So what have you been up to lately?
I’m so glad you asked. Here’s what I’ve been up to:
Mystic Christmas, 10/2/14 – 12/24/14
I started this back in October (when I should have been working on Something Wicked), and here we are. A few stitching marathons later, I finished this last night with one whole hour to spare before Christmas. That means I’m ahead of the game compared to last year, when I finished Gingerbread Lane the day after Christmas.
Much as I love this pattern and much as I enjoyed stitching it, we have a few lessons learned. This is without question the most complicated pattern I’ve ever attempted, so that’s to be expected.
1. Never will I ever stitch over one thread. Linen was not designed to stitch over one. I know some people do it; I don’t know how they don’t go nuts. The lettering, compass rose, and cameo are stitched over one, and the floss kept sliding between the fabric threads. I generally stitch in hand using the sewing method, but that does not fly in this case. Suddenly one stitch takes four times longer than I’m used to, which is how that wee little cameo took over six and a half hours to finish.
2. Get better scissors if you’re going to keep doing hardanger. If you look really, really, really closely, the cutouts look a little ragged. And then of course there’s the spot where I snipped one thread too far. It was really hard to cut those sections cleanly without nicking the satin stitches. I was using my regular embroidery scissors. They’re okay, but they’re not great. Not for this.
3. Silk is deeeelightful. I already knew that, but it’s worth reiterating. So nice to stitch with.
Just for kicks, I timed this one. Just shy of 60 hours. Wow. Still, it’s good to have a benchmark.
So what’s next? WIPocalypse kicks off again in January. We all remember how timely I was with those posts last year (ha!), but I’m going to give it another try. Keep an eye on my WIPocalypse page for my updated stash. Um, I have a lot of stash to work through, and it’s only marginally organized. And really, who has a stash that’s more than marginally organized?
For reals though, if anyone has any tips for stash organization, please give a shout down below.
Stitch All Day 