Goodbye February

Well January flew by, just as I predicted. And there was no blog post. It was a busy month. Lots of snow days for the kids. My husband and I sneaked away for an adult only long weekend. And it seemed the month was full of taking down Christmas and packing and unpacking for our trip. I managed a decent amount of stitching but I did not have any finishes.

Then came February. Luckily a needle on fire does not actually burn the fabric. Because my needles were on fire. I had 4 finishes. One big, two medium and one small.

My first finish was my road project. It's an old Bent Creek Zipper project.  This was started when my oldest was about a year old. So give or take it was about 12 years old. Time to get it done. This was a fun projects. A few specialty stitches. Fun colors. And sheep. I have a thing for sheep. Plus it was on 18 count fabric with pearl cotton and small in size. Easy to juggle in the bleachers while watching basketball or while waiting for music lessons.

My second finish was the Theresa Lamperis Greek sampler from Salem, Massachusetts. This was a fun stitch for the most part. But because it’s a reproduction there were a couple of areas that weren’t symmetrical and tripped me up when I didn’t pay attention to the pattern. Oops. I did this with HDF and some random piece of 40 count linen. Likely Zweigart. This was my Olympic project.  I was going for endurance and I think I nailed it with finishing it.

I finished this sampler the morning before I went to a cross stitch retreat. Stitchers Hideaway in Sturbridge Massachusetts. If you ever have a chance to go to a Stitchers’s Hideaway retreat definitely go. Wonderful food. Nice stitchers. Relaxing environment. And a wonderful break from reality. This retreat was a build your own length up to five days. I was able to sneak away for two. Which was a nice break. It was my children’s school vacation week and my husband took them to visit his parents. Perfect time for me to sneak away for a couple of nights.

While I was there I finished "Teachers Row" by Bent Creek. I had started this when my middle daughter was I preschool for her amazing teacher. Obviously I never finished it. She now has an another wonderful teacher for the last two years so that teacher will be getting it this year. More appropriate for a 4th and 5th grade teacher anyway so it worked out. She’s a young teacher too so I think she will appreciate it in her classroom. Just need to iron it and get it framed. This was a fun stitch and I have no idea why it took me so long to finish.

My last finish was a Blackbird Designs loose feathers pattern. I finished it on the night of February 28th. Determined to get one last finish in this month. Done with Weeks and Sampler Threads. The sampler has some nice little details. There are specialty stitches in the bird for texture. I did the stars over one because it sounded good after a glass of wine one night. Yeah...I was regretting that decision on every other star I stitched but it does look nice on the finished product. Don't wine and stitch people.

I also did a little work on "Baby Garden" January and February but not as much as I should have.  This is it at the end of the month.  The fish pond is all over one on 28 count and that took the wind out of my sails after the over one stars on the Blackbird designs that I (willingly) subjected myself to.

I decided to take a full inventory of WIPS because having finished SIX since December I was on fire and wanted to figure out how big of a pile was left.

I estimated between 20-25 mixed between sizes and stages of completion. I was close. 26 WIPS are left. While that’s a big number it’s much better than the 31 I started with in December. I took pictures of all of them in their current state too. I would like to end the year with sub 20 WIPS with at least one big finish.  But I would also like to start a few new things so I’m going to try to push through and finish a few more things before I start anything new. It’s going to be a struggle but I’ll do my best to avoid temptation.

My plan for March is to finish "Baby Garden" by Just Nan. I’m halfway through band 4/10 but it’s really the halfway point of the sampler. I just want to get this one done so I can frame and hang all three girls baby samplers. Soon. Because it’s way overdue.

I would like to work on "Join Your Hands" also by Lila's Studio. It's a big one and I have a good amount done.  Plus it's already on the scroll rods!   I think I can finish this one in the next few months.  Ir's only two colors and I have finished a lot of the over one already.

My new road/small project will be "Sunny the Frog" by Sunflower Samplings.  I should be able to finish this quickly as well. Luckily I have a large amount of small WIPs to fill this category for the foreseeable future.

The question of the month is what gadgets do you use.  I don't feel like I use a ton of gadgets but Im specific about what works for me after years of stitching.  I do like a needle threader because sometimes I have difficulty threading a needle and it just makes it easier.  I'm a needle purist.  I really like Mary Arden petite (size 26) because they are smooth going into the fabric and I don't wear the finish away like I do on other needles. I also find the eyes robust and I don't break as many needles when I use those.   I always use a Q-snap to stitch and I just got a Lowery stand which I am enjoying.  I also keep handy a seam ripper and tweezers for frogging.  Which I try not to do.  But they do make the job easier when it must be done.  But I try to keep the frogs away.

Maybe I'll do a mid month post with pictures of all 26 WIPs.  If I can remember!