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WIPGO 2023 – Week 9 – I Love New England

March 1, 2023 No Comments

Four new numbers have been pulled for March – time to introduce another set of WIPGO projects!

First up this month is my focus piece for the WIPocalypse for March. I’ll be putting in a minimum of one stitch per day, but ideally a length of floss if I have the time.

*I Love New England by The Sampler Needlework (now OOP)*. *Photo is from the cover of my chart. Excuse the glare!*

Sometime back in 2002 or 2003, I was wandering through a lovely second-floor stitching shop in an old main road house in Plymouth, Massachusetts called The Sampler Needlework. It was a shop I’d meant to get to for quite some time, but I hadn’t had a car up to that point living in Massachusetts. Getting to Plymouth was a bit tricky. Plymouth to Boston where I lived until 2002 was approximately 40 miles. There was a commuter rail stop, but it was quite far from the downtown area where the shop was – so impractical. And of course – this is the days pre-Uber. So the shop remained on my list of places I wanted to eventually get to to see what the mystery was all about – the website for the shop was completely unhelpful with no – and I do mean no – information beyond the address and the shop logo.

And then in 2002, I moved out of the city and into the suburban apartment Erich and I shared to start this crazy geek life we’ve built together. I needed a car. I was suddenly not MBTA dependent to get anywhere. And that meant I finally started really getting to the places I’d only dreamed of in New England that had been out of reach before. Plymouth, Mass – that little seaside down I’d learned about since grade school with the inaccurate Thanksgiving myths – was on that list.

The whole atmosphere of the place was wonderful – old worn wide floorboards with little round tables displaying all sorts of little treasures. A little nook with the more needlepoint style stitching, including some wool threads. And then up front there was a huge window area with a couple of window shelves and multiple shop-designed patterns on display. I remember turning to my left and I saw this huge beauty and instantly fell in love. One of my first true impulse, need-it-now stitching purchases.

It wasn’t the only treasure I left with that day. I know I purchased at least one of the Teresa Wentzler wool cross charts while I was there – the owner had all of them. But I Love New England was a piece I needed to stitch. As soon as I could get it going. At the time I had never heard of rotation stitching. I didn’t know it was okay to have more than one piece going if I felt like it. I hadn’t even found the online stitching groups at that point!

So it quietly sat for a while as I trudged through the rocks of The Castle by Teresa Wentzler. I’ll get there, I said. I’ll get it started. And it quietly lingered… and lingered… and lingered, quietly waiting for me to get off my butt and get it started.

Finally as one of the pieces to join my first year of the WIPocalypse for 2012, I started it. January 2, 2012. The day after I started Deep Blue Sea. And I was plugging right along.

And then… I got pregnant. The same story for so many of my projects! I Love New England sat quietly waiting as I worked through those early parenting years, untouched. Sampler Needlework shuttered its doors at some point officially during that time. I’d heard the shop owner had some health problems, her daughter tried to get it going again… but it seems that it just couldn’t recover. It’s sad because it truly was a lovely shop.

A couple years ago I really got some momentum going with the lettering on this piece, and it’s been moving right along in my rotation. I’m now working as much of the remaining small text as I can finish. My goal for March is to try to complete the four lines you see here that are incomplete, and hopefully add at least one more below.

*I Love New England by Sampler Needlework as of March 1, 2023. Stitched 2 threads over 2 on 32 ct antique white Zweigart linen with charted DMC.*

I changed the top right corner – I didn’t care for how random the speckles were in the original charted heart. Plus it was so light that it just felt unbalanced to me. So basic filled-in heart it is, to counter-balance the eight-pointed star that will go in the bottom right (omitting said “freckles” again).

My hope is to finish this project in time to have it framed to submit to the Big E fair in September this year. That may be one of my slightly over-inflated goals, though. Regardless – I fully plan to have this one completed this year. It is the completion goal that I absolutely will stick to, even if I have to drop the rest of my WIPGO to accomplish it!

Until next time… happy stitching!

Stitching, WIPocalypse

February 2023 WIPocalypse Check-In

February 26, 2023 1 Comment

Hello everyone!

I’m finishing up a much needed week’s vacation from work today. The first half of the week was spent at home, split between a bit of housework, a bit of personal self-care/self-interest projects, and battling the latest in a long line of minor head colds. (whee). The latter half I spent away at a hotel with a friend. We stitched, we enjoyed some fabulous BBQ, and we watched murder mystery stuff until the late hours of the night. I definitely needed the time away!

It’s also been a nice month of stitching progress. I’ll be getting my progress post up tomorrow once I finish the last of my week blocks for the month. I’m really happy where I’m ending up. 🙂

Challenge Heads Up – March One Month Challenge

March will be our first one month challenge of the year. If you are interested in participating, choose one of your WIPs and do a minimum of one stitch per day, every day, on it for the month of March. The theory is like potato chips – you likely won’t be able to do just one! It takes just a few minutes if you are having a super busy time, and it’s at least 31 extra stitches that you didn’t have in your piece at the beginning of the month. Remember… every stitch counts. Every single one. If you fall behind? No big deal – it’s not a ton of stitches to catch up! Just jump back in. If you can’t join us for March, there will be additional months in June, July, and October. Or of course – pick your own month that works for your schedule!

Enjoy your stitching in March – and I’ll see you at the end of the month!

Best,
Mel.

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Important SAL Announcements…

Question of the Month: What stitch-a-longs (SALs) are you participating in this year?

Next posting date: March 26, 2023

Topic(s) for next time: Tell us about your favorite places to buy stitching supplies.

Need all the basic info about the SAL? Go here for all details for 2023!

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Please remember that this stitch-a-long is intended to be fun – so if you’re too busy to post, too busy/ill/etc. to stitch – no worries! Post when you can and share what you have going, even if you’ve only been able to toss a single stitch into it. If you miss a few months, not a problem – just jump back in when you’re back with us! It’s not a race or a competition – we’re all just here to cheer each other on with our progress.

Stitching, Works in Progress

WIPGO 2023 – Week 8 – Deep Blue Sea

February 22, 2023 No Comments

I have two mega projects in my current WIP Pile. Both are among my “bucket list” stitching. One is And They Sinned by Exemplar Dames. The other is my only current in-progress Chatelaine, Deep Blue Sea – which was originally named “Mystery XV” when it was the yearly month-to-month release back in 2012.

Deep Blue Sea (Mystery XV) – image originally from European Cross Stitch’s website

Anyone who has been doing the WIPocalypse since… oh… 2014(?) has seen this piece on my blog. My central medallion WIP of it is the slightly blurred background for the SAL’s button on my page. I post it with every check-in post.

Deep Blue Sea is one of those pieces that I was sooooo energized to start. Halfway through the release, though – I got pregnant. The momentum just shut down on this piece with Max’s birth. And it just hasn’t moved much in the better part of five years since I put the starfish in. I still absolutely love the piece. But my goodness, I struggle with it. The fabric color I chose probably does have a lot to do with it, even though I have no regrets about that choice – it’s going to look so stunning when I finally, finally finish it. So here’s where I’m starting for February…

*Deep Blue Sea (Mystery XV) by Chatelaine as of February 1, 2023. Stitched as charted on 28 ct Phantom linen by Picture This Plus with silk and cotton custom threads.*

I think right now I just really need to push to get out of the center medallion work. It’s so finicky, and I just feel like I’m in this tight space and not really moving at all – even though I’ve put a lot of intricate work in there. I’m technically only on Part 3! Once I finish part 4, then I get to start moving on those big sweeping sections that define the rest of the “fishbowl.” I just don’t dare jump ahead because the counting is so intense on this one. Although honestly – once I get all four of those straight sections of stitches like you see here on the top? I could probably develop the bowl from there for a while and take a break from this. We’ll see how I’m feeling on it.

I just need to find that happy place, you know? Once I get into a zone with a piece, it’s wonderful. I hope I get back to that at some point with Deep Blue Sea. I was in heaven working all that blue on the center. I know I can find it again at some point. I’m just in a grind spot.

I have all of the beads purchased, aside from the pearls. So once I eventually get around to the beading, I’m ready to go. I know there have been a lot of issues with Swarovski in the crafting market. So happy I purchased my stuff years ago for my kit!

Goals on this is just to continue with the coral in section 3. I don’t have any strong hopes for 2022 on this piece, but if I can finish Section 3 by the end of the year, it will be a great accomplishment that I can check off!

Stitching, Works in Progress

WIPGO 2023 – Week 7 – Dear Rine 2017

February 15, 2023 1 Comment

Back in 2017, I joined a Facebook group called Dear Rine Borduren. The owner of the group released a free mystery SAL week by week to fill a series of circles. The fill patterns alternated between geometric and animal designs, and the colors were completely up to the stitcher.

*Dear Rine 2017 by Rine Oddens. Image from her website.*

At the same there wasn’t a formal name for the SAL, so I’ve just nicknamed it “Dear Rine 2017.” It’s now listed on Rine’s website for purchase as Dierencirkels, but my original nickname will continue to be how I refer to it out of habit.

My version is going to be a little different than the original. I intentionally used fabric and floss that I had on hand for an ill-fated attempt at Stitching From Stash that year, so I think I’m going to end up with only 45 circles instead of 49. And I’m doing a rectangular version instead of a square. So there will be some playing with what goes where. One way or the other, I’ll make sure to keep an odd number of circles in a row to ensure the vertical variation between animals and geometrics. The hardest thing is going to be figuring out which ones I omit!

Oddly, I started this one in a somewhat similar palette to Fruits of Plenty, only years before. I decided to make mine a four-color version using DMC 924, 926, 839, and 841. The circles will all be done in the darker brown (839), with the lighter brown doing the decorative filler between them. Geometric circles will be done in solid colors, rotating between the two blues (924 is darker, 926 is lighter). The animal circles will be two-toned.

*Dear Rine 2017 as of February 1, 2023 – stitched two over two on 32 ct Poltergeist Lugana from Silkweaver (2005-era dye lot) with DMC.*

Before I add more of the centers, I want to get my first two rows of circles placed. This was an unusual piece in that Rine started it from the lower right corner. I know some stitchers do this naturally, but it’s an odd start for me as a center or top left starter, depending on the pattern. Not a big deal, though. I can adjust!

I have absolutely no set timeline on this piece. It’s purely a “whenever I feel like stitching on it” sort of piece. Obviously the original is long over. So I’ll finish it when I finish it. For now? I’m stitching circles. Lots and lots of circles.

Rine has done several other free SALs since this one, now available for purchase on her website. She just started another new one the other week if you like these small little squares and are looking for something to use that random fabric or floss that you have in your stash. You can find the SAL on Facebook here.

Stitching, Works in Progress

WIPGO 2023 – Week 6 – The Fruits of Plenty

February 8, 2023 No Comments

Week six of WIPGO leads me to one of my truly Big Ass Pieces (BAPs), The Fruits of Plenty by Modern Folk Embroidery. Aside from my Chatelaine, which is coming up later this month, Fruits is the most intense piece I currently have going. As far as stitching skill goes? It’s honestly an easy piece. But it’s nearly 50,000 stitches in total. And it’s incredibly dense.

It’s also incredibly stunning.

The Fruits of Plenty by Modern Folk Embroidery. Photo originally from designer’s website.

The photo above is the two-toned version. There is also the option to stitch it in monochrome, in which you’d stitch the heavy blue band in reverse – just the flower scrollwork. I am doing the two toned version in DMC 800 and 840. There were multiple options given in August 2021 for the house you see in the center. I will be doing the windmill option instead of the house above. I may honestly do some of the other options as ornaments at some point because they’re all very pretty!

*The Fruits of Plenty by Modern Folk Embroidery as of February 1, 2023. Stitched 1 strand over 2 on 40 ct. Antique Ivory linen by Silkweaver with DMC.*

I realized just as I uploaded this photo that I don’t have one of everything to date for this month. I’ll make sure to do that when I do my end of month progress on it. I will be doing much more than the simple two-night WIPGO allotment on Fruits. My goal is to get the entire February portion, framed in this photo, done.

Fruits was offered as a non-mystery Stitch-a-Long in 2021. The piece was divided into monthly release sections, but the entire design was known up-front. I fell in love with it at first glance. It’s just so complex and elegant. Intense? Yes. But there’s no backstitching or quarter stitches. The entire piece is straight cross stitch. I knew I wanted to do it in a light blue/brown combination, inspired by a thread called Blue Bunny produced several years ago by a European dyer called Nina’s Threads. (I think she has since switched exclusively to yarn). The chart indicates two colors, but I have seen some versions of it on Instagram that have more than two that absolutely work.

Two of my fellow Stitching Sisters of New England members, Amy (Gables Stitcher on FlossTube) and Sharon, completed theirs within or just after the 2021 calendar year. Obviously… I did not. I fully expect this piece to be a long-term commitment for me. This year’s goal is to finish three months. I’m in good shape to complete February soon. I should be able to also get March and April done comfortably. I think keeping it in three month block goals is a comfortable pace for me – and maybe I’ll have it done before Max goes to high school. (hee!)