January Turtle Trot

Hey Blog Buddies,

It's Turtle Trot time once again.  For those of you unfamiliar with this stitch-along, the participants choose ten WIPs to work on during the year and we post progress updates on the 10th of each month.  Claudette of BAP Attack is our fearless leader.  January is the kick-off where we introduce all of our Turtle Trot projects, so without further ado, here are my ten WIPs--almost all of them BAPs--from the oldest to the newest.

 1.

Those of you who have been following my blog

will recognize this sorry hardanger tabletopper

from last year's Turtle Trot.

I worked on it very little last year,

but somehow it has remained a WIP in my mind,

if nowhere else.

I got bogged down in all the eyelets.

 It's Cindy Valentine's Pristine, started in April, 2006.

I picked it up yesterday,

so we'll see how much progress

I can make on it this month.

2.

Here we have Rosewood Manor's A Tree by Itself.

This is another one from last year's Turtle Trot

that didn't get worked on as much as I wanted to,

but I was able to get a few more motifs

stitched in the past month.

Started in April, 2013.

3.

Another familiar one,

this is Ink Circles' 99,

started in December, 2013.

I have put this one on my "fast track,"

and have stitched 15 bottles

and 2 shelves over the past month.

I didn't bother adding a photo of

the finished piece

because there are no surprises here,

just four more shelves of beer bottles

waiting to be stitched.

Sing it with me:  "55 bottles of beer on the wall..."

 4.

 Last February I started Laura J. Perin's Nordic Panel.

This pattern came out in monthly installments,

and my project fell by the wayside in July.

It uses YLI's metallic ribbon,

which I don't like dealing with.

At all.

I believe it's even worse than Neon Rays,

which is a rayon ribbon

that frays if you look at it wrong.

And of course the very next band

calls for the metallic ribbon.

You can see I'm a little over halfway done,

so I should just suck it up and start back on it.

And I will.

5.

 I took this fun workshop last March

through my local ANG chapter.

It's Jennifer Riefenberg's Carrots.

The reason it languished is

simply because there always seemed

to be another project that was more pressing.

I am hoping to make some real progress

on it this year.

6.

Last June my LNS persuaded Paulette Stewart

of Plum Street Samplers

to design this lovely patriotic piece

 and come to Lemont, IL, and lead a workshop.

It was a delightful day.

The name of the piece is Liberty Inn,

and I hope to have it finished by July.

Of this year.

7.

Here is Carriage House Samplings' Frederika.

It's part of my current fascination

with bird designs.

Started in September, 2014.

8.

 This is Needle Delights Originals' Summer Logs.

It's my ANG chapter's current ongoing project.

We did Winter Logs last year.

(I have the spring and fall versions kitted up, too!)

This, too, was started in September, 2014,

and should be finished by June,

if I keep up with the monthly assignments.

9.

This might be the BAP to end all BAPs.

It's Save the Stitches,

a freebie(!) from Blackwork Journey.

Here's a close-up of what's done so far.

Started in December, 2014.

And here's what my finished project should look like...
..."in the year 2525."
Yeah, the larger the project, the less detail you can see. 
But if you're interested,
google "save the stitches blackwork images"
to ogle some stunning WIPs
and see why I couldn't resist this project.

 10.

Finally, this is my New Year's Day start.

It's Long Dog Sampler's Dawn Chorus
and I just love everything about this design .

There are twenty birds sitting in the various trees.

So far it's been a very fun stitch,

and it continues to call my name.

These projects and the 3 workshops I've signed up for
(not to mention the odd gift/ornament exchange/seasonal design)
should keep me busy well into 2016.

Thanks for sticking with me
through this rather lengthy post.
To check out the other Turtle Trotters,
click on over to the BAP Attack blog.

Have a wonderful, stitchy weekend,
and thanks for visiting!