OhSewCrafty Blog

Well, the final quarter of the year is nigh upon us, and I’m feeling pressure to finish projects and get all my ducks in a row for 2017!

After the full moon & Stitchylympics, it was Celtic Autumn’s turn.  Previous progress:

3 days progress:

I stitched some of her dress, her shoe, and some of the border pattern on the right side.  So, the bottom right quadrant is complete and bit more besides.  I’ll work on this again this fall, perhaps October or definitely November.  My goal for this year is to finish the bottom half, excluding metallics and beads.

Then I picked up Earth Goddess.  Previous progress:

6 days progress:

 The last three days of August were spent with Summer Bellpull, stitching the E block… which is still not quite finished.  That block is so busy, with dozens of colors used!  My original goal for this project was to stitch 50% this year, then I wanted to finish by September 22 (autumn equinox).  I’m dialing back and calling uncle. My original goal was surpassed and even if I did finish this month, to what end?  It says “summer”; it’s not like I would hang it up anytime soon.

Over Labor Day weekend, I worked 3 days on 12 Days by Joan Elliott, progress blogged here.

 Then I worked on Maiden & Unicorn (5 days).  Previously:

After 5 days progress:

My goal is to finish the bottom half this year…. one more rotation should do it.  This pattern has a lot of backstitching though.  Maybe I’ll feel inspired to do some of it before the year ends.

Speaking of backstitching, I picked up the Castle, and worked 3 days.  I backstitched gray (the rocks), green (trees), and purple (mountains).  The bottom half is done, except for the dragon’s tail.  I need metallic cord for that, which I don’t have (yet).

After that, I started a new project and finished just as the full moon waxed.  But that was a gift, and I’ll share it in due time.

Question of the Month: Tell us a story about the journey you took through one of your completed pieces.

Serenity’s Garden was one of my last “kit” projects before I discovered the world of linen/evenweave and separate patterns.  It was a Dimensions Gold kit that I started… I don’t know when.  I think it was after I started dating my then-boyfriend, early 2003.  We had been dating around 6 months when he took a job transfer and moved 270 miles away.  We continued dating long distance, but it was rough.  There was a lot of external pressure on us and I felt that our paths were diverging. 

I remember stitching this piece on the train between his city and mine, with silent tears at times.  Stitching is always my therapy but this piece in particular helped me through a hard time.  One day the lady sitting next to me pointed out the angel looks like me.  I guess she does… in any case I think of her as my guardian angel.  By the time I had finished her, my boyfriend had returned and become my fiancé.  And for the past 11 years, he’s been my husband. 

This piece was significant in another way- I took apart the custom framing because I didn’t like how it turned out, and was horrified to discovered the needlework had been glued and cut.  So I learned how to frame my own and I’ve done that ever since.

For next time, I plan to do some custom framing of 4 needlework projects plus a wedding photo.  I’ll be making a few new starts and probably focusing on those in the next lunar cycle.