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.
What a crazy month! I felt like I was just running crazy all of February and just in a funk. Maybe it was delayed emotion from January’s losses of Carol and Noby, I don’t know. But I just was a big ball of crabby for the better part of the month. I finally took a week off from work President’s Day week since it was also school vacation week here in Rhode Island. That definitely helped a bit. I could have used another week, though. but I have a couple more vacation days to enjoy with Erich and Max at the PaxEast gaming convention later this month.
I don’t know – I’m just a little mentally off. (sigh) Hopefully I shake it soon. I’ve been wanting to do a FlossTube video too… but haven’t been able to since early December due to various illness rounds and rough voices. Maybe I’ll try to get something filmed later today.
Stitching-wise, February was a good month. I finished my WIPGO goals – two days each on Fruits of Plenty, Deep Blue Sea, Bayun Cat, and Dear Rine. I’d hoped to fully finish one of my smalls, but didn’t. But I did get some progress made on some other stitching I was itching to do. The “Stitch What You Want When You Want” philosophy is a good one. 🙂
Onto the stitchy updates…
I spent a good portion of the month focused on The Fruits of Plenty. I really wanted to get the original February portion done. Didn’t quite get there, but I made a lot of progress and I’m very happy. I’m taking a break from it this month to focus on another piece, but I’ll be picking it back up in April.
Fruits of Plenty by Modern Folk Embroidery as of February 13, 2023 – stitched 1 thread over 2 on 40 ct Antique Ivory linen from Silkweaver in DMC.
I did wind up having to do some frogging on Fruits to start the month – my original heart outline was miscounted. I discovered it as I started to do the blue fill-in pattern… and then discovered it was STILL off as I finished the fill pattern- but it’s even. So I just made a quick adjustment to my fill-in. It won’t affect anything else. And now my “mistake on every piece” record continues to be 100%. 🙂
Of all of the pieces I worked in February, Bayun Cat was the one that I feel most satisfied with. It just moved along, and I feel like I have a good placement of the center of the piece now – the rest should flow nicely.
Bayun Cat by Owl Forest Embroidery as of March 1, 2023 – Stitched 2 threads over 2 on 32 ct Belfast linen provided in kit.
Bayun is tricky to photograph – my camera tends to really wash it out. I had to over-saturate the photo a bit to really get the true color of how pretty and variegated those yellow and orange flosses are. I love the little houses that the cat is curled around. 🙂
Dear Rine got two days worth of stitching for WIPGO, but I confess that I’m just not really feeling this one right now. I managed to get a full circle and a portion done. So… yeah, not a lot. But that’s ok. That’s my whole goal with WIPGO – to just get something into these WIPs. Even if it’s a few stitches. My mood will likely change at some point and then I’ll get into a zone with this one and plug ahead.
Dear Rine 2017 (Dierencirkels) by Rine Oddens as of March 1, 2023. Stitched 2 threads over 2 on 32 ct Poltergeist lugana from Silkweaver with DMC.
I’m working on circles to see what I’m going to be able to fit from the original pattern since my fabric is a different shape than what’s called for. I think I’m going to end up 4 circles short of the full pattern – I think I’ll manage to fit 45 comfortably – 5 rows of 9. Then I just have to decide which of the circles I’m not as interested in stitching. The geometrics I can eliminate easily. It’s the animals that are harder!
The final WIPGO piece of the month I worked on was Deep Blue Sea, and my goodness I struggled! I was fighting the fabric, I was fighting my chart. UGH. I think it’s honestly just because I find the Chatelaine charts a little hard to wrangle. It’s like working on a Wentzler in a way – a lot more concentration is needed to get stuff done.
Deep Blue Sea (Mystery XV) by Chatelaine. Stitched per charted on 28 ct Phantom linen by Picture This Plus in customized mix of silks and cotton threads.
Once I figured out what the heck I was doing, I did manage to move through another quarter of the coral in section 3, though. I’ve left this on my Lowery frame for now. I forgot to finish a little bit of the coral in the top center section. I’d also like to get the straight band stripe done on the left before I put it away to rest for a bit. Depending on how this year continues to go… this may be my focus piece during the summer. It’s one that I really do just need to settle in with for a while to get into the right mindset. Once I do that, progress comes pretty decently.
So that was all of the WIPGO stitching for the month. Goals accomplished – yay! Then it was time to settle into whatever else I felt like working on while I was away for a couple nights with friends. Normally I attend Stitcher’s Hideaway in February. This year I was a bit tight on funds due to cats and kids and all sorts of things, BUT… my friend Christine and I had already reserved our room at the end of the retreat last year outside of the block rate. So I decided to still go up to the hotel to get away, stitch, and just have a mental health retreat to try to shake this funk. It kinda helped, it kinda didn’t. A little drama there… but it’s over and done. Overall, I had a nice time. It was good to spend time with Christine and one of our other friends, Val, who I only get to see a couple times per year due to distance. I do think like with so many other things post-Covid, stitching retreat life is starting to change direction a bit. We’ll see where it leads.
I did a slight bit of stitching on I Love New England, but forgot to photograph a before photo. It wasn’t anything exciting though – about 300 stitches on the border in a straight line. That’s coming up for WIPGO for March, though – and is my focus piece for the month. So I’ll do before and after photos on that for March.
I set a goal for myself to finish the tree limbs in my Temperature Tree for 2021 so I can finally get the leaves on there and finish it. I’m happy to have completed that goal in February!
Temperature Tree by Stitchin’ Mommy as of February 25, 2023 – stitched 2 threads over 2 on 32 ct. Dreamin’ Lugana from Silkweaver with DMC 839.
Now I have twelve limbs ready for daily leaves. I have the temperature records written down through the end of October for that year. Just need to get the rest of the year written down, and I can start patching in leaves! The heart gap on the trunk is my own custom addition – I’ll scratch my initials and the year in there. It just felt… right. One of my friends suggested stitching this year’s leaves in there, but I have other temperature charts selected for 2022 and 2023. I don’t mind having it backdated. I’m taking a one-month break for this one, and then I’m going to start plugging the leaves in. This will be a definite finish for this year – likely sometime this summer. I can’t wait to see all of the colors blossom!
Finally, I started one of the other temperature charts I just mentioned. This one’s for 2022. It’s called Temperature Drink Shelf from Kristi DiClemente (KristisCornerNeedle on Etsy)
I will be changing the top “Grab Yo Drank” to “Na Zdrowie” since I come from a good Polish heritage family. I’m going to use the same threads and color chart for this one as I am for the tree for 2021. Here’s my very little start on it:
Temperature Drink Shelf by Kristi DiClemente started on February 25, 2023. Stitched 2 threads over 2 on 32 ct Sea of Fog evenweave by Fortnight Fabrics with charted DMC.
I’m stitching the glasses as I go along that shelf partially to help with the counting. It’s a looooong shelf. Like… 180 stitches long. But once I have one in, it’ll be much easier for the rest of the months!
And that’s the insanity for February. Lots of stuff worked on! Every stitch counts… 🙂
I started this entry but forgot to finish it… so backdating it to keep it in proper sequence. Whoops!
February’s WIPGO numbers have been pulled, bringing four new pieces forward for my monthly focus. Two are more intense pieces, and two are lighter stitching… a very nice mix for the short month!
Bayun Cat (Кот Баюн) by Owl Forest Embroidery. Photo is originally from Owl Forest’s website.
First up for February is Bayun Cat from Owl Forest Embroidery. This was my New Year’s Start for 2022. I purchased this as a full kit from Owl Forest Embroidery before the travesty in Ukraine I’m quite sad that getting another kit from the designer is virtually impossible right now.
Her kits are absolutely beautiful. So much so that I honestly felt a bit guilty breaking it open to start stitching. If you follow the link above to the designer’s website, there are images of the pretty presentation to the kit. Yes – it’s that pretty! It comes with the pattern, a backup copy of the pattern divided into smaller segments to cut out that are easier to handle while stitching, the floss – attached to bobbins pre-labeled with the key symbol (!!!), fabric, a needle minder, a needle, and a small pamphlet about stitching. DMC alternatives are given for the patterns, but Owl Forest’s threads are lovely and unusual. I would recommend getting them if you can.
The Bayun Cat is a creature from Russian folklore. He’s a bit of a complicated character – much like everyday cats. In many tales, he’s a huge talking cat with a voice that can lull a person to sleep with his tales and murders them. But in some tales, he’s more of a “learned cat” and an antagonist that can be defeated and will serve a hero, healing wounds with his purring. In the Soviet era, connections to Baba Yaga were made, associating him more with evil than good. But in this piece, I prefer to think of him as the teller of tales and a challenge to worthy heroes in all the ways a cat can be. After all – housecats remind us with those nibbles that if they were bigger, they’d probably eat us, too. 🙂
Bayun Cat by Owl Forest Embroidery as of February 1, 2023. Stitched 2 over 2 on 32 ct hand-dyed Belfast linen with kitted hand-dyed floss.
I really only worked on the piece last year for a couple of days before moving onto the flurry of chaos, so it will be nice to get back to this. I doubt I’ll finish this piece in 2023, but if I recall – it was a relatively quickly moving piece to start. So you never know. My goal on it is really just any progress, wherever it leads me. I’ll likely stay focused on the tail for a while and the rest of the houses he’s curled around.
Every Monday, I’ll feature what I worked on for the past week (Monday to Sunday) to get the bit-by-bit progress shots on my pieces that I honestly think are fascinating. Sometimes those photos are the only proof to myself that I am making progress and that every single stitch counts. This week I’m adding in a extra day since January started on a Sunday.
I’ll kick things off with the annual New Year’s Day start. This year I chose The River by Modern Folk Embroidery. I received this pattern last year in the Christmas season advent box, “The Nice Box” from the Black Needle Society along with the gorgeous hank of overdyed floss I’m using. The model was stitched in red, but oh the floss I got… it’s called River of Life, and it’s nearly identical to one of my favorite fountain pen inks called River of Fire – a mix of jewel-toned jade greens into blues that just… *swoon*. Seriously. I need ALL of this floss. All the time. Give me a giant cone of it so I can do every Long Dog that exists in it.
Anyway – this is my second Modern Folk Embroidery piece in progress. I love his designing – the Quaker and Dutch motifs he uses, sometimes with just a bit of tweaking to make it obvious they’re not pure reproductions but inspirations. (Hey… his Designer Name is exactly what he does!)
The River by Modern Folk Embroidery – as of Jan. 1, 2023 – stitched 1 over 2 on 36 ct Sterling linen from Picture This Plus with River of Life cotton (featured) from Forbidden Fiber Co.
The hardest thing for me was deciding the fabric – did I want to go on dark fabric and let the floss glow, or lighter fabric so I could see it easier? Both effects would be awesome. I decided to go with the lighter fabric, though. I had a perfect color in my stash that was neutral and would let the floss shine – and ultimately, that’s what needs to happen here – the floss color absolutely needs to shine.
I’ve only put a couple hours’ work into this so far. As you can see in the photo – it’s not much. A little bit of the top border for fabric placement, and the beginning of the Alpha. I am going to be doing a modified parking method with my floss on the borders so I don’t screw up my counts. I also want to allow the floss color changes to roll through the piece naturally, so keeping each strand going to the end is ideal. It’ll be practice in color control to keep the pattern moving nicely down the line!
Hyperborea by Owl Forest Embroidery as of Dec. 28, 2022 – stitched on 32 ct Zweigart Monaco with kitted floss.
The next piece I worked on was for week one of “Choose My WIP” over on Semi Sane Stitchers. This game is held four months out of the year (Jan/Apr/Jul/Oct), and has four rounds per month. A couple days before the start of each official stitching week, participants post two or three projects, and all of the other active participants can vote which piece they prefer – the piece with the most votes is the one you must put at least 500 stitches in during the weekly challenge. My winner for week one was Hyperborea by Owl Forest Embroidery.
Hyperborea by Owl Forest Embroidery as of Jan. 6, 2023
I hoped to get the entire Owl done, but I had a bit more difficulty counting that wing than I’d expected. Still – I managed to get about 600 stitches in over three days and called it a success. I do have a miscount on the head – I forgot an entire row of stitches. BUT… it’s not going to affect anything else around it. Easy to adjust for, so I’m leaving the error. Part of the reason I’m a bit hesitant to rip is because this was a fully kitted project – from Russia. So I don’t want to be scraping for the floss at the end if I’m running low. If, at the end of the project, I feel like correcting it and have the supplies… fine. But it honestly isn’t a big deal here.
The final piece I worked on this week is my Week One WIPGO piece, The Colonial Sampler. My starting photo is in that post, so no need to rehash it. This one really doesn’t photograph easily due to the fabric color, so I’m going to leave the photo a bit bigger so you can see the detail better.
The Colonial Sampler by Betsy Stinner – as of Jan. 8, 2023 – stitched on 32 ct natural Belfast Linen 1 over 2 with charted silks
I completed all of the Band #11, which included cross stitches, satin stitches, and Smyrna crosses. I also completed Band #12, which is the tiny row of light yellow Greek Cross directly below it. It was a very satisfying couple of days to know that I made specific progress by finishing full bands!
And that was my first week of the year. Stay tuned for more updates next week!
