April Catch-Up!

Hello all! Busy month of April up here in the Northeastern US. First the big total solar eclipse on April 8, that was amazing! I've never seen one before, and it was unbelievable. My best photo was this one:

So interesting to watch. It got completely dark in our area and the birds were really loud about a minute before the total eclipse, then became very silent during the eclipse. When the sun came back, it was almost like there was a spotlight that quickly widened to encompass the entire area. 

The week after the eclipse felt like it flew by as well, probably just the feeling of having such an overwhelming experience. Then it was book fair week at our local school and DH is the president of the school and community organization, so he was very busy with that and I was able to volunteer a bit to give him a break. 

Next a friend flew in so we could go to some PWHL games this past weekend! We used to play hockey together in high school and she lives several states away now, so she flew into our area and then we spent a few days in Montreal watching 2 games in Montreal and one in Ottawa! We had great seats for the first and third game, but the second game was at the Bell Centre in Montreal, where the Montreal Canadiens play, and we were all the way up in the back row!

Montreal beat Minnesota 4-3

Toronto beat Montreal 3-2 in overtime

Ottawa beat Minnesota 4-0! (one player had a hat trick)

And we spent one day walking around Montreal a ton, but I won't keep showing photos of that. How about my April project? It's been a while since I've had this one out, but I decided to focus on Stormlight Quotes for this month:

And so far I've made it all the way to here:

Stormlight Quotes by Taylor and Cromwell

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct black evenweave with charted threads

I started working on this in early April and thought I had some chance of a finish, but seeing as I've had several days of no stitching given all the busyness we've had, that doesn't seem likely. There's lots of B5200 though, so you never know what I might get accomplished. 

I also managed to get both PWHL hats complete for us to wear to our games:

PWHL team hat by Sydney Gerzymisch

in Berroco Ultra Wool in a deep red, green and cream (although it looks white here)

The pom-poms are faux fur that I purchased at a LYS, Must Love Yarn. They have a snap and you have to sew the bottom of the snap onto the hat, then they work. I tried just snapping them in between layers and the pom-pom flew off! It was kind of hilarious. I had to go back and ask at the store and they said "Well, you sew this part on.." and then I got it. 

And since we had to travel a fair bit to get to Montreal, Ottawa and back, I managed a lot on the Wiglaf scarf:

    

Wiglaf scarf by Lizi Lowe

knit with Fiber Me This You and the Stars 80/10/10 MCN 

and Sassy Black Yarns Connecticut Snow 100% baby alpaca

This is over halfway complete. The other side will have the blue pattern repeat. I've hit the widest part of the white and am now slowly decreasing until the blue starts getting wider again. 

I hope you've all had good weeks so far in April and hopefully I'll get a chance to come see all your wonderful crafting!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

Mischievous March Wrap-Up

I managed to start 5 projects this past month, even if I didn't get that much progress on any of them. 

First up are the Sweet Annet stamps:

I chose 3 of these, so I still have 2 left to start at some point. The progress didn't change too much on these:

Dragonfly in Flowers Stamp by Sweet Annet

stitched 2 over 1 with kit threads on included wooden framework

The Little Prince stamp by Sweet Annet

stitched 2 over 1 with kit threads on included wooden framework

Fairytale Castle by Sweet Annet

stitched 2 over 1 with kit threads on included wooden framework

That last one never did get any more stitches into it. Too obsessed with finishing Ondulations!

With Ondulations, I started having a bit of an interest in more blackwork. I have a few patterns hanging around, but I checked over Urban Stitches patterns and fell in love with this one:

I have picked this up a few times to get a few more colours in and I'm still very happy with it. 

Journey by Urban Stitches

stitched 1 over 2 with charted DMC on 28ct Red Tide by Chromatic Alchemy

I don't know if you can see how the colours of the compass are somewhat close to the fabric? That was a choice on my part since I thought it fit the message. How sometimes things can be very difficult to see when you're working on your mental health. I think I'll stay with black for the words, or possibly a dark grey? Suggestions always welcome!

Lastly, this is the project I just started over this past weekend:

And I managed a decent amount of stitches:

Mr. Grinch by The Cross Stitch Studio

tent stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct opalescent parchment by BeStitchMe

It's not too complicated for a full coverage project, with only about 20 some colours and no background. This was a limited edition, so I don't think it's still available if anyone was interested. 

And here we are! Another Mischievous March in the books and I'm glad I managed to keep up with Rachel this year. I hope you're all having a good week!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch