WIPocalypse August! And July... and... June...

On the upside, I'm blogging SO MUCH lately! On the downside, I've missed TWO MONTHS of WIPocalypse blogging. Ugh.

Luckily for all of us (all of us?) Measi keeps an amazingly beautiful and organized blog that allows me to catch up! (TOTAL sucking up right there!)

Without further ado (sucking up), let's get to it:

Two months ago in a galaxy far, far away....

June:

Measi gives us a topic for each month, and this month's topic is: tell us what you think the ideal stitching retreat would include.

Well. That's a loaded question since StitchCon was in June.

My ideal retreat is probably 30-50 people large. It should include stitching, my besties, good food, a smalls exhange, door prizes, maybe a guest designer? I love, love, love an all-inclusive location like the conference center where Michelle R holds her Midwest Retreats, especially for out of towners who don't have a rental car. Then again, it was REALLY nice to walk from the StitchCon hotel to a bar in town. It was only about a mile and the weather was SO nice.

I'm sure I'm forgetting things, but let's just look at my finishes: 

That's Brenda Gervais' Stars & Stripes, stitched for the Midwest Cross Stitchers' swap; In Lieu of Flowers by Prairie Moon, stitched for ME; a hama bead pattern turned ATC for #crossstitchatcs on Instagram; Ginger Gerald Designs Windmill, used for the smalls exchange at StitchCon; and a little goat for a card on the FB Cross Stitch Card and ATC group

July:

Again, we'll start with the monthly topic: half year review: how are you doing on your goals so far this year. 

Well... I'm stitching a lot. Like, a LOT a lot. TONS. and I'm finishing. All the things. But none of the WIPocalypse things. Mostly this is because I keep starting things.

So. How am I doing with my 2018 goals? Just fine, thank you. ;-) I'm not too worried or bent out of shape about whether I finish my WIPocalypse or Year of WIPs pieces. I want to focus on them but I also want to start all the things. so it appears we are at an impasse.

But, like I said, I did FINISH things in July, so here they are: 

These are the borders for the TinyModernist #HauntedMansionSAL; there is the Martha Agnes Sampler Roll and inside pocket from Stacy Nash; Starry, Starry Night from Bent Creek; the start of my #CountryStitchersRR with a motif from Blackbird Designs Garden Quaker; my modified project from Midwest Cross Stitchers Retreat 2017; and that atc again (CLEARLY a June finish!)

August:

Look! We're all caught up!!

Let's get into it--the question of the month: which is more satisfying to you--the process of stitching or finishing things? 

Well! Melissa is a GENIUS! Because could there even BE a more appropriate question for #ArbitraryAugust?!?  The short (and cheating) answer is that I love BOTH. I waffle between "I'm just happy to be here; hope I can keep stitching" (I'd love my life to be a little more like Bull Durham)

And MUST FINISH ALL THE THINGS!! So I think that the real answer is I like to stitch and I like ot be stitching. Whether I'm chugging along or finishing all the things, I'm happy. 

Speaking of finishing all the things!! I finished a Year of WIPs piece in August. I dont' think it's a WIPocalypse piece.... but it's a finish! This is Here Lie My Needles from Shakespeare's Peddler: 

And I am ABSOLUTELY in love with it. This is my favourite thing that I've finished this year. It's on a weird uphosterly fabric that is very much like a 14/16 count uneven Aida and was pretty beautiful to stitch on. I have an idea to frame it, I just need to find a large enough frame. 

I also had a couple of non-Year of WIPocalypse charts this month: 

This is October 31 from Kathy Barrick. And I love it. It's stitched 1/2 on 40 count linen with all of the called for DMCs except for the basket which was stitched with Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe Americana Bronze. 

On the SAME DAY I finished two tiny Prairie Schooler bees: 

These will be finished into a small ornament for a dear dear friend, despite the black one being a teensy bit wabi sabi. ;-) I kinda wish I were keeping them, but they were about 90 minutes each in stitching time, so I could just whip up a few more! 

Thank you for catching up with me! I love, love, love these blog posts and can't wait to read everyone else's!!