WIPocalypse - Month Ending August 10, 2014, Another Super Moon

This month's theme questions is "Tell us about your oldest and newest WIPs." Well, for starters, is it a WIP if it is over 20 years old and hasn't been touched since? Personally, I consider this a UFO, but here is a picture of what I think my be my oldest UFO --- a crewel pillow top from sometime around  (it has a copy right date of 1980 so it had to have been started after that, but I'm pretty sure it became a UFO before 1988 when we moved to Texas!). Here is the "progress" so far:

while here is it's companion pillow top which is ready for assembly into the pillow cover (backing and zippers for both came with the kits):

(In fact, the companion piece may end up being a class project for the Funk & Weber finishing class mentioned below...)

If it's a piece that is still being worked on, albeit somewhat slowly, it has to be my needlepoint travel pice, another pillow top, started on a cruise in 2011 and still a work in VERY SLOW progress!

My newest is a little piece I picked up to pass the time while waiting for others to finish their tour of the Biltmore Gardens this past June/July (I'm not much for detailed garden tours, especially in 95+°F heat!):

I also consider this a travel piece, and it will likely not see the light of day again until next year on another cruise!

Otherwise, my usual WIPs are described below...

Since the last WIPocalypse report-in, we spent another couple of days traveling (to Stratford in Canada to see some plays) and there simply wasn't time (or energy) to stitch then. However, once having returned (and recovered) from the road trip at the beginning of July (I did get laundry done, mail sorted, bills paid, etc), I managed to stitch the following:

• Crazy Quilt Journal Project blocks for July and August,  and assembled the first six months of blocks of the 2014 challenge and the last 6 months of blocks for the 2013 challenge
  
• Bead Journal Project atc/ornnament for July. Designed, but only just started, is my August Bead Journal ornament...

• Outlines (sadly, ONLY outlines) for blocks 12 and 13 for Elizabeth Almond's "Save the Stitches". Blocks 14 and 15 are now issued and printed out
  
  TAST stitches ##118 - 121 (Braided Buttonhole Stitch, Woven Trellis Stitch, Double Herringbone Stitch, Twisted Lattice Stitch), ##122 and 123 (Chained Bar and Woven Chained Bar Stitches), and #124 (Closed Herringbone)
  

Not one stitch made it into the Tracey Horner RYO mandala SAL, while yet another pattern has been issued and printed out!

I also delivered four framed pieces to the county fair and won four ribbons!  I already have ordered charts for the special needlework contest theme "Get in the Game"!

For quilt guild, I attended the "Christmas in " where we signed up to make place mats for Meals on Wheels --- this to be completed by November (while my block for the guild retreat, "Retreating in the Pines", is due in October...)

The third Funk & Weber class on finishing started this past week with lesson one printed out (but not yet read).  I never did get around to finishing up the hemstitching class (blushing). I have also signed up for an online class from Nancy Eha called "Seed Bead Botany" and the beading kit is already here. It starts August 12... and runs through September 2-9. (Just what I needed, right? Another online course? And it's not the only one as I also signed up for a Craftsy course on rubber stamp techniques!  I will NEVER learn --- and never catch up!).

So next months' to-do list is catch-up time:

• The Tracey Horner RYO mandala - outline for "Bride"
• The Elizabeth Almond "Save the Stitches" SAL - outlines for blocks 14 and 15 and whatever fill I can accomplish for  blocks 10 - 15!
• Whatever TAST stitches come my way
• The September Crazy Quilt Journal Block (it's already gridded and the fabric choices tentatively made)
• Complete the August Bead Journal ornament as well as a September Bead Journal Ornament
• Finish the Funk & Weber finishing class and Get well into the "Seed Bead Botany" class