The Land of Not-Quite-Finished Projects Part 1

Like most stitchers, I have a box full of not-quite-finished projects. We all have them - projects that we've finished stitching but haven't framed or made into anything.

With me, there's the pile that I will get framed at some point, like the Four Queens, Fairy Idyll, Edith Wolford. I just don't currently have the funds to do so, but I'll catch up at some point.

Then there's all the other pieces that I no doubt stitched with some purpose, but never did anything with them other than store for a later time. I thought I'd share some, so I'm starting a "Land of Not-Quite-Finished" series. Some of them I will perhaps do something with; others will never do anything but sit in the box until I give them away or toss them out.

I'll start with this lovely teacup:





This is the first piece that I ever completed on evenweave as opposed to Aida, circa 1995-ish. I'd tried a project on linen previously and has nothing but problems with it and gave it up. Some time after that I decided to do a small project and just muscle through it, hence this teacup. It was really what I needed to do; I've been stitching on evenweaves/linens ever since.

Six Flower Pots and a Gate

....down, eighteen flower pots and three gates to go.


Obviously, I got a little work done on Knotgarden over last weekend.


I actually am out of one of the floss colors (a medium pink) so I still have to fill that in once I make a floss run.

Old Finds = New Projects

As I've mentioned, I've been packing to move and having a good junk-out of stuff. I had boxes and boxes of crafty type stuff that I went through and inevitably, found a couple of long forgotten in progress projects. Some I packed all the materials together for and put them in the Goodwill box - perhaps they'll find homes with someone who would like to finish them. Some others, I threw out.

I did scavenge two projects that I will add into rotation and finish (at some point anyway).

First up: Purple Perfection from Silver Lining.


I know what happened with this project - same problems I had with Edith Wolford. Many of the colors are VERY similar and there's a LOT of confetti stitching. I did a little work on it, and realized I couldn't keep track of the colors, so I put it away. I have since come up with some strategies since to make this type of stitching a lot easier (carding floss and recarding cut floss; working on one 10x10 chart square at a time), so I'll get back to this piece now. I am going to frog all of what was stitched (you can see it's not very much), and start fresh on it. Purple Perfection is on 32 count antique white lugana and uses a combination of DMC and Anchor floss.

Purple Perfection will have to go to the end of the Silver Lining project line, since I kitted up Broadway as part of the recent stash haul and my last finish was another purple (and orange) iris, Edith Wolford.

Next up: "Floral Boutique Pillow" fromJust Cross Stitch August 1998



This is about 30% of the way finished. The fabric is a little soiled, so I'll need to wash it before I do anymore stitching - I want to make sure I can get it clean before I invest any more time in it. I do like the pattern though. I always intended this to be a pillow top, and it's being worked on 16 count Aida so it's a little more sturdy of a fabric. This will probably just go to the bottom of the "to do" pile; I may still pack it up and give it away.

I realize now that I've got the picture uploaded that I have the piece positioned incorrectly - it's on it's side rather than right side up. Oops!

Stash...and then some!

So I opted to have a little (ha!) stash blow out at the end of the year, and some of the backordered goodies just came in.

I just spent a very pleasant hour cutting fabric to size and assigning the various pieces to projects, getting them together with their patterns and threads and beads as I have them. Some of the leftover pieces of fabrics have already been assigned elsewhere.

So here's what I ended up getting:

There's always a few new patterns being brought into the mix. I got Christmas Elegance, Rose Celebration, Venetian Opulence, and Enchanted Mermaid ~ all Mirabilias, of course. I also got a couple new Silver Linings: Scene Stealer (another iris) and two of the Bed of Roses series, The Brilliant and The Royal.

I kitted up the following projects:

*Wood Warblers I and II from Crossed Wing Collection. Both are bellpulls to be done on 28 count (cashel) cream linen, plus all the floss.
*Broadway by Silver Lining. This is a fabulous rose, and will be done on 32 count (belfast) antique white linen, plus all the floss. (got 1/2 yard of fabric so there is leftover for another project)
*My Sweet Rose by Artecy. A reproduction of one of my favorite paintings by Waterhouse - I got 20 count ivory Aida since none of the background shows, and all of the floss. (got 1/2 yard of fabric so there is leftover for another project)
*Garden Verses by Mirabilia, to be done on an 32 count (belfast) apricot linen, and all the floss and beads. (got 1/2 yard of fabric so there is leftover for another project)
*Scarlet Ribands by Long Dog Samplers. I'm trying some silks from Hand Dyed Fibers for this and will work it on 38 count (edinborough) antique white linen. (got 1/2 yard of fabric so there is leftover for another project)

I also picked up some additional beads and metallics for already in-progress projects, plus a bunch of needles and other necessities.

I had a 20% off the entire order coupon from Michael's so I went there for floss. So when you're picking up 400+ skeins of floss AND the cashier has to ring them up individually, you end up spending a LONG time waiting LOL Fortunately I had a chatty cashier with a great attitude, so we had a long discussion about various things, and they opened another register so no one got stuck behind me. Did I mention that the register also has to take 20% off EACH item individually as well with that coupon? Huge receipt, but really, this is the cheapest way to buy floss.

I was going to stop there with stash for a good long time, but I may have to make another floss run (yep, got another 20% off coupon). Since Enchanted Fabrics is closing, I splurged on a piece of Hocus Pocus fabric for Christmas Elegance. Also, there's a leftover piece of the apricot belfast (from Garden Verses) that I think will be perfect for another Mirabilia, The Kiss. Both Christmas Elegance and the Kiss have a wide variety of beads, but beads can definately wait. The leftover piece of antique white belfast is definately for another Silver Lining, but I have 3 possibilities that will fit on it and have not decided which will go there.

Venetian Opulence and Rose Celebration are both gorgeous paterns, and I'd like to start thinking about background fabric choices, etc. I also need to pick out background fabrics for Alhambra Garden and Watergarden, the next two Chatelaines I will be doing.

As far as starting any of these lovely projects soon...well, you've seen my in progress list, right? LOL I will be focusing on completing a couple of projects first I think.

Enchanted Fabrics - last call!

Sadly, Enchanted Fabrics will be closing down shortly. They ARE taking orders until March 3 however, so you can still get in one last round of fabrics before they shut down.

I have had in mind to do Mirabilia's Christmas Elegance on Enchanted Fabrics' Hocus Pocus for a while, so I've got that on order. So if you can imagine, this fabric:

With this design:

I think it will come out spectacular but I'm a little apprehensive about stitching it on fabric that dark. The eyes aren't what they used to be ~ ah well! I'll give it a try and keep the OTT lite handy. Don't look for me to get her started any time soon though; I have quite enough keeping me busy right now!
Otherwise, I haven't been stitching much lately. I've been packing like crazy (and getting rid of a ton of stuff) to get ready for the move. Unfortunately, the weather has NOT been cooperating - there's still too much snow to get a moving van up the driveway at home and there's too much snow in PA on the other end to make unloading safe. Argh!