A Successful Just One July!

Thanks to Justine's Just One July SAL, I have finished Joan Elliott's Cinderella!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She was stitched on 28ct Brittney Opal in Speckled Egg by Jodyri Designs using all the recommended DMCs and MH beads and the metallic were swapped for PTBs.  I'll never be a 100% OAAT stitcher, but every so often it's good to stick with a piece until completion to ensure that it does get finished!  I love Joan's designs, but one a year would be enough for me and I will make sure I spread out the project for the whole year.

 

 

Eager to get back to my hand dyeds and 36/40ct after almost two months of stitching on Cinders.  Also considering having a little destash, so stay tuned..........!

 

Happy Stitching!

Just One July So Far.........

Stitching is done on Cinders, just the backstitch and beading to go:

Not sure if there will be a finish before the end of July - but the end is in sight!

Happy Stitching!

Cenerentola marches on!

True to my word since my last blogpost I have been working exclusively on Cinders when I have had the chance to pick up a needle and thread.

Here is where I started with her this month, I hadn't touched her since mid March:

 

Here is how far I got with her this month:

 

 

 

 

Just the castle, carriage, hair and skin to go and the small matter of miles of backstitching and a few beads!  I won't have the chance to pick up a needle now for a week or so, but I'm hoping I can carry on with her in July and at least get all the cross stitching done on her - if not push for a finish!

 

Happy stitching everyone and thank you for stopping by and for all your lovely comments and messages!

Stash Diving

As stitchers we are all different - some of us stick to kits, others will only use high counts of linen, some stick to crosses, other like to use a more mixed bunch of stitches, whilst others shudder to alter anything about a pattern and someone else just can't leave a pattern without adding their own touches to it!  We all know what makes our hobby enjoyable for us.

I think anyone who has followed this blog for even a few posts has a pretty good idea of what camp I fall into, which explains why stitching 3,000+ cross stitches in 3 shades of blue DMC on Cinderella was doing nothing for my creativity and I was losing the will to stitch.  I had an inkling this might happen as I had a similar feeling when I was stitching Mirabillia's Red last year.  When it comes to stitching, I'm much more about the journey than I am about reaching the destination in 90% of my projects.  It explains why I love chopping and changing colours and stitches in projects as it keeps it interesting for me as the project comes to life, all the more so if it means learning a new technique or stitch.

Don't get me wrong, I love Cinderella and she will be finished this year - but I think her stitching needs to be spread out over the year, no way could I go OAAT on her.  So here is where I leave her for the moment:

 

 

I haven't forgotten Berthe Massiet either, although I haven't picked her up since the beginning of January, but I think I can chip away at her whilst stitching on my new projects :).

 

I had a day off yesterday, so spent it cutting fabrics and picking threads for 7 new projects all of which have me much more enthusiastic about picking up my stitching again.  They range from small to medium-small projects and I think only one is kitted with most of its original colours, everything is kitted entirely from stash of course, some are 100% cross stitch - others not so much!  Here is a sneak peek:

 

 

It was nice to be reunited with my thread collection again, so far this year the only drawer that has seen any action is the Caron drawer for Mabel's SAL, so it was nice to get reacquainted with them all again!

 

Here's hoping to more stitching taking place at Milkybar Towers!

More of the same........

As predicted, stitching time continues to be significantly less and time for blogging even more so, hence the lack of posts in January.  To be honest, I've been working on the same four projects all month so it would only have been a case of more of the same, so maybe a monthly post is better lol!

The majority of my stitching time for January was weekend stitching or the odd hour or two grabbed before I leave the house at 7.30am - thankfully the pieces I picked to start off the year are nice and easy for early morning stitching!  Considering these pieces of fabric were all blank at the start of the month, I don't think I've done too badly, though I am missing working on more challenging pieces, so I may tweak my "rotation" a bit when these WIPs turn into finishes.

Anyway, without further ado, here is my progress for January!

Firstly QS Lady Bug, such a fast stitch this one and I'm sure I'll have a finish in February!  All the surrounding foliage you see in the picture below was a Sunday afternoon's worth of stitching whilst streaming The X-Files - hurrah for tent stitch!

This is how far an entire skein on Anchor 403 will get you!

Next up is Flowers of the Field by Eileen Bennett, I got up to part 2 (of 3) this month, again a great design to pick up when time is short as you can stitch a band or two and see the progress immediately.

 

 

Over 1 lettering on 32ct and tweeded French knots!

 

Berthe Massiet didn't quite make it to her second turn in the "rotation", but I still managed to chip away at her and complete 1 (of 6) pages:
 

 

 

 

Lastly Cinderella, which I very much expect will take me the longest to finish as I think to make any sort of progress she needs to be a weekend stitch:

 

 

I've just downloaded Mabel's February RIC SAL chart, so although I won't get to it until later in the week, at least I can think about colours and it will make a nice change from cross stitch.

 

I'm thinking that once these four are finished, I will reduce the amount of WIPs I have on the go to a weekday piece and a weekend piece - with the weekend piece providing me with a bit more of a challenge.  I've got my eye on some new hardanger designs and a Ukrainian whitework piece so I may well treat myself to some new patterns to start once these four are completed.

 

Happy Stitching!

A Weekend of WIPs and a Finish!

The advantage of starting the year with no WIPs is that you get to have new starts with abandon - well four new starts, which for me is my "rotation" maximum!

So here they are, with a few hours stitching in on each of them!

My New Year's New Start was Berthe Massiet, by Reflets de Soie, a pretty sizeable French sampler which is why I choose to stitch it 1 over 2 on 40ct using AVAS d'Alger.  It is mostly cross stitch with some pattern darning sections.  Here is where a couple of hours got me:

All  materials from stash

 

Next, surprise surprise is a HAED!  I haven't stitched one of these for over a year after I decided that their BAPs were not for me, though I have completed a few SKs, QS and Minis in my time.  Every so often I feel the pull of a few on my hard drive, but I know it's more the art than the stitching that I'm attracted to.  That being said, there was a nice easy design in my HAED stash (a chart I received in the rewards programme) that I love and would use up a piece of hand dyed fabric in my stash so I thought why not!  So here is HAED QS Ladybug by Ching-Chou Kuik, stitched on 28ct Brittney Opal LE Christmas Poinsettia by Jodyri Designs, 2 over 1 tent stitch with Anchor black as I prefer the coverage to DMC black:

 

 

All materials from stash

Next up I started a design that I've had in my stash since it was released in a magazine back in January 2012!!!  In fact it was probably one of the last times I purchased a UK cross stitch magazine and I only do so for this designer's charts - yes you've guessed it, it's a Joan Elliott design.  I have her Historical Ladies (Medieval Lady already complete) and Fairy Tale Princesses in my stash to stitch and I've been looking forward to stitching at least one of them this year.  So I've chosen Cinderella as I had suitable hand dyed fabric in my stash for her and the majority of the DMC, beads and metallics used, so just a small order to Sew and So was required :).  I've swapped the Kreinik metallics for Petite Treasure Braids as I usually do and she is stitched 2 over 2, except for skin - that will be stitched 1 over 1.  The fabric is 28ct Brittney Opal in Speckled Eggs by Jodyri Designs:

 

Majority of materials from stash, just some extra DMCs required

 

My final start was from the Fall 2003 issue of SANQ Magazine and is entitled Flowers of the Field by Eileen Bennett (#99 on this page) and contains 15 different sampler stitches in 10 shades of Anchor and one metallic (which again I subbed for PTB).  Initially I had thought to stitch this on 40ct, but when I looked at the pattern there seemed a fair bit of over 1 stitching so I opted for 32ct Belfast instead to save my eyes a bit!
 

All materials from stash

 

 Last but not least I had my first finish of the year courtesy of Mabel's Hardanger SAL Round in Circles.  Round One was released on Friday and was stitched up within a couple of hours.  I opted to go for the same colour scheme that I used for Confetti of Hardanger as it felt suitably January-ish, although I frogged the entire whipped backstitch border so that I could use (the very last of my) petite silk lame braid in white instead to tie in with the PTB pearl I'd used for some of the star stitches.  It is stitched on 25ct white lugana using DMC #5 in 211 and white, Jodyri Designs Alaskan Beauty #5 perle, DMC #8 perle, PTB10 and PSL02 and a delica bead in lavender:

 

 

All materials from stash

 

So there you have it, the results of my stitchy weekend!  I have no particular order in which I will work my four WIPs, just whatever I fancy at the time.  When one is finished I'll add another piece in from the list, or just keep whittling them down until I can have another four starts as I did in the Summer and Autumn/Winter last year.

 

I will be back at the end of the month to share any progress I have - I'm never very good at sharing WIP pics unless they have a definite point of closure e.g a page or part finish as I think if I just keep stitching there will always be more to show lol!

 

Happy Stitching!