WIPocalypse, GG SAL and year in review so far

Aaaaand it's December! Well, December is already halfway over, it seems. 

First of all I want to apologize for being so quiet and not commenting on blogs these days - my laptop is dying. So I went along to get a new one, I found one that suited me and the prize was very good because it was the last one in stock. So I took the thing home and it didn't charge... Great... So I went back to the store and they took the thing in and sent it in for a repair and now I am weiting on that for two weeks... The shop keeper doesn't really communicate, so I have to run after him to get some information and all I get is "soon". Honestly, if he doesn't have the thing fixed in a day or two, I will see if I can get my money back... I'm a bit unnerved by now... especially since my old laptop takes ages to start and crashes all the time...

Anyway, back to topic! I am already a few days behind on WIPocalypse and the GG SAL, so I will put both posts into one. WIPocalypse asks for a recap of the year with final before and after pictures (so far), so I think I will do the same for GGSAL as well (and it's always nice to see how much I accomplished, it's sort of motivating for me).

So here we go!

First up is my update for the GGSAL projects, you can take a look at the other stitchers work here.  

The first project I worked on was my Map of Middle Earth by Heaven and Earth Designs. I love stitching this piece and it was sort of a focus project for the GGSAL this year.

At the beginning of 2016 I had 18 000 stitches done on it:

And - I added another 900 stitches since you last saw it - now I am at 32 000 stitches, which makes a total of 14 000 stitches on this one!

I am so happy with my progress on this one, the writing looks amazing =) I hope to share a good bunch of progress pics in 2017 (5500 stitches to the halfway point on first row - that should be possible) =)

Speaking of Middle Earth, I was also part of the Middle Earth Round Robin and stitched a page on that (I think about 7000 stitches, a small part was already stitched). Here is my final picture when I was done:

I think the map is currently in New Zealand and the first row is completed by now.

The next project I worked on is my Dimensions kit Wolf Kiss. When I pick it up, it stitches up quite fast, but most of the time I forget about it and I get bored with it after two or three days (not so many colors, only full crosses with those few colors... stitching in black... but it's so pretty!). But I managed to pick that up again this month. 

In total I went from here:

To here:

The second Dimensions kit I am working on is from the Gold Collection and it's a stocking called Candy Cane Santa Stocking. It was a new start in 2016. In the beginning I wanted to finish this by Christmas, but you know me and all my plans and other projects - I am far from being done. I will try again next year!

But this is where I got - my creepy cane Santa:

Since last month I worked on the ribbon, actually quite pretty so far! And I think I will stitch the eyes last :D I like him creepy :D

At the beginning of the year I showed my stitching on a part of Randal Spanglers dog bookshelf, which I finished in November. So I went from here:

To here:

I think I did like 8 900 stitches on this. Unfortunately I didn't get round to ironing it so far, I washed it, but no time for ironing yet. But I have some free time starting on Wednesday, so I plan to do that this week. And then I will hopefully sent it on soon ;-)

Another finish this year was my little robin by Eva Rosenstand, I stitched it for my BFs mother:

This was also my first attempted to on lacing and it worked out quite well I think ;-) The little Robin is so cute, I honestly think about stitching him again for myself. I also have a matching blue tit in my stash.

So, that's it for GG SAL! I will absolutely join this in 2017, I enjoyed posting and reading peoples blogs on it and I am really pleased that I got so much done on Middle Earth =) 

Which brings us to the bigger part of the post - my WIPocalypse update :D You can find the linkup here.

First is my Kreimhilds Revenge (Head). I started with 20 pages in:

And I stitched pages 21 to 24, a total of 15 300 stitches! Yay me! Row 3 is done and dusted!

One of the best things about this is that there is only one full page of sky to go! I can't believe it! Goal met!

The second WIP is Das Rheingold (Haed): 

I picked my lost piece up an put a few stitches in:

At the beginning of 2016, I was half way through page 5:

And I finished page 5 and even made small start on page 6:

I added 4 columns - 3200 stitches. And even more important - I enjoyed it ;-) Goal met - I even added a few more!

Third is Yule Angel (Haed): It is still on my frame, so a few more stitches will add up - but my goal was to finish the first row and there is no way I can do that... But I will do so in 2017! I went from here:

To here so far (and like 300 more):

Those are like 1100 stitches added so far, but I plan to add two more columns.

Number four - Eternal Promise (Haed):

I love working on it, if only I had more time to do so! Those flowers in the border are so pretty and the trees are amazing, even if they take ages to stitch. Anyway, I added 4000 stitches.

At the beginning of 2016:

And now:

The goal was to finish off page 3 and made a start on page 4 - goal met - I added a few more!

Number five - Wolf Variant (Haed):

Oh I love this one, it stitches up so fast and the violet colors are so pretty. So I went from here:

To here:

The goal is to fill in the missing block, I will see what I can do (some 2100). But so far I did 7 100 stitches and I am happy with that - goal not yet met.

Number 6 - QS Paddys Luck (Haed).

I started this when I handed in my master thesis and I really need to spent more time on this - it's so cute and colorful and shiny ;-) 

At the beginning of the year I had 3000 stitches in:

Big plan was to finish the first page - did that and added 1200 more, so I am at 6400 stitches in total now:

And number 7 - Danielle (Haed).

I love this project, even if it hates me. We had some issues with the blending filament and some more issues with a hole in the fabric and so on, but I think we are good now! Here is where I was at the beginning of 2016:

The goal was to finish page 2 - did that and added half a page! 6800 stitches done this year =)

Number 8 - Supersized Iris Keeper (Haed)

I made such a wonderful start on this in 2015, so I wanted to stitch the first row in 2016, but that didn't happen, even if this was so much fun to stitch. 

here is where I started:

And I stitched so far:

I only did 3600 stitches, I absolutely failed here... Need more time to stitch!

And my biggest shame so far - I have not picked up Starlight this year, I will work on that for a few days soon (so it gets some love..)

And I worked on two of my Dimensions Gold pieces:

Aurora Cabin went from here:

To here:

And Paris Market went from here:

To here  - we are getting somewhere!

So, this brings us to new starts!

My 1st January was Supersized Ride of the Yokai (Haed). I stitched 4 partial pages and started the 4 pages above:

Soooo pretty and I really love the coverage on 32ct - I am actually looking forward to stitching more things on 32ct =) I did a total of 7500 stitches on this one!

The second new start was QS Trapped (Haed):

I started this for the cross country Haed challenge and stitched 7600 xs on it:

She's really beautiful, but stitching all the dark colors was not so much fun. I will see how I get along with this next year.

Another new start is The Potting Shed (Haed) - a design I really love, but I only did 1000 stitches on this:

I completely forgot about this one :D Oh my! I need to work on that some more!

And yet another new start was a smaller project called "Sheep in the Meadow" by Country Cottage Needleworks - I ran out of the green weeks dyeworks, but I bought some more so I am ready to go on!

Not much left to do here!

And I started my first Nora Corbett - Gwen: Very pretty and ready for beading - sounds like a good plan for the holidays:

And I started Cliffside Beacon from the Dimensions Gold Petite:

Ok, I think that's it? Oh my, the idea was to feel motivated at the end of this, now I feel guilty for not spending enough time on my projects and making so many new starts!

Ok, I added up the above stitches (minus my Dimensions and Gwen and the sheep) - I am at 90 500? Oh my!