A new year and another WIPocalypse

This year I have decided not to make a list of proposed finishes because it seems that with the exception of one or two I don't bother sticking to my list. I always start out well but then switch gears and start stitching on other projects than the ones I chose initially. There are just too many new releases and other projects calling my name. However I have left a few starts unfinished from last year which I'm trying to get done at some point within the coming year. These include Plum Street Samplers Autumn Fraktur, Stacy Nash Thistles and Spells  and Carriage House Samplings And Heaven And Nature Sing. I started all three of these last fall and just didn't get in as much stitching time as usual. Plus I just didn't feel like doing needlework for a number of weeks perhaps because I'd been ill for much of the season. In any case I got myself in gear and started off with PSS Autumn Fraktur. To my surprise I had it finished off within a couple of weeks!

Here's a before and after pic of it.

 Before

 After

I have quite a few Halloween finishes but very few autumn ones so this will be a welcome addition in my home next fall. I love the rich colours in this one.

Next on the agenda..... Stacy Nash Thistles and Spells Pinkeep

Here's where I left off:

Progress as of yesterday:

I figure there is only another day or two of stitching left on this. After completing the monument at the upper left all that remains is the vine border.

That leaves CHS And Heaven and Nature Sing. I love this one and would be a lot further along if it hadn't been for running out of a crucial floss. I'm using Hand Dyed Fibre's Silks in Kodiak Brown. This particular colour was available in 3 varying shades. I say "was" because this floss is no longer being produced or sold any longer. I figured that with what I had left it would be close for finishing but it's very difficult to determine when the thread is on a spool. So very soon into the stitching of the deer I resorted to another plan to save on thread. I stitched the first portion of my crosses with a similar brown and then crossed in the other direction with the Kodiak Brown. This was going really well until I ran out of the Kodiak brown just short of finishing up the last leg of the deer.

  I still have one antler left to finish up in the same colour. The lettering in the piece was also to have been stitched using this but I had already decided on an alternate colour for that. What to do, what to do?

After putting out a call for help to some of my fellow stitchers, I have located a spool of the correct colour which is on its way to me as I write this. I can't thank my fellow stitching friend, Kathy Born, enough for her help in this! So hopefully this will be back in my rotation in a couple of weeks.

Just after Christmas I received a call that a frame I had ordered for one of my stitches which was on back order was now in and the piece was completed. Although it wasn't up in time for Christmas Day, it's one of those pieces that can remain up all year if desired and it's still up on my dining room wall at this time.

Here is Plum Street Samplers Promised Lamb.

 

As of today I've started another small piece for my Smalls SAL this month which should take only a day or so to complete. Pictures will follow on my next post. 

I hope that all my friends who are in the path of the current winter blizzard are safe and warm. It's a perfect time for stitching!