WIPocalypse 2019 -- Introduction!

Our first WIPocalyps post is supposed to be an introduction of sorts, so I'll just start by saying that my name is Barb, I live in Michigan, and I've been stitching for a long time.  I participated in Measi's WIPocalypse several years ago, but had to stop stitching for awhile due to some health issues.  But I'm now back stitching again, and I remembered how much fun this event was, so here I am for 2019.  I had to dust off my blog, as well, and I can see that I'm going to have to learn blogging all over again!  By the way, Measi herself made me this adorable button using a photo of my own stitchery, so a super big THANKS for that, Measi!

Anyway, on to the subject at hand -- my stitching plans and goals for 2019.  I have a number of WIPs going right now, although I wouldn't call myself a rotational stitcher.  Nor do I really get bored with a project and want to move on to another.  I have several projects going because sometimes it's easier for me to concentrate on one type of design -- for example, if I'm watching TV with the family, I like to stitch on something fairly uncomplicated, so that I can talk and not make a million mistakes.  Complex patterns I usually only work on when I have some alone, quiet time.

So these are my current projects:

This is Thistle, and it's by CM Designs (Carolyn Manning).  As I'm sure you can tell, it's a cross stitched rendition of a quilt pattern, the Broken Star pattern, to be precise.  Carolyn has charted Broken Star in several different colorways, all of them lovely.  My plan is to stitch Thistle and another colorway, called Carnival, together (vertically) on one piece of fabric.  The fabric I'm using is 16 count Rustico Aida.  I rarely stitch on Aida these days, but I wanted a fabric for these designs that looked simple and homespun, and the Rustico Aida fits the bill.  I'm probably 2/3 done with Thistle, so I definitely plan to finish this in 2019.

Here is a picture of Carnival, the design that will go below Thistle.  I plan to get Carnival stitched this year, as well.

This is another current WIP, it's from Long Dog Samplers and it's called Sneek.

Sneek was originally a stitch-along hosted by a company in the UK, but I didn't find out about it til mid-year, so I didn't even try to keep up with the charts as they were issued.  The last chart was issued toward the end of the year so I've got the complete pattern now. You can't tell from the photo, but this baby is huge.  I have the entire border finished, and I couldn't even fit it in the picture!  Anyway, if you're not familiar with Long Dog Samplers, I encourage you to check them out.  The designs are by Julia Line and she is simply phenomenal.  I've done one LD design previously, which is one of my favorite things I've ever stitched.  I'll post a picture of it at some point.  LD designs often have historical elements in them, but Julia is a master at using icons and design ideas in striking new ways.  But I definitely hope to get Sneek done in 2019.  I'm doing it on white 32 count Belfast linen, with two colors of DMC blue.

The photo above is my WIP of Hot Chocolate, by Alessandra Adelaide Needleworks (AAN).  Alessandra is one of my favorite designers, and she has a unique way of looking at everyday things.  Here's a picture of what this one will look like when finished:

I originally started this project on the dark brown linen that was called for, but I ended up giving up after a couple of weeks of work.  I tried every trick in the book for stitching on dark fabric, and I could do it, but my progress was soooooooo slow.  So I changed to a flax colored linen, 32 count, and I picked different browns for the main design.  This is an easy, fast stitch, so I'll definitely get this one done this year.

Speaking of AAN, one of her specialties is hearts -- she has dozens of different ones and I kinda love them all!  So I'm in the process of stitching three of her hearts, which I want to have framed together in some way.  So first I'll show you the two hearts that I already have done:

They look like they're different sizes, but they're really almost the same size, both width and height.  I haven't started the third heart yet, but I'd like to at least get it started, if not finished, in 2019.  Here's the pattern for the third heart:

This one will be done in a sort of burnt orange color.  All three hearts are stitched on 32 count while opal Belfast linen.  "Opal" means that the fabric has sparkly threads that run through it. 

This one is a long-time WIP called Liza's Bouquet.  It's a Ginger & Spice design, and I just love it.  I'm stitching this one on 14 count white Aida with three strands of floss for really full coverage.  I adore this design, but for some reason, I put it down for long periods of time and then keep coming back to it.  It's huge, although I have a fair amount done.  I don't know if I'll get this one done this year, but what I do for sure need to get done is changing out some backstitch that I started.  What happened is that I started doing the backstitching on this design in the called-for color, and I decided to use 2 strands of floss.  Well, I hate it.  I mean, I HATE it.  So my plan is to take out the backstitching that I've done, and start again doing it with a darker brown, and using only one strand of floss.

Here's a bit of the backstitching that I've already done, so maybe you can see the issue.  This design has TONS of backstitching so I didn't want to leave it all for the end, but what I ended up doing was probably worse!  I am just dreading taking out the backstitching that I've already done, but it's on my list for 2019, lol!

This is Little Sheep by Little House Needleworks.  Everyone did these 12 designs a number of years ago, and I started mine, but never finished.  This isn't a priority for me to get done this year, but I do love the designs and it's a fun project to work on.

 And finally, Spring Queen, by Mirabilia.  Yes, she's almost done.  And unfortunately, she's been "almost done" for a few years.  All I have to do is finish the metallic threads and the beading.  But can I make a confession?  I'm terrified of the beading!  There are SO MANY beads!  I am just not sure how the heck to tackle them, especially because I normally work with a hoop.  But I am determined to do the little bit needed to finish this lovely lady this year.

Now for possible new starts.  

This is Summer Beauties by Ellen-Maurer Stroh, and as you can see, I've got it all ready to go.  I think I picked white Jobelan for this design.  I definitely want to get going on this one this year.

And finally, Remembrance, an angel by Joan Elliott.  I adore this design and I've wanted to stitch one of Joan's lovely ladies for a long time.  I have fabric, floss, beads, and metallics for this one all ready, I just need to put the floss on bobbins.  I'd like to stitch this one in memory of my parents.  I'd even though of including a meaningful quote or something at the bottom, so I'll give that some more thought.

I have some other projects kitted up that I may or may not start in 2019.  But, that's the lay of the land right now, and how things are looking today.  I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's work and their progress through the year!

Bacon-Cheeseburger Skewers

     Well, it's a brand new year, 2019, and I am shocked to say that I have not made a post on this blog in over four years.  I'm not exactly sure why I stopped posting, but it seemed as though blogs were becoming passé and everyone shared things instead on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media.  And those are all fine.  But I'm back to thinking that there is a spot in this world for blogs, too.  Sometimes a blog is just the right way to share something.

     In particular, blogs are great for sharing hobbies, and that's the immediate reason why I've started mine up again.  I used to take part in a fun counted cross-stitch year-long "event" called WIPocalypse, and I've decided to participate again this year.  While there is an associated Facebook group, I like the idea of sharing the details of my projects each month in the blog format.  So I dusted off the old blog and thought I'd start 2019 off right with a quick and super easy recipe.

     I love a good appetizer recipe, and the Bacon Cheeseburger Skewers I made for our Christmas Eve buffet, pictured above, were delicious!  For the actual recipe, I'll refer you to the source, which is a post on a blog (see?  Blogs are great for sharing recipes, too!) called An Affair from the Heart.

But you can pretty much put these together without a real recipe, as they're simply frozen meatballs (cooked, of course), topped with squares of cheese, then bacon, lettuce and grape tomatoes.  I'll be truthful here, these ARE a little fussy, because you have to cook the meatballs and then cook the bacon separately, which is time consuming.  But, you could easily do at least the bacon ahead of time, as it's not crucial that the bacon is piping hot.

     What I did was cook and cool the bacon, and then I partially assembled my little skewers while the meatballs were cooking in the oven.  I used 4" skewers and threaded half a tomato, a bit of folded up lettuce, and one-half slice of bacon (also folded in half) on each one.  When the meatballs were heated through, I added a small square of cheese to each and popped them back in the oven for just a minute for the cheese to melt.  When those were finished, I simply speared one meatball on each pre-made skewer and put them all on a platter for serving.  I forgot about a dipping sauce, but I think that mustard and ketchup mixed together would make a delicious dip, if you wanted to serve one alongside.

     One final note -- be super careful not to overcook the bacon.  You don't want it crisp, or you won't be able to fold it in half and spear it on your skewer.  So go for done, but chewy.

     A great appetizer is as simple as that!  My family liked these so much that I will definitely make them again.  I'm thinking these would be great as part of a finger food spread for the Superbowl.



July WIPocalypse Check-In

Well, somehow I missed checking in last month.  I just lost track of things and by the time I remembered, it was pretty late to be doing a post. But that means I have some progress to show this month!

 First, I have been stitching like a mad woman on my anniversary sampler.  This is by Ellen Maurer-Stroh, done on 32 ct. light mocha Belfast linen.  It dawned on me awhile ago that I really didn't have THAT much time to get this baby done, so I put my foot on the gas.  As you can see from the picture above, it is quite close to being completed.  I had a goal of having it done by July 15, so that I could get it framed in time for our actual anniversary in August, but since the 15th is just a few days away, that may not happen.  But, I can't see needing more than another week to get it done, so I'm happy about that.  Hopefully, next month I'll be showing you the framed, completed piece.  I do love the design.  Those old-fashioned roses just make me smile!

And secondly, I have a new start.  My sister and her husband bought a vacation condo on the beach in Galveston, Texas a couple of years ago, and I wanted to stitch a decor item for the condo.  I'd looked at a few beachy-type pieces, but when I saw this seashell wreath, I knew it was perfect.  Unfortunately, the design is only available as a kit, but fortunately, it was pretty inexpensive on Amazon.  Anyway, I managed to work on the wreath for a few days here and there, and the photo below shows how far I've gotten.  Can I just tell you how much I LOVE the colors in this thing?  The softest golds and tans and lavenders and greys.  Yummy.  The design is by Nancy Rossi, one of my all-time favorite designers, and I'm using 3 strands of floss on white Aida 14.

Finally, this month's topic is Christmas or holiday stitching, and when we start.  If I'm doing Christmas projects, yes, I would start now or even have started earlier.  But, I'm not planning on doing anything big as far as gifts this year.  At most, I'll stitch a few ornaments, so I'm not terribly worried about getting started.  I'm much more worried about getting that anniversary piece finished!

Til August, happy stitching everyone!  Can't wait to check everyone's progress on their pieces!

WIPocalypse May Check-In

Greetings, fellow stitchers!  Can you believe that it's May already?  So wonderful to be having longer days and warmer weather.  Unfortunately, I did not stitch as much this past month as I would have liked to.  I went to Texas for a week toward the end of April, and I frankly expected to be able to have some down time for stitching.  But, it just didn't work out that way and I barely stitched at all that whole week.  Add in a few busy weeks with my hubby having a medical procedure and moving my older son out of his apartment at college, and you have the makings for a slim month of cross-stitch.

Still, I made a LITTLE progress on most of my projects.  First, this is the AAN stylized tree design that I have been working on:

I

I'm happy with how this one is coming along.  I love the colors, and it's an easy stitch (nice, easily definable blocks of color) for those nights when I'm tired.

Next, I got one more sheep finished on my Little Sheep Virtues -- this one is March, and the virtue is Peace:

Although I have not kept up with my loose goal of doing one sheep per month, I'm still glad to have finished Peace.  The little sheep in this one has the cutest wreath of leaves of leaves and flowers around his woolly neck!!  Here is how the whole piece looks so far:

Finally, Tyler's Lion.  This is the HUGE sampler by My Big Toe where the motifs are based on ones used in the weaving industry in the 1800's.  I haven't worked a ton on this piece lately, but I've almost got the huge center house and trees motif finished.  This sampler does not have a lot of backstitching, but backstitches connect all of those little leaves to the trees, so I need to finish that on the right-hand tree, plus finish that bit of fence at the bottom.

Well, that's it for my progress this past month.  Hopefully, I'll have more to show in June.

Now for this month's question.  Measi has asked:  What designs or themes do you really wish you could find?  What do you think is missing among stitching designs?

Hmmmm.  Well, in general, I have no complaint about the number and variety of cross-stitch designs out there!  It is crazy how much is available these days!  But, it just so happens that twice in my stitching life, I have had occasion to look for a design for an anniversary sampler.  The first was years ago, when I wanted to stitch something to commemorate my parents' 40th wedding anniversary.  The second time was just recently, when I was looking for a design to stitch to celebrate an anniversary milestone of my own that is coming up later this summer.  Both times, I searched and searched and just did not find very many pleasing designs.  There are TONS of designs available for weddings, but not much specifically for anniversaries.

In fact, for the piece that I gave my parents, I ended up modifying a wedding sampler that I found in a magazine.  I loved the design, so I changed the words of the poem so that they were more fitting for an anniversary, and then I included my parents' names and the span of their marriage.  It came out great, but I did a lot of work modifying the design.

For my own anniversary, I think I've mentioned on a past post that I am using EMS's Anniversary Sampler.  I know, it's called an anniversary piece, right?  Yet, the actual design was charted as a BIRTH sampler.  No problem there, except that the alphabet provided, while beautiful, is too large to stitch two names in the heart.  But, I can use a different alphabet and that shouldn't be a problem.

Other than that, I think it might be nice to see more collegiate sports themed stuff.  I've seen a few motifs, but for a college kid or sports buff, it might be more practical to make stuff like towels or smaller pieces with the school's emblem or logo.  However, this design gap probably has more to do with the cost of licensing those kinds of designs than anything else.

Well, that's it for me for May!  Have a great stitching month!

WIPocalypse April Check-In

Greetings, fellow stitchers!  Hard to believe that it's time already for the April WIPocalypse update!  But April means spring time, and that is definitely a good thing.  So, first things first -- my progress for the past month on WIPS.

I did not work at all last month on Tyler's Lion, my historical sampler.  No reason, I just got sidetracked by other things.  Such as my new start.  I loved the finished Albero Felice so much that I decided to start what will be a companion piece by the same designer, Alessandra Adelaide (AAN).  She has a couple dozen fantastic, stylized tree designs, and I fell in love with this one:

I chose this one for the design, but also because some of the colors are the same ones used in Albero Felice.  Since I plan to frame them similarly and hang them as companion pieces, I figured the similar colors would tie the pieces together.  Anyway, here is my start on this one, which I'm stitching on 32 ct. antique white Belfast linen:

I actually could have worked a lot more on this one, but one of the reasons that I started it is that I am going to Dallas to see my sister in a week or so, and I wanted a piece to take with me that wasn't super small like an ornament, but that was simple enough that I could work on it without having to intensely concentrate on each stitch.

Next up is Liza's Bouquet.  This piece was my primary focus for the month.  I'm not sure why, I just couldn't seem to stop working on it!  I just love stitching this design, it is so bright and colorful.  So here is where I am on this one as of yesterday:

And here's a close up of one of the super colorful areas:

Ok, so that's my stitching progress for the month.  April's discussion topic is how do we organize our stash?  Hmmm.  This one is kind of tough for me.  I have two stashes.  The reason is that I took a multi-year hiatus from stitching when my arthritis got bad, and I've only returned to this hobby in the last year.  So I have stash from "before," which is mostly still packed away in boxes in the basement, and then I have "current" stash, which is a few patterns and fabrics that I've purchased lately.  And I really have not organized my "new" stash at all!  I have some projects put together and they are in a basket below my stitching table, but other than that, things are in disarray.  I do have all of my floss organized on bobbins in the plastic boxes, so at least I can easily find threads that I need.   I'll be anxious to read everyone else's updates and see all of your organizational tips -- maybe I can work some magic on all of my stash!

Until May, then, happy stitching! 

DIY Puzzles

Here is a great idea for a party activity, or a fun twist on a greeting card -- do-it-yourself puzzles.  Did you know that you can buy blank puzzles that you can decorate yourself?  Yep, you can, and you can even get them in various sizes.  You can find these in some party stores, but you can also buy them on Amazon.  That's where I got the ones I recently made.

At my office, we celebrate Pi Day (see this post if you want more information), and I'm usually in charge of the activities.  I needed something that would be fun and that wouldn't take too long.  I decided to make puzzles stamped with random numbers, to be put together by teams of two.  This was a contest, so the first team to finish their puzzle won a prize.  Because these were adults, I chose puzzles roughly 81/2 x 11 in size, with 63 pieces in each. But, as I said, you can buy the blanks smaller or larger, and with more or fewer pieces.  For instance, you might want small puzzles with just a few large pieces to put in goody bags for a kid's birthday party.

You can decorate the blanks any way you choose.  They can be painted, stamped, or colored with markers, colored pencils, crayons, or pretty much anything else you can think of.  For mine, I left the background white (I actually wish now that I had painted the background a color first -- the puzzles would have been more attractive).  Then I got out various number stamp sets I own, along with a few different colors of ink pads.  I needed my puzzles to be all the same, so I set up the blanks on my kitchen table and stamped them assembly line fashion.  Here's a picture of the puzzles in process:

And here is a close-up of one of the puzzles -- you can see where the pieces will eventually snap apart:

I should mention that the one thing you can't do with these puzzles is run them through a printer -- the blanks are made of thin cardboard material, NOT cardstock.  Because they are cardboard, they are pretty much like a "real" puzzle that you would buy, just a little thinner.  And the pieces come apart pretty easily when you are done decorating.

I just packaged mine in plastic bags to tote to my office, but you could do a cuter presentation, as well.  If the puzzle is to be a greeting card, you could slip the pieces in an envelope or small box.  The possibilities are endless.

Cost:  For the size that I bought, the blank puzzles ran a little less than a dollar each, but I did have to buy a dozen.  You may be able to buy blanks individually at a party store.

WIPocalypse March Update!

Greeting fellow stitchers!  Wow, hard to believe it's time for the March WIPocalypse update already!  This last month has gone fast, but I've gotten quite a bit of stitching done.  It's still cold and snowy where I am, and that helps.

First, I have a finish!  This is Albero Felice, by AAN.  I stitched it on antique white 32 ct. Belfast linen.  I just love how this came out.  In fact, I like it so much that I bought the pattern to stitch a companion piece.  I thought they'd look great framed together.  I have the fabric and floss for the companion piece, too, so maybe I'll start on that in the coming month.

Next is a new start.  I mentioned last month that I have a milestone anniversary coming up this summer, so I decided to do a commemorative anniversary piece.  This is what I chose -- it's by Ellen Mauer Stroh.  I love the lacy look of the winter white border and, looking at the floss that I've gathered,  the colors in the roses are just gorgeous! 

Here is my start on it:

I'm doing it on light mocha linen, and I like the subtle contrast of the border thread color.  One problem with this project, though -- the symbols on the chart don't match the floss key AT ALL.  It's like they decided after printing the key to use completely different symbols.  The shop I bought the pattern at is awaiting word from the designer on this (I found nothing about the issue online), but I was able to start anyway since it was pretty obvious what the border color was supposed to be!

Next up is Tyler's Lion, my huge historical sampler.  It is really hard to get the whole thing in a picture, so I photographed just the part that I worked on this past month, which is that huge center house and trees motif.  I just need to finish that fence on the right side and that motif will be done.

Finally, since finishing Albero Felice, I pulled out Liza's Bouquet and I have been working on that for the past couple of weeks.  Here is my progress :

I LOVE working on this piece, because it is so colorful and fun that it just cheers me up to work on it.  As you can see, though, it's a fairly complicated and dense design, so it's one that I have concentrate on.  This design is by Ginger & Spice, and I'm stitching it on 14 ct. white Aida using 3 strands of floss because I wanted really full coverage.  I have been working on this particular flower the last couple of days, so thought I'd show a close-up:

Isn't that flower the most beautiful thing?  It just comes alive under my needle.

Well, that's the progress on the projects I worked on this past month.  As the March discussion topic, Measi suggested that we talk about our "stitching spot" and include a photo.  Well, here's mine, excuse the mess:

 I stitch in a chair in the living room so that I can be with the family when possible.  You can't see it in this picture, but I have a floor light right by the chair, and I keep my current projects and paraphernalia on top of that table.  I've got a pair of reading glasses there, as well as pencils and highlighters, a pencil sharpener, my home phone as well as a little speaker-stand that holds my mobile phone, and the coaster is for my omnipresent cup of coffee.  I like to listen to classical music while I stitch, and I can plug my phone into that little speaker and enjoy my music.  I have a lot of my music in the Amazon Cloud Player -- love that thing!

The contraption on the chair arm is a combination pincushion and trash bag.  I love this thing.  I keep a bunch of needles in the pincushion and then there is a magnetic strip right there that holds my embroidery scissors.  Under the table is a biggish basket that holds other projects, a couple of floss boxes, and things I may need soon but that I'm not using at the moment.

Til April, then -- happy stitching!

Magnetic Clip for Needlework

There was a thread recently on a message board that I frequent regarding using needle minders when you are cross stitching or doing other needlework.  I don't have a needle minder, but they are two-piece items with magnets on both parts so the minder (usually decorative) kind of "sticks to" your fabric.  The minder provides a safe place to park your needle while you are working, so that you aren't leaving stray needles in chair arms for another family member to accidentally find (not that I would know anything about that).

Well, I do not use a real needle minder, but I wanted to share what I do use, because it is effectively the same thing.  I use clips that are sold as food storage items -- you're supposed to use them to keep bags of chips closed, etc.  And I assure you, they are great for that.  BUT these clips also have strong round magnets on the back, because they are intended to stuck to the fridge for easy use while you're in the kitchen.  That magnet makes them PERFECT for needlework, too, because the magnet acts as a needle minder!

I bought the clips at my grocery store and they came in a set of 6, with multiple bright colors.  Here is a picture of the orange one, in use:

As you can see from both of the photos, I use a hoop when I cross stitch, and I roll up the extra fabric around my design and I simply clip it to the edge of the hoop with one of the magnetic clips.  I face the magnet part toward me, because then I can use it just like a needle minder -- as a super convenient place to park my needle while I answer the phone or grab another cup of coffee.  Because the clips are meant for kitchen use, they open up quite wide.  That's perfect, because I know that some people use hair clips to clip excess fabric onto their hoop, but a lot of hair clips just don't open up wide enough.  These clips do!

So, just wanted to share this little tidbit with my stitching friends.  I don't know exactly what brand these clips are, as I bought them some time ago and then "re-purposed" a few for my craft area.  But, I'm sure there are other, similar clips that would work fine.  The real point is just to recommend that if you're looking for clips to hold needlework, don't forget to check out the kitchen department.  You may just find the perfect clip and needle minder in one!!

P.S. Update on the fruit fly situation.  We are now on the THIRD dish of vinegar solution -- I leave the dish out for a few days and see what we get.  I got 25 or so fruit flies in the first few days, another 22 the second few days, and there are at least 10 more in the dish that is currently on the counter.  The moral of this story is, if you have a fruit fly problem like we did, there are probably A LOT MORE OF THEM in your house than you ever suspected!!  I plan to keep a dish of the vinegar solution out until we have no dead fruit flies after 48 hours.  And yeah, it's still really gross.

Fruit Fly Trap

Sorry for the rather gross photo!  But -- have you ever had a fruit fly infestation?  We get them occasionally in the summer, but we've had a bad one over the past few weeks, despite the fact that it's WINTER and I don't have any fruit or other produce sitting out in my kitchen!  So this post is really just a quick tip about what to do if you find your self in the same boat that I was in.

The first thing is to find the source of the infestation.  You might think there isn't anything, but there is.  In our case, my son apparently threw away a banana peel in his bathroom wastebasket two weeks or so ago.  (He's supposed to empty that wastebasket, too -- yeah, didn't get done.)  So we got rid of the banana peel, but we still had fruit flies in the house.

To get rid of them, I filled a shallow container about a third full with apple cider vinegar.  To that I added a few drops of dishwashing liquid.  Then I covered the container very tightly with plastic wrap, and poked some holes in the top.  The holes need to be big enough for the fruit flies to find, so they can't be too small.  Then I set the container out on the counter.

Twenty-four hours later, there were 22 dead fruit flies in the vinegar, and I'd killed 3 more that were hanging around nearby and were apparently drugged by the scent.  Now, if you'd asked me how many fruit flies I thought there were in the house after the banana peel had been tossed, I'd have said 3 or 4.  I had NO IDEA we had this many!  Gross, just gross.  And yeah, it's really gross seeing their dead bodies in that container.  But, it had to be done.

After twenty-four hours, I tossed the old mixture and set out a new container.  You have to keep a dish of the mixture out for a few days to make sure you catch any fruit flies that have just hatched.  I'd have sworn there weren't any more of those suckers in the house, but after a few hours, there were 3 flies in the solution.

Again, sorry for the gross picture, but I wanted to show you that this fruit fly trap really works!  Apparently, fruit flies are really dumb, and after they fly into the container through one of the holes, they can't figure out how to get back out again, and eventually they drown.  So, yeah, very gross, but very effective.  Just a quick tip from my kitchen to yours!   

WIPocalypse 2014: February Report

It's the middle(ish) of February, so that means it's time for a monthly report on the progress I've made on the various cross-stitch projects that I've committed to working on this year.  I've been stitching quite a bit lately, and have made pretty good progress on some of my WIPs.  First up is Tyler's Lion, my huge, historically-based, one-color sampler.  This was designed by Long Dog Samplers.  I've gotten the entire border down the left side completed, and I decided to start on the large center panel next.  This is my favorite thing to stitch on while watching TV.          

Next is Albero Felice, an AAN design.  The name translates from Italian as "Happy Tree," and I can't tell you how much I love this piece!  I love the design, the cheery colors, the wonderful curliques -- all of it.  I love this pattern so much that I've been looking through all of AAN's tree designs (and there are a TON of them) and I've found one that I may stitch at a later point as a sort of companion piece to this one.

Next is Little House Needlework's Little Sheep Virtues 12-part series.  I decided to stitch these all on one piece of fabric, and my goal is to do one each month.  I've completed the first two virtues, with February's "Love" shown below.

One project I haven't worked on yet this year is Mirabilia's Spring Queen.  Below is my most recent progress photo on this one.  She is all finished except for the metallic thread stitches, and the beading.  I just haven't been in the mood to start those beads, but I'm sure I'll get back to this pretty lady soon!

Measi suggested that for this month, we talk about how many projects we like to keep going.  It's funny.  I used to be a strict one-at-a-time stitcher, but now I enjoy having several projects going at the same time.  I don't do any sort of formal "rotation," but sometimes I just don't feel like working on a certain project, so I'll take something else out of the basket.  I've found that my interest in all of my projects stays pretty high when I have several going at one time.

Also, I think I may have to change my proposed WIP list for this year.  I realized the other day that I have a milestone wedding anniversary coming up in August.  I am thinking of stitching an anniversary sampler to commemorate the occasion.  While it wouldn't really be "for" my husband (i.e., not really a gift), I know he would love it.  I have my eye on a beautiful design, and if I decide to buy the pattern and start on it, I'll post the update here.

In the meantime, happy stitching!!