Spring Into Summer New Start Binge - Moon and Back

We made it! Here we are, what would have been the start of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and this is the end of the 17 weekend starts. I'm okay with it being done for now since I'd like to work on my older WIPs and the newer WIPs for a while without necessarily adding anything new for a bit. I still have about 6K stitches left on the tiger face, so it will be exciting to finish that one!

Please check out Rachel and Annie's new starts as well on their blogs.

But now, here was my start:

It's a bit of a departure from Jolly July/Christmas starts, unless I get this done for an Xmas present maybe? I don't know if I want to frame it, maybe a long pillow? Anyways, need to finish it first. 

Here's the floss toss: 

I purchased the chart, fabric and floss at my closest LNS, and decided to go with silks to support her shop. I only get there once a year or less, so I do what I can. I'm not even sure if she's open currently.

And my small start:

I'm using the purple/blue for the words instead of brown and it's a fun stitch so far. I'll likely use DMC or stash hand-dyeds for the other bits.

And there we are! 17 new starts, a few finishes and a few WIPs left over. I'm thinking a wrap up in a week or so would be good, so I'll follow Rachel's lead with that.

Stay well and Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

Spring Into Summer New Start Binge #16 - Magical Arrival

Here we are at the penultimate weekend of starts! I was tempted to add last week that it was the antipenultimate weekend because that's one word I've never forgotten. Our high school music teacher used to use it because he wanted to show off our knowledge if the VP or Principal ever walked into our class to observe. He'd say "We'll start at the antipenultimate bar." It means the 3rd bar from the end, or 3rd last.

Rachel has her post up and I'm sure Annie will soon too, so please check out their new starts on their blogs as well. Only one more to go this weekend! It seems so short looking back at it now.

Once again I tossed out my sensible plans of sticking with small projects, unless you count this as a "small" HaED....

and I managed to get here:

that's almost 2K stitches into it already, of about 23K total needed. There's also something a little unusual about this chart. I noticed it when I looked at the thread list. Any guesses what it might be? I'll mention it in next week's post.

It felt really good to start this one. Life in general has been pretty stressful with everything and the decision on whether or not to homeschool this year for DD has just added a little more. A new start on something I've had in my stash for years felt nice, and I love that I had a long piece of 25ct Magic Guide to make it that much easier. I got this on clearance from Charting Creations, I think it was 10"x52"? Something odd, but I had a couple projects that I knew would fit, and this was my first purchase of pre-gridded fabric. The first project I started was Tiger Stare, which is what I purchased it for. I may be able to get that one out again soon now that the new start binge is almost over.

Also, a finish! Celtic Ice is complete:

Celtic Ice by Ink Circles

stitched 2 over 2 on 28?ct linen 

with Carrie's Creations Night Storm and Blue Dreams

I hope you've all been staying healthy and not letting the stress get to you like I've been doing. It's hard, but it is good to have stitching and crafting and things to take a break from the rest.

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

Spring Into Summer New Start Binge #15 - Celtic Ice

Can there really only be 2 more weekends of starts left? It's hard to believe. I've definitely enjoyed each new start, even when they have issues or need frogging. That is a theme again this week, and I'll get into that below.

Rachel and Annie have started new projects this weekend as well, so please check their posts to see which projects they decided to start and maybe there's a finish if you go look!

This weekend I chose to start Celtic Ice. I think I got this one from Michelle BendyStitchy on one of her destashes. It came kitted up.

I believe this is OOP now, so I don't know if it was a kind of special release. It also came with another celtic design bonus chart. I managed to get here:

and then I realized my stitch count was off for the top left "knot", so that had to be frogged. I did frog it all, but haven't restitched it yet. This should be an easy finish once I get back to it though.

Speaking of finishes, I purposely delayed my post by a day, instead of accidentally forgetting like most other weeks, to get another finish in:

Woodland Santa (#8?) is complete! This was a fun one, a lot of cross stitch compared to some of the other Mill Hill kits I've completed and maybe only 100 beads or less, and only 3 colours, so a very easy starter project if you've never used beads before. The beard is 4 strands knotted and tacked down, then you clip a couple for a mustache area and sort of spread the rest so he seems to be walking into wind.

One more finish for the books for this new start binge! It is exciting to have finished so many new things as well. I don't think it ever became a grind, and there's only 2 weekends left now, so the time to choose more projects is at hand. I have a few options I need to narrow down for the last 2. One may not be Xmas themed because I had a project all kitted up to start, but I'd forgotten about it, and only recently came across it again. We'll see what I decide. That might be the final project for this session.

I hope you've all had good stitchy weeks!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

People's Choice SAL - Most Stitched Designer

This week it's time to choose the designer we stitch the most. I think it's easy for some, but I tend to hop around and stitch on a lot of different things, so I have a lot of different WIPs/finishes from different designers. Also, does each part of a SAL count as a design? Because that will change things up as well.

I'll see if I can figure it out both ways. Make sure you check out Jo's post with everyone's links too!

List of most frequently stitched designers, with 5 or more finishes/WIPs:

Dimensions - 8 finishes, 8 WIPs
Mabel Figworthy's Fancies - 16 finishes
KLT Charting - 12 finishes, 1 WIP
Palko-lap - 12 finishes
Durene Jones - 10 finishes, 2 WIPs
Lizzie Kate - 10 finishes, 1 WIP
Mill Hill - 9 finishes, 1 WIP
HAED - 8 WIPs
Kincavel Krosses - 6 finishes
Circus Stitches and Ink Circles - 5 finishes
Jodyri - 3 finishes and 2 WIPS

So if we count SAL as 1 project, the list would change to putting Mabel, KLT, Palko-lap and Durene Jones down near the bottom since most of those finishes are from parts of the SALs.

Clearly I'm an eclectic stitcher and still stitch a lot of kits going by the amount of Dimensions and Mill Hill finishes. This is back from 2012, so the amount of stitching on non-kit projects has increased I think, but there are so many different designers I've stitched that it didn't amount to more than 5 projects finished or WIP status.

Dimensions clearly leads the pack no matter how you determine it, so I'll go with that as most-stitched designer, as odd as that seems. Since it's been a while, I'll try and post the other Dimensions WIPs I have besides the Wish ornament.

Kiss For a Snowman - active WIP

 Ballerina Dreams - last worked on 2019

 Frosty Friends - last worked on 2018

 Sleigh Ride Stocking - last worked on 2017?

 Savannah Birth Record - UFO

 In Harmony - UFO

Snowflake Ornaments - UFO

There's several in here I'd like to get back to, and hope to once I get a few more WIPs complete. 

Have a good week! 

Tiffstitch

Spring Into Summer New Start Binge #14 - Mill Hill Woodland Santa

Only a month to go now! Are we sad? happy? relieved? I have definitely enjoyed starting so many things that have been stashed away for so long. It does mean a lot of other WIPs haven't progressed at all, so I think I'll be glad to finish and work on a few more things. I'm also happy that I haven't added too many more WIPs to the pile. I'm a little afraid to count as I think I've crept up above 50 again, but that can wait for another day.

I did stick with my Christmas theme this week and Annie did as well, and Rachel has another great bird practically finished. Please check out their blogs as well and cheer them on too!

Here's what I started this week:

and I did manage a lot of progress this week:

I will likely try and get this finished this week too and have a fresh start for this coming weekend.

I also managed to get some more done on Dimensions Wish:

and this could also be a finish this week! That would be nice to have another completion from these new starts.

Cathy had a great idea about starting this up again after September/October. Rachel and I may have already been thinking something similar. :) I linked to her blog because she finishes so many things! It's astounding.

I hope you've all had good stitchy weeks and are staying healthy!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch