From past experience I know that my level of productivity stitching wise drops sharply in the Summer due to Wimbledon fortnight and the ever present hope of warm sunny weather and outdoor activities! I've chosen four projects to stitch on throughout July and August so that I can chop and change according to my mood in the hope of keeping my stitchy bug alive throughout the Summer.
Here are my plans!
1. Living with Charm by Lizzie Kate:
This one will be stitched as one long piece with the plan to finish it as a wall hanging :). It will be stitched on 28ct Permin Buttermilk linen with all the threads exactly as charted (for a change). I have had these charts in my stash for years and it will be wonderful to finally stitch them up. 28ct will be a nice rest for my eyes after all the 36ct and 40ct I've been stitching on lately!
2. Sleeping Beauty by The Primitive Hare:
This time last year I was stitching on The Primitive Hare's Red Riding Hood, so it's fitting that I should also stitch on this chart after a year of it sitting in my stash. Again this one will be stitched with all the recommended threads and fibres and on 36ct Edinburgh cream linen to match Red Riding Hood.
3. The Butterfly Garden by The Drawn Thread
Another long time member of my stash! This one had an option to be stitched in silks or cottons, but as is often the way with me I chose my own hand dyed threads for the chart (all counting to Operation Threadporn totals of course!) - seven Jodyri Designs hand dyed cottons and a Waterlillies silk (which was actually in the materials list). This one will also be stitched on 36ct Edinburgh cream linen, as at 355 stitches wide it cuts down on size!
4. Emma and Eliza in the Garden by Just Nan:
This chart also had a cotton or silk materials option and I again opted for cottons (and 1 silk!). Although I had some of the called for AVAS in my stash, I did not think it necessary to invest the stash cash in the others when I had plenty of other options available to me. This again will be stitched on 36ct Edinburgh linen (is it obvious I have metres of this in my stash lol?!) and this time with an assortment of different cottons: GASTs, Threadworx, Mo's Sale and a random one from Canada! I couldn't resist the call of the AVAS, so the wording in this chart will be stitched in silk.
If by some miracle these get finished before the Summer is out, there are four Cloudsfactory designs up next in the to be stitched pile - they require a bit more thought on materials and such before they are ready to be stitched up :).
For those of you that prefer the long winded waffling of the audio/visual version:
The prospect of having a clean slate and then four new starts is tantalizing - let's hope this motivates me to get on with finishing up my hardanger and goldwork!
Happy Stitching!
