WIPGO 2021 – The XStitching Runner

Hi Everyone

I’m not sure about you, but for me, February felt like a whirlwind! This had a bit to do with it being a short month, but more to do with the projects I thought I was going to work on for WIPGO. I ended up changing my mind on some of the projects and I started a couple of new ones!

February WIPGO

In my post for the end of January, I noted that the patterns/projects Autumn Castle and Rainbow Zebra had been called for February. Knowing that February is a short calendar month and how socially busy I would potentially be, my goal changed for what I wanted to achieve for the February projects. Rather than 250 stitches per day for both projects, I wanted to at least get a page finish which I did and I was able to make a start on a new page for Autumn Castle. The first two images below show what the project will look like when it’s completed and what it looked like at the start of February.

This achievement gave me the excuse (as if I really needed one!) to start a new project because I really wasn’t feeling Rainbow Zebras – as colourful and beautiful as it is – I’m wanting to make some more progress on stitching my own designs. My other excuse is February is my birthday month and in the cross stitch world, I’ve noticed that some people choose to start a new project on their birthday or during their birthday month.

February new starts

Pisces drawing and quote

The image of the two fish and the Pisces symbol I found as part of a Pinterest search and I downloaded from the website www.rawpixel.com as a free image. Over the top of the Pisces image I’m going to be stitching the following quote that I found on Pinterest as well:

Pisces
Not everyone gets the same version of me. One person will tell you I’m a beautiful soul. Another will tell you I’m an ass-hole. Believe both. I act accordingly.
– Unknown

I’ve tried to find out who originally said this and I’ve found slight variations to the way the quote is written. There have been suggestions that the actor Tom Hardy had said words along these lines, but I’ve not seen any confirmation, so I’ve attributed the term ‘unknown’. This quote may seem a bit brash and harsh, yet when I first saw it as part of other searches I was doing, it resonated with me.

I’ve chosen to stitch this pattern on 25 count (I think) fabric that may be ivory or white. At the moment, I’m stitching around the letters and words of the quote. I’m not sure what colour I’ll use for the words yet, as I’d like them to stand out but not take away too much from the beautiful artwork!

Pink Bottlebrush Mini

This pattern is 100% my own and will be available on the Hot Cross Stitching website for purchase. I’ve named the flower a bottlebrush, even though I’m aware the flower type may actually be something starting with ‘G’. I’ve got the name ‘geranium’ on the brain and the image searches confirm it’s not right!

At the moment the picture looks like a lot of random pink stitches scattered across the black fabric I’m using. I still have a lot of colours I need to purchase! I’m stitching the pattern on 14 count black Aida and I’m not sure if I will have enough fabric for it, but I really needed to make a start on it. I’ve been eyeing off the full size pattern for a while and editing the mini edition off to get it to look the way I wanted.

February WIPs

Aside from the new February starts, I also did some work on Gundaroo Mini Mushrooms and Dew Drop Daisy. Below are progress shots of both projects as of February 2021:

March WIPGO Plans

The numbers 10 and 24 were called for March for the WIPGO Board (see below), which means that I should be working on Black and White Rolled-up Daisy by me and Moonlit Waters by Heaven and Earth Designs.

Since these two projects have been called, I’ve been focusing on Black and White Rolled-up Daisy. I’m really happy with how this one is going and I’m debating whether or not I’ll work on Moonlit Waters this time around. If I don’t work on it, I’m contemplating working on some of my own designs, but I’m not sure which one.

Black and White Rolled-up Daisy

As slow going as my motivation is for this piece, it’s nice to see some progress being made.

Aside from seeing the progress on this piece, another part of my motivation is to have something significant to show on my website. Currently the site is offline as part of some significant changes that need to be made.

Moonlit Waters Fairy

I’ve barely worked on this project, so I’m not going to include any progress pictures here. When I did recently put a couple of stitches into the project, it felt strange to be working with one strand over one 25 count fabric! What I like about this project and many of the others I’m working on now, is that the pattern is on Pattern Keeper!

Well, that’s it for me this time. I do aim to publish some more posts soon,

Until next time,

Happy Stitching!

Hi Everyone

Wow, it’s the end of January 2021 already! Where has the month gone? Here in Canberra, Australia we’ve had a pretty mild summer so far and it’s a vast difference to last summer thankfully!

As I’m writing this post, it’s overcast and there’s a very light drizzle rain. The temperature is comfortable enough for me to be barefoot with the windows open for fresh air and jumper to keep me warm enough. Over the last couple of days we’ve had some really nice rain falls to help put a little bit of water into the dams and water the plants.

WIPGO Update

All of which has been a really good excuse (if I really ever needed one!) to get a bucket load of cross stitch done. WIPGO has also made the world of difference and provided me with the additional motivation I’ve needed to make some significant progress on my projects. For the month of January, the numbers 13, 18 and 6 were called, which meant that I needed to work on Gingerbread Train (allocated to square number 6), Four Seasons Kittens (allocated to square 18) and square 13 being a free space where I could leave it as is or do whatever I wanted with it. For example, I could start a new project, buy a new project or threads, or work on another project that may or may not be on the board shown below:

The squares you see coloured in with a lavender or light purple were the numbers called for January. The cross or X and green Y mean that I have finished that project and met the goal or challenge I had set for that project. Also, the purple squares will never be called upon again for the rest of 2021. Which is why I have set my board up like I have in case I’m unable to meet the challenge I’ve set for each project and many of them are big projects, so I’m not going to be able to complete them by the end of this year.

The light blue squares are the numbers called for February. Because I finished the Gingerbread Train (second allocation, square 20) earlier than I expected, I get to replace it with another project that I’d forgotten about. Initially I was going to have Curglaff in square 20, but with the number 13 called in January, I started stitching it anyway because I wasn’t sure when the number 20 would be called and I really wanted to work on Curglaff (see January Finishes for pictures).

Autumn Castle

This project has been selected for square 4 and the image below on the left is what I’ve stitched as of December 2020 and the image on the right is what it will look like.

This project has been riddled with counting problems and fudging that it will be interesting to see how things go. It’s also a good thing that it’s on the WIPGO board so that it can get some attention!

Rainbow Zebras…or maybe a change?

The really good thing with this project is that it’s colourful and not full coverage (i.e. there’s still fabric showing through parts of the project).

However, I don’t know what it is about this project, but I’m starting to think I should swap this out for something else. It may have something to do with me working on some more patterns for Hot Cross Stitching that has me wanting to work on those instead of this one.

That said, there shouldn’t be anything stopping me from working on this one, Autumn Castle and working on anything else I want right?!

January Finishes

Gingerbread Train – Designed by Shannon Christine Designs

In an earlier post, I may have mentioned that I had finished the Gingerbread Train by Shannon Christine Designs and posted some pictures. In case you missed it, below is my finish and a comparison image of what the finished model looks like in the Ultimate Christmas magazine/book I got the pattern from:

Curglaff – designed by Michelle Bendy Stitchy

I’m a little surprised by how much I enjoyed working on this project. What made it so enjoyable and exciting were some of the threads I was using and knowing that it was designed by someone who I watch on a regular basis via Flosstube. If I hadn’t watched flosstube and Michelle Bendy or Mich Stitches of Punk Poodle Designs, I’m not sure if I ever would have come across this pattern! So ultimately, I was fan-girling a bit throughout the project!

Designed by Michelle Bendy of Bendy Stitchy Designs

Curglaff designed by Michelle Bendy Stitchy – progress as of November / December 2020

Curglaff designed by Michelle Bendy Stitchy – completed on 30 January 2021

It’s important to note that I’ve only stitched this project once and that the lighting for when I take the photos has a huge impact on how the fabric looks. The first image that shows my progress for the end of 2020 shows the truer colours of the fabric than the second image. However, the second image shows off the stitching!

I stitched this on 32 count (I think! My memory has faded a little) Belfast Linen that I dyed using orange and purple dyes from Spotlight and I stitched it using two threads of cotton over two threads of fabric (aka two squares).

For the word Curglaff, I used Cottage Garden Threads ‘Raisin’ and for the definition of Curglaff and the bath water, I used Cottage Garden Threads ‘Sherbert’. The rest of the project was stitched in DMC threads – some of them were the called for colours, some of them I swapped out for other colours because I didn’t want to go hunting through my other projects for the called for colours!

I might finish this one like the ideas I have for the Gingerbread Train (check out the related posts list at the end of this one) or put it into my smalls finish book…more to come on that one in later posts!

Four Seasons Kittens – Dimensions Gold kit

*Big sigh* I’m looking forward to completing this project. To me, it feels like I’ve been procrastinating its finish for so long that I’ve forgotten when I started it! Which is why having this project on the WIPGO board for this year is so important. I’ve surprised myself during January with how much I’ve gotten done and having time off work has helped too! So much so, I’ve gotten the Spring quarter completed and I’m looking forward to this project’s number being called later in the year. My fingers are crossed in hope that it’s in a month when I have a bit of time off work so that I make some significant progress on it.

The above images show how far this project has come since I started this blog and talking about this project back in February 2019. Which further highlights why I’m so keen to get it finished!

The good thing now is that I can breath a sigh of relief knowing that I’ve achieved my goal for this project during January 2021, and I can focus on the projects for February.

Haul

I’ve been aware of a craft store called the Crafty Frog at Kambah, ACT for many years. However, it wasn’t until the major bushfires of 2019/20 that I went to the store to deliver some donations and last week, to purchase something! In the grand scheme of things, Kambah is roughly a 30 minute drive from where I live and it’s a very comfortable and straight forward one. It’s taken me so long to do the trip because I’ve grown accustomed to the stores closer to where I live and being in the mind set that if I’m going to travel that distance, I need to make my trip worthwhile. For example, there may be some other stores I want to visit or a friend or family member.

In this case, I have a friend who lives in roughly that direction (still about a 20 minute drive away from the store), but close enough to warrant a round trip. I’d also reminded myself enough that the Crafty Frog has some specialty threads I wanted to check out and below is what I bought:

Threads purchased from the Crafty Frog – January 2021

Dinky Dyes, Brindabella Threads and CGT (aka Cottage Garden Threads) are all Australian based – the Brindabella ones being Canberra Region based!

I’m not completely sure what I’ll stitch with these yet, but I just love looking at them! The time, effort and creativity that each company / business has put into making these threads is awesome and amazing. To me, they are definitely worth the extra money!

Tag: WIPGO 2021

WIPGO 2021 – February Achievements and March Plans