Slow Sunday Stitching

 I am making quite satisfying progress on my Harbour Village cross stitch sampler. I’ve finished 2 more rows and have started on the large village scene near to the bottom of the sampler. The first row I finished was a dark blue wave feature underneath the light houses. The next was a pulled thread with hem stitching done in white at the top of the pulled threads to give the design. The village scene is likely to take quite a while to finish. But I’m enjoying it so that’s ok.

When my eyes give out after stitching over small threads, I take up my knitting. The sweater looks mostly the same, but longer. It’s measuring 13 inches from the underarm now. According to the pattern it needs to be 14 inches before the bottom ribbing. Then it will be onto the sleeves. I love the way the colours are pooling. I was a bit concerned about the orange being over powering when I was winding the skeins into balls, but it isn’t overpowering at all.

I’m linking to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I seem to have gotten my cross stitching mojo back. If you were reading last week you’ll remember that I was talking about having a possible solution to the dreaded thread tangling issue and that, if it worked, I’d report back. Well it worked. Two or three years ago, when I was just getting back into embroidery, I made a portfolio folder type thing from a pattern from Crabapple Hill. It is pretty and I have used it a little bit, but never really put it to efficient use. Fast forward to last week. Here’s the outside of the folder. It folds into three parts. Here’s the inside with my solution to the tangling threads. I’ve pinned the thread drop to the top section of the folder and then tucked the threads into the pocket at the bottom. It will also hold the printed paper pattern of the section I am working on. With the threads all sorted and de-tangled I was able to get the finicky light houses done. I’m ready to move on to the next section of the sampler.

I’ve also been making good progress on my Grenadine sweater. The fade sections are done and I’m down to just using the blue/orange yarn. I’m happy with the ways the colours gradually got more intense. I also like the way the orange stripes look to be pooling and wrapping around. I’ll continue with this colour all the way to the bottom.

It’s a lovely sunny day out on this Father’s Day Sunday, but a bit too cool for sitting outside. Although it might be ok in a patch of sun. Whether I choose indoors or outdoors it will be spent enjoying the sounds of the birds and the wind in the trees with a needle and thread in hand. I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching.

Slow Sunday Stitching.

 It’s been raining a lot this week so I’ve had some more slow stitching time. That means I’ve made some good progress on this new Grenadine sweater. The yoke is finished and I’ve split off the sleeves. From here on until I get to the bottom it is straight knitting. I’ve started to add in the blue/orange yarn. Right now I’m doing two rounds of blue and then one round of blue/orange. I’ll continue this for another inch or two and then go down to alternating one round each and then go onto just the blue/orange towards the bottom of the sweater.

I’ve also pulled out my Harbour Village cross stitch. It’s been on time out because the lighthouses in the section I’m working on are fiddly and have lots of colour changes. I think I have figured out a way to handle keeping track of the threads for the colour changes. Right now all the threads for this piece are on thread drops that are on two rings. They keep getting tangled up and it is driving me crazy. I don’t mind the thread drops as opposed to thread bobbins, but the tangling is an issue for me. For reference sake                                     this is a thread bobbin                                                               and this is a thread drop.                                                         Here are some on the ring. You can see how tangled they are at the bottom. Going forward I am going to take the thread colours I need for each section and keep then separate from the rest that are on the rings. Hopefully that will restore my stitching mojo on this and future cross stitch projects. I really do want to get back to them. This is what the finished piece looks like. I’m halfway there. It still reminds me of the lakes and hills here in Muskoka.

I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching before I start sorting the threads for this lighthouse section.