October was a really good stitchy month, I enjoyed 27 stitchy days and got over 22,000 stitches, plus 4 FFO’s!
Let’s start with my Focus Pieces. Santa’s Gifts by Joan Elliott, had 1 day love, 1052 stitches (backstitching, beading, mostly), and it’s done! More details are forthcoming.
Autumn Wren received 6 days attention, 4,150 stitches. I worked up from the bottom, filling in most (there are still a few empty areas), plus the sky and started the inner border.
Regency Love Story had 5 stitchy days and 4,425 stitches added. I’m just working across in rows and feathering where colors continue across 2 or more blocks. I started Lizzy’s chest and stitched a lot of Darcy’s sleeve, as well as some of the floral border.
Last focus, just for October, was Yes Virginia, which had 3 days, and 2,648 stitches, mostly backstitch counted for half. I wasn’t quite satisfied with the legibility of the text, so I decided to backstitch all the letters in a darker gold Petite Treasure braid. So, it’s finished, more details are forthcoming.
Secondary WIP Fairy Idyll had 2.5 days love and 2,001 stitches added. I started on the top half, finished the pink bed skirt and started the vines and canopy structure. On the right side, I worked on the wings, pink pillow, and bunny ears.
Spooky Hollow received 3 days attention and 2,300 stitches done, some on the border and also started the main image, in the bottom left corner (tree, grass, graves, horse’s forelegs).
As for St. George and Dragon, I have stepped up the effort, trying to get 20,000 stitches for the year. Well, I have 18,100 at present (2,400 for October, in 2.5 days), and I do believe I’m less than 2,000 stitches from a finish, we’ll see in November. So, I backstitched the right border , around to the top border, and it’s all done except for a little bit, a few leaves. I backstitched the dragon’s tail, then started working with the metallics on the horse’s bands. I filled in some missing stitches on the horse’s head and the saddle area, and extended the spear. Then I stitched George’s hands, his face, pauldron, gorget, helm, and started the plumes.
Deadly Aquarium was downgraded to the tertiary category, since I’m trying to pace it for a December finish. So, it had 2.5 days and 1,650 stitches, all on the right panel and I started the 3 birds hanging around the area.
As for my ornaments, I finished Mary & Jesus (1 day, 936 stitches) and made progress on Victorian Bauble (1/2 day, 600 stitches).
Question of the month: What retreats or stitching event would you love to attend someday? Well, I’m hoping to attend a retreat in Roanoke, VA in 2027. It’s sort of midway between my house and a friend’s house who lives in Tennessee, so we could meet there and have a fun stitchy time, maybe do a little hiking too.
Now for November goals
- Focus: Autumn Bird (finish), St. George (finish), Regency Love Story (3k)
- Secondary (2k) : Fairy Idyll, Sleepy Hollow, New start TBD (maybe x2)
- Tertiary: Deadly Aquarium (finish cross and backstitch across 1/2 of top)
- Ornaments: Victorian Bauble (finish), Christmas clock UFO (finish), new start TBD
Happy Stitching
Leave a Reply