Week 1

BRR-ingo has brought some excitement back to the old projects I tucked away and haven't touched in forever. Yes, there was the eye issue, but some of these projects hadn't been touched waaaay before that. The first number called was in my last post.

The second number was #4 - A WIP or new start that intimidates you. I had originally picked Teresa Wentzler's "Stretch", but honestly, it just never called to me, and the person it was being stitched for wasn't "into it" any more. That was pulled from my rotation and will be frogged and the green fabric will be repurposed. 

Kustom Krafts "Fire and Ice" took its place. The black was intimidating after the eye issue, so this was chosen because of that reason. I don't know why I put this aside and never touched it again all those years ago, because it was such a soothing stitch for me this time. It will DEFINITELY be getting more love this year!

Fire & Ice before

Fire & Ice after 2 hours 

Jan 3, the number called was #9 - WIP or new start that is sparkly (fabric, floss, etc). Pamela Kellogg's "Cupids Garden Mystery SAL" certainly fit that bill! I started it on 28 count opalescent white that should have been an evenweave, but certainly was not. Now I know why it never got touched again. That fabric was autrocious at best. I put the requred hour into it and decided to pull this one from my rotation as well. This does NOT get frogged!!

Cupid's Garden Before

Cupid's Garden after 1 LONG hour

January 4 - #5 WIP or new start that will be a gift. This one is called "My Husband" by Linda Myers. Yes, this is the one I received in a XS lot from Ebay and searched for the pattern. I was lucky to receive it just in time to all it to my BRR-ingo card! 

My Husband before

My husband after 2 hours

January 5th - #19 WIP or new start you were inspired to start because of the way you'd see it finished. This was December 2023's Secret Needle Night Kit from The Silver Needle. It's called "Love Machine" and not only do I think the pattern is cute, but it is finished and displayed on a small cutting board. I love that idea! After looking up the ideas on how to do the finish to display on a cutting board, I saw that someone had put magnets on the board and washers on the back of the stitched, so one could interchange them with with other similar sized pieces. So cool!!!

A new start!

Love Machine after 1 hour of stitching.

January 6 - #25 WIP or new start you would take on vacation.  My choice for this was the Dimensions kit "Laundry Day". It's easy and kitted, so grab and go. I had to get this when I saw it at Walmart one day. It says it all... 

Laundry Day before

Laundry Day after 2 hours

January 7 finishes up the week. The number called was 10 - WIP or start from a magazine. I knew exactly the WIP that needed to be chosen for this number - "North Woods Stocking" from the Premier issue of Cross Stitch and Country Crafts. It has been in WIP/UFO pile for a many years and if I'm not mistaken, is my oldest.  I started it in the late 80's and it was touched every now and then, and then I discovered a major mistake and had to frog a considerable amoun that had been done to the tree. The tree was frogged and then the piece returned to the pile to wait and wait and wait. It has surfaced, the issue has been fixed and has received some much needed love.

North Woods Stocking before

North Woods Stocking after 3 hours.

This has been the most fun activity I've participated in a long time. I really look forward to the posting of the new number every evening. Weirdly enough, it's not to see if I'll win a bingo, but just to see what is next to work on. 

The Lists and Challenges

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 

I wish everyone a happy and productive year. I know I'm looking forward to a year of change and getting stuff done - things I've had on my TO-DO list forever.

I am excited to turn a new page and start over! One of the things I decided to do to accomplish my goals was join the Magazine Monthly Cross Stitch Challenge group on Facebook. I need to focus on my projects listed below, and this group is going to be a big help accomplishing that. This month, we are playing BRR-ingo and there's also a monthly Acrostic. I'll be doing both - the BRR-ingo has a lot of my listed WIPs and the Monthly Acrostic will be focused on stitching from my magazine stash. It's about time I put them to good use!

Today's number is 3 - which is The Silver Needle's exclusive kit called Mitten Tree Snowman. Linda Stolz of The Silver Needle and Stoney Creek paired up and Linda did some modifications to the Stoney Creek's snowman pattern. She changed colors and threads added/subtracted things to create a lovely and quite large snowman. 

Here's how my snowman looked before I started working on it today:

And today's progress:

For us to be able to cross off our bingo square, we are required to put in at least 1 hour or 100 stitches. I have a bit over 3 hours in. I would have had more done, but found there was an error with the thread that was provided in the kit and what was used in the instructions. The instructions said to use 1 strand #3 DMC Perle Cotton but only #5 was supplied. I didn't notice the discrepancy until I stitched the red and green area and really, really didn't like the coverage - or lack thereof. I then looked closer and saw the weight difference, so decided to do the blue area using 2 strands and see if it may be too heavy. 

I preferred the 2 strand coverage, so I went back and restitched the red/green area. It looks so much better to me now. 

This piece is on my Brr-ingo card 2 more times, so I should see some nice progress on him by the end of the month. 

I can't wait to see what the next number called is. This has sparked a new excitement and interest on getting these projects done. 

The following lists are what I want and need to work on. My goal is to have some finishes but also to touch each project listed below at least once this year. Some things on this list haven't been touched in about 20 years!!!

CURRENT WIPS STARTED IN 2023

Dimensions - Laundry Day Kit

Janlynn - Live Simply Kit

Riolis - City Cats in Autumn Kit

The Silver Needle Exclusive - Snoman Mitten Tree Kit

THE WIP LIST

Art Ventures - Old Sentinel - 15%

Cross Stitch & Country Crafts - North Woods Stocking

Crossed Wing Collection - Hummingbird Garden 35%

Dawna Barton - Dinner Call - 60%
Diane Arthurs - Happy Everything - 60%
DMC - The White Bindweed Fairy - 15% - found mistake must rip
Dimensions - A Bird For All Seasons - 5%

Dimensions - Magic In Motion - 5%

Dimensions - Wolf Portrait - 65%
Drawn Thread - Miniature Reversible Sampler
Drawn Thread - Winter Spot - 10%
Hearts Delight - Noahs Ark Kit - 50%

Jiffy - Fateful Night 

Just Cross Stitch 2001 Ornament Issue - Cinnamon Bear 85%

Just Nan - First Stitches
Just Nan - Last Stitches
Lanarte - Romantic Picnic 15%
Lavender & Lace - Celtic Spring - 35%

Pat Rogers - Hearts & Lace Sampler 70%

Paula Vaughan - May

Pegasus - Pekingese Dogs V. 4 15%

The Silver Lining - Aymars Amber Rose 30%

Sweetheart Tree - Olde English Needle Roll - 15%

Sweetheart Tree - Teenie Tweenies Spring Has Sprung 30%

Teresa Wentzler - Stretch 15%

MYSTERY/SALS/MONTHLYS

Bent Creek - Snappers (12 w/border) - 12 completed plus 1/3 of the border

Curtis Boehringer - Needlewomans Murder Mystery

French Calendar free weekly - 23 of 52 finished

Helga Mandl and Barbara Ana - Mystery Sampler - 45%

Marquoir Mystery Sampler freebie SAL 4 of 9 finished

Pamela Kellogg - Cupids Garden Mystery SAL 15%

BAPS

Carriage House Samplings - The Houses of Hawk Run Hollow

Kustom Krafts - 4 Horses of Apocalypse
Kustom Krafts - Fire & Ice
Kustom Krafts - Sofa Cat

Marty Bell - Hideaway Cottage

Sunset - Gettysburg

Teresa Wentzler - Under the Evergreen

The Cross Stitch Pattern Gallery - The Baby by Harrison Fisher

Vermillion Stitchery - The Holy Family

PULLED OFF LIST FOR DONATION

Leisure Arts - Noahs Ark Baby Afghan 50%

Last Finish of the Year

I put the last of the beads on Mill Hill's "Cheers" yesterday. I was going to finish into a magnet, but the more I thought about it, the more I came to the conclusion that a magnet would limit where I could put it. I have the felt for the back, but just need to decide if it will become a magnet or an ornament. Sadly my photo doesn't show all the sparkle that the beads give. There are a lot of beads on this - plus the snowflake charm at the top.

Today is my last day of purchasing cross stitch kits, etc. Tomorrow, I will be begin my journey of stitching only from stash. I am allowing myself  a couple of exception: the occasional thread, beads, etc. if it is needed for a project if I run out, supplies for turning my FOs into FFOs and my birthday. I've thought about adding Christmas in the mix as well, but I just may wait out the year. This will also extend into my other crafting as well. 

All my monthly subscriptions and Patreon memberships have been cancelled. There will still be a couple of goodies coming that have to be excluded from the "wagon". I have a 2 year subscription to Just Cross Stitch and I did a yearly payment for an auto ship of The Silver Needle's Secret Needle Night monthly kits. I'm also on the waitlist for The Silver Needle's Friends Stitching Circle, but it's not hopeful. Since I signed up well before I decided to hop on the Stitch from Stash wagon, if I get lucky and get picked up from the list, I will also have this as an exception. 

Next year should be a great year for stitching. I am excited to be able to stitch the things that I have fallen in love with but always put aside for something else. It's now time to fall in love with my stash again!

Reflection and Ahead

Can you believe it? There's just a two days left before 2024 arrives. How did that happen?!! Even sitting and thinking of what I want to plan to do for next year is flitting by without any real plans. 

I tried looking over my list for this past year's goals and hardly any accomplishments have been made with not much crossed off at all. I did make some jewelry and finished a few knit and crochet projects, but main things like the garden and the canning and preserving were all nil with hubby having health issues. Life sure did change from May on. Next year will hopefully be better.

As for what I plan on doing with my needlework and cross stitch, I was going to do a rotation list and had everything listed in order with how many hours and days to work on each item. I decided to chuck that out the window. I'm afraid it would turn into a chore and I'd finally fail at it, because I'd hate all the structure. Next year will be all about working on the list below, probably a few adds and just choosing what moves me - when it moves me.

Yesterday, I printed out and bound a XS journal that I downloaded from Creative Fabrica. It's really a nice journal and is probably the most useful one that I've come across yet. It even has an area where you can track the amount of days you work on a project as well as a yearly total, a wish list and pages that you can keep notes as well as notes on the project page itself. I am looking forward to starting this on Monday. One thing I did was to print the pages one sided, so that I could put photos on the back of the page. I went back through projects I had finished and couldn't find much information at all. I have no idea when I started most thing on my list of WIPs/UFOs, so this will be nice to keep track of things from now on. I can't wait to put my first entry in it!

Merry Christmas!

I can't believe Christmas has already arrived. It's been a long year full of heartbreaking news of a loved one with terminal cancer and the near loss of my hubby. With all this going on, it seems that Christmas has snuck up on me - even though I've been trying to prepare for it.

To be honest, my heart's not in it. Gift purchasing seemed like more of a chore than anything. I had a hard time with Christmas carols this year because I could see and hear my Mom singing and dancing around the kitchen as she was helping us decorate cookies. It made me miss her so much. Quite a surprise, as she's been gone for 28-1/2 years. I don't know why it hit so hard now.

My daughter lives on the other coast so we don't get to celebrate with her. My son arranged for a family Zoom where we will all be opening our presents together. I miss her as well, but have settled in with the idea that she won't be coming home. She loves it where she is. Sadly, we haven't seen her in person in more than two years. We had plans of visiting her his past summer, but plans changed drastically with hubby's emergency surgery. He's still on the road to recovery, so we'll play it by ear.

I wish you a happy and healthy Christmas. May it be full of family, friends, love and good food. (hey - nothing better than a good home cooked Christmas dinner!)

Mill Hill Cheers WIP

I've decided to try a small Mill Hill kit called "Cheers". I've hear so many people seem to really like them. I was browsing Amazon when I came across this kit on sale for about $6 shipped. It's been years since I've done anything by Mill Hill and the ones I did years ago were larger. 

I've wasn't sure I liked working on the perforated paper at first. Being small, I kept catching the floss on the paper edges and corners. I'm getting better and am now finding more enjoyable and even a bit fun. I liked the instructions of drawing on the back to find the center. It made things so much easier! I also printed out a copy of the pattern and am coloring in as I go. It will make it so much easier to add the beads at the end. The way I'm going, I'll easily be finishing this before New Year's Eve. This will probably be my last finish of the year.

One thing I'm finding is my stitching isn't as neat with using 3 strands vs the 2 I'm used to using. I haven't been able to figure out how to make it look nicer. Maybe with more practice? With that said, I've picked up a couple more Mill Hill kits for future stitching. I'm looking forward to making more!

I Hope to ID This

I purchased a cross stitch lot from an auction and found this among the fabrics and threads. There's no pattern and I hope that somehow I can identify it so that I can find the pattern and finish it. 

I posted this to the 1-2-3 Stitch Forum and within a very short amount of time, I had an answer to my question. I no longer have to wonder what this piece is! This was produced as a kit called "My Husband" by Linda Myers. I will now be able to complete the project!

It amazes me that by just posting a pic of a piece of a pattern, that someone can identify the pattern! The members of the 1-2-3 Stitch Forum are amazing! A HUGE thank you to eveyone for their help and sleuthing skills!