WIPocalypse Kickoff 2018

Hey everyone,
I hope you all made a great start for 2018 and I hope that this year will be full of love, laughter, health and stitchiness for all of us =)

The WIPocalypse - the great quest to finish our projects before the end of our days - continues also in 2018. It is hosted by Measi from Measis Musings and you can find the monthly link-up here.

This post is the kickoff post, where we are to introduce ourselves, projects and goals. After this, the posting will move to the last Sunday of the month (so the next one is on the 27th), instead of moving with the full moon date. I actually like this new schedule, I tend to loose track of the full moon date and the last Sunday is easy to remember und plan. So I hope to be more in time for the posting this month (better not make a goal out of it - I'm sure I'm going to fail sooner or later).

Anyway, I'm going to start with a few words about myself. My name is Johanna and I'm 26 years old (turning 27 this month). I live with my fiance in Kamen, Germany. I am working at the university in Bochum and I am doing my phd in mathematics there. I spent most of my free time stitching, but I also enjoy reading (I go to work by train and spent the time reading). Since I can't read while I stitch, I also listen to audiobooks. I am mostly interested in (high) fantasy and crime novels, but I am always open for new books and I basically read everything ;-)

I did a recap for 2017 in my previous post, therefore I am not going to show pictures of all my projects in this one. I am going to focus on my goals for this year and I think I will also add a new page for WIPocalypse 2018 (if I don't forget about it).

So the first goal I have is one for my focus piece, Kreimhilds Revenge by Howard David Johnson. Actually, there are several smaller goals.
Here is where I will start, at 129 170 stitches:

The first goal is to finish the fourth row of pages. The second one is to hit 150 000 stitches and the third one will be to reach 155 600 stitches (Kreimhild has a total 255 600 stitches, so it will be the 100k-left-to-stitch-mark). I guess I will be happy if I meet goals one and two, but the third one would be great =)

The next goal is for my Supersized Iris Keeper by Josephine Wall. I am currently at 20 080 stitches and there are 4 080 stitches left to finish the first row of pages. I really want to do that. Here is where I currently am:

Next up is my QS Trapped by Melanie Delon:

The first row is not done and that's what I want to do in 2018. It's a half page and a partial page to do, it adds up to 5 200 stitches.

The next goal is for my Gecko Rouge project Sloth by Eya Claire Floyd. The first goal is to finish the first quarter of the design - that's 3560 stitches and should not be to hard to meet. The second one is finishing the top half of the designs - 9 523 stitches. I'm not sure if this will work out, but I will do my best =) here is where I am starting:

Next up are a few projects I want to finish this year:

Hydrangeas by Mill Hill - I already did a few more stitches on it. here is the starting point for 2018:

And I added a few green stitches in the meantime:

Cliffside Beacon by Dimensions Gold petite. I am more than halfway done with this and I think a finish for this one is realistic.

Embroidered Morning by Dimensions - I found it in my cupboard, lol. I absolutely forgot about this WIP! Here is where I am and what it is going to look like:

Since this is not a full coverage, I hope to be able to whip this off the list by 2019. After all, it is really pretty.

I think those are enough specific goals for this year ;-) I have a bunch of other projects, where I just want to spent some time stitching them (so every projects gets a few stitches done). The projects on which I am going to show my progress for WIPocalypse are the following:

Aurora Cabin (Dimensions Gold)
Crossing the Stream (Golden Kite)
Danielle by Sarah Butcher (Haed)
Das Rheingold by Kinuko Craft (Haed)
Miss Christmas Eve (Nora Corbett)
Paris Market (Dimensions Gold)
QS Paddys Luck by Joanna Bromley (Haed)
Starlight by David Hoffrichter (Haed)
Supersized Ride of the Yokai by Ruth Thompson (Haed)
The Eternal Promise by Matt Stewart (Haed)
The Potting Shed by Aimee Stewart (Haed)
Whispers by Melanie Delon (Haed)
Wolf Variant by Bente Schlick (Haed)
Yule Angel by Anne Stokes (Haed)

Which brings us to the plans for 2018! I plan some new starts (not that I need any more projects).
First up is my annual new year start, I started a new Haed on the first of January. It is called "The Silence After" and is by Cris Ortega. I love viking motifs, but they are not that common in case of stitching patterns, so I was extremely happy when this was released last October.
Here is what the pattern is going to look like:

And here is where I am so far - 2 400 of 283 500 stitches:

I am stitching this on 28ct grey Lugana, as you have noticed by now, this is my favorite count ;-)

I must say, that I haven't so carefully planned my new starts this year. I have a few ideas what I want to start, but I didn't fix dates for them.
The first is another Gecko Rouge project: Across Winter Lake by Jo Grundy

I have chosen 25ct Magic Guide for this one, I think I will start this around February because it's a pretty winter design.


I think about starting another Haed, but I am not sure which one.
One would be a Max Color from Heaven and Earth Designs - Birds and Blooms Garden by Aimee Stewart. I think her designs really benefit from the color expanding, they are so full of detail. I'm not sure if I will like so many colors, so I decided to go for a "smaller" design before starting one of her supersized bookshelves (I have the secret garden one). Here is what it should look like:

The second choice might be one Wisdom by Cherie Gerhardt. I love Harry Potter and since I own a bunch of Harry Potter themed needleminders, I feel like I should start a matching project ;-)

I think my house would be Ravenclaw, so this would be the first one for me to start (I own all four designs).
The third choice is another Lord of the Rings/Hobbit shart: Bilbo Baggins by Kate Powell:

I might also start a non-Haed, I have a lot of kits (Dimensions, Marejka, Geckos,..) in my stash and I feel like I should work a bit more on them. But as said above, no concrete plans here, I will keep you up to date =)

The last project I want to show here is no stitching, but stitching related. I finally got around to sewing some covers for my scroll rods. I have done four so far (I need to do one more) and I took a photo of one:

I think the fabric is really pretty, I bought this at Ikea and I am super happy =) I'm not so much into sewing, so I am actually proud that I managed to stick with my sewing machine for a whole day =)

Wow, another super long post, but I think I am done now =) Now I am off to do some stitching on the silence after =)

Happy stitching =)