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Monday, 22 February 2016

February WIPocalypse Most Admired

WIPocalypse
WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings

Each month we have to share the projects we want to complete before the End Of The World.

The focus of my WIPocalypse will be my "16 in '16" which are 16 projects I particularly wanted to concentrate on in 2016.   The full list can be found on my WIPocalypse page where you can also find my secondary list "16 Series in '16".

My main goal is to keep to my rotation of one small every Friday and the rest of the month working on my focus piece until it is finished.  I also have a number of SALs I want to keep up with:

The Alphabet Club - a different letter on the first Saturday of each month
Gifted Gorgeousness - post anything gifted on the 15th
Hallowe'en Ornie Blog - a different spooky theme each month
Christmas Ornie Blog - a different festive theme each month
Smalls SAL - last Thursday of each month

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And now for the progress report:

So far this month I've worked on six of the main 16 and three of the series list.

7. Strawberry Sampler by The Sampler House - WIP


8. Book of Spells by The Goode Huswif - Finished


11. Elizabeth Shephard by The Scarlet Letter - WIP

I worked and finished on the motif on the far left last Friday

13. C by Nora Corbett - Finished


15. S by Nora Corbett - WIP


I am OBSESSED with this piece!  I simply cannot put her down!  I stitched her wing all of Sunday.



16. Counting Bats by Just Nan - WIP



And the series:

1. Christmas Cubes by The Primitive Hare - WIP

I am stitching these out of order to fit in with the themes on the Christmas Ornie blog

6. The Stitcher's Alphabet by Brooke's Books - WIP


15. Alphabet Fairies by Nora Corbett - see above.

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Measi always gives us a topic to discuss too:

February - If you have any of your pieces on display in your home which attracts the most plaudits?

I do have quite a lot of my stitching on display at home.  It doesn't actually attract a lot of comments, partly because we don't have a lot of visitors these days.  When the Large Boy was at Primary School we were always having coffee mornings and get-togethers but as our children have grown up we have gone back to work and have less time to meet up.

The piece which gets the most attention is Mirabilia's Bluebeard's Mermaid.  Mostly because she is most visible when you enter the room.  I think the problem is that the pictures I have on display are so different to the average English person's idea of cross stitch that they don't even register as stitching!  The Eilean Donan Castle looks like a painting and I'm assuming they think the same of my other larger pieces.


I looked at my Happy Dance blog to see which posts there have the most visitors.  The Round Robin posts are clear favourites with the most visitors.  And on this blog, the Gifted Gorgeousness posts are run away winners with in excess of 1000 pages views for each one.  I am guessing that people like a communal post!  Either that or people usually read posts in their Readers rather than visiting the website.

Finally, I blogged about the Concern Stitching for Syria project last post.  The charity is running a Women's Centre in Lebanon and wants to make a hanging for the walls to show the women that the international stitching community is aware of their difficulties.  You sign up on the website and they send you a little chart to stitch and send the square to their London office.

It really is a little design, only 2.2 inches on 28 count.  Although they talk about aida, this is often used as a generic term for "cross stitch fabric" in the same way "Hoover" mean "a vaccum-cleaner" and evenweave is fine.  I asked!

Stitched in DMC 107

This took me about 1,5 hours stitching while the Small Boy was in the bath over the course of three evenings.  So really, there's no excuse not to get involved!



35 comments:

Linda said...

Awesome post Jo. Your stitching is beautiful as always.

Linda

Justine said...

Lovely stitching. I can see why you are obsessed with S fairy! Interesting question about your display stitching. I swear I hung a picture in our dining area and my husband didn't notice it for 4 months!
Your Syria square is so pretty - really must get mine stitched.

Anonymous said...

beautiful post, finishes and projects. Love the fairy

Mini said...

Nora Corbett's 'S' looks so beautiful. You might finish it this week .
Lovely color selected for stitching the Syria piece. I will start mine during our upcoming long weekend.

KimM said...

Lovely post , Jo. I had never heard of the stitching for Syria project. Just signed up and am printing the pattern. As always, great projects through and through.
Hugs
xxx

Preeti said...

You have got so much stitching done! I love the wings of 'S' fairy, the shaded effect is so pretty :)
About the hanging, I usually show to first time visitors and I remember when we hosted a party for my husband's office friends, one of the person was admiring the woven designer fabric on the softboard which I had my crochet and small cross stitch items pinned on. He was thinking that the fabric is made by me and the items pinned on it are store bought coasters:D. The same is with framed pieces, they are easily taken as paintings, so we just accept and tell it as pixel painting. There is no point explaining.

Vickie said...

Is Strawberry Sampler close to finished?

Suz said...

Fantastic stitching and great progress! :)

The Knitting Cross Stitcher said...

Love your Book of Spells finish,lovely stitching on the other designs.
Bluebeard's Mermaid is a gorgeous design to look at when you enter a room.

Sherry said...

Everything is beautiful!

Ariadne said...

Lots of my visitors think my cross stitch is painting too as the average Greek considers cross stitch old fashioned and only for the coffee table of our grandmothers. Love your mermaid. AriadnefromGreece!

Heather said...

Awesome progress on everything jo! Your square looks great!

Renee said...

Fantastic progress. I love seeing your completed Book of Spells. And the letters by Nora Corbet are fabulous. (I just saw another letter on another blog. Love this series.) Your work is fabulous.

D1-D2 said...

Bluebeard's Mermaid is lovely. Love all the bling in it.

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing the Link for Concern. I have signed up via email, so hope I will be able to complete this and send it out soon. You are so very organized.

Minnie said...

You have had a very productive month, I love them all especially the Book of Spells. Keep me in mind if you ever want to sale the chart.

Bea said...

'S' is looking wonderful - love the effect of the wings. And I like the way Bats is developing. (Must remind self "I don't do Halloween, I don't do Halloween".) And Elizabeth is beautiful - I've liked this one from the beginning.

Most of my visitors, once they understand that it's stitching, ask me if my mother or grandmother made it. You can't win!

Barb said...

You have some wonderful stitching going on. The Nora Corbett letters and fairies are so pretty

Tiffstitch said...

Great progress on everything! I love 'S' and a very sweet finish on the Concern piece.

Christine said...

Damn I wish I'd thought to ask about evenweave before I stitched it!
I don't think I've got much on the walls that one of us didn't "make", but David's photos tend to dominate because they're so big, and that is what people tend to notice first

gominam said...

Wonderful finishes and progress on WIPs esp. "S" it's so beautiful!

Heather said...

Yay for all your finishes! And also you've made some great progress on the other pieces.

Are you going to turn Book of Spells into a book? (That is one pattern that I am kicking myself for not buying. :( )

Katie said...

Great post! The progress on your S is fantastic. Keep up all this beautiful work.

rosey175 said...

How funny, your stitching isn't stitching! I know the feeling; the one piece I have displayed is FFVII and people are so sure it is a print. I allow them to climb the furniture to see otherwise LOL.

I like to play favorites on your posts like this, hmm, who wins this time? I'm torn between the Alphabet and Counting Bats! I think I'm after vibrant colors 'cause our own outside is grey and muddy.

The Syrian project is lovely; I wonder how they'll look all together. Do they accept over the puddle submissions? I suppose I should be emailing them! :b

Stitching Noni said...

Great post! I love seeing your "S" appear each time you show it :o)
Your Syrian stitching is lovely... great time management idea stitching while the little one is in the bath!
Hugs xx

Rachel said...

Gosh, 1000 page hits for GG? It's obviously very popular so you'll have to keep it going for ever! Lovely stitching this month too. I can see why you're obsessed with 'S'. I think we may be looking at another finish very soon! :)

Leonore Winterer said...

Great post, you already made quite a dent in your list for the year! I understand why you are obsessed with the S-fairy, those colours are gorgeous. Great post for WIPocalypse too, that mermaid is stunning...I don't have any stitching on my walls as of yet, so I won't have much to say this month :D

Sarah in Stitches said...

Beautiful stitching! I can see why you couldn't put the "S" fairy down - she's lovely! :D

Lili said...

Beautiful stitching!
The fairy WIP is gorgeous.
Love the bat piece!

diamondc said...

Jo: So many lovely projects, I will continue to check back to see your progress.

Blessings
Catherine

Kaisievic said...

Jo, your Wipocalypse pieces are coming along beautifully this year - some gorgeous finishes there. People rarely comment on the cross stitch hanging on my walls either. I think that is why I love blogging - that way I can get some feedback (hopefully, usually positive) on this passion of mine! hugs, Kaye

Lynn said...

Beautiful stitching! I don't know where you find the time to stitch on so many at one time. The Book of Spells is a fabulous finish and your mermaid is stunning!

Brigitte said...

I always love to see WIPocalypse posts because there are so many different projects to see and to admire. You have stitched a lot during this month.
Your mermaid looks stunning. My experience is that only people who sew have an eye for the crafty things on display. My DDIL sees every new little pillow that I have on display when she visits. Some other visitors don't see anything, lol.

OhSewCrafty said...

Fantastic progress. I love the book of spells. Bluebeards princess is gorgeous.

ANGIE said...

Hi Jo, your WIPs are so lovely! Happy stitching!