The October WIP Experiment

I bet you were wondering how the experiment went for the month of October.  Well, since it is the last day of the month, I thought I'd report in.  So here goes!  It's been a month of discoveries.

So here's the tracker for the month.  I didn't stitch as much in a month as I thought I might but it's an improvement.  I'm beginning to see a pattern.  Sundays seem to be the day I do the most stitching.  I also seem to get on a tear with a project and work on it over the course of several days before moving on.  I didn't even touch the mermaid or the watermelon so we'll focus on the ones I did spend time with.  So lets take a look at them!

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"I Sigh Not for Beauty"

Progress as of 9/30/16

Progress as of 10/31/16

Well, it's nothing to get too excited about but it is still something, I suppose.  I did finally take it off the ginormous Q-snaps I had been using and switched to my 11 x 11" ones.  Definitely more manageable for couch stitching.  Now to get that plant it's match on the other side and more of those little flowers in and around the vine.

"Heaven Above"

Progress as of 9/30/16

Progress as of 10/31/16

As you can tell, this was one I got on a tear with.  It also helped that I attended the Tiara Club retreat a couple weekends ago and worked on this all afternoon that Saturday (I only went for the day this time).  I'm actually really into this one at the moment.  I may even work on it some more tonight.

Oh yeah, about the random "h" on the right, stitched purely for placement so I could stitch those rosebuds.  You know how it is when you still have a color on your needle and you want to finish the thread.  C'mon, you know you do it too.  Another random factoid, I have to stitch sentences.  I can't stitch partial or random words.  So yeah, the "h" is driving me nuts but I had to do it.  It's a quirk of mine.  Yes, I'm weird.  There, I admitted it.  LOL!  Moving on...

"Colonial Santa"

Progress as of 9/30/16

Design: Colonial Santa  (circa 1988!)

Designer: Homespun Elegance

Fabric: 27ct. unbleached brown linen

Floss: Medici wool and DMC as kitted

Started:  9/9/16

Finished:  10/22/16

Completed: TBD

Yep, I had a finish this month!!!  I finished this at the Tiara Club retreat.  I can't wait to do the finish finishing it.  I'll actually have a new one for the tree this year before Christmas even!  I know, shock of the world.  This one will remind us of our 20th anniversary trip we took to Williamsburg this year.  Yay!  So cute!

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I also did some finishing this month on a project I'd worked on earlier this summer.  I'll share it in another post since it doesn't relate to the WIPs I'm tracking. 

I've decided I'll continue this experiment in November too.  I'm all about whatever I can do to motivate me and this seems to be working.  Who knows, maybe there will be another finish.  I hope you enjoyed seeing my progress and maybe this will inspire you too.

Thanks for stopping by to visit today!

Happy Halloween!

More next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

  

Preparing for October...an experiment

I don't feel like I've stitched much at all this year and this here blog shows it.  I've decided this stitchy slump of mine has got to come to an end.  So I've decided to try something different to maybe motivate me to work on my WIPs.

This fall I've jumped on the Bullet Journal bandwagon along with everybody else.  In the past, I've kept various digital and analog planners so trying this method sounding interesting to me.  It's been a couple months now and can see some advantages.   I've always liked to do hand lettering, draw and of course, I like to write too.

I had an epiphany the other day.  Why not make a tracker in my journal where I can note my progress on my WIPs?  So as I work on each WIP, I'll note it in the tracker.  At the end of the month I'll have a better idea where my time was spent.  I'm not going to put any pressure on myself.  I'm treating this as a learning experience not a marathon/competition to see how much I can bust out.  This is supposed to be for fun dontcha know.

So to kick things off, lets have a peek at where I stand on the ones I want to track in the month of October.  Starting with the oldest to the newest.

This is "I Sigh Not for Beauty."  I started this one as a SAL with the peeps way back in 2011.  I'm fairly sure I'm the only one who hasn't finished.  Christie, this one's for you! She's been gently nudging me all year to get crackin' on this one.  As you can see from the picture, I could pretty easily get it done if I really tried.

Next up is Heaven Above.  I've been working on this here and there this year.  I've finally moved onto page three of four!  From this point forward it's pretty much all letters with a few motifs sprinkled in here and there.  I really love this one and I really like stitching letters!

I haven't worked on this one since the Mirabilia Retreat in the spring.  It's one of Nora Corbett's mermaids.  It's charted as an "E" but I'm going to lob off a couple legs and turn it into an "L."  As anyone knows who's stitched one of Nora's designs, there are a lot of color changes which makes for slower stitching...or at least I go slower.  LOL!

Then we have the Watermelon restart.  I could easily get this one done.  It's a quick stitch.  I've been using it as my "car" project this summer when we've gone on a couple trips.  That large count really lends itself to stitching while in motion.  Although, bridges and overpasses are a wee bit bumpy no matter what count you are stitching.

This one is an oldie from Homespun Elegance.  It's called Colonial Santa and it was a kit.  I found him when I was doing some recent de-stashing.   I'm sure I picked it up in a free box somewhere.  Whoever de-stashed it before I got it had started the coat.  So far I've only gotten a  tiny bit of the beard done.  This one is interesting because it uses Medici wool floss.  That's a first for me.  It's quite springy floss.

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So folks there you are, my current WIPs.  Let's see how this little experiment goes.  I think it will be fun to see who gets the most attention this month and maybe even who gets done.  I'm an optimistic little thing dontcha know.  LOL!

I hope wherever you are you are getting to spend time with needle in hand.  Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great weekend and a great October!

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Tiara Retreat Weekend - part 1

I spent this past weekend ensconced in the woods of Indiana at the annual Tiara Club's retreat!  It was a much needed stitching getaway.  We basically stitched, ate, and slept a little then repeated.  It was wonderful!

We were greeted with this super cute welcome gift.  Love the fall colors!  I wish you all could smell the wonderful salt scrub, my peep, Marsha made.  Yes, not only is she a talented stitcher she makes awesome soaps too!   Love the little pumpkin waxer and the needle tubes are really going to be handy.  They even came with needles in them!  Cool!

 

We always have a "free to a good home" table.  This year I actually remembered to bring a contribution.  I had a JoAnn's bag stuffed full and I happily got rid of it all!  I can honestly say I only came back home with a few things from the table...that felt good.

 

 

We always have a "show and tell" table too! Just check out the wonderfulness that showed up this year! 

 

 

I thought this one was so cute.  Love that pink fabric!

 

You'll recognize one of the Foster brothers is done now!  It looks great too.  This one belongs to my peep, Christie.  I hope she does a post about it so you all can see more of it.

Speaking of finishes, I had a couple myself over the weekend.  I'm so thrilled I got so much done.  The picture above shows everything I worked on.  Let's take a closer look.

Friday afternoon and evening, I worked on the Hornbook Bestiary.  I got all the third row's squares done and started on "K is for Kitten."  I finished filling in the kitten on Saturday morning.

Then I decided to "ornamentify" my "Bee Happy" heart I showed you in this post.  A little Mouse reminded me of some pretty awesome chenille trim I had received in an exchange this year.  I had tucked this trim away in a "safe" place and promptly lost it.  Don't you hate when you do that?!

I have to say, if you've never worked with this chenille trim, you seriously need to get yourself some and give it a go.  This stuff hides a multitude of sins and it's super easy to work with too.  I can see myself using this stuff more often.  Thanks, Mouse for spoiling me!

Design:  "Merry Christmas" freebie

Designer:  Threadwork Primitives

Fabric: 36ct. opalescent white

Floss:  DMC 115 & 367

Started:  9/28/13

Finished:  9/28/13

Needs to be ornamentified!

Once I finished the heart, I moved onto one of several Christmas ornaments I need to stitch.  This one worked up really quickly and I'm thinking of doing another one.  I'm not sure how I'm going to finish it.  I'm thinking maybe with a beaded edge but then a small pillow would be cute too.  Stay tuned!

Design:  Tin Toppers "ABC Sampler"

Designer:  Samplers and Such

Fabric:  36ct. light sand

Floss:  DMC as charted

Started:  9/28/13

Finished:9/28/13

This was the last thing I stitched on Saturday.  This is one that's been calling me from the basket o'joy for a while now.  It will eventually become a tin topper and fob.  I still need to do the back stitching on the fob and add my name/date to the tin topper.  I love this one!

I'll leave you for today with some comic relief.  This is my peep, Nancy's floss ring.  Yes, it does resemble a rat's nest.  Nancy even said so.  She's such a hoot!  Of course, when I looked at it I saw something else.

I think it makes for a good hair do!  You know like those daisy wreaths the hippies wore in the 60's.

Yep, we were getting a little silly at this point.  You know me, I can't help myself sometimes.  I'm like that dontcha know.  LOL!

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Well folks, this one is getting lengthy today.  I still need to show you what I made for the exchange and what I received.  I also need to share the other exchange pieces with you.  I'm going to save it for tomorrow.  Stay tuned!  I hope you enjoyed the retreat so far.


More tomorrow,

The Inspired Stitcher

Little bits of progress...bees, acorns and John Foster

Steady progress is being made on several projects lately.  Some more noticeable than others.  I hinted at one of them in my post last week.  Here it is!

Design: Bee Happy

Designer: Homespun Elegance

Fabric: 28 ct. mystery blue

Floss: as charted

Started:  7/26/13

Finished:  8/3/13

Completed: TBD (to be decided)

  

I picked up this little cutie back in June at the annual Stitcher's Getaway in Russellville.  It just so happened my dear friend Annette over at California Stitcher recently picked it up too.  We struck upon an idea of doing a mini stitch-along just the two of us.

 

I still need to attach the butterfly charm and ornamentify it.  I don't have any of the called for chenille to do the finishing so I'm percolating on what else I might do with it.  We'll see...

 

Annette is such a sweetie, she waited for me to catch up with her since I've been working on my class piece.  Thank you, Annette for a fun stitch along! It was so neat knowing you were stitching with me across the miles!  Be sure to pop over to Annette's in the next day or so to see her finished piece too. 

 

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Speaking of my class piece, here's my second bit of progress!  I finished my first cluster of acorns last week.  The acorn caps are time consuming but they sure look great when they are done.  The lower half of the acorn is worked using a brick stitch.  It was a first for me and really like how it showcased the over dyed floss!  It was a breeze to stitch too.

Here this same section with some leaves added.  I love the effects of the over dyed floss on the leaves too.  It really makes each one an individual just like real leaves!

I'm enjoying this project and wish I could just stitch on this all day.  Oh well, gotta work to pay for this addiction passion of mine!  Slow and steady is my mantra. This is going to be a stunning piece when I finish it!

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My final bit of progress is my August installment on the John Foster SAL.  This month we were to stitch the birds on either side, the chimneys, the bees between the chimneys, and the roof.  I finished up the roof and birds on Friday night at the LNS stitch-in.
 

 

I decided to work ahead a tiny bit since we will be adding the bricks to John's house the same month I'll be doing the finishing on the acorn piece.  Plus, I can already foresee a busy fall in my world...gotta plan ahead dontcha know!

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Welcome to my new followers.  I hope you find something interesting in my little corner of blogland.  I know we are all busy people and I appreciate you taking the time to let me know you are here. Thanks for stopping by today!


Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Ornaments

Design: Christmas Tree

Designer:  Prairie Schooler (mini card)

Fabric:  28 ct Natural Light Jobelan

Floss:  DMC as charted

Started: 11/1/11

Finished: 11/6/11

Finally some progress on my ornament stitching!  This is what I've been hauling around in my stitch bag for my lunch hour stitching.  Normally this would not have taken that much time to stitch but when you only have 45 minutes or so to stitch (you got to eat for at least 15 minutes of that hour dontcha know) it tends to stretch on.  I just love stitching Prairie Schooler charts.

Now I just have to decide what finish to do.  Part of me thinks a stuffed finish and the other part thinks I should use some mat board and do a flat finish.  What do you all think?

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Design:  Festive Redbird

Designer: Homespun Elegance

Fabric:  36ct. random scrap

Floss:  Crescent Colors, WDW and DMC as charted

Started:  11/6/11

Finished:  11/7/11

Since I got my "homework" done on Saturday night I treated myself to a new start on Sunday.  I knew this one would be a quick stitch.  It's been on my "to stitch" list for a while now and I'm so happy I finally got to stitch it.  This one is going to be hard to give away.  I really love it!  I know how I'll finish this one already.  I just need some time to work on it.  Maybe I'll see about that tonight.

Even though these are not finish finished, I wanted to share them anyway.  I actually feel like I'm making progress on my ornament list now.  It's a good feeling.

I'm also participating in Becky Bee's Christmas Ornament Challenge 2011.  The challenge will run from November 1, 2011 thru December 31, 2011.  The goal is to stitch Christmas ornaments in November and December and share them on the Blog set up by Becky Bee.  There will be a Gift Certificate sent to the winner of the challenge sometime in January. Pop over and check out all the goodness folks have posted so far.  It's really inspiring! 

Thanks for stopping by today.  Also, thanks for cheering me on.  This time of year things start feeling stressful when you stop to think about how fast time flies.  LOL!

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher