October 2017 WIPocalypse

I skipped last month's, oh wow, two months'! WIPocalypse because I felt like I didn't have much to report, but I do now!

I've pretty much cleared out my planned rotation except for my 2016 biscornu (which I'll get to, eventually) and Fantasy Sampler.   My current idea is to get one TW done/year, but Freshwater Pearls started screaming at me, so I went ahead and packed it up to take to my conference in mid-October.   I did a bit of stitching on the plane to Austin, and have been working on it in the evenings while Netflixing, so progress!  I also did finish one of the Desert Sunsets by Fireside Originals.  The one I have left is probably half the stitching of the one I just finished (it uses a lot of the exposed fabric for the sky, yay!). 

So here's where Freshwater Pearls was (literally untouched re: stitching since June 2007!)

And here's where it is

That beige/sand is KILLING ME.  So boring.  And annoying with the confetti of other beige in there.

And here's where Desert Sunset II was

And here it is completed!  (Link to the post with the finished photo, and a few extra)

August Question of the Month – How do you get yourself out of a stitching drought?

99% of the time, I'm not so much in a stitching drought as 'busy doing other things,' for example: gaming, gaming inserts, video gaming, working on the house, painting, quilting, doing anything else :)  So basically, I get myself out by getting bored or done with whatever I'm into at that given time.   I was playing a crap ton of Diablo III instead of stitching because of the new season, then I had had enough and went back to stitching :)

Now, if I'm feeling like trying to make myself stitch again, I look at pictures; or rather, when I'm reading through other blogs or FB groups and I see something I'm working on or want to work on, it might get me back in the mood, more than the other thing I'm doing :)

September Question of the Month – Which floss (or color of floss) do you absolutely adore and want to stash constantly?

Wine/Burgundy reds are my favorite.  I might have an overflowing drawer of 498, 816, and 817.  I didn't even have to think twice, I knew those colors.  I have a lot of silks I don't need in that color schema as well ;)

Fun fact:  the last four digits of my pager at work are 3042, which is, of course, a standard TW color.  I said something to the department admin about DMC floss color codes, turns out she's a stitcher and we had a good laugh about remembering extensions by DMC color in our head (/digression)

October Question of the Month – How did you begin stitching?

I've told this story in a prior post, but I'll share again!   I was spending Spring Break my sophomore year of high school with my aunt and uncle in a nearby town.  My family is fairly craft with a lot of crocheting, sewing, plastic canvas work, etc.    I needed a thick gold cord for the project I was working on and they were kind enough to take me to a (now out of business) cross stitch shop in the town next door.   When I walked in the door, I saw Teresa Wentzler's Castle Sampler on the table.  I literally bought everything I need right there and then.   Turns out, that was a hell of a first bite into cross-stitching, and I bought another kit (which had blended threads and quarter stitches, too! though not quite as much of it) and started my foray into stitching.  25+ years ago.  Wow.

I still have scraps of the original lugana I bought that I've been using over the years, and that was the one and only time I bobbined my floss, so if I run across a bobbin, I know it's from that project.  So much fun.