Carol Harper's most read articles

Topic: Pick one of the WIP pieces you’ve stitched on this month, and tell us about your stitching journey with the piece. Well, I have two BAPs that have been ongoing since 2013! The first (which I did NOT stitch on this month) is "Save the Stitches", a blackwork sampler design by Elizabeth Almond. I started this back in early February, 2014 and it is now nearly half completed It was last touched in early April, 2015: The other, which I did stitch on this month, was the series of…

This month's theme question is "Do you start your holiday stitching this early? If so, what do you hope to accomplish this year?" In the past, I have done holiday ornaments (I can decorate two Christmas trees with the ornaments I have made in the last decade or two), and I have made two or three gifts (for people that I KNOW will appreciate the theme and the work that went into producing the item) in that same time period, but, as a rule, I don't do holiday stitchery. I don't stitch well t…

In the event that you are not familiar with WIPocalypse, it is a yearly challenge by Measi's Musings where Melissa, the blog owner states: "The WIPocalypse was a stitch-a-long playing up on the joke that the world will end in 2012. It’s short for Works In Progress Apocalypse."The goal of the WIPocalypse is to make progress on your projects. How you go about this is your choice." Since then, there have been WIPocalypse SALs each year and this year is the start of WIPocalypse 2018. Eac…

Having completed (this past weekend) the "Spawn" segment of "Roll Your Own", a set of 9 mandalas designed by Tracey Horner of InkCircles, I put in some time starting borders of two of the last three mandalas... a partial right side of "Revenge" on the left and the top of "Rematch" on the right (which will be the center eventually) "Return" has yet to be started: I was simply positioning the motifs so they would line up with the top row *and* be the same distances apart as all the…

Last Thursday was taken up by quilt guild and the this past weekend was pretty much taken up with paper crafting classes in Michigan, but I did take my travel bag with me and stitched a little on "Palm Tree Elegance" on Friday evening, which was last touched in June when we were in Atlanta!The leopard spot border now has it's second color half done! Then, Monday and Tuesday were taken up by catching up on sleep, visiting the dentist, the optometrist, the grocery store and the gas station…

Well, in addition to completions of TAST Stitch #100 and my February BJP ornie, I made progress on "Roll Your Own" - 9 full colors and half of a tenth!

Below is a row of Rice Stitch varieties and some Square Box Stitches in three sizes... What is missing is the original, plain Jane Rice Stitch. As usual, I misread the tutorial...

Various things are getting in the way of stitching in the next few weeks, but I did manage to get the outlining of blocks 10 and 11 done on Friday night for "Save the Stitches": Here is how these new blocks fit into the sampler so far: I also started the outline for the third Roll Your Own mandala, "Bride": My traveling needlepoint will be coming out of limbo for the next few weeks... This is where it stood since the las trip, a cruise back in 2011: and this is how fa…

This month's topic for discussion is: "Which is more satisfying to you and why – the process of stitching a piece, or the finish?" ​That's a tough question for me to answer... it's almost like those polls which don't give an answer that is right for you! For me, the satisfying part is the beginning: the picking of the chart, the floss, the fabric and embellishments (if any) and setting up for stitching. (can you tell I'm a stash builder? I love browsing the designer sites and the need…

My July Bead Journal Project butterfly. He did end up a tad wonky, one side being a slight bit smaller and his body something of a tortured curve, but he is patriotic, as July butterfly should be:

Snow today (heavy and with winds so it's drifting - predicted somewhere around 8"), I need to make a casserole for quilt guild Thursday night and we are expecting house guests either Sunday or Monday so stitching won't be a priority this week, I fear. But that's OK because this past month has been a "Stitchathon" at Cross Stitch Crazy and I managed to participate since I had all my February non-stitchy deadlines accomplished when it started. I put in a total of 14826 stitches between Februa…

It's raining! As dark and drear as it feels to have no sun, the fact that it's not snow is marvelous! Maybe spring really will arrive on Friday! I bailed on quilt guild meeting on Thursday and quilt guild work day on Saturday. Just didn't feel up to pot lucks and show-and-tell. And on Sunday evening, old frimds from our grad school says at USC came by on their way to Washington DC. We watched the ice jam on the Maumee River break up, took them out to dinner, and then did a crossword puzzle. T…

Put in one evening of stitching after International Hermit and Stitch Weekend pt 2, and got one more color done in "Cindy": Nothing else to report on except late autumn weather in August. Weird! This was one of the wettest summers on record, and one of the coolest, I suspect (only two days at 90 or over, and low 50-degree nights are pretty unusual too!). Bad weather for vegetable gardening, but the daylilies loved it!

The topic of the month is: "Talk to us about your longest-running WIP or UFO." ​Well, it all depends on what you want --- WIP? UFO? The project I will talk about has aspects of both. My longest running WIP (I still consider it that since it resides in my work bag in my stitching area and not in the cabinet of long-unfinished pieces) is Elisabeth Almond's "Save the Stitches" blackwork sampler; I started it February 24, 2014: and last worked on it April 9, 2015: It is stitched in…

What a difference two days makes in stitching. despite a new bout of ripping out (upper left corner this time), I FINISHED the outline for "Revenge" late last night! I even managed to put in a few more stitches on the outline for "Rematch" (I had some black stands left and didn't want to mess with them tangling in my project bag): Here is what "Roll Your Own" looks like as of October 28, 2015: Now, on to color! YAY!

The final WIPocalypse post of the year has the theme "Recap your accomplishments for the year! " This will be easy because this is one of the least productive stitchery years I have had in ages. Travel, a series of nasty respiratory infections and just general malaise pretty much dominated... At the end of 2014, I set the following goal: "I hope to make 2015 a year of catching up and maybe even re-organizing my crafting space (which is currently a hot mess!). So my stitching goals are to f…

A completion to celebrate the end of 2015! Well, part of one, anyway! I finished "Revenge": and here is how the "Roll Your Own" Mandalas look today: Other than that, Christmas day at brother-in-law's and then again on Sunday (for the other two in-law families who were in town for the day), lunch with the widow of one of husband's dear friends, and an eye-appointment on New Year's Eve (which is why I'm late with this check-in) took up my week. Not a great year for stitching (see…

The topic for discussion this month is: "How do you keep your stitching stash organized?" ​Well, I'm not sure it IS organized, at least not completely I posted several times this year about my organizational attempts, starting in January and fizzling out in May. I have gotten quite a bit put away where it belongs but there is probably just as much that needs doing. Especially floss --- my DMC is untouched and needs a massive amount of time to put right and teh contents of my two embroid…

The topic for this month is: "Are you a seasonal stitcher, or can you stitch on any holiday/seasonal stitch at any time of year?"​ ​I don't consider myself a "seasonal stitcher" in that I stitch whatever appeals to me at the time. However, there are seasonal items which get started (and sometimes finished) ahead of the season when the magazines and charts start appearing on the market for Halloween and Christmas. Both seem to start in September of each year although there are some hints earl…

I did stitch this week. Not a varied routine but I stitched and frogged and stitched and frogged on the John Clayton "Golfer - Fairway" and got all but a few stitches of the greens in page one and got started on the second green on page two. The golfer is even more apparent now: The greens aren't the grass greens shown on the chart's cover photo --- more olive and lime green. But the background is beginning to take shape!BJP Owl is kitted, but I didn't work on either of those *or* on "Save…