OhSewCrafty: Stitching HD: Spirit of Christmas

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Pattern: by Lavender & Lace
Materials: 32 count belfast linen "Dwarf" by Picture this Plus, DMC, Kreinik
Size: 10" x 10 3/8"
Time to stitch: 22 days

Presenting Santa, just in time for Christmas!

The pattern is fine, Santa's coat stitches up quickly with long bands of color. The shading in this pattern is really well done and accomplished without a zillion colors. The wreath border is not exactly confetti, but it's close. There are a few fractional stitches in his face and the candle flames. Love those candle flames, they add a really special touch to the piece, IMO! The white trim, beard, etc are done with probably 8 shades of white, grey, and cream, and the part is a bit challenging as all the colors are close and distributed in a fairly random way.

The pattern photo doesn't do the project justice, not even close. You can't even see the star he's holding in the pattern photo. I never would have started this pattern if I hadn't seen it stitched on a hand dyed fabric, on Facebook.

The color is a cool mid blue, slightly mottled. I do believe "Dwarf" is the perfect "winter blue". I would have liked to use opalescent, but I ordered this from 123 stitch and they didn't have Dwarf opal belfast at the time. I managed to squeeze Santa on a fat 1/8 of 32 count. I only have about 1.5" on each side, but I can work with that- I'm planning to use fairly tight mat borders, and I can always sew some extra onto the sides. My plan is to combine a circular and straight cuts to get an arched mat opening. And I want to double mat him. I hope it works!