OhSewCrafty Blog

Hello friends, August was a pretty good stitchy month, I managed to stitch most of the days, if not always a whole lot.  And still there remains a week in the month, I’m hoping to do some framing, and I have a some stitchy goals as well, progress on a few wips, a finish, and a new start.  

The month started with the Flosstube retreat in New Jersey.  I decided to take Save the Stitches, mainly because it only involves a few colors. Previous progress:

Over 3 days, I finished Part 9, extended the left border, and made a good start on Part 10.  

I’m a little ahead on the months and I have a few scheduled rotations planned before the year end, but I will also work on it whenever it pops up for challenges.  My original goal was 12 parts this years, but I’d really love to finish part 16, then it would be 2/3 done.  

The other project I worked on at the retreat was Twilight Bridge, which is from a kit and hence very easy to bring along since it’s all together.  Previous progress:

At the retreat, my friend picked up a Pako organizer from the freebie table for me, which is just what I needed since the paper floss organizers were already falling apart after just a a month.  The project is much easier to work with Pako.  After 3 days: 

I mostly worked on the lower right page, I would so love a page finish.  But I also had some stitchy challenges to stitch with particular colors, like blue, and the sky was an easy way to do that, large blocks of color.  I do love how the water pooled below the cascade reflects the twilight sky.  

Another focus piece for the month was Fantasy Triptych. Previous progress:

After 5.5 days:

I spent most of rotation backstitching.  It was insane.  The instructions started with “the water”, which had me scratching my head wondering what they were talking about, but in the end that part wasn’t too bad, with a separate chart.  I think it turned out great, with the shoreline backstitched in the dark brown, then you can see the trees and castle walls reflected in the water, with the half cross over everything else, to similate ripples in the water.  It was backstitching all the greenery that was a trial…. in around 3 shades of green, but the chart is only black and white and with all the confetti, it wasn’t always easy to see what I was outlining (and what color I should use). I spent a significant amount of time staring at the chart just trying to figure it out.  The upside is, I feel much better about the project now, like I can move onto the side panels.  The castle pages aren’t completely backstitched, but what remains is pretty easy, the rocks and castle walls.  

Then it was time for OWL HW in Magical Stitches (Ordinary Wizarding Level Exams)…. the highest option involved 2000 stitches (200 on 10 prompts).  I had lots of plans, but I started with Spooky House.  Previous progress:

Well, I gave it 3.5 days, did over 2500 stitches, and managed to apply it to 7 of the 10 tasks, plus some extra credit stuff.  

The last page is a relatively quick stitch, being just the 3 brown colors for the tree and the long rows of ptb for the moon.  I’m hoping to finish the project next month, I estimate about 2000 stitches remain, mostly backstitch and long stitch (for the grass).  

One of the elective OWLs was Magical Creatures, so I figured it was finally time to stitch the Pygmy puff on Ginny.  Previous progress:

After 1 day:

I stitched the pygmy puff (self designed based off the apple that is charted in the pattern), the hat, did the backstitching (just on her skin & hat), and added the rest of the beads.  She’s ready for her Swarovski bicone crystals now and they are supposed to arrive tomorrow, so I can finish her this month, hopefully.  Yes, I had to convert the treasures (and all the beads) since I did the color conversion on the scarf, and I saw no need to bother with Mill Hill (and pay 5x as much) for the treasures… Mill Hill Rondeles = Swarovski Bicone 4 mm, FYI.  

The next week Magical HW aligned very nicely with my desire to give a focus rotation to Spring Bellpull.  It’s my favorite WIP and I really wanted to use it for the August “Happiness” SAL in Stitch from Stash.  I had hoped 5 days would be enough to finish the block.  Previous progress: 

After 5 days:

I did over 2500 stitches, but it wasn’t quite enough to finish the block!  This block is particularly crazy with the color changes.  Some of the shades are virtually indistinguishable.  It stitches up so beautifully though. I do love the butterflies in the periwinkle tones. What remains is minor amounts of cross stitch with 2 colors, then backstitch with 3 colors (butterflies, vines, and word “Renew”), and thread cleanup, of course.  

Discussion Topic: What do you have on your stitching bucket list?  (for example, specific projects, designers, fibers, etc)  Well, in the past few years, dialing back the serial start mentality, I’ve been tackling those bucket list projects.  For example, Fantasy Triptych is one.  Spooky House is another. As for what remains, I suppose a new one is the Ireland Mandala by Chatelaine.  For the longest time I thought Chatelaines weren’t my cup of tea, I’m not really into large symmetrical designs, but Ireland has different castles on each side and the many beautiful shades of green in the piece are definitely for me.  It’s not a trivial expense to kit this one up, so I’ve asked for it as a birthday present for next year, one of those “big” birthdays. 

For next month, my focus pieces will be Spooky House, Twilight Bridge, Fantasy Triptych, and perhaps a new start or two.  I’m basically down to 6 (counting Ginny as finished)….