Happy Wednesday! I hope this finds you well and enjoying life. Since this is the last WIP Wednesday of the year, I thought I would review my stitching progress, based on my initial 2017 Stitching Plans. Honestly, I have not had many finishes, but I don’t stitch for the finish, I stitch for the stitching, so that’s okay. The finishes I have had this year, were smalls or parts of a bigger series. So let’s take a look at My Year in Stitches, 2017 Edition.
Happily Ever After
One of the first new starts for me in 2017 was the Happily Ever After Stitch Along by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. This was a 2016 Christmas present and I have loved it all year, despite falling behind in the later months. This project included a lot of firsts in my stitching; my first stitch along, my first pattern from the Pumpkins, and my first exposure to Picture This Plus fabric. All three are now a steady part of my stitching lifestyle. As of today, I have three remaining motifs to finish and then I will have completed Happily Ever After. An actual start and finish in the same year, this will also be a first for me.
Five Seasons of Quilts
This is a collection of five quilt patterns, one for each season with a bonus Christmas design, by Leisure Arts. Since we moved into our first home I’ve been wanting to stitch more home decor pieces, so I plan to stitch the whole series to change out seasonally. This year, I decided to start with the Spring quilt pattern and chose a 28 count Cashel fabric in Bashful, from Picture This Plus. This piece is only my second time stitching on linen and the technique of doing 2 over 2 has slowed me down some.
Year of Celebrations
Another home decor item I wanted to stitch in 2016 was Year of Celebrations, published by Cross Stitch & Needlework Magazine and designed by Cathy Habermas. This is a series of twelve monthly motifs that were published in the 6 issues of the magazine in 2014. In fact, I was obsessed with collecting each magazine issue in order to have the entire year of mini motifs. These adorable 4”x4” monthly motifs are destined to become part of my seasonal decor. However, in order to stitch them from my stash, I changed from the recommended linen fabric to 14 count Aida and converted the threads to DMC. February is the month I started with and I have stitched all the motifs from February to July, so I’m halfway finished the series.
Fredrick The Literate, a.k.a. Mystery SAL
The plan this year was to participate in a Mystery SAL, one of my Facebook groups was hosting. Throughout the year we were suppose to post pictures of our progress, but not share the design until we were finished. Unfortunately, the project I chose was a Dimensions kit called Frederick The Literate. While I absolutely love the pattern image, the piece is stitched on 14 count black Aida fabric, and I struggled big time with this piece. It ended up being abandoned for the year, but now that I have my Millennium frame, I will give it another chance in 2017.
Smalls
This year I have had two small finishes, which I recently shared, my Busy Bee Mouse and Mill Hill Princess Carriage. I also started a mini sampler series from 365 Tiny Cross Stitch Designs by Kooler Design Studio. The book has a huge collection of mini patterns, many of which have variations from month to month. In July, I celebrated Independence Day by stitching the mini sampler for July and then in August, I stitched the mini sampler to celebrate World Cross Stitch day. Moving forward, I plan to stitch the whole series, but with no time line in mind.
Unplanned New Starts
This year I only gave in to new-start-itis once, and it was for my birthday. I really wanted to stitch something fun and unique and different to celebrate my birthday, so I decided to start my Stormtrooper Sugar Skull pattern by Stitch Line. Even though I am not a big Star Wars fan, I loved this pattern and had it in my stash, so on my birthday weekend I picked up some 14 count Aida in my favorite color from Stitch By Stitch and stitched this for a few weeks. This will definitely carry over into next year.
2016 Carryovers – Geisha & Thai Elephant
Unfortunately, I did not work at all on Thai Elephant and very little on Geisha. These projects are not abandoned, but they are in my category of perpetual WIPs. The patterns are beautiful and I truly want to finish them, but for some reason I have difficulty working on them.
Well that’s my progress for the year. Be on the look out for Sunday’s post when I share my 2018 stitching plans.
Thanks for checking in & happy stitching!
Bigger On The Inside 