May WIPocalypse

 WOW, I am behind - but the sad thing is, I don't even think the 13th is my record for a late WIPocalypse! Anyways, better late than never, so here we go. 

How has your May been? Mine was...slightly chaotic. We had a couple holidays, which was nice, but also lots of work stress. First week of June we had some friends visiting, and now there is more work stress due to some people being out sick. Crafting is a welcome reprieve and I try to do some every night to keep my sanity!

Now, to my stitching. In May, I had one start (the Phoenix) and one WIP finished (the tea party). Also still working on a bunch of smaller crochet projects that I'm not officially counting (as I should have some finishes soon) so my official WIP count is stable at 53!

For May's question - Give us five projects in your stash right now that you’d really love to start – and why you haven’t yet.

Oh gosh, there's so many. To pick just a couple - these are 

The Greenhouse of Oddities by LolaCrow Designs

Summer Quakers by Rosewood Manor

 

Winter Retreat (a Dimensions Gold kit)

Florence Nightingale by Mirabilia

Piggie in the Middle by Bothy Threads

 I think the reason I haven't started them yet is that I got more WIPs on the go than I feel comfortable with already...how ever, I *have* been starting a couple things I wanted to start for a long time lately, so I'm sure these will get their turn soon! In fact, Summer Quakers is pretty much set to be started in September (or maybe another one of the set if I find a fabric I like, but I got one picked out for summer.). I'm sure you'll see all of these show up in due time! 

Maynia - Stitching on Fire

 Yesyes, I know, May is over - and I don't really participate in the craziness that is Maynia - but this year, I wanted to try something different. A while ago, I bought the new book by Iris Kleinsbussink aka NeedleLot Designs. It's full of lovely patterns and I was craving a new start, so I decided to try something different - at the beginning of May, I'd start the Fiery Phoenix (it had to be her - I had the perfect fabric in stash!) and see how far I could get during the month of May.

Of course, best laid plans and everything...I didn't stick with the project quite as much as I had planned, and got distracted by some other WIPs, but I still got a good chunk done. This is a little over 50% of "Fiery Phoenix" - isn't she gorgeous on this fabric?

 If you are quite in love with this fabric as I am - it's Devil's Kiss by xJu Design, on a 32ct Evenweave. I think I will keep this one out and continue working on it to get a finish soon!

Thaddeus the Wizard

 This month, I worked on the May section of cloudfactory's 2013 (?) SAL, the Magical Creatures calendar. Meet Thaddeus, the Wizard:

 With his blue robes he reminds me a lot of Merlin from Disney's Sword in the Stone. And doesn't that owl look just like his trusty companion, Archimedes? While he is not necessarily what I'd call a 'magical creature', he did turn out really cute! The panel has a lot going on, lots of small bits and pieces and lots of colour changes. So I'm looking forward to the June panel, which will be much simpler. As you can see I already prepared a new section of the frame, so I'm ready to dive in!

It's a tiny Tea Party!

 If you've been a long time visitor of this blog, you know that all kinds of crafts lurk on my WIP list...and this year, I am determined to finish some of them!

One of them was a miniature kit a friend had picked up for me at her local discount crafts store. The design was absolutely adorable - a little Alice in Wonderland tea party in a plexi glass cylinder - but sadly, the 'discount' quality showed in the materials. A lot of it was very frustrating to build, several parts had to be painted, but the paint that was included was almost dried up, a ton of stuff had to be made from wire and glued together (and if you ever tried glueing wire, you know why that's an issue!)...frankly, by the time I had all the single parts finished, I was quite disheartened because most of them didn't look very neat. But since most of the work was done at that point, I continued putting everything together, and I have to say, now that it's all combined into one big (small) scene, that distracts from the little imperfections and I am actually very pleased with the result! 

 

Sacrifice - Page 2

 In late April, I suddenly felt an urge to work on my full coverage projects again, so I pulled out Sacrifice, my tentacle lady.

It feels like ages since I worked on her, and I know why...this corner I started in is so confetti-y! All the little waves and tentacle bits. Other areas of the design have bigger waves and tentacles so will be quicker. Or so I hope! 

 Either way, I stuck it out and finished the second page (although it almost broke me). But it does look sooo good, doesn't it? I can't wait to see more of this! This is just 4.35% of the whole design, so I got a long way to go yet, and page #3 will still be pretty intense...

Yipyip - it's a Martian attack!

 I still owe you one of my April finishes - actually, I've been meaning to get a better picture of him, be he's a little shy and keeps turning away! This is the best I could get:

 Isn't he fun?! A friend of mine discovered the pattern last year, and I just had to make one. It just took me way longer to get around to finishing him than it should have! He got table tennis balls for eyes, pipe cleaners for antenna, and the lining is made from some old pajama pants (so I lucked out of having to do all the sewing I'd have had to do using plain fabric). Not sure what I'll store in his stomach yet...maybe socks?

Here comes Octonaut!

 I've been trying to balance working on my WIPs with some small new starts this year, and last month, it was time for another new start! Tiffstitch over at Tiffstitches Blog is doing a hundred starts this year, and through her posts I discovered a couple new designers and I might have picked up a couple patterns along the way! One of them being this cute little space octopus, or Octonaut, by SonovaStitch. He's so sweet, and I had the perfect fabric in my stash from an ornaments pack by Under the Sea Fabrics, so I just had to get and stitch him!

 

 He was a fairly quick stitch, and I really like how he turned out, but now I gotta figure out what to do with him! What holiday do you use an octopus ornament for, is what I'm asking myself...?