April WIPocalypse

Yesterday was time for another WIPocalypse post. This fun blog SAL has one main goal... for us to finish our WIPs before the end of the world. Since we all keep adding to our lists I doubt this will ever happen. I know for me it's not possible by any means haha. I like using this SAL as an excuse to keep track of what I've worked on and how many days since the last post which was March 25th. So let's see what I've been up to...

Ocean in a Bottle -- 7 Days. I had just started this one for my last post. I had only 4 days into it. Here is what it looked like...

Here it is now...

Ocean of Wisdom -- 2 Days. I was able to get this one finished up after that 2 days. Here is the before and after...

To The Beach 2013 PALs Hands on Design Pillow -- 2 Days. I was able to finish this one off too. Here is the before and after...

 

Durene Jones April Calendar Piece -- 2 Days. I started and finished this one...

You Are Loved -- 2 Days. Went from here to here...

Myrtle Beach Postcard from Erica Michaels -- 3 Days. Started this one and got to here...

Got the back panel complete other than the postage stamp but it is done on a separate piece of silk gauze and attached to this panel.

14 days with no stitching. 

We are also given a question to answer...April 29 – Talk to us about your longest-running WIP or UFO. You know I honestly don't know. I don't really keep track in a way that's easy to answer that one. I know sometimes when I look through old blog posts I say Oh wow I never finished that one. Most the time it's not something I want to finish though. Luckily there are quite a few that I have finished. Like my two HAEDs. I did see a finished piece from 2007 that I need to finish finish so that's embarrassing enough to report. See ya on May 27.

April YOW Update

This year I joined a new to me Facebook SAL in a group called Soulful Stitching. They have a fun SAL called YOW which stands for Year of WIPs. The goal is to finish at least half of your list. You have to have a minimum of 15 items on your list. It was too hard to pick 15 so I picked 20 things I really would love to finish this year. Throughout the year we update our progress April 18, July 18, October 18, and then December 18 or there after is a drawing for the people who have finished half and posted the updates correctly. I finished my update today on the group and figured I would share here too.

1. August Snapshot -- Not started but I do have it kitted up and ready to go...

2. Cabin Fever -- I did get one day on this Mill Hill kit since the start...

3. Camping Out -- Haven't started this Mill Hill.
4. Christmas Celebration -- Haven't started but did get the fabric bought for it.
5. Christmas Jars -- Haven't made progress on this one. -- 2 Jars Left
6. December Snapshot -- Finished this one!!

7. Durene Jones Calendar -- 4 of these finished now but I'm using them as one project...

8. Halloween Sampler -- Haven't started but bought fabric.
9. Hold on to Hope   -- Big Finish and Framed...

10. July Snapshot  -- Finished this one!!!

11. Myrtle Beach Postcard -- I have this one ready to start hopefully tomorrow...

12. Ocean of Wisdom -- Another one marked off the list...

13. October Snapshot -- No progress
14. September Snapshot -- No Progress
15. Spring Bell Pull  -- Finished up the I block and started the N block Before and After photo...

16. To the Beach -- Finished this one!!

17. Under the Sea SAL -- No progress    5 Sections Left
18. Where Stitching Meets -- No progress
19. Winter Messenger -- Another finish marked off...

20. You are Loved -- You guys have seen this one recently. But here is the Jan beginning and now YOW progress pics though...

So let's recap...

I've worked on 5

I haven't worked on 9 

I have 6 finishes!!! 

So I'm happy happy with my progress. Here's hoping I'll have even more progress for the next check in July 18th.

Happy Dance

I'm here to share a Happy Dance with my readers. I marked another piece off my YOW (Year of Works in Progress) list last night. Tuesday I decided to take a break from the Ocean in the Bottle for the rest of this week. So I picked up one of my Erica Michael pieces Ocean of Wisdom. Last time I worked on it was in October and I was here...

After Tue and Wed I was able to get it finished up...

(Finish #12) April 4th, 2018

Ocean of Wisdom from Erica Michaels

Stitched on 40ct Silk Gauze

Used Suggested DMC Threads

Started Jan 19, 2016. Took 8 Days.

Every time I work on the silk gauze I just fall more in love with it. Yes it's tiny. Yes it was scary the first time but I swear I love it more each stitch. It's so delicate and just tiny. It's really not that hard to see with good lighting. Because it's gauze I think it's easier to see then 40ct fabric. I'm glad I have many many more Erica Michael charts to pick from in my backup endless stash. I have an idea for how to finish these tiny gauze pieces hopefully after a trip to Hobby Lobby in the next few weeks so stay tuned for that hopefully.

October WIPocalypse

It's time for a WIPocalypse check in. WIPocalypse was a fun idea in the blog world to stitch up all our projects before the end of the world. Luckily that hasn't happened as predicted many times since this SAL started. I use this a fun excuse to keep track of what I work on and how many days in the span since the last check in. The last check in is here on September 27th. Now let's see what I've been working on since then...

June Snapshot -- Finished up the June piece with 3 more days of work. Here is the finished piece...

Harvest Garden Mill Hill Kit -- I started and finished this fun kit in 2 days. Here is the finished piece...

Then I went on a vacation. I did get in some stitching while gone this time.

To the Beach 2013 PALs Piece -- I had started this one in June for the Longest Day SAL. Here is what it will look like...

I only got to here on the first day since I only worked on it for an hour...

I worked on it while attending the PALs Retreat for 2 more days. Here is where I am now...

 

I finished the first side of the pillow and got a start on the 2nd side.

To the Beach Freebie from Hands on Designs -- I worked on this one at the PALs Retreat. I can't find a picture to show what it will look like when finished. It's basically just a sign that says To The Beach with an arrow.  Here is where I got on it after the first day...

Ocean of Wisdom -- Worked on this tiny piece at the PALs Retreat as well. Then I continued to work on it while resting on vacation. So I worked on it a total of 3 days in this span. Here is where I was on it...

Here is where I am now...

I'm happy with that progress for how busy I've been this month. Hopefully next month will be even better. We also get a fun question to answer with our check in. This month the question is – How did you begin stitching?

I was always a crafty person. I loved having something to do with my hands. I tried needlepoint, latch hook rugs, and all kinds of other stuff. When I was walking through the store I passed a dragon counted cross stitch piece. I figured why not try it. I really enjoyed it a lot. This was when I was in high school. I put it down for a long time. Then when my son was born I realized when he was sleeping or playing I again was sitting with nothing to do with my hands. I picked up counted cross stitch again and it just clicked for me. It was the best stress relief. I joined yahoo groups and started my blog. It was just meant to be. I'm so thankful I happened on that dragon piece. I never finished it. I have no idea where it is. It just was the connection I needed to this wonderful hobby.

Vacation Day #16

Guess who woke up with a horrible head cold? Yep me. Fun fun. It was a horrible night of coughing and blowing my nose. We stopped today to get some medicine so hopefully it will leave as soon as it came on. Now I just have to hope I don't give it to Mom and Jeremiah please. I will not let it ruin my fun.

We decided to extend our stay a few nights. Which is what we do every year we are here haha. We just don't want to leave. So we are checking out Wednesday instead of Monday....as of right now haha.

We did some shopping today...

 

We wanted one of everything of course in both stores but we settled for just a few things. Again perfect Christmas presents. We also stopped at a shirt store and got some shirts for everyone. Gotta feed that t-shirt addiction ya know. We stopped at this delicious BBQ restaurant and brought a picnic lunch back to our room. After lunch we watched a movie we rented called 47 Meters Down...

 What better place to watch a shark attack movie than at a place with a view like this...

It was a really good movie. We enjoyed it but definitely won't be swimming in the ocean any time soon haha. Tonight we went out to a delicious pizza place. Now to rest and kick this cold.

Oh and for those who remember this is a stitching blog haha...Yesterday since we had mostly a day in I got a lot of stitching done too. I worked on Ocean of Wisdom again...

Vacation Days # 12, 13 and 14

So now let's get back to the us vacationing part. Plus I didn't get to share my stitching with you from Friday and Saturday.

Friday I started a new piece. It's a freebie I got at a stitching store from Hands on Design that says To The Beach. I can't find a photo to show you what it will look like. It goes along with her 12 To The Beach designs. Here is my start on it though...

I'm using the suggested GAST threads and 32ct lugana for it. I had to start the E before I went to bed because it looked like I had tried to spell TOOTH and spelled it wrong haha.

Saturday I got out one of my Erica Michael tiny beach projects called Ocean of Wisdom. Here is what it will look like...

Here is where I was last time Nov 2016...

Here is where I am now...

I just love working on these silk gauze pieces.

Sunday we were back to being a tourist. It was our last day in Myrtle Beach. We went back to our favorite seafood buffet and ate ourselves miserable. Then we went to Broadway at the Beach. It's a fun place full of shopping and entertainment. We had stopped there to have lunch at Wahlburgers but didn't get to shop because of the rain. We had a really nice time. Jeremiah and me went on a really fast speed boat ride...

It would flip around real fast and speed through the water. I was kind of surprised Jeremiah was willing to try it. He did and he loved it. We also had a lot of fun feeding the carp and ducks...

We really had fun shopping and walking off our lunch. Then we went back to one of the arcades we had played at Friday for lunch. We had found this Walking Dead video game where you could work together to shoot zombies like you were in the show. Jeremiah and me had a blast and wanted to play it again. Here we are having way too much fun...

Jeremiah kept asking wonder what was coming next because Friday we had stopped playing without completing the whole story. We played it all the way through the story Sunday so now we can rest haha. It was really fun.

Today we hit the road and made our way up here to Kill Devil Hills. Which is also known as OBX or Outer Banks of North Carolina. This is one of my mom's favorite place on Earth and I have understood why for probably 4 years now. It's beautiful. We can relax and just enjoy the ocean. It was a long drive today. 6 hours. Plus it rained about 2 of those hours so we were really tired by the time we got here. We are planning on staying here till Monday.....or moving haha.

Now I think I have finally caught you up. Thanks for joining in my adventure.

Monday Update

Over the weekend I pulled out another DUCJC piece I started in Jan 2016. This one is Ocean of Wisdom by Erica Michaels. Here is a reminder of what it will look like...

 This is what I got done on that first day in January...

Here it is now after Day 3 of Progress...

So little!!! It's another 40ct gauze piece and even though Yes my eyes do get tired I LOVE working on it!! The little anchor fits on the end of my finger tip. I'm using DMC floss and on this you just do a half stitch instead of the full X. Now I have to put it down and get back to Grandpa's Family Crest for a few days.