OhSewCrafty

2020 WIPocalypse: September

September started with a crazy rotation of ornaments and/or Christmas WIPs, as I started knocking down the "dominos" in 100, 200, 300, etc stitch increments.  (Semisane Stitchers event "Crazy Domino Effect").  I actually finished two: Holly Jolly by Tiny Modernist for Just Cross Stitch on Lapis Lazuli Cashel by Silkweaver, and Stained Glass Angel ornie, from "Charms of Christmas" by Leisure Arts.  It's stitched on 28 count monoco, and jazzed up a little with black Diamant for the backstitching. 

All my other Christmas pieces got a few hundred stitches, at least.

Clockwise from top left: Nutcracker (+274) by Kooler Design Studio, Comet (+1458) by Nora Corbett, Merry Christmas with Love (+604) by Tempting Tangles/Just Cross Stitch, Noelle (+532) by Brooke's Books/Just Cross Stitch, and Victorian Carolers (+1203) by Joanne Aston/Cross Stitch Gold.

After all the Christmas stuff, I started working on Cathedral Woods Goddess.  I backstitched her face and one arm, then started beading, from the top.  This piece is seriously heavily beaded.  It was 1.5 days and 830 stitches (mostly beads).  

Then it was Rainbow Fairy's turn.  Utimately she got 2 days and 1,601 stitches.  I worked on the outer bands of her wings, her upper body, shirt, and a bit more of her skin.  It scares me a little to be this close to finished with no backstitching done, so next time I'll work on the bottom and start detailing from the base with backstitch and Kreinik.  
Harvest Witch got 1 day and 1,012 stitches, mostly her sleeves, upper cape, hat, and a little bit of hair and broom.

By this time, school had started (virtual school that requires constant parental participation, in our case), and I was up to my 11th domino (1100 stitches).  So I continued with my Halloween ornies and got a few more finished!  Coffin Paint by Hands on Designs & Cock a Doodle Boo by Tempting Tangles/Just Cross Stitch Halloween 2016.

After that, it was time for Twilight Bridge.  It took 2 days, 654 stitches (mostly french knots), and I finished!

Then I rotated to Gryphon and gave it a nice chunk of progress- 2,058 stitches over 2.5 days.  I worked entirely on the wings- the front wing in many shades brown and orange mostly, and the rear wing in shades of blue, gray, and purple.  

By this point, I had reached my 15th domino (out of 17 planned) and keen to knock over the rest.  So I started on Toy Story Cast, worked on Round up (the horse), Slinky Dog, and Jessie with 1,582 stitches over 2 days.

The 16th domino was Fantasy Triptych, I worked on it 2 days for 1,614 stitches.  I began with the regular stitching in the maiden panel: her over 1 face, ninja stitches, the sky, and the background mountains in half cross.  Then I started backstitching, the upper part of the maiden panel.  I did some specialty stitching (diamond eyelets and plaited cross stitch) in the border between maiden and castle, and started the backstitching the border, which is relatively simple if rather tedious.  I also backstitched the maiden's face, twice, frogged twice, and lost a few of the face stitches along with it. I have determined that I will need to chart my own backstitch for the face because the chart just wasn't working for me, it needs a slightly darker color, pink for the lips, and slightly adjusted positioning.

Finally, last but not least, my 17th domino was Save the Stitches.  My plan had been to finish this project, but I gave myself a break since I had finished Twilight Bridge. I did finish part 23, and the entire row (21-23) with metallics; I also started part 24, did the outlines, and started the bottom border.  I charted some of my own text for the block that reads "Save the Stitches" in the chart.  It was necessecary to stitch it over one to fit the whole phrase, plus I needed to edit a little as I stitched, since the threads are so close, stitched over 1.  Overall, it was 3.5 days and 2,007 stitches.

 Topic(s) for next time: Are you a seasonal stitcher, or can you stitch on any holiday/seasonal stitch at any time of year?  I like seasonal pieces, but I stitch them all year round.  I tend to like big projects, and they'd never get finished if I only worked on them once a year.  Also, I kind of despise summer (or at least the hot muggy weather where I live) so Christmas in July is a real highlight as I hunker down in the air conditioning and dream about the most festive time of the year.  Sometimes I do focus my effort seasonally though, like making a goal to finish a fall piece before the Winter Solstice, for example.  

My goals for October include:

•Finish Save the Stitches and Harvest Witch

•Focus rotations on Fairy Rainbow, Fantasy Triptych, and Cathedral Woods

Happy Stitching 

Stitching HDs: Ornaments

So I've been having a crazy September, working on everything for dominos with Semisane Stitchers (FB group).  It's been a good opportunity to finish some small projects.

First, Holly Jolly Christmas by Tiny Modernist / Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments 2019.  Stitched on 28 count Cashel in Lapis Lazuli, it took about 2.5 days to stitch and I modified it with a little more backstitch since my fabric was lot darker than the model.  It was a lot of fun to stitch, and on the large side for an ornament (4" x 5").  I love Santa dancing around with the Holly banner, and Holly Jolly Christmas by Burl Ives is one of my old favorite holiday songs. 

Stained Glass Angel is from Charms of Christmas by Leisure Arts, part of the "O Holy Night" series.  I used 28 count ecru monoco, the DMC as charted and subbed black diamant for the backstitching.  It's 3.5" square.  The stitchy time required was about 5.5 days overall.  It is full coverage, and I don't like using monoco for full coverage (it gets rather dense) but I do want to use up my stash and I have enough on this strip of monoco to stitch another 2 from the series.  Not all of the designs are too my taste, so I think 3 will be enough. 

Tree Tuffet by Lynn Bruce is from World of Cross Stitching Issue 183.  It was an easy stitch, requiring about 1.5 stitchy days.  It's stitched on 25 count white lugana, about 3.5" diameter circular; I chose my own colors and used Kreinik for the metallic.   The beads also add a nice touch.  It's quite simple at the moment, but the full finishing will add a lot and the magazine has comprensive finishing directions. 

Now for the spooky things.   Cock a Doodle Boo by Tempting Tangles / Just Cross Stitch Halloween 2016.  Stitched on 32 count Scuppernog linen by Weeks Dye Works, in the DMC conversion with 3865 subbed for white, it took about 3 days to stitch. If I'd given it more thought I might have subbed more of the colors since the DMC conversion provided is not even a slight match to the original Dinky Dyes, for some of the colors (particularly the blue, pink, and orange).  Oh well, I do like the bolder tones.   It worked up pretty large for an ornament (about 4.5" square) so I'm thinking a cube finish might be nice.  

Last but not least, I present Coffin Paint by Hands on Design, my third finish from the Scary Apothecary series (of 9).  Stitched on 32 count antique white belfast, it took about 2 days, using some of my own (stash) colors.  Probably the most obvious sub is WDW Pepperoncini for Classic Colorworks Frog Legs.  I have been using WDW Guacamole for the CC Frog Legs, but I was running low on the Guacamole and I had a new skein of Pepperoncini in my stash; I really liked the variegation.  The pattern also uses a few colors of Kreinik and some specialty stitches including satin stitch and Rhodes spiders.  

So now I have finished 5 of the 8 ornies I started in June for Bingo.  I should be able to finish the other 3 by the end of the year, in fact my only plans for December are to work on Comet and ornies (as far as personal stitching, I have a new model stitching gig coming up too).  Comet is almost ready for metallics and beads, so December is pretty open.  I normally don't stitch much at the end of the year, too busy with holiday merriment, but things might be different this year, we'll see.  Maybe I'll even have time to start a new ornie or two.... I have picked several from the new Just Cross Stitch Ornaments 2020, that I would like to do.  

Stitching HD: Twilight Bridge

• Designer: Dimensions Gold / art by Richard Burns
• Materials: 18 count aida, cotton floss as kitted
• Size: 14" x 11"
• Time to stitch: 64 stitchy days since May 2019

Presenting a BAP that I'm extremely proud of!  

So the chart is fine, big and in color as Dimensions Golds kit always are. I basically worked it in quarters. A large part of the chart is half cross, but considering how it's done with 4-5 strands in the needle, typically, it actually takes longer than cross stitching with 2 threads over 1 aida square.  There is quite a lot of finishing work, a good amount of couching, all in the pale yellow.  It's just one thread, couched, which is very difficult to make neat.  In fact, I couldn't do it for the little rock wall in front of the house. The couching looked rather messy, so I frogged and backstitched that area (in the same color), which looked a lot better in my opinion.  

Plus, there's backstitching in a few colors and finally, about 400 french knots in white and light yellow, mostly for flowers, also some at the base of the waterfall.  The chart also contains a lot of confetti; many ninja stitched popped up.  As I completed each quadrant, I went over it closely and tried to fill them all in.  But then I found several more during the end stage of french knots.  A few needed to be filled in, so I did, but others were covered by french knots and I couldn't be bothered.  

The materials as kitted are fine.  Even the 18 count aida was rather pleasant to work on, I wouldn't be surpised if the older kits used a higher quality fabric.  The cotton floss is precut in about 40 shades.  There were several blended colors too.  My only problem was with the flimsy paper thread sorter, which started to disintegrate almost immediately, so I put the floss on a Pako organizer, which was a big help.  

My favorite details are the rock bridge with lanterns, the thatch roof, diamond paned bay window, glowing light from the cottage, gorgeous sunset sky, the inviting path through the garden, the little waterfall, and swans gliding across the pool beneath.  Basically the whole thing!  

This scene really captures my imagination.  It reminds of the Yeats poem "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" and also of the time when I visited a wild part of Ireland, standing not on an island exactly, but rather a narrow isthmus of land between two massive loughs, and watched a pair of gorgeous white swans float upon the glassy surface of Lough Corrib.  I'm extremely chuffed with this finish and I look forward to starting another big full coverage project next year, sometime in the next several months.