WIPocalypse the sixth (my fifth)

So, after completely missing last month’s WIPocalypse post, it swings back around again.

The question this month: Are you more productive with stitching in Summer or the Winter?

Umm, I have no idea. I’ll have a look at finishes and things in a moment, but first of all, a guess.  I think I’m more crafty in general in the Summer, because I’m a student, and in the Winter I like knitting because it can keep you warm… maybe?

What does my history of stitching actually look like?

Summer stitching

Stained Glass, tetris shapes (September totally counts as Summer, right?), flower fairy card x2, half the butterfly.

Winter stitching

Butterfly outline, love is, friends were flowers card, roses card, Christmas cards, coaster Christmas presents.

I didn’t include the OUAT sampler, because that was mostly worked as soon as it came out, so about the same in Summer and Winter. So, this basically told me what I already suspected- the weather doesn’t really affect how much I work on things. Maybe if I went back further, I would be able to spot more of a difference, but I think this is enough analysis.

So, onto the interesting part… what work has been done in the last two months?

Well, I haven’t done any on Stained Glass. I pulled it out a few times, but couldn’t be bothered to actually do any work on it *sigh*.

I did make my dad a birthday card

And I’ve started work on a graduation card for my sister

But that’s really been it Instead I’ve been busy knitting, and writing up a tutorial for knitting socks, which took wayy longer than I thought it would! I take my hat off to those who do it regularly!

See you all next time, I guess!

 

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WIPocalypse the fourth

So, we’re now more than a quarter of the way through the year (and that’s a rather scary thought!), and it;s time for another WIPocalypse post. The question this time…

Which specialty stitches do you love doing on projects? Which do you dread?

I don’t do those needlework projects, so I’ve never done such things as eye stitches, or butterfly stitches (or whatever they’re called- I usually just skip to the pretty pictures!)

However, I do enjoy beading projects, and will commonly swap out confetti stitches or French knots for them (not that I hate French knots, just that I much prefer beads, they’re so pretty!)

Wow, I’m coming across rather strangely this month! I totally blame the cold I’ve got, but hey ho.

Anyway, I’m not so fond of back-stitching, but the effect of it makes it totally worth-while! As long as I don’t need to do it all in one go, but can stitch a section and then back-stitch it.

Another thing I love is using sparkly thread, although I’m not sure if that counts as a specialty stitch. I think so, as it takes more effort, but I suppose that you’re still making the standard cross for cross stitch, or back-stitch, which I’ve already mentioned.

I can’t really think of any other specialty stitches that I do really. So, onto the pictures!

I managed to finish my butterfly! Woot!

It has been ironed (gently, so as to not ruin the beadwork or blending filament), and is off at the framers. My parents will pick it up tomorrow, and then bring it up to me in July when they come up to help me move. I can’t believe that it’s so close(and yet so far still) to getting hung up!

I haven’t done much other cross stitching- I’ve been busy working on my mum’s birthday presents, but they’re sewing, rather than cross stitch, so I’ll talk about those in another post.

However, now that butterfly has been finished (and I’ve worked through a few cards to get it out of my system!), I’m ready to pick up another big piece. And next I will be working on Stained Glass again. This is how far I have gotten so far

and so hopefully I’ll be able to put a few stitches into it at some point 🙂 I also do have a few cards I need to get done, but they’re not especially urgent right now, so we’ll see what I feel like working on.

WIPocalypse the second

So, the question for this check in is

How do you overcome that feeling that you’re in a rut with a particular project?

 

My version of ‘stuck in a rut’ is that I want the damn thing finished already. If I don’t want to work on a particular project, then I simply don’t. Last year, when I was still working on pokemon, at the end I stopped wanting to work on it, and just wanted to get it finished. So I put it down.

I am a slow stitcher, and setting myself arbitrary deadlines is a very silly thing to do, and the best way to get it out of my system is to just ignore the project until it calms down (yes, I know I didn’t do that for the OUAT, I was nearly finished with that). Obviously, this doesn’t really work when projects are nearly finished, because by that time they are nearly finished, and there is no way I will not get excited about them! Then I just try to stay fairly level-headed, and hope I get enough sleep!

Strangely enough, I don’t ever get the ‘I want this thing finished already’ feeling with my knitting. Which hopefully means that it’s just a juvenile thing, and eventually I’ll stop feeling like this at all.

So, that’s all about me and dealing with that feeling. Onto progress pics of what I’ve been working on. Umm, which really hasn’t been that much on any of these things… I did some more work on the butterfly,

and then quite a lot of what I had done needed frogging…

I also decided that I’m not going to carry on working on pokemon. This was a difficult decision for me to make- I found the pattern and started working on it when I was with my ex, then, well, he became my ex. I still intermittently worked on it, but I haven’t worked on it for a while now, and I guess that now I can accept that we don’t really work out as ‘just friends’.

However, I have done some other cross stitching. I made this card for a friend who was going through some bad stuff

and some on a small piece for my cousin, who is expecting a child. It’s a ‘love is’ kit from DMc, and the quote is ‘love is a healthy baby’. However, all that I’ve done is some white and pink, neither of which are ideally suited for photographing, so that’s going to have to wait until I start backstitching.

 

WIPocalypse the first

So, I’ve decided to join in this SAL this year, to try and get more stitching done!

This month, you have to introduce yourself and talk about the goals for the year.

So I’m a PhD student in York (studying maths, but don’t worry, it doesn’t make an appearance here!). I’m a multi-crafter, so as well as cross stitching, I knit and crochet, and want to start a whole bunch of other things!

But, for my cross stitching this year I want to work on:

‘the butterfly one’

There isn’t much more on this, just some more stars and hearts and some words at the top, and then a frame. Hopefully I can get this finished this year.

‘the cat alphabet’

Yeah…this was started and then immediately put down again so I could work on the butterfly. I’ve done some more on it than this photo, but haven’t yet finished this square, so there’s lots more to do! I’m going to start working on this again properly when the butterfly is finished.

‘Pokemon’

I don’t have a photo of everything I’ve done on this, but it’s more than 1 page (maybe enough bits to make a second). Regular readers of this blog will remember that I’ve been a bit up-and-down about this one- it’s for a friend, and I’ve been questioning if I want to spend this much time (it’s a 30 page chart) on something for this friend.

‘Stained Glass’

This started out as a SAL, but unfortunately the cross stitch company (Love thy thread) had to close, so we’ve been given the rest of the chart to finish in our own time. I’m toying with the idea of ‘colouring it in’ when I’ve finished the outside, with some sparkly thread.

New Starts:

I’ve got a couple of new starts, but I’m certainly not going to beat myself up if I don’t start them!

-Fred the literate cat. I’ve stitched this once, I want to do it again with some modifications for a friend, and I think it’s going to look epic when done (so let’s start it already!)

-a HAED. I can’t remember the name of it, but it was released in a magazine over 2 months, ad I’d love to stitch it.

-I’d also like to stitch a few cards. I love giving hand stitched cards, but I’ve had enough of actually having to stitch it at the time. By having some ready, I won’t need to stitch a card just to send it.

So that’s all from me I think! See you next month 🙂