Showing posts with label stocking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stocking. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 8, 2025

March Update

Hello, hello! Here we are again, I've managed another monthly post about stitching.  I do have a lot of stitching and knitting that's taken place over this past month, so it's been a good one. I'm only going to touch on the stitching today. 

Firstly, let's do the update of Starry Night SAL by Urban Stitches. I'm still very happy to have kept up with it so far. We've hit a new row now, so this was the most recent week's finish:
And the whole project so far:

Starry Night SAL by Urban Stitches
blackwork 1 or 2 strands  over 2 on 28ct white evenweave as charted

I'm definitely enjoying this one. There's a technique to getting all the blackwork in, and I've found a way that works for me. I tend to go colour by colour and fill in the entire weekly square, then go to the next colour. It's charted so you can see all the colours in one grid, or there are separate grids for each colour as well. Some people on the Facebook group has said that's helped them as well. I will sometimes check those grids to be sure I didn't miss any stitches from the main grid. 

Next, this is all the stitching progress this past month. There were some finishes for the "WIP-down" as well. First up, this Lizzie Kate which was worked on last year and looked like this:    
and now a finish!    


Official Snow Guide by Lizzie Kate
stitched 2 over 1 on 14ct aida with stash threads

Next, I picked up my New Year New Start from this year and added some colour!
A Stroll in the Snow by Asleep at the Stitch
stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct evenweave by Chromatic Alchemy as charted

I felt like I had to get back to Witch's Gate after this, although it was bogging me down a bit, so I decided to try and finish off the left side, since I'd have to move the Qsnap anyway, and that would be a good stopping point for now. This is where it's at, a little more than halfway complete now:
Witch's Gate by Whispered by the Wind
stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Mirage by PTP
with DMC 167, 738, 3823 and 3866 as changes to the original colours

I don't know if this will come back out this year. There is a flame that needs to be stitched in the mini-cauldron in the gate post, and I'm thinking a blue flame might look best, but I'll need to chart it, so I've left if for now. 

I pulled out some more smaller projects in hopes of finishing them, and had 3 more finishes to add to the pile!

Stocking ornament by Jane Henderson
stitched 2 over 2 DMC on 28ct scrap evenweave

And a conference one weekend helped me get another finish on yet another Lizzie Kate:
Normal is Just a Setting on the Washer by Lizzie Kate
stitched 2 over 2 with stash threads (WDW, Carrie's, Jodyri)

It was a 2 day conference, so I had time to pull out another WIP as well, and although I didn't get a finish while I was there, I kept up with it and it's complete as well. 
Dragonfly in Flowers Stamp by Sweet Annet
stitched 2 over 1 with kit threads on included wooden framework

This was a mostly enjoyable stitch. The one issue I had, was the white flowers? or stars need to go through the central hole so many times that it got so thick I ended up breaking a needle! So the only one that is correct as charted is in the top right. The rest I just did as 4 stitches. The other backstitch was fine, so if you attempt these, please keep that in mind. The finishing felt comes with the kit and this one is already fully finished as well. 

I was up for something a little more complicated after these finishes, so I pulled out when of the complicated full coverage patterns. This is where it was last time:
and now after 1000 stitches added:
Peacock Infinity Feather by Cross Stitch 4 Everyone
stitched 1 over 1 full cross as charted on 28ct Amethyst Spirit by Chromatic Alchemy

You can definitely tell some stitches were added this time! I believe I have less than 10K to go, so potentially if I can get 1000 stitches in per month, this would be finished somewhat quickly. I'll have to see what I'm up for though. I'd like to keep enjoying the stitching and not feel like it _has_ to get done. 

And for what I've been up to the last few nights, I pulled out a monochrome design to see how far I could get it to a finish. It will look like this eventually:
Samurai by Fire Wing Designs

and last time I worked on it (2021), it was here:
and now:
Samurai by Fire Wing Designs
stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Fire Rooster by Chromatic Alchemy
with Madeira black 

The design is spread over 2 pages and I've completed one full page, and have less than a full page left. I'm going to keep going with this one until it stops being fun or until I finish. I think another finish is definitely possible! 

I hope you've all had good months and are staying well. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch








    

Monday, July 29, 2024

Summer Olympics 2024 WIP Update

I decided to work on a bunch of WIPS over the Olympics. Not necessarily one per day, but I'm trying to get at least 2 hours on each WIP if I can. I don't have any particular order, basically the first one I get to in the case that holds all of them. 

The first one I came to was Winter's Feast, which used to look like this:
and now looks like this:
Winter's Feast by Mill Hill
stitched as charted with kit threads and beads on perforated paper

Next up was one that hasn't been out of the WIP box for a while (2020). It looked like this when I got it out:
and now it's  here:
2009 Santa by Prairie Schooler
stitched 2 over 2 with DMC blanc, 816, and 890
on 28ct Haunted by PTP?

Next up was another Mill Hill kit, I have a few of those on the go! Last time it looked like this:
and now you can see a bit more of the project:
Skating Snowman by Mill Hill
stitched 3 over 3 as charted with kit threads and perforated paper

And there's these little birdhouses by Durene Jones that I started a few years ago and didn't have many stitches then:

and now you can see a bit more of both of them:

Christmas Birdhouse by Durene Jones
stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Monaco
with DMC as charted

And another one from 2020 came up in the WIP pile, it used to look like this:
and I'm posting this photo first because of the ironic mistake I made:
Can you believe it? How could I misspell school?!? Anyway, I couldn't leave it like that, so this is what it looks like now:
Official Snow Guide by Lizzie Kate
stitched 2 over 2 with random stash threads (DD, WDW)

I dug out another "small", because it's not small in 1/4 and 3/4 stitches and very fiddly, but I got quite a bit done. Here's where it was:
and now:
Honest Santa... I Didn't Do It by The Sweetheart Tree
stitched 2 over 2 with charted DMC

And lastly, I picked up this one this morning:
And added almost all of one more colour:
Stocking ornament by Jane Henderson
stitched 2 over 2 as charted
on 28ct scrap evenweave

And that's where I'm at so far. And it's only been 3 and a bit days of Olympics. Of course this was while DH and DD were away one evening and while I was off work, so the next few days probably won't have as much stitching. That's partly why I tried to get a lot done this past weekend. 

Hope you're all enjoying the Olympics, there's been some amazing performances!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch


Late June/July Update

I could have sworn I had a post in July about June stitching, but clearly not. So here are 2 months in one! I will say I had less stitching ...