2018 WIPocalypse

Wow. I knew it had been quite a while since I’d posted here, but time really does fly. My job got in the way, and since my blog is one of many hobbies, it was one of the things that had to go. I hope that, in the future, I will allow myself time to keep up with posting, even if it isn’t as often as I’d like. I tend to have an all-or-nothing attitude, but often the middle road is the way to go.

(As an aside, WordPress is way different than it was. I was using it at work on an almost daily basis until August, but it hadn’t been updated in years. Going to be a bit of a learning curve, but that’s a good thing – better to keep up with changing technology than hold onto the old.)

Anyway, I’m once again trying my hand at WIPocalypse. I’ve started a few times, but never finished; too anxious to start new things to finish a lot of what I already have going. Well, since I’m currently “between jobs” and have all these WIPs — many of which are over halfway stitched — I figure I’ll give it another go. I’m also taking part in the Stitch from Stash challenge, where one budgets an amount per month to be used on any necessary items for current projects, and “earns” money for completing projects. I say “earns” in quotes because it’s still your money, but it’s a way of rewarding yourself for finishing projects. The group on Facebook is closed until (I think) June, but it’s something a person could also do on his/her own.

26168503_10214951003146573_7934346979502917583_nIn good news, I’ve already finished one of the needlepoint WIPs I had when I started 2018 (see left). Nothing huge, and it was nearly done. Why did I not finish it? Well, I recently went through my crafty stuff and purged a lot of items that I realized I will probably never stitch. To be honest, I still have some of those, but at least everything fits into its allotted space — which is a big deal. When I did that I found some forgotten projects, like this little ghosty. So, one down, way too many to go!

WIPocalypse 2018 Goals

There are projects on which just making progress will be, well, progress, and others I hope to finish. So many of my WIPs are at least halfway done that I should be able to do well. I’m also including my crochet projects. I’m already behind on some holiday gifts. I usually crochet pretty quickly, but lately my hands have been falling asleep and I have to take more breaks, which doesn’t happen when I needlepoint or cross stitch. There are details and stories behind all of these, but I’ll share them as I work on them (though probably only of interest to me), because this post is going to be long enough as it is.

Cross Stitch — to finish

Coffee by Alessandra Adelaide

coffee duo

Corners (stitched over one) by Keslyn’s

Corners 1-1-18

Enchanted Garden by Enchanting Lair

Angel of the New Dawn by Mirabilia

angel of the new dawn duo

 

Gold Medieval Sampler by Eve Rêve

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Tsunami Charity Sampler by Martina Dey (I changed the colors)

tsunami duo

 

Cross Stitch — make progress

Quaker Mermaid (stitched over one) by AuryTM

26219146_10214951004106597_3012874258378588279_n

Quaker Diamonds by Rosewood Manor

Quaker Diamonds duo

Misty Morning Vineyard by Chatelaine (Yes, that’s part of one corner, lol.)

misty morning vineyard duo

Song of Solomon Ship Sampler by Robyne Melia (I chose my own colors, though original is stunning. Thought I was farther along on this…)

ship sampler duo

Garden Verses by Mirabilia

garden verses duo

Spring Queen by Mirabilia (changed colors around so she’d have mainly blue dress)

spring queen duo

 

Needlepoint — to finish

Travel Frog (looks weird now, but it’s frog shaped and will be stuffed)

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Black bookmark

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Geisha Cats by Patt and Lee (So close for a long time. Need to get over perfection issues with ribbon and get it done.)

NP Geisha Cats 1-1-18

Crochet – to finish (no photos at this time)

Tim’s humongous blanket

Three throws

2018 Moogly CAL (crochet-along) afghan (for me!)

 

Versatile Bloggers Award

versatile blogger award

Thanks to fellow stitcher Helen Elizabeth for nominating me for the Versatile Bloggers Award. She talks a lot about stitching on her blog, A Good Woman, but also discusses spiritual issues and life in general, with lots of humor. You must see the stunning “family tree” she stitched in her “93,100 Stitches of Love” post. I accept the nomination, hoping it will help drive traffic not only to my blog to others’ blogs. We can all help each other out. 🙂

This is the first time I’m trying something like this. I’m going to see how it goes. If people feel pressure to be involved or don’t want to, I completely understand. I will use that information next time I have a chance to participate in a similar blog-growing exercise.

The rules are:

  • Show the award on your blog.
  • Thank the person who nominated you.
  • Share seven facts about yourself.
  • Nominate 15 blogs.
  • Link your nominees’ blogs, and let them know.

Seven facts about me:

  1. In a previous job, I helped clean out a house that was featured on Hoarding: Buried Alive. I had to wear a Tyvek suit with the hood, mask, booties – all that stuff – because the place was infested with roaches and mice. My friends watched to get a glimpse of me, and had to sit through 45 minutes of roaches to see me for thirty seconds.
  2. I am practically a fish, love to swim. I was a competitive swimmer in high school and my parents found it nearly impossible to get me out of the water when I was a kid.
  3. Until I was almost 14, I lived on a 100+ acre farm in the Finger Lakes Region of New York. We had 100 acres of grapes, and many more acres of corn, tomatoes, raspberries, and other crops.
  4. A few dirty dishes in the sink don’t bother me — I’ll get to them — but I can’t stand to see the soap bottle with the top open.
  5. My favorite band is Rush.
  6. My 4-foot Christmas Tree is still up because I find the warmth of the light to be comforting. The ornaments are off, so it’s just a lit tree, and no longer a Christmas Tree. 🙂
  7. I read mostly nonfiction, particularly about WWII and the American Civil War.

The 15 blogs I nominate are:

  1. Dianne Rambling On
  2. Warrior Freya
  3. Taking One Stitch at a Time
  4. Colliding Universe
  5. Clicky Chick Creates
  6. Ariadne from Greece
  7. Julie’s Lifestyle
  8. Normandy Life
  9. sewscrapmuse
  10. Random Musings Of A Hotel Goddess
  11. Tailspin Farms
  12. Gippsland Granny
  13. Movie Musie – Erin Expounds
  14. Summer Sewing Room
  15. A Stitchers Ramblings

I hope you get a chance to visit these wonderful blogs and decide to stick around.

Throw Back Thursday – My attempt at freestyle embroidery

I stitched this several years ago as my first attempt at a kind of freestyle embroidery. I wanted to combine exacting stitches with some craziness. It’s hard for me to be random, so this was difficult but fun. For some people, this probably isn’t very random, but for me it is. I also wanted it to go from dark to light colors in a bit of a diagonal direction, and I think I came close to achieving that. I put the M in the lower left corner, but if I do something like this again that will change, as I had to keep it light and I think it’s a bit too light, too subtle. However, I was pretty happy with my first attempt, though I haven’t really done anything like it since. I also learned that bullion knots are not good for me. I think it was how I was angling my wrist, but those things gave me tendonitis that didn’t go away for months. I remember seeing an alternative for bullion knots and will have to find it again, as I do like the look – but I’m not going through THAT again.