December WIPocalypse

Today is the last Sunday of the month. It's also the last Sunday of the Year. The WIPocalypse SAL is a fun one with the purpose for us to finish all our WIPs before the Apocalypse. I'm pretty sure I will hold it off forever with the stack of WIPs I have.

In January I had grand plans. I always do at the beginning of the year. But I really stuck to it pretty good. I picked out my list of 20 projects for the Soulful Stitching Group and wanted to get as many of those finished that I could. I finished 12 of them! So I'm very happy with that. I also didn't start a lot of unplanned pieces throughout the year.

Let's see which unplanned projects I couldn't avoid...

Ocean in Bottle I bought and started in March. It was too cute to pass up. Beer Dragon had to be in my life along with 3 seasonal pieces (Snowy Visitor Foxwood Sleds, Thankful Pumpkins, Turkey Time Freebie from Erica Michaels) in November but I did finish up the seasonal pieces. 2 pieces (Durene Jones 3D Ornament, Please Santa) popped up this month that I hadn't planned but again I finished both of them. I've finished 33 projects this year. So I'm happy with that!


So let's see what I've worked on since November 25th the last WIPocalypse check in...

Beer Dragon from Paine Free Crafts -- 4 Days. I'm back on this one right now. So I will wait and update this one later with a hopeful page finish.

Christmas Celebration Sampler from Frosted Pumpkin-- 2 Days. Just couldn't get into this one. Hopefully sometime in 2019 I will finish it off. Here is where I'm leaving it right now...

Snowman Cubed Ornament from Durene Jones -- 7 Days Start to Finish...

Durene Jones December Calendar -- 4 Days Start to Finish...

Please Santa Stop Here by Rovaris -- 6 Days Start to Finish...

Before last year I counted all my WIPs in my tubs. I had 75. I marked off 9 from the list. I have added 5 new ones to the tubs so now I have 71 going into 2019. No I haven't counted the tote of things I have in my stash that could be started. No I'm not going to either so shush haha. I've picked 36 pieces for my new YOW 2019 list. But I did it right this year (mostly). The Lizzie Kate and Nautical year count as individual pieces. So does full coverage pages like Beer Dragon. I will be back to reveal my choices I picked out beginning of 2019. I can't wait to see what lovely comments I get in 2019. Thanks for reading my blog. I love writing it!

New Finish and Christmas Stash

Guess what I finished just a little bit ago today...

(Finish #33) December 27th, 2018

Please Santa from Rovaris

Stitched on Zweigart 18ct Polished Brass Gold Aida

Threads are Suggested DMC

Started Dec 19th. Took 6 Days.

I love how it turned out. I can't wait to finish it off into a pillow like the leaflet photo shows. This will more than likely be my last finish of 2018. I'm really happy with 33 finishes for the year. I will be back sometime before the new year for an official wrap up post hopefully.

I did figure I would go ahead and share my Christmas stash happiness that I received...

I got a new sewing machine!! It says easy threading system and has an instructional DVD even. One review said a lady got it for her grand daughter and she could operate it without adult supervision so that's hopeful that I just might be able to figure it out haha. In this photo is some fabrics I also got, new scissors, new fabric cutter and a replacement blade for it, some ribbons, some thread, and a pile of DMC that was in my Advent Countdown boxes.

New Stash from Mom. Let's see from the upper left is Primitive Hare Black Pearl Mermaid, Nebby Needle My Country Tis of Three, Lizzie Kate's A Little Beach, 2 New Q-Snap huggies. Back to the left Rovaris Sea, Hands on Design Oh Say Can you Sea, 2 of the Little Bits Seasons by Erica Michael's the other two seasons still haven't arrived from my order I placed in September! A new set of QSnaps so I can leave one at the cabin, last row shows a cute kit from Romy's Creations that I can't find a link to. It's a little hedgehog that you stitch on a wood design, a sticker that says I love Cross Stitch, and a neat bag with a see through part so you can see what's inside the pouch.

Fred got me 3 adorable new dragon charts from Etsy...Top 2 are from LoLaLottaShop Lighthouse Dragon and Pirate Dragon. Let's Drink Beer from Imaginating came with a hint that it would look really nice in our cabin. Last one is Dragon Eye from EvasDesignsBg.

I'm one happy girl! I've decided I'm going to start Dragon Eye on New Year's Day if I can wait that long....or it could be New Year's Eve haha.

Better not leave out Jeremiah. His most exciting things are a new gaming chair and a pile of new games to play...

He didn't know how much he wanted the new gaming chair. I sat in his old one and noticed the padding was gone. He is in love with this new better padded chair plus it's green (kind of lime green) and that's his favorite color. Fred got several new HAM radios that do things I don't understand but he's happy and that's all that matters to me. Mom got some new games that we've enjoyed playing. We all got some movies and some other goodies that I can't remember right now of course. It was a perfect year. We were together and healthy so that's what really matters. We definitely had a very Merry Christmas!! I hope you did too.

It's Almost Time!

2 Sleepies till we head down to my Dad's house for our Christmas traditions to start. Fred (hubby), Jeremiah (son), and me head down to stay overnight with my Dad and Step Mom for the night before the night before. We watch movies together with National Lampoon Christmas Vacation a requirement. Christmas Eve we do presents with them in the morning. Then about noon we head over to my Dad's parents house to help load up all the goodies. My family has grown so large we rent a community building for our Christmas celebration. We go setup and help carry all the food in. 2pm the rest of the family shows up and we laugh and eat food together. The kiddos all get presents and make a lot of noise haha. My mom's family is now past but we used to eat the evening meal with them. Now though after the Elshire side is done celebrating we head home to fight sleep for the final night of sleeping till the big day.

We still believe in the magic of Christmas so the presents are put out after everyone is asleep. (Thanks Santa!) So Christmas morning when we come downstairs we are always amazed at the sight. Jeremiah's eyes are my favorite thing to see that morning. He just lights up with excitement. It's time! I love that Christmas feeling.

Tomorrow we are going as a family to gather some last minute groceries, eating lunch out, and relaxing together so I figured I better pop in today with an update before the Christmas excitement is full on. It's IHSW (International Hermit Stitch Weekend) starting today. I got all the stuff I needed to get done done yesterday so today I'm going to curl up with my stitching and watch movies/TV all day. Tomorrow I will probably get more time in the afternoon. Sunday will be busy busy so no stitching then.

So what am I working on now that I finished up the Durene Jones Calendar...

This pattern is from Rovaris -- Please Santa Stop Here. I have 2 Days of progress into it now...

The fabric I'm using is 18ct Polished Brass Gold Aida from Zweigart for this one and I love how it's turning out.

I hope everyone reading this has a very Merry Christmas! or Happy Holidays! whatever you may celebrate. Thanks for being a reader on my little blog. I enjoy posting here so much but the comments make it worth it. The friendships I have made on this blog are very special ones indeed.