Paper Pieced Doctor Who Logo

Paper Pieced Doctor Who Logo

As part of the Doctor Who Quilt Along, I got brave and tried designing my own pattern. I’m pleased with how it turned out and I’ve had several requests for the pattern, so here it is.

I only realised when it was too late to go back and fix it (or at least, I wasn’t willing to unpick that many seams) that I’d missed adding the curve at the top right of the D. that has been corrected and the pattern includes that curve.

Download this pattern from my Dropbox here.

WIPocalypse 2014

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:

1. January  16- Topic: Introduce yourself, your projects, and any goals you have for the year!
2. 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!
3. March 16 – Topic:  Show us your favorite places to stitch.
4. April 15 – Topic:  How do you keep your stash organized?
5. May 14 – Topic:  What designs or themes do you really wish you could find?  What do you think is missing among stitching designs?
6. June 13 – Topic:  Have you ever been to a stitch gathering such as a retreat or a festival? If so, tell us about it!
7. 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?
8. August 10 – Topic:  Tell us about your oldest and newest WIPs.
9. September 9 – Topic:  TBD
10. October 8 – Topic:  Are you a Halloween or Christmas stitcher?
11. November 6 – Topic:  TBD
12. 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.

So I couldn’t stop at 11…

John Hurt’s War Doctor Block

Having finished my embroidered Doctor Who quilt from Fandom in Stitches, life went on and we were treated to the wonderful 50th Anniversary Special featuring John Hurt as the War Doctor, followed just days ago by the 2013 Christmas Special where Matt Smith regenerated into Peter Capaldi.

I needed more Doctor Who blocks.

I developed a pattern for the War Doctor from online pictures of John Hurt in the role and finished stitching him last night. I’m really pleased with how it has come out.

If anyone else needs to stitch John Hurt’s Doctor, you can download a PDF pattern of the file from my dropbox here. I’d appreciate a credit if you use it, but I won’t drop dead without one.

Now all I need to do is wait however months it will be before we get enough good pictures of Peter Capaldi in costume as the 12th Doctor to make a pattern for him. My plan to to add the same kind of blue borders as I used in the quilt and then make a cushion with Hurt on one side and Capaldi on the other. Hopefully it will be finished before the end of 2014.