Here we are almost at the middle of May and I've just gotten the chance to sit down and share my projects from April - I was so busy stitching last weekend that I didn't think about blogging until after the weekend ended.
As always, there was lots going on in April. It started with a stitching retreat, we had prom in the middle, and it ended with a quick work trip and some speedy stitching. I barely touched my sewing machine all month, but I have lots of stitching to share. My goal for the month was to get down to 5 WIPs by the end of the month. I enjoy StitchMaynia in the month of May and work on 5 WIPs and 5 new starts and it is always nice to be at 5 WIPs so that I can put some time in each one. I started the month with 11 WIPs and managed a new start, so let's see how the finishes went.
My first finish was from the 2024 Nashville Needlework Market cookbook. It is filled with recipes and stitching patterns and I thought it would be fun to stitch something from it for my retreat exchange piece. I am calling this one Stitching Hoop, although it doesn't have a name in the book. The pattern is from The Black Needle Society and I stitched it on 28 count Monaco that I dyed. I used almost all of the called for threads and I really like how it turned out. This also became the first of my two FFOs for the year, as it had to be finished for the exchange. I cut a circle of mat board, covered it with batting and then laced the stitching around it. That was then mounted to a wooden circle with some trim in the middle. I like how it turned out and I might find myself stitching this one again.
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"Stitching Hoop" by The Black Needle Society
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My second finish was at my retreat - it's always fun to finish a piece at a retreat where you can share it with other stitchers. This is Spring from the Hands on Design Mad for Plaid series - such a fun stitch. It is stitched on 32 count Charcoal Lugana with the called for Cosmo threads. This is the first time I've worked with Cosmo and I really like it. I plan to stitch the other three seasons as well and have the finishing piece to mount them on.
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| Mad for Plaid Spring by Hands on Design |
My next finish is a piece I started for StitchMaynia last year - My Forest by T.A. Smith Designs. This piece caught my eye when I saw it in the sale bin at an LNS and I thought it would be so pretty stitched with a variegated thread. I chose Waterlilies silk in the colorway Emerald. You can see that the color changes quite a bit between different pieces of thread and I tried to balance it out across the design. Those first cuts from the skein (on the left) were certainly darker than the next few, so the design gets a bit lighter as you move to the right. I like the way it looks and plan to finish this one as a (late) wedding present. I just need to add initials and the wedding date to the piece, then I will get it FFO'ed and sent off to a bride and groom who I know appreciate hand work. I stitched this one on 36 count Antique White linen (from my stash!!) with one strand.
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| My Forest by TA Smith Designs |
My fourth finish for the month is also an FFO - my daughter found this design over the holidays when she was home and asked me to stitch it for her. It is Harry Styles by Space Cat Cross Stitch Patterns. I used almost a full skein of DMC blanc for the white pants! This pose is from one of Harry's album covers. I finished it up a week before her birthday and then found a finishing piece over the weekend. I was on a mad dash to get it fully finished and in the mail to her and it arrived the day before her birthday. She took a video of herself opening her birthday presents since we weren't with her and I love the expressions she made as she opened it. It is stitched on Forbidden Fiber Co 28 count Vintage Poinsettia lugana (I LOVED this fabric!) with the called for DMC threads.
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| Harry Styles by Space Cat Cross Stitch Patterns |
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| My daughter's reaction to her Harry :) |
Once Harry was finished, I started on the next closest project and stitched away on it for 5 days in a row to get it to a finish. This was an impromptu start in early December of a pattern I've had in my stash since the early 2000's. I had the charms and found another piece of fabric from my stash that would work for this one (hooray for finding fabric in the stash!). Charmed Dash Away All is a Hinzeit pattern and is stitched on 28 count Antique White linen. I used mostly the called for threads, but subbed out a few to look better on my fabric. The biggest change I made was shadowing the letters in a light green instead of the called for ecru, which really didn't show up on my fabric. At the end of the stitching, I attached the charms which are little bells on each Reindeer's harness. I really like how this turned out and have a finishing piece for it, so hope it will be a finish before this holiday season.  |
| Charmed Dash Away All by Hinzeit |
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| Close up/Side view so you can see the charms and shadowing in the letters |
My last WIP to work on was my birthday start last year - Blue Bird Sampler by Bent Creek. I struggled with this one at the beginning because the called for colors didn't work well on the fabric I chose, but I made some adjustments and simplified the color palette and I am happy with the end result. It's hard to see, but there are specialty stitches between the rows of alphabet letters - they were my favorite part of the chart! I stitched this with a mix of called for colors and my own selections on 32 count Amber Waves lugana - loved this fabric too, I think lugana is my favorite. It is hard to see in this picture, but the fabric is a lovely gold tone.
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| Blue Bird Sampler by Bent Creek |
Phew, that got my down to 5 WIPs and I still had a few days to end the month. I decided to try to squeeze in an ornament so that I'd have a third one for the year finished and I did it! Merry Christmas Stocking is from the 2018 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments issue. I had a perfectly sized scrap of fabric (28 count Jobelan) and picked a red sulky thread. It was a fun and quick stitch and I finished it in the nick of time on the 30th of April!
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| Merry Christmas Stocking by Ursula Michaels |
I will sneak in a few non-stitching pics as well - we started the month with retreat and then the solar eclipse and both were really fun. We were in the zone of totality for the eclipse and it was such an amazing experience.  |
| Retreat attendees ready to stitch! |
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| Goofing around during the eclipse |
My son had his Junior prom - it was so fun to see him all dressed up. He had a great time with his girlfriend and friends at the prom. He said he really likes dressing up when all the clothes fit - haha - hard to do when you are 6'3" and skinny!
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| They make a cute couple |
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| Looking sharp for prom |
My son also had his last orchestra competition for the year - they did really well and were awarded a gold. I really enjoy watching them play - it is amazing how talented this group of high schoolers is.
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| Orchestra Competition |
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| Three amigos/goofballs who enjoy being in orchestra together |
I am still tracking my stitching days, fabric usage and FFOs, so here are the stats at the end of April:
27/30 days with crafting time - some stitching, some crocheting, a tiny bit of quilt/sewing = 90% of the time
Fabric added this month: 0 yards
Fabric used this month: 2 7/8 yards (2 backs, cut sashing for a quilt WIP)
Fabric added year to date: 0 yards
Fabric used year to date: 6 yards
Net fabric used: 6 yards
FFO Challenge Tracking:
Stitching projects: +7 finishes, -2 FFOs = 41 finishes waiting to be FFO'ed
Quilting projects: +0 new quilt tops/WIPs, -0 finishes = 9 quilts waiting to be finished
Hope you all had a nice April with some sunshine and stitching. Thanks as always for reading my blog and special thanks to those who leave a comment.
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