August came and August is going.

August has been a busy month, thankfully work hasn't been too bad, but did try to get a jump on my September deadlines.  I know I could and should be retired by now, but I do enjoy what I do and it provides extra money so I can get all those shiny new things :) and you know us squirrels do love our shiny new things.  I have to admit, I have been pretty good, I only added a couple of charts and some 36 and 40 ct. linen to my stash this month.

This is my WIPocalypse check in for the month of August.  WIPocalypse is the brain child of Measi and her website can be found here:

Wipocalypse

Question of the Month: What is your comfort zone regarding the number of projects to have kitted and in progress at any one time? 

I currently have about 37 cross-stitches in progress and about 5 needlepoint in various stages.  I am not counting the WIPs that have transitioned into UFO's, they will get pulled out one day and finished as in 40 plus years of stitching I have only totally abandoned ONE project that actually got tossed.  That was a wedding sampler that I started when I married my first husband - Never got to putting names in it, and thought about finishing it for someone else, but in the end I knew it had to go as it only held bad memories. If I were to add in the UFO's then I would have close to 50 started projects.

I know I have at least 10 more charts completely kitted up by me and probably 20 that were purchased as kits.  There are about 5 more partly kitted, meaning I have threads but no linen yet, or linen but no threads.  

I'm good with that number and plan to start more before the year ends, so I think anything under 100 is good for me.  I'm a process stitcher, it's the journey that I enjoy, not the end product.  While I do like a few finishes each year, I'm not obsessed with finishes.  I love the starting process, I love to sit and look at my charts, find that perfect linen, get all the threads together and then start.  When I'm in a starting mood I will put between 100 and 500 stitches in and then put it away.  I love the second time I pull it out, as it still feels new to me and love seeing the progress and for the really big projects that thrill spills over into the 3 or 4th time they come out.  I'm not one for just putting in 50 or 100 stitches except for those that I really don't want to work on, then I try to do a little something.  When I pull something out to work on, I like to work on it for 3 - 5 days so you can really see some progress. When it gets to 20% - 80% is when it tends to get ignored a lot, but once I get to that 80% point, then I'm all about the finish.  You might be say - you just said you're not obsessed about the finish, but here you are saying you do.  Well most of my projects are BAP, so it takes a long time to get to that point.  I do sprinkle in a few smaller projects that I can finish during the year, but the big ones take me years to finish.

So what have I gotten done this month?

I think this one is Ann Kirby 1845 by Needlework Press which was a kit I got from a shop exclusive.  It was a center start which I don't do very often anymore.  I got the house outlined and the roof started filling in, got the motif to the left completed.  My goal is to work to the top of the sampler so I can work on the border and make sure I've got lots of linen for framing.  People are always saying how much they love doing houses - me, not so much.  Not sure how I've ended up with some many samplers that have house!!  I like the motifs that you an do and feel like you've accomplished something.  

Next one up is A Mind Independent & Free by Carriage House.  I was happy to get that alphabet done and to start on the section below.  I have about 25% of the zig-zag completed and then started the motifs below.  The horse is off by one stitch because my zig-zag was off.  I corrected the zig-zag, but going to leave the horse where it is and just remember to count off the center motif and not the horse.  I will place the horse on the other side the same so they will look alike.  

I really love this chart and it's saying, it's part of my inspirational saying that I will have on one wall when I move into my Grandma suite that we are adding on to our house.  We will sell the house to my daughter with the understanding that my hubby and I have a life long lease that can't be broken.  The suite will have its own bathroom, closet and sitting area.  Huge windows for lots of daylight for stitching.

This one is Inspire Other's by Heart's Content and it's done on maybe 32 ct over one.  The center is done all wrong - shouldn't have been filled in, but not going to take it out now.  got the first border around it done and found out that I was off on thread :(. Not going to correct, I'm good with it being off and will keep going forward.  I started the rabbits but think I took it out because I didn't like the color.  I might have to pull a new color for this one - this was a kit, so mostly using the colors as called.  This one doesn't get a lot of love each year, but it might get more now that the center is all competed and the borders around it done.  

This is my Nevermore by Lila Studios. I love this one and really wanted to get the gate done.  Don't you just love that and the tree?  This is a page finish - only 3 more to do, this one will get completed in 2024 for sure I love the quaker motifs and can't wait to do the Raven!!  It's been started, but wasn't in this picture.  Will go right and finish up the top border and the top of the Raven next.  Not sure it will get pulled out again this year, but maybe if the mood strikes me.  Not a lot of colors, but really love the dark teal.

The last is The Raven by La-D-Da

 and it is a finish.  Again, I love the Raven, you can't tell from this picture, but it's a dark purple.  I changed all of the colors.  There are a couple of mistakes, but I'm Ok with them as they aren't obvious.  I am going to get this one framed as soon as I'm done with the second one that I've been working on, but not going to picture here - saving it for next months.

I am really loving WIPGO and find that it gets me to touch things I wouldn't normally work on.  I am also loving WIP Warriors, I'm doing Work Your WIPs where you can only start a new one if you have a finish.  I have started a few new ones, but those have been small Shepherd Bush kits that I want to get done.  I'm behind on the number of those I thought I'd have finished this year, but did manage to get 3 done!!  I have 4 that I could start this year, but thinking I will just keep working my WIPs and not add to my stack, besides I don't have any more project bags to put them in or room for them.  Need to re-organize my WIP upstairs.  The UFO's are in the basement where they can't taunt me.

Until next month, may your needle always win at thread chicken, may your counting be accurate and if it's not, may the error be small and liveable so you can go forward and not backwards.

Sandy