DUCJC 2016 Has Now Been Completely Completed!

Hello again!

Do you fancy a trip down memory lane? Or, if you are new to me, a look back at what I was stitching in 2016?

I didn't mention it when I posted my FFO of Sorciere in the FFG SAL, but her being fully-finished off marked a rather exciting moment for me - it meant that DUCJC 2016 has now been completely completed (just like the title says!)

For those of you who may not know about this Challenge, it was conceived by SoCal Debbie as 15 new starts during the first 15 days of January. When Debbie passed away, her idea was carried on as Debbie's January Challenge (DJC) then lengthened to include all of January as Debbie's Ultimate Crazy January Challenge (DUCJC) and then stretched even further to include February as Debbie's Super Duper Ultimate Crazy January and February Challenge (DSDUCJFC). Needless to say, some stitchers carried on into March and April and the maddest ones even further, some up to the end of the year!! I participated in DSDUCJFC in 2015 and DUCJC in 2016.

Since then so many other multi-start (and other) challenges have appeared on Facebook etc. that Debbie's Challenge has seemingly fizzled out and almost been forgotten about. I may not have taken part since 2016 but (with the exception of this year) I have been gradually and steadily working my way through the unfinished pieces. Out of a total of 90 starts for the combined years I have *only* 24 WIPs remaining.

Anyway, back to the January 2016 Challenge and the point of this post...

Out of the 31 new projects I started in January 2016 I actually finished 26 during that year, a further two in 2017 and the remaining three in 2018. However, I have only just deemed this challenge as being completely completed now that the last piece has disappeared from my Box Of Shame.

So let's rewind the clock, take a trip down memory lane and see all 31 projects I stitched for the 2016 Challenge and how they have been fully-finished off:

Toby Fox, Ollie Owl, Bert Badger, Frankie Hedgehog, Molly Mouse and Sally Squirrel
from Woodland Folk by DMC

Contentious and Cantankerous
from Cattitudes by Margaret Sherry

Let's Eat Dessert by Ursula Michael

Playful Puss numbers 3 and 4 (the bottom two) by Lucie Heaton

Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter Seasonal Alphabets by Lizzie Kate

Save Water, Ride A Bike, Keep Our Air Clean, Plant A Tree, Be Kind To Animals and Eat Locally

Green Flip-Its by Lizzie Kate

Penguin, Red-Hatted Snowman, Black-Hatted Snowman, Santa, Polar Bear and Bear

Christmas Pals Ornaments by Dimensions

Sleepy Book and Balloon

from the Odd Dog collection by Lili Of The Valley

Blueberry from Popcorn and Friends by Dimensions

French Country Witch (aka Sorciere) by JBW Designs

And there you have it. All 31 pieces stitched and all 31 pieces FFOd!! The door is now fully closed on this challenge!!

And, because I talk too much, here are a few highlight/lowlights:

- the Woodland Folk pieces all required a lot of intricate backstitching which often split the stitches. I found it virtually impossible to accurately follow so I improvised. Quite a lot. To be honest, you wouldn't know.

- Let's Eat Dessert definitely saw the most frogging. It was my first 'word' chart and took a bit of getting used to. But once I was in the swing of stitching the frogs were banished.

- the Christmas Pals Ornaments were the most satisfying to fully-finish; they were some of the first ornies I made and definitely set the precedence for my preferred finishing technique.

- Sleepy Book has to be my favourite piece. It's tiny and just so darn cute! Blueberry comes a very close second though.

- the JBW Witch was probably the most fun to stitch as there were tiny motifs within the design which aren't immediately noticeable. It was the second of the 31 projects to be fully stitched but the very last piece to be fully-finished off.

As for the remaining 24 WIPS from DSDUCJFC 2015, I aim to have them all stitched and fully-finished off by the end of 2023 (yes, I have made plans that far ahead!) Therefore one day sometime around 2023/2024 there will be another happy post like this.

Take care,

Rachel x

Winter Alphabet - finished; all 4 Seasonal Alphabets framed

Hi all!

So this is finish 31/31 from Debbie's Ultimate Crazy January Challenge 2016 and is, of course, Winter Alphabet by Lizzie Kate.

At the end of October I had stitched this much:

And now all completed it looks like this:

Winter Alphabet by Lizzie Kate

Stitched on 16ct Cloud Winter Sky aida by Sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitch count 112 wide by 159 high

Started - 26th January 2016

Finished - 10th November 2018

Total stitching time - 36 hours 35 minutes

And as the title of this post gives away, I have also framed all four Lizzie Kate Seasonal Alphabet pieces. Thanks to easyframe.co.uk I found the same frame in four different colours to match each season - red for spring, green for summer, brown for autumn and blue for winter. It makes them a bit more interesting than them all having the same generic gold-edged wooden frame, which was my other option. Here they are before framing...

... and after...

... and all together:

I think they look really good, but then I am more than slightly biased and would say that! I'm a very happy bunny indeed.

Considering samplers are definitely not my thing (are these truly samplers?) I thoroughly enjoyed stitching all four pieces. There was a great sense of satisfaction in working on them and watching them grow, especially as psychologically each letter of motif counted as a mini-finish!

And, of course, framing them all means my Box Of Shame is getting emptier! It definitely won't be empty by the end of the year, but it won't be far off.

Take care,
Rachel x

September Progress on 2015/2016 Challenge Pieces

Hello there!

Another month gone and another month of steady progress to show you on a couple of projects I started for Debbie's Challenges back in 2015/2016.

During September I finished and framed Tea from the Little Black Cat range (posted previously) and made progress on:

Pretty Little Paris by Satsuma Street

started 19th February 2015; last worked on last month
finished the bridge and added the Arc de Triomph

Winter Alphabet by Lizzie Kate

started 26th January 2016; last worked on in March 2016
continued alphabetically, adding two more rows

In October I plan to finish Pretty Little Paris, make further progress on Winter Alphabet and bring the final Hogwarts House Crest, Hufflepuff, out to play. If all goes well, all three pieces will be finished by the end of the year.

Take care,

Rachel x

May Progress on 2015/2016 Challenge Pieces

Hello there!

May has been and gone (I swear each month goes quicker than the last) so it's time for my monthly progress report on outstanding WIPs started back in 2015/2016. Remember that my aim is to finish one and work on two more each month.

I finished the adorable Spotted Owls (posted previously) and made progress on:

Sugar from the Little Black Cat collection by Heritage Crafts

started 16th February 2015; last worked on last month
stitched only the background (mind-numbingly easy but what a difference!)

Summer Alphabet by Lizzie Kate
started 12th January 2016; last worked on February 2016
continued alphabetically

If all goes well in June, Sugar will be finished, Summer Alphabet continued, and a WIP pulled out which I haven't worked on since the day I started it back in Febuary 2015.

Take care,

Rachel x

PS if you're wondering what's happened to Haunted House Bell Pull, I've had no free time to work on it in the last two months. :(  Fingers crossed that will change in June.

Spring Alphabet - finished

Hello all!

This month's finish from my Challenge WIPs was Lizzie Kate's Spring Alphabet. I'm going to repeat myself by saying it was another enjoyable stitch, especially as each little section felt like a mini finish.

At the end of last month I left it like this:

And now completed, including the charm and buttons:

Spring Alphabet by Lizzie Kate

Stitched on 16ct Cloud Pink over-dyed aida by sewitall.com 2 over 1
Stitch count 112 wide by 158 high

Started - 22nd January 2016

Finished - 9th March 2018

Total stitching time - 34 hours 40 minutes

Amusingly, the large motif under the Q is a bug (presumably a ladybird?) on a leaf, not a badly-coloured straw hat or a flying saucer as I originally thought!

Autumn was finished back in 2015 and I plan to finish both the Summer and Winter Alphabets later this year after which I will frame them all at the same time.

Take care,
Rachel x

February Progress on 2015/2016 Challenge Pieces

Hello there!

Another month has flown past already so it's time to check in with my stitching for February on my outstanding WIPs started back in 2015/2016. Remember that my aim is to finish one and work on two more each month. So, how did I do?

Well, I finished Spring from The Four Seasons (posted previously) and worked on:

Spring Alphabet by Lizzie Kate

started 22nd January 2016; worked on last month

completed fifth and half of sixth rows

Canal Crossing by Heritage Crafts
started 10th February 2015; last stitched on 26th April 2015
worked my way down and across from the top right

I also ripped out and re-stitched the green I was not totally happy with on the Spring Alphabet. I chose the best brightish olive green match I could find so now the 'wrong' green...

has been replaced with a better green (particularly noticeable in the trefoil):

Much better, don't you think? I'm certainly a lot happier and think it was definitely worth the additional 5 hours it took to rip and restitch these sections and a few more odd bits.

In March I should be able to finish Spring Alphabet and make further progress on Canal Crossing and another project from my very slowly shrinking bag of WIPs.

Take care,
Rachel x

January Progress on 2015/2016 Challenge Pieces

Hello there!

At the beginning of each month I like to post the progress made during the previous month on the WIPs started in 2015/2016 for Debbies Ultimate Crazy January/February Challenges. Although I was still stitching towards the end of last year, I failed miserably with these postings but, you know, new year, new start so let's try again.

My aim with my WIPs is to finish one and work on two more each month, culminating in 12 finishes by the end of the year.

During January I completed Winter from The Four Seasons (posted previously) and worked on the following two pieces:

Spring from The Four Seasons

started 1st February 2015; not touched since then

completed down to the horizon

Spring Alphabet by Lizzie Kate

started 22nd January 2016; last worked on March 2016

almost completed third and fourth rows

I'm a bit annoyed at the Lizzie Kate greens again - I had an issue with them when stitching her 'Green' series and should have remembered. On the picture below, look at the border around d, the letter G and the right half of each trefoil leaf - the recommended green I used (bottom picture) certainly doesn't look like the olive green shown, even taking into account the colour variations between the two photos.

So it looks as though I may be doing a bit of ripping and re-stitching with a better match. It's annoying but at least it's not a major problem. There are a few other bits sewn in the 'wrong' green (mainly leaves) but I'll probably leave them. We'll see...

During February I should finish Spring from The Four Seasons, make further progress on Spring Alphabet, and work on another project from my WIPs.

Take care,
Rachel x

Christmas Pals Bear - DUCJC 2016 Finish 28/31

Morning all!

So, here we have another finish from last year's January new starts. This is the final Christmas Pals Ornament - yippee! I stitched a fair bit during the final two days of 2016 so only had the background and backstitching left to do. I should have taken a photo at that point but didn't. Nevermind.

I left him looking like this last January:

And now he's all happily finished:

Dimensions

Stitched on 16ct Ice Blue aida 2 over 1

Stitch count 44 wide by 44 high

Started - 31st January 2016

Finished - 16th January 2017

Total stitching time - 11 hours 55 minutes

(estimated 13 hours)

Looking back, it did get a little monotonous finishing all six more or less in a row, but at least there were enough variations to keep them interesting. If I ever did a set like that again I think I'd space them apart a bit more.

Now to work out how to finish them off instead of letting them collect dust in my Box of Shame.

I've only got three projects from last year's January Challenge to complete now - Spring, Summer and Winter from the LK Seasonal Alphabets - but they are going to be put on hold while I work on a few WIPs from 2015. Back in 2015 I started 59 projects during January and February and still have 42 left to complete! I have prioritized 12 which I would like to finish this year, all I have to do is choose one from that list. Decisions, decisions.

Oh, and there's a medium-sized (about 180 hours) unplanned new start which has naughtily snuck its way onto my frames too. I just couldn't help it!! To be honest, it's the colours that caught my eye as it's not normally a palette or design I would work with. And it's one of a pair. No more information until after the first 10 hours though!

Take care,
Rachel x

Christmas Pals Polar Bear - DUCJC 2016 Finish 27/31

Afternoon all!

Last night saw another finish from last year's January Challenge. This cute little polar bear has been completed just in time for the cold/snowy snap we are due for the next few days. He's my second finish of the year (the first being my Smalls SAL piece which I won't blog about until 27th January) and one which I wasn't expecting to pick up because, after finishing four out of the six Christmas Pals Ornaments at the end of last year, I thought I'd had enough of them. But something drew me towards him so here he is!

Here's how I left him (well, his border!) on 29th January last year:

And here he is all wrapped up for winter:

Dimensions
Stitched on 16ct Ice Blue aida 2 over 1

Stitch count 44 wide by 44 high

Started - 29th January 2016

Finished - 12th January 2017

Total stitching time - 13 hours 45 minutes

(estimated 13 hours)

There is no doubt I'll now be picking up the final Christmas Pals Ornaments in order to both finish off the set and cross another WIP off my list.

Happy stitching :)
Rachel x

Christmas Pals Santa - DUCJC 2016 Finish 26/31

Good morning all,

So, here I am back with yet another finish from my pile of January starts. This is the fourth Christmas Pals Ornament I have now completed, which has been finished just in time for Christmas Eve!

I left Santa looking like this on 23rd January:

And here he is all ready to deliver his presents tonight:

Dimensions
Stitched on 16ct Ice Blue aida 2 over 1

Stitch count 44 wide by 44 high

Started - 23rd January 2016

Finished - 23rd December 2016

Total stitching time - 13 hours 35 minutes

(estimated 14 hours)

I know I've only got two Christmas Pals Ornaments left to do but I can't say I'm enthusiastic about trying to finish another one just now. Instead I'm going to stitch a couple of little extra projects for this month's Smalls SAL. These will tide me over until New Year and my new set of stitching plans.

Happy Christmas Eve!
Rachel x

Christmas Pals - Black-Hatted Snowman - DUCJC 2016 Finish 25/31

Hello all,

Another post and another finish. This is the third of six Christmas Ornament Pals I started back in January.

The last time I stitched on him was 19th January:

But I finally completed him last night:

Dimensions
Stitched on 16ct Ice Blue aida 2 over 1

Stitch count 44 wide by 44 high

Started - 19th January 2016

Finished - 14th December 2016

Total stitching time - 14 hours 5 minutes

(estimated 14 hours)

I was hoping to get the other three finished by the end of the year but that looks less likely now that the Christmas season is upon us. I'll be happy with one more.

Happy stitching,

Rachel x