WIPocalypse 2016 - January

We had the first full moon of 2016 last night, so here is start up post for WIPocalypse. As last year, Measi is asking questions every month and I will try and answer them.

As it is the beginning of the year, this months task is to introduce yourself, your projects and your goals for 2016.
So this could be a long post.

Lol, I forgot to introduce myself:
My name is Johanna and I live in the north west of Germany with my boyfriend. I am 25 years old and I am currently doing my phd in maths. I have been stitching since 2009. At the beginning this was just another hobby besides knitting but since  2010 I am completely addicted to it. I started my first Haed in 2011 and my collection is growing since then.
Apart from stitching I like to read and then and again I like to crotchet or knit. I recently got some coloring books (fun, but not as much as stitching!). I like to listen to audiobooks or music as I stitch and I am spending way to much time on youtube (flusstube) and facebook (various stitching groups).

Concerning goals I want to say that I don't plan on setting goals on all my projects, the big plan is to pick up all my projects during the year and work on them. I have a few ideas on what I want to accomplish on some projects and I will tell those ideas as I go by. So if nothing further is added, the idea is just to pick it up some time and work on it for a few stitches.

Also I started to track my progress by writing down when I stitched at a piece and how many stitches I did. I will try and continue with that idea for a couple of projects and share my experience at the end of the year.

But now here are my projects:

First up is Kreimhilds Revenge by H D Johnson (Haed). I'm 20 pages in and I plan to do serious business with her. She is my oldest project and I absolutely love her and I really want her finished (this century...). So I plan to stitch at least the four page of row 3:

Here is my start on her for 2016:

Das Rheingold by Kinuko Craft, we are still struggeling. One day my love for this will reappear...I will try and finish the page I started in 2015 (page 5 I think)

Here is where I left off in 2015:

Yule Angel by Anne Stokes, Still just background to show. It's 7200 stitches to the end of the first row, so I'm going to do that in 2016 and perhaps get a few stitches into the second row:

Starting point for 2016:

Starlight by David Hoffrichter, a lot of confetti, but very beautiful (need to pick this up soon).

Here is where I am now:

Eternal Promise by Matt Stewart. I just love Lord of the Rings and hope to make some good progress on it this year. I plan on finishing the page I started in 2015 (page 3 I think) and some more..

Current progress:

Wolf Variant by Bente Schlick, such an amazing designs. I already did some work on it this year. I am currently stitching 100 stitches wide and moving down. I plan to finish the 100x160 block this year (so I fill in the gap):

Starting point of 2016:

And now:

QS Paddys Luck by Joanna Bromley - such a cute design! I haven't worked on this for ages since my Qsnaps are packed with other things, but I hope to get a good bit of it done this year. The plan is to finish at least the page I started (first one).

Current status:

Danielle by Sarah Butcher - I never enjoyed stitching background so much. The colors are beautiful and I love the green leafs. She is currently on my frame and I plan to stitch at least page 2 (on which I am now working).

Beginning of 2016:

And now:

Supersized Iris Keeper by Josephine Wall.My first Supersized pattern (it's was once a tiny little storykeep). She is such a joy to stitch and I want to finish the first row of pages (about 3 pages).

And here we are now:

Last but not least, my newest addition to the WIP pile:
Supersized Ride of the Yokai by Ruth Thompson!
It is my biggest project, having nearly 730 000 stitches. Many of my other BAPs are just one third of this and even Eternal Promise, which was my biggest project up to date, seems to consist of "only" 440 000 stitches... This Journey will surely take some time, I did one page to far (started on first of January). I really can't say what I will accomplish this year. I feel like I need to put in 10 pages or so to finish this one day, but then again I am not yet used to 32ct and I don't want to ruin this for me by forcing myself to work on it. It would be amazing to reach the halfway point on my first row (consisting of partial pages), but if not, that's fine as well.

Here is the first page done:

I have a couple of other project on the go, which I am not including in this SAL (I'm suing them for other SALs and I don#t want to share one and the same update various times a month...)

I will continue working on my Map of Middle Earth, Wolf Kiss and my Candy Cane Santa Stocking as a part on the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL, on which i will update on the 15th of each month.

I will work on my two Dimensions Gold pieces Aurora Cabin and Paris Market during the UFO week (maybe one of them will become a bedtime project). I will update on them at the end of the month or the beginning of the month.

I also plan on stitching a few Mill Hill kits (I finished my first one today but the picture is crappy). I will just pick up the next kit once the current kit is done and then I am stitching what calls to me, so I don't have a real plan for them (can't even say which ones will be stitched).

As for plans concerning new starts... Starting the supersized Ride of the Yokai was a big thing. The project is huge and I need to add another 20 years to my life expectations to get this done. So I will try and not start any more huge projects this year. I will frequently start smaller ones (such as the Mill Hills), but I don't want another BAP on the list. I plan on starting smaller designs such as Quickstitches so I will have a finish from time to time to keep me motivated. One QS I always wanted to do is Trapped by Melanie Delon:

It is 225x190 stitches, so a total of 42 750 stitches. It's in my stash and printed and all kitted up for ages now and I guess it will make it to the frame this year.
Another thing is SK Trick or Treat by Randal Spangler. It was one of the reward charts from one of the freebee SALs (2013?). I have the big version in my stash as well, but this would be a BAP again. So maybe I will go with the Storykeep for starters. It's about 23 000 stitches and I don't seem to have a picture O.o But since I always wanted a Halloween themed project, this one might appear in October.

The big rule for new starts is that they need to have less than 200 000 stitches (so less stitches than the majority of my projects are lacking). I also want to try and start things that have been in my stash for a longer time instead of buying new charts and never stitching the old ones...
Noble Spirit by Jody Bergsma is in my stash and I really love it. With 163 100 stitches it would be fine to start:

Just in case you haven't noticed: I love designs with a lot of blue and purple...

Or maybe Nuakas by M C Escher, I alway wanted a black and white, it's "just" 114 300 and I guess I don't need to mention that Eschers pictures are amazing ;-)

But right now my need to start something is satisfied and those are just ideas(by the way, I got them all in 2013), so I will see what the next year brings.

Phew, that is a long post! I suppose the next updates will be smaller posts :D 

If you want to check out the other peoples post, feel free to take a look over here, you can also sign up your own updates for this month there :)

Happy Stitching!