2015 WIPocalypse: April Post

It's WIPocalypse time again! Or, it was a couple days ago, but I only just got back to school. I got to spend some wonderful time with my family and boyfriend, starting Good Friday evening up till today. It was so wonderful after a fairly hectic and draining week of projects, papers, and presentations to be with my loved ones. :)

The question for this edition of the WIPocalypse is this: "Which specialty stitches do you love doing on projects?  Which do you dread?"

I don't have much experience with specialty stitches yet, but I normally feel excited to learn a new stitch. It's fun to look up a YouTube video of the stitch and practice it a couple times. I love learning stuff!

I wouldn't use the word "dread," but I certainly get a little anxious about French knots in contexts where they need to be even (eyes, mostly). It's so tricky to make two in a row that look the same!

I haven't made much progress on my WIPocalypse pieces this month, but let's review them:

1. Honor Restored: Untouched

2. Love One Another: Untouched

3. Shell Collection: Untouched

4. Margaret Sherry Christmas Mice: Untouched

5. Bookworm Fairy: Progress!

6. Irish Grace: I've had a new start, which will become a priority. I've been hunting for a pattern of a specific Irish blessing that my brother Matthew loves for a while now, and I finally found the perfect one. I want to finish it in time for it to be a going-away-to-college present for him come August, but it's 9 pages! Here's a picture of the pattern and the little start I made on it yesterday:

Happy stitching!

2015 WIPocalypse: March Post

It's time for another WIPocalypse update! I admit, I'm actually writing this early and scheduling it to post on the proper date, because from February 28 until March 7 I'll be on a mission trip in Costa Rica! I couldn't be more thrilled at this amazing opportunity. I shall have to post about it when I'm back. :)

Anyway, on to the update! The topic for this post is: "If money – and time – were not limiters, what projects would be on your stitching bucket list?" Wow, what a question. Although I haven't been stitching for long, I already know I would probably say just about every Little House Needleworks and Country Cottage Needleworks pattern, almost every Dimensions Gold Collection kit, along with several other Dimensions kits, a bunch of Lizzie*Kate patterns, and some Heaven and Earth Designs pieces. If only money and time weren't such limiters!

Despite limited time (especially so this month, because of midterms), I feel like I've made good progress on my WIPocalypse pieces. I haven't touched most of them, but I finally finished two of them, which were close to being finished!

1. Honor Restored: Untouched
I still haven't decided for sure about this one. I really appreciate all the suggestions I got on my last WIPocalypse post! It seems the general consensus is I should go 1 over 1. I'd like to wait until I'm positive before I do anymore work on this piece though! Also, the Kreinik I've stitched with so far is already 1 over 1, and it's about as bulky as the 2 over 1 floss, so I'm not sure how it would look with 1 over 1 floss.

2. Love One Another: Progress!

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After:

3. Flowers in Purple Vase: Finished!

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After:

4. Shell Collection: At home and untouched

5. Hummingbird Duo: Finished!

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After:

6. Margaret Sherry Christmas Mice: Untouched

7. Bookworm Fairy: Progress!

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After:

Thanks for stopping by! I shall look forward to seeing my fellow WIPocalypse-ers' progress when I get back from Costa Rica! Happy stitching~

2015 WIPocalypse: February Post

It's WIPocalypse time again! :) The topic for this month is: How do you overcome that feeling that you’re in a rut with a particular project? I don't have tons of experience with that, since I've only been stitching for a couple years, but so far just putting the project aside for a while has been all I need. After working on other projects for a while, I always get out of the rut and am eager to return to whatever project I've put aside.

Here are my progress pics for the month:

1. Honor Restored (new start)

I'm a little unsure of this piece right now. It's going to be absolutely huge, so I want to make sure I feel good about doing it 2 over 1 on 25 ct. evenweave, full cross stitches. This project was a gift fully kitted up, so I'm definitely using this fabric, and I prefer full X's, but I'm mulling over switching to 1 over 1. I want good coverage though. I'll get back to this piece once I'm more sure of it.

2. Love One Another

6. Margaret Sherry Christmas Mice (new starts)

7. Bookworm Fairy (new start)

This has been the piece I've really been working on. I'm so glad I chose 2 over 1 on 18 ct. Aida for this, it's a lot less stressful for someone like me who's only been stitching for a couple years. I'm on my 6th shade of blue - it's a good thing that's one of my favorite colors!

2015 WIPocalypse: January Post

Hi y'all! It's time for my first ever WIPocalypse post! My name is Katie. I'm a sophomore at Davidson College (in NC, USA) and I'll be 21 in less than a month. I'm a Classics major, and I love learning ancient languages. I also love reading, listening to audiobooks, and doing crafty things like cross stitch, knitting, and crochet. I have lots of WIPs on which I hope to make lots of progress this year, but mostly I'm hoping to have some finishes this year. I started stitching in August of 2012, and I've noticed now that I'm moving toward having too many projects going at once. I'd love to make progress on cutting some of those down! So here are some of the projects on which I'm hoping to make progress (excluding my ten for the Turtle Trot SAL):

1. Honor Restored (new start)

2. Love One Another

3. Flowers in Purple Vase (yeah, it's a little embarrassing that I sort of forgot about this one and never went back to finish it)

4. Shell Collection

5. Hummingbird Duo (only backstitching left, so hopefully I'll get around to that soon!)

6. Two Margaret Sherry Christmas mice (new starts)

And there shall probably be more added to the list as the year goes on!

Happy stitching!