WIPocalypse 2018 - the First Post

Hello friends! Thanks to all of you who welcomed me back. I am really looking forward to a year of stitching all the things!

WIPoocalyse is a yearly SAL in which participants try to get all their WIPs stitched before the end of the world. It was started by Melissa in 2011 or 2012 (I think) to help us all achieve that goal. You can find more information about the SAL here. Each month we also have a topic or question to talk about. For the first post...an introduction, and talk about our plans and projects for the coming year.

I'm lynda, wife, and mother to two grown daughters and 4 furbabies, and grandma to one adorable little boy; a retired librarian and a stitcher since high school. I started with crewel embroidery and then stamped cross stitch and finally counted cross stitch. That was a long time ago, and my tastes have changed a lot since then. When I started, it seemed all I stitched were Precious Moments designs, and most of them, if not all, were given away as gifts. The first big piece I did was a unicorn tapestry that my mother still has hanging in her home. Now, my tastes run all over the place and I have lots of designers that I love from primitives to quirky. I especially love Quakers and samplers of all kinds.

A few years ago, I joined in on WIPocalyse...I think it was 2012. I started out pretty well but didn't get too much accomplished. Anyway, since I am also doing the YOW challenge (more on that in my next post), I decided to concentrate on some other pieces for this year's SAL. I am pulling out some UFO's, my four carryover pieces from last year's YOW and a couple more. (I am also going to post a page at the top of my blog of all the pieces that I have put at least a few stitches in...those that I can find, that is!)
(I apologize in advance for all the wrinkles in the photos!)

The UFOs date back to 2000! The first is from Paula Vaughn - the  January Quilt from her book Quilts for All Seasons. I started it in January of that year, and my plan was to stitch one quilt a month all year! Ha! What was I thinking??? I do know why I put this one aside. First, I had joined in on some forums on the internet and was introduced to lots of wonderful designs. Then I found jobelan and realized how much easier fractional stitches were on that, as opposed to the aida I had been using. And I realized that I had made a mistake in the quilt and got frustrated. Anyway, too much rambling!

The second piece is called Alice and it is by Lynne Nicoletti. I remember having a really hard time getting this pattern, and it went pretty quickly when I started it. I don't remember why I put it down tho.

The next piece is Celtic Autumn from Lavender and Lace. I don't remember when I started this one. I do remember getting the color conversion from someone online.

The fourth piece is Love with a Capital "L" from Papillon Creations. Again, can't remember how old this is, but I remember that I had just discovered Carrie's Creations threads and ordered some for this piece! At some point,  I lost the pattern and had to re-order it too.

The last UFO was actually passed on to me many years ago from a friend in Australia. It is from Glendon Place and is called Five Simple Rules. I had to buy some of the threads twice because I misplaced them, but I would really like to get this one finished this year.

The four carryover pieces from last year's Year of WIPs are;

Live Laugh Love from primitiveBettys:

Strawberry Fields Forever from Blackbird Designs:

Dicken's Last Word from The Cricket Collection:

and Sampling in the Square from Blue Ribbon Designs: (this piece was a round robin. I stitched all the borders and lettering and still have the bottom square to complete)

I would also like to work on Quaker Christmas II from ByGone Stitches: (I originally started this several years ago, but after finishing the first page, I realized that I was stitching it horizontally instead of vertically. I had too much stitched to rip out, so I restarted with different colors)

and Light of Peace, a painting from Thomas Kinkaide. ( I haven't started this one yet, but plan to this week)

Now I know there is no way that I will get all of these finished, but my goal is to at least work on each one, and who knows what might happen!

I'm looking forward to working my way through my WIPs with all of you!

Until next time, please remember to be kind to yourself and others and be grateful for every day!
Thanks for visiting!