WIPocalypse January Stitchy Check-in

This is my January WIPocolypse post to track my progress on cross stitch  Works-in-Progress (WIPs).  WIPocolypse is an ongoing monthly link up, as well as a Facebook community, and is open for all sorts of crafty WIPs.

Each month, there is a question. This month's question is:

What SALs are you participating in this year?
I enjoy keeping track of Stitch-a-longs of all sorts, even though I only participate in a few, and even more rarely do I keep up enough to do at the same pace everyone else is.

The one and only one I always try to go for is Steotchalong.  I love the snarky pop culture fun of this one, and especially love the the final pattern includes several options so you can customize to your own interests and sense of humor.

I also participate in the Facebook group Stitch Maynia, which treats SALs as themed events you can share your work in.  I love the variety there and how low-pressure it is.

One of those events is the annual Temperature SAL.  This is my progress on this year's, up to Jan. 26:

This year, I've gotten involved in another Facebook group, School of Mystery & Literature, devoted to stitching and reading, with an overall Harry Potter theme.   The way they're handling it has been so much fun!  When you join, you get sorted into one of the Houses (I'm Slytherin) and each week, the Houses get points for completing various stitching and reading challenges. It's all in fun, and I've really loved the way it's spurred on both my stitching and my reading for the year.


Finished this year/since last check in:

Spattered Paw Print / Climbing Goat Designs

7 Swans a Swimming / Satsuma Street

I got stuck on this for so long - something about  that yellow on white put me off, and it languished in the bottom of my WIP bag for months. So glad to finally get it done so I can move onto the next one!

New Starts This Month:

Mermaid Skeleton / Pixlstitch

Isn't this great?? PixlStitch does a whole collection of fantastical creatures as skeletons!

Bouquet de Fleurs / Jardin Prive

also:

If the Broom Fits / Lizzie*Kate (restart)

another procrastination project - I hated everything about it. My stitches were sloppy, the colors weren't working with the fabric, and the linen was so floppy that every stitch was an ordeal. So I gave up and am starting over.

Also worked on so far since last check in:

Astrology / Peacock & Fig

This makes me laugh everytime I see it - almost done!

Leia Hope / Stitchbucket

The last part of this will be the word HOPE at the bottom.

Mermaid of Atlantis / Mirabilia

Upper right corner finished, beading and all!

Coffee Quaker / Heartstring Samplery

M is For Mermaid / Prairie Schooler

Purchased Stash Since Last Check In:
a few necessary flosses

Intend to start before next WIPocolypse Check In:
8 Maids a'Milking / Satsuma Street
Country French Witch / JBW Designs
Witches Wizards All Welcome / Fiddlesticksau

Intend to finish before next WIPocolypse Check In:

Mermaid Skeleton 

If the Broom Fits / Lizzie*Kate

Astrology / Peacock & Fig

My current full WIP list (22):
2019 Temperature SAL / Apricot Polkadot
All My Scattering Moments / Stitcherhood
Alphabet Acorn / Cross-Eyed Cricket
Astrology / Peacock & Fig
Bouquet de Fleurs / Jardin Prive
Bride's Tree Orn - Home / Brooke's Books
Coffee Quaker / Heartstring Samplery
Hocus Pocus / Prairie Schooler
If the Broom Fits / Lizzie*Kate
Leia Hope / Stitchbucket
M is For Mermaid / Prairie Schooler
Mermaid Fraktur / Plum Street Samplers
Mermaid of Atlantis / Mirabilia
Mermaid Skeleton
Mermaid Tales SAL / Peacock & Fig
Polly Wolly Doodle / La-D-Da
Pretty Little DC / Satsuma Street
Primitive Ouija Board / Cloud Factory
Springtime SAL (Warm) / Satsuma Street
Summer Ornament / Prairie Schooler
TARDIS Biscornu / Cloud Factory
Yellow Submarine / Blackbird Designs

Next check in: Feb 24
Next Topic: What do you listen to while stitching?

See you then!

WIPocolypse 2019 Kick-Off!

This is the first 2019 WIPocolypse post to track my progress on cross stitch  Works-in-Progress (WIPs).  WIPocolypse is an ongoing monthly link up, as well as a Facebook community, and is open for all sorts of crafty WIPs.

Each month, there is a question. This is the Kick-Off question:

Introduce yourself, your projects, and any goals you have for the year!

I'm Lynda and have been stitching since 1985.  My first project was a small kit (a teddy bear on a rocking horse) that  my best friend gave me when I was very pregnant and restless.  It was on 18ct Aida and included quarter stitches (what madness was that, kit maker??), but by the time I got through it, I was hooked.

As of right now, my plans for 2019 are to get  through as many of my carried over WIPs as possible, and to get  as far along as I can on my very first Mirabilia pattern.  I expect there will be a few new starts along the way, but for the most part I am setting a self imposed rule that there will be no new start until a WIP has been finished.  If I do well at this until May, I may go nuts on new starts for Stitch Maynia (another Facebook community for stitchers, that takes its name from an annual bit of insanity involving starting a new project a day for the month).

My other goal is to deal with my growing stack of finished projects and get them into frames or made into ornaments or whatever.

Finally, I really want to keep up with these monthly WIPocalypse updates, as well as posting to relevant Stitch Maynia SAL threads in Facebook.

Below is the format I plan to use for these monthly updates.  I am only sharing photos for projects I've worked on since the last update (or in this case, since the beginning of the year)

Finished this year/since last check in:

2018 Temperature SAL / Creative Workshops from Hetti (finished 1/1/19)

This tracks the temperature highs for each day in the Falls Church/Fairfax area of Virginia (we moved from one town to the other in 2018).  Every 5 degrees has its own color and each little 5x5 square area represents one day. The four outer borders represent the last four days of the year, so I'm really happy I managed to finish it on schedule!

She is Fierce / Stitchrovia (finished 1/7/19)

I did some color switch ups to make this a bit less pink, but I just finished it today (only 7 months later than planned).  This will be going to my four year old granddaughter, Penny, who is both little and fierce!

New Starts This Month:

Hocus Pocus / The Prairie Schooler (started 1/1)

I needed to start SOMETHING on the 1st of January and grabbed this more or less at random out of my bag future starts.  I'd planned to start the Mirabilia (below) but didn't get it basted onto the stretcher bars in time.

Mermaid of Atlantis / Mirabilia (started 1/2)

My order for the threads and beads and things for this is due to arrive today from 123Stitch.com, but I didn't want to wait - I had most of the needed colors for the seashell at the top center, so I began there.  This is the first project for my Mark II frame (Christmas present!!), and I can't wait to fully dive in.  The fabric is 28ct Monaco from Mystic Fabrics and is "Pumpkin Vines".

2019 Temperature SAL / Apricot Polkadot (started 1/6)

This is a different designer from last year's, but it fits the same space (5x5 squares spiraled around from the center over the course of the year).  I'm using the same colors for temperature ranges, but this year I am going to track Fairfax, VA LOWs.  I work on this once a week on Sundays, so this is current January 5.

Planned New Start before next check in:
Bouquet de Fleurs / Jardin Prive (planned start 1/19)

Worked on so far this year/since last check in:
2018 Temperature SAL
She is Fierce
Hocus Pocus
Mermaid of Atlantis
2019 Temperature
Leia Hope

Leia Hope / Stitchbucket

My current full WIP list (22):
2019 Temperature SAL / Apricot Polkadot (started 1/6)
7 Swans a Swimming / Satsuma Street
All My Scattering Moments / Stitcherhood
Alphabet Acorn / Cross-Eyed Cricket
Astrology / Peacock & Fig
Bride's Tree Orn - Home / Brooke's Books
Coffee Quaker / Heartstring Samplery
Hocus Pocus / Prairie Schooler (started 1/1)
If the Broom Fits / Lizzie*Kate
Leia Hope / Stitchbucket
M is For Mermaid / Prairie Schooler
Mermaid Fraktur / Plum Street Samplers
Mermaid of Atlantis / Mirabilia (started 1/2)
Mermaid Tales SAL / Peacock & Fig
Polly Wolly Doodle / La-D-Da
Pretty Little DC / Satsuma Street
Primitive Ouija Board / Cloud Factory
Splattered Paint Paw Print / Climbing Goat Designs
Springtime SAL (Warm) / Satsuma Street
Summer Ornament / Prairie Schooler
TARDIS Biscornu / Cloud Factory
Yellow Submarine / Blackbird Designs

Purchased Stash this Year So Far:
Mystic Fabric of the Month (Monthly Subscription): 28ct Monoco "Opal"
Bouquet de Fleurs / Jardin Prive
Threads/beads/etc for Bouquet de Fleurs and Mermaid of Atlantis

Intend to finish before next WIPocolypse Check In:
Splattered Paint Paw Print / Climbing Goat Designs
If the Broom Fits / Lizzie*Kate

Next check in: Jan 27
Next Topic: What SALs are you participating in this year?

See you then!

PS - it's also TUSAL time (the Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long) - every New Moon, we share our ort jar, where we collect our little snippets of thread.  There's a little bit in there but far more interesting is Sasha who is wondering why I just offered her a snack dish of threads.  Foolish human.

WIPocalypse - a Stitchy Year End Review

I was terrible this year about regularly showing off my stitchery - but I thought I'd participate in the last WIPocalypse of the year and recommit to (trying) to participate in the monthly updates in 2019.

For this last day of the year, I want to share what I actually got finished in 2019.  Apart from these, there are over 20 WIPs (works-in-progress) currently underway and at least a dozen from before 2018 that are finished but still need to be framed or turned into ornaments/pillows/etc.  I want 2019 to be the year when I get all that done!

So here's what I got finished in 2018:

I wish I could recall who did this little blackwork bird - I think it may have been from one of the British magazines?  This was a nice fast stitch up that started off my year back in January.

Rotted But Not Forgotted

Plum Creek Designs.  

This was in a Halloween issue of Just Cross Stitch.

These were a pair of Music Man inspired quickies I designed and stitched. You can read a post about these here.

As Above, So Below

The WitchyStitcher

Hot Cocoa

Sullivans

(This was from a hand out Sullivan's put out a few years ago. Sullivans threads replaced with DMC equivalents)

Snow!

Carolyn Manning

Just Cross Stitch Christmas Issue 2017

Not a Creature

Frosted Pumpkin

Just Cross Stitch Christmas Issue 2016

Rabbit Biscornu

Floss Box

I still need to stitch a square backstitch frame around these so I can stitch them together as a biscornu.

Salem Bay Mermaid

Primitive Hare

Guardians of the Sea

The Little Stitcher

Poppy Biscornu

Nataliya Salunina

Daily Sampler, designed by me. I worked it with random scraps of threads from my stash over about a year and a half (one triangle a day).

Le Corbeau

JBW Designs

Mother of Exiles

From a magazine (unknown which) - I added the text.

Steotchalong 6

Steotch

I chose a Welcome to Night Vale theme!

Holiday Magick

Ink Circles

Witch Fairies

Lucie Heaton

Just CrossStitch Halloween 2017

I'm annoyed at how many I no longer know the source of! That's one goal for 2019 - keep better records!

Before I end this, I want to show off my Christmas present from my husband this year - this is a Hearthside Craftworks Mark II frame, handcrafted from oak.  Isn't she beautiful??  Tomorrow I'll start off the new year with a new start on this frame.  I can't wait!

WIPocalypse is a long running casual monthly casual Stitch-a-Long hosted by Measi to show off monthly progress on WIPs.  They also have a Facebook page and you don't need a website to share your stitchery there.  The 2019 Kick off post will be January 9, with monthly check ins on the last Sunday of each month.

If you'd like to see what other folks are sharing, stop in here to see the link up!

Meanwhile, here is my TUSAL (Totally Useless Stitchalong) jar for 2018 - these are the leftover snips of thread for all the stitching I did in 2018:

Great Honk! It's the Movie Monday Challenge

On the last (or fourth) Monday of each month, a group of bloggers participate in a #MovieMondayChallenge, hosted by C'mon Get Crafty! We decide on a topic, genre, or specific movie to use for inspiration and everyone gets free reign to create something wonderful!

 

This month's challenge was. . . . Fathers! Your Dad's Favorite Film, or just a movie about fatherhood! Everyone was allowed to choose their own favorite film so long as it was inspired by the challenge word.

My father passed away several years ago, and my knowledge of what movies he particularly enjoyed is limited to what he liked before 1980 or so - but the thing he loved was music.  He was career military, but in his heart I believe he wanted to be a musician.

In thinking about that, I was reminded of a movie my husband and I both love (and I'm sure my dad must have, too) - the classic 1962 musical, The Music Man, starring Shirley Jones and Robert Preston.  This is the story of a traveling con artist who comes to small towns, gets them stirred up about creating a boy's band, and sells them the whole package - instruments, uniforms, and music lessons.  One small problem - he doesn't know a thing about music, and strings the wannabe band along with the "Think System" long enough to get the money and leave.

His strategy in each town he goes through is to woo the librarian (as the likely most intelligent person there), create a sense of emergency that a local boy's band would fix ("We got trouble right here in River City!") and flatter everyone else into believing they are talented artistic people whose offspring must surely be musical geniuses.

There are a couple small problems this time - Marian the Librarian is having none of his nonsense, and then he actually falls in love with her, and is touched by her troubled little brother who is blossoming at the idea of being in a band.  Then there is the town council's insistence on seeing his music credentials.  Finally, there is an angry salesman who is tired of him 'skunking the territory' and is intent on seeing him brought to justice.

The characters in this musical are well written exaggerations of small town 'types' and even though it is set around the turn of the 20th century, everyone will recognize the gossipy townswomen, the pragmatic Irish mother of Marian the councilmembers who have been spatting for years, and many others.

My favorites are Mayor Shinn's family - his wife, Eulalie, who regards herself as the natural cultural and social leader of the community and his daughter, Zaneeta who is in love with the town's 'wild kid', Tommy Djilas.

These last two were my inspiration for my project.  

It's become a family joke between my husband and I to exclaim "Ye Gods!" and "Great Honk!", which Zaneeta and Tommy repeat often during the musical.  

Using a book of cross stitch alphabets, I created a pair of pieces highlighting these phrases.

I've had this collection of alphabets on my shelf for twenty years, and selected two fonts that went well together, and selected scraps of white 14ct Aida and a few DMC threads from my stash that coordinated colors that looked like the 'fantasy' band's uniforms.

To center stitched letters, it helps to have either cross stitch graph paper or a cross stitch design app.  How much space to put between each letter and between lines is a matter of eyeballing it to see what looks right, then counting out the width of the letters and the spaces between to get the size of your piece.  I use PCStitch11, but I often revert to graphing on paper when I'm sorting out what I want to do.

Typical for me, I haven't quite finished this project because I didn't fully decide on how I wanted to do it until it was done.  I've ordered a couple of small charms - a pair of drum majorettes to go on each side of Ye Gods, and a trombone to go beneath Great Honk.  I plan to put these into a pair of small deep blue 4x7 frames.

Once I have these completed, I'll post a final picture here!

Now let's see what everyone else was inspired to create for this month's #MovieMondayChallenge!! If you'd like to join our Facebook group, you can request an invite here.

An InLinkz Link-up

Got Luck? It Could Happen to You! #MovieMondayChallenge

On the last (or fourth) Monday of each month, a group of bloggers participate in a #MovieMondayChallenge, hosted by C'mon Get Crafty! We decide on a topic, genre, or specific movie to use for inspiration and everyone gets free reign to create something wonderful!

 

This month's challenge was. . . . "LUCK! Everyone was allowed to choose their own favorite film so long as it was inspired by the challenge word.

I knew as soon as I saw the word 'Luck' which movie I wanted to work with - 'It Could Happen to You', the 1994  romantic comedy set in New York City that opens with the narrator, Angel, introducing the main characters as Frank Sinatra reminds us that 'fairy tales can come true, if you're young at heart'.

The short summary of this movie - which is very much a fairy tale - is this: Charlie Lang (Nicolas Cage) is a good cop who lives a simple yet satisfying life with his wife Muriel (the hilarious Rosie Perez) - who may be leading the same life but is experiencing it very differently. Where he sees cause for contentment, she sees not enough and she resents him for his lack of ambition for more.  Muriel dreams of more, and she fully believes she deserves more.

Muriel tells Charlie to buy a lottery ticket, which he does.  This is where it gets complicated (well... complicated by feel good rom-com standards) - at a coffee shop, he and his partner get lunch and Charlie realizes he doesn't have enough cash to leave a tip.

He tells the waitress, Yvonne (Bridget Fonda) that if he wins the lottery, she can have half.  For obvious reasons, she figures she'll never see that tip - even further confirmed by a series of terrible events that had already happened to her that day, including a leech of an ex who has drained her account, forcing her to declare bankruptcy.

So of course you know what happens next, right?

Charlie wins the lottery for $4 million and gives her half!  Of course, Muriel isn't at all happy about that turn of events - she was busy freaking out about needing to share the money with other winners before she'd even had a moment to enjoy having won - when she learns he gave away half, she is livid and before long, she demands a divorce. And all the money.

Meanwhile, Charlie and Yvonne slowly develop a relationship with each other as they share their new wealth with their community in NYC, and deal with the conniving Muriel trying to get all of the money in the divorce.

Seems clear the connection to luck, doesn't it?  Except it isn't so much about the lottery, even if that is a catalyst for the plot. Each character has a different idea of what luck is and how it relates to them.

Charlie begins the movie from a place of contentment. He believes he has enough and enjoys doing things for others and spending time with the kids in the neighborhood.  As the movie goes on, we see the money mainly disrupting that contentment until he figures out how to use it to fulfill the dreams of people around him, in large and small ways.  Charlie truly enjoys making luck for others.  

Muriel is the opposite.  Muriel wants more... of everything.  She believes it is her destiny to be very wealthy and as soon as the money comes in and Charlie starts giving it away, she ditches him and starts campaigning to keep it all.  Muriel believes in luck - and she believes she's owed a lot of it.  In reality, we only ever see her happy in brief spurts when she's shopping or rubbing shoulders with other wealthy people, and that happiness is fleeting because there is always more she doesn't yet have.

Yvonne has yet a different idea about luck - she believes she has terrible luck (and to be sure, a lot of unpleasantness has happened), and is convinced she doesn't deserve anything good to come her way.  Tellingly, while Charlie was giving money away and Muriel was spending it as quickly as possible, her first act after receiving $2 million was to treat herself to a jar of macadamia nuts.  She's definitely not thinking 'big', but she has a deep understanding of the value of small comforts.

Meanwhile, in spite of her belief that she not only has bad luck, but in fact is bad luck, she buys the coffee shop and keeps working there, welcoming customers on the margins of society. She make a regular customer, a man with AIDS, feel welcome and cared for, and sets up a table in Charlie's name, where anyone can get a meal for free if they can't afford it.

Without sharing the entire plot - at the end, each of these characters return more or less to the financial state where they began - no one permanently joined the ranks of the very wealthy.

But there were happy endings for Charlie and Yvonne and not so happy endings for Muriel and Yvonne's ex, Eddie.  Not because of money, but because generosity and kindness make Charlie and Yvonne feel as if they have everything they need, and so for them,  a return to a normal life of connectedness to their community and each other is, truly, lucky.

Maybe luck, good or bad, is a way of seeing what happens to you and how you respond to things beyond your control.

So, I had several ideas for this one including making a menu board inspired by Yvonne's coffee shop, or even trying to make some homemade scratchers that could be tucked into a card.

But - in our own turn of events - after I signed up to participate, my husband and I decided to look for a larger apartment, and we found the right one - but it meant needing to move soon instead of mid-summer as we'd thought we would.

So we've been decluttering, and I truly have neither the time or space to do anything crafty right now.  But what I did have was this fun  little cross stitch piece I'd finished that I'd been meaning to put into a frame - Plum Street Samplers' free chart, Got Luck?  This is a fast stitch, suitable for beginners and can add a sweet little touch to your March decor.

I tucked it into 4" x 6" IKEA Ribba frame that I hope to paint as soon as I'm able. (I also need to take it out and iron it before it goes into the frame permanently)

I bought a bunch of these IKEA frames, in varying sizes, a year or so ago when they were on sale - they're very handy for quickly framing needlework, and the thick sides means they can stand freely, making them very versatile.

Now let's see what everyone else was inspired to create for this month's #MovieMondayChallenge!! If you'd like to join our Facebook group, you can request an invite here.

An InLinkz Link-up