April Operation Threadporn Report

It's that time of the month again to report on how I have got on with my monthly thread challenge!

For my April SOTW hardanger square this month I choose to use mainly DMC perles in their variegated and variations series - not everything I do has to use hand dyed :) (although they don't count towards my thread challenge totals).  I stitched portuguese ladder stitch for the first time and I also had to stitch what I refer to as" maggot stitch" - aka bullion knots, which I hate!  Fortunately I had a straw needle large enough to take #8 perle, so that made them a bit easier, though they are still one of my most hated stitches lol!

 

 

I then chose two freebie projects to stitch this month, each of them was only an evening's worth of stitching and I got to use more threads :).  Firstly was the La-d-da Rose Freebie, I chose 28ct Jobelan in Mummies Curse by Polstitches and Valdani and Crescent Colourworks threads and finished it as a little cushion with some of my new fabric stash:

 

 

Valdani Threads: Old Rose, Old Brick, Muddy Monet, Crispy Leaf
Crescent Colourworks: Hickory Sticks



I also stitched the Stitching Days freebie by Glory Bee, this time using 28ct Jazlyn in a pink/yellow solo by Chromatic Alchemy, silks by Thread Pickerz and metallic and beads for a touch of sparkle and turned it into a needle book, with a page for each of the needle types I use:

Thread Pickerz Silks: P3 and Fuschia
Pages for beading, chenille, crewel, straw and tapestry needles



So the stats for this month are:

Percentage of hand dyed stash used to date: 9.07%
Number of different stitches used to date:     27
Number of finishes to date:                          14 (8 of which are "finished finished")

Now to think what I want to achieve next month.......

Happy Stitching!

Plum Pudding by Glendon Place - April Progress

Nic and I are SALing on Plum Pudding by Glendon Place on 1st -7th of each month, I picked this on up on Friday and here is where I got up to by Tuesday:

 

A lot of stitchers have commented on the way I have chosen to stitch this piece - working from the inside out in a round instead of page by page or corner to corner.  I've stitched quite a few mandala designs in my time and I've always found it easier and quicker to stitch identical elements together as by the time you've stitched something for the 4th/8th/12th time you know the pattern by heart!

 

One of the questions I get asked the most over on my YouTube channel is "How do you stitch with variegated floss?" - to which my (probably unhelpful) answer is "However you like, as long as it looks good to you that's all that matters!".  Of course we all have our preferences, but there are very few rules in stitching and far be it from me to make my methods rules!  In Plum Pudding there is only one really variegated thread out of the six silks used and that's Moonie Ponds.

 

 

I have no hard and fast rules on how I choose to use multi-coloured/variegated/overdyed/space dyed etc etc threads, I take it on a project by project basis. I'm a stitcher that doesn't mind the stripey effect you sometimes get when using these threads, I stitch with them vertically, horizontally, in a round, to match the shape - but for areas of Plum Pudding I chose to stitch with Moonie Ponds diagonally, horizontally and vertically!  I wanted the change in colours to go in the same direction as I felt the shape was going - if that makes any sense :).
 

 

I love stitching on this piece - stitching goes so much faster when you are using silks!

 

Not sure what I will stitch on next, possible my Threadporn projects - here are my thread choices for this month for my SOTW Hardanger square:

 

 

Not much in the way of hand dyed threads for this one in April, but there is nothing wrong with good old DMC and I have a mountain of perles to get through!

 

I couldn't decide between two freebies this month, so decided to stitch them both as they are only small.  One is from La-d-da (you can probably guess which one by my thread colours!) and the other is from Glory Bee in their archives section:

 

 

 

I've picked out hand dyed fabrics for both (Polstitches and Chromatic Alchemy)- I've got them so I might as well use them!  Top threads are a mixture of Valdanis and Crescent Colours and bottom threads are Thread Pickerz silks which were left overs from Twisted Rainbow (I LOVE leftovers!).  The Glory Bee design I've chosen was originally charted in GASTs I think - I've pimped up the design a bit with pink, purple and sparkles :).

 

Happy Stitching!