February 2020 WIPocalypse Check In

                                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.  For February the topic is:

What do you listen to while stitching?

Whilst I know that lots of people like to listen to podcasts  my favourite thing to do is to listen to a book on Audible.  I am currently listening to a series of Irish crime novels by Patricia Gibney and, I am so enjoying that gorgeous Irish accent. 

.... and just to explain what I am up to with how my WIPocalypse is going to work (please feel free to scroll down if you have read this before):

"As I wrote last post:

"This year is going to be my second attempt at taking part in WIPocalypse, the first time was in 2017. When I only managed three posts!  Hopefully, this year I will be more organised and motivated and keep myself on track. 

As Jo, from Serendipitous Stitching, is my absolutely stitching hero, I am going to follow her lead and stitch on "20 for [20]20" this year.  However, with a bit of a twist, as I am not going to list all twenty on this initial post mainly because we have had all of the family home for Christmas/New Year plus some overseas visitors plus I broke my nose three days before Christmas (having some nose surgery tomorrow to fix it all up - feeling a bit nervous about it, I must admit) so I have not had the time I needed before the 5th Jan to go through all of my stash (and as you can see this post is late!)."

However, as I have been doing a bit of rearranging in my Girl's Nest, I found my very large pile of finished Stitched pieces which have not been FFOed!  Some of the them have been languishing for years. So, I am setting myself the goal of FFOing "20 in'20" this year, too!  Now, a couple of them are going to require professional framing but that will still count as that will still take time and $$$$."

So, here is my NEWLY UPDATED Stitching list: 

Key:  Blue = Projects stitched on this month
         Purples = Projects Newly added to the list
         Pink = Finished Projects 

1.   Snowflake Serenade by CCN (Finished in February 2020)

2.   Saltbox Farm by Linda Meyers (WIP)

3.   Twelve Christmas ornaments from JCS Ornie Mag 2011 to 2019 for the              Christmas Ornie SAL 

          - January is finished
          - Stitched on February

4.   [Another] Twelve Christmas ornaments from JCS Ornie Mag 2019 for JCS Ornie Mag 2019 FB SAL
          - January and February are finished

5.   Quakers in England Mystery SAL by Tempting Tangles Designs

6.   Peas & Qs by The Cricket Collection (WIP)

7.   Ebony and Ivory by Tempting Tangles Designs (WIP)

8.   Mary Wigham by (WIP)

9.   Jour D'Hiver by Lilli Violette (WIP)

10. A Seasonal Sampling by Linda Meyers (WIP)

11. Granny's Daily Temperature SAL by Carolyn Manning

12. Hallowe'en Ornie SAL - at least six of the 12 themes

13. Prairie Schoolers Yearly Santa SAL with my friend, Marie (of walking            around Princes Park every Sunday fame) - we aim to stitch as many of        the yearly Santas as we can this year but this will be an ongoing SAL            so no pressure!

        1. 2005 Santa finished (February 2020)
        2. 2015 Santa started

14. The Ice Skaters, design from a Better Homes and Garden mag, 1992

15. Linen and Threads 2020 Mystery SAL

16. The Three Musketeers Stitching Bookclub SAL by Sapphire Mountain Designs

17. Jane Marshall 1857 by Hands Across the Seas Samplers (a fundraiser for the Australian Bushfire 

18. Quaker Village by Rosewood Manor (newly added to the list)

19. The Faerie Queen Sampler by The Scarlet Letter

20. ?

... here are the photos of what I managed to stitch on this month:

1. Snowflake Serenade by CCN

3. Christmas Ornie SAL - Theme Three

"Friends are Christmas Treasures" by Historic Handworkes (JCS Christmas Ornie Mag 2016).

4. JCS Ornie Mag 2019 FB SAL - Christmas Bullfinch by Punochka.

5.   Quakers in England Mystery SAL by Tempting Tangles Designs

Starting with the flag of England.

9.   Jour D'Hiver by Lilli Violette (WIP)

13. Prairie Schooler Yearly Santa SAL

A finish of 2005 Santa ...

... and a start on 2015...

16. The Three Musketeers Stitching Bookclub SAL by Sapphire Mountain Designs





18. Quaker Village by Rosewood Manor (newly added to the list)

19. The Faerie Queen Sampler by The Scarlet Letter

So, altogether I managed to stitch on eleven WIPocalypse projects, making excellent progress on some of them.  I am a very happy Stitcher this month!

Now, to all my UNFINISHED Finished Stitching. Last month I managed to FFO one stitched piece, but this month I managed three!  So, now I have FFOed 4/20 for WIPocalypse.

#2 is "Falling" by Plum Street Samplers which is a recent stitching finish.

                                                    

#3

Proverbi 3 by Paola Gattiblu

28ct Flax Linen

My selection of speciality floss

(The two blues are WDW Blue Jean and GAST Cornflower)

I actually finished this way back in January 2016!  Only took four years to actually FFO it!

#4

A freebie from Anne Les Petites Croix: Bonne Annee (Happy New Year) which I changed to Mon Amour (My love).

So, I would have to say that I am very happy with my WIPocalypse progress so far for 2020.  Hopefully, I can maintain it - often I have lost my way by the end of January but I have managed to make great inroads over two months now - yay!

Thanks for visiting and please don't forget to leave a comment as I do love a good chat,

hugs, 

Smalls SAL_February 2020

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread. 

On the last Friday of each month we post about the Small designs that we have stitched in that month.

Let's See, what Smalls have I finished since the end of Jan?

First up is a freebie from Anne Les Petites Croix: Bonne Annee (Happy New Year) which I changed to Mon Amour (My love) for the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog run by the wonderful Jo of Serendipitous Stitching.

  

I stitched it on a scrap of unknown green linen which I had in my stash and chose my own pinks and greens and added white beads instead of white crosses.

... and I even managed to FFO it! 

The fabric in the border is what I used to back it with, too.

My second fnish is Christmas Bullfinch by Punochka, which is the February Ornament for the JCS Stitch Along on FB.

My third Small is PS Santa 2005 - I love the fact that he is holding a quilt and sewing equipment - this is for my PS Santa SAL with my dear friend, Marie (no blog).

Lastly, here is the third of my "Snowman's Quaker Christmas".

It is a sweet design that I found through Carol from Stitching Dreams.  It is a freebie from Midnight Stitching that you can find here.

You can see Carol's gorgeous finish here.

And, just as a reminder, here are the two earlier colourways of this design that I stitched.  Which of the three is your favourite?

The second is in icy blues using a gorgeous Threadworx floss, using Carol's finish as inspiration.

So, all up, I have four Smalls Finishes for February - not too shabby (although not as good as last month's Smalls post with six!).

You can see what all the other Smalls SALers stitched by going to this post on Mary's Threads.

Thanks for visiting and please don't forget to leave a comment as I do love a good chat,

hugs, 

P.S. Don't forget to check out my latest Kitten Stitching and the Friday Frolics post where I stitch on a long forgotten UFO.

February 2020 TUSAL Report

Well, here we are again, time for the second TUSAL (Totally Useless Stitch-a-long) Report for the year, when we show our ORTS for the month.

This year my ORTs are going to placed in this special ORT jar which was a gift that came as part of my 

A Little Help From our Friends Stitching Circle (an autoship from The Silver Needle).

I have also decided to take each month's pic of the ORT jar with my objets d'amour (the things that I love). 

This month's orts are sitting in front of the ORT jar.  My objet d'amour this month is The Tigers Almanac 2019 (the Richmond Tigers were Premiers in 2019 - Aussie Rules Football).  I actually wrote an article for the almanac (I know, shock/horror I actually wrote a footy article and not a history one but if/when you read it you will understand).

My article is called "A time to reflect as tribes come together" and you can read it here.

As I said, TraderVic actually wrote several but the best is the one he wrote about the Grand Final, which he/we did not attend as were actually at a family wedding in Rome - it is a fabuous piece, called "Pax Romana" which you can read here.

... and here are the YTD ORTS in the jar.

Just click on the button above to go to Daffycat's blog where you can comment and see who else TUSALed this month.  

Thanks for visiting and please don't forget to leave a comment as I do love a good chat,

hugs, 

IHSW_February 2020 Edition

This past weekend was International Hermit and Stitch Weekend (IHSW) for February.

It is such a lovely idea, isn't it? To be stitching with other like-minded people from all over the globe, no matter the time zone, all weekend long - bliss!  In fact, any stitching time is great, isn't it?

You can take part on your blog or via the Facebook page - IHSW on Facebook or click on the pic of Hermie below:

My IHSW started on Friday with FNSI (another virtual SAL), you can read all about what I stitched on this post here or on my Friday Frolics post here. The posts mirror each other, so you can click on either. Hint: there were Happy Dances!


Then on Saturday and Sunday, I did some FFOing but you will have to wait until the 10th of next month to see them as I am saving them for my Fully Finishing Gallery post.  But, you can see my last FFO post here, in case you missed it.

However, I do have some stitching to show you:

Progress has been made on "Jour D'Hiver" by Lilli Violette.  If you want to see what it looked like before IHSW - please click here.

... and I had a new start on Sunday for my New Start Sunday SAL blog - "Two White Houses" by LHN.

 It is part of the #LHNSUNDAYSAMPLER SAL on FB.


Here is Furio checking out my floss selection (as I have chosen a darker fabric I am having to swap out some of the colours for those with a better contrast).

.... and here is my progress pic....

Thanks for visiting and please don't forget to leave a comment as I do love a good chat,

hugs, 

FNSI_February 2020 edition

I worked on two projects yesterday, Friday, for FNSI

and Friday Frolics - 

One small and one larger.... and drum roll, please.....

Both are Happy Dances!

First is PS Santa 2005 - I love the fact that he is holding a quilt and sewing equipment.

... and the second is Snowflake Serenade by CCN - I really love this design - the soft palette is so very gorgeous.

As you can imagine, I am Happy Dancing all over the house to have two finishes, especially Snowflake Serenade, which has been in my WIP pile for a while now.

Thanks for visiting and please don't forget to leave a comment as I do love a good chat.

Also, don't forget to check out the other FNSIers, here.

hugs,