Category Archives: WIPocalypse

January WIPocalypse

Posted in 16 in 2016, conversion details, cross stitch, freebies, goals, grateful, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Teresa Wentzler, WIPocalypse by

WIPocalypse is into year 5! I’ve only been participating for one of these, but it’s a monthly check-in I want to make time for. WIPocalypse is hosted by Mel at her blog http://measi.net/measiblog/

Question of the Month: Introduce yourself, your projects, and any goals you have for the year!

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Me & the Moon at Mission Bay

Well, nothing much has changed since last January. I’m still in the same house, same job, same everything really – only the projects have moved on. We are very nearly done with the SIL’s house reno so that will open up more free time. The Screaming Teen turned 16 on Saturday and has passed the first year of his major exams; Zachary Quack is about to turn 13 & start high school (he has a scholarship, I was so proud I nearly burst) and Mase the Ace is posting his own Lego creations on my Instagram account. This is what you get when you have gifted kids and are stupid enough to use hubby’s new extension number as your cell pin.

I am up to the very last panel of a Mirabilia Round Robin – this one belongs to Crafty Rahenna. Then mine will come home! I’m pretty excited as I haven’t even seen an update for nearly a year now.

IMG_20160124_214031.jpgBut before I move onto the RR, I want to finish one piece so I have something completed on my #16in2016 list. Cherub with Tree is an older freebie by Nora Corbett, and I started her as a coverage experiment in June or July 2014, before putting her away and focussing on the Audubon St birds that are on the same fabric. She is on 25ct white Lugana, stitched 3 over 2, with 2 strands as the backstitch. I found that the darker threads don’t have as much coverage as the lighter (lots of others have commented the same with DMC) but overall I’m pretty happy with the result. Lots and lots of conversions (hubby chose the dress colours & is really pleased with the outcome). I think maybe another week and this will be done!

One thing I am doing for 2016 is keeping a separate portion of my diary for stitching goals AND keeping my WIP blog page updated with pics as I rotate. I have a page in my planner with my #16in2016 rotation goals – I am determined to be an adult about things this year. My trial isn’t time-based but section based. I didn’t think week about would work for me. So here we go:

  1. Mirabilia Mermaids of the Deep. First goal in December was to start the top mermaid and stitch the skin & hair. That took 11 days (altho some days I only put in a couple of threads!) and the next goal will be to complete the DMC in her tail.

I had a couple of days in between this one and my #newyearnewmira so I threw Roses of Provence up onto the stand to see if I wanted to add her to the rotation. And yes – she is back in.

  1. Mirabilia Raven Queen. My #newyearnewmira start in the FB group. My goal was to complete the border for the top half & get the architecture on the LHS done. I am doing the beads & Kreinik as I go. Next goal is the architecture on the RHS, including the Raven.
  2. Nora Corbett Cherub with Tree. The goal was to complete the LHS background and her hair – and that took 3 days so she stayed on the frame. This one will be my second finish for the year! My first is saved for the Smalls check-in later on this week.
  3. Mirabilia Roses of Provence. There’s a couple of others doing her as well in their rotations. Next goal is to get the tree and roses done. Beading as I go.
  4. Nora Corbett Blitzen. Goal is to get his body and the ribbons that connect him to Rudolph completed.
  5. Mirabilia Persephone. Next goal is to get her left arm and the “jellyfish” on the LHS finished. Then it’s onto her dress conversion!
  6. Nora Corbett Arezzo. This is my over 1 conversion. Goal is to get the lower pink roses done. I’m toying with using petite beads for the last lot of roses – talk about a glutton for punishment!
  7. Semco Toy Story sampler. Next goal is to get the dinosaur done.
  8. Teresa Wentzler Tapestry Cat. Next goal is to get the cat body done.

In addition I want to do a Small each month and drop in another couple of things – Simon has his eye on the Satsuma St “Pretty Little” series. He’s English, so London is perfect; he’s been to Paris, so that’s an obvious choice and we both love Sydney, so there’s 3. Smalls apart from this month will likely be the Joyful World SAL that I linked to the other week & the Tuscan Garden will replace Cherub as a Mini (my thought pattern is Small (Ornament)/Mini/Medium (a Nora Corbett size)/Large (a proper Mira size)/Yep That’s Big (Teresa Wentzler)/Absolutely Freaking Not No Way (HAED equivalent)).

Looking forward to reading some of the other WIPocalypse posts – jump on in!

December WIPocalypse – the Recap Edition

Posted in 16 in 2016, cross stitch, WIPocalypse by

Theme: Recap your accomplishments for the year!

Way, way back in January 2015 I wrote that I planned to use more embroidery in stitching (uh oh) and would like to make another teddy or two (at least I found the materials and patterns I had stashed recently!). My stitching plans weren’t as fixed:

This year’s WIPs are:

  • Teresa Wentzler’s Tapestry Cat SOME WORK DONE
  • Mirabilia Stargazer COMPLETED
  • Nora Corbett Mediterranean Mermaid COMPLETED
  • Nora Corbett Reindeer (I started with Rudolph). I only have five charts more to go…six to buy  DIDN’T BUY ANYMORE, RESEARCHED & FOUND OUT SHE’S ONLY CHARTED NINE IN TOTAL. RUDOLPH COMPLETED, BLITZEN STARTED.

 

I plan to start:

  • Nora Corbett Letter C COMPLTED
  • Nora Corbett Letter P STILL NEED TO BUY THIS ONE
  • Mirabilia Rose of Sharon USED THE FABRIC FOR SOMETHING ELSE

2015 ended up being the year of the Round Robin. I have stitched in 6 Mira pieces and 5 local pieces – and got burned as the person who last stitched mine has gone AWOL and not bothered to return emails, phone messages or facebook messages so that’s really disappointing. Then there was the “friend” who lied repeatedly to me & shook me up.

April’s piece – only Rahenna & Lenna to go and it looks gorgeous.
Keely’s piece is nearly done!
Gingerbread House
Summer Queen
sunday’s progress. primrose urn

On the other side of the fence there are some amazing people out there. The stand Andie gave me is so so awesome and really helped me stitch thru carpel tunnel. Others are full of encouragement – Mel (who runs WIPocalypse), Anne (Feather Stiching), Erin (Crossstichery), my fellow Mira RR stitchers, the Instagram bunch and many, many more. Here’s to all of you!

Thank you for following along with my WIPocalypse journey. I hope you’re inspired to jump on in this year!

November WIPocalypse

Posted in cross stitch, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, round robin, stitching patterns, Teresa Wentzler, WIPocalypse by

November 25 – Topic:  Which designer has inspired you to stitch the greatest number of designs and why do you think that is? (via Hazel, who I follow on Instagram!)

There’s a few designers that I collect/hoard/stash. I have a lot of Theresa Wentzler’s, altho I only have two finishes and two WIPs & one more kitted up; I went thru an Alma Lynne phase and I have one finish but another 10-15 charts; obviously a Winnie-the-Pooh phase when Lou was younger (those three finishes are currently hanging in Mase’s bedroom, and will likely move along to first grandchild). I have probably 20 BHG Christmas magazines that I pick stuff out of, & some Ink Circles gifted to me by Lynne, and 8 Lavender & Lace (MLI was Nora’s mum) but in the last year my stitching revival is mostly Nora Corbett. I would have 40+ charts stashed away and four current WIPs:

  • Persephone
  • Arezzo (over one)
  • Roses of Provence (I’m re-thinking my decision to frog the current fabric, it might be easier now I have a portable stand)
  • Reindeer Parade (my mish-mash with Rudolph complete except for beads, and Blitzen partially done)

I have quite a few finishes for only 20 months too:

  • Stargazer
  • Mediterranean Mermaid
  • Santa’s Sleigh
  • Shimmering Mermaid’s compass (I don’t like this mermaid, but I had to do the compass)
  • Audubon St Yellow Figbird
  • Audubon St Scarlet Tanager
  • Audubon St Blue Monarch Flycatcher
  • Fairy Letter L (click on the Conversion tab for deets)
  • Fairy Letter C (again, click on Conversion for details)

And I’ve stitched on 5 of the seven Mira Round Robins too  which has been fun!

I’m trying not to hoard too much. I have far more than I will ever stitch in my lifetime and while Z and M have fleeting phases of wanting to stitch it isn’t the norm by any means! However I think I will encourage it over the heat of the summer months. With seven weeks away from school there is only so much TV and Wii a boy can deal with!

Here’s last night’s bit of stitching. I played with the stand & while Lenna’s Mermaid Tails RR is far too big to fit on any scroll, my little bookmark fitted perfectly on the smallest set:

Isn’t he cute? I re-worked the CloudsFactory design as I wanted a slightly round but not as round as their characters Poirot. This morning I sat down for 30 mins and I have the beginnings of Mr Darcy (Jenna’s bookmark). He should work up nice and fast!

WIP Wednesday, WIPocalypse with Winners

Posted in cross stitch, Mirabilia, WIPocalypse by

Hmmm – how was that for alliteration?!

Let’s start at the top. WIP Wednesday is post day this week- April’s piece is done and will be off in the post to Crafty Rahenna today. I chose Christmas Elegance and went thru HEAPS of beads.

April's piece - only Rahenna & Lenna to go and it looks gorgeous.

April’s piece – only Rahenna & Lenna to go and it looks gorgeous.

Christmas Elegance

Christmas Elegance

I’m not sure what I will pick up next – I have decided to frog Roses of Provence as I simply can’t cope with the uneveness of linen & so I’ll sell or swap that fabric. So there’s Persephone in progress or I have some 25ct Lugana for some Christmas ornaments & the bookmarks. That should give my eyes a rest – I was in hospital on Saturday hooked up to the good drugs for the migraine & while the optometrist says my prescription hasn’t changed enough to warrant a change of glasses I think I’ll get that double checked.

Then we’re up to WIPocalypse. This month’s question was around special threads and being scared to use. Mine would be Whisper – I hear it’s awful to stitch with. I haven’t even brought any, and chose to stitch the reindeer tails in B5200! Eventually I’ll get some and test but I can buy two packs of beads, six skeins of DMC or 1.5 rolls of Kreinik or a skein of Waterlillies for the same price, so right now I don’t think it’s all that important.

20151027_194535Last night I stopped at the top of Metcalfe and took the shot. Sorry this is with my cell but the moon was gorgeous. Mase said it looked like a cheese wheel, Z was slightly more poetic and said it looked like paper on fire.

And now we have winners! Thank you for the feedback. I am grateful.

Snippets:

1 Fawn https://stitchtherapyblog.wordpress.com/
2 eadouglas http://douglust.com/
3 Ginny https://mytimestitching.wordpress.com/

Yes – three winners! Fawn & Douglust will be sent the snippets, and Ginny, I hope you’ll love Travelling Bunny. He got returned to me recently after some time in the ether but I’ll send him on complete with some goodies and the rules. I think you’ll love him. I posted about him HERE

and for the bookmark? I’ll be making TWO. Congrats to

1 Jenna Austens
2 KerryCan Mysteries

please email me at paulainauckland(AT)gmail(DOT)com with your postal details!

WIPocalypse, October Goals & Contest Reminder

Posted in cross stitch, round robin, WIPocalypse by

Crap – this is a lot for one post!

20150928_205449This full moon is beautiful! Not a “blood moon” here in the Southern Hemisphere, but as Auckland skies were clearing, I got some good shots even with my Galaxy S3 phone.

With personal things there was no real WIPocalypse check-in last month, so here’s a couple of updates.

August 29 – Topic:  Pick one of the WIP pieces you’ve stitched on this month, and tell us about your stitching journey with the piece.

IMG_20150929_080302I’ve stitched on quite a few things this past month. I finished Mediterranean Mermaid, and worked on two round robins from a crashed & burned RR – Andrea’s gingerbread house and Keely’s Christmas angel. Andie in turn fixed my boo-boo in the Toy Story birth sampler! I have three more to work on this month as well as finishing Keely’s piece, which I hope to do this week, as I have Thursday/Friday off. Daylight savings has also kicked in which means more light at night and BBQs – Simon is cooking more which takes a load off.

20150928_215907Of my own pieces, I worked on Persephone. With the frustrations involved in the RR I needed to do something that was MINE, and I’ve gone past where I wanted to get too – the back wall paper is completed, and last night her pomegranate/leaves/stem was done. I did make a small mistake in one leaf, and decided to work around it. I don’t think anyone else will be able to tell where I went wrong. She’s looking as rustic as I wanted to, with the slightly coarse fabric – I don’t think it’s what it was labelled as! – and will be a good piece to take into the next year.

Yes, I’m thinking of 2016 already! I joined the FB “16 in 16” group, which is not about new starts but about finishing the WIPs that I do have. Currently this is very small – my over-one Arezzo, Persephone, a freebie Angel, the Toy Story piece that is with Andie, the TW Tapestry Cat and TW Noah’s Ark.

I think I’ve just given myself grace to make a few new starts 🙂

September 28 – Topic:  Where do you buy most of your stitching supplies?

I get most of mine through either Ribbon Rose in Ellerslie (the other side of Auckland, so a minimum 40 min travel time one way), through Elizabeth at http://www.stitchnz.co.nz, running to the DMC stand at the local Spotlight and I have tried Amanda’s Stitching Menagerie. I’m reasonably loyal & go where the service is. I did buy some kitted up stash recently so don’t really have a need to shop right now. Don’t worry, I’m perfectly well and I’m sure I’ll invent something!

So while I “adult” for a little bit, the October goals are:

  • Print out the last 10 days before Christmas & journal to complete my December Daily for 2014
  • Complete my portion on Keely’s RR (Christmas Angels) – this is the one that Z didn’t even open L
  • Complete my portion on Lisa’s RR (Tattie Teddy)
  • Complete my portion on April’s RR (Mira – my pick of one that speaks to me, & I’m thinking a reverse Provence Roses will fit well)
  • Complete my portion on Kathryn’s RR (flower LOVE letters)
  • And if all that’s done, make a start to Raven Queen

Also please don’t forget to enter my blog giveaway!  Check it out HERE and make a comment – entries are open until next WIPocalypse!

Wowzers! Be in to win!

Posted in cross stitch, embroidery, freebies, friends, grateful, High Five For Friday, me, Smalls SAL, WIPocalypse by

UPDATE 29/10/15: This competition is now closed.

When I started blogging I didn’t think that anyone other than family would notice. I’ve been blessed by your feedback and comments, and now I’d like to pay it on!

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The prizes are:
A Lizzie*Kate snippet, Cross Stitcher in Residence plus goodies
OR another snippet,  Stitching Forever plus goodies
OR if you follow me because I read & you read, I’ll custom make you a book mark. It could be the design pictured here, or something else that depicts you or what you read (let’s keep it pg tho!).

So to enter, you need to be a blog follower and comment below with “snippet” or “bookmark”. If you comment with bookmark, let me know what genres/authors interest you, or a cross stitch designer or theme of you prefer. I’ll post wherever so this contest is open internationally.

Three winners will be announced on October 27th, two WIPocalypses away from today.

Good luck!

August WIPocalypse

Posted in cross stitch, grateful, Mirabilia, WIPocalypse by

WIPocalypse is a monthly-ish blog hop hosted by Measi.  This moon’s task was to choose a WIP and tell the story.

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This is Mediterranean Mermaid. Long time followers will know all about her; but for everyone else, this is why she’s still a WIP.

Our youngest, Mase, often has asthma flareups. Bad ones. End up on nebuliser ones. It’s long hours, often alone as there are other children at home, so I had to have a project that was permanently packed & could go anywhere with me. Lynne suggested Jug (as in, she carries an amphorae).

But so far in 2015, and with winter nearly over, we’ve kept Mase under control. Small flares, nothing major. Poor Jug hasn’t been worked on for nearly a year (I even brought the beads earlier this year in preparation),

It’s hard to feel for her tho!

It’s been 14 days since my last entry…

Posted in Smalls SAL, Teresa Wentzler, WIPocalypse, You Can Quote ME by

PeedoInstead of being all busy and achieving heaps while Si was away I was knee deep in cleaning as all three boys went down with this tummy bug. I copped it twice and was absolutely wiped out by Wednesday, when he came home. We had a very quiet birthday for Mase (he was six on Sunday) & have plans for his school friends party in a fortnight.

In this time I’ve missed a couple of WIP Wednesday’s (wouldn’t have mattered, I didn’t have the energy to read, let alone stitch), YCQM, a Smalls check-in and a WIPocalypse. It was my question this time around too!

So here we go:

SMALLS: I worked on the Reindeer Parade (Blitzen is coming along but I can’t find a decent photo) & a NZFB RR piece. This is Angela’s selection:

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WIPocalypse: Topic: What makes you pick up a long-abandoned UFO rather than beginning a new piece? I’m genuinely interested in catching up with the answers on the blogs this month. I tossed up on Saturday about what I should do now, in that gap between finishing Angela’s RR piece and receiving the next of the Mira RR, and I ended up picking up my second oldest WIP, the Teresa Wentzler Tapestry Cat. Poor old TC was my Christmas present to myself way back in 2005 or 2006 and I’m telling myself that I must finish this before she finishes charting Illuminata (race is on!) because otherwise how will I justify purchasing a new chart?!

I am trying to find a new leaf outline thread – the ones on the right in the image are as charted, the top one is the current thought. I just want them to be more defined – what do you think?

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YCQM: I’ve managed to be more Serene than not while Si was away, with the exception being the Screaming Teen’s night time antics. He just won’t stay in bed! I can’t tell you how many times he woke me by watching TV in the lounge which really, really wound me up. Now I’m back at work I am enjoying waking him up for a change.  And isn’t this the truth?

work minion

July WIPocalypse #1 & You Can Quote Me

Posted in WIPocalypse, You Can Quote ME by

Not only is it a new moon, there was also another thing in the sky to look out for.

It’s not as if two worlds will collide tonight — Venus and Jupiter are only converging into a small area of the Earth’s sky. NASA says the two bright planets will be “a jaw-dropping one-third of a degree apart.”

That distance is smaller than the width of a full moon, as seen from Earth’s surface.

“You’ll be able to hide the pair not just behind the palm of your outstretched hand, but behind your little pinky finger,” NASA says.

And unlike some other astronomical phenomena, this convergence should be easily visible: Just look to the west around sunset. That’s where you’ll find Venus and Jupiter, if the sky is relatively clear.

“Conjunctions between Venus and Jupiter are far from rare events,” notes Space.com. But the site adds that tonight’s “unusually close” conjunction is worth seeing — and it adds that this is both the closest and the last pairing between the two planets in the current 24-year cycle.

vic2015_June30ev

From our little patch in West Auckland I got a great view, in between the rushing clouds. No photos as I only had the phone so this one’s from Stuff (a local news website). It’s from someone who works at the Observatory at Mt St John near Tekapo:

VJ above Mt St John Tekapo on June 30
July 2 – Topic: Reality or Fantasy. Which do you prefer to stitch? Figures or Abstract? (via Jo)

Today is also the first of the July WIPocalypses. It’s a Blue Moon month as there will be two full moons. I thought about Jo’s question overnight and came to the conclusion that there’s a degree of Fantasy in most of the stitching I do, even if only snow on a Christmas piece (there isn’t usually snow in NZ in December). I haven’t done many Reality pieces unless you can count Mira’s as partial reality – maybe the birds? Sorry Jo, not much of an answer there.

See? Reality with Fantasy.

See? Reality with Fantasy.

But I would much rather stitch or view Figures over Abstract. I read “abstract” and my brain stops at Picasso.

focusAnd last for today, here’s my YCQM. As usual, this ties into my One Little Word, Serenity.  It’s a reminder not to take people’s opinion of me to heart, especially when they read “Christian” and assume “bigot” or “small-minded”. For you it will be something else – that’s the beauty of God’s work. We’re all unique.

June WIPocalypse and WIP Wednesday

Wow, WIPocalypse already! Time just seems to be flowing by. Sometimes I feel like I barely have time to breathe before diving into the next thing & I wish it would all just slow down a little.

Since the last WIPocalypse check-in, I’ve had some wins. Now seems like a good time to go over the May goals:

Nice to do’s:

  • Finish the stitching & beading on Mediterranean Mermaid DIDN’T PICK HER UP AT ALL
  • Sort out what my next big Mira will be STARTED THEN FROGGED ROSE OF SHARON; STARTED PERSEPHONE

So the June goals are:

  • Complete Ali’s April & May prompts for One Little Word
  • Print out the last 10 days before Christmas & journal to complete my December Daily for 2014
  • Complete my portion on Debbie’s RR (mermaids!) which will probably also double as my Small
  • Complete the hair portion of Persephone (it’s a lot of confetti, more than I anticipated)
  • Layout & complete my portion for the new New Zealand FB XS group RR (only four to a group, fast)
  • Complete Med Mermaid’s tail beading

Do you find yourself more productive with stitching in summer or winter? I’m about equal. In the summer I spend more time outdoors doing family stuff but I offset that against stitching while on the road (Si is one of those men, it’s my job to pack lunch/snacks and book the accommodation & find highlights on our route). In the winter there are always at least two nights a week that I don’t even think to pick up a needle due to exhaustion or mucking around with the kids’ training or a really good book. I binge watch recorded TV twice a week (my binges are pitiful, they amount to 2-3 episodes of whatever I’m loving right now) and stitch while watching.

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Today is also WIP Wednesday for me. Here’s my new start, Mirabilia’s Persephone. I had started Rose of Sharon, then frogged when I realised that the fabbie wasn’t going to be big enough. It will do for the NZ RR which I’m playing around with now. Thinking Mira (surprise!) with a horizontal layout, four heads divided with a peony tree in the centre. Or four reindeer, but I am stitching these anyway…oh, I don’t know! What do you think?