Challenges/Stitch-A-Longs, Stitching, Uncategorized, Works in Progress

WIPGO 2023 – Week 17 – Egyptian Sampler

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I’ve told this story before… but it’s been deleted in the Great Blog Purge… My Teresa Wentzler addiction has existed since about 1990, when I first laid eyes on a stitching chart featuring a dragon posing over a castle. I was 15 and at either the Ben Franklin craft store in West Park Plaza or Hancock Fabrics in Billings, Montana, where I grew up. I’d started stitching four years before and only finished two small bookmarks, but this piece just grabbed me. It was the first stitching piece that I knew I absolutely needed to stitch. And so I bought the chart. In the next couple weeks with allowance money I got the fabric (Aida!!!), all of the floss, bobbins, and bobbin box… and off I went. I didn’t know blended threads were supposed to be intimidating, or that even Wentzlers were supposed to be intimidating. I just loved the pattern. It’s just X’s right? A whole ton of them. Oh – and some weird fractional stitches. And a crapload of backstitching. But no big deal. It’ll be the same idea as those little Dale Burdett bookmarks I did, just on a bigger scale… right?

(this is where 2020s me says… “Oh Measi… you sweet summer child…”)

It took me the better part of 16 years to finish The Castle – with stops and starts for moves to college, accidental packing it in a storage facility for a while, etc. But it was finished. And it finally was framed last year. It’s all about the journey, right? 🙂

Well… that was just the start of the insanity.

The second Wentzler I ever fell in love with was Egyptian Sampler. And that’s this week’s feature for May’s WIPGO picks.

Egyptian Sampler by Teresa Wentzler

One of the other fascinations I’ve had since childhood is ancient Egypt. Mummies, pyramids, the deities (Blessed Bastet and Sekhmet, watch over me…) all of the carvings and painted reliefs… I loved all of it. Even today, if there’s a National Geographic or Smithsonian special on ancient Egypt on the TV? I’ll watch it. The complexity of the society, the technological advances for the age – I find it absolutely amazing.

When the Egyptian Sampler came out in 2001, I purchased the pattern when I first laid eyes on it. I knew I wanted to stitch it. At the time, though, I didn’t know that it was okay to have more than one project going. And of course, I still had The Castle in progress. At that point it was still pretty far from being done. So the chart was put away for “someday.” And it quietly sat.

Fast forward a couple years. I’ve met and moved in with Erich. I decide to do my first ever trip to Plymouth, Massachusetts because I have this strange invention called a car for the first time since I moved to New England. There’s a cross stitch shop in Plymouth called the Sampler Needlework, and I’ve wanted to check it out for years – but had no way of getting there until now.

When I went to the shop, they had bolts of linen. (it comes on bolts?!?) One of the linens was a gorgeous antiqued/aged style that looked like some old scroll that had come out of a tomb. I knew immediately it was perfect for Egyptian Sampler. This was before I knew what a floss toss was – I knew it just had to be the one. The shop owner helped measure and cut the fabric for me.

On that trip I also purchased my copy of I Love New England, BTW. It was a very fruitful trip for big projects!

And now the pattern and the fabric were collected together in a poly envelope. Where it continued to sit – because I still hadn’t learned it was okay to have multiple projects going.

Finally, in 2005, I started it. I got through the center large cartouche motifs. And then it stalled due to the backstitching, and then having Max… and the rest of the stuff that stalled so much of my stitching for years.

BUT… it’s now moving pretty well within my rotations. I’m beginning to work a lot more of the framing to help me feel like a ton more is done – and that’s getting my energy up to moving forward on it. Like so many projects, the interest waxes and wanes. It’s waxing right now.

Egyptian Sampler as of May 1, 2023 – stitched 2 over 2 on 28 ct linen (non-Zweigart) with charted DMC threads.

My goal for this year is to finish the top half of the border and get the backstitching done on that center motif and the scarab above it. I have a lot of work to do – but it is a doable goal. I’ll probably have this as my focus in October to really make progress on it!

Like any of my Wentzlers, these are journey pieces. I have no timeframe to get them done, but will enjoy the stitch and enjoy the finish. Once this gets done, it will be absolutely stunning on the wall – whenever that happens to be.

Challenges/Stitch-A-Longs, Stitching, Uncategorized, Works in Progress

WIPGO 2023 – Week 12 – Halloween Candlestick SAL

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My final WIPGO piece for March was started last year on October 5th for the #13StitchesofHalloween Stitch-a-Long (SAL). It had been an individual SAL the year before with mystery releases, but I decided to just collect the charts and stitch on my own time.

Halloween Candlesticks SAL, designed by Jenny Barton for Lakeside Needlecrafts.
(bad angle is my fault)

This piece is a little cutsey for my normal stitching taste, but sometimes… you just need to embrace the cute. I saw someone’s piece as they started the first candlestick, and just loved the backstitching detail on it against this fabric. Once the animals at the bottom were revealed, I was sold.

Halloween Candlestick as of March 1, 2023, stitched 2 threads over 2 on 32 ct Pumpkin evenweave from Fabric Flair with charted DMC.

Such an amazing start, eh? I’m sure it was one of those nights where I was running late but needed to get SOMETHING started for the day… so I tossed in a couple dozen stitches and called it a day. The fabric is very hard to photograph, but the photo above of the finished piece is pretty accurate to the color. My piece is nowhere near as dramatic as it’s appearing in the photo. What appears as white is definitely more peach.

Anyone who knows me and my stitching probably picked up on the center gridline. I don’t grid very often, but I was having a heck of a time counting to the center on my own due to the mystery nature of this SAL and how the sections reveal themselves. The grid is just a basic ten by ten square count across the page. I did the long way first by folding the fabric in half, started the line where my fold was, and carried it across. I then used that count to find the center and place the vertical line. Once I get that center candlestick a bit more solidified, I’ll be pulling my gridlines because they tend to drive me a little nuts. Some stitchers swear by them, but I always find myself fighting them.

I have no specific timeline for finishing this piece – it’ll likely just be a seasonal piece until it’s done. Expect it to come back out for October as part of my #13Stitches stash. 🙂

Happy stitching everyone!

Challenges/Stitch-A-Longs, Stitching, Uncategorized, Works in Progress

WIPGO 2023 – Week 11 – Celestial Medley

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Continuing my March WIPGO pulls… this week brings me to Celestial Medley from Sudberry House. This leaflet has three small celestial patterns, but the only one I’m stitching is the one called Celestial Shaker Box. All three were designed by Donna Vermillion Giampa. This is an older leaflet, from 1997.

Celestial Shaker Box from leaflet cover

I adopted this piece alongside several others in 2017. It was partially stitched, and I’ve added on about the same amount as what was originally completed when I received it. It’s on white 28 count evenweave – a really nice thick evenweave – and stitched with the charted colors.

Here’s where it starts for March:

Celestial Medley (Shaker Box) as of March 1, 2023. Stitched 2 threads over 2 on 28 ct white evenweave with charted DMC.

Most of my work to date has been in yellow, so I’m going to mix it up and work on that blowing cloud in the upper right. I don’t expect to complete this piece this year. Despite its smaller size, it’s a slow stitch with a ton of confetti, it’s solidly stitched, and the pattern isn’t the easiest to read due to age. When I do finish it, I definitely plan on making it a top of something – but the shaker box it’s featured on in the photo is away outside of my pricing range. I’m thinking maybe one of those metal cookie tins, if the sizing is right. It could make for a handy little doodads box for my altar accessories.

Until next time… happy stitching!

Challenges/Stitch-A-Longs, Stitching, WIPocalypse, Works in Progress

January Stitching Wrap-Up

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Noby (orange) and his littermate Elly (black) many years ago in their younger adult days

The rollercoaster that I’d mentioned in my January 16th post continued through last weekend, and so I’m now behind in updating what’s been going on in my stitchy life. Along with Carol’s passing, we had to say goodbye to the last of our original band of (pre-Max) cats, Noby, who crossed the Rainbow Bridge on Saturday at the ripe old age of 17. It wasn’t unexpected – he had been quite ill for a long time, and we’d been avoiding facing reality over the holidays. I’m glad he’s no longer suffering and that he’s able to run free with his sister and the extended cat family we had. I miss him though – even his annoying, gross habit of sneezing right in my face.

Work has been kinda busy lately too – the usual uptick of meeting preparations seems to be coming about a month earlier than normal. It’s not a bad thing, but I felt like I was caught a little flat-footed the past couple weeks. I made some good headway to get back on track early this week though – so all good there.

With the emotional and work weirdness, my stitching hasn’t been quite as productive the last couple weeks. I’m still quite happy with what I accomplished, though!

Apache Wedding Blessing by Kooler Designs as of January 21, 2023. Stitched 2 over 2 on antique white linen with charted DMC.

I completed both of my remaining WIPGO goals for January in the last two weeks of the month – two days of backstitching on Apache Wedding Blessing, and two days on Mute But Not Silent.

For Apache Wedding Blessing, I focused on the top left corner of the piece – outlining that upper feather and then running the straight line outlines for a couple of the poles. I’m happy with two nights of progress. I may bring this with me to Stitcher’s Hideaway later this month to get a bit more basic backstitching in on the poles on the other side. I would estimate I’m about one third through the backstitching at this point, and then I have a little more tension cleanup work on the left hand side where I originally pulled a bit too tightly. I’ll be fixing that side by simply running a tent stitch over my existing stitches to fatten them up a little bit.

Mute But Not Silent by Amy Mitten as of January 23, 2023 – stitched one over two on 32 ct Lambswool linen with charted silk floss.

On Mute But Not Silent, I decided to focus on the first of the two large H’s. While a good chunk of the work was double running stitch outlining the outside, I did also add some cross stitches in the center of the structure of the H to give it a bit more dimension. I still need to add a four-sided stitch into the center of each of those circles, and then that H is complete… and I can move on to the next one. These Dutch-style letters are quite ornate! And they don’t match each other – the stitches are put in different configurations, so I need to count almost the entire time.

Even though this is a “murder mystery” piece, I do know what the entire piece looks like. I posted it here on my WIPGO Week 4 post. The mystery will be linking the individual motifs to the storyline so they make sense. Definitely a fun way to stitch a piece – and have a little extra “if you know, you know” behind it on the wall.

Fruit of Plenty by Modern Folk Embrodiery as of January 21, 2023. Stitched 1 over 2 on 40 ct Toasted Almond linen with DMC 800 and 840.

With my WIPGO stitching completed, I decided to pull out a couple pieces that were yelling at me to get some work done and threw them into the option pit for Semi Sane’s “Choose My WIP” challenge.

The first was Fruit of Plenty from Modern Folk Embroidery. I managed to get a little over 1,000 stitches in on this one in about a week of puttering. I’m very happy with the progress. And it will get more in February since it’s a featured WIPGO piece!

I outlined the entire cartouche you see centered here, plus filled in some of the blue at the top of it (where the “2” is shaded in). For February I’m going to try to finish up this section, which represented the February block in 2021. It’s super-intense stitching, so I do not expect to keep up with this throughout 2023. But I’m going to push it as far as I can this year. My goal was a modest three months completion. I should make that just fine.

Temperature Tree by Stitchin’ Mommy. Stitched 2 over 2 on 32 ct “Dreamin'” Lugana by Silkweaver with customized DMC.

For the final week of Choose My WIP, I stitched on the 2021 Temperature Tree by Stitchin’ Mommy. I have had a heck of a time overcoming the tree trunks on this one. Not sure why I’m struggling so muich – but I just have hit one of those ruts. I’m sure once I get that final trunk in, this piece will move a lot faster as I stitch in the individual leaves. I’m very happy to have added three limbs onto the tree – just a little more to go! About one and a half limbs!

This piece will definitely get finished this year. I already have a couple of other temperature projects waiting on the wings that I’d like to start – but I won’t until this one gets done. The heart you see is custom. This piece didn’t have a year or initials added in as part of the design, so I decided I’d carve my initials and the two-digit year right into the tree. I’d waffled whether I would change this to 2022 or… since it’s now 2023, the current year. I decided to leave it as a 2021 piece. I already have found a couple other fabulous temperature record pieces that I’ll work for the most recent years.

I will post my WIPGO Week 5 piece tomorrow, even though it’s not Wednesday. For now I need to head to bed… it’s been a long day and I’m wiped out!

If you want to see what else I worked on in January, my weekly updates are here and here.

Challenges/Stitch-A-Longs, Family & Friends, Stitching, Works in Progress

What I Stitched This Week – Jan. 9-15, 2023

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The past seven days have been a heck of a rollercoaster here in Measi Land. I celebrated my 48th turn around the sun on Wednesday with a wonderfully relaxing day off. Then it quickly turned sad, as one of my Stitching Sisters of New England friends, Carol, passed away early Saturday morning. She was older – I refuse to go down the “elderly” road – and had been looking frail over the last few months, but it still came as a shock. So my brain and emotions are all over the place. My stitching circle has had a very rough couple of years between members dealing with cancer, heart attacks, other hospital-related illnesses, two Sisters’ deaths, and the losses of loved ones. Somehow, though, we just keep moving, reminding ourselves to hold each other a little closer in our hearts. I’ve been a bit more distant from the group as a whole lately as I work through some personal emotional/mental stuff. This is my reminder to stop hiding, even when everything in my brain wants me to.

I’d planned on making a WIP Parade FlossTube this weekend, but it’s just not the right time. Sometime soon – once I take a little breath about everything.

(deep breath)

So… despite that rockiness, it was a pretty good stitching week.

ABCs of Parenting by Lizzie Kate – as of January 12, 2023 – stitched 2 over 2 on 28 count cream Monaco with customized DMC colors

I started the week with some work on my ABCs of Parenting by Lizzie Kate, which was the second of my four WIPGO pieces for the month. It also wound up being the focus piece for Week Two of “Choose My WIP” over on Semi-Sane Stitchers on Facebook. I featured it this past week with my “before” photo here. It stitches up pretty quickly, and I’m happy with my WIPGO progress on it. I may put this in as one of my monthly focuses later this year for WIPocalypse, because I could probably get it done easily if I just did a length or two per night on it.

Flying Lesson by Silver Creek Samplers as of January 14, 2023 – stitched 1 over 1 on 18 ct Hazelwood Aida from Fiber on a Whim with charted DMC threads

On Friday night I just felt like curling up with something fairly easy as Erich and I watched The Matrix Resurrections for the second time. I grabbed Flying Lesson by Silver Creek Samplers and threw some green and black stitches in to complete the header text and the very top of the witch hat. I fully expect to finish this piece for Halloween this year. Once I get that witch hat and the moon behind it completed, the rest of it will go super fast. Hopefully it comes up on an early WIPGO month and I can just devote a week to it or something. It may come up next week for Choose My WIP – it’s only down by one vote right now! Maybe I’ll toss it in the ring for Week 4 if it doesn’t win this week. I’d like to get that hat done so I can move on from black floss for a little while.

The Fruit of Plenty by Modern Folk Embroidery – as of January 14, 2023 – stitched 1 over 2 on 40 ct Antique Ivory linen from Silkweaver with DMC 800 and 840.

I’d originally planned on working on my 3rd WIPGO piece for Saturday and Sunday. After the news about Carol, though, I knew I needed a night to work on one of my pieces that she’d expressed a lot of interest in. Solid color stitching, some basic rows, and nothing complicated. It helped ground me and let me work through my thoughts, both happy and sad, as I stitched late into the night after everyone else was upstairs. On this piece, I added the light blue at the top (where you see the “2” outlined), carrying it down the right side of that brown-outlined triangle. This is the other piece that is currently up for Choose My WIP for week 3, winning by one. If it wins, I’ll be working the blue down to the right (to outline the “0”) to form the other side of the octagonal motif just to the left of my needle minder in this photo. For those familiar with how this stitch-a-long was divided in 2021, it’s the February portion. I have January’s complete and have moved down into April a bit to let that blue Assisi-style band flow naturally. I do plan on roughly stitching the piece generally in month-release order. Where it makes sense to skip around to form a motif across the month dividers, though – I’ll make the jump.

Apache Wedding Blessing as of January 15, 2023 – stitched 2 over 2 on Antique White linen with charted DMC threads

Finally yesterday I started on my WIPGO piece, although I have to admit I’m just not feeling it. It’s one of my oldest pieces and all I have to do is backstitching – a LOT of backstitching – and a bit of fill-in repair where my stitches were way too tight. This was my first piece ever attempted on linen, so my tension was way off in a few spots – and I think that is part of my mental block about getting it done. I’m just annoyed with my stitches in the top left where I first started. I need to add a stitch over the originals to fatten them up here and there, and they’ll look much better. I’ll be doing a bit more work on it tonight – backstitching, and then it will sleep for a while. One of these days I’ll just suck it up and push through the rest of it. For now? No. I’ll just do what my goal was for WIPGO, which was the entire point of my goals. Some of these pieces I won’t be feeling as much. That’s okay. WIPGO will let me at least touch them for a couple days so I can remind myself where I am on everything.

So what’s in store this week? Apache tonight to complete my WIPGO goal. Tomorrow night I’ll be joining Abi Bellastitch on her #StitchYourAlphabet SAL. She’s working ABC Hornbook by the Primitive Needle. I’ll be working Alphabet of Stitches by Morning Glory Needleworks, since I have that fully kitted and partially basted. Wednesday/Thursday/Friday will be Choose My WIP focus, which will lead me into the first 24 Hours of Cross Stitch Marathon next weekend and a batch of “whatever I want” chaos.

A busy week – both past and upcoming! Hope all of you have a good week – see you next weekend!

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