Monday 4 January 2016

A Weekend of WIPs and a Finish!

The advantage of starting the year with no WIPs is that you get to have new starts with abandon - well four new starts, which for me is my "rotation" maximum!

So here they are, with a few hours stitching in on each of them!

My New Year's New Start was Berthe Massiet, by Reflets de Soie, a pretty sizeable French sampler which is why I choose to stitch it 1 over 2 on 40ct using AVAS d'Alger.  It is mostly cross stitch with some pattern darning sections.  Here is where a couple of hours got me:

image
All  materials from stash

 
Next, surprise surprise is a HAED!  I haven't stitched one of these for over a year after I decided that their BAPs were not for me, though I have completed a few SKs, QS and Minis in my time.  Every so often I feel the pull of a few on my hard drive, but I know it's more the art than the stitching that I'm attracted to.  That being said, there was a nice easy design in my HAED stash (a chart I received in the rewards programme) that I love and would use up a piece of hand dyed fabric in my stash so I thought why not!  So here is HAED QS Ladybug by Ching-Chou Kuik, stitched on 28ct Brittney Opal LE Christmas Poinsettia by Jodyri Designs, 2 over 1 tent stitch with Anchor black as I prefer the coverage to DMC black:
 
 
QS Ladybug
All materials from stash

Next up I started a design that I've had in my stash since it was released in a magazine back in January 2012!!!  In fact it was probably one of the last times I purchased a UK cross stitch magazine and I only do so for this designer's charts - yes you've guessed it, it's a Joan Elliott design.  I have her Historical Ladies (Medieval Lady already complete) and Fairy Tale Princesses in my stash to stitch and I've been looking forward to stitching at least one of them this year.  So I've chosen Cinderella as I had suitable hand dyed fabric in my stash for her and the majority of the DMC, beads and metallics used, so just a small order to Sew and So was required :).  I've swapped the Kreinik metallics for Petite Treasure Braids as I usually do and she is stitched 2 over 2, except for skin - that will be stitched 1 over 1.  The fabric is 28ct Brittney Opal in Speckled Eggs by Jodyri Designs:
 
Cinderella WIP 1
Majority of materials from stash, just some extra DMCs required
 
My final start was from the Fall 2003 issue of SANQ Magazine and is entitled Flowers of the Field by Eileen Bennett (#99 on this page) and contains 15 different sampler stitches in 10 shades of Anchor and one metallic (which again I subbed for PTB).  Initially I had thought to stitch this on 40ct, but when I looked at the pattern there seemed a fair bit of over 1 stitching so I opted for 32ct Belfast instead to save my eyes a bit!
 
Flowers of the Field WIP 1
All materials from stash
 
 Last but not least I had my first finish of the year courtesy of Mabel's Hardanger SAL Round in Circles.  Round One was released on Friday and was stitched up within a couple of hours.  I opted to go for the same colour scheme that I used for Confetti of Hardanger as it felt suitably January-ish, although I frogged the entire whipped backstitch border so that I could use (the very last of my) petite silk lame braid in white instead to tie in with the PTB pearl I'd used for some of the star stitches.  It is stitched on 25ct white lugana using DMC #5 in 211 and white, Jodyri Designs Alaskan Beauty #5 perle, DMC #8 perle, PTB10 and PSL02 and a delica bead in lavender:
 
 
Round in Circles SAL by Mabel Figworthy - Round One
All materials from stash
 
So there you have it, the results of my stitchy weekend!  I have no particular order in which I will work my four WIPs, just whatever I fancy at the time.  When one is finished I'll add another piece in from the list, or just keep whittling them down until I can have another four starts as I did in the Summer and Autumn/Winter last year.
 
I will be back at the end of the month to share any progress I have - I'm never very good at sharing WIP pics unless they have a definite point of closure e.g a page or part finish as I think if I just keep stitching there will always be more to show lol!
 
Happy Stitching!

16 comments:

  1. Well done on finishing the year with a clean slate! What gorgeous pieces you chose to start 2016 with. All very different too so lots of variety!
    I'm working on reducing my WIP list this year - from 11 to 5 - and will probably work mostly one at a time. I'm also unsure how often to post!

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  2. Great progress on all of them and I love that you're finished Round 1 already! I'm having trouble downloading it so I have to email Mabel. :)

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  3. Gorgeous stitching! You always have such fun projects going on.

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  4. Fantastic start to the year! I love the Cinderella she's my fave of Joan's princesses for sure. They all look great!

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  5. Superb projects and I love your choice of fabric... sparkly!!

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  6. Lovely choices for 2016.Look forward to progress pictures when the time is right:)

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  7. I'm so thrilled about your new starts! my absolute favourite is Eileen - those yellow cone-flowers! aaaw!

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  8. Lovely and diverse projects that I am looking forward to seeing stitched. 40 count is beyond me but I look forward to sharing yours.

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  9. Love, love, love your WIPs for 2016!

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  10. I love the choices you made for your new projects, Amanda. All of them offer a lot of diversity which I also love with my WIPs. Going from one to the next is always a change of style and stitches and fabric. BTW, those fabric colors of #2 and #3 are just gorgeous. Looking forward to seeing more of these WIPs at the end of this month.

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  11. Four lovely and varied starts for the New Year. It's good to be able to change styles, you'll never get bored.
    I'm a fan of Joan Elliott too.

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  12. Wow! What a wonderful assortment of needlework projects. I love your Reflets de Soie sampler. I won a book of French red samplers. I had never thought of changing one to an array of colors instead of the all red. What a wonderful idea! My other favorite was the Eileen Bennett flower sampler from SANQ. (Can we have a moment of silence for SANQ.) I may have that issue in my stash. I never know what I'll find when I go digging in those magazine piles. Thanks for the inspiration! Joan in NJ

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  13. Lovely finish and new starts too!

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