OhSewCrafty Blog

It’s almost midyear and I am feeling some (self induced) pressure to work those wips and get some finishes.  At the end of last month, I worked on Winnie the Pooh in pursuit of my monthly goal, 2 column finishes, blogged here .  Current progress: 

As June started, I decided to work on Halloween Fairy, because she seemed like a feasible June finish goal, and I hoped to fit her into the Summer of Salem SAL (FB).  In only 3 days I had stitched as much as I could with DMC and the 2 kreiniks (dark green and silvery blue) I had in stash.  5 spools of kreinik are needed in total (plus beads), so I placed an order.

With 2 days remaining (of the 5 day rotation), I bumped up St. Nic Cathedral to see if I could get a quick finish.  It only took 1 day!

Still one day remained of the 5 day rotation, so I started the May mini mandala and completed it on the same day.  2 finishes in 2 days, not bad!  

I got started on my Enchanted Mermaid rotation a bit early (so it was more like 5.5 days).  Anyway, it’s now a SAL with Belinda (anitchtocrossstitch on IG) and she’s down under on the other side of the International date line, so I thought starting the night before entirely appropriate).  Current progress:

I actually counted stitches for the last 3 days, for Stitchathon weekend, and got over 2500.  And I think that was a slow down compared to the days that came before.  I made sure that the bottom few rows were complete then started working back up to the center, filling in the patchy pattern as I went mostly with Kreinik- in several colors.  It’s still rather patchy because this pattern (will) have a ton of beads!  After reaching the center, I moved the scroll and worked out a hair conversion.  I’m aiming for golden blonde this time and you can see a few of the colors already in the bottom part of her hair.  The bodice is started and one arm is entirely stitched, up the shoulder.  I love it and I’m hoping to finish this summer! 

Then it was time on for my “dark” rotation, it took one day to stitch “Creepy” and get a finish on the Eek-Creepy chart.  The Boo club piece is now half done.

So I had 5 days remaining for Spooky House. Previous progress:

Current progress:

I got a good start on the next page, it’s well over half done.  It certainly stitched up a lot faster than the first page, with only about 7 or 8 colors, plus the petite treasure braid (I’m using PB10 for the moon).  There is a lot of backstitching to do though, all the tree roots will be individually outlined.  It’s fun to make some quick progress, as the first page was quite a slog at times.  Hopefully next month I can finish this page and get a start on the next one, which will be left side of the house.  My goal is to have the bottom half finished by October, with kreinik and backstitching too.  There should be time in October to give it a double rotation if necessary.

My 6 day rotation went to Fall Fairy, my Whine n’ WIP.  This project makes me whine because I don’t like the (kit) aida it’s stitched on.  Next time I start a Dimensions kit I’ll probably switch out the fabric.  Previous:

After 4 days: 

I worked down to the left bottom corner and then started working across the page. This chart is so crazy with all the confetti yet some larger blocks of too, so I work it partly cross country, partly block by block with parking.  Most of the empty space remaining on the left half will be filled in with half cross.  I prefer to do half cross after all the regular cross is finished because many of the colors are similar and it can be confusing.  I do intend to give it more time this week.

Winnie the Pooh is on the scroll bars for another stitchathon weekend, but it’s still in progress, so I’ll post a pic next time.

Question of the month: Tell us what the ideal stitching retreat would include.  The ideal stitching retreat would be in a place that provided all creature comforts, meals, drinks, etc, so there would be no reason to leave unless you wanted to.  Shopping opportunities should be available in the retreat room or close by.  Natural light (windows) would be a big bonus.  And it would include a teleporter so stitchers could easily travel there, no matter the distance.  There is a retreat being planned for next year that I really want to attend, but the plane ticket would be pricy.  A teleporter would be a huge help, lol!  

This month I have 4 “extra” days in my rotation, since I finished up the Cathedral and mandala early; I plan to devote the time to several framing goals. I also want to stitch more on Fall Fairy and maybe another project, we’ll see.  In July, my focus pieces will be Charmed Santa, Water Goddess, and Enchanted Mermaid.