WIPOCALYPSE October to December!

As promised in the last blog, WIPocalypse! Start with August, and go from there!

I am a little sad I didn't keep up on this particular SAL for the second half of the year, as it really is one of my favorites, and Measi is such a great writer with beautiful insights, I almost feel as if I have disrespected her by having my Tumultuous Period and then the silence that followed.  Life certainly does move right along without you in it, doesn't it?  It's kind of funny if you think about it, but every one of us does impact another person's life in some way and online friendships are no different!  

Now, on to the August question:  Pick one of the WIP pieces you have stitched on this month, and tell us about your stitching journey with the piece.

I love this question!  In August I finally figured out how I would finish finish SKULL. When my daughter found the most perfect fabric the idea to quilt the fabric border came to me via another project I was working on.  Hand quilting has gone out of fashion, but I can tell you that every quilt I have ever made has been hand quilted (albeit badly sometimes ha, ha).  There is just something so incredibly intimate about hand quilting that makes it far more of a gift than machine quilting.  

The second best part of this particular project is the fact that my 92 year old grandmother, a quilter, touched this project.  She held it in her hands and laid it flat on her lap and for the first time we had a discussion about quilting with her and my great aunts Frannie and Dorothy.  They told me more than once they didn't "care for the subject matter" which is fine, it was a gift for someone who does, but they all agreed the cross stitching and quilting was lovely.  The best compliment a  person can ever get is from people who have been quilting since the Great Depression and know a thing or two about it!  I can still see my Grandma's beautiful hands smoothing the fabric and enjoying the feel of it.  

I did finish this one completely, and gave it to the intended recipient who has been told this story. The recipient LOVES this and knows how precious it is to have loving hands set upon any project.  It just made the finished piece that much more valuable to her!

October question:  Where do you buy most of your stitching supplies?

I'm so glad you asked!  123 Stitch!  I sometimes think I know their stock on hand better than they do! Like knowing your best friend's stash better than your own.  If I cannot find something there, it pains me to have to search somewhere else.  123 is a loving, soothing balm applied to daily scrapes received during life's daily travels.  The people are so incredibly great!  I could gush on all day about them, but I have more questions to answer.

November Question:  Which designer has inspired you to stitch the greatest number of designs, and why do you think that is?

This one is a little difficult to answer.  The obvious answer is Teresa Wentzler, however, I have not stitched enough of her patterns to warrant that being the truest answer.  I stitch everyone and everything!  By stitching the way I do I have learned so much and am now CONFIDENT in my stitching and can tackle a TW pattern without fear.  

I know some of you probably had the same fears and thoughts I had...someday I'll be good enough to stitch that.  Thanks to every designer that I have stitched, I feel pretty good about any project I pick up and I still always have that little bit of trepidation when I look at my beautiful TW patterns. Number one rule with any project, but more so with TW: READ THE DIRECTIONS FIRST.  And join me in berserker stitching and STITCH IT ALL!

December question: Recap your accomplishments for the year.

I thought this question was going to slay me at first, but I figured out how to do this without sharing everything and creating a picture heavy blog.  

My 10 WIPs for the Turtle Trot have all had some stitching done on them except Panda Delight, Celtic Goddess and No Drama.  I've finished two of three Quaker Ornaments, threw in 100 or more stitches into Butterfly Forest, COSMOS, Cead Mile Failte, completed Day 1 of 12 Days and started Day 2, and completed January (twice), February, and March bookmarks.  Total finishes for the year is 30 cross stitched projects (16 of which were the Ornaments of the Month) and 11 quilted panels for Sugarlane's BOF project.  

That is quite a paragraph of accomplishments!  There are those out there that have some serious finishes on larger projects, but I am pretty excited to see so much of my year having had so much done!

Something else I would like to add to my list of accomplishments:  ALL OF THE NEW PEOPLE that have been met and are now stitched into my life because of this wondrous "hobby".  I'm sure you all have heard "people of like mind".  It applies here.  I am so blessed to know you all and share such a beautiful craft with a variety of different people around the world.  So Blessed!

So there it all is...in a nutshell as the saying goes.

Until next time.....Keep on Stitchin'!