April Turtle Trot, May WIPocalypse and more!

Well, with the continued craziness that I posted about at the end of last week, still not having internet access at home (living in the country is just great sometimes), STILL being sick with this stupid cold, Mother's Day on Sunday, etc. I missed the check in dates for both WIPocalypse and Turtle Trot.  But better late than never!

First of all, thank you to everyone who left well wishes on my post last week.  They were much needed.  My boss's husband had a major heart attack last Wednesday, leading to my rough week at work in trying to fill in for her.  Sadly, her husband passed away on Saturday, so Sat/Sun/Mon were busy trying to get things ready and settled for the funeral.  So that's over with, but things are still a little crazy as we try to adjust to the "new normal".

Secondly, I hope everyone who celebrated Mother's Day had a great weekend, and you enjoyed the time you spent honoring your mothers/sisters/aunts/daughters/etc.  I cooked up a storm last weekend, which sadly cut into my stitching time, but oh well.

Now, onto the updates I suppose.  First off, the May WIPocalypse check in as hosted by Measi.

May's question is: I would like to know if you look for LNS’s when you travel. What is the favorite shop you’ve ever found?

Sadly, I seem to never live in an area that has a LNS around.  I did find one in Placerville when up at Apple Hill when I lived in California, and one in Boise when visiting my grandparents (which sadly had gone out of business when I went back to look for it last year).  Usually when traveling I don't have time to explore for an LNS, I have a time schedule I need to keep to, but I want to possibly do it more often in the future.  Sadly, I have not found one near me in Mississippi yet either.  Anyone know of a LNS around the Jackson area?

As far as progress, I'm going to combine this with my Turtle Trot progress check-in, since some of the things I worked on this month were TT pieces.

Project 1: Halloween Quaker

Previous Progress:

How it looks now:

Projects 2-6: No new progress

Project 7: Flower of the Month SAL

I made more progress on January, but I can't find the progress pic I took anywhere!  I will have to update this post when I find where my camera stashed it.

Projects 8-10: No new progress

Project 11: Frosted Pumpkin Round Robin

Here's my latest finish on the FP Round Robin.  This is for Round 4, where I once again had Woodland Sampler to work on.  I finished the October block:

Made a huge counting mistake on this one (several times) so I had to frog a bunch and modify the pattern a bit (or risk having to frog the entire pattern).  I think it turned out okay anyway. 

Project 12: No new progress

So sadly, not a whole lot of progress going on there with those pieces.  Hopefully after June things will settle down a bit stitching-wise though. 

In April I also had two other non-Turtle Trot progress finishes, Easter Egg Topiary and Friends for Life, both of which were charity stitching donations.

I also managed to get a bit of stitching on this new project last night:

I don't anticipate this taking very long.  As you can probably tell, this is an initial, specifically a N.  It's for an Initial Exchange swap I signed up for on Facebook.  This is from the Buzzy Bees Alphabet by Lucie Heaton, I think from an old CrossStitcher magazine I have lying around.  Sorry for the wonky lighting, the fabric is actually regular white aida.  It's so hard to get good pictures of my stitching at night. 

Well, that's it for progress shots today.  Hopefully your stitching is all going better than mine!

April 2015 WIPocalypse

We've reached another full moon, so it's time for a WIPocalypse check-in, as hosted by Measi.  Actually, the official check in date was Saturday, but since I still don't have internet access on the weekends, I am a little behind on reporting. 

April's question is: Which specialty stitches do you love doing on projects? Which do you dread?

For me, I pretty much dread all specialty stitches.  Most of all, I hate French knots (even though those aren't really a specialty stitch per se).  I can do some specialty stitches, I used the lazy daisy stitch on my Victorian Tree ornament last year, I just don't like the extra fussiness I guess.  And I'm definitely not brave enough to branch out on a pattern with tons of specialty stitches.  Beading is specialty enough for me right now!

Now I suppose I should tally up my progress for WIPocalypse this month.   Looking back at my original WIPocalypse goals, here's where I stand so far:

Goal 1: Keep up with the 2015 Flower of the Month SAL - I did some good progress in March and got caught up with starting.  Now to start April this month. 

Goal 2: Crazy January Challenge, completed.  I have also finished stitching 5 of the 31 projects so far. 

Goal 3: Keep up with the other SALs I've taken on this year.  So far, so good, although I have missed TUSAL a couple times.

Goal 4: Work on my 10 Turtle Trot pieces.  No progress on this last check-in.  And I haven't got much progress so far this month either.  I'm actually thinking about adjusting my TT pieces a bit. 

Goal 5: Finish Frosted Pumpkin Round Robin when it comes back to me later this year - cannot complete yet.  But I've been seeing the progress on my pattern in our Facebook Group, and so far Days 5, 8 and 9 of the 12 days of Christmas are complete.

Goal 6: Other projects to start - none started yet.

And a New Goal 7 (just for April): Finish the A to Z blogging challenge!

My finishes for March the February and March parts of Frosted Pumpkin's Woodland Sampler, (my contribution to Round 2 of the above mentioned Round Robin group), Sparrow on Vine stitched for Love Quilts, and Hoppy Spring stitched for a spring exchange.  I'm not going to post pictures of these finishes again, since long time readers of my blog have already seen them several times this month, but you can click on the links to see them if you wish.

And I have new things to share too!  Although not really a "goal" I did reach a landmark, my first "finished-finish".  I finished up Hoppy Spring as a flat piece, which is my first time ever finishing a small project (beyond a few bookmarks in the past).  I used Vonna's very nice finishing tutorial to help me.  Thanks to the very limited selection of supplies at my local Joann's, I had to really improvise my supplies, but I think it turned out okay despite that.  

 
Here's a picture of the fabric I used for the back:

So what do you think?  Did it turn out okay?

 
I also had a long stitching session this weekend thanks to our church's semi-annual broadcasted conference.  I was able to get done my Round 3 project for the Frosted Pumpkin Round Robin.  This is the November block of Dessert of the Month Club:

Isn't it cute?  I love the eyelashes.  I had a hard time deciding which  block to do, but in the end my brother helped me choose this one.  No progress pics on this one unfortunately, since it went so quick.

Well, I guess that's it for this (rather long) update post.  Until next month!

March 2015 WIPocalypse

We've reached another full moon, so it's time for a WIPocalypse check-in, as hosted by Measi.

This months topic is: If money – and time – were not limiters, what projects would be on your stitching bucket list?

Well, that's a hard question.  I suppose although money is an issue for me, I would say time is my bigger limiting factor.  I don't stitch tons of really fancy patterns that require lots of specialty threads most of the time. So that would mean my answer would mostly just be those projects already on my wish list, since I would love to stitch any and all of them.  But after some thinking, I was able to come up with a few that probably won't be on my WIP pile anytime soon. 

One of the first large projects that caught my eye was Mirabilia's Lady of the Flag, but due to the largeness of the project, the over 1 skin, and the vast amount of beads, I got way to intimidated and I never bought the pattern.  Now I'm wishing I had, since it appears to have been discontinued, and I can't find it under $35 anywhere.

I would also love to stitch one of Glendon Place's dessert pieces, either Plum Pudding, Baked Alaska, or Grasshopper Pie.  Although the pattern itself isn't too price prohibitive for these, the Dinky Dyes silks used to stitch them are.  Just don't have quite that much money in the budget at the moment.  Maybe sometime.



More on the "unlimited time" side of things, I would love to someday stitch a HAED piece.  The top three on my wish list are Meredith Dillman's Aquamarine, Jo Lynch's Calico Kitty, and Anna Kai's Crazy Owl Family.  All are huge projects that would take a lot of time and dedication to complete.  I've told myself I need to finish some of my much small "big" projects I already have before I'm allowed to attempt one of these.


Another 100% coverage piece I would love to attempt is this pattern from Etsy.  I love Disney princesses, and I've actually been a fan of this piece of art for a long time, so I was excited to see it as a pattern (although again, a HUGE one).

And speaking of Disney, I love Thomas Kinkade's Disney Gallery series of paintings, but have never really liked the kits that have been made from them.  I always think the faces of the characters look a little weird.  The exception for me right now is the Fantasia piece, which is a newer one I beleive, which I really like even though Fantasia has never been a favorite of mine.  Of course, if they do a Princess and the Frog kit, or a kit of the Tangled painting I will have to get those, budget or no budget, since they are two of my favorite paintings in the series. 

Those projects aside, really if money weren't a factor, I would love to spend more money on hand dyed fabrics and flosses.  I really love the variegated feel of those things, but the price (and sometimes lack of colorfastness) has kept me from plunging in so far.

So now that that (long) part of the check in is over, I suppose I should tally up my progress for WIPocalypse this month.   Looking back at my original WIPocalypse goals, here's where I stand so far:

Goal 1: Keep up with the 2015 Flower of the Month SAL - Totally Failed for February.  No start or progress so far.

Goal 2: Crazy January Challenge, completed

Goal 3: Keep up with the other SALs I've taken on this year.  So far, so good.

Goal 4: Work on my 10 Turtle Trot pieces.  Fail for February, since I still haven't started/worked on 3 pieces.  But I still have a few days left before March's TT check in!

Goal 5: Finish Frosted Pumpkin Round Robin when it comes back to me later this year - cannot complete yet.  But I've been seeing the progress in our Facebook Group, and so far Days 8 and 9 of the 12 days of Christmas are complete.

Goal 6: Other projects to start - none started yet.

My finishes for February were Perfume Bottle and Rainbow Mandala, both stitched for World of Charity Stitching quilts, and the February part of Frosted Pumpkins' Once Upon A Time Sampler (my contribution to Round 2 of the above mentioned Round Robin group).  I'm not going to post pictures of these finishes again, since long time readers of my blog have already seen them several times this month, but you can click on the links to see them if you wish.

Of course, I do have something new to share too.  I buckled down and finished up the March block of the Woodland Sampler I posted about yesterday:

Cute little mushroom.  Now it's back to the raccoon, and then onto a new project soon.  Interesting how it seems like I have been stitching non-stop this month, but only have 3 "finishes".  Hmmm...

February 2015 WIPocalypse (and Crazy January wrap up)

We've reached another full moon, so it's time for a WIPocalypse check-in, as hosted by Measi.

This months topic is: How do you overcome that feeling that you’re in a rut with a particular project?

I  have to say, I'm not sure how to answer this one just yet.  Since getting back into cross stitch last year, I really haven't worked on any big projects, and usually if a project gets abandoned it's because there's something else that I need to work on for a deadline.  And a deadline is a pretty good way to force yourself to wade through a project that's got you down at the moment I guess.

So after that lame answer, it's time to show off my progress for the month.  One of my main original WIPocalypse goals was to keep up with the Crazy January Challenge.  With the wrap up of the challenge last Saturday, I'm actually happy to say that I kept up with it, and started a new project or worked on a WIP for every day in January.  So I thought I'd take this WIPocalypse post to do a quick recap of the project.

Someone in our challenge group on Facebook showed me how to use an online editor to create collage graphics, so I couldn't resist.  I took new pictures of almost everything last night to make these with, since I realized I didn't have "finish" photos to go with my projects throughout the month, and I thought it would be fun to share what some of these will look like when I get to finishing them.  So for anyone who missed it, here's a breakdown of everything completed for January. 

Week 1: January 1st - January 3rd (from top to bottom, left to right)
 January Carnations, Giraffe Print Mitten, Leopard Print Mitten

Week 2: January 4th - January 10th (from top to bottom, left to right)
 Stars and Stripes, Love Potion No. 9, Frosted Pumpkin 12 Days of Christmas, Perfume Bottle, Yin Yang Horse, Tree Frog Trio , Rainbow Mandala

Week 3: January 11th - January 17th (from top to bottom, left to right)
Pinky Pie magnet,  Cat Lady Kit, Rainbow Dash magnet, Twilight Sparkle magnet, Gingerbread Houses SAL, Rarity magnet, Apple Jack magnet

Week 4: January 18th -  January 24th (from top to bottom, left to right)
Mum Bouquet, Autumn Circle, Purple Paisley, Fluttershy magnet, Polka Dot Bouquet, Silly Ladybug, Triple Scoop 

Week 5: January 25th - January 31st (from top to bottom, left to right)
 Sparrow on Vine, Lucky Day, Polar Bear Square, Kitty's Stocking, I Heart Britannia Pillow, Reindeer Square, Singing Owl

Well, I guess that's enough for this update.  Until next month WIPocalypsers!

January 2015 WIPocalypse

Well, happy 2015 everyone.  I'm back at work, which means that I have internet access once again.  Welcome to my new followers too, it's always good to see new faces.  :)

I need to update you all on my progress for the Crazy January Challenge... unfortunately I was a dork and forgot to take pictures before coming to work, so I don't have anything to show to you today.  Oh well.  I guess I will have to do a Day 1 - Day 5 update tomorrow instead.

But onto the reason for today's post.  It's the first full moon of January, so it's time for the first check in for WIPocalypse 2015.  

This month's topic is: Introduce yourself, your projects, and any goals you have for the year!

So my name is Alyssa (for those of you who didn't know already), I am a California girl who has recently moved to Mississippi to start a new chapter in my life.  I'm in my 20s, never married, no kids, unless you count my furbaby Brownie, who this blog is named after.  Hmmm, I guess I need to post pictures of him sometime.

Okay, so stitching goals of 2015.  I've already posted a little bit about this, so I'm just going to summarize here.

1.  Keep up (at least starting-wise) with the 2015 Flower of the Month SAL I'm hosting. 

2.  Keep up with the Crazy January Challenge.  Doing okay on that one so far.  Not getting a lot of progress done, but keeping up so far. 

3.  Keep up with my other SALs I've signed up for this year.

4.  Work on all 10 Turtle Trot 2015 pieces. 
 
5.  Finish my Frosted Pumpkin Round Robin piece when it comes back to me later this year.  I am doing the 12 Days of Christmas pattern, and there will be 2 or 3 blocks plus the border left to finish when it comes back to me.  I'd like to get finish my part of it before the end of the year once I get it back. 

6.  In addition to finishing/working on the 31 pieces from my Crazy Challenge, I would also like to start my Thanksgiving Table Runner, Oh Holy Night ABC sampler, Antique Shoe Collection, and if I can afford it later on in the year, Frosted Pumpkins' Storytime Sampler. 

2015 Stitching Goals: More and More SALs

Well, I had the epiphany today that it's actually getting pretty close to 2015 now, so I better finish up my 2015 goals series of posts.  So rather than do an introduction post for all of these, I'm going to put them all in one post (so I can actually focus on stitching things for them, haha).

So in addition to the 2015 Flower of the Month SAL I'm hosting, the Crazy January Challenge, and BAP Attack's Turtle Trot, here's what I have planned for the new year.

Daffycat has plans to continue her Totally Useless SAL (TUSAL) into the new year.  I've already emptied my ort jar in anticipation of starting that one.   She hasn't posted (as of this writing) the new info for 2015 yet, but this is the link to her 2014 post explaining this SAL. 

Heather from Stitching Lotus is doing her Smalls SAL again this year.  I think this will be kind of like the MMMM I did in October and November, so I'm excited for this one.  I know I will be able to work on smalls for every month of this year, it will just be a question of finishing them or not...

Measi is hosting WIPocalypse again this year.  This is a very low key SAL that is essentially all about sharing your stitching goals and progress for the year.  It will go along very nicely with Turtle Trot this year I expect.

Mel from Epic Stitching is hosting her Stitch from Stash challenge again.  This year, it will be divided into two parts.  The idea is to spend $25 (or your equivalent currency) or less on stitching stash supplies per month.   When I first heard about this back in May, I was kind of like "who is crazy enough to sign up for something like that?".  And then I spent all summer stashing wayyyyy too much, so I signed up so that I could try to keep control of it next year.  With the cut in pay that came from moving out here to Mississippi, my budget is much, much tighter than it used to be, so I will have to think careful about each and every stitchy purchase I make from now on. 

And last but not least is the D.E.S.I.G.N. of the Month, which stands for Designer Everybody Should Instantly Get to Notice. This is a series of posts that will be done by participants throughout the year showing off a current WIP from a different designer each month, with a series of reoccurring questions answered about said design/designer each month.  The idea is to introduce everyone to new designers we may not have run into/tried on our own that we think others should try (or stay away from I suppose).  I'm super excited about this one; I'm already brainstorm ideas on what to feature. 

Phew!  That's a lot.  Think I bit off more than I can chew?  Maybe so, guess we'll just have to see.