WIPoca-LATE

Why yes, I am posting my October WIPocalypse update in November!   What's the saying...better late than never!?


Before I post all my progress I wanted to share a beautiful little design I started recently from By the Bay Needleart.   They started a Fall Mystery SAL at the beginning of October, which came in 4 parts.

Here is my progress on parts 1 and 2:

All of the floss is from Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe (except the white) and the fabric came from a multi-pack/grab bag from www.dovestitch.com

This has stitched up quickly, so I hope to find little bits of time here and there and finish it before the year ends.


Now, onto my lateness.......  My WIPocalypse update!

Cathedral Before: 

Cathedral Now:

New Starts for October:

QS Seasons 2:

QS Dream of Dahlia:

Middle Earth Large:

I can't believe it's already November!!   I have so much to do to get ready for the holidays  :( 

I hope everyone out there is safe from Sandy, I've read some updates on blogs of those in the areas that were hit...thankfully they're all well.


I'll catch up on blogs through today, when I can!! 



-lesli

September WIPocalypse

I'm a little late...but hey...that's the story of my life! :)


Thanks to everyone that wished me well during this darn cold....and yes...I still have it!   At this point I may be going for the World Record for longest cold, or possibly the most nose blowing!

Some quick pics of my WIPocalypse progress this past month  (I say quick, but after I loaded them all I was pleasantly surprised by how much progress I made these last 30 days!):


Lanterns Before:

and After:

Blue Moon Before:

and After:

Blue Butterly Before:

and After:

Moonlight Immersion Before:

and After:

Around the World Before:

and After:

Looking forward to checking out everyone's progress as well!



-lesli

August 31st WIPocalypse

I can't believe it's already that time of the month!  (not THAT time...but...you know what I mean!)


I just bought over 500 skeins of floss so I'm itching to get them all sorted out!!  
So here's my quick update for the past few months (I missed the first August update):


SK Seasons Spring by Nadia Strelkina - Heaven and Earth Designs:

I finished this piece for a very good friend of mine.  I didn't post any progress pictures, and really I finished it in July...but I've been waiting to put any pictures up until after I gave it to her.

Started 05/21/2012: Finished 07/14/2012:

Tamlin (new start) as of 08/19/2012:

Cathedral as of 08/23/2012:

Wings as of 08/29/2012:

I feel like I've left something out that I worked on since the last update...but my mind is drawing a blank!!


Before I run to play with floss....I wanted to give a BIG THANK YOU to Kim of Scully's Cross Stitching.  She was giving away some of her Teresa Wentzler stash and sent me the discontinued Best of Teresa Wentzler Sampler Collection.  

Here are just a few of the gorgeous samplers found inside:

Thank you again, Kim!   I'm still oggling and drooling over the book....I can't decide which to start first!!


Hope everyone has a fun filled weekend!!


-lesli

July WIPocalypse

First off...I'd like to thank everyone that replied to my last post!  I've been so behind I haven't had a chance to respond to everyone.   I had a wonderful business trip to Charlotte....but I got ZERO stitching done (not a big surprise though, right?)  

My big project at work is picking up pace and I've been busy busy busy....so my blog posts will probably slow down a bit  :(    I'm still trying to get a little stitching in every day, but nothing like I've been used to!!

Anyway.....my WIPocalypse update....

I have a HAED piece I'm working on for a dear friend of mine, but she visits my blog so I'm not posting any pictures.  I'm currently about half way done, hoping to finish it before the next WIPocalypse update!  

Other than that WIP, here are my other updates (with a before and after pic)!

Moonlight Immersion

Before:

After:

Blue Moon

Before:

After:

Butterfly

Before:

After:

Around the World

Before:

After

Hoping to get a little bit of time today to catch up on blogs.....I feel horrible not getting to keep up on everyone's progress like I have been!   Looking forward to my work project slowing down...though that probably won't be for a few months.  :(

Hope everyone had a wonderful and save 4th of July!   Happy Summer stitching everyone!!


-lesli

JUNE WIPocalypse

So instead of posting all the updates for my work in the last month, you can see all my updated progress by clicking here.  I have one other piece I've been working on but it is a gift so I haven't posted any progress pictures, I'll post some as soon as it is complete!

I do want to highlight a piece I've been working on the past few days (I'm counting it for this WIPocalpyse update!).....the Around the World in 80 Stitches SAL by Papillon Creations.  Oh my goodness, I am LOVING this SAL!  

This SAL takes you 'around the world' and introduces you to different specialty stitches around the world!  This SAL comes in 24...yes....24 installments!  When I first heard about this months ago, I thought to myself....two years is way too long...I can't do it!

But then I saw Lesley work on her's and I knew I just HAD to do it!   You can check out her progress at her blog:  Lesley's Stitching Diary 2012 

She has been such a dear...answering my questions about the chart and giving me tips and pointers!

You can get more info about this SAL at the Papillon Creations site.  They also have a gallery of pictures for this piece....there are so many variations out there!

This piece is stitched using 3 "greens" and 8 "floral" colors.  It also includes a metallic thread and 2 sets of beads.   Each stitcher gets to choose whatever floss colors they want!  I chose a subtle lot of colors....boring to some but to my liking :)


Here are the colors I chose:

Work can be done on either 28 count or 32 count for the specialty chart (there is also a cross stitch only chart for those wanting to work on aida).  I chose 28 count sage laguna.

The SAL is already into month 2, but I'm just starting month 1 (I'm hoping to catch up before month 3 comes out!)

There are 2 hearts in month 1....I've just finished the first one and hope to have the second one complete in the next few days.


Here's my first heart:

and some close-ups of the specialty stitches:

The Berwick stitch and partial eyelets

 

The Norwich stitch, ray stitch and eyelets



The Lazy Daisy stitch, ray stitch and eyelets


Those Lazy Daisy stitches threw me for a loop!  I re-stitched them 3 times!  I'm happy with how they look now......I think.....

I'll add the beads on after all the stitching is done, so I can continue to use my hoop and not ruin any of them.



I'm off to work on the second half of month 1 (more Lazy Daisies...oh no!)....... then look at everyone's updates!   



-lesli

May WIPocalypse

Heeeeeeeere's my update!


Nature's Beauty by LHN - I LOVED stitching this piece!!  I see many more LHN WIPs in my future!

Before:

After:

QS Motherhood by HAED   (My second HAED finish!)

I stitched this as a gift, so I didn't post any pictures of it on my blog until now (I haven't given it yet either, but I'm crossing my fingers that the recipient misses reading my blog for a bit!)

Cathedral by HAED - Finished page 2!   Hoping my next WIPocalypse update brings a few more pages of this piece!

Before:

After:

Now...off to check out all of your updates!!  :)

-lesli

April WIPocalypse

I only worked on one piece since the last WIPocalypse update....Coral 

And I am delighted to report, she is FINISHED!  :)

Here she is:

 I've washed and pressed her and dropped her off to be framed yesterday.   This is my first official HAED finish.  I was worried I couldn't take on a HAED, but I loved every step of the way.  The confetti was a nightmare in the beginning, but I've come to actually like it and stitching with the metallics is still a little iffy for me, but I'm better at it!

This means I can mark off item # 3 and #5 from my rotation schedule.  I skipped #4 because I couldn't put Coral down until I finished her. 

I've had some wonderful things happen to me since my last update!  Holly at Holly's Crafts Blog awarded me the Liebster Blog Award!  Thank you, Holly!  I'm honored! :)

I also had my name drawn by Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe to win her new sampler chart giveaway.  The sampler is Teach Me to Feel Another's Woes and I love it!  The verse she chose is by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) and her design brings it all together beautifully.  Here is a picture:

Today I've decided to take on the task of sorting through all my DMC floss!  Like a mad-stashing woman, I've gone on various trips to the craft store to buy floss for this chart and that chart, but then leaving it all aside to work on later.  I'm going to officially kit up 5 HAED charts, just to make sure I have all the floss I need, then make a final floss run tomorrow for any missing colors.....and then cut myself off from buying floss for the rest of the year!  (yeah...riiiiighhhhht, lesli!)   :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter holiday weekend and you get to spend some time with family and friends...and of course, some time with needle and floss!


-lesli


Edit:  Ooops!  I lied!  I also did a little work on Wings since the last WIPocalypse update!  I was laser focused on Coral that I completely forgot.  You can see my progress on that piece here

March WIPocalypse

My March update is pretty minimal....I dedicated the majority of my stitching time to Coral, with a few small projects tossed in there!

Here's what Coral looked like just after my February update (1/1/2 pages):

And here's what she looks like for my March update (3 1/2 pages):

I'm hoping my April update brings a completed/framed piece!

I also completed a needlebook for a friend (though it wasn't officially on my WIPocalypse list, it's still a finished piece!)


Front of book



Back!

And..... in my last post I shared the LHN pattern I won from Bekca.... after I received it I fell in love with it and went on the hunt for more LHN patterns online.  I won a few from eBay, one of which was a pattern for a scissor fob.  The pattern came in the mail yesterday and I just couldn't keep my hands off of it, so I finished off the fob last night:

It was actually a little kit, but I used my own fabric/floss so I could save the rest for the bigger pattern it came with.  I think it turned out so cute!

And there you have it....all my stitchy stuff from the past month!!  (you can see my full WIPocalypse list and update here)


-lesli


ps:  don't forget to spring forward this weekend!  :)

January WIPocalypse Update

I can't believe it is already time for our first WIPocalypse update!!  For anyone who isn't signed up for this HUGE SAL, there is still time (deadline is January 15th)!!  Information can be found here: http://measi.net/measiblog/.

I'm posting my progress below, but if you want to see my full list of goals, just click here:  Lesli's 2012 WIPocalypse Page

Blue Moon -

Cathedral -

Coral -

Thanks for stopping by......I'll post updates to my non-cross stitch projects in my next post!

Have a great week!!


-lesli