April started with #ohsewcraftybdaySAL. Those days passed quickly with small progress on each WIP, but I did manage to finish Bird of Happiness and make a new start (more on that below).
After that I had some time before my trip to Arizona, and I mainly worked on Christmas Village, specifically the Post Office. Previous progress:
Total time devoted was 4.5 days, which was enough to finish the stitching, backstitching and start the beading (I got through the first of 3 bead bags.... I sewed on ecru beads, petite green, and petite royal blue. The royal blue ones are gorgeous, they are definitely my favorite.
Then it was time to my trip for Arizona... for a bit of exploration, visit to Sedona, then McKenna's retreat "Stitchnanigans" near Phoenix. I packed Christmas Village (for show and tell), Christmas Teddy, and Spring Bellpull. Previous progress on the Teddy:
After 5.5 days (it's a great travel project), I finished most of the bottom and started on the top half. I'm really loving this piece, with the bright color and all the details.
My new start, Spring Bellpull by Stoney Creek, I started on a whim (after finishing Bird of Happiness) simply beause I wanted to stitch something "springy".
Overall it got 4.5 days, and I was so happy to stitch the irises in the first block, my favorite flower. The project hit a few speedbumps as a I tried a few different substitutions for WDW Guacamole, which is used for the big letters. I felt it was a dull green; I wanted a bright, spring-y green. Eventually I found Waterlilies Budding Leaf which is perfect IMO. It probably won't take too much longer to finish the first block. A few of the "stitchy" days were also retreat days where I did more chatting than stitching.
After I returned from a spring break trip with my family, I had 11 days remaining in the month and decided to divide them between the projects which hadn't gotten much attention previously in the month. Thankfully, the magical stitches homework suited Spooky House perfectly (stitch on a tree and stitch on a house). Also, I needed it to finish the Magical Extra Credit (stitch black). Previously:
After 3.5 days:
I started with the black, for the extra credit... I did as much black as I could find in the pattern, and made up the rest with black backstitch. I stitched around the edge of the moon, and down to the bat, so I could do those parts in black, too. The weekly homework tasks were 300 stitches on a tree (easy enough to extend the tree up from the parked threads) and 300 stitches on a building. So I worked with all the threads I had parked for the house, and decided to fill in starting from the left side. So I finished that pale grey/brown gabled roof and did several hundred stitches of the moon too. The moon is so huge, I would like to keep up, stitch it along with the house as I go.
Then I decided Winnie the Pooh needed some dedicated time. Progress at the end of March:
After 4.5 days, I got 1656 stitches. About 450 of those were in the 3 petit point sections and the rest were regular stitches.
The petit point sections included Roo, who turned out cute enough but I'll probably backstitch him along with Kanga. The toy trumpet is okay. On the right side of the drum are two toys that I could not distinguish until I looked at the original artwork (an overturned stool in the foreground and toy train in the background). The drum is charted with backstitch, but the other toys, immediately adjacent to it, are not. This makes no sense to me. I'll try to add some backstitch to make the toys look more like what they are supposed to be. So what's left? Another 200 stitches on the far right, maybe. At least 100 stitches with blending filament. A few hundred french knots. Maybe 1000 backstitch.
Discussion topic: Talk to us about your longest-running WIP or UFO. My longest runnest WIP is Winnie the Pooh, and if you consider my 2 false starts, it is well over 2 years old. I chose this pattern because Winnie the Pooh is my son's first and enduring cartoon favorite. But I had problems with it since the beginning. I tried using the kit materials, but eventually needed to sub for the fabric and floss. The petit point sections (1x1 on 28 count) were too dense and acually painful for my fingers at times. And the quantity and density of french knots is insane. I like french knots but enough is enough!
Overall, April was not the greatest stitchy month, I "missed" several stitchy days due to travel or other factors. However, it was a wonderful month, full of travel, adventure, and friends! May should be a lot quieter, I'm doing a spin on Monoga-maynia, I'll focus on one project each week, for 19 days. (The third week will only be 5 days). I'm hoping to a get a finish or at least large chunks of progress. I may need to work on other projects as well for Magical Stitches homework, or whatever, but I will work on the "chosen" wip every day for a week. The Semisane Stitchers group on FB has an event "Choose my WIP" (everyone votes) and it looks like my Celtic Winter piece will be my first focus. After Maynia, I'll work on Christmas Village, Save the Stitches, and try to finish Winnie the Pooh.
For a slower month, you still made a lot of progress. Winnie Pooh is sooo close now!
Posted by: Leonore Winterer | April 29, 2019 at 07:27 AM
Congratulations on your finish and the progress you made on your featured WIPs! The spring bell pull is off to a super start. Best wishes to you on your version of Maynia!
Posted by: Robin in Virginia | April 29, 2019 at 03:16 PM
So much progress, congrats. Nice post-office, ready to receive the letters for Santa! xxx
Posted by: Jocondine | May 01, 2019 at 10:04 AM
Great stitching! Well done on your fabulous finish!
The post office is very pretty, love the colours, so cheerful.
Winnie the Pooh looks amazing!
What a lot of progress. You have had a busy month!
Barbara x
(Visiting from Measi’s WIPocalypse - my first month linking up. Nice to meet you)
Posted by: Flashinscissors | May 03, 2019 at 11:45 AM
Wonderful finish for Bird of Happiness! The retreaters are so lucky to see the Christmas Village in person too.
I'm impressed that your oldest WIP is only 2 years old. Mine is two decades LOL
Posted by: Joanne P | May 08, 2019 at 04:14 PM
Wow, Bird of Happiness looks fantastic! I hope you frame it soon.
The post office looks good, I need to see if I have that one.
Great progress on everything else, and how nice to get away!
Posted by: Astrid | May 14, 2019 at 01:50 PM
Amazing finish! Great work on the others as well :)
Posted by: Tiffany Pincombe | May 21, 2019 at 07:41 PM