Sunday, 26 February 2023

February WIPocalypse

 Hello again! How nice of you to check in with my for the February check in of WIPocalypse this year. 

The question of the month is What stitch-a-longs (SALs) are you participating in this year? This year, I didn't start any new stitch-alongs, but I'll be trying to get caught up (read: finish) a couple that I started, sometimes years ago, and dropped along the way. Currently I'm working on the Jacquie SAL and hope to finish it in April or May. Blogwise, I'm just doing my usual four - WIPocalypse (this one), Jo's Gifted Gorgeousness and 'The People Chose' SAL, as well as Rachel's Fully Finished Gallery! Not super exciting, but I got my monthly routine and I like it. And even with just those four, I'm often struggling to get my posts up in time!

On the other hand, this SAL is my place to show my monthly progress on The Loneliness of Autumn by Lovy Thy Thread, which I am stitching at the steady pace of one length of floss a day (or the equivalent amount of lengths per month). Last month, I had just started the 825, a very pretty (and comperatively bright) blue. This month, I finished that, and most of the next colour, which is 920!

Of course the 920 isn't all that exciting and just filling in gaps in the existing brown and reddish colours, but just 103 stitches left and then I get to move on to 471, which will show up for sure as it's a nice light green! Whee. There will be a number of nice colours this year, and I'm very excited for each of them.

Current status is 81,861/118,800 stitches or 68.91% done, with 1,604 stitches added in February.


Sunday, 19 February 2023

The Jacquie SAL - Part 5

I just sat down to work on my monthly part of the Jacquie SAL, and realized I never even showed you the part I finished in January! That won't do of course, so here we go. 

So in January I stitched part 5, and that covered the second main panel. It has a lot less stitching than the first panel, so it stitched up quickly, but I still think it's very pretty!

That leaves two panels, and me with a choice: I could do the easy version of the SAL, and that basically copies the first to panels, or the expert version, which is the same motifs, but with more specialty stitches and even some stump work. I'll keep you guessing, but I assume it's pretty obvious what I'm setting out to do!

Thursday, 16 February 2023

Guardian of Wayfarers - 80 Hours

Guardian of Wayfarers is supposed to be my current focus project - I'm stitching it to give to a very dear friend - but the reality is, I hadn't touched it since September! For some reason or other, I was always working on something else, or there was something that needed working on, however you want to put it.

But now, after months of negligence, I'm finally back with my favourite dragon, and loving it!

I spent ten hours, mostly on the red and brown leaves, and aren't they gorgeous? Each colour looks so drab and boring on its own, but when they all come together, wow! I also completed the upper left quadrant and am working into the upper right now, so there will be some more foliage and trees in my near future, and I'm very much looking forward to it! 

Currently, this project is at 13,235 stitches or 35.85% (that's including back stitch, of which there will be quite a bit) and I'm hoping to get to 50% before I get too distracted again. We'll see how that goes!

Wednesday, 15 February 2023

February Gifted Gorgeousness

It's February, and after the day chocolate and flowers we had yesterday, we got a day of general love and generosity today for Jo's Gifted Gorgeousness!

To start things off, I got the little heart I send out for the Secret Stitching Sweetheart blog hop - my yearly Valentine's present for my husband. This year, I stitched up 'Binary Heart' by StitchBucket. I finished it in a little hoop, and before you ask, I have no idea if it actually says anything - the pattern states 'it says I love you in robot' and that's what I'm sticking with!

 

I've also been working on Snuggle Up, the blanket that was a gift (well, the yarn was) from a group of friends for my birthday last year. As the rows grow endlessly long, it's slooooow going, but I made a good start at the second to last pattern...not sure I'll get it done by my birthday, but it won't be too long after!

Last but not least, I started a little Amigurumi (but one with a ton of parts, it seems...) for a friend. Not much to see yet, but I won't tell you who it is - can you tell yet? If not, maybe next month!



Tuesday, 14 February 2023

Secret Stitching Sweetheart 2023

Happy Valentine's Day, my friends! Whether you celebrate alone, with a loved one, with friends or not at all, if you do have some time, come join us for Jo's lovely Valentine's Blog Hop! Each of us got a picture from our secret stitching sweetheart to post, and later we will hop around to see who got ours. 

This year, Jo forwarded me this pretty, colourful stitching. Invaders need love, too!


I'm currently still at work (don't tell my boss) but looking forward to hopping around all the blogs once I get home, and finding my secret sweetheart!


Friday, 10 February 2023

February Fully Finished Gallery

The first week-or-so of February has been gone in a flashy blur for me, but here we are, I remembered and even managed to get a finish done in time for the second check-in of Rachel's wonderful Fully Finished Gallery! Well, technically, Felix did the finishing, but I did some of the work too. 

A week ago, I went to a flea market, which was a bit of a disappointment (because I guess most of the sellers only came in on Saturday, and most of the ones who *were* there Friday evening were already packing up at 5:30! But at least I did find the one thing I really came for, and that was a super cool frame for 'For Every Problem'. The seller said something about 'Art Noveau' but I don't really know about these things. I do think it's a pretty good fit though, both in size and colour!

It's old enough that taking out the old picture was a bit of work, but then I turned it over to Felix, he did his magic, and voilá!

I think I wanna bring this one to my office and put it on the wall there. Seems like a very fitting saying for an IT person, doesn't it? Very pleased with how it turned out!

Monday, 6 February 2023

Possibilities - 40 hours, 1 page

In the spirit of putting some love into my full coverage designs, Possibilities (also known as Eveelutions) came out in January. I put in another ten hours, and that was finally enough to finish the first page (although I got some decent overflow into pages 2 and 8, so it's not quite as bad as it sounds!).

What's more exciting, I'm leaving the greens behind for now, making a foray into the blues! Lots of confetti still, but how fun.


 This is currently at 13,307 stitches (tent) and just 3.4%. Still a long way to go, but I think it's going to be fun every time I pick it up!

Saturday, 4 February 2023

The people chose: Way with Words

It's the first Saturday of the month, so although I can't find Jo's link-up post yet, I assume that means it's time for the February iteration of her wonderfully creative all-purpose SAL. But it also means I have to go off just the title without any post of hers to cheat off of, so hopefully I'll be getting it right!

February's theme is "Way with Words" which I'm taking to mean all our stitching with text. I love stitching letters, but I don't do it all that often! However, I just finished this one a couple weeks ago (and just picked a frame out too, so hopefully it'll be all finish-finished soon).

I also finished a couple other wordy designs over the years - here are a couple of my favourites: