June WIPocalypse - Summer or Winter

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings

The focus of my WIPocalypse will be my "15 in '15"which are 15 charts I want to stitch in 2015 (following on from my "11 in '11", "12 in '12", "13 in '13" and "14 in '14" - imaginative, eh?)

Over the last month I have stitched four of my 15 designs, and completed 2, which brings the total of finishes to six!

The first finish was one you have seen before, Just Nan Haunted Pumpkins Tree:

Stitched on 28count Chocolate Orange evenweave from Crafty Kitten

Then I completed another block for the Primitive Hare Hallowe'en Cubes:

Jolly Ghost stitched on 32 count Vintage Grain linen

The next finish was the Kingfisher which will be an end of term gift for the Small Boy's class.  There are two teachers and three TAs although he only has close contact with one teacher and one TA.  But it made sense to make something they can hang on the classroom wall rather than individual pieces.  I'm intending to add the word KINGFISHERS on it once I have the frame chosen so I know how much space I have!

Stitched on 28 count blue evenweave

This is part of a design by Anchor which was a free gift with World of Cross Stitching magazine.  It was charted in Anchor shades which I have some skeins so I used the colours where I had them and subbed DMC where I didn't.  The backstitch was a pain because so many blocks were split to make the sketchy effect.  This is relatively easy on evenweave but would have been awful on the recommended aida.

Having completed the end of term gift for one school I thought I should continue with the gift for the other school.  There is one teacher and three TAs there so a class gift is again in order.  They will also get wine and biscuits/chocolates to share too.  Expensive business this schooling!  Thankfully the Large Boy is now at High School where the teachers get  nothing except grief off the parents LOL.

This is one of a set of four designs from Joan Elliott's book Bewitching Cross Stitch.

I started it back on Day 16 of the DUCJC in January and here is where I left it then:

And here it is after two more days of stitching:

I am using a 28 count opal evenweave called Robin's Egg by Silkweaver.  It is big enough to stitch all four design, the others are Hope, Dream and Imagine.  I like the idea of doing one for the Reception class for last year and the other two for the next two years at school.

Measi usually sets us a discussion topic too:

June – Do you find yourself more productive with stitching in summer or winter?

Hard to say really.  I don't log my actual hours stitched and a lot of finishes in one month doesn't necessarily mean more stitching.  January was a good example of that, stitched madly every day and not a single finish!  Work is the biggest hurdle to my stitching time.  Not the full days because I take a piece in with me for lunch break but the five hour days mean it gets squeezed out in favour of all the other things I usually do during the school hours.  December is the worst month because of the extra Christmas shifts combined with the extra Christmas chores and activities.

School holidays are good for stitching.  We get up half an hour later than usual but have the whole day to potter around.  So maybe August is my best month.

You may have noticed that the season does not affect my stitching themes!  Any time is the right time for Hallowe'en.  Of course my Blog Hops do reflect the seasons - Advent for Christmas, Easter in the Spring and the Summer Postcard for the Summer!

Nice segue there.  The theme this year is Pets.  All you need to do is email me a photo of something you have stitched on this theme plus a little message about what pets mean to you.  Once I have a few I will start emailing them to the participants who will display them on their blogs.  The Blog Hop lasts all Summer so don't worry if you don't have anything suitable stitched yet.  I'm going to be finding some freebies online to inspire you.  Today I have chosen two pet bird themed freebies from Kissy Cross.  She also has a lovely Christmas Budgie freebie too.

Kissy Cross - birds out of cage

Kissy Cross - budgie with bell