OhSewCrafty Blog

October was a whirlwind!  Autumn festivities, travel, lots of wip wrangling….

My major focus for the month was Autumn Bellpull, which ultimately got 4.5 days and 3,304 stitches.  I finished the M panel and made a small start (500 st) on the last panel, N.  

My other major focus was Bellatrix, which also had 4.5 days love and 2,812 stitched.  I worked extensively on the upper part of the pattern, including the vines, the border, her upper body, and face.  I was just short of my 3,000 goal because I ran out of the time and I was not keen on starting the beading or backstitch.  

Another “heavy hitter” was Halloween Memories, with 3 days attention, and 1,820 stitches added, mostly backstitch counted as half.  Everything in the this pattern is backstitched, in several different colors, and I deemed it best not to leave until the end.  I fell short of my 3k goal for this piece, but I did make a lot of progress, so all is copacetic, I can probably finish it during November.

Minecraft also had 3 days love, and 2,000 stitches added.  A little of that was backstitch, but mostly it was the pages across the bottom which don’t have a large stitch count, but they do have a lot of color changes.  And the last element (the TNT box) is well underway.  However, I decided to do something with the blank space over the small flowers and charted my kid’s name, Minecraft style.  So there will be at least 1 or 2k more to finish.  

Santa’s Workshop received 2.5 days and 2,004 stitches, mostly beads and ninja stitches.  It was a trial, my needle is bent like a scythe.  (I blame the fabric, that 32 count opalescent lugana is a beast!).  But it’s well underway, the beading on the figures is mostly done, the border beads are at least half complete, and they are a lot easier to do.  

Merry Christmas had 2.5 days love and 2,526 stitches added, or something like that (my counting of the woven wheels is rather imprecise).  I finished the satin stitch on the leaves, the letters, and even did quite a few woven wheels (as berries).  This piece is maybe an hour or two away from finishing, hopefully I can eke it out in 30 minute sessions in November. Note: the embroidery stitches are my modifications.  The chart is plain cross stitch.

Fairy Wind came out to play for 2 days and 1,600 stitches. She was the last piece of my Semisane Domino Challenge, I love that challenge.  Anyway, I worked on the left “low middle” page… working down to the bottom left corner.  Her outfit is voluminous; this won’t be a quick stitch.  I do love the colors though, it’s very enjoyable. 

Last of my big WiPs, but not least, Christmas Angels had 1.5 days and 2,005 stitches added, much of that backstitch counted for half.  The blue angel has tons of silver metallic backstitching all over and around her gown; I used petite treasure braid.  It is on the docket for November and we’ll see if 2k (or the equivalent in backstitch) is enough to finish, it might be.  Of course, the central star needs to be done too.

And now for my lovely little ornies!  I even got some finishes and a new start.  As for the finishes, Un-welcome Message by Frony Ritter / JCS 2023 (1 day, 944 st) on Harvest Pumpkin Belfast by Steph’s Fabby’s, Wild Witch by Liz Almond /  JCS 2023 (Half day, 836 st) on white Cashel, Peculiar Pumpkins by Gretchen Myers / JCS 2023 (1.5 days, 1351 st), Very Corny by Frony Ritter / JCS 2022 (1 day, 546 st), and 13 Spooky Street by Kate Spiridova / JCS 2023 (1 day, 1,280 st), those last three on Spellbound Jobelan by Under the Sea Fabrics.  

Continuing WIPs which received some effort in October include Jolly Elf (Half day, 805 st) and Gingerbread House (Half day, 301 st).  

Finally, I have my new start. I needed something small for the Semisane Start-to-Finish Autumn SAL, and I found this free chart on Facebook, by Nicole Fortier Young.  It’s a bit larger than an ornament and should make a cute flat fold particularly with some decorative borders.  Here is my 1 day, 600 st start.  Eventually it will say “Trick or Treat” with a bat, ghost, spider, and pumpkin. It’s on “Impressive” Cashel by Fortnight Fabrics.
Question of the month: How to you being planning for the next year with your stitching?

My planning is continuous: yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly.  My category based rotation for medium / large pieces is the framework.  There are 8 categories of various designers and genres.  (Ornaments are separate).  I consider the groups I’m involved with, and whether any of the yearly or seasonal activities (if announced in advance), interest me.  At this point it’s rather nebulous, but I have a general idea for next year.  I’ll definitely be doing Mirabilia Feather Fairy, as a gift, and continuing with Fairy Wind, and any other WIPs that endure beyond this year.  I have a planning tab on my spreadsheet, with lists of projects “queued”, and sometimes I’ll note “conditional” projects, for example, if I finish project X, I will start project Y.  I will get more into specific plans for next year in a separate post!  

Now for my November goals, hope it’s a little more productive than October… (I traveled a bit and wrestled with my stitchy bug, but I still got over 25k, anyway, I digress…)

•3k or finish: Bellatrix, Minecraft, Autumn Bellpull

•2k or finish: Halloween Memories, Christmas Angels, Santa’s Workshop,  Fairy Wind, Trick or Treat 

•1k or finish: Yuletide, Jolly Elf, Shh Santa, Nevermore (ornaments)

Happy Stitching