Family & Friends, Life, Work, and All The Rest, Stitching, Works in Progress

April Stitching/Life Wrap Up

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Considering how wild April was around here… I got quite a bit done on my projects! I’m happy. April’s short-short version, in no order of priority, are:

  1. I’m back on track with WIPGO. Finished my stitches for March and all of April
  2. My husband got a new job, started his training, and today started his first regular shift – which means a total adjustment for Max and me in the evenings.
  3. Max passed his most recent belt test at martial arts and is now an apprentice black belt (yellow rank). 7 more stripe colors and he will test for his full black belt.
  4. Work was crazy… total chaos. But that’s April at my job every year. Now with just a bit of added zing as the department gets bigger.
  5. I got absolutely no writing done this month for letters. Very frustrating. Work stress just had me in a mood where in the evenings I needed to grumble and stab fabric.
  6. I did get quite a few postcards out for Postcrossing, though.
  7. My eye doctor has confirmed that I get to avoid bifocals for another year (yay!)
  8. Erich’s new job confirms that we can actually take our first family vacation this summer since Max was born because Erich finally has TIME OFF.
  9. Max is all signed up and ready to go for summer camp. (Day camp – not away camp).
  10. I’m now the Secretary for the Tudor Rose Sampler Guild, and loving the energy. Me taking minutes during meetings? Sold. Great way for me to be involved, especially as a long-distance member.
  11. What the heck Boston Bruins?!? Grrrrrr….
  12. Cities: Skylines is an obnoxiously addicting computer game.
  13. So is Dinkum – which is the Australian-themed Animal Crossing. Introduced to this one at PaxEast.

And onto the April stitchy updates. The theme of this month was “frogging and move forward.” Oh, so much miscounting that had to be fixed to get anywhere.

Picking up where I left off in March, I completed my stitches on the Halloween Candlestick SAL from Lakeside Needlecrafts. This was a SAL that I had a very, VERY small start on last October.

Halloween Candlestick SAL as of 4/30/23 – stitched 2 over 2 on 32 ct Pumpkin evenweave from Fabric Flair with charted DMC.

It turned out that my small start of only – 30? – stitches from the link above was already miscounted. That’s what I get for rushing it through during a short SAL! Thankfully I wasn’t off by too much. Repaired the count and moved it forward. It’s now starting to look much more like the center ghost-shaped candlestick. I can start removing some of those grid lines that I needed to center it. With Halloween Candlestick done, I could cross off my final WIPGO goal for March. Huzzah!

Next came Book of Ink Circles (aka BoINK) by Ink Circles. I joined a challenge on this one to stitch for Stitchy Clue in Semi Sane Stitchers, but had to bail on the game after only a couple days… just too much with everything else going on. One 600 stitch roll just killed my momentum for the game. I’m not a fast stitcher, even when I’m just doing lines like on BoInk. But hey… again, made some really good progress here:

BoInk by Ink Circles as of April 16, 2023. Stitched 2 over 2 on 28 ct Thunderstorm linen by Silkweaver. Outlining in GAST “Cinders”.

I added another row of squares at the bottom of the framing for this one. One more set of those large squares with the notches from the top row, plus the adjoining middle squares, and then I just have the edge work to finish for the full frame. And then the fill work will begin! My d20 needleminder is positioned in the exact center of this piece, just for perspective. It’s not as big as I thought it would be. I seem to say that about a lot of projects.

The next piece I worked on was Early Americans. With Betsy Ross and Molly Pitcher squares completed, it was time to move onto a new one. I decided to add one of the gents – John Hancock. It’s a much lighter square than the other two so far. I’m nearly halfway done already.

Early Americans: John Hancock by Little House Needleworks as of April 16, 2023. Stitched 1 over 2 on 40 ct Granite Dust linen by Silkweaver with charted threads.

Very brown, I know. But it moved quickly! After how long Molly Pitcher took me, it felt so good on this piece to get through a bunch of the block in one go. There’s a pretty heavy roof on this one, but it’s straight back and forth rows – so again, should go quickly. And then three down, six to go! Maybe Martha Washington will be the next, since that one is the one with the exceptionally large house.

I then took a break from WIPGO for a weekend online stitch-in with the Tudor Rose Sampler Guild. Members in the Dallas-Fort Worth area had an in-person stitch in, and I hosted the remote one. I decided to pull out my Temperature Tree SAL and start adding some leaves on it. I was able to get all of January and most of February’s high temperatures recorded!

Temperature Tree by Stitchin’ Mommy as of April 30, 2023. Stitched 2 over 2 on 32 ct Dreamin’ Lugana from Silkweaver with custom DMC temperature range.

Really, really liking how these colors are patterning so far! Eventually this piece will come up on my WIPGO this year. When it does, I’ll post my exact temperature breakdowns and the colors I’m using for each range. But the quick summary is that I have 4-temperature increments. I start at 23F (-5C) and below, and the highest is 96F (35C) and above. So far it’s clearly cold – but that’s January and February in New England! The colors will get much warmer in tone to deep reds for the summer. Each branch on this one is a month, and each leaf is colored to the high temperature for that date as recorded on Weather Underground. Knowing how fast these leaves stitch up, I’m going to plan to do some on other meetup weekends with the guild. This will definitely get done this year!

Next up was Live on Little by Plum Street Samplers. This was the second piece that needed some frogging work before I could stitch. The entire white line that starts running to the right at the roofline was miscounted. I had some legs going over one, some going over three. Really not sure what I was doing when I originally put them in, but I figure I may just not have had good lighting! So I had to carefully frog those stitches out.

Live on Little by Plum Street Samplers as of April 30, 2023. Stitched 1 over 2 on 40 ct Old Massachusetts linen from Primitive Hare with charted threads.

My floss was pretty ratty after that, so I finished off the end that remained good. I then moved back over to the bricks on the “front” of the house to do a little work there. But I didn’t get much done. That’s okay. Not quite feeling this one right now. But the correction work is done. That’s what’s most important. I won’t be stuck. I’ll get back to this one!

Finally, I stitched on Winter Welcome by Park Hopper Bart for a couple of evenings while watching Bruins hockey. I did some very good progress on this one, especially considering the evil Etoile thread. One more good round of stitching, and this one will be done!

Winter Welcome by Park Hopper Bart as of April 30, 2023. Stitched 2 over 2 on 32 ct Winter Berry linen by Fortnight Fabrics with charted threads.

This project is very hard to photograph well. The fabric is a beautiful blue, but it just washes out in photos. The white floss is much more visible against the fabric in person. I’m guessing I may have about 4 hours left of work to wrap this one up. Not much at all! The rest of the “Winter Welcome” text on the bottom, a few smaller snowflake motifs in the center and on the side of the words, his arms, his carrot nose, eyes, and hat. That’s it!

So a very good month. I’m happy with the stitching progress. Now it’s time to settle into the insanity of Stitch Maynia. I want to film a FlossTube this week for Maynia. I’ll probably do it on Friday night since Max has a “parents night out” event at his martial arts studio and I’ll be free for about 3 hours.

Until then – happy stitching!

Mel.

Stitching, Uncategorized, Works in Progress

WIPGO 2023 – Week 15 – Winter Welcome

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One of the biggest reasons I love the boxes from The Black Needle Society is their new-to-me stash suppliers. I love receiving patterns, floss, fabric, and all the fun doo-dads from sources I’d never heard of. Even in the wild world of the internet, these new discoveries are thrilling. I feel like it has helped expand my stitching world considerably.

One of the new designer introductions to me came via the “Nice” box for the holidays in 2021 – a fully kitted project called Winter Welcome by an oddly named designer called Park Hopper Bart.

Winter Welcome by Park Hopper Bart. Photo from front of pattern.

Winter Welcome was kitted with the called for standard DMC floss and two colors of DMC Etoile (black and white), along with an absolutely beautiful piece of linen called Winter Berry from Fortnight Fabrics that I wish I had more of just to have. It doesn’t photograph well, but it’s the most delicate color that I can only describe as close to periwinkle. My piece of fabric is impossible to get to hue on screen.

It’s a very cute little piece – simple, straight forward, but with just enough whimsy to make it catch my eye for the holidays. This is my style for December. I’m not really into the Santas or anything bold and in your face. Obviously the religious-themed patterns are not my thing either. I like the small, quiet, delicate patterns for the holidays. I’m drawn to the rarely found quiet – that “all is calm, all is bright” concept. This little piece captures a glistening of that.

Now… that said… that Etoile thread? It’s most definitely not going with the calm atmosphere. I rarely need a floss threader to load a needle – but this stuff? Yeesh. It does not want to behave. Even with the threader. It snags, it bunches, it will not stitch evenly… so this fairly simple pattern is taking way longer than I’d like. The final glittery snow effect is honestly lovely and worth it. Just slow. At least this time I can ignore how much I don’t care for stitching in white because it always makes my stitches look wonky. Here? The floss is just adding to the wonky and I’m going with it.

I started to get into a bit of a rhythm with the curling vines by using more of a sewing technique to work the thread, so I’m hoping I can push forward a bit faster moving forward. The key is, I think, to allow this thread to create the bumpy texture. Don’t try to flatten and railroad it like regular DMC floss. It just won’t behave that way. This is a mindset floss that just needs to be embraced for the cranky nature it holds, and it will provide the pretty. (much like my cranky calico cat, Leia). Actually… I have the perfect description of this floss. It’s persnickety (or pernickety for those of you who speak English English).

Winter Welcome by Park Hopper Bart as of April 1, 2023. Stitched 2 threads over 2 on 32ct Winter Berry linen by Fortnight Fabrics with charted threads.

I already know that I’m probably going to finish it in the trendy in-hoop style, wrapping the hoop with some glittery ribbon appropriate for the holidays. This one will absolutely be finished this year. 🙂

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

MAGIC 2022 Plans

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Last year I joined the Tudor Rose Sampler Guild (abbreviated TRSG going forward) to participate in an online class for Amy Mitten’s Mute But Not Silent project. The class was great – a blend of new-to-me stitches (cut work!!!) and some history about Dutch samplers. I’d also been curious about joining a formal stitching guild, but have felt the EGA to be a bit too intimidating and not quite cross-stitch friendly, so it was nice to discover a group that is supportive of cross stitch and a variety of different styles. I’ve enjoyed putting names to faces with some stitchers who I’ve seen in Facebook groups over the years, too! The group is local to the Dallas, TX area, but for now they are meeting virtually. Until it goes back to in-person meetings and isn’t accessible, it’s a great opportunity for me to learn, branch out, and get a sense of how a guild membership can work (and as they’ve been doing this for over 20 years – it’s going quite well!)

One of the things that TRSG does every year is a project called M.A.G.I.C. – My Annual Good Intentions Contract. MAGIC goals are ones stitchers choose themselves for projects that they’ve already started that they intend to finish – either in stitching or to be fully finished (FFO’ed) if stitching is already complete. There’s a form on the membership website to enter in your pieces (due by February 1st), and a couple progress check-ins will be done during meetings through the year. Totally fun, just to keep folks motivated. 🙂

So I’ve entered my M.A.G.I.C. list for the year onto the website. Now I just need to get these suckers done this year! My list is as follows:

Witches Wheel (Glendon Place) – The stitching on this is done, but I have all of the beading to do. Ideally I’d also like to get this framed so I can enter it into this year’s Big E fair.

Jade Band Sampler (iStitch Designs) – I am currently on week 11 of 30 on this sampler. If I just stick with this, I should be able to complete this easily in 2022.

The Castle (Teresa Wentzler) – I completed the stitching on this way back in 2005. It’s never been framed, and that needs to be rectified. So this is a FFO goal.

You Were Hatched (Teresa Wentzler) – I have the Celtic braid corners to complete on this ornament before FFOing this in time to hang on my tree next Christmas. I’d had this stalled for a while because there was a time that I was going to create this into Max’s birth sampler… but then I went another direction. So ornament it will be!

Mirabilia Round Robin (Mirabilia – customized) – Completed back in 2011!!! Not framed!!! What’s wrong with me?!? So yes – big FFO goal for the year. This needs to go on my wall. Soon.

A Stitch for Sweet Freedom (Lindy Stitches) – This cute little piece is one I started last January for Inauguration Day. I’d like to have it completed by the end of this year.

Apache Wedding Blessing (Kooler Designs) – Crosses are done, but I completely burned on the backstitching on this. The friend it was intended for will celebrate her 20th anniversary in a couple years, and I’d like to have this done for then.

Bird & Berry Box (Barbara Jackson) – This project was via a class I took through Celebrations in 2020. The class was short and I didn’t really get to work on it much, but I’d like to get all of the smalls stitched and assembled this year.

Winter Welcome (Park Hopper Bart) – I received this pattern in the recent Nice Box from Black Needle Society, and it’s so stinkin’ cute!! Not large at all, and it’s a design that should also be easy to frame. So my goal is to get this both stitched and FFO’d.

Christmas Pin Pillow (Kathy Barrick) – This is another project I received fully kitted in the Nice Box. I started this on New Year’s Eve, and would like to complete it this year. My goal is to only finish the stitching for now – if I can FFO it, great. I’m not sure yet how I will finish it (kinda need to get a sense of the finished size first).

Flying Lesson (Silver Creek Samplers) – Silver Creek is quickly becoming one of my “whimsy pattern” favorites. I received this project in the Black Needle Society’s Trick or Treat Box in October. My goal is to stitch it. Unsure for finishing quite yet.

I Love USA (Mani di Donna) – In 2020, Celebration of Needlework was held remotely, like so many other things. I supported the retreat by paying for my membership and my normal classes, even though I’d be sitting at home in front of my computer. Mani di Donna’s project was one of the eight via the Round Robin class on Friday evening – an event I enjoy participating in every year. It’s a small fob and flosswinder set. My goal is to do both the stitching and finishing for this.

Temperature Tree 2022 (Stitchin’ Mommy) – My intention had been to complete this tree in 2021, but I wasn’t able to get things done… so it’s becoming a 2022 temperature tracker instead! Fully stitched. I’ll FFO it in 2023.

It’s a lot of things to try to finish, but I’m optimistic. Many of these projects are either small, or just need final framing. In true “me” fashion, I made it official by creating a planner checklist page for myself. Now that it’s in writing, it’s an official goal! 🙂

I am, of course, a planner nerd. 🙂
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