March Check In Post

Oh my, I am awfully late checking in this month.  Sorry about that.  School has kept me really busy the last few weeks (months? years?) But on a positive note, I am less than 3 weeks away from finishing my last class and graduating!  WOOT!

This month's discussion theme is where we do our stitching.  I have a few places I like to stitch.  I have a chair in my bedroom that is right by a window and I love to stitch there while I listen to audiobooks.  I also stitch on the sofa in front of the tv in the living room :-)  Finally, I do a little bit of stitching during down times at work.  Did I mention before that I'm a Professional Nanny?  I can't remember.  Anyway, I nanny for three boys, so you can imagine that there's not a lot of downtime.  However, my littlest guy is in a few activities during the week while the older two are in school, and I can get a few stitches in during his activities (soccer, swimming, etc.)  This is where I get the least amount of stitching done, but it does help to keep me occupied while he's busy!

Now for my monthly update, which is a bit pathetic.  I only got to do a little bit of stitching on Celtic Spring since my last update.  I promise, once school is out, my updates will get much more interesting, lol.  The most recent picture is below.  See y'all in a few weeks for the April check in!

February Check In Post

February Topic: How many projects do you generally feel comfortable having in progress at a time?  Tell us about your one-at-a-time or rotation habits!

Well, I think I have about 17 "in progress" projects that I have started but haven't finished.  However, I really just have two right now that I am working on with any regularity.  I do not rotate on a schedule, I rotate when I get bored, so I have spent all of January/February working on V's piece and now Celtic Spring.   Celtic Spring hasn't bored me yet, so I'm sticking with it for now.

And now on to monthly updates.  I have two - one on the piece I was working on for my friend, V, and one on Celtic Spring.

My friend's piece was "Angel of Cross Stitch" by Joan Elliot/Design Works.  Just a bit of back story: V did most of the stitching on this piece, but a major illness made it very difficult for her to stitch for a variety of reasons.  She asked our yuku group "Cross Stitch Crazy" if anyone would be willing to do a little stitching on it for her, and several of us agreed.  A rotation list was made, and I was the last name on the list, implying that I was going to finish the piece (yikes!)  Well, fast forward several months, almost a year, and the piece had gone to everyone else and finally made it's way to me.  While I had it, two important things happened.  First, my friend was given a trip to Walt Disney World for her and her family by a generous benefactor and she invited our mutual friend, Holly, who has an Annual Pass to WDW, to join her for a few days of her trip.  Holly contacted me and asked if I wanted to come with and surprise V (who I had not seen in person since 2003!)  The second thing that happened was the V experienced enough improvement with her illness that she has begun stitching a little bit again.  She contacted me and her questions about it gave me the impression that she wanted to put in the last stitches on AoCS, which I totally get!

So, these two things came together, and I ended up flying to Florida to surprise V not only be being there, but by bringing her almost-finished AoCS.  Here are pix of the three of us (I'm on the left, V is in the middle, and Holly is on the right) and The Angel of Cross Stitch as it looked when I returned it to Miss V.

I've also made quite a bit of progress on my Celtic Spring.  Ok, I should say that it's quite a bit for me, the queen of the slow stitchers!  Here is an update on Celtic Spring:

That's it for now, see y'all next month!

WIPocalypse Re-Set for 2014

January Theme: Introduce Yourself!

I'm JoAnna, and I live in southeastern Pennsylvania.  I've been stitching since I was a kid, and I am a chronic start-aholic.  I am constantly starting projects and rarely finishing them.  This is why I LOVE the WIPocalypse!  I participated in both the 2012 and 2013 WIPocalypse challenges, however, my participation in 2013 tapered off after the summer when school and life got in the way.  This year, I am re-newing my commitment to participate, yay!

Right now, I have four major projects in the works.  I do not expect to finish all four this year, but I expect to finish two and get the other two much closer to completion.  The first is a project for a dear friend of mine who, due to illness, can only stitch sporadically and asked for some help in finishing this project up.  I expect to finish this project THIS month...I hope?  I will post a picture of it when it is done.

The second is L&L's Celtic Summer.  I am almost done with this piece, and hope to finish it sometime this Spring or early summer.  Here is a picture of where I'm at right now:

The third and fourth are both being continued from the 2013 WIPocalypse.  They are Celtic Spring and Sweet Dreams, both by L&L.  Here are current pix of my progress:

That's it for now.  Looking forward to a year of stitching in 2014!  -JoAnna