Work in Progress Wednesday - 13 August 2014, plus a WIPW review!

The trouble with starting a new piece, especially a new cross stitch, is that there really isn't very much to show in the early stages.  Often, the first steps look much more like something very different from what they actually are.  Remember the 'cross stitched Emmenthal cheese' look in the first month of the Tudor Lady project?  Well, I'm not really sure what this section of tropical ocean looks like, but it's the first bit of my Paradise Island picture.  I've done quite a bit more since, but it was barely worth taking an extra photo, to be honest!  It's more of the same, really.  (OK, OK, it'll look more when updated next week too!!!)

So, as there's so little to show with this new endeavour, I thought I'd do a little review of what I've achieved in the just under two years that I've been joining in Sharon B's Work in Progress Wednesdays blog-along.  My first WIPW post was back on 6 September 2012 and I decided to enter two stalled pieces in the challenge, the first to be finished being the Rolled Roses Brazilian embroidery piece:

The other one, not finished for over a year more, was Cross'n'Patch's 'Sunshine and Flowers' sampler:

The next piece entered, and the most recent to be finished was my peacock feather, which you will remember from the WIPW post just last week.  It took me a long time to convince myself to finish that one, but I did work on it in two or three bursts of activity.  Reporting back to WIPW was a great help in getting both that and the other four pieces complete.

What about the final two?  Well, one is the Tudor Lady that I showcased just a couple of weeks ago and that is currently on my desk in the middle of being stretched pre-framing.  You'll see that again soon when I show my little collection for the Fayre just before the event itself.  I wasn't ever really struggling with this piece, I just decided to post an update most Wednesdays and stay in the WIPW 'group.'

The other piece was entered in two finishing challenges, WIPW and also Anna Scott's 'Finished in February' which she did last year, and was a stumpwork bunny rabbit adapted slightly from the design in 'The A-Z of Stumpwork' from Country Bumpkin (now known as Create in Stitch).

So, altogether, five pieces in various styles.  Having the semi-commitment of reporting progress each Wednesday (and, frankly, wanting to have something to post about at all at times!), has really helped and, if you're having trouble motivating yourself to finish one or more projects and would love to be able to blog/post to on-line albums etc about some stitching victories, then you just might find WIPW helpful.  Hop over to Pintangle and find out more!

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014