OhSewCrafty Blog

Here is one of my Maynia starts, We Do Disney by Stitchline (Emma) on Etsy.  As charted, it’s all in black meant for white fabric.  I decided to switch it up with various colors on 28 count black jobelan.  The colors are all DMC; I chose them to represent each movie (as quoted in the pattern). 
 I started at the top with “In this house” in blanc and am working my way down.  So far, it has 6.5 days progress and is about 2/3 finished.  In the past, I stitched on navy blue, dark green, etc, but I was afraid to try black, given its popular reputation for difficulty.  However, it’s painless.  I use my ott light, besides that, no special accommodations required.  As it turns out, I enjoy stitching on black and I look forward to starting some of the pieces in my stash that will look great on it.  The impetus for this piece was our first family trip to Disney World, later this year.  I hope to put in the last few stitches when we’re on the property.  

 
The other large piece I started was the Riolis Bird of Happiness.  I loved the design from when I first saw it.  The preprinted 14 count aida is Zweigart, severely starched, but that doesn’t matter when it’s on a frame, anyway.  Making neat stitches with 3 strands is a little tricky, but this piece is so fun to work on, with the rainbow colors.  The kit includes Anchor floss, which is fine, but I have noticed it shreds more than DMC when you use long lengths, as I prefer.  Is that why people claim Anchor black has better coverage… because of the “fluff”?   I quite like the effect on this piece;  bird feathers are a bit fluffy anyway.  It has 4.5 days progress and is maybe 25% done.  

So Maynia was last month, and I’ve had time to reflect upon it.  I’m glad I participated, and certainly grateful to have started and finished several “minis” (the larger starts from this post remain in my rotation), but I’m still thinking about the big projects that I might have started.  The truth was that I didn’t have enough space in my rotation for 6 more big pieces.  After Maynia, my WIP count is 11, which is plenty (for me).  I guess I’m still trying to “recover” from the Year of Starts mindset.  No offense intended, if that’s your thing.  But I prefer a smaller WIP count.