OhSewCrafty Blog

Sometimes I love planning just as much as actual stitching!  Extensive plans for this year definitely helped me reach my goal, to wip down.  So, 2019 will have fewer WIPs in rotation, hopefully quicker finishes and perhaps more new starts.  I would like 8 WIPs, as that is a very comfortable number for me.  Ornaments and other tiny pieces may be an exception to the rule, however.

I will start 2019 with 5 WIPs… Winnie the Pooh, Spooky House, Christmas Village, Bird of Happiness, and Celtic Winter (planned to start this December for Winter Solstice).  At least this is true if I manage to finish other WIPs as scheduled this year!  

So I’ll have 3 new starts in January, or technically 4 because I need to start a new house on the Village, all planned for the first 15 days of January so I can spend the back half of the month on my older WIPs.  Pattern photos belong to the respective designers.  First up is my “new start, old stash”… Teresa Wentzler’s Fantasy Triptych which I’ve had in my stash at least 10 years along with the 25 count white monoco that is suggested.  My husband loves this piece and I finally feel ready to tackle it, with its insane floss list, after completing the TW Castle in 2017. 

Then I’ll start Joan Elliott’s Christmas Teddy, and I can’t wait!  Since I finished Water Goddess in October, I’ve missed having a JE in my rotation.  

After that a major project is on deck… Save the Stitches by Elizabeth Almond of Blackwork Journey.  After stitching the Brodueuse Bressane Mini Mandalas, I feel like I need more blackwork in my life and Save the Stitches is the sort of huge project I can really sink my teeth into!

Last but not least, the Mill Hill Christmas Village will return with the Queen Anne House. I love this pattern so much (it’s pretty much my dream house), it should be a joy to stitch.

Other starts planned for the year mostly revolve around my “Series Killer” goal.  The Mill Hill village is a big part of that, I’ll hopefully stitch the Palace Theater, US Post Office, and the Firehouse, along with the bottom border.  Then it will be time to sew all the buttons on and finish this monster project which is 3 years in the making.  

Ana by Nora Corbett will go on the same fabric as Gigi (which I stitched and finished as Fleur Delacour).  Plus, I have an additional 4 of the bewitching pixie patterns which I intend to stitch in pairs.

The Seasonal Bellpulls by Stoney Creek were started with Summer, so I have still have Spring (pictured), Fall, and Winter to do.  I do have a bellpull cut of cotton Anne Cloth stashed.  These are big pieces so if I start and finish one, I’ll be happy.

The Seasonal birds by Lesley Teare were started with Spring, so I still have Winter, Summer and Autumn (pictured) to do.  The fabric is stashed.  These are small pieces but very detailed, so the goal is to stitch at least 1.  

It would be great to have another full size Mira in rotation, since I finished Enchanted Mermaid in August.  Perhaps it will be Stargazer.

I’d love to try a new-to-me designer next year.  It might be Glendon Place with her Gingerbread Village.  I have the 28 count cashel stashed… Haven by PTP is my favorite sky blue.  I’d love to start this after finishing the Mill Hill Christmas village.  

For Maynia, I’m planning to start several ornaments, however many I need to rotate 15 projects in 15 days.  Hopefully I will finish at least a few of the ornies during that period too!  The Mill Hill vintage sleigh kit is in my stash and I’d love to stitch it!  I have a long list of ornaments projects, most of which I did not get to in 2016 when I participated in a monthly ornament challenge for awhile.