OhSewCrafty Blog

July was a pretty good stitchy month. Let’s start with my focus pieces.

Fairy Idyll had 4 days love and 3,100 stitches added. I worked on the yellow gown, pink bedding and the stone plinths on the left side.

Santa’s Gifts received 6 days attention and I did 3,400 stitches. I’m working up from the midline, I stitched another bird, ribbons, some of the snowy owl, sleeves, mittens, robe, sack, and toys.

Chaffinch in Summer had 3 stitchy days and 2,400 stitches added. I stitched more on the bird, flowers, started the background, & the borders. I’d like to finish it by the end of August so I’ll definitely try to do that.

Secondary wip Deadly Aquarium got 3 days attention and 2,000 stitches done. I continued on the upper left page and finished most of it, with the aquarium pillars, roof, the sting ray up top and more of the coral reef on the cave.

Yes Virginia had 3 days love and 2,000 stitches added. I finished the text and almost finished the bottom page. I think I will backstitch the text at the end to make it more distinct.

Ghool School had 4 stitchy days and 1,700 stitches done, mostly on the belfry and the moon. I also backstitched more of the tree and floating ghost. This one is getting close to finished, I may put it in hold in favor of Chaffinch in Summer though, we’ll see how much time I get in August.

St. George and Dragon had 3 days and 2,100 stitches added, all on the border. I’m giving myself a little break, the border being easier with a more limited color palette though it does had a zillion quarter stitches.

As for smalls, Peace on Earth by Les Petites Croix de Lucie / Just Cross Stitch, had less than 1 hour, 105 stitches (210 backstitch), and it is finished. I decided on a new start, Turn on the Light by That Crazy Georgia (etsy), I gave it 1 day and 1,000 stitches. Then I did yet another new start, Mary & Jesus stained glass from Charms of Christmas (Leisure Art), I have previously stitched the angel and shepherd from the same series, and thought a trio would be nice (there are another few designs in the series but I picked the ones I liked best). So Mary had 1 day and 600 stitches.

Question of the month: What is your comfort zone regarding the number of projects to have kitted and in progress at any one time? This year, I’m doing the Focus X with WIP Warriors, which means I’m limited to 10 wips at time. So I have my 8 moderate-large wips plus 2 ornaments or smalls. At the moment, I do have 10 wips, plus one ornament waiting in the wings. I’m earning timely finishes, but with so few WIPs, my target each month is around 18,000 stitches, and I could certainly do more, like minimum 20,000. I’d probably be keener to stitch with a few more wips, 12 is a very comfortable WIP count for me. So I’m not sure if I want to continue Focus X beyond this year.

Now for August goals

• Focus (3k): Fairy Idyll, Santa’s Gifts, Chaffinch in Summer (finish)
• Secondary (2k): Yes Virginia, Ghool School, St. George & Dragon
• Smalls (600): Turn on the Light (finish), Mary & Jesus, Cuckoo Clock (maybe)

Happy Stitching