Sunday, January 21, 2018

Le Quaker a 6 Mains Finish

I’m still plugging away working on my WIP pile. As of yesterday, I’ve completed my fourth project for 2018. That’s the same number I’ve finished over the previous three years combined, so I’m feeling pretty good about my progress! LOL

Design: Le Quaker á 6 Mains
Designer: Broder Ensemble, Le 498, and AMAP (no longer available)
Fibers: Woodland Fantasy by Needle Necessities (no longer avaiable)
Fabric: 28-count Chai Tea Jobelan by Wichelt
Finished: 20 January 2018

I didn’t think to include anything in the photo for scale. The finished stitch area is approximately 16×20″ in 28-count fabric.
I learned a couple of very important lessons with this finish. The first being one should never date their piece until they actually finish it. Yes, this sampler was in my WIP pile for over 10 years. Oops! The second lesson being to be sure and buy more floss than you think you’ll actually need for a project, especially if using an overdyed fiber where dye lots could become an issue. While I didn’t actually run out of floss, I cut it waaaaaaay too close for comfort as is evidenced by this photo of the floss I had leftover when I finished.

Now I’ll be moving on to WIP number five. I’ve decided to work on the Thanksgiving Harvest Fairy kit from Mirabilia. Here was my progress on this design as of the time I picked it up again yesterday.


This was a limited edition kit, so it’s no longer available directly from Mirabilia via Wichelt, but you may still be able to find it at some retailers. A quick Google search revealed that, as of this writing, 1-2-3 Stitch still has it in stock.


Thursday, January 18, 2018

Dance in the Rain Finish

Another day … another finish. It still needs the button (after the word about), but I’ll add that when I’m ready for the final finishing. I’m not sure if I’ll frame this or make it into a pillow.

Design: Dance in the Rain
Designer: Lizzie Kate
Fibers: Various GAST (Gentle Arts Sampler Threads) from my stash
Fabric: 28-count linen (color/manufacturer unknown)
Finished: 17 January 2018

I can’t believe this is already my third finish for 2018. I can’t believe I’ve let all these pieces all sit for so long given how close I was to having them done! It feels really good to finally have them finished!


The project I’ve decided to focus on finishing next is Quaker á 6 Mains. It was a freebie collaboration Quaker sampler from 10+ years ago from Broder Ensemble, Le 498, and AMAP. Unfortunately, I can’t link to it because it’s no longer available. The fabric is 28-count Chai Tea Lugana from Wichelt and the fiber I’m using is Woodland Fantasy from the now defunct Needle Necessities. A comparable substitute would be Fantasy Island from Threadworx.
I am starting to have the itch to start something new, but as I mentioned in my previous post, I’m trying to focus on my WIPs for now. Since I don’t want to bail on that goal, I’ve decided that I will allow myself one new start once I’ve finished five projects. Once I reach that point, I’ll allow myself one new start after three finishes going forward

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Merry & Bright Finish

I’m definitely on a roll with my cross stitching while I’m off on medical leave recovering from my pulmonary embolism. It feels so good to be stitching again. It’s been going so well, I actually have another finish to share. Woo Hoo! Click the photo to see a larger view.

Design: Merry & Bright
Recommended DMC & WDW Fibers
Fabric: 28-count Cashel in Crystal Quartz from Picture This Plus
Finished: 16 January 2018
This was such a fun stitch. I started it in late 2016 when it was initially released, but then set it aside when stitching became more difficult due to vision issues. I had it about 1/3rd finished when I set it aside. It took me about three days of stitching to finish it.  

There is a bonus ornament design included with the chart. I have plenty of fabric to stitch it as well. As tempting as it was to dive right in and stitch it, I’ve decided to hold off and keep plugging away at my old WIPs instead rather than starting something new.

Friday, January 12, 2018

Eiffel Quaker Finish

I know I said last week my goal was to post twice per week on Sunday and Wednesday, then I promptly disappeared for nine days. I have a good reason though! If you follow me on Instagram, you probably know already that I suffered another bilateral pulmonary embolism (blood clots in both lungs) on Sunday and ended up in the hospital. Thankfully, I’m back home and recovering.

I have been taking advantage of my time off work to do some stitching. In fact, it’s even resulted in my first finish of 2018. w00t w00t!

Design: Eiffel Quaker
Designer: Jardin Privé
Recommended DMC Fibers
Fabric: 32-count Jobelan in Brigid from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie
Finished: 12 January 2018

I apologize that it’s so wrinkled. I’m just not quite feeling up to doing any pressing right now.  

If you’re familiar with this chart, you’ll know the date at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower is charted for 1889 which is the year the Eiffel Tower was built. I decided to rechart it as 2014 since that’s the year I went to Paris and saw the Eiffel Tower in person.


I would love to go back again someday. Unfortunately, after suffering two pulmonary embolisms in the past 18 months, I fear my days of international travel may be over.   

I still haven’t gotten around to doing a full inventory of the rest of my WIPs. I would like to get it done sooner rather than later, but just not sure when it will happen now with everything else that’s going on right now.

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

New Year New Stitching

Happy 2018! I managed to get in a bit of stitching on New Year’s Day to kick my stitching year off right. I also watched part of the Harry Potter marathon on HBO which pretty much made a perfect day for me. Rather than starting a new piece on January 1 which has been my habit in the past, I decided to pull out one of my WIPs instead since they’ve all been neglected for far too long.


The WIP I selected is Eiffel Quaker from Jardin Privé. I'm stitching it using the recommended DMC fibers. The fabric I selected is a 32 count Brigid Jobelan from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie.

I'm kind of out of the habit of taking stitching photos, so I didn't think to take the one above until after I had been stitching for about an hour or so. Here's another photo I took at the end of the evening to show the progress I made. It's not a whole lot, but it's far more than I've made in a long time, so I'm thrilled! My hope/plan is to finish the vase/flower motif I stopped with last night while I watch TV tonight. If I get that done and still have time, I'll work on the inside of the larger half motif to the right.


2018 Stitching Plans

I still need to pull out all of my WIPs and go through them to see what I've got going. It's kind of sad to realize it's been so long since I've stitched regularly that I don't actually even remember what I've got started. Oops!

I would like to make some significant progress on the WIPs I already have going. However, since many of them are BAPs, I may pick up and start a few smalls to work on initially just to help get me back into the swing of stitching so I don't get completely overwhelmed. One design I picked up recently from Bobbie at Stitching Bits & Bobs which might be a contender is the Coffee Time chart from Lizzie*Kate.

I've started a current WIPs page which includes all of my current works in progress. I've also created another page showing everything I have fully kitted at the moment as well as two pages for all my finishes. The first is for tracking my finishes for the current year and the second is for tracking all of my older finishes, dating all the way back to 2005. That's when I started tracking all of my stitching in a spreadsheet. As I complete my WIPs, they'll be moved to the current year's Finishes page. Whenever a new year rolls around, I'll move the previous year's Finishes from the current finishes over to the archived finishes page. I hope that makes sense.