January WIPocalypse Introduction

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.  Measi always gives us a topic to discuss too.

January - Introduce yourself, your projects, and any goals you have for the year

Since 2011 I have chosen a number of projects to focus on that year, starting with my "11 in '11" and increasing to "18 in '18" for this year.  For 2018 the list includes a number of SAL pieces which will be stitched each month for various SALs, some WIPs I really want to see finished, 6 new starts and two BAP long-term projects which will be my focus for the year.  Here are the first 12, all WIPs:

Project List:

1. Dessins DHC - Bande des Dragons
2. Lavender & Lace - Enchanted Alphabet
3. Chatelaine Designs - Gardens of London
4. Nora Corbett - Gathering Eggs
5. Lyndisfarne - Discworld Map 
6. Just Nan - Summer in the Square
7. Joan Elliott - Reading Fairy
8. Donna Kooler - Zodiac
9. Just Nan - Autumn Mouse in a House
10. Jardin Prive - Happy Hallowe'en Night
11. Dam Good Crafts - Dracula Book Cover
12. Just Nan - 12 Days of Christmas
13. Satsuma Street - Libra
14. Satsuma Street - Aquarius
15. Mrs Peggotty - Alice and Flamingo
16. Bothy Threads - Alice in Wonderland
17. Just Nan - Summer Typography
18. Just Nan - Diamond Bouquet

New Starts for 2018:

So far this year I have been focused on Just Nan's 12 Days of Christmas which was my 12 Days of Stitchmas project.  Here is how it looked on Day 12:

I even completed Block 1 on the 12th Day:

The next day I dedicated to Hallowe'en stitching.  The theme for January on the blog is Winged Creatures and there are only a couple of very small ones on the design I'm stitching:

So I stitched the word "Night" too:

This is Jardin Prive's Happy Hallowe'en Night stitched on 32 count Cognac linen.

Today I had the first new start of the year, Mrs Peggotty's Alice & Flamingo.  This will be a SAL with Linda Stitching with my Furbabies who has already completed The Mad Hatter in this series.  It should be possible if I average 100 a day or 700 per week.  Here's what I have so far:

stitched on 25 count blue evenweave

I have already had to make some changes as the piece is charted over several pages and having got into a nice rhythm of stitching the brown zigzags I continued without the chart.  When I got to the right hand corner I realised that it was different to the left.  When I examined the chart I noticed that random bumps have an extra stitch which means that when you reach the far end, it isn't symmetrical.  I'm changing that so the design is symmetrical.  It's the same down the sides, the right and left are different and there are random wide bumps added in.  I will probably keep them as it affects the height of the piece but both sides will match.

There are approximately 500 stitches there.  I think I am going to struggle to do 700 a week but we shall see.

Finally, I will be continuing with the ever popular Blog Hops this year.  We will have Valentine's, Easter, the return of the Summer Postcard, Hallowe'en and the Advent Calendar.  All at the appropriate time of the year.  I will be posting about the Secret Stitching Sweethearts for Valentine's Day very soon so watch this space.