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!

Sneaks back in..........

Whilst I've been silent on the blogging front, I have been stitching up a storm - just haven't felt like yapping on about it, though I always keep my Current WIPs and Finishes tabs up to date.

So here is a post about it all - brace yourselves!

Since my last post in April I have had 7 new starts, 4 finishes and now have 5 current WIPs to date, so let's start with the new WIPs that I've added to Cinders and my LHN:

 

Stephanie Desmidt by Reflets de Soie on 40ct, which I decided to stitch using the DMC conversion making it a very economical project stitched from stash - though I must say the temptation to purchase the required AVAS was strong :).  Again another darning sampler, I'm having a thing for those at the moment as you will see later......

 

 

 

Another sampler, this one is taken from SANQ and is just called Band Sampler and is designed by Susan Haverson.  It's not a reproduction sampler, more an adaptation, but it is based on a sampler stitched in 1656 by Margaret Woodleigh.  Another one stitched on 40ct with the DMC as charted all from stash :).

 

 

The final new WIP is yes you guessed it another sampler, but this is an almost 100% darning sampler.  It is taken from GOSM and is titled Antje Reints Darning Sampler.  It's being stitched on 36ct linen with my choice of Nina's gorgeous threads, so another stash neutral start :).

 

Now for the finishes!  First up were the next parts of Mabel's Hardanger SAL, Rounds Four and Five:

Round Four - stitched with a variety of threads from stash including Jodyri Perles

Round Five - my very psychedelic version using Jodyri's Sunshine State perles


 

I also started and finished a Dinky Dyes Design that had been in my stash for years.  Slight sacrilege though as whilst I did use a few Dinky Dyes silks (from an oops bag so not the named colours called for), I did use a few other brands of silk as well......... 
It's Wave Dancer by Stacy Tippin:

 

 

 

I think the design originally called for one colour of bead and 2 colours of krenik, but I used several different colours of bead and at least 5 different colours of Rainbow Gallery PTB and PSLB!

 

The last finish I have to share was completed over the weekend.  The designer herself actually sent me the chart as a thank you for talking about her designs in one of my videos.  I loved stitching it and was so pleased with my colour choices, although I don't want to see a Greek cross in quite some time!  The design is A Little Victoriana by Loopylou Designs:

 

 

 

 

This one was stitched on 28ct using DMC 3033 and Jodyri Designs antique silk in Brighton Beach

So that's the scoop on what I've been up to, basically stitching from stash and having a lot of fun doing it!  I did purchase a few new blackwork charts from Banu though (Seba Designs) as she was having an amazing sale due to the very sad fact that she has to shut her Etsy shop for a while as Paypal doesn't want to operate in her country.  I look forward to picking out threads for those designs though settling on choices might take some time!

 

I think for the month of June I will focus on my oldest WIP - Cinders, I would like to get her in the finish pile even if 28ct over 2 isn't so much my bag anymore.  I love her, but may fiddle around with the fabric count on the next of Joan's ladies I stitch.  If Cinders gets too much and I need a change then I will switch to my LHN which is 36ct 1 over 2 with gorgeous hand dyed threads just to mix it up a little.

 

Let's see how much I can get done - though with the weather having been sizzling and gorgeous these past two weeks I'm not sure there will be much progress lol!

Big Berthe!

Justine and a few other bloggers are committing to stitching on the same piece throughout April and it seems I have unwittingly joined in!

Here is what Berthe looked like on 1 April, exactly the same as where I left her mid way through January:

 

And here is what she looks like now:

 

 

 

All finished!

 

 

As a side note I just have to mention every time I say Berthe I think Bertha, which reminds me of the children's TV programme in the 80s which people of a certain age will remember and then I get the little song in my head..........anyway I digress..........

 

I absolutely adored stitching this one on 40ct 1 over 2 with beautiful AVAS d'Alger.  For the sake of anyone that has visited this page as a result of searching for info on this piece, I will say that some of the lettering on mine may be in a different colour than charted - only because I was short on one colour of silk (I think it went walk about) so I just used an excess I had of another colour that was in the chart's colour palette.  Also of note is that, as is the case with a lot of repro samplers, the border is not symmetrical :).  All those cross shapes that make up the border are identical, except for one which has a "leg" four stitches long instead of three - always worth examining the chart carefully!

 

I particularly enjoyed working the pattern darning sections, and a few darning samplers have been pinned to my wishlist for a rainy day so there will definitely be more in my future!

 

 



 

 

I have at least two other Reflets de Soie samplers in my stash which I am now very much looking forward to doing.  They are the perfect project for when stitching time is limited as the colours used are minimal and you can quickly see progress being made even if only a letter or two is completed per session.  Stitching with 1 strand on 40ct makes for much faster stitching too - no railroading required!  A few years ago I'd always thought that HAEDs would be my easy stitching projects, but the thought of stitching one now makes me feel almost claustrophobic - I need my stitches to be able to breathe lol!

 

No idea what I will be working on next, I had started LHN's Home of a Needleworker last month so I might carry on with that.  Still don't think I can face Cinders just yet, so maybe an entirely new project is in order!

A Change is as Good as a Rest!

That is certainly true when it comes to my stitching, as thanks in part to a Bank Holiday weekend, four of the seven new starts I had kitted in my last post are now finished and I even bought some new threads which I haven't done in months and months!

Firstly I started and finished a small that I just loved the moment I clapped eyes on it - it's a freebie from Hands Across the Sea Samplers which you can find on their blog.  So looking forward to future releases from Nicola and Sandra, but in the meantime I stitched this little design on some 40ct using AVAS silks from stash:

As is usual for me - pictured with its proposed finishing materials -
though has yet to be actually finished lol!

 

Next up was a design I've had in my stash for four years or so, as it was a spring design it seemed appropriate to finally get on and stitch it!  Initially I'd picked out Glorianas for this one, but I changed them out for Dinky Dyes silks and Caron cottons as I wanted a softer look to it.  The design is Spring Basket by Abi Gurden, you can see I changed the original design a bit as I swapped the jessicas for spider web roses to balance out the texture of the basket.  Here it is stitched on 28ct soft yellow (would you believe!) linen:

 

 

Then I moved on to a band sampler by Alchemy Stitchcraft (AKA Christine) - again another design that has sat in my stash for years - why?!  It certainly feels good to get stitching on these!  Natasha's Violets was a pure joy to work on, I had forgotten how much I love whitework and pulled threadwork, so I've put projects containing them in the queue for a later date!  Again as I am stitching from stash I subbed out the silk serica with a #5 DMC perle and I didn't have the right shade of PTB, so used a strand of DMC with a strand of blending filament to create my own :) :

 

 

This chart ticked so many of my favourite boxes: band sampler, purple, pulled work, white work, bargello - needless to say, more of Christine's charts will be making it in my TBS pile.

 

Finally another finish that it feels good to tick off my list!  The Mojo Sampler by Abi Gurden was a SAL on The Stitch Specialists Yahoo Group back in 2014.  I can't link to it directly as it has yet to be put on general sale and only 60 people have this chart - but you can see Abi's version here.  This design has been buzzing around my brain since its release as I could never settle on my colour choices.  Purple was a no brainer of course, but what would I use for the contrasting colour, green, blue, pink?  None of them were pushing my buttons until it came to me that I could use purple as the contrasting colour :).  So I chose light, medium and dark purple solid Dinky Dyes silk and 2 light and dark HDF purple variegated silks stitched on 28ct lugana and here is my version:

 

Now if only I was any good at cartonnage, that would make a very good box lid!

So that has been my stitching over the past two weeks - no idea what this month holds stitching wise but at least I seem to be back on track!  Hopefully as long as I can get the mix of projects right, size and content (even if it does mean abandoning Cinders for a few months) then business will resume as normal.

 

Happy Stitching!

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!

Round Three and Stash Musings

I think my colour choices for this month's Round in Circles definitely shows a longing for blue skies and fluffy clouds - something seriously lacking in our weather at the moment!

 

I don't very often use hand dyed fabric for Hardanger, something about having to cut parts of it away just seems to go against the grain with me!  I've used 28ct Lugana in In the Clouds by the now long gone Sugar Maple Fabrics, #8 and #12 white DMC perles, three colours of PTB and two different sizes and colour of MH beads.  It was lovely to stitch something other than crosses and now I'm back working on Cinderella - once the stitching is mainly completed on her I might treat myself to a new start!

 

Speaking of new starts, was anyone else like me and told themselves that they would under no circumstances peek at any of the new releases from the Nashville TNNA Market - but then their curiosity got the better of them and they couldn't help themselves!?  So many gorgeous new releases from Gigi R, Plum Street Samplers, Cottage House Samplings, Nikyscreations, and The Scarlett House to name a few!  French Woolens has made it right to the top of my list so I expect as soon as Karla at The Patchwork Rabbit gets that one in it will find its way into my shopping basket!

 

After stitching from stash for just about the whole of last year, I now find it surprisingly difficult to add to my stash at all, not a surprise where charts are concerned as I was never one for collecting those - but the prospect of new threads just doesn't have the same effect anymore!  This last week though I did purchase my first new pattern in over a year, because when you have the rest of a set you have to buy new additions :).  I'm really hoping that Ambra releases a pattern for my favourite artist Henri Matisse one day!  I have great plans for this little set that will require a bit of planning, playing and experimenting, maybe they will make good summer projects for this year.

 

I also signed up for Abi Gurden's latest SAL, Seasons Sampler (despite it being a semi mystery design) over on the Yahoo Stitch Specialist Group.  Me being me, I won't start it until I have all the parts towards the end of the year even thought the first part has already been released.

 

The other reason why I probably won't go mad on new charts is that as well as having the full set of GOSM, I now have the full set of SANQ after ordering the 1991 - 2000 DVD:

 

 

There have been lists a plenty made of designs that I want to stitch from them, which has the knock on effect of me wanting to get on and finish my current WIPs so that I can start on something new. 

 

Last but by no means least, I had an email a few weeks ago from a stitcher that had been looking through my Pinterest Stitching Wishlist.  She had contacted me as she had seen a chart on my list that she had in her stash and knew she would never stitch and wanted to know if I would like it - so of course I said yes please!  I was very happy when this dropped through my letterbox, especially as it had become hard to find in the UK:

 

 

Huge thank you to that stitcher for her kindness and generosity!  I'm currently in the process of choosing threads for it, with only three colours required you would think it would be easy, but with so many gorgeous shades of hand dyed red thread available you'd be surprised lol!

 

That will probably be it from me until the end of the month, when hopefully I will have something worth showing in the way of progress on Cinderella!

 

Happy Stitching!