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So I have lots of good ideas and then real life gets in the way and I don’t manage to follow through. It’s frustrating, but common in my life.
I signed up for WIPocalypse 2014 and while I’ve been stitching, I’ve also managed to miss the posting dates for both January and February. I’ll see if I can do better in future. I even have the crazy idea of doing a combine Jan/Feb post before we get to March. We’ll see if it happens.
Today, I discovered a Chatelaine SAL. I’ve been working on Illuminated Medieval Sampler this year and finally got part 6 finished. I loved working on it, so I’m hoping to do more this year. I figured this is a way to do that. I just have to keep up sharing what I’m doing with the world as well. I intend to do my best.
I did make a decision about Defender of the Kingdom, with help for my lovely (and enabling) friend, Jennie. I’ve gone back to my original version and I’m really loving working on it. (Heck, I might even manage to remember to post a picture.) It’s lovely to have one project on a scroll frame and one on Q-Snaps so I have the variety and I’d love to make progress on both projects.
So, here we go, another plan that may or may not get followed through.
I’m going to go for simplicity this year and try to work on these two projects and make some progress on them. If I feel the urge, I can do some Autumn Queen too, but I really would like to get a decent amount done on the first two.
We’ll see what happens.
The beginning of the year is a dangerous time as I find I have all these ideas of what I’d like to do – and then, of course, reality sets in and I realise I can’t do all those things.
Anyway, as I wrote my WIPocalypse 2014 post, I said I was trying to decide whether to carry on with my restart of Defender of the Kingdom or to go back to my original one. While I love the speed of tenting 2 over 1 on 28-ct, I’m not as happy with the textural look of it. It’s a lot more “lumpy” than cross stitches 1 over 1 on 25ct, which is what I had done before.
Then another stitcher on the NZ cross stitch Facebook group asked about working on a HAED design and finding that the texture is different between the confetti and the large areas of only one or two colours. It reminded me that I wasn’t convinced I was happy with my restart.
So I pulled out both pieces and lay them on the floor together. I think I’m 90% decided I’m going back to the original one. It’s slower, but I think it looks better. I’m fussy about that and I think I’d be very unhappy if I got to the end and wasn’t happy with how it looked after all that work.
What do you think?
Top is tent stitch 2 over 1 on 28-ct; Bottom is cross stitch 1 over 1 on 25-ct.
I have learned the hard way, that I don’t do well with hard and fast goals these day. Between my health and Marcus’ needs, I can never be sure if I’ll be able to do things as I plan. It’s why I don’t commit to much these days, although I’ll do things if I can manage.
With it being New Years Day today, I’ve been considering over the last few days if I want to have any guidelines (not resolutions or goals) for my stitching and reading in 2014. I was going to say no, when I found WIPocalypse 2014 through Zeb’s blog Keep Calm and Cross Stitch.
I like this one. It doesn’t require me to plan to do huge numbers of projects, or work on a particular theme or stitch things from a particular designer. What it does do is encourage me to keep working on my current projects and have a chance to share and chat with other stitchers doing the same thing. That is exactly what I want to do.
So yes, I’m taking the plunge and signing up.
I have a few projects I want to focus on this year. Knowing my health issues, I’m not necessarily expecting to finish anything, but I want to make some progress, especially on the first three. (Links go to my Flickr album for each project.)
- Illuminated Medieval Sampler from Chatelaine
- Autumn Queen from Mirabilia
- Defender of the Kingdom by Tom Canty from Heaven and Earth Designs (I’m vaguely considering going back to my original version of this. I’ll make that decision before picking up a needle on it again, but that album is here.)
- QS Book Dragon by Lisa Victoria from Heaven and Earth Designs (possibly)
- Cinderella from Mirabilia (possibly)
I am considering letting myself start one small project as well this year. If I finish that, I can start another, etc. Right now I have two things that would fit into this plan and I remain tempted by both, but don’t want another actual start right now. (Links go to the designers’ sites.)
- Summer Garden from The Victoria Sampler
- Quaker Turtles from With My Needle
On top of that I have several quilting projects I want to keep up with. Not cross stitch, but otherwise they fit the WIPocalypse category just like my big stitching projects do. (Links for the Flickr albums again.)
- Doctor Who Along quilt
- Fandom in Stitches Doctor Who SAL quilt (I’ve actually finished the SAL part of this, but want to add some extra blocks for cushions.)
- Marcus’ Kiwiana quilt (I need to finish quilting this, but I’m waiting for winter. It has wool blankets as batting and it’s too hot for that right now.)
- Hexagons are Cool
(If you sensed a theme in the quilts, that’s because 2013 was Doctor Who’s 50th Anniversary year and lots of designers tempted me with cool things, although the hexgaon quilt I came up with on my own.)
Updates are to be posted around the full moon of each month and there will be a discussion topic as well. These are (as of the beginning of 2014) as follows:
Full moon dates and Topics for 2014:
- January 16- Topic: Introduce yourself, your projects, and any goals you have for the year!
- February 14 – Topic: How many projects do you generally feel comfortable having in progress at a time? Tell us about your one-at-a-time or rotation habits!
- March 16 – Topic: Show us your favorite places to stitch.
- April 15 – Topic: How do you keep your stash organized?
- May 14 – Topic: What designs or themes do you really wish you could find? What do you think is missing among stitching designs?
- June 13 – Topic: Have you ever been to a stitch gathering such as a retreat or a festival? If so, tell us about it!
- July 12 – Topic: It’s halfway to Christmas. Do you start your holiday stitching this early? If so, what do you hope to accomplish this year?
- August 10 – Topic: Tell us about your oldest and newest WIPs.
- September 9 – Topic: TBD
- October 8 – Topic: Are you a Halloween or Christmas stitcher?
- November 6 – Topic: TBD
- December 6 – Theme: Recap your accomplishments for the year! (Your finishes, your final before/after photos, etc).
As always with something like this, I have no idea if I’ll be able to keep it up or not. I want to, but real life has a habit of getting in the way. We’ll see and I’ll give it my best shot.
My helper
I’m so far behind with blogging my crafty projects, that I think I’m going to cheat and make a post for each project by linking to its Flickr album, as I am pretty much up to date over there. Before I do, I wanted to add a little background on each one, especially the new ones that I’ve started since my unintended blogging hiatus began.
Fandom in Stitches Doctor Who SAL
I can’t actually remember where I first heard about this one, but it was right as it was about to begin. I suspect it was through a link on Facebook though. Fandom in Stitches generally design foundation pieced quilt blocks of various fandom-related themes. (I now have file directories on my computer for a Harry Potter quilt, a The Hobbit quilt and part of a Lord of the Rings quilt as that one is still ongoing).
Differently, this quilt was to be made up of 12 embroidered blocks that could then be patched together however the stitcher chose, although there was a suggestion for the borders. A new pattern came out each week and I’m very proud of myself that I managed to keep up, including when I decided to redesign 3 of the blocks myself to make them more like the quilt I wanted to make. (That’s the 8th and 10th doctors and the final 12th block; see the PDF patterns category link in the sidebar to find them.) I’ve really enjoyed making this (I’m quilting it now) and look forward to showing it off once it is done.
Doctor Who Foundation Pieced QAL
If I heard about the previous project on Facebook, then this one was probably the same. It’s a foundation pieced quilt of 20 Doctor Who themed blocks. It had started just one week before the FiS one and its blocks come out on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month. So I wasn’t too far behind and I decided to take the plunge and join both. It’s been a little stressful now and then, but I’m having a lot of fun. I have never done a lot of foundation piecing and the first block was the TARDIS, which turned out to be rather a challenge. I’ve taken the lessons learnt on that one to heart and the later ones have, generally, been easier. I now have the TARDIS, a Time Lord, K9, SS M. de Pompadour, Bad Wolf and a Werewolf. This month’s task is the current sonic screwdriver. I have no idea what I’m going to do with this quilt when it’s finished, but I’ve decided that isn’t really the point, and if I’m enjoying making the blocks right now, that’s what counts.
Hexagons are Cool
Embarrassing as it to admit it, this quilt (started long before the two above) also has a (much more subtle) Doctor Who theme. I’m making a 900 hexagon small quilt made from scrap hexagons with Who themed ones scattered through it. Since I was last posting I have finished all the hexagons (I ended up with 923) and I have 8 strips of 10 hexagons sewn together.
Kiwiana Quilt for Marcus
When Marcus moved from his cot to a toddler bed, I quickly threw together a single bed sized quilt for him to have on the bed – ironically, I made if for the summer when it is more comfortable to sleep under a quilt that a full-blown duvet, and it’s been well used. (It has faded fabric patterns, which I consider a sign of good use.) Towards the beginning of this year, we faced up to the fact that he was getting too big for it – especially when he wanted one of us to lie beside him and we ended up on the floor. So we went looking for a bigger bed. After considering king singles and doubles, we took the leap and bought a queen size. We figured there was plenty of room if mum or dad needed to climb in with him and if we had a couple to stay, they could always use his bed while he slept on a camp bed in out room.
Only problem, the quilt was now way too small. So I started a full sized quilt for Marcus; my main requirement was that it not be too “childish” so that he could still use it as a teenager when dragons or trucks or lego or something similar might not be so cool. I finally found a lovely quilt that used Kiwi-themed motif fabrics in an issue of Australian Patchwork and Quilting and decided to go with that. In typical Kerry fashion I changed the pattern a bit and the colours a bit more, but I ended up with something I think I’ll be able to be proud of. I’ve started the quilting on it, but it is so big (the biggest quilt I’ve ever made) that I had to take a break – especially when I had Doctor Who embroidery and paper piecing to do to a deadline.
Did I tell you about Dirk the Dragon and the Weighted Blanket?
I so, I won’t bother you again. If I didn’t, let me know and I’ll add a “get up to date” post for that too.
Autumn Queen
By Mirabilia’s Nora Adams, this is the fourth in a series of seasonal queens. I have not only done the first three, but managed to slot all four into a Doctor Who (good grief, it shows up again) fanfic I wrote back in the late 1990s (I’m even willing to put that up if someone really wants me to). Somehow, I never got to the last one, so right now she’s lying about attached to some scroll rods, wondering is she’ll ever be stitched on again. I hope so, but I’m right out of cross stitch mojo right now, which is why I’m doing surface embroidery, hand piecing, paper piecing and quilting instead. I would like to get her done and finish the set one day though.
Defender of the Kingdom Restart and QS Garnet Restart
These are Heaven and Earth Designs charts that I (wisely? stupidly?) decided to restart as tent stitch 2 over 1 on 28-count instead of the 1 over 1 crosses I’d been doing on 25-count. The theory was that they would be a lot quicker to stitch that way, which would make up for the time I lost restarting. Maybe it would of worked, but that’s about where my stitching mojo went AWOL so I haven’t got all that far. I also had other issues with QS Garnet, that I’ll cover when I do an update post on that one.
Seekrit Project
The fact enthusiasm rules over sense will be confirmed with this one, where I started yet another HAED project (2 over 1 tent on 28-ct if you’re wondering) to be a present for Marcus. It’s run off with the stitching mojo and right now it’s at a stand still.
Cinderella and Illuminated Medieval Sampler
See all the above cross stitch projects that are currently unloved and uncompleted, but that I can’t put aside. I still really like both of these. I still want to finish them. I remain hopeful but realise it would be unwise to hold my breath for such a result. All the same, I’ve been smart enough not to restart either of these two.
So there you go. I think that covers the main projects. It’s my bedtime now, so I’ll work through my list and try to get some pictures up before too much time goes by. I’ll also try not to start anything else. (But there’s that dragon quilt for Marcus that’s still in the postage bag wanting to be done by this birthday in January…)
Really, I won’t start anything else. 🙂
I had to move the q-snaps, so here’s a picture of the whole thing so far.
Defender of the Kingdom, 31 August 2011
It has just been pointed out to me that I don’t have a picture up of what Defender of the Kingdom is supposed to look like when finished. Ooops, especially since it has been discontinuted and can’t be found on the Heaven and Earth Designs website. So here you go. (I’ve also included the book cover for which is was painted.)
Art for Defender of the Kingdom
I really like these books (although sadly the author never followed through on all the ones she had planned). I think they are out of print now, but if you see them lying around second hand and would be interested in an SF vision on the ancient Celts, give them a try.
The Silver Branch by Patricia Kennealy-Morrison
Defender of the Kingdom, 30th August 2011
Look, I finished a page!
Okay, technically it is half a page, as I’m working the design in half page strips, but who cares? It’s a page for me. That makes a grand total of 5/40! It always amazes me how much a difference it makes to put in those last few stitches in a particular area.
I have to stay careful and not do too much at once, but I’m excited about starting the next page on the strip as when I finish that, I’ll have half her face done. As always, I make no predictions on how long that will take, but I hope to have decent progress (and maybe even another page – or two!) by the end of the year.
Defender of the Kingdom, 13th August 2011
Defender of the Kingdom, 11th August 2011
For some strange reason, having a developing cold while Marcus is home from school, has me wanting to stitch (when I would have thought lying on the sofa reading would be easier, but it doesn’t feel like it would be at all). So here’s where I’m at with Defender of the Kingdom today. Hopefully there will be further progress pictures in the future, but at this point I just can’t say. All the same, looking at the picture I added of the first strip across, I have slowly made some progress since then.
Defender of the Kingdom, 20th July 2011
Sometimes Stitching 