April did not go according to plan... I was supposed to celebrate a "big" birthday, travel, spend time with friends.... none of it happened. Well, we celebrated as best we could. I learned how to make cocktails and got spices, etc from ethnic markets to make exotic cuisine at home. I created a sourdough starter from scratch and got really into naturally leavened baked goods. I purchased produce from a local farm and started cultivating a few of my own plants, indoors. I sewed face masks. My husband gave me a new lap stand, and I stitched my fancy ladies (#ariesbdaysal) and a few other things, to my heart's content.
The month started with Twilight Bridge. I needed it for two Semisane Trip to Canada prompts. Previous progress:
I gave it 4 days and got 2,055 stitches, first working up the top left corner. The sky is easy stitching, at least. I'd say the upper left quadrant is about 2/3 complete now, and the upper right is about 3/4 complete, from when I started last year. So I think I'm in a good position to finish this project within the next few months, hopefully long before December, and likely before hitting my 20k stitch goal. That will mean starting a new full coverage piece to make up the difference, and I'm starting to consider which one it will be.
My next focus was Rapunzel. Previous progress:
I gave it 5 days and got 2730 stitches.
I started with the stonework around the window, and stitched the nest and eggs, as well as some of the tree outside. As much as I enjoy working on Rapunzel's dress and long braid, I decided to complete the background before stitching Rapunzel's upper body, for two reasons. First, I like saving the best for last, it keeps me motivated. Second, I find it amusing to freak out social media with my headless ladies.
I spent a few days to get big finish... Spring Bellpull!
I wanted to work on all my fancy ladies for the #ariesbdaySAL, and it's been a while since Rainbow got any love. Previous progress: Now:
I worked on her about 4 days and got 1,735 stitches. I'm into the top half of the chart now and hoping it will go a bit quicker since it's less coverage, compared to the botton. However, it occurs to me that I haven't done any backstitching and leaving backstitching to the end is generally a big mistake on Joan Elliott charts! This project won't be a focus until Rapunzel is done, but I'll probably do some backstitching when I take this out for Maynia.
My third fancy lady is my new-ish start, Cathedral Woods Goddess by Mirabilia. I started her on March 29 on Ametrine Cashel by Silkweaver, a lovely brownish/green/lavender, which looks absolutely nothing like the Ametrine opal lugana I used for Petal Fairy some years ago (which is pink), but I chose the Ametrine Cashel at the store, Needleworker's Delight, after I picked up the bead pack, and thought it was perfect.
Since starting, she's had 5 days and 2,821 stitches, including some of the kreinik and Waterlilies. When I began this project, I realized how extensively the specialty threads are used throughout, so I ordered them right away. I started at the midline and I'm working down to the bottom. I'm fairly close to the bottom of her dress, but there's a lot of vine detail on both sides, that I've barely started.
I decided to give Gingerbread Grove some love, since I needed it for some HW prompts and it's been awhile. Previous:
Over 3.5 days, I did 2,193 stitches, which was mostly on the second page (with the big house).
First, I did well over a thousand stitches with the Oyster kreinik, for the trim on the house and its pathway. The silver and gold Kreinik wrapped "kisses" at the base of the house were really fun. I also did some of the pretzels, which look great, but the 215C Kreinik "antique copper cord" was difficult to work with. All Kreinik is not created equal! I finished stitching the reindeer on the first page with his green harness and backstiched him, I also backstitched extensively on the second page, but it is not quite done yet.
On April 19th, I started another new piece, for the Semisane trip around the world to Canada. I was supposed to fly to Canada on April 22nd to visit my friend, attend a stitching retreat, and tour Banff and Lake Louise, but the border was sealed to non-essential traffic, and my flight was cancelled, so I will need to go another time. It was a bitter pill but there's no point in dwelling. Anyway, the prompt was to do 1,000 stitches on something with a polar bear. I decided on Joan Elliott's Father Frost & Polar bear "small" (80 x 80) from Cross Stitch Gold magazine. A stash dive revealed the perfect fabric, 32 count opalescent Belfast in Intrigue, by Silkweaver. Well, the coverage (2x2) seemed really tight, so eventually I got out a ruler, and sure enough, it's 36 count. I understand shrinkage happens with hand dyed fabrics but I work on Belfast all the time and I've never had it shrink to 36 count (usually 34 or so). I think it was probably mislabeled when I bought it many years ago.
I do like the night sky effect, great contrast with the polar bear. I worked on it 2 days and got 1,256 stitches.
Eventually I brought out Save the Stitches to do Part 16, for April. I started part 17, too, with the goal to make it an easy finish for next month. It was 2.5 days & 1535 stitches. Part 16 is finished with metallics, ready for beads.
The piece is getting gigantic!
Question of the Month: Talk to us about your longest-running WIP or UFO. My longest running WIP is TW Fantasy Triptych, which I started in January 2019. I last worked on it in March, and I did quite a bit, over 3,000 stitches. The project is huge, not so much the stitch count, but the level of detail with all the blended threads, fractional stitches, even some specialty stitches and blending filament. Plus I decided to add a background (sky) which makes it effectively full coverage. I really want to finish this year, but it's best in measured doses, 2 or 3 days, since I tend to get burnt out after that.
My plans for the last few days of April are to work some more on Gingerbread Grove, and possibly Cathedral Woods Goddess. On May 1, I'll start Maynia. I'm planning to do a mix of WIPs and new starts, for 15 projects total over the first fifteen days of May (and vlog it). So that will mean 5 new starts since I currently have 10 WIPs. For the back half of May, I intend to work (mostly) monogamously on Rapunzel and hopefully finish her, or get very close. I think it would be ideal to blog weekly during May, so I'll try that.
Happy stitching and Be Safe