Good-bye 2022, Hello 2023 - WIPocalypse final check in for 2022

 Wow what a year this has been.  I think I made some progress in my stitching, the final question is to re-cap your year with before and after pictures.  Given that at the beginning of the year I had a major computer wipe (not my doing, but the shop that was supposed to repair my screen wiped my hard drive without telling me).  So my before pictures are mostly missing.  

I did have 6 finishes, 3 of them I actually framed and one needs to be finished into a wool tray.  

 Tomayto-tomato by Hand's On Design is supposed to be finished into a wool type tray.  I got this one to try something new, there is also a tomato that you stitch and finish as such. That will be done at some point, but in no hurry.  I wanted to get this part done, and plan to finish it in 2023.  

The Right to Vote by Mani di Donna.  this was the 3rd and final project related to the 100 year anniversary of the women's right to vote.  My Great-Aunt was very active in this movement in our small community, she also was all about probation and very superstitious and refused to get on the Titanic when 2 sailors talked about burial at sea.

Mercy-Mercy by La-D-Da.  I saw this one at a shop in Louisville stitched on the wall and knew I had to stitch it.  It was a fun stitch and went fast.  I really love it and it will hang in my granddaughter's room at some point.  I want her to be a good person and thought these small messages would help.

Walk Softly by La-D-Da, I started this one and was so far off that I put it away and totally forgot about it until I found it hiding in the depths of my bins.  Totally forgot that the frog had played hard in the pond and started to stitch it, then unstitched most of it and re-stitched.  but like a bag of chips, I couldn't stop at one stitch.  the colors are wonderful and I love it.

The next two are part of my Noah's Ark Afghan that was started back in 1997 or maybe 1998.  It is my oldest WIP that is still in a rotation of sorts.  It doesn't get worked on often as I've lost interest in it.  this was a kind of stitch along before they were called that, each month they released 2 animals (I think, can't really remember anymore - I'm old) and then the middle section with the Ark.  Well the middle wasn't released forever and a day, so while I got all the animals it took forever for the middle and I lost interest.  While I was in a stitching group that used to do quarterly late night stitching, I would bring this one because I could stitch an animal or most of one.  When I moved this one got put aside and not worked on for years.  Anyway, it's back out and I'm through S now, so we'll see.  My goal is 2028 to have it done, it was on my WIPGO board in 2022, but I didn't. make my goals.

I had some other WIPs that were worked on - 

I had these on my WIPGO board thinking it would encourage me to put some actual time stitching them.   I really love the Peace Angel by L&L - but boy the wings are huge and so slow going.  I started to work on the dress, but didn't make a lot of progress.  I did a lot of filling on the left wing this year.  This will come out again this year.  I'd like to get the right wing down to the same spot as the left.  Well see.

The Letter A Mermaid by Nora Corbett is not my favourite. The WAVES are horrible to do!!  .  I did make progress and the next time it comes out I will do more of the waves.  I've been picking areas to focus on in hopes that I an get sections completed.

The next 4 were started in 2020 or prior and worked on in 2022.  The Vexation Sampler will be a 2023 focus, but the rest will be worked on, maybe.....

Vexation Sampler by Plum Street.  I love the multiplication table and while there are some mistakes that will cause me problems once the numbers get to 3 digits, I'm not going back and redoing.  

I would love to have this one done this year and again hang it in my granddaughter's room.  While schools don't teach time tables anymore, I think knowing it helps.  So we'll do the time tables with or without her teacher's permission.  Old school isn't always bad school.

The next one is Family by Dragon Dreams.  Not sure if this one will ever be finished.  I did finish all the words this year and love how they came out.  The hand on the right was completely taken out and re- done.  So it is on track, but when I started the hand on the left I discovered it's off a column of stitches :(. So I will need to take it out, at some point.  I have another one like this for the sign of Friend, not sure if it will get started or not.  

Coming to America by With Thy Needle was a restart in 2022, for the 3rd time :(. I started it on a 40 ct, but didn't like the fabric, then started on a 28ct, but didn't have enough fabric so started over one and decided that wasn't going to work for me.  Finally re-started it a 3rd time and so far it's going well.  The water and boat are done. Need to get more of the birds in the sky done.  I want to get the section under the waves done enough that I can drop down and do the next section - which is the section that had lots of small motifs and will be fun.

Different people have completed this and some have omitted sections, or personalised if they had relatives listed, but so far I have no plans to do either.

Angels Song by Shepherd's Bush. This one has been in my WIPs for awhile now.  I tend to stall out - the band in pink above all the houses, that was a hard band because you had to make sure your stitches were correct.  The houses took awhile to do and the brown/goldish band under that, which was re-stitched 3 times before I found my rhythm to get it done.  I'm hoping to get this one finished in 2023.  I have it out by my stitching chair to work on when I'm done with this blog.  I have another SB that I want to start that is a large sample like this one, that will take its place.  but this one needs to be finished first!!

And then there were the new starts - and boy did I go crazy on those.  I'm not going to list them all, as many were recent starts and will be discussed on the first introduction post in January.  So here are the 2022 starts that were part of my 22 in 22 challenge - never did have 22 projects being worked on, but that is being corrected in 2023 - you'll see as the year goes one....

while most of these were started in 2021 - it was in that window that I could do new starts in one of my groups.  

Dog's Last Will and Testament - by Heartstring Samplery.  I love this one, it's mostly words and plan on having this one done for my daughter.  it was off by one thread - but I fudged it and think I'm back on track one :). 

Eye of the Sparrow by Heartstring Samplery - I love this one, I saw it stitched years ago and got it, but it took me a while to actually start it.  I like the small motifs, I can do one or two and move on to something else.  This is basically page 1 finish.  this one will get worked on in 2023, but not a finish.  

Mary Ann Aldred Sampler by Needle Work Press - this one was an exclusive from a FB group, but I believe it's been released now so anyone can get it.  I love the swan and that is what prompted me to get it.  The mouth of the swan was originally charted open, but to me that was creepy, so I stitched it closed.  

This is page 1 almost finished, need to do the words under the Swan, which are over one.  This one could be finished in 2023 as it is going quickly and I think it's maybe 4 pages?  the Swan is in the middle of the design. 

This one is Elizabeth Eyles by Scarlett Letter.  One of the floss tubes that I watch (Brenda and the Serial Starter)  decided to have this as Laura's 60th birthday start.  While she never finished it, and I think has abandoned the whole thing now, I like it.  Again I finished page 1 of the charts, can't remember if this one is 4 or 6 pages.   Page 2 will have a huge bird, which is what drew me to this design.  The colors are wonderful and I'm stitching it in silks which are great to work with, except when my hands are rough, so I spend the day putting lotion on them whenI know I'm going to stitch with silk threads.  This one will come out, but most likely won't get finished in 2023 as it won't be a focus.   You really need to count with the border.

The next one is a baby sampler and the chart is from a kit I got back in 1980?  or maybe even in the 1970's.  I did the original for my daughter and while re-creating my list of charts after my disaster, I found this chart and decided to do it for said daughter's daughter.  She has no clue I'm working on this and the goal is to have it completed in March for Peola's second birthday.  What I want to do is take it to her house and hang it where her's is currently hanging and see if she realizes it's not her's anymore.  The colors are totally different and the the original was stitched on Aida with my stitches going in all directions and the back was a total mess.  So hopefully my stitching has improved in 40 plus years.  I have 2 more large motifs to do, a house and a giraffe and then the words, which should go quickly.  I'm doing it all in silks as the original threads were some off brand, so no way to pull DMC or Anchor, maybe they were coats?  

A Mind Independent and Free by Carriage House Samplers.   This chart was an impulse buy, I was looking through some charts on line and saw it and just new I had to have it!!  Can't remember the exact saying on it, but to paraphrase it says that it is more important to have a mind of your own vs. going along with others for material things.  the S and W will be in green vs. the black the rest of the letters, and I will put the date finished within those letters as those are my initials.   Not sure if this one will get done in 2023, but going to give it a go!!

This is Alice by AuryTM.  I think I've done a little bit more than this, seems like the motif on the left at the top is almost done now and the green motif is completed.    This one is so much fun and I'm hoping to have it done in 2023 so I can start Oz which is all kitted up and ready to go.  I have several more - like Peter Pan, Mary Poppin's, Cinderella and Jack & the Bean Stalk.  This are fun to stitch.  Like my Piglet needle reminder?  That is one of my favourite.  

The last one that got some loving during 2022 is WITCH by Glendon Place.  I'm starting the witch in the middle, you can see the tip of her hat.  Not sure this one will get done, but it does stitch fast, so maybe. WITCH stands for Women in Total Control Here, love it!!

So that is my year in blog.  I don't stitch everyday, but I'm trying to get into the habit of stitching at least 4 or 5 days a week.  The weekends are generally my longer stitching periods.  If I can get 2 -3 hours each day I'll even make more progress in 2023.

So time to close the books on this year and look forward to the next.

Sandy