OhSewCrafty Blog

This will be a long one since last month’s check in quite early!   That last week of March and early April were quite productive, as I managed several finishes…

First I finished Mill Hill General Store.

The March mini mandala SAL, also the April one which I snuck into my early rotation in early April when I had some extra time, by Brodeuse Bressane.Yes, they are different colors (I am stitching the entire piece in a gradient of grey to black).

With my 3 bonus days after the 28th, I worked on the Lord’s Prayer by Stoney Creek.  It also got 2 days Easter week, since I had time in my rotation after finishing Bright & Beautiful.  So, Previous:

Currently

I worked on page 1 and 3.  The border design with the flowers calls for doves to be stitched in between each flower, but I need glissen gloss or blending filament for it.  Other elements at the top and bottom will involve blending filament too.  But it is almost done, and I am backstitching as I go along.  This is 10 days progress since I started… It will not require the 25 I estimated.  

And finally, I started working on Bright & Beautiful the first week of April and put the last few stitches in on my birthday, April 4th.  I do love a birthday finish, best present ever!  

Water Goddess got some long-needed attention.  Previous:

After 5 days of love:

I managed to finish the first page, the lower right, which is the biggest I think.  (That skirt goes on for days!).  I worked across the page break and started the next page, the lower left.  I stitched mainly with the parked threads, but I did finish the purples on that page and exhaust a few skeins of DMC in the process.  Also, I ordered some Kreinik so I can start stitching the watery background, which is very long rows all over the bottom half of the chart.  Total progress so far is 10 days and I”m pleased with that, think I should be able to finish within the 30 I allocated.

Then it was time for my Spooky Rotation.  It only took 1 day to finish “Spiders” by Lizzie*Kate, blogged here. 

Then it was time for the weekend Stitchathon, perfect for Spooky House.  Previous progress:

After 4 days:

The right side of the page is mainly finished, with a lot of petite treasure braid PB10 for the gigantic moon.  I did stitch over the page break to the tree trunk on the next page.  I worked on the steps and stonework, front door, and more of that center column above the door, including the torches.  At the bottom, where the grass is, I stitched over to the left edge of the page.  So, page 1 is nearly complete (of 6), with the exception of two colors of Kreinik and backstitching.  It’s certainly taking some time (13 days so far), but this page is the only full coverage and seems to have a lot more detail than most of the others.   

My final free rotation was devoted to Charmed Santa.  Previous progress:

After 5 days:

I worked on the bottom two pages, filling in the sky by the page break and the center section with the puppet doll, apple sack, etc.  Then stitched with all the parked threads I had the midline, which were enough to finish the apples.  I continued on the left page, with santa’s sleeve, his toy bag, and teddy bear, boat, horse, and doll peaking out at the top.  When I first looked at the chart, that section was terribly intimidating with lots of quarter stitches and color changes galore.  After stitching most of the toys, I feel like the rest of it should be smooth sailing.  To finish up, I stitched some of the sky around the toys and figured it would be a good stopping place, so I rotated early.  

Winnie the Pooh was next up, and I gave it 3 days to get about 1400 stitches and 2 column finishes. 

The next few updates will be more interesting because more character detail is coming up soon, Tigger and Piglet in the background (over 1), Eyeore and Rabbit in the foreground.  I recently learned that HAED acquired the rights to Thomas Kinkade.  I don’t know if the Disney Dreams collection will be part of that.  The original artwork is rather detailed.  But I will need to content myself with this version since there’s no way I would stitch it again, and realistically, the HAED would probably be too big (for me) anyway.  

Then it was time to start my next Mill Hill village piece, the St. Nicolas Cathedral. 

After 3 days, it’s ready for beading!  This one has a lot of negative space still; it will be heavily beaded.  I love the colors!  The stained glass windows are stitched with 5 shades of Kreinik #8 braid, which didn’t really photograph so well.  It is really beautiful and I’m happy with my decision to place it near the center of the village.

Topic(s) for next time: Talk to us about your longest-running WIP or UFO.  My longest running UFO is Merlin & Arthur by Heaven & Earth Designs.  I stitched 1.5 pages, over 10 years ago, and was discouraged by the “50 shades of brown”.  Perhaps it’s my fault for starting in the “boring” corner (upper left)?   I just don’t feel motivated to work on this, though I love the original image.  Maybe one day!  

Next month is Stitch Maynia.  My plan is to start 6 new pieces and rotate my 9 WIPs over the first 15 days of May.  Besides that, I will focus on Enchanted Mermaid and try to finish the Lord’s Prayer.  May will be a very busy month with visits, travel, and perhaps a big sewing project.