August WIPocalypse and SAL updates

It's a full moon and time for the WIPocalypse update!  The topic this time is: "Tell us about your oldest and newest WIPs."

My newest WIP is Wedding Tango, a Riolis kit, which will be a gift for my daughter's friend's wedding in September.  I've known her at least 10 years.  The color of the shoes and bouquet will be changed to match the bride's colors.  I'm also stitching it on 28 ct white linen instead of the 14 ct white Aida in the kit, and I will add their names and date at the bottom.

Wedding Tango

Wedding Tango

Since I recently finished my oldest WIP (Stained Glass Nativity, started in 1980), my oldest WIP now is Universal Unity by Dimensions Gold Collection.  I started this one in 1998 and was making great progress on it for a few months, then it got put away and never touched again until 2012.  Now I have cross stitch friends all over the internet encouraging me to keep stitching until this one is finished!  I post an update on this one in the YOTA SAL on the first Saturday each month.  Here is the pic from the last post, when I started stitching the zebra stripes.

Universal Unity update #19

Since the last WIPocalypse update, I have had 3 more finishes, but the list of WIPs on my WIPocalypse page is still at 90.  I finished Stained Glass Nativity, Mary Mouse, and Boo!

On my Saturday SAL with Linda and Kaye, I stitched 5 rows of the basket on Fall Welcome.

Fall Welcome update #13

On my Sunday SAL with Linda and Kaye, I finished the 6th day of Santa's 12 Days of Christmas!  Now the whole project is officially halfway done!  We have more members in our Prairie Schooler Santa's 12 Days of Christmas Sunday SAL Facebook group, too!

Santa's 12 Days of Christmas (Day 6) FINISHED!

Santa's 12 Days of Christmas (Days 1-6)

"Santa's 12 Days of Christmas" (Day 6)
Book No. 126
Designed by Pamela Byrd Smith
The Prairie Schooler
28 ct mushroom evenweave
Started 5/4/2014, Finished 8/11/2014

In the Bothy Threads Cut Thru' Monday SAL, I reached the bottom left corner of Cut Thru' North Pole House and stitched some water.  I'm looking forward to using the variegated floss in the water, which is the same color floss that I used for the water in Cut Thru' Igloo.

Cut Thru' North Pole House udpate #12

Be sure to check Measi's blog for a list of other bloggers with WIPocalypse updates this month!

July WIPocalypse, Turtle Trot, and a finish!

This is my belated WIPocalypse update!  The topic this time is:  "It's halfway to Christmas.  Do you start your holiday stitching this early?  If so, what do you hope to accomplish this year?"  Yes, I stitch holiday designs all year long!  I hope to finish Stained Glass Nativity and Santa's 12 Days of Christmas in time to display them this year for Christmas!  I would also love to stitch gifts for my family but if I don't finish, there is always next year, or their birthday instead.

Since the last WIPocalypse update, I have had 3 more finishes, and now the list of WIPs on my WIPocalypse page is down to 90.  I finished The Sorceress, Leo, and Alice from Resident Evil.

Alice from Resident Evil - FINISHED!

"Alice from Resident Evil"
Designed by Pau
MyPhotoStitch.com
18 ct tan Aida
Started 1/11/2014, Finished 7/13/2014

Speaking of Christmas stitching, I stitched the hat and legs and feet on Santa Hang-Up.

Santa Hang-Up update #9

I missed the Turtle Trot posting for July 10, since I was away on vacation, but here is my progress on two of them.  I finished all the blue stained glass windows on Stained Glass Nativity.

Stained Glass Nativity update #9

I stitched one more bottle on "99" by Ink Circles.

"99" - update #12

Bottle #17 is Stella Artois, Stella Artois, Leuven, Belgium.

Now that I finished the birthday gifts in time, I can get back to my SALs and stitching anything else I feel like!

Turtle Trot SAL - June

Claudette of BAP Attack is hosting the Turtle Trot SAL, where we choose 10 WIPs and post before & after progress pics on the 10th of every month.  I've only worked on 7 of them this time:

Stained Glass Nativity:  I stitched another blue window.  My goal for next month will be to finish the windows.

Stained Glass Nativity (before)

Stained Glass Nativity update #8

Harley-Davidson:  I met my goal and finished the windshield and headlight.  My goal for next month will be to stitch more of the seat.

Harley-Davidson (before)

Harley-Davidson update #5

Thankful Critters:  I stitched the little bird and started the letter V.  My goal for next month will be to finish the V with all the backstitching.

Thankful Critters (before)

Thankful Critters update #14

Majestic Eagle:  I started stitching the tail feathers.  My goal for next month will be to finish the claws and tail feathers.

Majestic Eagle (before)

Majestic Eagle update #9

Orange Poppies:  I met my goal of finishing this poppy and stitching more green stems.  My goal for next month will be stitching more green leaves.

Orange Poppies (before)

Orange Poppies update #7

"99":  I stitched one more bottle.  My goal for next month will be another bottle and the shelf under these 6 bottles.

"99" (before)

"99" - update #11

Bottle #16 is Rainer Beer, Pabst Brewing Co., Woodridge, Illinois.

We're Off to See the Wizard:  I stitched more of Dorothy's dress.  I am copying Annette, California Stitcher's idea.  I loved seeing her Tinkerbell figurines with each update of Fairy Hill, so I will include a Wizard of Oz figurine with each of my updates. I have 12 of these musical figurines and lots of little individual Oz figures to show each time!  My goal for next month is to stitch more of Dorothy's dress.

We're Off to See the Wizard (before)

We're Off to See the Wizard update #2

We're Off to See the Wizard update #2

You can click on the pictures to see them bigger.  All the Q-Snap covers are from Christine's Q-Snap Huggies.

May WIPocalypse and SAL updates

The full moon was last week and the WIPocalypse topic this time is:  "What designs or themes do you really wish you could find?  What do you think is missing among stitching designs?"  I think it would be great if there were more designs based on movies, TV shows, actors, actresses, singers and bands; not just a computer generated chart that's a copy of a photo, but an actual design!

Be sure to see the list of other bloggers with WIPocalypse updates this month on Measi's blog, too!

Since the last WIPocalypse update, I have had three more finishes, but two of them were new starts so my WIPocalypse page isn't getting smaller yet.  I finished Happy Easter, "O" is for Owl, and Winter Witch, which were all small designs.

I started the 6th day of Santa's 12 Days of Christmas by stitching a goose!

Santa's 12 Days of Christmas (Day 6) update #1

Santa's 12 Days of Christmas (Day 6) update #1

The scarecrow girl on Fall Welcome has a face now!  I really enjoy backstitching!

Fall Welcome update #11

Fall Welcome update #11

I started stitching the red and white pole and mailbox on the Cut Thru' North Pole House.  I want to get to the bottom of the design so I can start stitching the pretty water!

Cut Thru' North Pole House update #10

Since the last WIPocalypse update, I finished Alice's jacket, her hair, and started stitching the background on Alice from Resident Evil.

Alice from Resident Evil update #5

I also made some progress on the Very Scary Mystery Sampler by stitching the green vines and the blue row on the bottom.  After the acorns and rest of the border are stitched, part 1 will be finished!

Very Scary update #11

I'm really looking forward to a stay-cation next week so I can stay home and stitch! I'm not going to tell my friends and family that I'm on vacation, either!  HA!

SAL updates and videos!

I've been so behind in my SALs with Linda and Kaye but I'll really try to keep up now! My Saturday SAL is Fall Welcome.  I finished her sunflower hat and her face will be next!

Fall Welcome update #10

Fall Welcome update #10

My Sunday SAL is Santa's 12 Days of Christmas by The Prairie Schooler.  I started the 6th day by backstitching the border.

Santa's 12 Days of Christmas (Day 6)

My Monday SAL is the Bothy Threads Cut Thru' Monday SAL with almost 50 other stitchers!  There are so many different Cut Thru' designs to choose from!  I stitched a blue blob on North Pole House.

Cut Thru' North Pole House update #9

I'm in several Facebook groups about cross stitching, and in one of the groups, we posted videos of our WIPs or stash to show each other.  I made these 2 videos of some of my WIPs.  Teddy started barking so I stopped the video and then made a part 2 instead of starting all over again.

"I like to bark during videos."

WIPs video #1

WIPs video #2

Great news about Teddy!  He started taking hypothyroidism medication and his weight has gone down from 132 pounds to 120 pounds!  

April WIPocalypse update and a finish!

There's a full moon in the sky, a blood moon, an eclipse of the moon, and it's time for a WIPocalypse update!  I saw it last night from my front yard, but if you missed it, you can see the video here:
http://www.space.com/25507-moon-turns-red-lunar-eclipse-time-lapse-video.html

Since the last WIPocalypse post, I've had 3 more finishes; the Best Witches Halloween ornament, the first Advent Animals ornament, Katie Kitty, and another Santa!

On the 5th day of Christmas, Santa brought to me.... Five Golden Rings!

Santa's 12 Days of Christmas (Day 5) FINISHED!

If we actually stitch on this every Sunday, Linda and I should be able to finish one Santa per month and have them all done before Christmas this year!

Santa's 12 Days of Christmas (Days 1-5)

"Santa's 12 Days of Christmas" (Day 5)
Book No. 126
Designed by Pamela Byrd Smith
The Prairie Schooler
28 ct mushroom evenweave
Started 11/17/2013, Finished 4/13/2014

I made good progress on Fall Welcome, my Saturday SAL with Linda.

Fall Welcome update #9

I've also been stitching on Alice from Resident Evil.  Does she look like Milla Jovovich yet?

Alice from Resident Evil update #3

This is how she will look when she is done:

Alice from Resident Evil

I also stitched more on The Sorcerer's cloak.  When I finish him, I'll stitch The Sorceress next!  These are gifts for my best friend who loves wizards and castles and dragons!

The Sorcerer update #12

My idea is to get them framed together, and my framer friend suggested that I find some charms so she could include them in separate cut-out parts of the mat, so I bought these pewter pendants on eBay:

The topic for this month is, "How do you keep your stash organized?"  I don't use bobbins and keep the floss skeins in small 3"x4" ziploc baggies in these plastic photo cases:

I keep all my WIPs in gallon size Ziploc bags with the fabric, chart, and floss for each project.  I put all my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge starts for 2012 in this sewing basket, and I have another sewing basket full of starts from the UCJC 2013.  The new starts from UCJC 2014 are just in a pile on top of my Rubbermaid tote where I keep all my future kits and charts.  

Then I have about 6 fabric tote bags with several WIPs in each one on Q-Snaps, so I can easily grab a tote bag when I meet my friends to stitch or to take in the car if I leave home.  I always say, you never know if there will be an earthquake and the ground will crack open and I won't be able to get home for awhile, so at least I'll have something to stitch!

I bought a pink plastic drawer cart like this one to store my cross stitch fabric, but it's still empty and all the fabric is in 2 cardboard boxes instead.     

Be sure to visit Measi's Musings blog to find links to everyone's WIPocalypse blog posts with their stash organization photos, too!