Tuesday, December 22, 2020

WIP Wranglers Part 2

I've stitched some more on some of the WIP Wranglers WIPs, in fact, they're mostly ones you've already seen because I kept rolling ones I'd already worked on. I have 9 that I haven't even rolled yet. 


We left off at the circle dragon last time, next up was Kiss for a Snowman and a rolled a 4, so 800 stitches were added:

Kiss for a Snowman by Dimensions
stitched 2 over 1 or as charted
with kit threads and fabric

And then Princess and the Dragon was rolled again, this time a 5, so only 500 stitches since this was the second time it had come up. And now it looks like:
Princess and the Dragon by Charting Creations
stitched 1 over 1 on 28ct Amarithine by Chromatic Alchemy
with DMC 310

There's less than 6000 stitches left now, I was off on my count last time, so again, this could be a finish pretty soon. 

Next up was Kiss for a Snowman again! This time for 100 only. I decided to stitch a lot of the half stitch to get some of that completed. Here's how it looks now:

It's so close! It's very tempting to stick with it, but at least I'm getting a lot of them very close to a finish now. 

I rolled another project for a second time once more, this time Winter, and it only got another 100 stitches. That was a bit annoying as 300 or 400 might have finished it, but I stuck with the roll. 
Winter by Bent Creek
stitched 2 over 1 on 28ct Feldspar by Chromatic Alchemy
stitched with stash threads, WDW and some DMC

I think this one needs to stay out and get finished, one good night of stitching and it will be done. 

Another repeat project was next, Twilight LeMans for 200 only. So you can maybe tell these are headlights on a wet road a little easier:
Twilight LeMans by Heritage Stitchcraft (OOP)
stitched 2 over 2 as charted on unknown 28ct linen

I think I still have at least half of the stitching left on this one, so it will be a few days to finish, possibly a week. 

This next one I could have wished for a few more stitches, but a good 200 went into G, second time for this one too!
Letters From Nora - G by Nora Corbett
stitched 2 over 2 as charted
on 28ct Nuriel's Forest by Chromatic Alchemy

Once again this series won't be finished this year, but hopefully early next year. A good week should get this done and all three of them beaded. I ran out of CC Smoke, so I need to order that first. 

What's that? Another repeat WIP up next? You're not wrong. Christmas Dragon was the next one for another 300, which if you remember is more stitches than it needed the first time. Now it's quite far along as well:
Dragon silhouette by Lisbei (ludinthemist.com)
stitched 2 over 1 with Caron Waterlilies Holiday
on 14ct gold sparkle Aida

This might need a couple nights of stitching, but again, should be a fairly quick finish. 

And you guessed it, another WIP I've already rolled and stitched on came up, Happy Halloween! Such a seasonal choice. :)
Happy Halloween by Satsuma Street
stitched 2 over 2 as charted
on 20ct Fiddler's aida?

And that's it for now! The next one up is Loved You Yesterday, which looked like this last time you saw it in the summer:
Loved You Yesterday by Cherry Hill Stitchery
stitched with stash threads, WDW and Jodyri so far
on 18 ct damask by Silkweaver

Hopefully I'll be able to get my act together and get the 1000 stitches this one needs finished up, there's still a lot of stitching left before the end of the year if I want to try and wrangle all of these WIPs. I have some hope of finishing Loved you Yesterday since 1000 stitches should get it close to a finish. All of this stitching will play into my 2021 plans of trying to finish off some WIPs because I think I might have talked myself into starting this one:

Stay well and Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch











Saturday, December 12, 2020

Another Monthly Challenge - WIP Wranglers

This month the Semi-Sane Facebook group is hosting WIP Wranglers. It's mostly a chance to work on a lot of different WIPs, although they have a Christmas theme to it by calling each WIP a "naughty elf" that keeps running away instead of working in the workshop. You don't have to have a bunch of WIPs, but can use up to 20. No problem there! 

As I mentioned before I was hoping to try and finish some more WIPs before the end of the year, and I think that might be possible. I chose 20 that didn't have a ton of work left on them and a couple I'd just like to get more progress on before the end of the year. There are 3 levels to the challenge, easy, regular and hard. You need 20 WIPs because you use a 20 sided die (or an app) to roll to choose which one to work on. You also use a regular 6 sided die and multiply by 100 to find out how much to stitch on each project. 

For the easy level, you halve your stitches, therefore, rolling a 1 becomes 50 stitches, regular means you stitch the whole 100, and hard means you double it. So you stitch 200 stitches if you roll 1. Any guesses what I chose? :) Also, if you roll a WIP you've already worked on once, you halve the required stitches, and it's "wrangled" then, so you don't stitch on anything more than twice.

My list of 20 WIPs is here:


I have the hockey stick marking the ones I've stitched already, because if I have the choice to use any emoji, I'll always pick the hockey stick. :)

My first roll was 16 and 2, so I worked on Frosty Friends #1 for 200x2 (400) stitches. It looks like this now:
Frosty Friends by Dimensions
kit stitched 2 over 2 as charted with kit fabric

I'm not going to add the before pics on most of these because I have a fair amount of photos to show already. Mostly I just had the outline and a little of the half stitch done before starting on this one. 

Next roll was Butterfly Quote for 1200! That was a lot, I'm so used to Pattern Keeper for these larger projects that I struggle with the multi-paper charts a bit now. But it looks good!

Butterfly Quote by Jodyri
stitched 2 over 2 on 14ct fabric with Jodyri threads
Sparkling Citrine, Pink Laydee, Sunshine State, City of Oz, and 2 others, plus WDW Purple Iris?

I definitely need to get more Sunshine State to finish the "butterfly" part, it's nice to get it moving a bit though and some of the difficult cross page stitching is complete. 

I rolled In the Gloaming for roll 3 and 5, and it had 800 total stitches added:
In the Gloaming by WBTW
stitched 2 over 2 with DMC 167, 422, 3823 and 3866
on 28 ct Mirage evenweave by PTP 

I had planned to make my life easier by adding a bunch more of the gate in DMC C3799, the Etoile, but I've misplaced the bobbin, so I did the slightly harder work around where the fence will go. The last row is almost the bottom of the mausoleum, so it's quite far along. 

In between the two rolls for In the Gloaming was Winter by Bent Creek. I had a very small start on this previously, which I'll show since this hasn't shown up on my blog for a long time:
and I rolled a 5, so needed to add 1000 stitches:
Winter by Bent Creek
stitched 2 over 2 with stash threads besides white and 310
on 28ct Feldspar by Chromatic Alchemy

One more roll might finish this one, it's really just the snowman on top and a few details on the penguins at the bottom. 

Happy Halloween was rolled next and it didn't have a lot done either, but with the addition of 1200 stitches, it now looks like this:
Happy Halloween by Satsuma Street
stitched 2 over 1 as charted
on 18ct Fiddler cloth/aida

This is my first and so far only Satsuma Street, although I do enjoy many of her designs. I have a few others in stash, so hopefully will get them stitched up soon too. 

Next up was another one that hasn't been touched in a long time, since the New Year New Start of 2019 I think:
Animal Parade by Lanarte
stitched 2 over 1 and 1 over 1 with black
on 25ct included kit painted fabric

I had only worked on the rhino before, and it's sort of across a page, so I started on the next animal this time. Can you tell what it is yet? It will be easy as I get farther down. I realized after I'd stitched most of the 400 stitches this one needed that I was stitching 1 over 1 instead of 2 over 1 like the rhino. I feel like that's okay though, because I could stitch the next animal to the right 2 over 1, and alternate, or I could leave the rhino 2 over 1 for a little more emphasis on the animal most likely to be extinct first. Suggestions are always welcome!

An old favourite came out next to get another 1000 stitched into it. 
Princess and the Dragon by Charting Creations
stitched 1 over 1 with DMC 310
on 28ct Amarinthine by Chromatic Alchemy

This only needs about 7000 stitches to be finished! Kind of incredible. I don't think it will be a finish this year, but definitely next year. And you never know, if I get this WIP Wrangling task finished early, maybe I'll pull this out for the end of the year. 

Letters from Nora was rolled next and G is the last one that needs any cross stitch done. The rest only need beads. I rolled a 2, so added 400 to this one:
Letter G from Letters from Nora by Nora Corbett
stitched 2 over 2 as charted
on 28ct Nuriel's Forest by Chromatic Alchemy

This is the last one in the series of 3 I'm stitching for DD. I need more CC Smoke because I'm out, so hopefully the colour will match what I've stitched already. 

Another one that doesn't come out often, even though it's fairly small, is Twilight LeMans, and it had 600 stitches added to it this time:
Twilight LeMans by Heritage Stitchcraft
stitched 2 over 2 as charted
on 28ct linen, unknown dyer

You can kind of tell these are headlights on a wet road I think now. The far right and left blue are the bottom corners, so a little more in the middle and the bottom is complete. This is probably half done or so.

I don't know if you'll remember this last one, it was started a long time ago and has mostly lingered in the pile of WIPs, not really moving along very far. I rolled my first 1 for this project and added 200 stitches:
Dragon silhouette by Lisbei (ludinthemist.com)
stitched 2 over 1 with Caron Waterlilies Holiday?
on 14ct gold sparkle Aida

I found this one while browsing for dragons and really liked the look of it. It will circle around so the tail almost meets the jaw. It probably needs another 600 or so stitches for a finish. 

And that's all for now! I know that was a long post. I may try and get another one up after just a few rolls if I can. I hope you're all staying healthy and enjoying some good weather. We've had snow enough to build a snowman, but tomorrow will be 8C/47F! So the snow will melt, then we drop down to -14C/7F in a few days. Winter in Vermont isn't consistent anymore. 

Happy Stitching and stay well!

Tiffstitch














Thursday, December 10, 2020

Fully Finished Gallery - December Edition

 You may not believe this, but I have multiple finishes this month! I had extra days off over American Thanksgiving and had an urge to do some organizing. Part of that involved going through the "drawer of shame finishes" to see what materials I had, what I wanted to get done, etc. And I managed to fully finish all of these!

Life is Tough by Circus Stitches
stitched 2 over 2 with stash threads, mostly WDW 
on 28ct Rainbow ltd edition by Chromatic Alchemy
framed in a 6x6 inch frame

2018 Ink Spot ornament by Ink Circles
stitched 2 over 2 with Caron Waterlilies
on 28ct Tempest by Chromatic Alchemy

and here it is on the tree. Note the hidden basset hounds :)

Squirrelly by Mill Hill
stitched 3 over 1 as charted
backed with maroon felt and hanger with DMC variations brown thread

Celtic Ice by Ink Circles
stitched 2 over 2 on called for fabric
with Carrie's Creations Night Storm and Blue Dreams
backed with blue felt and hanger with DMC variations blue 

Haunted House by Heart in Hand
stitched 2 over 1 with stash threads
on 16?ct fabric scrap
backed with burnt orange felt and hanger with WDW Trick or Treat thread

Boo! by Bent Creek
stitched 2 over 1 mostly as charted with WDW Trick or Treat border
on 16ct Galaxy by Jodyri
backed with burnt orange felt and black DMC hanger

Joy Snowglobe by Dimensions
stitched 2 over 1 on plastic canvas as charted
backed with red felt and extra red thread from kit for hanger

Woodland Santa #8 by Mill Hill
stitched 3 over 1 as charted
backed with dark green felt and green hanger from extra thread

I'm sure you're all surprised by the amount of finishes, although you'll notice most are smalls. But it's still nice to have them all finished, and possibly ready for gifts this year. Don't expect this kind of productivity again though. ;) 

Stay well and Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch


Saturday, December 5, 2020

2020 Advent Calendar Blog Hop

 Hi everyone, I apologize for the delay! I left this as draft instead of scheduling it. Have a great holiday!


Don't forget to join in the fun over at Jo's blog to see all the other days as well. 

This year Jo asked us for a favourite Christmas book. I think mine might be 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. My dad used to read it when we were little and I've enjoyed reading it to DD over the years as well. There's an updated 2020/COVID version floating around that's a little NSFW, but kind of funny if you come across it.  A Christmas Carol has a close second, especially the version read by Tim Curry. My best friend says she prefers Patrick Stewart's version, and it's certainly hard to argue against that one. :)

What are your favourite books around Christmas?

Also, I have an FFO to share!

I finished this Dimensions Joy Snowglobe last year, and finally fully finished it last week. I hope you all have a joyful holiday season however you celebrate and stay well!

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch


Monday, November 30, 2020

Naughty November Week 4 - Honest Santa - I Didn't Do It!

Here we are, the last(?) start of this year and the last Naughty November start. Please check out Rachel's post so you can see what everyone else is working on as well. 

I've had this chart for a few years, and I really like the picture of it, but I hadn't started it until now. 


I had Friday off, so I would have had a little extra time to stitch, but DD was needing to do a lot of things, so we went on a hike, scooter (foot push) ride, all kinds of things since the weather was very nice. That means I didn't get a lot done, and once I started, I realized there's approximately one million fractional stitches in this. Ugh... Perhaps this is why I hadn't started it yet. 
Honest Santa - I Didn't Do It! by The Sweetheart Tree
stitched as charted, 2 over 2 on last scrap of Tempest by Chromatic Alchemy

I had some idea of finishing this for a gift for DH, but I don't know if that will happen. So many fractionals... my goodness. Possibly if I get a thread length in per day that will help me finish it off. 

On an easier stitching subject, I did use my extra days off to get a lot more done on the Prairie Schooler Santa:
2009 Santa by Prairie Schooler
stitched 2 over 2 with DMC blanc, 816, and 890
on 28ct Haunted by PTP?

There's still a decent amount of stitching left, so I'm not sure if I'll finish this one before the end of the year either. But that's okay, it's an easy one to pick up and work on now and again. 

This has been a fun month of new starts and a couple finishes! I need to FFO the 2 I finished and gift them to DD for Christmas this year. I think she'll like to put them on the tree. They're not quite square, so I can't finish them back to back, so I'll do it individually. Hopefully I'll get them finished for Rachel's Fully Finished Gallery next month!

Happy Stitching, and stay well!

Tiffstitch
 

Monday, November 23, 2020

Naughty November Week 3 - 2009 Prairie Schooler Santa

 It's the end of yet another weekend in November, which seems to be flying by. I don't think any of us are upset about that though. It's been quite a year. 

I decided to pull out another ornament that I've had hanging around for a while. This is a Prairie Schooler, of which I have very few, and it's a little larger than the previous weeks' ornaments. It will look close to this when I'm finished: 


And I made it this far:
2009 Prairie Schooler Santa
stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Haunted
with DMC threads

I'm brightening it up a bit and will hope to get this finished up this week as well. I have a couple extra days off with the American Thanksgiving holiday later this week. 

I also started a new knitting project this weekend! Berroco, a yarn company, sends out a weekly newletter that usually includes a free pattern. This week's newsletter contained patterns for 3 different stockings. A couple were a little adventurous for me, but this one seems like I could make it work:

There is actual colourwork, which I've never done before, but this is a fairly simple colour work design. Here's where I'm at so far:
Comet stocking by Berroco yarns
knit on size 10, 6mm needles in the round
with stash yarn from Lion Brand, Green Mtn Spinnery, Bernat and Yellow Dog Farm

It's just like knitting an enormous sock and the next part will be the heel. It goes quickly with bulky yarn too! I'm kind of hoping to make more to use up my stash and maybe donate them? This one will be for DD though. 

Happy stitching and stay well! Happy Thanksgiving if you're in the US!

Tiffstitch



Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Fully Finished Gallery - November Edition

 I finally made it! I've been meaning to post on Rachel's FFO gallery for months now, but kept not quite managing to get a post up in time. This month I'm determined to do it. I even have multiple things to show now too. 

First up, this has been finished for a while:

Siberian Forest QS by HAED
stitched 1 over 1 full cross as charted on 28ct Monaco 

I had a few 6x6 inch frames for Mill Hill finishes and turns out this fits just about perfectly! I even washed it, since it was a little grungy after being stitched on since 2012. There wasn't any bleeding of colour thank goodness. 

And I'm really excited about my next finish. I gifted it to a friend who is also a bibliophile:

Sleep is Good by Circus Stitches
stitched 2 over 2 with Caron Waterlilies Plum and Soie Cristal green
on 28ct Bacchus by Chromatic Alchemy

I found these bags at Michael's. They're canvas, lined inside with something silky-looking. They have handles and a zipper. I think they're intended to use as bridesmaids gifts, that kind of thing, but it works pretty well for this. It didn't take very long to complete and I think I even managed to pin it on straight, enough that my friend took a sec to realize I had put it together instead of purchasing new. That's always a nice feeling that you did it well. 

Someone had a big birthday around here, and since things are such that there's really no ability to have a party, I wanted to try and make something special. I found these in Issue 13 of the XStitch magazine as part of a pattern for a slot machine. 
Are You Feeling Lucky? by Stitchfinity
stitched 3 or 4 over 1 with stash threads on silver perforated paper 

I chose rainbow colours since DD loves rainbows and is always drawing and painting them. I had some idea of making 7 of these with individual colours, but that didn't quite work out. I had some Dinky Dyes Down Under Blues left to make 2 sections on these and I thought it was a good indigo colour. 

I still need to finish up lots of other projects, so let's switch to knitting as well, since they are easier to fully finish. :)

I managed to complete 2 pairs of socks in the last few months for gifts:
Sweet and Tartan socks by Traci Millar
knit with Fiberstash Fire Engine Red and Charcoal

These were completed for a friend who loves red/black plaid. I'm so glad they turned out well. It's all mosaic knitting, and the heel is a little different from the usual gusset, which I thought made them a little tight to get on when I checked the size. No complaints from the recipient, who has slightly smaller feet, so perhaps not an issue for her feet. If I make them for me, I'll just be sure to use my normal heel. 

"vanilla" socks, no particular pattern, cast on 64 stitches per sock
Yarn is If I Wanted Exposure by Blue Moon Fiber Arts

These have been mailed, so hopefully they will fit as well when they're received. I enjoyed how the yarn knit up and sort of striped a bit. I've had this for a couple years from when Countess Ablaze released a dye lot for any dyers interested as long as they were going to contribute some of the proceeds to charity. It's a nice yarn, with a good twist so you don't catch the threads. This is the only Blue Moon yarn I've owned/used so far. 

And that's everything I've finished so far. If I can get myself in gear, maybe there will be more for next month. 

Stay well and Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch







Monday, November 16, 2020

Naughty November Start 2 - Little Girl with Ornament

Another weekend in November is gone already, and here is start (and finish!) number 2! Please check out Rachel's post so you can see who else is joining in the fun. 

Last week I'd started on Handblessings Little Girl with Teddy Bear ornament, and I managed to finish it since it was so close. I still need to add the charm:

Little Girl With Teddy Bear by Handblessings
stitched 2 over 2 with DMC Variations 4210 on 28ct Rubescent by Chromatic Alchemy

And the piece of fabric I had was just big enough that I could also fit on another Handblessings ornament. This past weekend I started Little Girl with Ornament:

I used the same fabric and thread, although I ran out of what I had with this much stitching left:

Fortunately my work isn't that far away from Michael's and despite the fact I was a little nervous going on with the increase in COVID-19 cases around here, I found what I needed and got in and out quickly. 

And then another finish besides needing the charm:
Little Girl with Ornament by Handblessings
stitched 2 over 2 with DMC Variations 4210 on 28ct Rubescent by Chromatic Alchemy

I'm still debating a bit for this weekend's start. I might pull out something small again since the last weekend will give me a bit more stitching time because it's Thanksgiving in the US and I have Thursday and Friday off. I have something that's been hiding in my stash for a while that's been waiting for a good excuse to start and I think this Naughty November challenge is it! 

I hope you're all staying healthy and safe and happy stitching!

Tiffstitch



Catch-up Post and Mischievous March

Hello again, things conspired so I didn't get a chance to put a post up, but I have been stitching. I also remembered to pick up my Misc...