Friday, August 28, 2020

A Big Finish, WIP Update, and Plans For the Rest of 2020

Hello, hello everyone! I've been trying to organize my blog a bit and get things updated. I won't say all the tabs are updated as I had trouble staying on top of all the challenges, but I did get lots of stitching in. :) That's all it's about anyway.

It's been nice in August stitching on whatever I want without any set schedule. I did have the obsession to finish the Siberian Forest QS and now that it's complete, I feel like I would like a new start to celebrate. I can't decide what to start though. Here's another look at it. :)


I'm still a little astonished I actually completed it. I did make an error in one of the colours, and some of you can probably tell. I don't think it's as obvious to non-stitchers, hence why I will likely gift this to my dad, not a stitcher, and I don't think he'll notice. This was 20,449 stitches total. I had the top 4 rows mostly complete I think before I started, so it used to look like this:

And I know I keep mentioning this, but truly, this would not be complete without Pattern Keeper. I tried parking, I tried cross country, I tried a lot of different things, but could not get my head around an HAED. Which is unfortunate since they're amazing, but also a ton of work. So this was pretty much abandoned despite my best efforts.

One of the challenges I joined this month was called Dodgeball and was part of Semi Sane Stitchers on Facebook. Everyone was sorted into 2 teams and one team threw balls at the other. It "cost" 400 stitches to create a ball and at first was only 100 stitches to "dodge", then that went up to 150 stitches. I was hit with over 3K stitches in the third week, and couldn't dodge them all in time since they hit while I was at work. It was mostly fun and I did get a ton of work done on Princess and the Dragon. It's all black, so it was a quicker dodging project. This is where it was at the start of the year:

and here's where it is now (although the fabric colour is more true above):

I've reached the far right of the project, and there's less than 10K stitches left (53Ktotal). The thought of sticking with this to a finish is very tempting, but I'm also getting a bit tired of black. I was debating about continuing on, but I think I'll be stitching with a lot of black in October for Dark October, so I may put this down for a while. Realistically, if I stuck with it at about 4-500 stitches per night, that's only another 3 weeks or less.

There is a new game in Semi Sane Stitchers that is called Dominoes and you have to connect your WIPs with something, like same fabric, same thread, same designer, etc. I think I would like to join that and stitch on a lot of different things for a while, but I still want to have some goals for the end of the year. It's an interesting event because you need at least 10 WIPs (no problem there!) and you can stitch on different increasing levels. Level 1 add 25 to each WIP, level 2 add 50 to each WIP, level 3 add 100 to each WIP. I'm thinking of level 3 since that would be a good way to get some decent progress on a lot of different projects. I think that's how I'm leaning right now. If I can manage to, I'll even try and have a weekly post to go over what got worked on. :)

October will be Dark October, and I plan to work on the following:
 Spooky Halloween by Durene Jones
this was a Lakeside Needlecraft SAL and I'm on part 3 I think, or just started 4

 In the Gloaming by WBTW

Witch's Gate by WBTW

 Bent Creek one I've forgotten the name
Universal Monsters SAL

Since there's 4 bigger projects, I might work on one each week and see how far along I get. 

November will be Naughty November with Rachel where we plan on some more new starts! I haven't completely determined what those will be, if they'll be Xmas projects or some random stash I've been wanting to get started. 

December tends to get a little busy with finishing things, so there may not be a lot of stitching time. This might be when I bring out Princess and the Dragon again to finish it off. The other option with that one to try and get a finish is to stitch on it once a week, etc. I tend not to stick to these plans though, so probably not. 

The other projects I'd hoped to finish this year are:

Do Not Meddle

This is a long overdue project for someone that can't easily stitch any longer. I definitely made some good progress this year, but it's still not done. 

Letter G from Letters from Nora

This is the last of 3 I'm making for DD and I need to frog this one, then restart and finish it. It wouldn't take long if I stuck with it. Which is apparently difficult for me and why I have so many WIPs!

Bottom line, I'd be happy to finish Princess and the Dragon, Do Not Meddle and letter G. Yes, there are a ton more, and I now have 55 WIPs instead of the 52 I started the year with, and am planning more starts, but that's beside the point. :) Possibly I'll be reasonable in November and only start ornaments. 

I'm happy to hear any suggestions, and please feel free to check my WIP list if there's something you feel I've been neglecting. Lots of them have had some time, but no other major progress besides Princess and the Dragon. 

Happy Stitching!



Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Gifted Gorgeousness - August 2020 Edition



I missed last month and am almost missing this month too! So that means lots of photos, hopefully no one minds. :) Please check out the list at Jo's amazing blog if you haven't already, and see what everyone else has stitched.


1) for DD
 Loved You Yesterday by Cherry Hill Stitchery
stitched with stash threads on 14count damask aida

2) for DD
 Mini Winter Magic by HAED
stitched 1 over 1 full cross on 28ct Monaco

3) for parents
 Woodland Santa by Mill Hill 
stitched as charted with kit threads and beads

4) for DD
 mini Faery Tales by HAED
stitched 2 over 1 on 18ct aida as charted

5) for DD
 Moon and Back by Heart in Hand
stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct linen with Gloriana silks

6) for Clare-Aimetu 
 free flower from Durene Jones FB page
stitched as charted to send to Clare for her flower tree

7) for DD
Princess and the Dragon by Charting Creations
stitched 1 over 1 full cross on 28ct Amarinthine by Chromatic Alchemy 

8) for DD
Kiss for a Snowman by Dimensions
stitched as charted with kit threads and aida
9) for Dad
Siberian Forest QS by HAED
stitched as charted 1 over 1 full cross on 28ct Monaco

I was debating about putting the last one as its own post because it's so exciting to have finished it! My first ever HAED finish! But I'll put it in here and work on FFO'ing it for Rachel's FFO post next month. My dad is having a big birthday this year, so I think it will be a good gift. He does love tigers. I also debated keeping it, but I think I'd like to pass it on. I have others I want to finish and put up in our house too. I swear Pattern Keeper is amazing. This never would have been finished without that app. 

I hope you've all had good months! I plan on getting another post up soon with plans for the rest of the year now that we're almost out of August and I feel that I've caught up on some things I wanted to work on. 

Happy Stitching! and stay well!

Tiffstitch
























Friday, August 7, 2020

Stitching Friends Summer Blog Hop 2020


Here we are friends, at a sort of meet and greet or "guess who's coming to dinner?" although since we're all social distancing, it will be more of a virtual guess who.

Jo very kindly is hosting this hop as well. Someday I'd like to be as organized as she is; thank you again Jo! Please check out her blog here for the list of all the participants and see if you can guess which stitcher we're talking about before you get to the end!

My stitching friend has been having a rough year, but she fortunately enjoys a drop of wine and a good book to ease the days toils. She lives in the UK and is a very generous person, giving a lot of time to her church, including some amazing ornament trees. This might be giving it away already, but just in case, here are a few designs I thought she might like. And because she's such a prolific stitcher of smalls, I'm trying to find new ones she may not have seen yet.


Perhaps a freebie from Mabel Figworthy's Fancies?


Or a new Fireside Originals?

Or a GPA Designs pinball, since she's quite talented at finishing as well, injured wing or no. ;)


Or a brightly coloured pincushion from Lindy Stitches?

Last one, I promise, perhaps this Jardin Prive? She's definitely got some French inclinations as well. 



If you're still not sure which stitcher I'm talking about, raise a glass and toast this amazing stitcher!



Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch


Spring Into Summer New Start Binge Round-Up!

 And here we are, over a week later and no scheduled new starts. It's an odd feeling after so many, but also nice to concentrate on some other WIPs for a while. I had hoped to have one more finish before posting, because it's so close to completion, but I'm still not quite finished the Dimensions bird/Wish kit.

Here's the rundown, let's start with finishes and I'll link to the original post if you'd like more details on any of the projects.
Punkin Heart by Flowers 2 Flowers

Love You to the Moon by Waxing Moon Designs

Wrapped Bars and Dove's Eyes by Victorian Sampler


Ode to Snowflakes by Glendon Place

Ballet Silhouette #2 by Lanarte 

Wings and Things by Ink Circles

Just Breathe by Fiddlesticksau 
Woodland Santa by Mill Hill as charted

Celtic Ice by Ink Circles 

Squirrelly by Mill Hill stitched as charted

And that means I managed to finish 10 of the new projects, and that's pretty good out of 17. I had intended to stick with smaller projects, but got drawn into some bigger new starts. Here are the remaining 7:

Visit Mordor by Country Magic Stitches

Loved You Yesterday by Cherry Hill Stitches

Magical Arrival SK by HAED


Moon and Back by Heart in Hand




In the Gloaming by Whispered by the Wind

Witch's Gate by WBTW


Wish Ornament by Dimensions


And there we have it! All the new starts and some finishes and a few lingering WIPs. I'll get the Wish ornament finished soon, there's a postmark I have to backstitch at the bottom, otherwise it's pretty much complete. The other charts will take a bit longer. The WBTW ones might be good for Dark October stitching and see if I can get them to progress a bit. The 2 with words should be fairly quick once I let myself concentrate on them as well. 

I'm still working a lot on Siberian Tiger right now and have less than 4K stitches till a finish, so I'm working on it as much as I can. I'll try and get a post up about my WIPs in a week or so and sort of a mid-year round up. I love round up posts, they're so much fun to read. 

Hope you're having a good week and stay safe! 

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...