January Update

Here we are, almost a month into the new year, and as often happens, I've been able to get a fair bit of stitching in. We'll see how it goes, but I hope to continue on this year and at least keep up with one SAL I signed up for. 

Here's the update on the Starry Night full coverage blackwork SAL:

Starry Night SAL Parts 1-4 by Urban Stitches

stitched 1 or 2 over 1 as charted with charted threads on white 28ct Monaco?

It's not too late to join this one if you're interested, it's been an interesting project so far. You can't use pattern keeper or anything like that since it's all black work, but so far working each square as it comes out has kept me up-to-date, and kept it from becoming too overwhelming. There's a facebook group that's very helpful if people are having trouble. 

So far, the predominant colour is DMC 312. I think you need 5 skeins or so. There's also lots of DMC 799 and only 20 or so colours all told. DD was looking at my stitching and guessed it was Starry Night before I told her, so it seems to have a good resemblance. I took this photo with the scissors so you could have an idea of it's size so far. The SAL is going to be 2 years I think, so it's going to be big. There are a few weeks off over the year, so there's not a new pattern every single week during that time period. 

Without conscious intention, I happened upon what might be a good pattern of stitching throughout the year. I finished Week 1 of the SN SAL, then picked up a small WIP and finished it!

2009 Santa by Prairie Schooler 

stitched 2 over 2 with DMC blanc, 816, and 890

on 28ct Haunted by PTP

This was overdue a finish, it was started in November 2020, and now it's complete. Possibly a flat fold would be a good finish to have it out for the Christmas season? 

That took up most of the remaining week before week 2 came out, and then I worked on another WIP and finished it as well!

Winter's Feast by Mill Hill

stitched as charted with kit threads, beads and perforated paper

One of the smaller Mill Hills I have, and nice to have it finished. It should be fairly simple to finish with some felt and make it into an ornament for next Christmas. 

Then with week 3 I pulled out something that was still on the Qsnaps from November and December, Witch's Gate, started June 2020. Last time you saw it, it looked like this:

    

and now, after a few more days:

Witch's Gate by Whispered by the Wind

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Mirage by PTP

with DMC 167, 738, 3823 and 3866 as changes to the original colours

In case I didn't make it obvious, I worked on 2 smaller WIPs the first 2 weeks of the month and a larger WIP the 3rd week. I'll keep Witch's Gate out for the rest of this month as well. That will make my stitching schedule:

1st week of the month - finish Starry Night SAL first, then work on small WIP

2nd week of the month - finish Starry Night SAL first, then work on small WIP

3rd week of the month - finish Starry Night SAL first, then work on larger WIP

4th week of the month - finish Starry Night SAL first, then work on same larger WIP

Any extra days can be anything, plus there will be some knitting in there too. There hasn't been too much recently, just a little colourwork on a cowl that is going to take me a while. 

Very Merry MKAL by Claire Slade

And that's my month so far. I hope you've all had good months and are staying healthy with this colder weather. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

Summer Olympics 2024 WIP Update

I decided to work on a bunch of WIPS over the Olympics. Not necessarily one per day, but I'm trying to get at least 2 hours on each WIP if I can. I don't have any particular order, basically the first one I get to in the case that holds all of them. 

The first one I came to was Winter's Feast, which used to look like this:

and now looks like this:

Winter's Feast by Mill Hill

stitched as charted with kit threads and beads on perforated paper

Next up was one that hasn't been out of the WIP box for a while (2020). It looked like this when I got it out:

and now it's  here:

2009 Santa by Prairie Schooler

stitched 2 over 2 with DMC blanc, 816, and 890

on 28ct Haunted by PTP?

Next up was another Mill Hill kit, I have a few of those on the go! Last time it looked like this:

and now you can see a bit more of the project:

Skating Snowman by Mill Hill

stitched 3 over 3 as charted with kit threads and perforated paper

And there's these little birdhouses by Durene Jones that I started a few years ago and didn't have many stitches then:

and now you can see a bit more of both of them:

Christmas Birdhouse by Durene Jones

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Monaco

with DMC as charted

And another one from 2020 came up in the WIP pile, it used to look like this:

and I'm posting this photo first because of the ironic mistake I made:

Can you believe it? How could I misspell school?!? Anyway, I couldn't leave it like that, so this is what it looks like now:

Official Snow Guide by Lizzie Kate

stitched 2 over 2 with random stash threads (DD, WDW)

I dug out another "small", because it's not small in 1/4 and 3/4 stitches and very fiddly, but I got quite a bit done. Here's where it was:

and now:

Honest Santa... I Didn't Do It by The Sweetheart Tree

stitched 2 over 2 with charted DMC

And lastly, I picked up this one this morning:

And added almost all of one more colour:

Stocking ornament by Jane Henderson

stitched 2 over 2 as charted

on 28ct scrap evenweave

And that's where I'm at so far. And it's only been 3 and a bit days of Olympics. Of course this was while DH and DD were away one evening and while I was off work, so the next few days probably won't have as much stitching. That's partly why I tried to get a lot done this past weekend. 

Hope you're all enjoying the Olympics, there's been some amazing performances!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch