March WIPocalypse Update

The last month has been good to me!  I went to a retreat last weekend and was able to get some finishes in and get some things out of my UFO pile.

So, here are the things that weren't officially on my list that I knocked out at the retreat.

Victoria Sampler Beyond Cross Stitch Blackwork Ornament, Plum Pudding Needleart bird ornament from Holiday Samplings, and Shepherd's Bush Warm Heart. 

I also picked up two smaller samplers to work on at the retreat:

Forget-Me-Nots in Stitches Ohio Sampler Bookmark

Remember the Ladies Dutch Sampler by Thistle Threads

And here's Dutch Sampler finished!  I just put the final stitch in it Saturday night!

Next up is Family Sampler - final stitches put in Sunday morning!!  I hope to get this framed and up on the wall by our anniversary next month.  I already have a place picked out for it. 

For the rest if the "official list" no progress on my Liz Turner Diehl 17th Century English Stuart Garden, Drawn Thread Sanctuary, or Blackbird Designs Easter Parade.  The only progress I've made on my Prairie Moon Thine is the Trick and the Treat is to join a SAL with my good friend Loraine - we're going to work on this Friday nights.  I didn't do any stitching last Friday, so I'll start this next Friday. 

I'm also going to start working on a class piece every Sunday (my own version of Sunday School -LOL). The piece I'll start with is Betsy Morgan's Toy Chest Etui.  I'm missing part of the kit, but I have what I need to start back up with some of the stitching.  I'm sure by the time I finish all this stitching, I'll find the rest of the kit!

I was able to get some good progress on the Amish Dolls yesterday, and here is where I ended last night - I finished the girl and got more than half the boy done. I really need to find the rest of the kit because it contains the perle cotton I need for outlining. 

The last thing I started doing at the beginning of March was carrying a little kit in my purse to work on while waiting places. This is the snowman block from Blue Ribbon Designs Winter White Woodland.  I got a fair amount done during time I would otherwise be playing on my phone. I hope to get one ornament a month by doing this.

The topic for this month is:  Show us your favorite places to stitch.

I love to stitch where ever I can (except in a moving car - motion sickness!), but here is my favorite - my "nest" in the living room.  The little flannel rag quilt I made is for any fur-babies who want to lay with me.  I have a fireplace to my left and the TV in front - it's a very comfortable stitching spot!

Here's Odette laying on the quilt next to Mommy!

Retreat!

This weekend I was lucky enough to go to a local retreat with seven of my friends.  I went during the day, but slept at home - the best of both worlds (for me)!  The retreat was Thursday - Saturday, and I think I was able to get quite a bit done between the chatting and eating!

Thursday I worked on Dutch Sampler from Remember the Ladies by Kreinik designed by Thistle Threads.  I picked this back up last Sunday and worked on it a bit all week.  I hope to finish it next week.

Friday I was able to finish two small ornaments.  The first one was a Victoria Sampler Beyond Cross Stitch kit that I started about 14 years ago. 

The second one was a little Plum Pudding Needleart ornament from Holiday Samplings, I want to eventually stitch all four designs from this.

Friday we also worked on a group project.  It's the Le Petit Chapeau Pincushion from the book Purely  

Provence by Need'l Love. It was a bit of work, but I'm so glad we made these.  I LOVE my hat!  Thanks to Julie for the brown wool, to Teresa for the candlestick and Loraine for the lovely ribbon!

Friday we also worked on a group project.  It's the Le Petit Chapeau Pincushion from the book Purely Provence by Need'l Love. It was a bit of work, but I'm so glad we made these.  I LOVE my hat!  Thanks to Julie for the brown wool, to Teresa for the candlestick and Loraine for the lovely ribbon!

 

Here's a group pic of 5 of the hats that were finished. From left to right: mine, Loraine's, Dot's, Cindy's and Melanie's.  Too cute!

Friday night and Saturday morning we made some embellished pins to put in our pincushions. Here's a closer look at mine (thanks Kathryn for making me the butterfly pin and for the cute kitty!

Saturday I finished another WIP that I just unearthed - Shepherd's Bush Warm Heart. I started this as soon as it was released, and again put it aside for some reason.  Now I just need to put it in the cute little box.  I have the Christmas one ready to finish as well.

The last thing I worked on was this Ohio Sampler Bookmark by Forget-Me-Nots in Stitches. I got this when I ordered the samplers book Ohio is My Dwelling Place. I worked on the queen stitches and over-one, and promptly remembered why I put it aside!  LOL I really need to keep plugging away on this and get it finished.

I had such a fun weekend!  I can't wait until we do it again!

Joining a Few SALs

I love SALs - they are fun, you get to "meet" a lot of people, and they help keep me on track.

While I was reading WIPocalypse posts, I came across two more SALs that I thought would be fun to join. 

The first on I saw was the Stitching Bandit's Chatelaine Challenge. I remembered I had two Chatelaines languishing in my WIP pile, and when I went to sort through some of them yesterday, I found a third one!  I don't think I have any more, but as I get to the bottom of the pile, who knows what I'll find.

Anyway, the three Chatelaines I have are:

Mystery Sampler 1 (Friendship Sampler) - I used this as a Round Robbin in 2006.  It's only missing my initials, the date, and the beads (which are actually missing!  LOL - I need to go searching for them because I bought the whole kit, I just didn't send them around).

Mystery Sampler II - this is the one I completely forgot about!  I'm missing most of the pattern, so I'll have to go back to my computer and see if I can find it. I was keeping up with this for the first few sections, but I must have gotten distracted (what, me?).

The last one is Mystery II (Convent's Herbal Garden) - this one was gifted to me by my friend Jodi. She started it and I worked on it in a Round Robin where she sent WIPs around. She decided she would never finish it and sent it back to me - what a gift! 

I really like working on Chatelaine designs - I finished the four gem bell pulls (along with the test designs which I made into ornaments) and loved stitching them. Here's hoping I can get some of these done!

The next SAL I thought I'd join is Theme-a-licious 2014. I was intrigued by the March Madness theme ("Work on something different every day...it's madness...of the funnest possible kind").  I don't know that I'll work on a different project every day, but my goal is to work on 31 different projects throughout the month - this will allow me to work on a project for more than one day, and work on a few things each day on the weekends. I'll include any craft as "projects" - cross-stitch, wool appliqué, quilting, embroidery, knitting, spinning, etc.  

I'm going to a local retreat next weekend (Thursday - Saturday), but I'm sleeping at home. I hope to get a few little projects finished and out of my WIP pile.  Here are a few found yesterday that I'll take with me.

So there are some goals to help whittle that WIP pile down!