WIPocalypse 2012 - April Report

Hey Blog Buddies,

It's the April full moon and it's time for another WIPocalypse update, so I'll get right to it:

First up is a finish!  I had a freebie Calico Crossroads chart in my possession...

(my "before" photo")

... since approximately the turn of the new millenium, so I finally stitched it up--and it's finish-finished!

I finished it as a bellpull.

The floss used for the lettering is something

I've had for a long time,

and the label has long since been removed.

Next is Rainforest Revisited by Needle Delights Originals.

Here is where I left off last month...

...and this is where it's at now.

I'm happy with my progress on this one.

There are 32 squares in all, so I'm over a third done.

Last is CT13 by Alessandra Adelaide, my swirly tree:

Here's where I was at last month...

...and here's what the tree looks like now.

It hasn't grown an inch over the past month,

but, like almost every other tree in this area,

it's sprouting leaves!

Many, many tiny leaves.

The leaves are bringing the tree to life,

but it's slow going and kind of tedious.

Some folks don't like to do backstitching--

I'm not a fan of this confetti-type stitching.

Well, that's it for this time.

If you want to check out all the other

April WIPocalypse posts,

go to Measi's blog for all the links.

Have a happy Easter, Passover, Equinox

or whatever else you may be celebrating.

And thanks for visiting!

March IHSW: Another Finish!

Hey Blog Buddies and Fellow Hermitters,

The weather in the Chicago area this weekend hasn't been conducive to staying inside and stitching (day after day of 80+ degrees and sun in March!), but I did get in a few hours here and there--enough to finish the small project I started a week ago:  "I Stitch..." by Calico Crossroads.  This was a freebie chart that I must have had for quite some time, because the copyright on it is 1997!  That doesn't necessarily mean I acquired it in 1997, but still.  When I ran across it, I thought the tongue-in-cheek saying on the chart was a hoot:  "I stitch.  Therefore I am."  Don't know why I hadn't stitched it ages ago!   I put it on my list for this year so it wouldn't fall through the cracks again.  (I am much more focused with a list!)  So here is my finish-finish of "I Stitch..."

Sorry for the bad lighting.

I never seem to finish things in the middle of the day--

only after the sun goes down.

A few close-ups may give you the idea...

Yes, that is a real needle in there,

threaded through the backstitching.

I had to sacrifice one of my petite No. 26's

for this project.

The row just under the THEREFORE is

eyelets backstitched with two strands of contrasting floss,

followed by Smyrna crosses outlined in ecru.

There are beads embedded in large crosses

in both the top and bottom bands.

The suggested finishing as a bellpull

is a little retro, but it did appeal to me

because I could do that myself fairly quickly.

If you want to check out

what the other hermitters have been up to,

go to Joyce's blog for the links.

Hope your weekend was as lovely

as it was here.

Thanks, as always, for visiting!

A New Start, and a Birthday Gift

Hey Blog Buddies,

I've put CT13 aside for now and decided I needed something a little smaller to balance it out, so I started "I Stitch..." on Monday.  Here is my minuscule progress:

You may be wondering why I skipped

over the "IT" in STITCH.

This is a very old freebie from 1997,

and the directions said to use

SNC Sherbet, "a special 1997 edition color."

Well, no one at the LNS was quite sure

what color that was, so we guessed 

and picked out a variegated light orange.

I know it shows up great in this photo,

but stitched in real life, it just didn't pop--

especially with all the ecru in so many of the bands.

I had stitched the STIT in the coral/yellow,

then I tried the bolder variegated on the CH,

frogged the STIT, 

went back to the beginning of the word, 

and that's why I ended up with

ST   CH.

Yesterday was my birthday, so we took a trip

to The Lake (by which I mean Lake Michigan).

We spotted a strange-looking (to us) waterfowl

with a white head and a black-and-white

striped body.

He wasn't in my Birds of Illinois book,

so I have no clue what type of bird this is.

That's the only photo I got of him,

he saw me and started swimming away fast.

We had lunch at a new (to us) restaurant,

The Flying Saucer in Humboldt Park,

which is a neighborhood in Chicago.

It may look a little sketchy from the outside,

but the inside of the restaurant was clean

and the food was good.

I love funky little neighborhood places like this.

(I'm a pretty cheap date.)

The day was absolutely gorgeous

and warmed up quickly--no jackets required.

I even went without a jacket,

and I'm the first to get chilly.

At the end of the day, I peeked at my blog

and got my final birthday present:

100 followers!

Woo-hoo!

Watch this space

because I plan to do something special

for one of my followers very soon.

Hope you're liking the weather where you're at.

Thanks so much for visiting!