Finally Fully Finishing Fun for February

 

 Hosted by Rachel the Ten Hour Stitcher

This SAL is designed to motivate us all to do something with that box of Finished pieces instead of just storing them under the bed.  We will all be linking up on Rachel's blog on or after the 10th of each month (10 Hour Stitcher - 10th of the month).

I just want to make it clear that this IS me, Jo the Serendipitous Stitcher AKA Jo who can't think of a clever nickname, posting.  This blog has not been taken over by someone else.  I was merely visited by a Finishing Fairy in the last month!  If you've heard the tale of The Elves and the Shoemaker, this is very similar.  I left my finishes out and some spirit came along and FFO'd them!

First up was my 2024 Temperature Tree from The Steady Thread.  All the Finishing Fairy had to do for this one was iron it, stretch it and mount on card to be slipped into a pocket in my scrapbook.

It's almost exactly 12 x 12 inches.  Those leaves look so pretty!


Next up was Evening in the Shire by Maria Brovko.  Again, iron, stretch and mount on card then popped in a simple black frame:

In the same style frame is Aslan from Life in Stitch:

Both of those have glass in front of them but I always take the photos without glass then put it back afterwards.  That way I get a nice clear photo without reflections.

Last up was Nevermore from Quaternion Creations.  This frame was from a charity shop and originally had a mirror in it.  The frame is brass so I painted it with a black paint wash so you can still see the details of the frame.

The moon on this does show up better in real life.

Finally, while getting out my February stitched decor to add to the Winter pieces already on display, I decided to sort out my frame collection.  They were stored in two different places and now they are all in one cupboard.  I have measured and catalogued them all onto a spreadsheet too.   I have 56 frames of an assortment of sizes, shapes and styles.   The largest 3 are 10.5 x 13.5 inches.

Some came from charity shops, some from home department stores, some from my Mum and a couple were gifts.  Now I have all the sizes down in one place it should make it easier to match stitching to frame!

January WIPocalypse Oldest Project

      

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.  Since 2011 I have chosen a number of projects to focus on that year, starting with my "11 in '11" and increasing to "24 in '24" for last year.  For 2025 I have decided not to attempt this.  I want to focus on 2 larger pieces and then spend the rest of my stitching time on the series I have started.  This month I stitched on 1 of them.

2. Craft Collection Art Nouveau Head

stitched on 14 count white Aida

I did finish two of my WIPocalypse choices from 2024.  Both were started in December and finished at the start of January so I'll show them here:

Shannon Christine 12 Days of Christmas

Life in Stitch Aslan

Finally, Measi always gives us a topic to discuss:

January – Tell us about the oldest WIP you have in your stash.

Rather handily, my oldest WIP was my focus for this month.  Back in 2011-12 I was very keen on starting things.  I had discovered forums and blogs in 2010 and started my own blog in 2011.  This particular project was one I'd bought before my older son was born and started as part of my "11 in '11".

I stitched for about 14 hours and got this far:

By the end of the month I had got this far:

And that was pretty much it for 2011.  Apart from my annual Longest Day Marathons it had not been touched since, until last year when I worked on it a few time for the A-Z Challenge in my IHSW.  At the start of this year it looked like this:

stitched on 14 count white Aida

You can see how much progress I've made this month looking at the photo at the top of the blog post.

After this one I have three WIPs started in 2012, two of which are massive.  After that it's my Chatelaine from 2017.  So not too bad for older projects.

In total I have

Prior to 2020 - 6 WIPs

2020 - 2024   - 5 WIPs

2025              - 4 WIPs

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 "24 in '24" for last year.  For 2025 I have decided not to attempt this.  I want to focus on 2 larger pieces and then spend the rest of my stitching time on the series I have started.

This is the list for 2025:

1. Mirabilia - Fairy Idyll - 6 WIPGO numbers
2. Craft Collection - Art Nouveau Head - 6 WIPGO numbers
3. Cottage Garden Samplings - 12 Days of Christmas - 2 WIPGO numbers
4. Nora Corbett - Evanora - 2 WIPGO numbers
5. Nora Corbett - Zodiac Girl Scorpio - 2 WIPGO numbers
6. Cottage Garden Samplings - Year in the Woods - 2 WIPGO numbers
7. Cricket Collection - Summer - 2 WIPGO numbers
8. Satsuma Street - Aquarius - 2 WIPGO numbers

As you can tell, I am also taking part in WIPGO again.  This is a FB Bingo group.  You choose 25 goals for the year and each month the Admin pick two numbers to focus on.  When you have met your goal, you tick off that block.  You can give yourself rewards for completing a row or a column.

Here's my WIPGO board:

For January the numbers 11 and 20 have been called.  They are both for my oldest WIP, the Art Nouveau Head.  I started this one in 2011 but have owned it for much longer.  I bought the kit when I was still working full-time back in the 1990s.  It is stitched on Aida but at least it's a nice soft one so not too much of a chore. 

Here's where I started:

And here's where I am now:

stitched on 14 count white Aida

My evening projects throughout the year will be the Annie Beez 12 Days of Christmas Stockings.  They are a quick stitch so that will leave me time for other Smalls too.

Here's Day 1:

stitched on 28 count Black evenweave

I got close to a finish on Aslan from Life in Stitch in December and will be adding a length or two of white each day until I finish it.  I'm currently filling in the tree:

stitched on 28 count Black evenweave

I am also going to be stitching a Temperature SAL, a much simpler design than the last two years.  This will be a basic bar chart with one stitch per hour, charting the minimum temperature for the night and the maximums for the day.  But here's the clever part - the days start and finish when the sun rises and sets so you can see the progression across the year.

stitched on 14 count Aida banding

I charted the last four months of 2024 on a spreadsheet and here's how that looks:

The WIPocalypse posts are the last Sunday of each month

My other SALs are

Fully Finished Gallery - post anything fully finished on the 10th of each month
Gifted Gorgeousness - post anything gifted on the 15th
Smalls SAL - last Friday of each month
The TUSAL - post on the New Moon each month

Finally, I will not be continuing with the Blog Hops this year. I know that is disappointing news for some of you but they are just one thing too much.  I intend to visit your blogs a little bit more often and have made a start already, commenting on a few this morning!

December TUSAL Two

    

It's TUSAL time!  December has two TUSALs this year and round off the year nicely.

Here is my TUSAL jar with my current project:

This is Aslan from Life in Stitch on Etsy.

Aslan looks a bit creepy with two large black holes in his face but they will be filled in soon.  I'm stitching colour by colour, darkest to lightest.  I'm now on the palest blue and will then finish with white.

stitched on 28 count black evenweave

Finally, here is the list of New Moons for 2025 if you want to join in with the TUSAL:

December IHSW

 

IHSW or International Hermit and Stitch Weekend always starts on the third Friday of the month.  It's a chance to lock yourself away and focus on your stitching for the weekend.  You can take part on your blog or via the Facebook page - IHSW on Facebook.

This year I have been trying something different for IHSW - an A-Z Challenge!  These usually take place in April and people stitch one letter every day except Sunday.  I don't want to swap projects daily so thought I could do 2 or 3 letters per IHSW instead.

Of course, I totally forgot that plan for the final IHSW of the year and just carried on with my two focus pieces.

My daytime piece is Aslan from Life in Stitch on Etsy.  I am loving this so much!  You can see the shape of the lion appearing already.

stitched on 28 count black evenweave

My evening piece is also stitched on black fabric, this is Day 1 of the 12 Days of Christmas from Shannon Christine:

stitched on 28 count black evenweave

I've nearly finished it so I'm only showing the top half!

Finally the next IHSW will be 17th - 19th January so make sure you note the date in your diary or come and join us in the Facebook Group - IHSW on Facebook. If you don't do Facebook then you can check in here by leaving a comment on my post.

December Plans

At the start of the year I made a list of 24 projects I want to stitch this year for my "24 in '24".  The order I stitch them in is going to be determined by the WIPGO Board.  Jessie-Marie calls two numbers each month and those will be the two projects I stitch that month.  One small and one medium

In November, the numbers were 14 and 16.  These related to Maria Brovko Evening in the Shire and Full Circle Designs Moonshadow Mini "A Child's Dream".

Maria Brovko - Evening in the Shire

Mostly all backstitch with just small areas of cross stitching for effect.

The backstitch is a combination of one, two or three strands to add dimension

stitched on 32 count Millenium Blue linen

stitched on 32 count Antique White linen

This is a sweet sampler with lots of speciality stitches

It just turned out a little different to the way I was expecting!
I used the charted colours, but here's the cover:

Definitely looks purple and lilac to me and not brown!  But it looks nice and I'll see if I have a nice brown frame to match.

By default, the December numbers had to be 7 and 20.  These relate to Shannon Christine's 12 Days of Christmas (Day 1) and Life in Stitch's Aslan.

The latter is another Ukrainian designer on Etsy.  By coincidence, both designs are going to be stitched on black fabric, so that will be fun!

Finally, I am still making plans for 2025!  After a year of small/medium designs I have two larger pieces I want to focus on and then keep up with some of the series I started the last couple of years.  Designs such as the Zodiac Girls, the 12 Days of Christmas, The Year in the Woods.