All My WIPs - part 1

 Hello Stitching Friends!

I'm constantly amazed and impressed with how organized some of you are when it comes to your WIPs and your stash🙌! That is far from the way things are over here in My Little X-stitch Nook 😂🙈. I have a couple of boxes overbrimming with stitching projects in varying stages of completion in no kind of order whatsoever. I have another box with mixed fabrics and yet another box with threads. Sometimes I try to organize the WIPs by removing (ie stuffing in a box or bag) those that I don't feel like working on, but it doesn't take long before various WIPs get dragged out again and the WIP piles on the sofa and on the livingroom table grows out of control and they all get shoved into the boxes again😂. Just pure wonderful and chaotic crafting chaos🙈😉.

One of those overflowing WIP-boxes...and a furbaby!

However, my family recently helped me to replace my old brokendown and scruffy sofa with a new one and now I'm feeling quite inspired to try to organize my stitching chaos which at the moment surrounds my new sofa. And I'm thinking that the first thing I want to do is to count all my WIPs; who knows, it might not be as bad as I'm thinking, haha. And of course that includes listing and recording them all here on the blog under the page named MY WIPs. At the same time I have also removed a couple of other pages that I don't use anymore. 

I tend to keep most of my WIPs in these extremly handy and large plastic zip bags...

...which I buy quite cheaply at our local IKEA store.

So today I have started this organizing process - I'm so pumped😁!!! - and I thought it might be fun to show you a few of those old and new and big and small and just started or almost finished WIPs in the next few posts, at the same time as I add them to my WIP page. You will probably recognize a few if you have followed me for a while, but who cares, right?! All the details of the charts/designers are available in the WIP page.

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This one I started a long time ago, before I got my beagle 9 years ago. The original pattern is from Cross Stitch Crazy issue 137 and designed by Gail Bussi. I wanted to do the words in Swedish which made it a lot harder and I also added the names of my (then) two furbabies. Then I decided to add a couple of flowers (using threads from my stash) but the flower on the right looks awful 🙈😂😩and needs to be frogged...and that's where I ran out of steam... It could be cute though...some day...

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This is an old one too, and from the period in my life where I loved to stitch animals. Of course this one is impossible for me to finish before I get new glasses (because of the black fabric), but I've made quite good progress and one day it'll hopefully be finished and look stunning on my wall.

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This snow globe design by Emma Congdon only needs a day or two more of stitching and I'm hoping to get around to it before next Christmas.

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And the same goes for this beautiful Swedish Christmas scene. The one little issue with this project is that I have to use three threads with the 11-count fabric, which sadly rules out the loop start😒

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So I'm pretty sure you can understand why I chose to start this project😁😍.

It reminded me of my precious furbabies, especially before they got old and their faces turned all white😍💝. I would like to get around to finishing this one too; maybe I'll sew one thread every day like some of you do...🤔?

* * *

This one is probably my oldest WIP which I started when I still lived in London 15 years ago, and it is far away from being finished... All those fractionals and backstitches in the bouquet are really putting me off. However, it does make me smile when I see the LARGE piece of aida I chose to stitch it on😉. I earned a lot of money back then and could afford more fabrics and threads and cross stitching magazines etc. These days I'm always quite stingy with the fabric...😞.

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This Lavender Fairy by Joan Elliott still needs a lot of bling! I've started with the Kreinik braid but there are are also a lot of beads to add and other details missing. Maybe when I get new glasses I can get around to it. It's very pretty though, isn't it? 

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So these projects (and more) have been added to the WIP page for now. There isn't even a dent in my stash though, so I'll be back with many more WIPs soon. Anyone want to guess how many there are in total??? For your information I have no idea myself so I'm enjoying this process with mixed dread and delight😲😂😂😂.

Hope you have a lovely weekend with lots of relaxing stitching!

Annie

Ten (or in my case seven) Things for Jo's Tenth Blogaversary

Hello Stitching Friends!

When Jo from the blog Serendipitous Stitching recently celebrated a tenth blogaversary she listed and answered a Ten Things Tag list. I really enjoyed reading the post, so I decided to join in the fun. However, I haven't kept an extensive record of my stitching the way Jo has, so my own list is unfortunately incomplete and only contains seven of the ten tags.

The tenth blog post you made

This was a post back in April 2015 and I was really happy to finally get around to framing a summer window.

I'm still hoping to finish the autumn and winter windows from the same series...

The tenth blog in your blog list

At the moment it is A Stitcher's Story which is written by the super sweet Vickie who displays the most gorgeous seasonal stitching projects on her cabinets and shelves AND adores poodles🐩🐩🐩! She has even designed a really cute Calendar Poodle SAL which is free on her blog.

A designer you have stitched more than ten designs.

This was a little bit tricky since I like a lot of different designers. However, the more I though about it I realised that the designer I have stitched the most is probably Lesley Teare since she designed my favorite go-to design for cards.

I have definitely sitched this design more than 10 times, haha! I have a feeling that designs from Joan Elliott and Emma Congdon come in a close second and third if you check out my WIPs and finished projects...

 

 A project that took/is taking more than ten years to complete

Since I am a periodical stitcher this tends to happen every now and then, and even more so since I also love to start new projects instead of finishing my WIPs. 

This Christmas scene was a loooong time in the making, but these days I put it up on my wall every Christmas. 

The pattern is from an old Swedish weekly women's magazine.

At the moment I should think that this sweet little girl is my oldest WIP. I started stitching her when I still lived in London 16 years ago. Clearly I wasn't too worried about fractionals back then, but whenever I bring her out these days all those fractionals makes me cringe. So she goes back in the UFO pile again...

The tenth colour on your current project. Do you use it a lot?

My current WIP is a seasonal design in four parts and DMC 964 is used for the summer and winter motives .

I certainly like to stitch with bright and happy colours, and this blue shade features in at least one more of my current WIP:s. 

Your tenth finish this year (or last year if you haven't finished ten so far this year)

Well, right now I'm working on the 10th and 11th finish for the year, so I'll just show you my ninth finish instead which I gave to a good friend of mine.

I'm ashamed to admit that I've lost the design details for this project...

How has your stitching style changed in the last ten years?

My stiching style has changed A LOT in ten years, that's for sure.

When I started this blog I was into Joan Elliott's pretty but complicated fairies... 

...and life-like animal motives.

I didn't see any limitations and thought I could stitch just about anything, regardless of size, beads or metallic threads. I think about it as my delusional phase...🙈😂😳. I just don't know WHAT I was thinking...?! Most of those projects are still UFO; do I need to say more..?! Although I might pick some of them up again since they're quite close to being finished...

Somewhere along the line I discovered designers like Emma Congdon, Durene Jones and Cheryl McKinnon and projects with blocks of bright colours...

...and a lot less time-consuming backstitching.

Maybe some cheerful sayings...

...and pretty nature/seasonal designs.

The urge to stitch pretty, complicated fairies or large animals with lots of confetti stitches has completely disappeared along the years.

The one constant cross stitching love has been Christmas projects....

....but I try to stay away from too much backstitching and/or tricky charts/details in my Christmas designs too these days. 

Overall, it seems I've moved away from complicated stitching and now just want easy, cheerful and uncomplicated designs at this point in my life. But who knows what kind of cross stitching projects I will like in 5 or 10 years time...😉😳😀???

Finally, I want to leave you with a short video from our morning walk today. We are really enjoying gorgeous spring weather here in Sweden😳...

Don't you just wish you were here?!😂

Happy Stitching,

Annie

Christmas stitching update!

Hello Everyone !

I just HAD to show you all my progress on my Stardust fabric - I just LOVE that name ! ! ! And I love stitching on the this goldish aida ! This is my progress on my Gingerbread sampler from Cross Stitch Crazy (issue 208) so far :

I just love stitching this one so much and I could easily skip all my other projects to just work on this one , but I've managed to restrict myself to a couple of hours each evening : ) Some of the colours -like the light green - have a tendency to fade into the fabric but I can easily say that I don't care lol ! This fabric just makes everything look stunning ! There is also an aida with silver flecks , and I have a feeling it will be making its way home to me ( from the online store ) sooner rather than later . . .
I'm slowly coming to realise that I have a thing for stitching with a bit of bling ! !
Who would have thought ? !

Since I'm on a roll here I might as well show you my progress on my other Xmas projects : )
Here's my red and white Christmas picture  . . .

. . . where I am working my way across the red sky with my new red thread . I'm also working on the outside frame , so not long to go now : ) Still thinking of how to finish it . . : )

 Here's the progress on my Swedish santa :

I'm also stitching my way across this sky and it is coming along nicely . I had a go at stitching Santa's facial features , but it looked a right mess so I've decided to leave him as he is . . . I think . . ! I've been so spoiled with stitching Joan Elliotts beautifully detailed facial features lately . . !

Speaking of Joan Elliott , this is where I am at with her Christmas Fairy :

She hasn't had a lot of attention the last couple of weeks , but I've added a bit to the skirt and to the furry details of her dress:)

The other day I found this gorgeous Crocus ABC designed by Lucie Heaton in an old magazine (The World of Cross Stitching, issue 212)...

 

... and I just had to have a go at stitching some of these letters! The yellow and purple crocuses look wonderful and are very quick to stitch too:) I had some scraps of hand-died Polstitches aida to stitch on so these letters ended up looking absolutely fabulous : )

 

Happy stitching everyone!

 

Annie

A few of my WIPs . . .

Hi Everyone !

OMG , you should see the state of my livingroom table ! ! ! Or maybe not . . . ha ha !
It is totally covered with Zip Lock plastic bags filled with a variety of different cross stitch projects . . . One day I may be brave enough to share a picture of my own personal WIP chaos , ha ha , but today is not the day : ) )

I cannot show you ALL of my Xmas gift projects , but luckily there are still plenty of WIPs whose future recipients won't read this blog .

So here are a few of my WIPs screaming for attention on my livingroom table . . .

 

I have shown you these before . They are freebie gift tags designed by Fiona Crouch from Cross Stitcher magazine issue 286 . I have now finished these and I am in the process of thinking of how to use these charts again for more gift tags - hence the WIP status : ) I loved stitching these simple yet Xmassy  designs , but instead of stitching with red thread on white aida , I think I'm going to stitch them on red aida fabric with white thread . That should be equally Xmassy , don't you think ? ! Or I might stitch these designs using metallics . . . If I am going to make gift tags for all my Xmas gifts I still have about 40 to do so wish me luck : )

 



These strawberries ( designed by Lucie Heaton in Cross Stitcher magazine issue 239) you have seen before too , but now I have started the backstitch on the first few . And you were all right ; they benefited from some backstitch : ) I have now stiched 6 berries and I have at least 6 more to stitch . . . Boring , but I must say that they look yummie , so I am pleased with the progress :)

Those of you who take part in the Christmas Ornie SAL 2015 recognize this Prairie Schooler Santa , which is going to be my ornament for August : ) I love working on this Santa ( from Cross Stitch Collection magazine issue 243 ) and I am really looking forward to do the other two designs featured in the magazine : )

 

This ABC I found in Cross Stitch Collection magazine issue 246. I loved these pretty Zweigart letters, but I realised too late that I should have stitched them on coloured aida instead of the white aida band . . . I just wasn't thinking . . !  As this looks , you can hardly make out the pretty LITTLE flowers, nor the blue backstitch . Bummer ! However, I will carry on with this particular aida band , and maybe I'll stitch it onto a blue towel to bring out the blue in the letters . But next time I use this pretty ABC it will definitely not be on white aida !

 

At last I just have to show you my progress on Joan Elliott's Christmas Fairy ( from Cross Stitch Crazy magazine issue 159 ) ! I'm a huge Christmas nerd (I even have my own Christmas blog ) and in the evenings I have started to watch some Xmas movies and lit some scented Christmas Candles and then stitched on my Xmas Fairy . Therefore progress has been good : ) This is another project that I am totally in love with , so I am very happy that I have been able to find some special time in the day when I work solely on this Fairy , just for myself : )

That is all from me for this time : )

Happy Stitching!

Annie

Catching up on my (Xmas) stitching !

Hi everyone !

Things are getting back to normal here for me after I had to look after all my family's five dogs for a week : ) The week was really exhausting for me and I struggled to find any energy or time to stitch , even though I had such a longing for it .

But now I can finally catch up on my stitching ! I'm in a crazy mental place right now where almost all I can think about is my stitching and my Christmas gifts that I plan to stitch ! Sadly I will not be able to show you everything I'll stitch ; at least not until after Christmas in case a few of my family members happen to read this blog . However , there should still be plenty of stitching going on that I CAN show you , especially if I can execute at least half of the projects I am planning . . . ha ha !

My first finished Christmas gift stitching is this piece . . .

. . . for my grandma ! It says GRANDMA in Swedish , and I plan to attach it to a towel : ) The ABC is from Cross Stitch Crazy magazine issue 159 and they are designed by Lucie Heaton . These letters were really fun to stitch , and easy to experiment with colour-combos . I'm hoping to stitch more of these . I have soo many ABCs to choose from , but I have decided to pick easy designs for gifts , with a limited amount of colours and not too fussy with a lot of thread changes . I find the starting and finishing of lots of threads always slows me down .

I have also stitched a little on my Christmas Fairy by Joan Elliott . . .

. . . but I am eagerly awaiting some threads which has slowed me down a bit on this one .

In the past I have bought quite a few of the Enjoy Cross Stitch magazines since they always include threads and other stitching goodies . Like this issue for example :

 

It's from Spring 2013 , and it included all these lovely goodies :

 

It caught my eye again a few days ago and I decided to stitch some of the designs they suggested (designed by Lesley Teare) using the free threads .

The first one is this sweet little chart I finished .

 

I'm going to turn it into an ornament and send it to my aunt who celebrates her 60th birthday . I have been dragging my feet on the finishing and making up part of this little project , since it is my least favorite part of stitching , but you can imagine what it will look like once I get this done . . . sooon.

Since it looked so good , I decided to stitch another design using the freebie threads and that turned into this little finish :

 

I changed the original 'Home Sweet Home' phrase to the Swedish equivalent , and I think it turned out rather well : ) This will probably be turned into another ornament - some other day - to be put in someone's Xmas stocking : )

 

So , that's all the stitching for this time !

 

Happy Stitching everyone !

 

Annie