March WIPocalypse

 WIPocalypse  Question of the Month:  What colors – and brands – of floss do you love using? Do you have a particular color that you absolutely love?

I use DMC.  I love the bright colors - red, purples, greens, blues.

I stitched on the following projects for the Magazine Monthly Acrostic:

Crane Paradise I put in 766 stitches.  I would like to have this one finished by the end of the year.

Butterfly Fairy Night 369 stitches added

Autumn Sampler 438 stitches added

Funky Cats  still stitching the border 242 stitches

Give Thanks to God Sampler.  Magazine Monthly Challenge had a pop up challenge to put 5 hours or 500 stitches into a wip that was close to a finish.  I picked this one and put in 764 stitches to finish it.

Close up of the bottom

 Close up of the top part of the sampler.  The fabric is kind of an olive green color.  The colors pop and I love the bright colors.  That is what drew me to this project.

Unplug & Go Outside by Emma Congdon 240 stitches

Moonlit Owl 203 stitches

Gnomes I finished the backstitching and will start the next Gnome.

Here are the other projects that I worked on that were not part of the Magazine Monthly Acrostic:

Dandelion Fairy Kingdom.  I work on this one in the afternoons during the week.  I finished page 21 and got a good start on page 22.  5,714 total stitches in March

Homestead Harvest I worked on this one twice to finish the fall tree.  556 stitches

Hedge Hog kit by Riolos.  I worked on this one and the hedge hog now has a face.

Sari Doll 170 stitches added

QS Magic Island b HAED.  I have been stitching on this one on the weekends.  Still on page 1.  I have added 2,025 stitches this month.

HC Anderson Fairy Tale SAL by Cloudsfactory.  I finished the March installment.

I got a total of 13,148 stitches in March.  Not sure if I will get as much stitching done as the months get warmer.  We have one camping trip scheduled for April.  And I am walking nice days on my own and any kind of weather with my sister.  Usually Mondays we do at least 5 miles.  Tomorrow we head to Pokagon State Park.  It is supposed to be rainy and colder.  I have been getting my hiking gear together as we will do more than 5 miles. All of this is conditioning to get ready for a 20 mile timed hike the end of June.

 

February WIPocalypse

 Question of the Month:  What stitch-a-longs (SALs) are you participating in this year?

This year I am participating in: 

Magazine Monthly Acrostics

Cloudsfactory HC Anderson Fairy Tales SAL - first time stitching a Cloudsfactory design.  Trying to keep up with the monthly releases. 

Full Coverage Fanatics Epic Journey Challenge

WIPocalypse

Here is what I worked on in February:

Gathering Pinecones by Hillside Sampling.  This was my oldest WIP.  I finished the alphabet and added 2 more pinecones doing specialty stitches I could do.  Not the called for stitches.  Left off my initials and date.  Added a pinecone button and it is finally finished.  Stitched with called for floss and fabric.  Glad this one is done and in the under the bed box.

Sari Doll worked on this one twice in February.  Small but alot of stitches

 

Butterfly Fairy Night worked more on filling in the moon.

Unplug and Go Outside by Emma Congdon.  Finished the top word.

What a Hoot Owl Teapot from Cross Country Stitching October 2012 is finished.  There is several more in this series and I will stitch them as I find my magazines with the charts.  Second finish for 2024.

HC Anderson Fairy Tales SAL by Clouds Factory.  February Installment is done.

Homestead Harvest.  Worked on the fall tree.

Give Thanks to God Sampler.  Added more leaves (and still more need added) and started working some bushes.

Jolly Snowman worked on his blue scarf.

Autumn Sampler still working on filling in the diamond.

Joy Seasonal Heart added the second owl.

Hedge Hog still plugging away on this one.  It moves slowly as the kit flosses came on floss cards.  I am a bobbin stitcher and having to un-tie and re-tie the floss to the floss cards takes up alot of time.

 Princess & the Dragon.   Working on the area under the castle.  I have been looking thru my Teresa Wentzler patterns to pick out my next one when this one is done.

 

I have also been working on my 2 full coverage projects.  I started QS Magic Island in January as one of my new starts.  When I kit up a new project of any size I keep the floss for that project with it either in the project bag on in a floss box.  Here is the floss box for QS Magic Island.  I love the colors and how full each bobbin is.  Staring at this box makes me happy.

And my progress on QS Magic Island 1,656 stitches this month.  Still on page one which does have large areas of solid stitching.  I stitch some solid area then add some of the confetti area.  14ct 2 strands full cross.  I like that this one is starting with the design right away and not a page of just background. 

Dandelion Fairy Kingdom.  I am past the halfway point of page 21.  Hope to finish this page in March to keep on track to finish 5 pages in 2024.

 

I fully finished one of my previous finished from 2023 Possum Song by Mama Witch Cross Stitch.  I finished this in a 12 inch hoop.  I did have to add some extra black Aida to make it fit.  The 10 inch hoop was too small and cut off part of the design.  It did not seem this big when I was stitching on it.

 

WIPocalypse January

 This month's question is what is your oldest WIP.  My  oldest WIP is Gathering Pine Cones which I started in September 2001.  I saw this completed at a friend's house and fell in love with it.  I immediately went to my LNS bought the pattern and kitted it up.  The specialty stitches were more than I could handle.  I pushed on with it but hate the way it looks.  I did stitch on it this month and put in another 115 stitches.  I want to get it finished this year and will change out the rest of the specialty stitches.  Here is where I am at now

I participated in Brringo with the Magazine Monthly Challenge group.  I stitched on all of my WIPs but one and had 6 new starts.  Here are the projects I worked on:

Autumn Sampler.  This one got 336 more stitches

Crane Paradise was on my board 3 times for a total of 447 stitches.  Hard to see the progress as I worked on white and grey.  I want this one finished this year.

Dandelion Fairy Kingdom.  I almost finished page 20 which is a partial page.  I usually stitch on this one in the afternoons.  Hope to finish up this page this week so I can move to the next row.

Folk Reindeer was a new start.  This is from Cross Stitch Country Crafts May/June 1988.  290 stitches.  I already finished the Folk Santa that goes with this one.

Funky Cats was also a new start from Cross Stitch & Needlework Nov 2014.  I have wanted to start this one for a long time. 325 stitches put in

I also made a little more progress on my Hedge Hog Kit

Worked on Hello Autumn twice.  This is on 18ct Country Mocha.  I am stitching it with 2 strands and wish I would have used 1 strand.

Homestead Harvest was on my Brringo Board  143 stitches

What a Hoot Owl Teapot I finished the cross stitching and have started the backstitching.  This one will be finished this year.

For Brringo one of the prompts was to stitch on a monochromatic piece.  I did not have any WIPs that fit that so I started Joy Seasonal Heart from Cross Country Stitching June 2011.  Being stitched on 18ct white with 1 strand of DMC 4050 full cross.  

Another prompt for Brringo was stitch on something that would not be a framed finish.  New start Moonlit Owl by Mill Hill.

 

Butterfly Fairy Night I worked up in the moon.  I also want to finish this one this year.

Princess & the Dragon I worked on twice for Brringo.

QS Magic Island by HAED was a new start from Brringo.  I also worked on it several more times and got 1,055 stitches.  Full Coverages are a long term committment so I do not like having 2 on the go at the same time.  This one is 25 pages.  I decided to start it now since I have about a year left on Dandelion Fairy Kingdom.  I hope to get at least one page finished on this one this year.  Stitched on 14ct white aida.  2 strands full cross.  It will be big once done.

Sari Doll got 330 more stitches.  This is a small one and should be done this year.

Jolly Snowman by Joan Elliott was worked on twice for Brringo

Give Thanks to God Sampler was worked on 3 times for Brringo.  I think this one could be finished this year also.

Unplug and Go Outside by Emma Congdon was my last new start for Brringo.

Then I had signed up in December to do the HC Anderson Fairy Tales SAL by Cloudsfactory.  I finished part one and hope to keep up with the other parts as they are released the first of each month.  This is 1,011 stitches.

January was a good stitching month.  Between the cold weather and staying inside and being retired I got a total of 12,202 stitches.

In February I will be doing the February Acrostic with the Magazine Monthly Challenge Group.