5 were removed due to no chart and/or I know I will never finish. I salvaged the fabric and put away the charts that I did have.
2. One more will need floss matching as it is a tiny kit from a UK mag with no DMC listed. I wound up using 2 strands of floss instead of the called for 1 and I'm sunk as to how it's going to be finished otherwise.
3. One tiny kit I found was converted to DMCs from another quite similar chart so it can now be re-stitched on a better fabric. The fabric that came in the kit is an 18 count fiddler's cloth and the pale colors just are not showing up. I consider this a fresh start as I had all of 3 (!) stitches in this piece and left it as the 347 disappeared into the fabric.

Additionally, I collated and counted the projects in the 'To Be Started' bin. 76 in that bin, 6 of those are Heaven and Earth Designs of various sizes. 4 of those were 'shop exclusives' which turned out to not be as exclusive as advertised as the designer released the charts within the same year as stand alone charts. Since the likelihood of my being able to sell these kits for what I paid is slim to none, so stitched up they will be. This will teach me to never, ever sign up for 'year long shop exclusives' ever again!

The projects that I have in the 'To Do' bin are a mix that range from the tiny freebie kits that come with the UK magazines to Heaven and Earth Designs that have 110 pages. Other than my motorcycle, cross stitching is really my only other hobby. I have some years that I have finished less than ten, and others where I have had a high of 35 projects. (Admittedly, none of those were HAEDs, haha!).

I have my bouts of organization. This last one was prompted, believe it or not, by this thread. It was an interesting question and I knew I wanted to take pictures of my Bin O'Shame for another board I am on. This just sort of snowballed, as is my custom :). And yes, it is a bit frustrating, however, the task needed to be done and I am very happy something spurred me on to do it. I had gotten lazy with my craft room. While neat, it just was not very organized, so I took this opportunity to do so.

As for the projects, sometimes I have one in mind, other times I just blindly reach in for one and that's the one that gets picked. The one that is in the Q-Snaps right now is one that I picked back up on the first day of the Chinese New Year. It's a long time UFO (Unfinished Object) called Oriental Fortune by Dimensions. I started this on the aida that was in the kit and hated it, so it was restarted on an evenweave. Right now I have the main portion of it done and just need to stitch the symbols surrounding it and then the borders. And a happy dance will be danced but briefly before I get the one that's in my desk out to finish that one. :)

As for the things that I have where the stitching has been finished, welp, I've taken inventory on that as well. Please bear in mind that I am what I refer to as a 'seasonal' stitcher. Other than my craft room/office, I only put out a few pieces at a time, and those with a seasonal theme, as I believe that this is my hobby, my husband lives here as well, and I am sensitive to that fact. While he takes pleasure at the things I stitch, we don't live in a stitching museum :). Here is the total breakdown of finishes in my possession:

LK Monthly Series- 12

Spring- 25

Summer- 39

Fall- 44

Winter- 41

Miscellany- 76

Total As of Tuesday, February 24, 2015: 237

Finishes by year since Blog Start:

1. Year 2008 finishes -10

2. Year 2009 finishes- 21

3. Year 2010 finishes- 49

4. Year 2011 finishes- 26

5. Year 2012 finishes- 35

6. Year 2013 finishes- 7

7. Year 2014 finishes- 19

8. Year 2015 finishes- 7

Total As of Tuesday, February 24, 2015: 174

I think the blog has helped in keeping me on track with finishing pieces, however, I am really hoping to break my record of 19 WIPs/UFOs in one year. I have a goal of 25 at the moment, so that I can then get back to my QS Maleficent. I miss stitching on her!

Well, I best be off. Tons to do today. Hope everyone is having a great week!

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Respectfully submitted,

C. 

Smaller Finishes

Taking a break from the Purple Blob. So help me, it is driving me plum batty!!! I have made mistakes in it which has resulted in the ripping out of over four hours worth of work. I am not sure if I am going to finish this one in time, but yanevaknow. May it be from my lips to the Heaven's ears. :)


I decided instead to re-stitch one Shepherd's Bush design and stitch up a whole other of their mini kits. These were purchased at Stitcher's Paradise bit ago. They were fairly cheap (less than 15 dollars each) and included all of the silk, fabric, buttons and a needle for stitching. They went *VERY* quickly and I look forward to stitching even more of these. 


Here is the first one, redone on a different fabric with a miscellaneous golden bee charm attached. As I suspected, I thought it would look better on a crisp white linen, instead of the light flax I stitched the original one on. This one was stitched yesterday, Saturday, April 12, 2014:

Design: Be Happy Heart Kit

Designer:Shepherd's Bush

Fabric: 28 count Charles' Craft Carolina linen in Salt

Floss: Gloriana Threads in Dried Pink Roses #119), Thread Gatherer's Silk n' Colors in Medieval Mulberry #091, Rose Blush #100 and Williamsburg Green; Possible discontinued color. Unable to locate any info on it at all. 

Project #2 finished today:

Design: Taste of Summer kit

Designer: Shepherd's Bush

Fabric: 28 count Charles' Craft Carolina linen in Salt

Fibers: DMC in 610, 729, 936, 3012, and 3021. Weeks Dye Works  embroidery floss in Linen #1094, Red Pear #1332, Lancaster Red #1333, Guacamole in #1193 and Gunmetal in #1298. 

Well, I had best be off. Time for more Hercule Poirot  movies. Hope everyone is having a great weekend! :)

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Respectfully submitted,

C.