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

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.