Works in Progress

WIPGO 2023 – Week 24 – Down the Danube

June 28, 2023 No Comments

I’ve fallen a bit behind on my WIPGO posts, so doing these after the fact in July (oops!). Apologies for that! I’ll be backdating these entries to fit where they’re supposed to go in the sequence.

Down the Danube by Jeannette Douglas is a piece that I never was meant to have. It was an exclusive for attendees of a Christmas market cruise down the Danube river in 2016, and is not for sale at any shop. I didn’t attend that cruise. Yet here I am, stitching the piece because now it has become a memorial to a lost friend.

Two members of my local stitching group, Becky and Sandy, went on the cruise with Jeannette and had a wonderful time. They stopped at several towns along the Danube river for sightseeing and market shopping, and then spent the nights on a river cruise, where they met their fellow stitchers and likely got more chatting than stitching done… because that’s how retreats always seem to go. Jeannette gave each of the attendees a full kit of Down the Danube as a souvenir.

And then in 2017, Sandy died unexpectedly.

Months later our stitching group helped her family clean out all of the stitching and crafting supplies – with plans to distribute amongst ourselves, and then to take the rest up to Celebration of Needlework to the freebie tables to give away. Sandy’s stash was divided, and along with a couple other pieces (including a Wentzler), Down the Danube came to me. I was just finishing Four Seasons of Mystic, and I had the closest connection to Jeannette among the folks in my group, so it just made sense.

Sandy had thrown a few stitches into it, but had barely started the snowtops on the mountains at the very top. I put a few more in, but then became busy with Astrology Sampler and Max’s birth sampler… and so it quietly sat and waited.

*Down the Danube by Jeannette Douglas as of May 31, 2023 – stitched one thread over 2 on 32ct Belfast Smokey Pearl with kitted threads*

I haven’t progressed too far and already have an error in my count – I made the top ridge of the mountains one column too wide. Thankfully it’s about at the halfway point, so I shouldn’t need to pick out too much. I think I’m going to fill in the house on right and then move with a better sightline rather than just do the mountaintops for my second attempt at it.

I have no timeframe for finishing this one. It will be a memory piece for Sandy, and will hang alongside the other pieces on my wall when it gets finished – exactly when it’s meant to be finished.

Stitching, Works in Progress

WIPGO 2023 – Week 23 – Dragonflies, Ladybugs & Bees

June 21, 2023 No Comments

I’ve fallen a bit behind on my WIPGO posts, so doing these after the fact in July (oops!). Apologies for that! I’ll be backdating these entries to fit where they’re supposed to go in the sequence.

Dragonflies, Ladybugs & Bees (Oh My!) by M Designs was kitted ages ago – like… nearly 20 years ago. I went through a batch of kitting back then, and unfortunately most of the pieces have remained in kitting state due to the Great Max Birth Event of 2013. DL&B sat in a kitting poly envelope until 2021 when I finally, finally decided to start it for the #2021NYE stitch-a-long with Just Keep Stitchin’.

*Dragonflies, Ladybugs and Bees by M Designs*

This was a piece I wanted to kit from stash as much as possible… so I used a more yellow fabric from my stash. Although the color comes out quite drab here in the photo below, it’s a cheery, light sunny yellow – very summer flower looking, which reminds me of the dragonflies I see buzzing around from time to time.

I believe the only floss I ended up purchasing was the Silkn’ Colors for the border word backstitching – and having worked it a bit… I need to do a darker color. The light part of the variation is just a bit too light.

*Dragonflies, Ladybugs & Bees by M Designs – as of May 31, 2023 – stitched 1 over 2 (so far) on 36ct Chime by Picture this Plus with charted threads*

I have no timeline for this one. For now my goal is to finish those four-sided stitches that comprise the reddish outer border, and then I’ll start working the cross stitch in the middle. Once I get that done, I’ll revisit the wording on the outside again. I’d rather just floss toss against the piece being roughly finished, I think. Once I get my placement square and the first couple grasshoppers done for the visual cues, this will probably be a fairly quick stitch. It’s not a big piece.

Stitching, Works in Progress

WIPGO 2023 Week 22 – Hyperborea (Гиперборея)

June 14, 2023 No Comments

I’ve fallen a bit behind on my WIPGO posts, so doing these after the fact in July (oops!). Apologies for that! I’ll be backdating these entries to fit where they’re supposed to go in the sequence.

Earlier this year I talked about Bayun Cat by Owl Forest Embroidery. Hyperborea was the other kit I ordered at the same time – I adored both the owl and the lynx sections, so decided to just do the entire triptych and call it a day.

*Hyperborea by Owl Forest Embroidery (via the box label)*

Hyperborea is sold either as three separate squares, centered around each of the animals in white, or as a triptych shown here. The division to shadowbox each square is preserved in the full kit. And of course, the absolutely stunning overdyed floss is included in the full kit, complete with bobbins labeled with the symbol from the chart. They are project kitting perfection, in my opinion. (no, really).

I decided that while Bayun Cat would be my New Year’s Day start, I didn’t want Hyperborea to go neglected. It became my birthday start for 2022. And I’ve put in a little bit of work off and on with it since then.

*Hyperborea by Owl Forest Embroidery as of May 31, 2023 – stitched 2 over 2 on 32ct blue Murano evenweave with kitted threads*

A couple things have surprised me about this owl so far – it’s quite wide – the better part of 4 inches (10 cm) across in wingspan, and there’s quite a bit of counting involved to give it that lacy look. What appears as white floss is actually the lightest of icy blues, with a little definition here and there. Just gorgeous!

This is a long-term project for me. I’ll be working roughly in a square by square plan of the three parts, with a bit of cross-over for placement. I have no plans on when it will be finished, but this will absolutely be a fair submission once completed.

Stitching, Works in Progress

WIPGO Week 21 – Baba Yaga

June 7, 2023 No Comments

I’ve fallen a bit behind on my WIPGO posts, so doing these after the fact in July (oops!). Apologies for that! I’ll be backdating these entries to fit where they’re supposed to go in the sequence.

Baba Yaga by Autumn Lane Stitchery is not the type of piece I’d normally stitch. I received it in the Black Needle Society “Trick or Treat” box in 2021. I loved the fabric, but swampy witches? Ehhh… not sure about it. But it was fully kitted… so I put it aside into one of my project bags and thought about it. My somewhat twinkly, romantic foresty Pagan side was conflicted on this one.

Last year for the 13 Stitches of Halloween hosted by Black Needle Society, I decided to start it. With Witches Wheel completed, I had no Halloween pieces going. Crazy, right? I love Halloween! Baba Yaga filled that “creepy” need among my pieces, to fill the space that those staring faces from Witches Wheel had lived in for a decade. I embraced exploring a bit more of the dark side of Paganism – which yes, I know, must exist to keep balance with the lighter side of faith – and some of the more Slavic roots behind this goddess that I’d otherwise only encountered in Rosemary Edghill’s Bell, Book and Candle book series.

Of course, when you’re doing rapid start rotations, not a whole lot gets done on any one day. I put in my day one start on it, and it went back to sit in the pile for a while. A nameless skull hanging from the bottom of the swampy chicken leg based cabin of the goddess witch.

*Baba Yaga as of June 1, 2023 – stitched 2 over 2 on 32ct Catacombs by BeStitchMe with charted threads.*

There is a ton of black in this project, but because it was fully kitted in the Trick or Treat box, I won’t be cracking out the Cone of Doom (large DMC 310 cone) for this one. I started dead-center, so it’s going to be quite black for a while… but eventually some of those other muted tones will come forward.

But this fabric? OMG I love this fabric color. It’s broody, it’s complex… and I absolutely adore it.

Want to learn more about Baba Yaga? Pop over here for the Wikipedia entry. She’s quite an interesting character!

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

WIPGO 2023 – Week 20 – Quaker Compass

May 24, 2023 No Comments

I purchased Quaker Compass either the year it was released, or the year after, while attending Celebration of Needlework. Karen Kluba had her booth set up at the retreat with all of her gorgeous models, and I fell in love with it.

*Quaker Compass by Rosewood Manor (image is a little warped from the cover of my chart, sorry!)*

Quaker Compass oddly represented a compass when I started it – a journey I had no idea I was about to partake. I started it over the 4th of July weekend in 2012. A couple weeks later, I learned that I was pregnant with Max. That compass definitely represents more than I thought it would!

I was itching to use Threadworx’ variegated floss on something, and decided that Quaker Compass would be my attempt. I grabbed the large skeins of #1157 and decided I would work the large motifs in the Threadworx, and then start working smaller motifs with a mix of the Threadworx and DMC solid floss colors featured in the variegation.

*Quaker Compass by Rosewood Manor as of May 1, 2023 – stitched 2 over 2 on 36ct Sterling linen by Picture This Plus with Threadworx #1157*

Quaker Compass was put on hold for a bit once Max was born because I wanted to get his birth sampler done. Little did I know that the boy variation of To Have a Child was charted in the same colors as Quaker Compass. I’m doubly glad I decided to do this one a bit different. Will it work? No idea. But since purple and green are my favorite colors – I’ll be happy with it even if it’s a hot mess of color.

I have no real timeline for this one, but I think once I get the full outer border done, it’s going to move quite quickly since the other motifs surrounding the central compass are quite small. It’s my quirky, completely untraditional Quaker sampler. I can’t wait to see how it looks finished.