OhSewCrafty Blog

Hello friends, March wasn’t the best of times, had a lot of sickness in our house, but I managed to reach all my goals!  

First, I’d like to share my lovely finish, Feather Fairy by Mirabilia, with a hair and bead conversion.  She had 2 days this month and 351 stitches.  More pics and detail forthcoming.

Father Christmas had 4 days love and 3,000 stitches done.  I worked up to his shoulders and beard, but in April I will go back to the bottom, filling in with ninja stitches, probably more gold metallic, and backstitching… I prefer not leaving all that to the end.

Poltergeist Pirates got 4 days attention and 3,200 stitches added.  I worked on the ship, actually reaching the right edge of the chart, though it’s not complete yet.  I may start backstitching next month, if I can finish these 2 pages on the right side (1 page with sails and a small partial page with ship, deck and maybe sails too).  

Halloween Train had a hefty 5 days love and 3,200 stitches done.  I worked over to the right edge of the chart, finishing the jack o’ lantern & bones, then stitching the eyeball lollipop, candy corn, bat, and cat.  I worked the border around to the upper right corner, down the right edge, and started working left again.  The bottom pages are basically just border and wheels / undercarriage of each car, but I’m also backstitching as I go, at least the black single strand backstitch, which is the bulk of it.  One more month should do it, this rotation is working a treat for me, 3-4 projects each month have 3k progress goals, which is really great chunk of progress, enabling regular finishes.

As for secondary goals, Winter Bellpull had 2.5 days attention and 2,000 stitches added, an excellent start on the I block, though there is a lot of white on white.  The pace of this one, which I’m maintaining for the Semisane Calendar challenge, feels a little slow and frustrating to me.  I rather not give up on the challenge, but maybe I should bump this up to 3k and get a quicker finish.  I have a really excellent idea for the Calendar SAL next year, something that better represents the full calendar.  

My new start, Christmas Blue Angel by Joan Elliott, got 2.5 days love and 2,000 done.  I started in the middle and I’m working down, on the bottom left page, though I stitched a little on the top half, towards her waist. I chose this super dark blue fabric from my stash, Silkweaver Mississippi Blue linen, because I wanted a night time scene and all the colors, especially the white wings, will definitely pop.  It’s a little challenging to see, but my Ott light helps a lot.   I really love this piece, and I’m happy to bump her up to the 3k goal category, next month.

Positivity Rules by Caterpillar Cross Stitch was actually started on the 28th of February, it’s had 2.5 days and 2,000 stitches so far on a cream 34 count linen.  It’s pretty fun and easy with some interesting color combinations.  I’m (probably) stitching this as a gift, I think it’s cute with a great message and I do enjoy typography style designs.

And now for a couple projects, where slow but steady is the key.  St. George and Dragon got 1.5 days love and 1,500 stitches done.  I filled in the dragon a little more, especially the claw area, and started stitching the border, which is quite a relief.  The border is chock full of fractional, but at least there are no blends and the color palette is more limited.  I managed to get a nice chunk of the border started.  For the rest of the year, I will focus on the bottom half of the chart, the border, also more of the horse and dragon.  I’ll probably start backstitching too.  

Mickey Stained Glass had 2.5 days and 1,500 stitches done.  Page 9 (bottom right corner) is coming along, about 400 stitches left to do. So pages 7, 8, 9 are almost done.   I’m working each page diagonally so after this I’ll work probably start page 4 (on the left side).  If keep up the pace, 1,500 st/ month, that should be enough to finish pages 9, 4, 5, and 1, (a full diagonal of the chart!) this year.  

And now for my little ornaments, I got a finish, Joy to the World by Olena Khirkh-Yalan / JCS (half day, 351 st), some progress on Cat Catula (1 day, 600 st), and a new start, Poinsettia Fairy, (2 days, 700 st).

Question of the month: What are your 3 favorite designers?  In terms of the current publications, I must name, in no particular order: 1. Joan Elliott, she designs the prettiest faces, cutest animals, and explores a wide variety of subject matter.  Even though they do involve a lot of backstitch, her cross stitch adaptions from her original art, are masterfully done, creating an visual effect akin to painting.  2. Bella Filipina, aka Aldrin Jay Parilla, is a prolific designer with so many gorgeous ladies and a couple buff men, too.  His designs are complex with silks, metallics, beads, etc, but they aren’t particularly difficult, confetti is limited, and the stitching is fun and goes quickly.    3. Glendon Place, aka Cheryl Granda, also has an extensive design catalog along many themes, and often gorgeous hand dyed and/or painted fabrics are recommended.  Her charts are so incredibly detailed, and have a wonderful sense of perspective.  Yes, there’s a lot of backstitching sometimes, but I don’t mind because the effect is amazing.

Now, for April goals:

•3k / finish: Halloween Train, Poltergeist Pirates, Father Christmas, Christmas Blue Angel

•2k: Winter Bellpull (finish I panel)

•1,500: Mickey Stained Glass, St. George & Dragon, Positivity Rules

•600 / finish: Count Catula, Poinsettia Fairy, Pink Tulips (new start), Belinda Botanica (new start)

Happy Stitching