Category: General

Stitch-A-Longs

 2022 is upon us. I had written my plans for next year and kinda put together which projects I will use for each SAL. However, I wanted to document the SALs and explanation of each one of them.

  1. IHSW (International Hermit & Stitching Weekend): every 3rd full weekend of the month (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). I will stitch the projects I’m currently stitching during that week.
  2. TUSAL (Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long): every new moon day post a picture of my ORT jar. ORT= Old Raggedy Threads. These are the left over threads I cut after I’m done stitching. I will add a picture of the lunar calendar for reference.
  3. WIPGO; like BINGO but this is Bingo for cross stitch. My board was posted earlier so the projects that will be used are there.
  4. WIPocalypse; a list of projects that will be worked on during the year. I have a total of 49 WIPs but 30 of them will be actively worked on during 2022.
  5. BRRINGO; same as WIPGO but this one is modified to working on a project with specific description. For instance, working on a project with letters, or working on my oldest project, etc.
  6. WIP and Wonders; this one is hosted by Full Coverage Fanatics and it involves visiting the 20 wonders of the world. The whole objective of the SAL is to take a project for each of the wonder and stitch 5,000 for that project. I can use the same project for all wonders or use a different one for each one.
  7. 22,000 in 2022; this one is also hosted by Full Coverage Fanatics and it’s pretty self explanatory: stitch 22,000 in 2022. However, only one project can be used.
  8. HEAVENMANIA; this one is hosted by Tiempo Entre Cruces. The goal is to stitch on a Heaven and Earth Design piece
  9. 22 World Cities or 66,000 stitches; also hosted by Tiempo Entre Cruces. The goal is stitch 3,000 stitches per city. In other words, when I reach 3,000 stitches on a city, go to the next city. We will be starting with Amsterdan on Jan 1st.
  10. Seasonal Stitch; stitch on a piece according to the station we are in.
  11. Sunday Stitch; choose a Christian/inspirational piece and stitch on it on Sundays
  12. Daily 30; choose a project to make progress on a daily basis (30 minutes per day)
  13. MHM; Mill Hill Monday. A Mill Hill project every Monday
  14. Temperature Stitch; cross stitch record of the temperature/weather in my area
  15. Full Coverage Weekend; at this time I have about 4 full coverage pieces and I assigned 1 full coverage every three months. That way all of them will get some progress throughout the year.
  16. Mystery SAL; I only added this category because I currently am stitching on Maple Lane which is scheduled to be finished in February or March and I would like to finish that one.
  17. Stitch from Stash; I had mentioned that this activity was originally created by Msohsewcrafty and StitcherMel made some adjustments. I will join StitcherMel and my budget will be $25. More info can be found on StitcherMel’s blog which can be found on the list of the blogs I follow.
  18. No New Start; I originally wanted no new start in 2022. However, I have one project that I wanted to start in January to Celebrate a very special personal milestone in my life. I will be starting this piece sometime during the week of 1/24 – 1/30. Therefore, no new start starting in February 2021 through the end of the year.

Monthly Marker and Plans

Time for some planning! I’m excited about the new year and the plans I have. Of course, they are subject to be changed but, for now, I’m looking forward to starting my new rotation and finishing some old projects and move on to the next.

So, for starters, the SALs I’m planning to join are:

1. WIPGO

2. IHSW

3. TUSAL

4. No New Start

5. Daily 30

6. Mill Hill Monday

7. WIPocalypse

With the added:

8. Temperature Stitching

9. Seasonal Stitching

10. Sunday Stitching

11. Full Coverage Weekend

12. Mystery SALs

13. Stitch from Stash (maybe?)

So, as I see, my rotation will be as follows:

  • Mondays: Wipgo, Mill Hill Monday, Daily 30, Seasonal, and mystery SAL (5 projects)
  • Tuesdays: Wipgo, Daily 30, Seasonal, and mystery SAL (4 projects)
  • Wednesdays: Wipgo, Daily 30, Seasonal, and mystery SAL (4 projects)
  • Thursdays: Wipgo, Daily 30, Seasonal, and mystery SAL (4 projects)
  • Friday: Wipgo, Daily 30, Seasonal, Full coverage and mystery SAL (5 projects)
  • Saturdays: Wipgo, Daily 30, Seasonal, Full coverage and mystery SAL (5 projects)
  • Sundays: Wipgo, Daily 30, Seasonal, Sunday Stitching, Full coverage and mystery SAL (5 projects)

I added Mystery SALs because I am still working on one from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery which ends in March 2022 (I think). Once this is finished then I will not have any other and will be able to have more time for the rest of the projects.

I added the Sunday Stitching because I want to make some needed progress on Footprints by Bucilla. I want to be able to hang this on my wall already!

I added Full Coverage because it is tradition for me to work on Full Coverage pieces on the weekends as well as seasonal stitching during spring, summer, fall and winter. 

Temperature Stitching, there is a beautiful piece by Stitchin’ Mommy which is tracking the temperature of where you live using butterflies patterns. I love butterflies! AND I will be able to track the temperature at my new place. 

So, here are the projects that made it to the cut and that I matched to each SAL:

1. For WIPGO this is how my card looks like:

2. For IHSW, I will be stitching on the projects closest to a finish.
3. For TUSAL, well… this is not really a project SAL but more like a “show me your ORTs” SAL
4. No New Start, this is self explanatory. I will not start a new project through out the whole year.
5. Daily 30 project will be Snowman & Friends by Dimensions(which is also part of WIPGO):

6. For Mill Hill Monday, I have Winged Monarch:

7. For WIPocalypse, so far, I have: Coffee Break by Soda Stitch, Air Goddess by Joan Elliott, PHD by Stitchrovia, Needleworker by Little House Needleworks, Home of a Needleworker by Little House Needleworks Too, and Cross Stitch Nation by Heartstring Samplery (all of which are part of WIPGO as well):

8. Temperature Stitching, Temperature Butterflies by Stitching Mommy:
9. Seasonal Stitching, Spring Season by Sandra Cozzolino, Hello Summer by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery, Autumn Band Sampler by Tiny Modernist, and Winter Season by Sandra Cozzolino: 
 
 
10. Sunday Stitching: Footprints by Bucilla
11. Full Coverage Weekend – 
January, February and March: La Niguenta by HAED
April, May and June: Paradise Nature by Thomas Kinkade
July, August and September: The Gamer by Gecko Rouge
October, November and December: Four Seasons by HAED
 
12. Mystery SAL: Maple Lane by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

Maple Lane is supposed to be finished early 2022 so my list will start to get shorten quickly. Again, this is not set in stone so I may or may not make changes. 
Another activity I wanted to join is Stitch from Stash. But, I like the version from Stitcher Mel. I will read more about her rules so that I can write about it and how I will be going about it.
You may be asking yourself what these activities/SALs are. I will be back with an explanation of each one of them and links to where you can find the aforementioned projects. 

My New Stitching View


My new stitching views are much more peaceful and enjoyable! So far, I’m loving my new place in central Florida! I still don’t have a lot of Stitchy time. I’m still waiting for all of my stuff to be delivered and then I’ll get it organized. But I can sit down at the end of the day and put a stitch or two on my Maple Lane by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery SAL. 

I’m also doing my plans for next year. I’m thinking of a “no new start” in 2022, WIPocalypse, and WIPGO. I currently have about 40 WIPs at the moment so I’m planning to get this list down as much as possible. Maybe by half. I’ll be more than happy if I can get it down to 12. 

I’ll be sharing my plans later. For now, I’ll keep enjoying the fabulous weather here and completing clue 2 of Maple Lane. 

To Start or Not To Start

For the past year or so, I’ve been kitting up a lot of projects. Lately, I’ve been contemplating the idea of starting some of them. Currently, I have about 23 works in progress; it will be 24 in July because I’m planning to start one on July 4th. However, I don’t want to start any more pieces because I want to get this number down to 15: 12 regulars and 3 full coverage. 

My idea of having 15 projects is just to have 1 project per month and 1 full coverage for the weekends and work on it for 4 months (moving forward). Just so that I can dedicate a good amount of time to each one of them, finish them up and have a new start if I finish one. However, I’m thinking about the fact that I won’t ever have the time to finish every single chart I have in my stash. So, I’m thinking about starting most of the projects I kitted. I’m being realistic about it and not thinking of having over 50 wips like many fellow stitchers do. Now, having said all that, I’m planning on doing no new starts in 2022. Therefore, I might have to do some thinking and plan more starts before the end of this year.