A WIPGO Finish

I'm doing WIPGO again this year because it's fun to have the element of surprise in your planned stitching.

I started The Year in the Woods series from Cottage Garden Samplings in December 2023 and finished The Fox in January 2024.  I straight away moved on to The Swans on the same piece of fabric.  

Here's where I left off stitching them:

That was my start point for 2025 and I stitched on them every day this February except for the 13th.  Here are my finished photos:

stitched over 1 on 25 count Cirrus evenweave from Chromatic Alchemy

I substituted B5200 for the white snowflakes and added a strand of blending filament for extra sparkle as I did for The Fox.

I also changed the water to DMC 927 and the gold wings to DMC 832.

I again used 522 for the trees so they show up better.

Other than that I stuck to the charted DMC conversion.

Finally, here are the pair together:

February Plans

This year I want to focus on 2 larger pieces and then spend the rest of my stitching time on the series I have started.  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 projects I stitch that month. 

In January, the numbers 11 and 20 were called.  These both related to my oldest WIP, the Art Nouveau Head so I made some great progress on that project, finishing here:

stitched on 14 count White Aida

For February, the numbers 7 and 8 were called.  These relate to Cottage Garden Samplings Year in the Woods series and the Art Nouveau Head (again).

I'm currently stitching The Swans for the Year in the Woods and here's where I left off last year:

Here's where I am now, I've got quite a lot done in just five days!

stitched over 1 on 25 count Cirrus evenweave from Chromatic Alchemy

Finally, my evening project will be the Annie Beez 12 Days of Christmas Stockings.  Here is Day 2 so far:

stitched on 28 count Black Jobelan

January Stitch from Stash and Pie

 Regular followers will know I produce a delicious home-made pie to illustrate my focus projects for the month.  I don't record minutes or stitches so this gives an approximate idea of how much time each WIP got.

I had already spent 22 days in December stitching The Fox so that makes a total of 35 days.  But some of them were very short due to working extra in the run-up to Christmas.  I am hoping The Swans won't take as long to finish off.  The plan is to put them aside now and see if I can fit them in if I complete a focus project early in a month.

stitched over 1 on 25 count Cirrus evenweave from Chromatic Alchemy

Cottage Garden Samplings is my Dark 13 project so that will get one day per month.  The other two were for my A-Z Challenge over International Hermit & Stitch Weekend so one day each.

stitched on 40 count Witch's Brew linen from Zweigart

This should be the pattern for this year - 3 individual days and the rest of the month on one or two focus projects.

My evening pie will follow a similar format - one focus project chosen by WIPGO and one blackwork to fill the rest of the evenings if I finish the focus before the end of the month.

Amaranth only took 18 days so I got lots of time for my Circle Cross Zodiac, completing Capricorn and making a good start on Aquarius.

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweavers

Finally, Stitch from Stash, this is my tenth year!  I skipped 2016 as it was a Big Birthday Year and I wanted to be able to splurge a little.

It's a big fat zero to start the year.  I haven't really bought anything at all this month, not for any of my hobbies.

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 this year.  This month I stitched on 3 of them and had 2 finishes.

9. Shepherd's Bush - Amaranth - Finish

21. Cottage Garden Samplings - Year in the Woods

The Fox - Finish

The Swans

24. Cottage Garden Samplings Halloween Sampler

Measi always gives us a topic to discuss:

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

Rather handily, I stitched on my oldest WIP this month too!  It was part of my A-Z Challenge for IHSW and came under A for Art Nouveau Head.  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 has not been touched since then.  So here it is after a day's H&S:

stitched on 14 count white Aida

I might make this a focus piece for next year and get it off the list.  The circle in the middle is very confetti covered but the rest of it is quite large chunks of colour so should be quite quick once I focus on it.

After this one I have three WIPs started in 2012, two of which are massive.  Then the Joan Elliott Faces SAL from 2014 which should be a finish for this year.  After that it's my Chatelaine from 2017.  So not too bad for older projects.

Finally, I will be running the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop on Valentine's Day.

Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop

It's really very simple, all you have to do is email me a picture of something you have stitched which is suitable for a stitching friend on Valentine's Day. It could be a heart, or a pair of cute creatures, or the word "love" or anything which warms your heart. Really anything you think a fellow stitcher would like to receive in her email Inbox. It can be something you've stitched in the past or something you've made especially for this year. It could also be quilted or sewn this year as I know some of my followers do other crafts too.

Send me the email by 10th February.

When I have all the emails I will randomise them and send one to each participant on 13th February. Then on 14th February you must post the picture you receive onto your blog under the heading

Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop

There will be a list on my blog of everyone joining in, so check out all the blogs and find out who got your picture and identify yourself in their comments as their

Secret Stitching Sweetheart

Does that make sense to everyone? I hope so!

If you'd like to be involved then leave a comment on this post or send me an email if you are "no-reply". I'll be putting little reminders up from time to time and will email on 9th February to make sure you send the pic in time.

January TUSAL

   

It's TUSAL time!  

Here is my TUSAL jar with my current projects:

On the left we have The Fox from The Year in the Woods by Cottage Garden Samplings and on the right is Amaranth from Shepherd's Bush.

The Fox is almost done, I am adding some blending filament to the snowflakes to give them a little sparkle.

I think you can see them in this photo?  The issue is partly that the fabric is very light and partly that I am stitching over one.  Even on a darker fabric single stitches over one don't show up as well as solid areas.

I also changed the colour of the green trees from 524 to 522 which shows up much better.

Finally, I will be running the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop on Valentine's Day.

Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop

It's really very simple, all you have to do is email me a picture of something you have stitched which is suitable for a stitching friend on Valentine's Day.  It could be a heart, or a pair of cute creatures, or the word "love" or anything which warms your heart.  Really anything you think a fellow stitcher would like to receive in her email Inbox.  It can be something you've stitched in the past or something you've made especially for this year.  It could also be quilted or sewn this year as I know some of my followers do other crafts too.

Send me the email by 10th February.

When I have all the emails I will randomise them and send one to each participant on 13th February. Then on 14th February you must post the picture you receive onto your blog under the heading

Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop

There will be a list on my blog of everyone joining in, so check out all the blogs and find out who got your picture and identify yourself in their comments as their

Secret Stitching Sweetheart

Does that make sense to everyone? I hope so!

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 this year.  For 2024 I have done something completely different to previous years!  Having focused on larger projects over the past couple of years I realised I had a lot of smaller designs I really wanted to stitch which somehow didn't fit into the rotation.  So I went through my stash and picked out all the ones I really wanted to stitch sooner rather than later, organised them into size order and put the 12 smallest on the list followed by 12 medium projects.  The only two that have been started already are the Joan Elliott Faces and CGS Year in the Woods.

This is the full list of 24:

1. Sweetheart Tree - September Strawflowers
2. Shepherd's Bush - Halloween Trifles
3. Rainbow Hunter - Alice Bottles
4. Drawn Thread - Spot of Summer
5. Drawn Thread - Spot of Winter
6. Lizzie*Kate - Sampling Christmas
7. Shannon Christine - 12 Days of Christmas
8. La Broderie - Quiet Hour Sampler
9. Shepherd's Bush - Amaranth
10. Full Circle Designs - Moonshadow Mini
11. Hands on Designs - Nevermore
12. Living on the Rainbow - Haunted House
13. Joan Elliott - Faces SAL
14. Stitchy Princess - Alice in Wonderland
15. Life in Stitch - Aslan
16. Tra La La - Couer de Sorciere
17. Cottage Garden Samplings - 12 Days of Christmas
18. Nora Corbett - Claire
19. Nora Corbett - Capricorn
20. Maria Bravko - Life in the Shire
21. Cottage Garden Samplings - Year in the Woods
22. Primitive Hare - Hocus Pocus Cabinet
23. Cricket Collection - Spring
24. Cottage Garden Samplings - Halloween Sampler 
    

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:

You can see I haven't added the names of any projects yet.  The plan is to look at my list when the numbers are called and decide which will be a Small and which will be a Medium.

For January the numbers 9 and 22 have been called.  By coincidence, they both represent the same two projects so that was nice and easy.  Year in the Woods will be my daytime project and Amaranth will be my smaller evening project.  Note - the board numbers and the project numbers don't sync after 13 because that is a free square on the WIPGO Board.

I am hoping that most of these can be completed in less than a month but if not, then I can pick them up if I finish a project early.  We shall see how the year pans out.

stitched over 1 on 25 count Cirrus evenweave from Chromatic Alchemy

stitched on 32 count Antique White linen

I also stitched the first six leaves for my Temperature SAL.  This is the Tree of Life from Steady Thread:

stitched on 28 count Meadow Mist Cashel Linen from Silkweavers

Not sure about the lime leaf and whether I need to pick a darker lime green

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 be continuing with the ever popular Blog Hops this year. We will have Valentine's, Easter,  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.

The People Chose Designers for 2024

     

The People's Choice started in 2018 following the The Alphabet Club and The Zodiac SAL.  The idea was to showcase current and older projects that fit a certain theme.  It's been a great success but out of all the blog posts I write, this is the one that takes the most time, planning and finding the appropriate photos.  I have really enjoyed doing this and love seeing what you all post too.  However, it's time for this SAL ito take a break.  We will be finishing on a great theme - the designer that you are most looking forward to stitching this year:

January - Your Designer of the Year

I have made my list for my "24 in '24" in a slightly different way to previous years, it ties in perfectly with my WIPGO Board and you'll see more tomorrow in our first WIPocalypse post of the year.

But one thing I noticed is the appearance of a new-to-me designer, I have never stitched one of their designs but suddenly there are three on my list!  Who could it be?

Cottage Garden Samplings

Cottage Garden Samplings is the answer.  They do love a series and so do I, so I can see why I have become interested in their designs.  The first one I bought was Halloween Sampler, a few years back.  I intended to start this in previous years but couldn't find the perfect blue-black for the initial letters.  I have decided to use GAST Midnight and this will be my Dark 13 stitch each month.

The next design is one I started at the end of 2023 and didn't finish as December was rather a busy month!  I have cracked on in the first 5 days of this year and it now looks like this:

stitched over 1 on 25 count Cirrus evenweave from Chromatic Alchemy

Once I finish The Fox I will move straight onto The Swans and see how much I can get done in January.

 

The final series is the 12 Days of Christmas series,  These are quite unusual in that each one is a different size so they make an interesting collage if you stitch them all on one piece of fabric.  I am currently undecided whether to do one large piece or twelve smaller ones.

I have a nice piece of creamy-yellow 35 count which would be big enough for all of them.

I also have my eye on their new series of Fabulous Houses.  I might just pick and choose my favourites from that series.

Now it's over to you. All you have to do is make a post about your Designer for 2024, mention The People's Choice SAL (you can copy the picture I used at the top of this post and in my side bar) and my blog.  Please link up using the URL of the actual blog post, not the home page of your blog. I look forward to seeing what you all post.

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Finally, Rachel and I have made plans for a new A-Z challenge.  It won't be like The Alphabet Club but it will involve stitching something with the relevant letter each month.  I plan to stitch two letters each IHSW started with A and B in January.  That will cover 24 letters.  The remaing two might be skipped if I don't have anything or I might do three letters and extend my Hermit Weekend!  Stay tuned to see what works.

Here is the A project - Amaranth by Shepherd's Bush, my current evening stitch.

Progress so far:

stitched on 32 count Antique White linen

December Stitch From Stash and Pie

 It's Old Year's Night and time for a look back at the past 365 days of stitching.

First of all, here is the Pie for December:

The two main projects were chosen by,my WIPGO Board and I was very pleased to see that Cottage Garden Samplings Year in the Woods was one of them.  It's a smaller design with not too many colours and the chance to stitch outlines then fill in without looking at the chart too much.

At the end of the month I had reached this point:

stitched over 1 on 25 count Cirrus from Chromatic Alchemy

By lucky chance, it is the first number to be called for 2024 so I can finish The Fox and make a start on February's Swans.

I saved Fairy Idyll for the period after Christmas and have been stitching some not very exciting draperies and columns.  But every stitch counts.

stitched on 32 count Murano in Vinyard from Crafty Kitten

Here's the Evening Pie:

I showed all the Just Nan's in my Smalls' post - December Smalls

In my WIPocalypse post I showed you my finishes from my "23 in '23" list and now here are the rest of my finishes for the year:

Let's have a look at the Annual Pie Chart now:

The top three individual projects were:

Hawk Run Hollow - 107 days and a finish

Little Snapdragon  - 37 days and a finish

CCN's Main Street - 34 days and a finish

I came into the year with 15 WIPs and started 20 projects over the course of the year of which 5 are still WIPs (although one only needs beads).  I also completed 4 projects started prior to 2023.  My current WIPs are:

Prior to 2020     7

2021                  2

2023                  5

Total                14

How did the spending go last month?  My magazine subscription came out and that was it for the month.

I also tallied up the spend for the whole year:

Magazines are a little bit up, I only get Cross Stitcher via subscription and Just Cross Stitch digital subscription plus paper copies of the Halloween and Christmas Specials.

Charts are way down, I bought a few Just Nans, a Mirabilia and some spooky stuff but nothing big this year.  I'm still trying to work on stash charts.
Fabric was up however because I bought fabric for the next four Zodiac Girls and some from Chromatic Alchemy for the Year in the Woods.  Plus a big piece of the charted fabric for Turn, Turn, Turn which I plan to use a few more times in 2024.

Threads were about the same and "other" included two bead packs for the Zodiac Girls.

Looking at the last ten years, this was pretty much an average spend which is good.

Finally,

Have a very Happy Old Year's Night

and a very Peaceful New Year's Day