Flowers in a Window

It turns out that you can have a whole lot of fun with a free pattern, some thrifted aida, and a couple of skeins of ecru floss. 

The chart is Flowers in a Window by Stone Street Stitchworks and it's a free download.

Remember Ripe Apples?

One of my goals for the next few months is to tackle my pile of UFOs. The projects that I'm still actively working on are fine. So are the ones I started and then set aside for a while because there are only so many hours in a day. 

The ones I've set my sights on are the ones that I abandoned because something went wrong. With Ripe Apples, it was the basket and  the stitches I'd left unstitched. With so many similar shades of brown and green, it was the hedgehogs all over again. 

I know that I'll keep making mistakes, but maybe I can learn from them and not do the same dumb thing over and over. It's easier to do the confetti stitching if you don't leave random bits of it scattered here there and everywhere then have to compare your stitches to the chart and figure out what color they're supposed to be.

Those missing stitches on the apples that I saw as soon as I imported the pictures? Those are stitched white highlights that are supposed to be there. I double checked.

Finding a Way Through It....

"Acceptance doesn't mean resignation. It means understanding that something is what it is and there's got to be a way through it." The quote is from Michael J. Fox and Michelle from Bendy Stitchy Designs created the sampler as part of a fundraiser for Parkinson's back in January. The things we're trying to get through have changed since I bought the chart, and changed since I started stitching the chart, and I'm sure they'll change again before I'm finished. 

I'm still here, still stitching and knitting and making plans for quilts. I've finished some things but I haven't worked up the energy and enthusiasm to take pictures and write posts. A little bit of it is on my Instagram feed, but there are more projects I've finished and tucked into drawers and forgotten. 

I've got pictures of my daughter's new house to show you -- she bought a time capsule house complete with a rotary phone on the kitchen wall and all the 1970s decor from my childhood and then immediately brought things up to date because nobody  wants matted shag green carpet that's still holding almost fifty years of cigarette smoke. 

I wrecked the minivan and a couple of weeks later my son in law totaled their new car on the same exact stretch of highway. No people were hurt, but we all hate deer now. And we're not too fond of whoever sideswiped their brand new car in the grocery store parking lot and took off.

We're still here, still healthy, and I'm trying to find a way back into the rhythm of posting on the blog.

I Stitched A Goose in a Dress

Or maybe she's a duck. If you'd asked me last year I'd have told you that the last thing on earth I wanted to stitch was a goose....but I'd never seen a goose like this one by Barbara Ana Designs.

Pattern: The Key by Barbara Ana Designs 

I love the patterns with animals in dresses, but this is the best dress ever, with its great colors and geometric details. I started her for Maynia and got a corner of the dress done before moving on to something else because it was the next day and time to switch. A while later, I did some more stitching on the dress, but I was missing one of the shades of floss that I needed and wasn't feeling all that motivated... Then two nights ago the stitching bug bit hard.

Over the course of two evenings I went from "part of the dress is done" to having it completely finished. How long do you think it will take me to finish the fox?

If you enjoy huge single color samplers (or think you might), head over to Long Dog Samplers and download Pandemic. It's free for the next couple of days and absolutely amazing. I've been debating which of their samplers I might want to tackle and I guess this is the one.  It's got birds and flowers and a ton of amazing detail and I'm just deluded enough to think that I might be able to stitch it.

Ecru Embroidery Floss on Navy Aida

Who would have guessed that I could be so happy stitching with a single color of embroidery floss? Definitely not me! 

After finishing Lobster Bouquet, I switched back to Flowers in a Window, a free download from Stone Street Stitchworks. It's amazing how much fun you can have with a piece of thrifted navy aida and a couple of skeins of ecru DMC.

This one is trickier and I've had to break out the highlighter because one flower or sprig of leaves is easy to mistake for another while I'm looking back and forth from the chart to the fabric.

There's definitely a big single color project in my stitching future, if I can just make up my mind which one. Long Dog Samplers and Ink Circles both have a lot of tempting possibilities.

Lobster Bouquet

I absolutely adore this little piece! 

The pattern is Lobster Bouquet, a free download from Ink Circles. The fabric is something I bought with a coupon at Hobby Lobby. The floss is DMC #304.

This was my eighth Stitch Maynia start for this year and I kept picking it up again until it was finished. It's so addictive just to do one more flower petal or swirl or lobster claw.

I've been wanting to tackle a single color project by Long Dog Samplers. I thought I'd enjoy it, but after stitching this, I'm thoroughly convinced!

Ten Days into Stitch Maynia 2020

My plan was to post every day or two and show all of my new starts with all of the details. Obviously that isn't happening so far. 

But actually stitching is more important than writing about and photographing the stitching, right? I've been stitching a lot since the first of May....

That's nine starts in the first nine days, despite a low level three day migraine that I'm still trying to shake. I'm eager to keep working on most of these and trying to figure out what to start each day is keeping me from obsessing over masks and lock downs and how uncertain the future feels.

So I'll take that as a win, and  try to update more frequently as the days pass.

The projects are:

Mad Bluebird by Bucilla
Stitching ABC by Design Works
Stitching Lessons by Riolis 
Dollhouse Hutch by Bucilla 
Flowers in a Window by Stone Street Stitchworks (free download) 
Window With Magpie by Riolis 
Lobster Bouquet by Ink Circles  (free download) 
Thimbelina the Needlework Fairy by Lynne Nicoletti

Stitch Maynia 2020

Stitch Maynia has finally started and on day six  I already have six of my possible thirty one starts. I'm extremely happy about that, but not quite happy and motivated enough to lay them all out and take pictures and fight with the photo editing software. There will be pictures soon. 

This is the first project, on the first day. I've picked him up three more times since then and made more progress and I'm absolutely loving this angry little bird. Isn't he the perfect quarantine stitching? 

The kit is Mad Bluebird by Bucilla. I picked him up at the thrift store because he was dirt cheap and looked like he might be be fun to stitch someday. Apparently that time has come. With the craft stores and thrift stores and estate sales either closed or off limits right now, I'm very grateful that I've had so many supplies and kits stashed for so long. It would take years for me to make a sizable dent, but I've got lots of choices and possibilities and Maynia is giving me a fantastic excuse to start a bunch of things.

I Apparently Don't Know How Bats Work -- But I Stitched One

I stitched a thing... 

The pattern is Self Isolating Bat, and it's a free download from Night Spirit Studio. (And I just saw while copying the URL that there's now a plague nurse -- imagine Florence Nightengale, with the beaked mask. I totally know what I'm starting tonight!)

I stole the fabric from a Dimensions kit to use for my bat, but that's okay because it had a big slub in the middle and I was going to have to replace it anyway. The full coverage project would have probably covered up the flaw, but I'm not doing that much work when it would be so inexpensive to replace it with a better piece of fabric and remove the risk entirely.

And apparently I don't know how bats work. Every single time I picked up this pattern I found myself holding it upside down.

Have you heard of #bewellandstitch? A whole bunch of designers have made up free patterns to keep out fingers and minds busy while we're self isolating. Keepsakes has a bunch listed on their facebook page, or you can  find a lot using the hashtag on instagram or googling. If there's a comprehensive list, I haven't found it yet. But I have found literally dozens of patterns to print and add to my plans.

House of Roses

I stitched a thing and it turns out that I absolutely love red aida. Or maybe it's just this hunk of red aida that I must've picked up at a thrift store or estate sale.  The pattern is House of Roses, a freebie I stumbled across and printed out with the plan that I'd start stitching it for Maynia. 

A week or two ago, I started seeing all of the Be Well and Stitch patterns and they motivated me to start something new and this was still on the printer because I don't print things often....

I started with a partial skein of  white floss left over from Camp Crystal Lake and when that ran out I pulled out a partial skein from the project bag where I'm still keeping the Emerald City SAL. Then I finally dug out a full skein.

Turns out you can make something pretty nifty with a piece of thrifted fabric and some leftover floss an a pattern you found online...

Confetti Stitching Tips

I've fallen into a happy rhythm where the confetti stitching is just working.  It's as fiddly and time consuming as always, but I can see my progress and the more bits of blank aida that get covered up -- even if it's only with a few stitches at at time -- the more I fall in love with this project. 

A few people have asked me for tips on how I do this type of stitching, so here they are...

• Grid your fabric.
• Make sure that you have all of the colors you need and, if possible, keep them in order. It really helps!
• Stitch landmarks (the edges of buildings, tree branches, they eye sockets of skulls....whatever part of the project is easy to figure out) first and use them to keep track of where on the chart and fabric you're working
• Be patient! Projects with lots of colors take longer, but they're definitely worth the extra effort. 

 

A Flying Monkey, Oz the Great and Terrible, and Part of a Hot Air Balloon

Is it weird to describe the Emerald City SAL as a quick stitch? Now that I've settled into it, I can get a part of the pattern done in a couple of evenings of stitching. They're not short evenings, but still -- it's visible progress that's happening quickly. 

I got most of the monkey done in one night, the rest of the monkey and all of the wizard done another afternoon and evening, and the hot air balloon (which looked like a lot of stitching before I actually sat down and worked on it) took two short stitching sessions.

Hopefully, I can get the last clue done in the upcoming week, although just by typing that I've probably jinxed myself.

Riolis SAL Update -- It's a Leaf!

That slightly blobby green thing to the upper left is a leaf. It's reassuring to know what I'm actually stitching and to be working in a  color that's different enough from its neighbors to help me keep track of where I'm stitching. 

I cant wait to stitch my way up to the orange and the grapes.  Please don't ask me why those sound exciting to stitch, because I have no earthly idea.

If you want to see everyone else's progress, check the posts over on Instagram at #riolissal. And use the hashtag yourself if you're working on a Riolis kit that you'd like to show off.

Peer Pressure and the Emerald City SAL

Some members of the PNW Stitchers recently decided to do the Emerald City SAL together and once I started seeing their pictures I remembered how much fun I was having with it before the end of the year. It was just the kick in the pants I needed to pull my own neglected piece out of its project bag. 

I've been worried about what would happen once I finished the towers. They only use three shades of floss and I knew that going back to sections with more color changes was going to be harder. Not hard because this thing is easy-peasy, but it would be harder than the towers....

So I gave myself permission to jump ahead to the next section and stitch the Wicked Witch. At the end of the evening, she was done. 

Now I need to decide whether to finish the towers (someone who's read the book recently enough, please remind me -- did the Great and Terrible Oz have a castle? What am I supposed to call this thing?) or stitch the flying monkey, which is super cute.

With only three parts left to go, I could actually finish this soon! 

Back Stitching As I Go

I'm ridiculously in love with European Bistro and the more I stitch the harder it is to put down. 

There are going to be miles and miles of back stitching, but if I work on it as I go, it shouldn't be too bad. Just look at that fancy lettering and how much it adds to the piece!

Stitching Along the Roofline

I'm starting to remember what I loved so much about stitching buildings. They have edges and corners that make it easy to keep track of where I'm stitching. 

I haven't looked at the entire chart, but what I've done so far makes me wonder if this is going to be an easy project that just happens to have sixty-seven thousand or so stitches.

Riolis Stitch Along

I've been collecting Riolis cross stitch kits for almost two years. Or maybe hoarding -- it's all in how you choose to define things. I've also completed four of them in that time, so I'm not worried at all about finishing (or not finishing) the rest.

People collect all kinds of things and I'm not going to feel bad about collecting these. Wouldn't it have been nice if I'd given in to the temptation to collect the Thomas Kinkade Disney Dreams kits before they all suddenly became unavailable? Those are currently selling for hundreds of dollars on ebay.

I'll stick with what I actually do have in my stash. A couple of weeks ago, an Instagram follower asked if I knew of any Riolis stitch alongs. I hadn't heard of any and couldn't find one when I searched (except for the hedgehog SAL, which was specific and more focused on hedgies than on the Riolis kit so many of us were working on).

So let's start one! I'm planning on opening up this kit, because I'm still unreasonably obsessed with that wheel of cheese and peeled orange.

If you want to join us, just use the hashtag #riolissal on Instagram or wherever else you post your progress pictures. And leave a comment to let me know you'll be stitching along with us!

Stitching Something New

I gave myself permission to start one of the kits I got for Christmas now instead of waiting four months until Maynia....

I've been coveting European Bistro forever and I suspected that I wouldn't want to put it down once I took the plunge and started it.  As I type this late Saturday night, my eyes are a little blurry from all of the gridding so I only managed a little bit of actual stitching, but I'm excited to do more in the morning.

Confetti Stitching

This week, I'm enjoying the challenge of confetti stitching. While that lasts, I'll see how much progress I can make on Ripe Apples and Pyramid of Skulls.  

The weave of the basket and the shading of the skulls are both extremely fiddly and the skull chart uses lots of similar symbols, which adds to the...what's the word I want... Challenge?  Tedium?

It's actually feeling like I could finish both of these, if this confetti stitching mood doesn't pass first. Either way, I'm not stressing over it.

Hedgehogs in Lingonberries

I guess we can hang it on the wall while I search for the perfect frame. I'm still loving the idea of a round one. 

Kit: Hedgehogs in Lingonberries, by Riolis 

The back stitching was tedious (and I was tempted to skip most of it) but it definitely paid off. My prickly little hedgehogs are actually prickly looking. And their little noses look like actual hedgehog noses! In most of the patterns I've seen, they don't.