March Stitching Wrap-Up

The past month is a bit of a blur for me. The super busy season that I normally have at work in the spring arrived a month early in early March, rather than mid-April, and it took me by surprise. It’s not a bad thing – it means that I should be able to enjoy the warmer weather a little more and settle into summer project work a bit earlier than normal. And I will definitely look forward to that!

Because of the unexpected work load combined with the expected break for PaxEast, my stitching went a little slower in March. I still got a decent amount done, though – and I’m happy with my progress. Still steadily working toward some yearly goal accomplishments.

I Love New England by Sampler Needlework as of April 1, 2023 – stitched 2 threads over 2 on 32 ct antique white linen with charted DMC.

I Love New England was my focus piece for March for the WIPocalypse. While I didn’t manage to stitch on it every day, I definitely completed more than the “one stitch minimum per day” on it, so I’m pleased at the progress. My goal had been to complete the inner “small” lettering. I have about… ten words left? What slows it down a bit are the sneaky one-off color changes in the words. But still – I’m getting there. I don’t know that I’ll have this piece ready for the fair this year as I’d originally hoped, but it will definitely be ready for next year.

My goal for this in April is to get that small lettering done.

Celestial Medley by Sudberry House as of April 1, 2023 – stitched 2 threads over 2 on 28 ct antique white evenweave with charted DMC

I only spent a couple days on Celestial Medley this month, and it was spent in confetti stitching of the blue cloud on the top right. Really happy with my progress on this one. The chart isn’t the clearest, due to its age. It’s a hand-drawn one with very small symbols. Next time I stitch on it, I’ll finish that fill-in and then move back over to the yellow moon on the upper right. Eventually I’ll have to figure out what I’m going to mount it on when I finish it. I don’t know if it will be large enough for a standard metal cookie tin, but that’s the idea I’m going with for right now.

Snowball Fight by Dragon Dreams as of April 1, 2023 – stitched 2 over 2 on 28 ct unknown evenweave with charted DMC.

I figured out why I stopped stitching on Snowball Fight last time I’d worked on it – I was off by a row with that dragon’s wing on the right. So aside from starting a little bit of the snow they’re standing on, most of my two days of WIPGO were spent frogging and correcting that wing. Thankfully not that many stitches, but it took me a bit to figure out why things weren’t matching up! (I apparently failed at counting to two… seriously.) I wasn’t really feeling this one since it’s getting to springtime, so back into its project bag it goes for a while. I’ll give this one another whirl in autumn.

I didn’t stitch at all on my fourth WIPGO piece, Halloween Candlestick SAL. Like Snowball Fight, there’s frogging to do. My tiny start wasn’t even correct (UGH!). And after frogging Snowball Fight, I decided to just get back to that one later. I’ll get it done this month at some point!

And that’s all I did in March. Hopefully April will be a little more productive!

Until next time,
Mel.

WIPGO 2023 – Week 11 – Celestial Medley

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!