WIPocalypse 2014 targets

***Now updated with pictures!***

Hmm, I see that the topic for this month’s WIPocalypse entry is to: ‘Introduce yourself, your projects, and any goals you have for the year!’

I also see that stupid Multiply no longer has my old posts, so I’ll have to introduce myself again.  So, here goes:

My name is Emma.  I live with my partner, OH (other half, or he who does not wish to be named), and my Jack Russell terrier, Max.  Max is 10, going on 50, and I have been with the OH for 10 years now.

I am 38 years old, and have been stitching and doing various other crafts since I was very little.  My mother runs her own business making historically accurate costume dolls for display and dolls houses.  She taught me to sew when I was very small.  I remember her taking an out-of-hours sewing class when I was at primary school, and teaching me to cross-stitch on binca.  Both of my grandmothers were also keen sewers, although arthritis has forced one to give up embroidery.  The other is still a keen knitter.  My father made and painted models all the time I lived at home, and switched to model boat building about 7 years ago.

Cross-stitch is my primary obsession, although I can do almost every other form of counted embroidery and sewing. I’m less good at crewel embroidery, mostly because I don’t especially enjoy it.  I also recently re-discovered knitting, and enjoy making miniature teddy bears.  I also have a large collection of dolls houses in various states of completion: a large Edwardian American house, an 1870s saloon/cathouse, a cake shop, a teddy bear shop, a Christmas shop, and a 1920s dress shop, all in 1/12th scale (one inch scale if you’re American, I think).  I have dabbled in 144th scale, but generally find that a little too fiddly.  I also enjoy miniature embroidery, although I have started to suffer from eye problems which mean that I can’t do quite such small scale as I used to. 

I really, really like enormous projects.  Or perhaps, I should more realistically say, I like starting enormous projects.  I’m not so good at finishing them.  And once the stitching is complete, I tend to lose all further interest and leave them languishing, unfinished.  I have way, way more projects, charts and kits than I can ever possibly finish in my lifetime.

So, for 2014, my WIPocalypse (see link to Measi’s blog on the sidebar) targets are to:

Finish: Hill Hay Farm; Blackwork World Map; The Dark Knight; Canyon Santa (finished 4-Jan-2014)

Work on: Fairy Tale Castle; Circe Invidiosa; The Kiss; Euphoria; Kabuki Dancer

Finish finish: Christmas Tree 2008; The Mark Twain Silhouette; Fire Screen; Roses card; Margaret Sherry cat; Running Horse; Bay Window; Country Scene; 3 Jeremy Fisher Scenes; Tower of London; Orange butterfly; Solar Flare; Tiger Reflection; Stars For a New Millenium.

I also want to get more done on my doll houses; the Saloon needs wallpaper finishing (done 29-Dec-13), windows adding and etching (done 2-Jan-14), furniture adding and populating.  The 1920s dress shop needs priming, wallpapering, windows adding and etching, furniture adding and populating.  The teddy bear shop needs some more shelving, teddy bears making up, and the little girl shopper making up.  The Sticky Bun cake shop needs a platform adding behind the counter.  The Christmas shop needs the roof finishing, tablecloths making, snow adding, a sign written, filling with Christmas goodies, and populating.  There is also at least one, maybe two, over shop room boxes which need building, decorating, furnishing and populating.

So, pictures:

Hill Hay Farm, about half way through:

     

The Saloon, exterior decorated:

The exterior stairs, and their little diorama (I’m really pleased with this bit):

And the two attic rooms, decorated (the pictures are a bit blurry, sorry):

WIPocalypse – the Revenge! 30-Dec-2013

Well, this year hasn’t gone very well in terms of updating the blog.  I kind of lost interest in it, to be honest.

So, I started the year with 14 WIPs (Works In Progress) and 14 FUPPys (Finished Unfinished Project Pieces).  I finished 8  pieces completely, including  5 bonus start-and-finish pieces, and I now have 7 WIPs and 16 FUPPys.  I can’t say that I’m pleased with that, I had hoped to get much more done.  I did have some eye issues through the year, which slowed me down a lot, and lately I’ve been working on a paid piece for a second cousin, so everything has taken a back seat to that.  I’ll add a couple of pictures later, when I can, but most things have pictures in previous entries.

For 2013, my WIPocalypse – the Revenge! (see link to Measi’s blog on the sidebar) goals were to:

Finish: Solar Flare finished 1-Jan-2013, not yet framed; Blackwork World Map not finished; Tiger Reflection finished 15-Mar-2013, not yet framed; The Dark Knight not finished

Start (and possibly finish): Tony Minieri – Stars For a New Millenium started 1-Jan-2013 finished 27-Feb-2013, not yet framed

Work on: Fairy Tale Castle nope; Circe Invidiosa nope; The Kiss nope; Euphoria ooh, actually, it looks like I worked on this a bit!

Finish finish: Christmas Tree 2008; The Mark Twain Silhouette; Fire Screen; Roses card; Margaret Sherry cat; Running Horse; Bay Window; Country Scene; 3 Jeremy Fisher Scenes; Tower of London; Orange butterfly didn’t finish any of these!

Unplanned: Roses bookmark started 17-Feb-2013 finish-finished 2-Mar-2013; Pineapple welcome finish-finished Dec-2013; knitted hat finished Dec-2013; knitted hat for Mum finished 24-Dec-2013; Cardinal Felt Stocking finished Mar-2013

I’ll be setting myself some more targets for 2014, but not measuring myself particularly hard against them.

WIPocalypse 31 Dec 2012

Well, the world didn’t end after all.  I hope you all had a good Christmas and will have a good New Year.

Warning, this is going to be VERY picture heavy!

This is what I said I wanted to get done in the WIPocalypse for 2012 – updated statuses are in bold:

Finish:

Classic Embroidery – Tallulah – framed 5-Feb-2012  I apologise for the poor quality of the picture – it’s very difficult to photograph a black picture!

Sunset – A Gracious Era – framed 19-Feb-2012 

Feltworks – Woodland Santa Stocking – finished 23-Dec-2011 

DMC – Blackwork World Map – not finished, but had some work

Before:

Dimension’s Gold Collection Petites – Tiger Reflection – not finished, but had some work   After:

Heritage Stitchcraft – Golden Pavilion – no work

Lanarte – Virgo – no work

Scarlet Quince – Circe Invidiosa – no work

Maia – Wild Westies III – no work

Cross Stitch Collection – Fairytale Castle – almost finished a quarter of the design

Before: After: 

Miniature Textiles Company – Floral Needlework Carpet – no work

Fine Arts Heritage Society – The Kiss – no work

Lavender & Lace – Emma’s Garden – no work

Cross Stitch Collectibles – The Last Judgement – no work, now contemplating unpicking and re-using the fabric

Finish finish (the stitching was finished, but they needed finishing into a proper item):

The Mark Twain Silhouette – no work

Nicola Mascall – Fire Screen – no work

Roses card – no work

Margaret Sherry cat – no work

Running Horse – no work

Deer in the woods – framed 27-Aug-2012

Bay window – no work

Country scene – no work

3 Jeremy Fisher scenes – no work

Fletcher 901 class train – framed 27-Aug-12

Blue and Scarlet Macaws – framed 27-Aug-12

Christmas Angel – framed 19-Feb-2012

Posy Collection – Yellowstone Bison – framed 19-Feb-2012

Valerie Pfeiffer – Lady in Red – framed 19-Feb-2012

Valerie Pfeiffer – The Blues – framed 19-Feb-2012

Then of course there were the starts:

Lavender & Lace – Christmas Tree 2008 – finished 29-Jan-12

My Big Toe – Dog Hair – finished 12-Jul-12

My Big Toe – Give Me the Cookie – finished 14-Jul-12

SK Forest Walk – finished 10-Jul-12, framed 25-Aug-12

Yellowstone patchwork bag – finished 10-Apr-12

Bucilla – Cardinals felt stocking – finished 24-Nov-12 

RICO – Squirrel Christmas hanging – finished 24-Nov-12   I brought the kit back from Austria this year – this could be the first time I’ve ever completed a holiday piece in the same year as the aactual holiday!

Tower of London – finished 24-Nov-12 

Batman – 3 pages finished, 6 to go

HAED – Euphoria – four pages completed, 56 to go! 

Ro Pace – Solar Flare – should be finished tonight   Yay, finished 1-Jan-2013

So, I started the year with 14 WIPs (Works In Progress) and 18 FUPPys (Finished Unfinished Project Pieces).  I finished 15 pieces completely, including 7 bonus start-and-finish pieces, and I now have 14 WIPs and 14 FUPPys.  I’m pleased with that – although it’s the same number of WIPs, there are some different ones from last year. (Don’t try and figure out the numbers – I couldn’t!)

For 2013, my WIPocalypse – the Revenge! (see link to Measi’s blog on the sidebar) goals are to:

Finish: Solar Flare; Blackwork World Map; Tiger Reflection; Batman

Start (and possibly finish): Tony Minieri – Stars For a New Millenium

Work on: Fairy Tale Castle; Circe Invidiosa; The Kiss; Euphoria

Finish finish: Christmas Tree 2008; The Mark Twain Silhouette; Fire Screen; Roses card; Margaret Sherry cat; Running Horse; Bay Window; Country Scene; 3 Jeremy Fisher Scenes; Tower of London; Orange butterfly.

Oh, and as a bonus now that Christmas is done, I can post a picture of the Christmas present I made for my Mum:

 Yes, it is Cousin Itt.  I think he came out really well.

Happy Stitching!  I’m off to finish Solar Flare. Edited on 1-Jan-2013, because I have indeed finished Solar Flare.

WIPocalypse 27 Aug 2012

Well, this time I’m a little early, since I won’t be around for the actual WIPocalypse date.

Page 3 of Euphoria is complete.  Now I can get onto page 4, which has a birdie on it.  At last, something interesting!  It’s working up nice and quick, though.

And I got some framing done this weekend:

     

With the exception of Forest Walk (the dragon), all of these have been languishing in boxes and drawers for anything up to 20 years, so it’s nice to finally have them mounted and framed.

For TUSAL, the picture is pretty identical to last time, all pale greys and blues, so I haven’t bothered taking another picture.

Until next time, happy stitching!

WIPocalypse on time – well, mostly. 6 July 2012

Yay!  Almost on time for WIPocalypse this time!  Late for TUSAL again, though, boo.

Mostly browns again.  The strips of linen are from the joining I’ve been doing on Forest Walk.  It hasn’t been going well – it’s taken 3 attempts and the intervention of my DH, but it’s finally on and seems to be ok.  I made a stupid mistake, cutting the fabric waaay too short.  I’ve never done that before, for anything.  DH says he’s going to measure every piece of fabric I start on in future.

Now that the joining issue’s resolved, he’s coming along well.  He’ll be finished this month,

Well, there’s nothing else to report at the moment.  The weather is helping with stitching – it’s just too wet to do anything else.

Happy stitching!

17 June 2012, VERY late TUSAL & WIPocalypse

Oh, look, late again!  Evidently I can’t keep a date for anything.

Here’s my ORT bag:

 Mostly browns and greens, because I’ve been working almost exclusively on Forest Walk:

 I’m really pleased with how this is coming along, although I was in such a hurry to start that apparently I didn’t measure my fabric properly, and will now have to add on another 6 inches or so at the bottom.  I’ll let you know how that goes when I’ve done it.  Boo.

I haven’t stitched on any other WIPocalypse pieces at all this month, but I have done some significant stash enhancement.  ‘Cos, you know, I really didn’t have enough stuff.

I stocked up on DMC colours while we were in the US:

And The Silk Mill just had an awesome 10 year anniversary sale, where I got these lovelies:

I also had a busy crafty day yesterday, and finally finished my 144th scale dolls house (the pen is for scale, so you can get an idea of just how small it is):

I also completed a patchwork square, Quartered Star, that I also got while we were in Jo-Ann’s in the US.  I have another square to make up, and a couple of fat quarters of matching fabric, and some bias tape.  I haven’t decided yet what to make with them – they’re actually from a quilt of the month thing – maybe a bag or a cushion.  Actually, probably a bag…who knows?  We’ll see what takes my fancy.  It was as much to see how I did with machine piecing as much as anything else.

Well, that’s all for now, I think.  Happy stitching!

TUSAL 29 Jan 2012

So, a little later than I should be with this, but here’s my TUSAL (Totally Useless Stitch A Long) post:

For those who don’t know what the TUSAL is all about, here’s a link: http://itsdaffycat.blogspot.com/2011/11/totally-useless-stitch-long.html.  TUSAL is where you post a picture of your ORTs (old raggy threads) to date.

As you can see, unlike almost everyone else, I don’t use a jar, I use a froggy bit bag.  He was a Polstitches kit: http://www.polstitchesdesigns.co.uk/polspetitedesigns.htm.

I emptied him out at the start of January, so he’s not very full yet.  There’s a lot of blue, red and sparkly thread from my Christmas Tree, of which more in a moment.  What you can’t see is the oodles of invisible thread ends left over from attaching beads to the same Christmas Tree!

Happy dance, because the Christmas Tree is finished! Yay!

This is a design by Nora Corbett of Mirabilia, stitched with all the recommended Crescent Colors Silks and Mill Hill beads and treasures on 32 count Permin linen.

Here’s a close-up of the beading; I’ve stitched the small beads on diagonally with a half cross stitch, because I find it’s the only way to get the long strings of them (that Nora seems to like) to lie properly, but the big beads are attached with a whole cross stitch so that they lie horizontally.

So, in the interests of reducing my works in progress, I’ve picked up this, DMC’s Blackwork map:

This is how it is now.  I’ve not worked on this one for a long time, I seem to remember getting bored with doing the long line of little ships.

I may start another new one from the extensive stash when I’ve done this one, we’ll see.

Tiger Reflection is going well.  I’m doing this one exclusively at work, during my lunchtime.  I only get half an hour for lunch, so it’s usually only two or three threads, but it seems to be coming along.

At least now you can see the tiger!  I discovered a hideous counting error, but it’s far enough back that I’m not going to frog it, and I think I’ve managed to cover it up.

My cold didn’t last very long, which was good, although I was enjoying the lemon and honey tea.   Thanks to everyone who wished me well.

8 Jan 2012, WIPocalypse

Well, more good news.  I finished Sunset – A Gracious Era on Thursday night:

I’m taking Dimensions Gold Petites – Tiger Reflection to work to work on during lunchtimes, this is how it was when I picked it up:

And, since I’ve had such a roll with finishing WIPs (7 since just before Christmas), I treated myself to a new start on Thursday night.  Nora Corbett’s Christmas Tree 2008 (part of the epic stash).  This is how it stands as of tonight:

It’s going really quickly, partly because while I was fighting a really nasty eye problem recently, I discovered the value of enlarging charts and using a highlighter pen to mark off what’s done.  Twenty years of cross stitch, and I only discover this now!  I haven’t made a mistake since I discovered this (obviously I will now…)

In other news, I have a stinky sore throat, courtesy of the other half, so now I’m off to see what honey throat treatments I can find (we have sooo much honey in the house, I might as well use some.)