IHSW in March

I'm a little late with my IHSW post but I did get some stitching done over the weekend.  I started and finished Just a Little Flaky from Val's Stuff.

 

Snowmen always make me smile and this little guy is no exception.  Except for the white thread, I totally disregarded the designer's thread colors/fabric and chose what was handy.


I finished another ornament before IHSW for the Halloween ornie SAL.  The subject for March is owls/crows.  I picked a pattern from the 2013 JCS Halloween issue that caught my eye the very first time I saw it.  But because it's on black fabric, I hesitated to stitch it.  However, I reasoned that since it's small I would try stitching it anyway ... Owl-O-Ween from Blackberry Lane Designs.

 

He's on a 28 ct black even weave using mostly DMC threads.  I was originally going to stitch him 2 over 2 but was having problems seeing so switched to 1 over 1 with better success.  I'm not sure why this works but I'm learning that 1 over 1 with my magnifier often works better for me.  I prefer a long stitch on the back so the threads don't disappear on the front.

 

Amazing ... that's 2 projects on black fabric now.  I guess it's not so bad after all.

 

  

 

 

 

March's Gifted Gorgeousness

I'm  a day late for the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL  mainly because my weekend was so busy doing non-stitching stuff.  But better late than never ....

To begin, I put the pretty pansy in it's frame and gave it to my friend (that took care of my Saturday).
 

I also started a DMC kit I received in an online exchange.  This is what it will look like

 

 

and this is where I stopped

Now it isn't going to look exactly like the finished picture because I substituted the mint green aida fabric with 35 ct white linen.  Even though I don't usually stitch on Aida, I wanted to use what came with the kit because it was such a pretty color.  Unfortunately, there was a nasty crease right smack dab in the middle of the Aida and no matter what I tried, it proved to be permanent.   Because I changed the fabric, I had to change the yellow thread to a slightly stronger shade for it to show up.  There is virtually no fear of running out of thread since I'm using 1 strand instead of the called for 2 (unless something horrible happens).  I'm not sure I like the light green of the butterfly because it matches the blue square so closely.  I may rip it all out and pick another darker green and restitch it.  I really like the soft pastels of this project ... perfect for Spring.

Switching seasons now to Autumn, I have Nevermore almost finished for the upcoming birthday gift.  It would be almost completely finished if I hadn't stitched the moonface about 5 threads to the left.  Of course I didn't notice until it was finished and I tried to add the 'hair' to it.  Rip, rip, rip :(



That's it for the Gift Gorgeousness update but there's more to report.  This time we switch to Christmas and my Santa for this year.  I decided to start on him early because I'm stitching him on black fabric (my least favorite to stitch on).  I was afraid if I didn't start early, I wouldn't get him done in time.  This is another kit with Aida.  Again I switched out the Aida for linen but this time I dyed my own black fabric.  I picked linen because I reasoned it has larger 'holes' and might be easier to stitch.  I used black Rit dye with salt, heat, crumpled and stirred the linen and let it set for over 4 hours.  I thought I would get a nice solid black piece of linen.  What I got wasn't solid, but mostly black with a dark purple cast in bright light.  Hmmm.  After letting it set for a couple days I decided I liked it and wouldn't try to get the solid black coverage. 

 

Here's what Santa will look like

 

 

 

And here's where he is so far

 

You can't really see the purple cast to the fabric in this picture ... well, maybe (?) a bit near the lighter areas.  Anyway, the really, really great part about this is that I'm having absolutely no problems stitching on this black fabric.  Woohoo!  In fact, I didn't want to put him down for another project.  Perhaps I'll stitch on black fabric more often now.

Happy St. Paddy's day everyone!

 

 

 

 

WIPocalypse update for March's full moon

Of course the big news was finishing Mary Wigham but I was too excited to wait a couple days to post her pics for March's WIPocalypse update.  If you want to see Miss Mary in all her glory, just check out my previous post.  And yes, I'm still grinning and dancing.

I did a little stitching on Autumn Log Cabin this month and I am now officially around the corner.  I'm slowly getting closer to finishing this one.

And then I picked up Rosewood Manor's Tulip Sampler (an attempt to drag Spring back to Pennsylvania ... ugh!  will the snow ever go away?).  Another square done and the beginnings of a second one.  Not too shabby ;)

And finally, The Great Pumpkin Conspiracy has 4 new leaves and another bird.  Without actually counting stitches, I'm guessing this one is a little under half finished.  I think I'm going to get off the ground and move to the sky next time I pick this one up.

This is the first time I've tried a stitching rotation with so many projects.  It's going well so far and definitely keeping my interest.  It's a relatively informal rotation.  I didn't set an amount of time to stitch each piece or a particular day for a project or whatever.  Instead, I made a chart of the projects I wanted to work on this year and the months.  As I work on a project that month, I put a checkmark next to it (which makes me happy).   I stitch on the larger pieces for a day or 2 or 3 or whatever before switching.  While the smaller ornaments are stitched until finished.  Easy peasy pumpkin pie :)

I'm looking forward to the time change this weekend ... it'll be great having more daylight in the evenings.  Surely Spring can't be too far behind.

 

It's official ....

MARY WIGHAM IS  FINISHED!

Not only is she finished but she's cleaned, pressed and ready for her photo shoot.

 

 Big smiles and major happy dancin' going on here!