January WIPocalypse

First month of the year and I'm off to a great start. Record cold temperatures and two significant snowfalls have made for lots of indoor stitching time.
As I'd hoped, I managed to complete two of my major WIPs that were carryovers from last year. 
I'm thrilled to share my first finish which is Plum Street Samplers Pomegranate Santa.

I thought that I had started this in early 2018 but it turns out I actually started it in early December of 2016! It's about time I finished it off, lol!  I dragged my feet of this one many times. A lot of frogging took place and all that snow at the bottom border was time consuming. The shading on the pomegranates turned out better than I expected. I just couldn't seem to keep focused on this one for some reason but I am very pleased with the final results.

My second finish was equally satisfying for me as I'd started it in late September of 2017. However I must say that I enjoyed working on this finish. This the The Primitive Needle Annie Hyssop's Harvest Moon.

It was the colours which first drew me to this design, in addition to the fact that it was a Halloween piece and I love Halloween. As I stitched it I loved every little motif that developed. I can't wait until it's framed. Hopefully I won't have to wait too long!

My first new start for 2019 is one that doesn't even appear on my WIPocalypse list of hopefuls. As I as browsing through my charts I came across this design. Prairie Moon The Good Shepherd is one which I first started stitching in 2007. I wasn't happy with much about it at the time. I disliked my fabric choice and finally put it aside for a couple of years. Then I decided to do away with it and restart it if I ever got around to it again. Fast forward to Jan. 2019 and this is that time. A fresh start with new fabric and a new conversion of the silk floss has made me fall in love with this piece all over again. One final motif and I will actually be complete!

So are these sheep, or cows? 

Can you tell how much I love this one?! I'll have the final pic of the finish for you next month.

I've also made a small start to another Blackbird Designs piece which also doesn't appear on my list. Are you starting to see a pattern, lol! 

This piece comes from the BBD book, A Fine Collection, and it's called February's Hearts. I found an older piece of fabric which worked but it's 28 ct so I'm using two strands of floss for coverage on this one.

 Not much to show yet but hopefully more by next month. 

The cold let up a bit today and we had a couple of visitors to the feeder. I believe this is a male House Finch along with his mate.

January Smalls

Happy New Year Smalls Stitchers! First off I want to start by thanking Heather @ Stitching Lotus for all the work she put into this group over the past few years. You did an amazing job and we shall miss your leadership but sometimes you just need a change. Now I want to welcome Mary and thank her for taking the reins and manning the helm. If you think you'd like to join us in stitching up a few smalls over the next year follow the link to Mary's blog where you can read all about our 2019 Smalls SAL.

I've started off my year with a Blackbird Designs pattern and for those of you who know me you'll know I do love my Blackbird Designs. However this is a little different for me. I'm going to attempt to finish my little stitch into a strawberry emory! I've loved these sweet little finishes for some time now. So I bit the bullet and ordered BBD Deck The Halls which contains six different charts for emory finishes. From the book I chose Christmas Cactus as my first stitch. My four Christmas Cacti plants had just finished their blooming season and I wanted to keep a little reminder around of their beauty.

As you can see, I've not started my final finishing yet. For starters I need to pick up some thread for my machine and then find the necessary time. I don't think it will take much to finish this at all. I just have to figure out what I'm going to use for my strawberry's cap. I hope to finish off the remainder of the charts in this book over the course of this year or the next. They are quick stitches and a welcome reprieve from some of my larger WIPs. See you all next month!

2019 WIPocalypse plans

A New Year, a new start to WIPocalypse. My name is Lynn and I've been cross stitching for 38 years. I'm self taught and can't get enough of this craft. 
For once I'm starting the year off right by finishing off WIPs from 2018 first. Two larger pieces left from last year were both so close to a finish by year's end but time caught up with me. I'm happy to say that as of Jan. 3 I've already completed one leftover, Plum Street Samplers Pomegranate Santa. A second finish is very close behind. That will just leave one remaining 2018 start to complete and I think I will leave that one until a little later in the year.

I'm really having a hard time committing to any particular list. There are so many charts in my stash that I want to start and my mind jumps from one to the other. Big, small, seasonal?? What I decided to do was to pull one chart I loved from each of my favourite designers and leave it at that. Will I complete them all?.....probably not. Most likely I won't even start a good portion of them. My choices are driven by mood and what's going on in my life at the time I start a new piece. Looking at my list however gives you an idea of my tastes in stitching for those of you who don't know me.  Here is a link to my 2019 WIPocalypse list. You will also find pictures of this year's and previous year's finishes by clicking on the links below my header.