WIPocalypse August (and July...)

 Ah it has been a while, I was in absolutely no mood to blog in July, so this is my update for July and August and I am even late for August. I am still buried in work, but I decided to get my butt up and write a bit here. Despite all my work I got a lot of stitching done. A good deal has been done in the second half of July, where I had two weeks off from work (and I really needed them). Since the beginning of July I am using Pattern keeper and I am really happy with it. I tried a different PDF reader some years ago and was very unhappy, so I continued to use paper charts. But int he beginning of July I finally decided to dig out my extra-old tablet and give Pattern Keeper a try. After I reset my tablet (it kept crushing when I tried to access my dropbox where I stash my digital patterns), things went rather well and in August I did not only purchase the full version of Pattern Keeper, but also a new tablet (one that has a battery that lasts longer then 3 hours and doesn't take 6 to reload...) and now I am only using the app. So far I imported patterns from Haed, Tilton and Goldenkite and it seems to work well. Unfortunately my Gecko Rouge patterns are all printed charts, so I need to look into that and see if I can get digital copies (at least for the charts that are still available) - especially since Gecko Rouge doesn't have overlapping pages and it's quite annoying to switch between pages.... Anyway, enough rambling, prepare for pictures!

The first thing I want to show is my now framed Cliffside Beacon from the Dimensions Gold petites collection. I am really not that good at framing, but it could be worse:

In July I did another one-per-day challenge, I did not manage to work on my Sloth (Gecko Rouge) every day, but I still got a lot done. I went from here:

To here

And I am at 7 743 out of 23 986 stitches now, so nearly 1/3 done now and added 4 350 stitches!

In early July I picked up Garden Gate by Dona Gelsinger (I had my nails done in lavender [dmc 26 to be precise] then and the color just reminded me of the hydrangeas in this piece...) and I stitched two columns on it. I went from here:

To here:

The second project I worked on Das Rheingold by Kinuko Craft - a project that I started some ages ago and did not work on for ages. But I love the design and hope it won't take another 3 years for me to pick it up again. I went form here:

To here:

I got 4 842 stitches done in July and I am more then happy with that =) I hope to get the first row done soon and that my mojo to work in this is back for good =)

Next I did some work on my Wolf Variant by Bente Schlick. I didn't work on it for a long while, I don't know why because it stitches up in no time and I love the purple colors. I went from here:

To here:

As you can see, a lot has changed. When I started this, I didn't zig-zag my edges (to avoid gridlines) and it has bothered me for a while now with this project. In the beginning I wanted to stitch 100 stitches across and then down (jut for a little change) and then I didn't want to start zig-zaging in the middle of the column, because I am weird. But not I just decided to add another column and now I have a proper zig-zag edge there. On top of that, I also filled in the gap and now I have a nice 110x250  stitches block done. That's quite a bit, but the design is huge and so there is still no sign of the wolf. The whole design has 409 500 stitches, so the 5 800 (!!) stitches didn't really move the percentage on Pattern Keeper ;-) but I thing the progress is more then visible.

After that I decided to work on Kriemhild again, I went from here:

To here:

I am now a bit more then halfway through page 42 and I plan to finish that page in September (and make a start on page 43). I did less then 10 000 stitches on her this year and want to focus on her a bit more. By the way, I did not only encounter the first flowers (very pretty), but I also found her helmet. I have been stitching on it for a while, but it was only in the full shot that I could recognize it (the typical haed-effect). 

Now this brings me to my current WIP, Supersized Ride of the Yokai by Ruth Thompson. Once again I must say how much I love Pattern Keeper, it just makes my stitching more organized and there are less ninja stitches now. Since I am working on 32ct here, organized stitching and starting/ending threads is important to me here. I went from here:

To here:

Since I no longer need to stick to my pages, I decided to stitch 50 stitches high and the current block is 333, so exactly 1/3, across. I already did a good deal on the next row and plan to finish this block before I switch to something else.

This brings me to future plans! I have 5 more Haeds on which I last worked in 2019, so I am on a good way there. Among those are Yule Angel and Noble Spirit, which are typical winter motifs for me, so I guess I will work on them in November/ December. QS Trapped and Whispers are a bit gloomy, so they really fit in autumn and then there is Starlight, which also fits the gloomy time of the year. Then I have 6 more other projects, which did not get any love this year (one is my Christmas Eve, she will come out for Christmas as usual and one was only used to show a friend how to stitch, so it's not really started). After all, I am very confident that I can get some love into all my projects this year. In September I definitely plan to pick up QS Trapped, I might  do some sort of one-per-day challenge on it (maybe not for a whole month, but 2 or 3 weeks also add up). I plan to do a bit of work on Kriemhild and then I will see what I pick up next.

I also have a new start coming! I decided to join the Pandemic by Longdog samplers stitchers! You maybe know that the pattern was available for free at the end of June, I then ordered some fabric (40ct Newcastle Linen by Zweigart in creme) and a couple of threads for teststitching. I decided to try the threads from a German company called Vaupel&Heilenbeck, they have hand dyed cotton and silk. Since the thread is expensive, I wanted to be sure with my choice.

The colors are really hard to catch, in real live they are really vivid. The smaller skeins are silk and the two bigger skeins are cotton.

In the first row you can see the two cotton colors, the others are silk. I am stitching over 2, so it is like 20ct. The cotton thread is a bit thicker and has a slightly better coverage. I was really torn between the red cotton (no 1, row 1) and the re silk (no 2, row 2). The cotton was a bit fresher, the colors reminded me of berries and it has a bit more variation, so in the end I went for that (I did a bit more test stitching with smaller designs from the pattern, but I did not take a picture of that). Testing the threads already was a lot of fun, so I guess this won't be my last time working with these threads. The silk was a bit easier to work with , it's very smooth and shiny. But the red silk varies a bit into brown (very good for autumn) and I decided that a pandemic a tragic enough, so I wanted to stitch the design with happier colors =) The whole process of ordering the threads took ages, but today I got an email that the rest of my threads finally shipped and they will arrive soon =)

Last but not least, if you want to see more updated for August, just take a look at this months (ah well last months) link-up page, where you can find all other entries and information regarding the SAL.

Happy stitching =)

WIPocalypse - June

Hello lovely people =) Time for another WIPocalypse-update. The original posting date was on Sunday, but I did the one-per-day-challenge and so I wanted to wait with my update until the end of June to show my final update. So if you head over to the link-up page for June now, there are already a lot of entries there =)
I only have like one goal for this year - work on all of my projects! And I dare say, that I am on a very good way there =)
I even bothered to make a list with all my Wips by now, because I tend to forget some of them and indeed, I added a few to the list that I forgot about. So I am now keeping an excel sheet up to date with information like how far along I am and when I last worked on the project. Let's see how long I can keep this up to date ;-)
What I really wanted to say is that I have 31 WIPs on my list now, counting Cliffside Beacon (which I finished last month) I have 32 projects for the year and I worked on 15 of those (including Cliffside Beacon), so I guess that's a good quote. My stitch count so far is 46 142 and I am super happy with that as well =)

But let us now look at some pretty pictures because my stitching month was (somehow) very productive.
First I continued my work on The Potting Shed by Aimee Stewart. As of last month, I was halfway through page 3:

And I finished that page in June:

This is really one of the projects where I can't stop stitching, the colors, the little motifs, the whole design - I just love everything about it =) Even now I am so eager to pick this up again, but thinking of my rotation made me put this down and work on something else ;-)

I also did a bit of work on Kriemhild by Howard David Johnson. I went from here:

And I finished page 41, this also means that you are getting a full shot:

Oh I love her so much and we are getting closer and closer to a finish here! There was an awful lot of confetti in her shield and the thing looked pretty weird when I stitched it, but taking a look from afar, the shield looks perfect to me =)

And now the biggest update for this month! I did the one-per-day-challenge in June. I picked QS Paddys Luck by Joanna Bromley and my plan was to stitch one square per day.
Unfortunately, especially during the beginning of the month I really messed this up. No matter how hard I tried - and I did try everything from setting a fixed time to work on this to working on this for something like 30 minutes or so - I was not able to do this. I had no choice.... So here is my starting point again and I was hoping to get 4 columns done:

And then things just escalated and I could not stop stitching, that rainbow just stitched up in now time and so ended up with stitching all of page 5 - a total of 5005 stitches ;-)

So say hi to our new friend ladybird and Paddy is also getting his favorite shamrock now ;-)

So these are all the projects for June. Measi is suggesting to do another one-per-day-challenge for July and since my June was so successful, I am on for another round. I picked a new project to work further on my rotation plan. So it is well beyond time that I worked on one of my Gecko Rouge projects, so I took out Sloth by Eya Claire:

I really love the design because I love sloths (I even have a Slotherin t-shirt with a sloth on a broom....), but somehow I am struggling with this projects. I am not sure if this is the 18ct or if I just never really got into it. To investigate the last thought, I am doing this one-per-day and I started yesterday with my first square =)

So that's it for this month, I hope you are all safe and healthy,
Happy stitching =)

WIPocalypse - June

Ah I have been sort of surprised by this WIPocalypse, in my head there were 31 days in June and I thought it the WIPocalypse posting would be due for the upcoming Sunday. Well, here we go.... As always, I am including this months link-up here and since I am late, a few people have already liked up there =)

This months question is about our ideal stitching retreat. I must confess, that I didn't think about the issue to much since I am currently not feeling like going on a retreat - I'm sure they are fun, but right now my weeks are really packed with things and during the weekend I am just glad to be home and without other people, lol. During the week there are so many people around, everything is hectic and during the weekend I enjoy the silence :D But going on a retreat, I would love a nice location, maybe a chance to sit outside as well, some nice people, good food and in the evening, a glass of wine ;-)

The topic for next month is a half year recap, so far I am not doing that well for my goals, so I hope to get some more done for next month. I will have a few weeks off during in July, so there is still hope. There is not too much hope, since I am still glued to my books and not getting any stitching done... So this months progress is not to impressive... But here we go:

First up is my last Maynia start - I did my fourth start on 31st May and it my first Maia/Anchor kit called "Geishas" and this is where I got:

And here is the design:

You can see, I started with the sitting Geishas face and I absolutely love it so far =) 

I also have a small finish to show. On 1st May I started one of the two designs from Liebevolle Kreuzstichentwürfe, here is where I left off last month:

And here is the finished piece:

The backstitching really adds a lot to it, the duck and the seagull are so cute! But the grass was horrible to stitch, it took ages to do all those longstitches... But I really love the result =) And I am definitely going to stitch the second design this year =)

Next I decided to pick up my Gecko Rouge design called "Sloth". I don't know what it is with this one, but it just takes ages to stitch- my usual progress on this one is about 200 stitches per night... Maybe it's because I am doing 2 over 1 and using my laying tool.... Well, I only got one column done, so 890 stitches on top... I went from here:

To here:

Since I really want to stitch the first quarter of this in 2018, I plan on stitching another column in July =)

Another project that didn't get to much love (but is currently on my frame and getting more love) is my Kreimhilds Revenge. I added one column since you last saw her and went from here:

To here:

Stitching all that black is a bit dull, but you can now see the tip of her spear =) It's just 770 stitches so far, but I was planning on doing my post next Sunday and thought I would have more time to work on her :D She will definitely get more love this month, I plan on working on her at least until the end of June and will do my best to get a page finish =)

Last but not least, since finishing my Hadrangeas in April, I was looking for another smaller project I could focus on. First I wanted to finish the lighthouse from my Maynia start, which I did, and now I have chose "Cliffside Beacon" by Dimensions Gold. I am already more than halfway done and it's a beautiful summer design. I am adding a few stitches then and again (getting along nicely while stitching all the black on Kreimhild). Here is where you last saw it:

And here is where I am now, just a hand full of stitches added, but every stitch counts, right?

Well, this is truly all I have for this month... And I am off to bed now, along with a nice book and one or two hours of reading ;D

Happy stitching =)

WIPocalypse - August

As usual - I am larte for my WIPocalypse update, but at least it is still in August!
Unfortunately, I don't have a lot to show this time, I was just so busy with work and most evenings I was really done and did not spent to much time stitching. This actually fits this months question:

How do you get yourself out of a stitching drought?

Ah well, I just wait. I think, as there are days, where I can't put my needle down, there must be days where I don't want to pick it up at all. I try my best not to push myself when it comes to stitching. Sometimes I read an amazing book, so when I pick up my needle I am thinking like "ah well, I'd rather be reading" and then I just put the needle down and read a bit. 

The only big crisis I had was when I had a terrible break up a few years ago and I didn't feel like doing anything at all. After a few days of just doing nothing and being miserable (you know those "everything reminds me of him"-thoughts?) I just decided to try and start something completely new, a new pattern and a new start free from any memories and that actually did the trick. 

If you want to read how other people manage their stitching droughts or take a look at their progress for last month, you can find the link-up here.

As for this months progress, as I said, it is not to much. The first thing I want to show you is my new start, which is also my first Gecko Rouge project! It is called "Sloth" by Eya Claire Floyd. It is rather small with 134x178, so a total of 23 852 stitches. I am working this on 18ct Aida, 2 over 1 full cross.

So far, I did some 2 400 so far and it looks pretty awesome! I can't wait to get back to this one!

Here is what I have so far:

And as a reminder, here is what it is supposed to look like:

It may not look like it, but there was a lot of confetti in the actual sloth, so it took a while to stitch. I am stitching 89 stitches high, which is half of the total height, and hope to get the first quarter done this year. 

The second project I worked on was my Cliff Side Beacon by Dimensions. I took this one on vacation with me, so it got a bit of love. I am now done with the sky now, finally!

I went form here:

To here:

Not much, but every stitch counts, right? I am on a conference next week and I think I will take this one with me, so I will hopefully get some more done for next month.

Another tiny progress I have to show is on my Mill Hill kit called Hydrangeas. I added a few stitches and went from here:

To here:

Last but not least, I currently have my Kreimhilds Revenge on my frame. I only added some 800 stitches, but I plan to continue on her for a few more days and columns.

I went from here:

To here:

Ok, I think that's it for this month. I worked on various things, but I didn't get much done on any of them, so it doesn't really feel like progress. 

Ok, I will get some stitching done now!

Happy stitching =)

WIPocalypse July

Guess what? I am in time for WIPocalypse, yay me! I can't believe it! If you want to see what everybody else has to show for July, take a look over at Measis place =)

I am really happy with this months progress. I managed to get through with my rotation (finally, it only took two months longer than expected!) and I got another page done on Kriemhild!

The first project I have to show is on Wolf Variant by Bente Schlick. It's one of the two project I was still missing in my rotation this year. So it has been a while since you saw it.
I went from here:

To here:

 I added some 2400 stitches to it, I am still working 100 stitches across and this is 200 stitches down (well started, you see the gap). I am not sure if I will continue to stitch down or move a bit more across. I guess I will decide when I pick this up again ;-)

The next one I was working on is Kreimhilds Revenge. I finished page 27, now there is something apart from sky! Yay for the rocks!
I went from here:

To here:

As you can see, we are getting closer to the actual Kriemhild, soe of her dress should appera on page 28 =) I got a bit more than 2100 stitches done on her . I have about 7000 stitches left to do until I reach the halfway point on her and I think it should not be a problem to reach that goal this year =)

The second project still missing in my rotation was QS Paddys Luck by Joanna Bromley. It has been ages since I was working on this, but it is so pretty and colorful =) Iadded two columns/ 1600 stitches and went from here:

To here:

There was an awful lot of confetti in Paddys hat, but now that it is done, it looks amazing =) Since it has not seen any love for so long, I think about finishing the rest of page 2 as well now =)

This already makes a total of 6100 stitches since my last update and this does not include 2000 stitches I did on my map of middle earth (which I am sharing for the GG SAL at the middle of the month). I really didn't notice that I stitched that much, but it makes me happy ;-)

The last project I worked on is my Mill Hill kit called Hydrangeas. I pick this up from time to time and got quite a bit done.
I went from here:

To here:

It is really nice to stitch and goes rather fast. I am doing all the cross stitch and then I'll add the beads and I think it will be amazing once the beads are in =)

I haven't answered this months question so far. It's about showing our oldest and our newest WIP.
Well, my oldest WIP is really old (I don't really know how old it is, I think from 2010?) and far from being complete. It's a Dimensions kit called Paris Market and you have seen it from time to time. It was on the edge to turning into a UFO, over the last year I picked it up more often and I would rather consider it a WIP than a UFO.
Here is what it currently looks like:

I think my newest WIP is actually the Hydrangeas above, I started them in May. But as soon as this blog post goes up, I will have a new newest WIP :D I am finally going to start my first Gecko Rouge project! I have a couple of their kits by now and I became a member of the Golf club in March, so my first gold voucher is to be done in August! And they have so many more lovely designs!

But I guess you would like to see what my newest-WIP-to-be will look like:

I think this Sloth looks amazing and I feel like working with all those wonderful colors =) So I guess I will stopp here and get my needle into this one =)

Happy stitching =)