Life has been life-ing and the world is crazy and if you had asked me in January if I would be looking for work and learning everything I can about AI applications and not stitching much, I would have laughed. Today I would laugh if just to keep from crying.
I’m seeing flosstubers talking about Needlepoint and thinking that I’m going to do stitch with me live streams and then edit and put it together with my regular floss tube.
Jack Frost Tree Farm on 28 ct Periwinkle
I did get a finish last week. Jack Frost’s Tree Farm is stitched over 1 on 28 count Periwinkle evenweave with one strand of Classic Colorworks. Started 11/4/26 and finished 4/5/26 with 12,854 stitches which makes it a medium piece. I plan to finish it as a pillow with the coolest fabric I got at the quilt show around the time I started it. So with JoAnns gone where does everyone get pillow forms now?
My oldest WIP (work in progress) is Theresa Wentzler’s Fortunate Traveller. I started it in September 2003 after seeing someone else’s finish at the State Fair. I put the upper border and the tree in and moved on to something else. Here we are in 2024 and this is where it’s at on the frame in the front room. (Sitting room, studio, whatever you want to call it.) I had a challenge in one of my groups to work on my oldest WIP and so I put 500 stitches in last night. Also realized that Stretch, the dragon at the bottom is all screwed up and needs to be frogged out. The thing is, now I don’t want to put it away. I want to keep working on it until it’s finished. It took me about an hour to get back in the groove and where I worried that 500 stitches was going to run me 6 hours, once I found that border rhythm, I did it in 4 hours.
Fortunate Traveller 1/20/2025 1:00 am
This is what 500 new stitches looks like. I’m wanting to work on it more today but I told myself I was going to use today to FFO some of the Just Nan mice I finished in 2023. I may even try out my new film just the hands set up while doing it. Maybe this is the year of focusing on older WIPs? And progress towards finishing all the things?
Do you have any goals for the new year? We’re halfway through January, are new habits working for you?
Last year I evaluated my stitching goals in November which didn’t give much time to work on them. So far I’ve had 22 finishes this year I’ve been pretty good staying within 24 in 24 and finishing pieces before adding another to the list. Looking at things which I haven’t met my stitching goal for the year and realizing the reason I haven’t stitched much this month is that trying to finish a couple of these on the list is more drudgery than fun, I’m wondering if I’m going to be able to stay within the 24 in 24 and hit my annual goals.
This is the list of what still needs to be worked on to hit goals:
1. Secret Carousel
2. Johnny Appleseed
3. Dragon Carousel
4. Summer Queen
5. Wild Hunt
6. Goblin Market
7.Main Street: Crafters Paradise
8. Mothers Arms
9. Jack Frosts Tree Farm
10. Summer Carousel Horse
11. Fortunate Traveller
12. Les Princesses du Mal
13. Carousel
14. Alice in Wonderland
15. Tonight We Ride
16. Sentinel
17. Lady Scarlet
18. Summer Mouse Needle Roll
19. Queen of the Needle
20. Lilac
21. Class Schedule
I will finish the goal stitching on Queen of the Needle and Class Schedule this month but they won’t be finished.
2, 3, 6, 7, 17, 18 are not on the list for 24 in 24. I only have 3 slots left in my list of 24.
The pieces closest to being finished in the 24:24 list are Class Schedule, Queen of the Needle, Storied Steeds, Shepherd’s Bush Christmas Sampler, and Cabinet of Curiosities.
I’ve been pushing myself to finish the 1000 Wipgo stitches on Queen of the Needle we’re talking days of 10 to 15 stitches for the entire day which is down from a 350 average. And it’s not a difficult or unenjoyable pattern. I’m not sure what is demotivating about it. I ran into the same thing working on Shepherd’s Bush Christmas Sampler last month. Same with Class Schedule (although it’s remembering the drama around that release which demotivates me on that one.)
There is a part of me that wants to say throw out the goals, throw out the rules of 24:24 and just stitch what you want. I joined the groups to motivate me to finish pieces. But if a hobby becomes a chore, is it worth it.
Facebook is about to become a more divisive place as the elections approach. It might do my stitching good to drop off for a bit and stick to Flosstube as social media for a bit.
After all there are 128 days remaining in the year and 48,703 stitches to hit my remaining goal of at least 3% in every piece. That means I need to average 380 per day on the remaining pieces and I’m not sure if that is even possible for me on the 3 Teresa Wentzler pieces left on the list.
I keep reminding myself, any stitches put in is progress but some days it doesn’t feel like it.
A bit before the pandemic, my friend Erica sold off all her stitching stash including some WIPs she had started. One of the ones I bought from her was Noah’s Sub. I had the pattern already, it was out of print and a Unicorn but I had it.
First picture I took of Noah’s Sub in November 2020 before working on it.First full picture of Noah’s Sub, I had already added stitches to the ocean around the octopus.
It was a little over half finished when I inherited it. I worked my way around it in a clockwise fashion and substituted beads for French knot eyes.
And finished it with 66378 stitches (it takes 2 half stitches of sky to count as one stitch and 1 bead counts as 1 stitch).
Shortly after finishing Noah’s Sub, I finished a small Stacy Nash pattern, Bobbin.
Bobbin by Stacy Nash with color changes by me.
I stitched Bobbin as a shop model and think I want to stitch it again with a few changes for myself.
But now that I’ve finish such a large project with a smaller finish after, I’m feeling at loose ends. I have 33 WIPs to choose from but nothing seems to be calling loudly.
I would normally go to my WIPGO pieces but I’m caught up except for the TW pieces from March (still need 400 stitches in Fortunate Traveller and 700 for Summer Carousel Horse) and I’m not in the mood to really work on those tonight.
I just finished the 1000 stitches for my WIPGO on Storied Steeds so not feeling that one. Secret Carousel needs really good light so not something to work on at night.
I’m kind of feeling like I should work on my sister’s West Point Sampler but then I could also try to finish my WIP Warriors stitches for Lion and Lamb which is Kingdom of Books.
Other options to work on today – Diamond Bouquet by Just Nan, Sentinel by Fire Wing Designs, Stitch Every Day by Hands On Design, Summer Queen by Mirabilia which hasn’t had any love this year, Ladybird Fairy by Joan Elliott needs to be mounted on the other scroll bars.
I could also start on a new small – Like my copy of Bobbin since the one I finished was a shop model. I could also start my other Christmas piece (Another Reindeer was made).
Or since this was a BAP I finished, I could start a new large – like Glendon Place’s Sleepy Hollow or Winter Queen by Mirabilia or Butterfly Fairy by Joan Elliott.
So after I was done being pregnant I took all of my business pregnancy clothes to a second-hand shop to see if I could recoup some of the costs and besides, we were really broke. The lady would only buy one item, a grey dress that looked like a suit skirt when worn with a sweater. She told me everything else was the wrong colors. They just weren’t in any more.
I had no clue what she was talking about.
How did color go out of style? I mean jade and royal blue are classic colors, right?
Then I stitched some of my older Just Nan patterns and something clicked –
Just Nan All Aboard stitched by Stasha
All Aboard was copyrighted in 2000, but these colors just scream 1980s to me. And that made me look at some of the older WIPS I have kitted up and I’m working on.
Goblin Market by Counted Illuminations stitched by Stasha
Goblin Market is also 80s pink and green. I would hate to put in the time to finish it and hate it. So I’m wondering if I leave the green, what do I change to modernize it. Do I rip out the pink and white flowers and make them fuschia or periwinkle or will those be dated in 20 years too.
Would you stitch this as is or what would you do to freshen it up?
Back in 2019 before all the crazy, my husband took me to Las Vegas and a trip to Vegas means a visit to Stitchers Paradise. Well usually, DH stays in the car but it was just too hot this time and he came into the store.
I was in the back room fondling fabric when DH comes over with the 6 patterns from Magical Mystery Tour by Blackbird Designs and asked if I would stitch them for him.
He doesn’t ask me to stitch things very often and it meant I could get 6 patterns which I kind of liked.
As we were heading home I was looking over the patterns and DH asked if it would be possible to stitch them all on a single piece of fabric so he could hang it in his office.
I pulled Gentle Arts Sampler Threads at Shepherd’s Bush and somehow I ended up with very yellow greens.
But here we are 4 years later and I’ve stitched all 6 patterns on one piece of 28 count natural linen from my stash. I stitched it 1 strand over 1 thread.
I’m going to digress for just a minute and give a mini tutorial on 1 over 1 stitching. When stitching 1 over 1 its easiest to cross each stitch as one does it. The bottom stitch always goes the same direction. The key is the direction to go for the top stitch. Every + of the thread will have a bottom thread going either – or |, one wants to cross under this bottom thread in order to make the top leg of the x. Doing this helps keep the stitched threads from slipping under the fabric threads.
So every one who has seen my arrangement of Magical Mystery Tour has loved it and many have asked for my layout.
Layout for MMT
With the reaction, I figured I wanted to enter it in the state fair which means I needed it framed. My framer has an 18 to 24 month wait for framing. I took it up and luckily, I had a piece which was coming to the front of the line so we swapped places and the piece which had been about to be framed moved back to the end of the line and Magical Mystery Tour was now in its place.
I love the work that Rensel Studios does.
Framed Magical Mystery Tour
It’s home and I’m still getting a lot of attention for having stitched it. I’m looking forward to taking it to the fair. Along with Stars for a New Millennium which was framed by Dustin of Art and Frame Station in Murray, UT.
Stars for a New Millennium pattern by Tony Minieri stitched by Stasha
Dustin knows how to stretch Needlepoint and was willing to hand cut the mattes for me. Not many framers who know how to do either of those things anymore.
Decided to start Alice in Wonderland by Bothy threads today on the lovely piece of Fiery Skies I got from Under the Sea Fabrics. Got 212 stitches in and realized I started Alice on the piece I bought for Mad Hatters Tea Party. So pulled out the piece for Alice and started over 303 stitches later and I realize I’ve put an extra stitch in Cheshire Cat’s head. Normally I would leave it in and rearrange the rest of it but I realize that on stitch off is going to throw off the border and it may not match. So today was stitching and tomorrow we frog.
2020 is half over. How many are excited to see it end?
Wipocalypse 2020 Question is how are you doing on the goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year?
How many of you feel like January was more than 6 months ago? How many feel like real life ended in March and you’ve been in either hibernation or a horror movie for the last 3 months?
I feel like I’ve been in hibernation. I went into quarantine with plans to stitch like crazy while on work from home meetings. It wasn’t 2 weeks in when my kids suggested that I get a switch lite to help with stress reduction. I told them I wasn’t stressed. My oldest son told me to sit down and explained that even if I thought I wasn’t stressed, this was the first time he’s ever seen me swear while trying to thread needles.
So I bought a Switch Lite and Animal Crossing New Horizons. I have a 5 star island and play daily which hasn’t helped my stitching time. I also haven’t done much writing or made a new floss tube video but I’ve been doing well at work and my team is amazing.
But for the last three months, I’ve been on auto drive. I’ve played video games and done not much else but work, eat food my amazing husband prepares. I’m up 10 pounds and I’m having problems with my hands and feet swelling and going numb while I sleep. It’s partially menopause, partially stress, partially not drinking enough water and eating too much salt, and sleeping in a way that impinges the ulnar nerve. It makes me not want to stitch much.
I started the year with goals to participate in WIPGO 2020, the purple peppermint Blackwork SAL and plans to finish several large WIPs this year.
As far as I’ve done on Purple Peppermint Blackwork SAL
I didn’t actually start the Purple Peppermint SAL in January but everyone’s work started looking so good, I couldn’t resist anymore and I started it and then I didn’t like the way it was looking and I stopped. I had forgotten that Blackwork works better worked from a diagonal, horizontal or vertical pattern. I know it will get better after I finish the first row and roll the fabric but for the moment, I’m having trouble motivating myself to work on it.
My first start of quarantine and what I work on when not gaming.
I thought it might help to have a project near my desk for when meetings got boring. Considering that I started it the end of March, it has some progress but not as much as it could have been.
The only thing finished during quarantine which isn’t a video game.
I did actually finish something though. This square was on my WIPGO list and I did actually complete it, looking at my chart I finished it May 6, 2020.
I have done at least a 1000 new stitches on this during the year.
My WIPGO board had 1000 stitches per square on this project. I did finish 1000 stitches on June 1, 2020 but I’m behind by 2 squares so it still needs 2000 stitches for me to be caught up. However, I look at it and I just can’t seem to motivate myself. In fact, in an attempt to motivate myself to stitch more, I started this Waxing Moon Designs.
My 2nd quarantine start
Here’s hoping that I can start waking up out of this hibernation and actually start getting things accomplished towards the goals that I set back in January. However, I’m not really planning on accomplishing much this year if it continues the way it has since March.
Question of the Month: Have you ever adopted a piece from someone else or gave up a piece to someone else? Which piece and why?
The world has changed and I have time to stitch and blog and hey, why not go back to the Wipocalypse?
So the question for this month is about adopting a WIP – I have several I’ve adopted when friends lost the ability or desire to stitch and I’ve given one to someone else to ghost stitch. This is Oh Christmas Tree that I’ve given to Carleen to stitch because I seem to be blocked when it comes to working on it.
As for pieces I’ve adopted, I actually have several in my current rotation that are adopted from Erica Gonzalez when she stopped stitching. Tempest is an adopted piece.
This is the first of Erica’s adopted pieces that I actually finished.
There are older adopted pieces from other sources that I’ve finished but I’m not willing to go search for any more pictures since it’s been years since I finished those. Most are because the original person stopped stitching and the patterns were on my want to stitch list.
I thought I had a picture of Erica’s Noah’s Sub in my wordpress gallery but I’m not finding it. That is the next new start in my rotation list but who knows when I will get to it. I keep saying I will finish 2 pieces before starting new things but I’ve started lots of new things without finishing anything. Like the Magical Mystery tour.
Now I’m off to update my planner because it hit me I don’t think I’ve put my last two starts into the spreadsheet.
Just So you Know