WIPocalypse 2022 Check-In

​In the past, we have used the first post of the year as a preview of our "plans" for the coming year. And, as they say, the best-laid plans, etc. etc. etc.

​A lot of what is written in this post is a small revision of my last check-in, so apologies if it looks familiar. But there are a few, however slight, changes.

Let's start with an introduction to me, if you haven't been here before...

 I'm Carol Harper, AKA thatyank, and I've been stitching since graduate school "way back in the middle ages" as my old high school Latin teacher Miss Reed used to say! I started by helping a friend complete an eyeglass case as a gift for her mother (until then, I had only done crewel and needlepoint) and was immediately hooked. And for the longest time, I was pretty good about keeping up and finishing what I had started before taking on a new project.

However, due to the fact that we moved from Houston, TX to London in 1992, and from there to Beijing in 1996, and then to Saudi Arabia in 1998, before returning to to Ohio in 2002, our personal belongings (including my stitchery supplies) had been, in stages, packed and put into storage with each move until we  finally settled down in 2003! Of course, that didn't stop me from accumulating more stash along the way so my backlog of kits, patterns, floss, and fabric (the last not so much these days) is well beyond SABLE status (after all, I am 79 and I can't last forever!).

I believe I started WIPoccalypse in 2011 (although the first post on my blog that references WIPoccalypse  was in January 2012 so I can't be sure...) with an attempt to rectify the huge collection of WIPs/UFOs that has resulted from these intervals of packing/storing away between moves. Wipocalypse was partially successful in rectifying this backlog. However, I still have a number of needlepoint canvases (most requiring backstitch although one is in need of cleaning, and another, a painted canvas of a leopard that was a bequest from a deceased friend, is barely started), and one set of crewel pillow covers left over from that accumulation. They are not likely to be resurrected this year, of this I am almost certain.

I have one major blackwork piece by Elizabeth Almond ("Save the Stitches", roughly 60% complete, which was started in February of 2014 and languished through periods of physical therapy ( resulted from a broken left wrist followed two years later by a ruptured left thumb tendon) . Odds are, this blackwork is the only piece I will take out this year as a long-term WIP. I am through block 74 ih this BAP:
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Another WIP is “Hope & Strength" by Glenwood Place, which I haven’t touched since November 2021:

The last major block of stitching will be that lion in the right. Then it's on to borders with all those beads...

I have SALs in progress at present:

The first is Stitchonomy "Christmas SAL 2021", started December 2021, in progress. A new motif is released every other day. It is stitched on ice blue AIDA (not obvious in this photo) in the colors specified (except I am substituting a DNC Diamante gold for a yellow and a Diamante silver for ornament hangers). There is a pot to be stitched at the bottom of the tree but I am waiting to see if I prefer one of the alternatives before stitching it.

​Since this is a mystery SAL, I can only reveal what is public, even though I belong to the pattern club and have four more ornaments stitched:

I don't expect this to be finished before spring, at the earliest.

​The second is a Lakeside Needlecraft free "Christmas SAL", started in December 2021 and in progress. Stitched on white Aida using recommended threads. ​

I should be able to finish this by mid-January as there are only three motifs left to stitch...

​If I do finish this, that will mean I can take on one of the many SALs waiting in the cue:

• a Lakeside Needlecraft SAL "Crystallized" which started January 2 , with monthly installments.
• a Faithwurks/Just Cross Stitch Magazine SAL, which started with the February issue of the magazine (I get it digitally as well as hard copy), and further installments in future magazine issues through the end of 2022. I have all the threads now...

The following are also possible SALs (biting off more than I can chew, you say?):

• A botanical blackwork SAL by Steady Thread, not yet kitted up. Installments once a week for a year.
• The Fox & Rabbit freebie SAL “ Changing Seasons. “ - threads on order. Installments monthly. This one is HUGE!

In the non-SAL category is the following:

• a World of Cross Stitch chart by Jenny Van De Wiele called "Miniature Marvels”, kitted up by Lakeside Needlecraft

And then there are the absurdly large number of fully kitted pieces I purchased over the past two years:

• Three needlepoint kits by Needle Delights Original, designed by Kathy Rees: "Tahiti", "Bora Bora" and "Tropical Seas"
• Two Bothy Threads kits, based on art by Jessica Hogarth: "Love Paris" and "Love London"
• Two Artecy kits, designs by Tereena Clarke: "London Abstract" and "London Bus" 
• Four Bothy Threads kits from the art of Sally Swannell: The New England Homes series: "Spring", "Winter", "Fall", and "Summer"
• One kit from Charting Creations, from the art of Robert Finale: "Palace"

We can only wait and see it I manage to whittle this list down at all!

Oh, and stitching isn't my only "craft". I dabble in Mixed Media and am heavily into paper crafting and I maintain a blog for this as well as a blog for a quilt guild I belong to. Add to that an addiction to reading (primarily crime fiction but also history, biography and a little science fiction), so I sometimes (always) have to budget my time to include real-life chores like laundry, cooking, etc... I must say, sleep is the primary sufferer here! 

In all, I'm just going to go with the flow! Keep your fingers crossed for me?