February Focus Piece

For the Foodie February SAL, my focus piece was Visions of Sugarplums, a kit by Holiday Time.  The little boy is dreaming of Christmas yummies and the dog is dreaming of a bone.  So everyone in the piece is dreaming of food.

Visions of Sugarplums before

Visions of Sugarplums after

February WIPocalypse Check In

February topic – Gadgets!  Show us your favorite stitching gadgets!  and How did you do with Olympic Stitching, and what goals did you achieve?

My favorite gadget is my Ott light.  This light is my favorite because it is surrounded by cubbies.  In the deep cubbies, I put my extra needles, stitch count ruler, marking pens, and a flashlight (in case I lose electricity).  In the cubbies by the base, I put my orts, scissors, and Thread Heaven.  The lamp is resting on a stack of stitching journals bought for me as Christmas presents. The large pincushion is a Bobbin the Robin my mother made for me using LSU fabric (Geaux Tigers!).  The little turtle to the right is a scissor holder my mother made for me out of Tinkerbell fabric. 

My Winter Olympics Challenge was the Rotation Relay.  I tied this to the Winter Olympics Challenge on Stitch Maynia.  I did get behind at one point, but I was able to catch up and finish all the themes by February 28th.  I touched 18 pieces overall during the Rotation Relay.

February 9th--Opening Ceremony  Family Frolic by Mill Hill
February 10th--Winter Olympics Snowdome Stocking by Donna Kooler
February 11th--South Korea  Narrowboat by Carol Thornton
February 12th--mascots  Chinese Dragon by Lesley Teare
February 13th--speed skating  Into the Deep by Passione Ricamo
February 14th--medals  China Teapot Tray by Maria Diaz
February 15th--skeleton  Family Frolic by Mill Hill
February 16th--biathalon  Mr. Bear by Designs by the Needle and The Pack by Janlynn
Febraury 17th--figure skating  Christmas Tree Sampler by Victoria Sampler
February 18th--Heaven, Earth, and Humanity  A Christmas Carol by HAED
February 19th--fifteen sports  Sabrina by Mirabilia
February 20th--Olympic Village  A Christmas Carol by HAED
February 21st--79 nations  Tepee Bears by Joan Elliot
February 22nd--International competition  Chinese Dragon by Lesley Teare
February 23rd--Host City  A Christmas Carol by HAED
February 24th--4 new events  Family Frolic by Mill Hill
February 25th--closing ceremony Too Much Honey by Bucilla

I also stitched on a few one day SALs to add some more variety:
Mardi Gras--Iris by Nora Corbett
Valentine's--Baby's Garden Quilt by Janlynn
Work That WIP--Fish City by Stoney Creek
Chinese New Year--The Pack by Janlynn
President's Day--Yesteryear by Needle Treasures
Color-A-Day (Pisces)--Sabrina by Mirabilia
Monthly focus piece--Visions of Sugarplums Kit by Holiday Time



Baby's Garden Quilt

China Teapot Tray

Chinese Dragon

A Christmas Carol

Christmas Tree Sampler

Family Frolic

Fish City



Into the Deep

Iris

Mr. Bear

Narrowboat

Sabrina

Snowdome Stocking

Tepee Bears

The Pack

Too Much Honey

Visions of Sugarplums

Yesteryear

10 Hour Rotation Finished

I finished my 10 hour rotation on China Teapot Tray by Maria Diaz.  It is a pattern from issue 57 (I think) of Cross Stitch Gold magazine.  This was a new start when my rotation began, so all progress was made in the 10 hours.  

China Teapot Tray

January Topic: What SAL’s are you participating in this year? and If you are participating in the Olympic Stitching Challenge, what challenge are you accepting? What are your goals?

I am participating in a few SALs this year.  I am participating in Measi's WIPocalypse SAL each month.  Sometimes I'll even be on time with my posts. This, however, is not one of those months.

I sort of play along with Stitch Maynia's SALs.  I am not on Facebook so I can't join any events, but their monthly SALs and large events end up on Flosstube somewhere so I get to follow along in spirit.  This year they're doing my favorite SAL, the Winter Olympics SAL.  I love these "scavenger hunt" type SALs because they are fun to match to my WIPs. I will also participate in their Color A Day and Work That WIP challenges.

I joined Cloudsfactory's Mystery SAL for 2018 Legendary Creature Alphabet.  I still haven't finished last year's Fabulous Women SAL, but jumped in head first anyway.  (I did make it further than I thought.  I figured I'd stop in March; made it all the way to July.  Go me!)  

I am going to accept the Rotation Relay Challenge for Olympic Stitching.  It will fit right in with my favorite Stitch Maynia SAL so I definitely have to play along.  

This month I am stitching on Yesteryear by Needle Treasures, China Teapot Tray by Maria Diaz, Snowdome Stocking by Donna Kooler, Too Much Honey by Bucilla, Noah's Journey by Dimensions, Baby's Garden Quilt by Janlynn, Family Frolic by Mill Hill, and Fabulous Women in History by Cloudsfactory.

 

Baby's Garden Quilt

China Teapot

Fabulous Women

Family Frolic

Noah's Journey

Snowdome Stocking

Too Much Honey

Yesteryear

10 Hour Rotation Finished

I finished my 10 hour rotation on Lavender Sampler by Anchor.  It is a pattern from issue 57 (I think) of Cross Stitch Gold magazine.  This was a new start when my rotation began, so all progress was made in the 10 hours.

Lavender Sampler

10 Hour Rotation Finished

I finished my 10 hour rotation on Fish City by Stoney Creek.  I finished a few fish and finished backstitching the seaweed in the bottom left corner.  This one will continue to pop up in the Work that WIP and Full Coverage on the 5th SALs.  But it is time to rotate it out for another WIP.

Fish City before

Fish City after

   

WIPocalypse 2018 Introduction

Topic:  Introduce yourself, your projects, and any goals you have for the year!Hello, my name is Jaret and I am back for my 4th year of WIPocalypse.  I am an elementary school teacher from South Louisiana.  I love cross stitching a variety of topics and themes (really, anything goes with me).  On top of cross stitching, I also quilt, scrapbook, and read.  Last year, I had 8 crafty finishes and FFO'd two cross stitch pieces.  It was awesome and I'd like to do more this year. 

I do follow a rotation, of sorts.  I have a monthly focus piece based on Stitch Maynia's monthly SALs.  I am not on Facebook at all, but I do watch Flosstube and the Flosstubers I watch usually give me enough notice on the theme so I can plan my focus piece.  Then I have a list of WIPs that I rotate through.  

I maintain 28 WIPs at all times so I don't start a new piece until I finish a piece.  This sort of keeps me under control, but I still get enough variety for my stitchy bug.

My goal for the year is the same as last...to stitch.  My finish tally is never very high and I'm okay with that.  So my main goal for cross stitching is just to stitch and have fun.  I would like to FFO more pieces this year since I'm watching a lot of tutorials on how to get some of this done. The Flosstubers and Bloggers I stalk have begun to inspire me!