OhSewCrafty Blog

• Pattern: by Amanda Butler / Cross Stitcher magazine February 2020-January 2021
• Materials: Biscotti Cashel Linen by Colour & Cotton, DMC, Mill Hill as charted, Kreinik subbed for DMC light effects
• Size: 9.25″ x 15″
• Time to stitch: 32 days since January 2021

Presenting my oldest WIP, finally finished!  

I thought of this project as Alice the albatross, but that is mostly a joke.  I enjoyed the process well enough, but it was painstaking at times with all the color changes and tiny backstitch, and editing the chart as I went along.  Honestly, some of the backstitch is charted over 1 so fractional stitches were necessary, in my opinion. My favorite part of the design is probably the white rabbit, he’s so dapper and cute.  

Also, two of the panels are my own designs based on Tenniel’s illustrations.  The hooking smoking caterpillar was a glaring omission, in my view, and the last panel, the king and queen was alright, but prefer the queen alone.   There was quite a lot to do at end, hundreds of beads and a smattering of french knots.

As for materials, I won this fabric in a raffle at the 2019 Stitchnanigans retreat in Chandler, Arizona, it’s cream with a hint of yellow, and ideal for this design. The piece is very colorful, but not too many colors were used, only 27, plus the gold metallic.  For my designs, I tried to stay within the original color palette, though I might have used a few more.  There are two color beads- red beads throughout the border and some gold ones to accent certain motifs.  I elected to use gold Kreinik for those little details; DMC light effects is not my idea of quality thread.  And I suppose I used gold petite treasure braid for the Caterpillar’s hookah hose.

So I’m pleased with Alice in the end, but I find myself hesitating to start another Cross Stitcher SAL, though I do like the 2022 Dream Destinations SAL, also by Amanda Butler.  That one is basically full coverage, but I think (or hope?), it has much less fussy backstitching. I pretty much live for travel, so the design is kind of perfect for me.  Now that my child is getting older, I’m feeling it’s time to quit the (relatively) frequent visits to the House of Mouse and go to some more interesting places.  So maybe it will be a 2024 new year start.