WIPocalypse: June 2019

June started with Christmas Teddy; I ran a Focus Finish SAL in my group, Stitch from Stash, and he was the closest to a finish.  Also on June 1st the Semisane Stitchers Casino started with Poker- I bet I could do 2000 stitches in 4 days.  I thought that might be enough to finish.  Alas, it was not, but I got the 2000 stitches in 3 days. Previous progress:

after 3 days:

I did lots of backstitching and some regular stitches too, including metallics.  I estimate he's less than 1000 stitches from finished now, and he's super cute, I love him!  

For the rest of the 5 day rotation, I elected to work on my Spring Bellpull, plus some additional time before & after.  Previously:

After 4.5 days:

S block is finished.....

P block is finished and I got a good start on "R" but it's not too exciting, so I'll share it after I get more progress.

For my second rotation, I opted for Spooky House, mainly since I wanted the "antidote" of single color stitching after all the crazy color changes on Spring bellpull.  Previous progress:

After 5 days:

I worked mainly with the Petite Treasure braid, PB10.  I wish I could capture the sparkle in a photograph; it has a beautiful shimmer. Over 4200 stitches were added! The middle top full page is almost done.  I have 20 more days scheduled in my rotation for this project in the next four months, and I don't think that will be necessary.  I'm feeling really good about finishing Spooky House this year, and perhaps much earlier than October.  

At that point, the District Games were almost due, I needed 500 stitches on clothes (Textile District) and I didn't have any WIPs left with clothes to stitch!  So, I started my last #stitch9 project, Ana/Ginny.  I've given her 3 days so far, enough to knock out 2 Magical Stitches Ultimate challenges.  So here's my progress, and I need to frog the white in the middle because l want to do her scarf in red & gold, Gryffindor style.

This is slow going because I really do not enjoy stitching on 32 count lugana.  It's just too tighly woven, and I feel like I'm fighting with the fabric to get the needle through.  

For my third focus rotation, I opted for Firehouse, my last building in the Mill Hill Village.  Previous progress:

After 4 days:

It was also time for a new game of Poker, so I bet 2000, then 850, then 250.  That was over 3 days this month, it's completed stitched, partially backstitched, and almost ready for beads.  But I'm saving the finish for next month, Christmas in July.

I had 2 days left in my rotation so I decided to go back to Spring Bellpull and Ginny (pics above).  

The time had arrived for my 4th focus rotation and my options were dwindling so it was fortunate that TW Fantasy Triptych would suit the Magical HW, which required 1000 stitches between several tasks.  Previous progress (from March):

After 6 days (4 days this month):

I kept working left, in columns, and managed 2000 stitches.  It's slow going with all the confetti, but I try to relax and enjoy the process.  I have reached the left edge of the castle block, which is nice.  I've got another 14 days in my rotation planned for this piece throughout the year and it will be interesting to see how much I can accomplish.

My last focus rotation was Save the Stitches, which hadn't received much love since March.  Previous progress:

After 3 days:

I finished Parts 5, 6, and got a good start on 7.  There's one more "Diaper pattern", plus the mini motif, to do for Part 7.  I extended the border down on both sides.  Though I don't plan a focus rotation on this again before August, I hope there will be time to July to finish part 7.  It would probably only take a few hours.  

Last but not least, Twilight Bridge had a bit of time at the end of the month.  I actually started this at the end of May (my one and only Maynia start), after the WIPocalypse blog.  Anyway, here is the progress after 4 days.  

I've put in a decent amount of stitches.  I started on the right side, with the tree.  I've been using it a lot for challenge tasks.  First it was 1000 stitches on lumber (the tree) for the District Games.  Then 500 stitches on greenery, and 500 stitches on water, for Magical Stitches extra credit.  Expect to see a lot of progress on this next month since I'm using it for the Tour de France challenge with Full Coverage Fanatics, and my goal is 3461 stitches (or twice that since this is mostly tent stitch, so far).  

Discussion Topic:

Half-year recap:  How are you doing with your goals so far this year? 2019 WIPocalypse Intro

So... I had 19 goals.  1-10 applied to Stitchy WIPs.  11-18 applied to stitchy new starts.  19 was knitting.  Of the WIPs, I have finished 60% and the remainder have at least seen progress.  Really, there's no excuse not to work on everything when your WIP count is low.  Of the 8 new starts, 1 is finished, 3 more are started, so action was made on 50%.  My plans for Maynia did change... I did not fancy starting a bunch of new projects, ornnament-sized or not, so I opted for Monoga-maynia on a WIP with mixed results (3 finishes, not much Monagamy).  As for the kniting, negative, but perhaps my bug will revive in the Autumn.  

Who would like some pie?  2019 time by category: (wips, new starts, no stitching)

On different metrics, my #stitch9challenge is going swimmingly with 5 / 9 finished.  2019 has seen 172 stitchy days out of 181 (95%). So far, I am loving my rotation and having the lower WIP count is paying off with quicker finishes.  My to be framed pile is growing to obscene volume and I have quite a few frames stashed, so I will try to do some framing throughout the summer.  

Next month, it's Christmas in July, Joan Ellliot July, a new cycle starts in Stitch from Stash, so my goal is to finish the Mill Hill Village, JE Xmas Teddy, start a new Xmas project, and spend focus rotations on Spooky House and Twilight Bridge.  

Comments

[cathy]

Great progress! All of your projects look great.

[Robin in Virginia]

What incredible progress you have made on your assorted projects. Glad you are enjoying your rotation and getting your WIP count lowered. Have a wonderful week!

[Leonore Winterer]

Wow, that was a lot of stitching again. The moon on the Haunted House is huge, but you did so well on it! And I love the 'P' block on spring, it's so very cute. I bet you can make a few more finishes next month!