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...

Frosted Pumpkin Round Robin Part 2 (or 3?)

It's been a little quiet around here lately.  Well, the blog I mean.  My life has been CRAZY in comparison.  Last week was pretty much taken up with preparing for our church's talent show which was on Friday night.  Somehow I got put in charge of that delightful project.  So luckily that went off with more or less no problems, which meant I could relax the whole weekend, right?

Yeah, unfortunately I have gotten yet another cold, and it hit me hard this weekend.  Blah!!!!  So I spent a good deal of both Saturday and Sunday sleeping.  And then back to work on Monday, which the past two nights have pretty much just been come home and crash after work. 

So the stitching schedule has been slim lately.  Which is a little sad, since I have some deadlines in March I really need to meet if possible.  But I have managed to get some stitching done.

I've started my Round 3 project of the Frosted Pumpkin Round Robin piece.  As I mentioned in my Smalls SAL check in last week, my project is on linen this time around, and it is my first time working on it, which was quite intimidating at first.  Although with my Crazy January start of Britannia Pillow, I did my first stitching on evenweave, I'm finding the linen harder to work with because it's not as, well, even.  Also, this is 28 count instead of 20 count, so it's a lot smaller.

This round I am working on the Frosted Pumpkin Woodland Sampler.  Unlike Once Upon A Time (my Round 2 project) the blocks in this one are all different sizes.  So I will be doing two months, February and March, instead of just one.

I started off with February, because it's a raccoon pattern, and for some reason I love raccoons right now.   I also figured the fact that it was 100% coverage for the whole block might help me get the hang of the linen easier.  Well, after a couple hours and much frogging and choice words, this is what I had:

Not much progress yet.  Just to give you a sense of size, that square is only 33 x 33 stitches.  So I decided to give a try to March's block since it seemed like it would be easier and part of the problem with February was the navy thread I was stitching with (I think).  It's a good idea to remember this was all while I was whacked out on cold medicine as well.  Anyway, I gave March a try and I must be getting the hang of the linen, because I got much farther with much less frogging:

March's pattern will be a toadstool in a terrarium (the blue jar).  Other than that bit of progress, not much stitching going on around here.  But my California trip is coming up in a little over a week, so I expect I'll either get a ton of stitching done during travel (or none at all depending on how it goes).

Free Pattern Friday: Dragon Dreams

Okay, so Valentine's is over, so let's get away from the lovey stuff for today's free cross stitch pattern, all right? 

Today's post does feature two things I love though: fantasy patterns and Joan Elliott. I just love the amount of detail Joan puts into her designs, and the golds, greens, and purples in this one are just perfect. The model here shows it finished off as a card, but I've also seen someone do it as a small drawstring bag, which was also a very neat project to see.

This amazing dragon design was originally published (I believe) in Cross Stitch Gold Magazine.  Luckily, the magazine editor has made it available as a free download on their website, so you can pick it up even if you don't have the back issue around.  Head over there (creating a free account is required for download) to get the PDF of this free cross stitch pattern.

Happy stitching!


If you ever come across one of my posts that contains a chart that breaks copyright law, please email me and let me know right away. In picking and posting my free cross stitch pattern posts, I make every effort to ensure the designs I share are legitimately free charts.

February D.E.S.I.G.N. - Passion Broderie 77

Again, I'm barely squeaking this post in the nick of time.  Hopefully things will settle down after this week, since I will no longer have our church activity hanging over my head after tonight (why they asked me to organize the thing....)

Anyway, February is almost over, so it's time for February's DESIGN post.  For those of you who don't know what that is, DESIGN is a monthly feature hosted by Leonore Winterer of the blog Needle, Pen & Sword.  The acronym stands for Designer Everybody Should Instantly Get to Notice, and each month, different participants post a series of questions about a favorite/new needlework designer they've been working on.

What designer do you want to talk about this month?

This month I am featuring work by Corinne from the blog Passion Broderie 77.   Although not a "published" designer, Corinne publishes several of her own designs for free on her blog a couple times a week or so.  It's a great source for free patterns.  The blog is in French, which is a difficulty for me, but with the help of Google Translate, I manage okay. 

Have you stitched a project by this designer before?

My first project that I stitched from this designer was the Perfume Bottle pattern I stitched for WOCS.

Would you buy/stitch a design by this designer again? Why/Why not?

I am currently stitching three other designs by Corinne: a ladybug design, a purple owl design, and a sparrow design, all of which are also for charity quilts.  I'm sure there will be more of her designs in my future too.  I have a lot of them saved for reference. 

What made you choose this particular design/designer?

I first found the blog when I was searching for a pattern to use in a charity stitching quilt for a "ladies accessories" themed quilt.  I didn't have any patterns in my stash that would work, and being on a budget I went looking for freebies.  I eventually stumbled upon Corinne's work, and the rest is history. 

Did you notice anything that distinguished this designer from others?

So, there's a few things that set these designs apart from others I have stitched before.

1.  There are no symbols on the charts, just color blocks.  I know some people prefer this kind of stitching now, but for me, it makes it a little hard to tell exactly what color I'm supposed to be using, especially if the shading is close.  My printer doesn't always print straight colors, so that compounds the problem, so sometimes I have to pull up and super enlarge the original in order to get the colors right.

2.  For freebie patterns, most of these designs are fairly big.  Most of them start at about 70 to 90 stitches square, with a few being closer to 120 in height or length.  This means on 14/28 count fabrics, you're looking at a pattern at least 6 inches or so without any border around the edges.  Which is a good thing to keep in mind while you're planning.

3.  Many of the patterns feature large blocks of the same color.  This may be good or bad depending on how you look at it.  I think it makes stitching a lot easier in most cases, but I get bored sometimes too. 

4.  One bad thing I've noticed is that the designs do not really appear to be symmetrical most of the time.  While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, I have modified things like eyes/pupils so they match on either side.  Also, sometimes the shading and colors can be a little off.  Bottom line, you'll just need to be ready to modify the pattern if needed.

Well, that's about it for this month.  Happy stitching until next time!

February Check In for 2015 Flower of the Month SAL

Hello Flower Stitch-A-Long participants! I can't believe how fast February went by.  I know the month is only shorter by a few days, but whoo!  There's just a couple days left, so it's time to submit your progress for February.  How did you all do so far?

My progress is... well... nonexistent this month.  Bad, bad hostess!  I just had too many deadline projects that popped up in the meantime.  So I haven't made any more progress on January, and haven't had a change to stitch February either.  But apparently hope springs eternal, because I did spend a couple hours kitting up March's pattern last Saturday. 

So how did you all do?  Obviously no one can be worse than me this month, so post your progress whatever it is! 

If you are not currently a member of the SAL and want to join us, remember it's never too late to join us.  The rules and official sign ups can be found on this page.  

Important Notes For Current SAL Participants: 
To earn an extra prize entry for this month, you must submit a check in (even if it's showing progress and not a finish).  Your check in can be about the February pattern, or any other month you are working on/have finished. 

If you have done a blog post showing your progress, please use the linking widget below to add a direct link to your check in post.  

If you have chosen to post your progress in the Facebook group, please leave a link here on this post as well.  That just makes it easier for me to gather info and not miss/double count anyone.

If you're participating but using a different way to check in, please send me an email to brownieschair (AT) hotmail (DOT) com with your progress details/pictures and I will post them here for you.

If anyone has any questions, please let me know.  I will leave the link widget open through the end of next week (March 7th) so please check in by that date.

Feburary 2015 Smalls SAL Check-In

Although really it's only 4 days shorter, February always seems to go by so quickly doesn't it?  But since it's the last Wednesday of the month, it's time for the Feburary update in Stitching Lotus' 2015 Smalls SAL. 

Although I didn't really get a chance to work on any "small" projects this month (it's been kind of a weird stitching month for me), I did finish a small part of a Round Robin piece, so that's what I'm counting for this month.

At approximately just over 50 stitches in height and width, this is the February block from Frosted Pumpkin's Once Upon a Time sampler.

(The May block was done by the owner of the project.)

As I mentioned before, that frog gave me quite a bit of trouble, but I managed to get it all done in the end.

After finishing this one finally last week, it's now on it's way to the next person in the round robin, and I'm working on the next project, which if from Woodland Sampler.  That one is being done on linen, my first time ever working with it, and it's HARD!

We're having a frozen day today here in Mississippi, so I hope the rest of you are staying warm.  Happy stitching everyone!

Stitch from Stash February 2015

It's time for another 2015-A Stitch From Stash Check In!

Month: February
Spent: $36.40
Earned: $16.00

And here is the breakdown of what happend.  So far, you know, I'm really not doing so well on this not-buying-stash thing.  But I just had to get this lot of back issues of Cross Stitch Gold off eBay, since these are so hard to find in the States:

And of course I ended up planning a whole new series of Christmas gifts, so that meant 4 Mill Hill purchases needed to be made:



Hmmm, expect the Christmas lights one.  That one's all for me.  I freely admit it.

Luckily, I had two finishes this month, Perfume Bottle (90 x 80 stitches) and Rainbow Mandala (67 x 67 stitches), and both were freebie patterns with fabric and threads from stash, so I was able to count those towards my final budget.  Both earned me $8 each in bonuses.  So again, thanks to Mel's generosity, I didn't actually go over budget at all.  Yay!



Actually, I had one more finish for the month so far (no picture yet though, sorry!), which was my block for the Frosted Pumpkin Round Robin sampler.  But since I didn't pay for pattern, fabric, or threads for that one, I am not counting it for SFS.  

Finally tally for the month:

Starting balance: $0.70
February budget: $25
Finish bonuses: $16   
Total:  $41.70 to spend in February
- Total stash purchases: $36.40

Ending balance: $5.30

So now I've shown you how I was naughty and bought things, let me show you what I DIDN't buy this month (although I came really close). My main temptations this month were:



Two of the Mill Hill new Owlets kits.  How adorable are these?  Between my love of owls and love of Mill Hill, I almost caved on this.

Also, this pattern:

I don't know why, but I'm really on a Mary Poppins kick lately.  Disney version of course, both Broadway and movie though.  So this pattern totally sang to me.

But I resisted!  Haha!  So now I have a little more wiggle room in the budget to use next month if needed...