Works in Progress

WIPGO 2023 Week 28 – Coming to America

July 26, 2023 1 Comment

In 2020, I almost missed a special release from With Thy Needle commemorating the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower to Massachusetts. Thankfully I was able to find a copy of it, and although I started it as soon as I received it – getting it done in time for the actual landing was unrealistic. Especially for me. 🙂

Coming to America: The Women of the Mayflower by With Thy Needle (Brenda Gervais)

The tricky part with this sampler is that when I received the kit, there were quite a few floss colors that were missing simply because of the supply chain issues of Covid time. Not a big deal though – I figured I could start it and move forward, and I’d just fill in as I could. Well… that would have been great if it hadn’t been virtually all of the overdyes I needed to start the top. (sigh) Still, I was able to piece what I could together. I tried a blue (as you’ll see below) for the Union Jack, but it’s way too dark. I’ve since found the original called-for floss and will pick my stitches out and restitch as charted. There is a mix of different floss on this piece – some Gentle Art, some Weeks, some DMC.

It also would have helped if I would have paid attention to my overdyed fabric and noticed that it was a printing, not a full dye – so the backside was solid. What did I do? Started my piece on the solid side and didn’t notice until I was far enough along to not want to start over. Not a big deal, though. It just doesn’t have some of the aged look to it. It’s perfectly fine on the back. Clearly this piece will give me a little attitude as we go forward. I don’t mind a piece with its own personality! 🙂

*Coming to America: Women of the Mayflower as of 7-1-23, stitched 1 thread over 2 on 36 ct Wren (on reverse side) with charted threads.*

In any case, I’ve now moved forward nicely and have framed the top panel with the Mayflower. For now the sails of the ship don’t show up well, but they will be framed and backstitched, so will show up better. My plans for this month’s WIPGO is to get those sails framed – and also finish the last two rows of the Cape Cod board.

I have no timeframe to finish this, since I’ve already missed that anniversary. Once I get past the ship, I think this piece should move forward quickly – especially once I get down to the names of the women. I just have to get past the current block. The block is both mental and physical, but I will push through!

Stitching, Works in Progress

WIPGO 2023 Week 27 – Ghost Stories

July 19, 2023 1 Comment

Ghost Stories by Witchy Stitcher is one of the projects that was fully kitted in the 2021 Black Needle Society “Trick or Treat” box, along with Baba Yaga from last month. Like with Baba Yaga, the fabric is just deep and rich. I absolutely adore it. I also was fascinated that this is the only Witchy Stitcher piece that I’ve come across that doesn’t have DMC 310 charted for it. It’s an overdye!

I started this piece as part of the 13 Stitches of Halloween in 2022 – on October 20th, per my notes. It’s not a big piece at all, and I plan on finishing it as some sort of flat – probably similar to the picture above. Since it was part of the big Halloweeen start-a-thon, I didn’t get that far on it. I haven’t worked on it since last year. Although I haven’t completed much of it, I didn’t want to crop the below photo too tightly. I wanted to show you the pretty fabric mottling. It’s just a beautiful autumn piece, and reminds me so much of New England on October foggy nights.

*Ghost Stories by The Witchy Stitcher as of July 1, 2023 – stitched 2 over 2 on 32ct Fright Night linen by Fortnight Fabrics*

I don’t have a specific timeframe to finish this, but depending on how things go with other projects that are in good shape to complete in 2023… this also could be in the running to complete by Halloween. May be a little tight with other plans though. We shall see! If it doesn’t get completed this year – it’s a definite finish for 2024.

Stitching, Works in Progress

WIPGO 2023 Week 26.5 – A Stitcher’s Sampler

July 14, 2023 1 Comment

Since there are 6 WIPGO projects for July with #13 called (the traditional Bingo “free space”), I have extra entries. This is the first of the extras. The next will be posted in two weeks!

Celebration of Needlework in 2018 was a big year for me. That’s when several of my current WIPGO pieces were purchased, started, or inspired. A Stitcher’s Sampler by Primitive Hare is another one I acquired during that retreat. As I mentioned in my And They Sinned entry… Celebration is not easy on the wallet – in the most joyous stash-collecting way.

*A Stitcher’s Sampler by Primitive Hare*

Ten years ago, this type of piece probably wouldn’t have appealed to me – but I’ve been growing fonder of samplers in recent years. Plus bees in any form now are an affectionate thing, since Max’s childhood lovey is a stuffed bee plush. Mr. Buzzy still hangs out on his bed every night, although not quite as close to him directly as when Max was younger.

I purchased A Stitcher’s Sampler directly from Isabella, the designer, alongside several other designs that year. This is the only active one so far. It’s stitched entirely in one color (Garden Gate by Gentle Art), and on one of Primitive Hare’s fantastic aged/distressed linen colors.

I started mine as part of the #12×12 New Year’s Eve SAL with Just Keep Stitchin’ in 2021. Since that night, I haven’t touched it.

*A Stitcher’s Sampler by Primitive Hare as of June 28, 2023 – Stitched 2 threads over 2 on 35ct Olde New England linen by Primitive Hare with GAST Garden Gate (charted).*

With the exception of the bees on the top and bottom, there isn’t any particular dense stitching in this sampler. I have no timeline to complete this one, but I imagine once the bees are in… this one will stitch up decently quickly. Perhaps a finish for 2024? Time will tell. I’m also debating if I’ll backstitch the needle next to the word “with” or if I’ll stitch a real needle – one of my worn ones – to the piece as a momento.

Stitching, Works in Progress

WIPGO 2023 Week 26 – Witchy Washy

July 12, 2023 1 Comment

I define my legacy WIPs as anything that pre-dates Max’s birth. Witchy Washy by Raise the Roof Designs definitely fits into that category. It almost was scrapped due to an accident with iced coffee in 2013.

According to my notes, I started Witchy Washy on May 11, 2010. It’s one of the oldest pieces I have a specific start date noted – likely about the time I realized that it might be a good idea to keep records on my work. I remember when I first saw it at the store… with the wording on the cover “Did you ever think you would cross stitch a BRA?!?” Yep, that sold me. I’m weird that way.

The purple and green (my two favorite colors… especially together) swirly bra honestly was fun to stitch.

I was moving right along on this one – it was well over 3/4 done when the iced coffee incident occurred. Nothing extreme – I tipped over my obligatory iced Dunkin Donuts on the table at the library. And a bit of coffee got onto my piece. Unfortunately – the flosses weren’t colorfast, and there was some leeching onto the fabric. I was so upset. I decided to just put it away for a while to decide how I wanted to proceed. Once it dried out, I put it into my finished pieces roll to keep it safe. It sat there. For years.

Last year I decided to pull it back out and decide what to do. I realized that the leeching wasn’t quite as bad as I thought, and an additional button would easily cover up most if not all of the stained fabric. Since there are already several buttons on the finished piece, what’s one more?

*Witchy Washy by Raise the Roof as of June 28, 2023 – stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Manhattan Myst cashel by Dyeing4U with charted threads*

My fabric is a delicate lilac color. I wanted to go purple because Halloween and witchy and all that – but the light purple just seemed to fit the slightly more feminine laundry theme. The bleeding, by the way, is just above the basket. You’ll see some orange there. I’ve bought an extra cat button to put into the basket. Cats do love baskets – especially baskets of laundry!

Witchy Washy is now on my super active list, and I am planning to get this one done by the end of July. With the 24 Hours of Cross Stitch Marathon coming up next week, I may be able to wrap everything up except for the buttons. 🙂 It will be a nice legacy completion to cross off the list for 2023!

Stitching, Works in Progress

WIPGO 2023 Week 25 – And They Sinned

July 5, 2023 2 Comments

It’s now July – and this month is the month that #13 was called… so I have SIX… yes, SIX WIPGO projects to work on. Thankfully it’s also a month with a 24 Hours of Cross Stitch Marathon, so I’m not that concerned. I’ll be plugging right along with these through the month. But because I have six projects – there will be a couple of Friday editions of WIPGO Weeks this month, on the second and last Fridays.

To kick things off… we’ll go with the Biggest of Big A** Projects I have going – And They Sinned.

Do I tell the story again? Oh sure… let me tell the story again about how this insanity came about. 🙂

And They Sinned has been on my bucket list of projects for well over a decade. I’d seen a couple completed versions in person, and was just amazed by it. It was always shoveled into the “someday…” bucket, though, with no plan for when I’d actually start working on it.

In 2018 I was at Celebration of Needlework in Nashua, New Hampshire as I try to be every year. One of the great things about that convention/retreat is the shopping mall – a collection of about 12-18 vendors, varying by year, for stitchy needs. It’s soooooo easy to break your stitching budget there!

Anyway… in the back corner of the shopping mall, the boys from Needleworkers Delight were set up with a large booth full of wonderful fabric to peruse, feel, and drool (not literally) over. And in the back, back corner of their booth was a small table with high count fabric. Including a couple cuts of 56 count, labelled at approximately $16 each. One was white, and one was cream.

Now – at that point, I had barely ventured into 40 count. Something inside me screamed that I had to have this piece of 56 count – just to say I had it. At at $16? It was a bargain for how much stitching could be fit upon it. So… it became mine.

Later that day while sitting in the circle of my local stitching friends, sharing all of our purchases and laughing at the occasional person jumping up to go back into the mall to go get something someone else had shared, I pulled out the piece of 56 count to show Abi Bellastitch and Amy (Gables Stitcher), who I both know via offline stitching. At some point in the conversation, I sarcastically said “I wonder if And They Sinned would fit on this?”

Well… we know how sarcastic comments something develop — look at what happened when I made that about the WIPocalypse in 2011.

Phones came out, stitch counts were checked and calculated… and why yes, it would fit on the piece of fabric I bought! Clearly it was fate!

Over the next few months I acquired a copy of the pattern and the charted floss. And They Sinned was my New Year’s start for 2019. Originally I was trying to work on it as a Sinning on Sundays piece, but that didn’t work particularly well. Now it comes up in normal rotations and I try to get whatever done that I can.

*And They Sinned by Exemplar Dames as of July 1, 2023 – stitched 1 over 2 on 56 ct antique white Zweigart linen with charted threads*

I’m currently battling the Cloud of Doom – which will connect those two grey swirls together into one mass below the angel. It’s a hefty block of stitching…. well over 3,000 stitches. Once I get through that, it will loosen up again for a while.

Obviously absolutely no timeline to finish this. I just want to finish it someday. And then present it at the fair. Because it’s insane. 🙂