June WIPocalypse

 It's finally cooled down a bit, and I'm hoping to be able to catch up on some things! One of which is this WIPocalypse check in that I am...somewhat late for. Well. 

The question of the month was Half-year recap:  How are you doing with your goals so far this year? My goal for the year was to get from 58 WIPs down to below 50, and it's actually going quite well! In June, I finished the Phoenix (just need to give it a nice good iron...and couldn't bring myself to do that during the heat wave, but it's also on the list for this week!) and scrapped one WIP - it was Magical's Sampler SAL, which is never going to get finished due to her indefinit hiatus. So I finally decided to just bin it, and gave what was left of that fabric (a not quite evenly woven linen) away to a friend who wanted to try embroidery. That's technically two WIPs down, but I also decided to add my two small-ish crochet WIPs to the official count as they are taking longer than I thought. Will show them to you soon. So we remain stable at 53, which is still more than half way there!

I am especially proud of myself for getting the number of WIPs down without denying myself any new starts or just going for the quick wins - in fact, I have made a ton of progress on some of my bigger WIPs this year, as well! It's a nice balance, and I am hoping to continue this trend for what remains of the year (although I got a gigantic list of gift crafting plans again, oh my.). That's it for today, posts with pictures coming up soon! 

Poison Garden Part 9-13

 Is anyone else really struggling to stay productive in this heat wave? I'm fine slowly melting on my couch, binging some TV show and stitching, but staying on top of everything else - including blog reading and writing - has become a chore. I think I am slowly getting used to this and feeling more productive, however! So here I am, trying to catch up on some things I've been up to.

I've been slowly working on my Poison Garden - most of this stitching happened in May and June, although one page was finished last August (I just didn't want to post it for just one page back then). Here are all the pages I finished since you last saw this:

 This is all the stitching on this project finished! Now I still have the quite elaborate finish-finishing left to do, but my desk is currently covered in another miniature project I'm working on, so it will have to wait a while longer!

Kahla the Dragon

 This month, for the Cloudsfactory Magical Creatures Calendar, we got a good one: It's a dragon with her baby!

 I seriously loved this section. The colours, are so nice and soft and pretty, you got some really nice chunks tostitch so it was flowing nicely...in fact, I finished this way earlier in the month, just didn't get around to posting before. She was chonky in terms of stitch count, though, so I didn't continue working on the border. July is a small section though, so I'm hoping to get some extra done then!

Dragon Scale Wrist Warmers

 From the series 'small crochet projects I work on on the side' I bring you these dragon scale (officially it's called a crocodile stitch, but they're dragon scales to me!) wrist warmers I made for my friend Becky. I don't think she reads my blog, so I can share them with you even though I haven't send them off yet!

 She's a teacher and said she sometimes gets cold hands in the class room, but can't wear full gloves, so I hope these helps! It's a pattern I've used for ages by Bonita patterns, but I'm going pretty free form on the wrist/arm part of it. The yarn is a Lang Yarn Mille Colori Socks and Lace Luxe in Teal.

Now I just need to get around to sending these out...the parcel's been sitting here almost ready to go for two weeks, but sending stuff to the US makes me nervous, I always think I'm going to mess up the customs forms! 

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!