Wednesday, January 24, 2018

WIP Wednesday

I hope everyone has been having a good week. It's been busy, but also very craft-full, which is always a happy thing. I've been working more on the Hitchhiker shawl and I think I'm at least halfway now. 
Hitchhiker Shawl with Painted Desert #36 Sour Tart on 3.5mm circular needles

It builds up diagonally, so it's difficult to tell sometimes how much is left. I really like how the colours are coming out though, and I think it will go with a lot of outfits. 

I'm also doing stitching mostly every day, and I try and do at least one repetition of the shawl pattern per day, then stitch the rest of the time. You saw some updates on the IHSW post on Monday, and here's where Ballerina Dreams is at:
Ballerina Dreams Dimensions kit on 18 ct Petra by Chromatic Alchemy

One of the most interesting parts of getting back to knitting is how my cat Max is reacting. He loves the yarn of course, although he is old enough now that he won't necessarily try and steal it and run away with it. Instead, he prefers to lie on the bag I keep my yarn in. This is not a new bag, it's been around the house, but he's never shown any interest until the yarn was inside it. Cats... :)



Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch


Monday, January 22, 2018

IHSW - January 2018 Edition

That's right, IHSW is back in 2018! Check it out or check in on both blog and Facebook form. :)

I actually had a really great IHSW, with 3 finishes! 

Here Comes Treble
stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct white Monaco with WDW Caribbean, Ocean, Chesapeake and Lagoon

Covered Bridge by Mill Hill

I'm so glad to have this one finished! I like these kits, but since I'd meant to finish this for Xmas, it's nice to finally be done. 

February Glows (expurgated!) by Bent Creek

I used my own colours for this one, a Soie Cristale for the dark pink and WDW Camellia for the light pink. The white/cream is another Soie cristale silk I had hanging around. I was going to do cross stitches with the white, but I didn't quite have enough, so I picked it all out and did tent stitch instead. I also managed to lose one snap somewhere, so I'm thinking I'll put a mini S or another button where it's missing. Unless I manage to find one somewhere? I have no idea where to start looking. 

I only stitched the heart as I hope to finish it with felt or something and give it to DD for Valentine's. I started this for the 2018 Stitch Maynia challenge to start something new every month on the 18th. 

And that's all for now! I hope you all had a great IHSW and Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

WIP Wednesday and A Little Taste of Something Different

Hello everyone! I hope you've been having a good week so far. I have been stitching (yay!) and I've also been knitting. There's a local yarn shop I just discovered that has so many pretty things. It's called Must Love Yarn, and you can click on the name for the website. I have a friend that owns it, although I didn't realize until very recently. It's inspired me to knit again and I've joined their current KAL, for the Hitchhiker shawl. You can find the pattern on Ravelry if you're interested. 

I chose some beautiful Australian wool called Painted Desert:


Max modeling ;)

It's an easy pattern to remember, an 8 row block makes a "tooth". And it knits up easily. I'm going to try and one or two teeth a day. 

And back to our regularly scheduled stitching!

The only difference from my last post is Ballerina Dreams has moved along a little bit:

This area has a fair amount of confetti since it's a tree, but once I finish it there are large blocks of colour, so I think I'm still good for June. We'll see. I'm giving myself till March to finish the first page (of 2), and see how it goes from there. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch


Monday, January 15, 2018

Gifted Gorgeousness 2018 - January

Jo's hosting one of my favourite SALs again this year, Gifted Gorgeousness. It's always fun to look back and see what projects you've stitched on that have been gifted to you or you're giving to someone, or the numerous ways to shoe horn a project into GG. It's even more fun to check out our fellow stitchers and see what they've been up to. 

You can find all the details for 2018 here on Jo's page. Why not sign up and join us?

This month so far I've stitched on a few different things, hopefully I'm not making you all bored with seeing the same photos!

Here Comes Treble - probably MIL, maybe a future music teacher gift?

Ballerina Dreams - for my co-worker by June I hope

Covered Bridge - for my Grandma, this year's birthday?

Kiss for a Snowman - DD

McLaren Hamilton - for DH and was gifted by another stitcher

I'll be along to check out everyone else's posts soon I hope, Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch




Thursday, January 11, 2018

WIPocalypse 2018 Intro

Late again, although I think posting on WIP Wednesday Thursday isn't too bad for a post that should be all about WIPs and WIPocalypse 2018. I'm going to join Jo's "18 in 18" this year and pick 18 projects I'd like to finish or progress on. Progress for some might be a page finish instead of a whole project finish. 

If you're new here, I'm Tiffstitch, I work full-time and own my own small business, so there's never enough time to stitch. :) I live in Vermont in the USA and it's already been a harsh winter this year. Like last year, my goal is to get some WIPs finished and not have too many new starts turn into WIPs. 

I don't know how Jo does the fun collage on her page, but my list of 18 is as follows:

1. Covered Bridge 

I've been working on this one and it's really moving along. There's not much more to go, maybe a couple more nights of beading?

2. Fishing

This is overdue for a big birthday last year, so I need to get this finished.

3. Xmas Train

So close! But didn't quite get it done for Xmas. However, our trees are still up, so maybe it will go on before we put them away. 

4. Ballerina Dreams

This is my crazy one. I bought this kit years ago as something to maybe make for my friend, and he's not necessarily xstitch crazy, but he has 2 daughters that both danced at one time, so I hope I can get it done and he likes it. 

5. Here Comes Treble

I picked this one up again recently and finished off the treble clef. There's very little left, so I should go ahead and finish this one too. Then it's off the WIP pile at least. :)

6. Tribal Dragon

This is another one that might just need a week of solid work to complete. It's really close and it's been a fun stitch since I'm using Waterlilies and the silks are so nice. 

7. Do Not Meddle

This is the last of my stunt stitching, stitching for someone who can't stitch anymore and it would be nice to get it to her this year. It's been a shamefully long time, although I'm glad I got the Peanuts characters to her last year. 

8. Letter S - only needs beads


9. Letter H

I abandoned this last July to try and get Fishing and Covered Bridge done, so it never got past this point. Hopefully a finish this year!

10. Letter G

Maybe this year I'll finally get these done for DD's 5th birthday. ;)

11. Spider Banner

A week or so might finish this one off too! It's pretty close considering how enormous it is. :)

12. Princess and the Dragon

This one has been on my mind lately. I haven't worked on it in over 6 months, so it's time to get this one out again. I won't get a finish, but I hope to get the left side built up to the top as well. Currently the leftmost area is the bottom of the piece, so stretching up all the way would be a nice accomplishment with this one. 

13. Ocean Curiosity

Another stitcher kindly loaned me the chart, so I should really finish this and get it back to her since I've had it over 2 years now! She's in no rush, but it would be nice to get it finished too. It's a really fun chart. 

14. Letters from Nora - L

I haven't touched this one since 2016 either and again, probably a week or so of attention could finish this off and then I just need to frame it with K and can give them both to my friend with 3 girls. 

15. Basset Hound

This one has been preying more and more on my mind lately, so I need to find it and try it out again, see how it goes and if I remember why I'd stopped stitching on it. 

16. Mini Winter Magic

If I can get the middle or first page done on this row, or even the entire row (why start being reasonable now?) then I would consider that pretty fantastic. There's no dithering on this one, mostly large swathes of the same colour, so even if it's Kreinik it shouldn't be too bad. 

17. Otto


I haven't picked this up in 2 years again and I really need to get some progress. I'd love to get a page done this year.

18. Frosty Friends

This was a tough decision, and I reserve the right to work on anything else I might pick, but I'd really love to get at least one of these done this year. 

Okay, there's my 18, and congrats to you for sticking around for the long post. I've realized I tend to invest a lot of myself in certain projects and each one can be special for different reasons. 

Good luck to everyone stitching for the WIPocalypse!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Zodiac SAL - Capricorn

I'm a little late getting my post up for the Zodiac SAL, and you can check out all the details of Capricorn over at Jo's lovely blog. I was struggling to come up with something I'd stitched that fit Capricorn, pictured here from Jo's blog and HaED:


Capricorn by Josephine Wall charted by HAED

Then I remembered I'm working on something that involves fishing, and since there's fish tail here, I can post this!

although if we take the definition that Enki was the god of crafts, I could post everything I've stitched last month! :) How about an update on the Frosty Friends borders since I haven't posted about these in a while. 



and Covered Bridge:

and Kiss for a Snowman:

There are lots of great ideas of stitching for Capricorns or celebs that are Capricorns on Jo's page, so please check it out and any others who've managed to get their Zodiac post up on time. :) 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

Thursday, January 4, 2018

End of 2017 Round up and 2018 Plans

I hope everyone had a good Xmas and a Happy New Year! Or enjoyed days off if you're not celebrating anything in particular. :)

I've been reading some of your New Year's plans posts and end of year posts and trying to decide how to write mine. I like how Rachel did hers quite a bit and may steal some of her ideas, with her permission of course. 

I read over my end-of-year post last year and you can find it here if you're interested. I had 3 WIPs I wanted to finish, Somebunny to Love, AAN Spider Banner and Letters From Nora S, H, and G. 

I did finish Somebunny:
WOXS Somebunny on Chromatic Alchemy Aether 28 ct 2 over 2

but not the others. I still need to fully finish Somebunny as well and get my sewing machine out to fully finish a few others too. I think I even have the material for backing for some, so it's just getting the time and effort together. 

I did manage to finish the Palkolap monthly series and send them all to my Grandma, so that was a big win! 

Princess and the Dragon went from here:
to here
1 over 1 full crosses on 28 ct Amarinthine by Chromatic Alchemy

I'm also really happy with my Ink Circles Reflections of Canada finish:


My rotation last year was to work on something different each week, be it a BAP, SAL, WIP, etc. I'm not going to do that this year, I think I'm going to steal Rachel's idea of "compulsory" stitching and work on what I want to finish this year before changing over to something else. 

PLANS FOR 2018

1) Join the Xmas Ornie SAL found here

I keep meaning to join so I have more xstitch ornaments and this might be the best way to keep myself on track. This way I won't be scrambling to find ornaments for DD's teachers next year, and they make nice gifts. I will attempt to complete one ornament before stitching anything else each month

2) Crazy idea

My business partner is turning 50 this year and he has 2 daughters. One used to dance ballet and the other still does, and I think he would like it, so I'm debating about trying to get this done by June. I did make a start:

So this would be my focus piece for the first few months of the year if I can get enough complete. I'll know by May if I'm going to get it done in time or not. 

3) Finish WIPs

Rachel's goal is to work on one each month from her CJC pile. I have a few leftover from my attempts at that as well, okay, lots... and there are a few I'd like to finish more than others. I'm going to try and list them all somewhat in the order I'd like to work on them.

1) AAN Spider Banner
2) WWS Tribal Dragon
3) Letters from Nora, S, H, G, L
4) Mill Hill Covered Bridge
5) Fishing
6) Princess and the Dragon
7) AAN Maple Leaf
8) Kiss for a Snowman
9) HAED Mini Winter Magic
10) HAED Bailey Basset
11)  Do Not Meddle
12) Frosty Friends x 6
13) Boo House
14) Ocean Curiosity
15) See Ya Later Alligator
16) Butterfly Quote
17) Under the Sea SAL
18) HAED Dragon Under Glass
19) Warbreaker
20) Messy But Mine
21) Basset Hound
22) Xmas Dragon
23) Twilight LeMans
24) Land of the Dinosaurs
25) Confetti of Hardanger
26) Helene et Mahelia Xmas 2014 SAL
27) Blue Fractal
28) Sleigh Ride Stocking
29) Snow Guide
30) Vermont
31) Savannah Birth Record
32) Joy Snowglobe
33) Dragon Dreams 12 Dragonlets 3/12 complete
34) Otto
35) I Love You More
36) Link
37) Fleur de Lys
38) In Harmony
39) Ladyfee SAL
40) Tree of Stitches
41) HAED Siberian Forest
42) Dimensions Christmas ornaments x 5
43) Here Comes Treble

I think that's it? There are a lot of them... But I'll continue to get through them and try and get some of mine fully finished as well. Jo of Serendipitous Stitching was finishing on Sundays, and that is a good day as it's usually off, but it's also usually the day I spend with DD, and that hour or two I get when she goes to rest often ends up with me having a nap as well! 

I've joined a couple Facebook groups, Soulful Stitching for their year of WIPs and some of the Stitch Maynia events and that might help me get to work on some of everything. 

Good luck to all of us accomplishing all of our unrealistic stitching goals! :)

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...