Hvar jacket and revised cross stitching rotation plan, helpful thread planner

I made the Hvar jacket from Itch to Stitch

I had some wool fabric in my stash that I had bought from a Hospice shop for just $3.  However after I had cut it all out I realised that the collar needed to have 2 pieces cut on the fold, I only had enough fabric for 1.  I was very disappointed thinking I couldn't make the jacket, so went and bought some more fabric to make another jacket.  Once I cut out the pieces for the other jacket I had enough left over for another collar piece.  Hey presto, my wool jacket with contrasting collar.

This is a really smart jacket and is incredibly quick to sew, it just took me around 3 1/2 hours.  The front pieces come to a point which is perfect for concealing my rounded tummy.

On to cross stitch.  After further pondering, I decided I'd rather pick my rotations more randomly.  So I downloaded a roulette spinning wheel app, loaded up the patterns I have kitted up, and almost kitted up.  I still want to concentrate on doing Old Friends so the plan is:

• Do a 10 day rotation, minimum of 2000 stitches, from 1 - 10th of month, 11th - 20th, and 21st to end of month.
• Spin the wheel for each rotation.  Old Friends is on the wheel twice to increase the chances of its being picked.  If however it picks 2 rotations of the same project and I haven't done Old Friends since I last did that other project, then I will substitute with Old Friends.

So October starts next week.  Here is my first spin.

So the first spin in my rotation goes to At the Steps.


This is a Heaven and Earth Design, and the artist is Leonid Afremov.  Design size is 450 x 544, which gives a total of 244,800 stitches.  This will be my largest piece ever.   There are 89 colours.

I have the threads sorted, but still need fabric.  I've been experimenting with different count fabrics.  I used to like stitching on 22ct Hardanger, but my eyes aren't as good now.  I tried 1 over 1 on 25 count and I can see OK if I wear magnifying lenses but find I'm just not enjoying the experience.  So I am going to stick with 18ct Aida that I am using in Ornament Witching Hour.  For the record, I am using 16 ct on Old Friends.

As Haed give thread requirements for 25 ct fabric, someone posted this helpful conversion on facebook

Witching Hour page finish

Page 1 of Witching Hour is complete.

 

I will be continuing this for the rest of September.

Frumpy Frock Finish, Fair Findings

As the title of the post suggests, I am not happy with my newest make.

This is the Grace Dress by WardrobeByMe.  I was full of hope with this dress.  Other makes I'd seen looked wonderful and the pattern comes with a number of options - different sleeve lengths, sleeveless, peplum top.  I had bought extra fabric that I used to line my coat with the vision of making a matching dress.  This was to be the matching dress.   But ---- I hate it!!  It feels 1980's and worse, it feels frumpy.  Not sure if it is the polyester fabric that gives the frumpy feel, or the pattern. I will never wear it.  I've already tossed it in the bin. 

Apart from the look of it I didn't like the construction methods.  I should have done what felt right to me, but this is the first pattern I've bought from WBM so thought I'd follow their method.

The first thing to go wrong was the bodice.  The V neck is lined with bias binding.  But the way they did it resulted in a lump at the bottom of the V.  Well I had plenty of fabric left over so I recut the bodice from extra fabric, but this time I copied the neckline from the Itch To Stitch Vienna top which gave a much better finish.

Next was the yoke instructions.  Again the Vienna has a yoke, but I followed WBM construction.  Big mistake I ended up with the wrong side of the yoke showing on the outside of the bodice.  Too much sewing to unpick, so I just unpicked the shoulders and sewed them together as normal, and overlocked the edges.  I've never had that problem when making the Vienna so assume their instructions are better.

Third problem was the construction of the waist casing.  It was super untidy.  I've made a few patterns  with waist casings and never had a problem.  I think this time the problem was that there was no separate casing pattern piece, you just sewed the bodice and skirt together with a 1" seam allowance then folded the edges together on the inside to create the casing.

Needless to say I won't be making this dress again, and very likely won't ever touch a WBM pattern again.

Anyway yesterday was a bit better.  Had  a trip out of town to a Craft Fair and went with a friend.  She bought some lovely mohair wool.  I bought a few things.

I bought 3 1 metre lengths of quilting cotton

This will be for a project bag for Healing Rose

Not sure, but I might make a pleated tote bag with this

This will be a Project Bag for my sampler,  Squirrels are a common them in samplers

The rectangles and smiling flower are wooden buttons.  I've added magnets to the back to make into needleminders.  Couldn't resist the Long Dog for holding floss.  This will be fun for using silks with Long Dog Samplers!

I bought 12 assorted charms for making into zipper pulls.

I haven't shown my zipper pulls that I've started making.  Here are a few, I've given 1 away as a gift.  These are fun to make when I just want something quick to finish.

I also bought my first Long Dog Sampler on Saturday.  I'd been thinking of doing Templars Legacy, but the one I really ,really liked with Sans Souci.  However it had been done as a SAL by a shop in the UK that has since closed, so wasn't available.  Luckily for me the owner of Long Dog made it available online on the weekend so I jumped in and bought it.


Now I just need to decide on which colour to do it in, probably blue.  I will order silks from Silks4u.  So excited to be sewing with silk.

New cross stitch start and a rotation plan for the future

I'm keen to start a rotation of cross stitch projects like I used to do.  In part this is being driven by seeing other stitchers with a huge amount of WIP's. I don't want to get as many as some other people I've seen with 30 WIP's, I think 4 or 5 will do me. 

As I've only had one in progress it will take me a while to assemble necessary fabric and threads and get a proper WIP rotation going.

However I've made a start by beginning  HAED Ornament Witching Hour.  I posted a picture of what it will look like in my last post.  Here is my start.

This is all of DMC 310 done on the first page.  You'll see some loose threads.  I tried the waste knot technique for finishing off, but decided I didn't like it and went back to the pin stitch method.  These waste knots still need to be worked in before I can cut them off.

And this is where I left off QS Old Friends

You can see the outline of the man.  So next rotation he will appear.

I have another project that I'm interested in.  This time by a different designer and something different from what I usually do. 


This is The Templar Prophecy by Long Dog Samplers.  I'm thinking of stitching this in silk from Silks4U.  Isn't this a gorgeous colour


A lot of floss is needed for Templars, and I would need 2 skeins. However 2 skeins would be enough for Templars and also Castles in the Air


So onto future rotation plans.  There are so many ways to do this and a lot of people do it randomly, just doing whatever they feel like, or perhaps spinning a wheel to decide.  But I like a bit more structure to what I am doing and want to make a bit of progress on everything.  I also like to have a focus piece so I know I am going to finish something in a reasonable time frame.

The plan I am thinking is to stitch my focus piece which I'll call WIP 1, then, WIP 2, back to WIP 1, then WIP3, back to WIP 1, WIP 4, back to WIP 1.

But how frequently?  I've gone back and forth and at the moment I am thinking of doing a 10 day rotation, for a minimum of 2000 stitches.   What this means is, if after 10 days I've done 2000 stitches or more, move onto the next rotation. If after 10 days I haven't done 2000 stitches I continue on until the stitches are done.
The plan for adding to the rotations are:

WIP 1  QS Old Friends
WIP 2  Ornament Witching Hour
WIP 3 Templars Prophecy
WIP 4  At the Steps

Witching Hour won't take too long to finish, so when that is done I will swap out with Ornament Healing Rose.

At the moment though, I want to get a month in on Witching Hour.  I may not start this rotation until the end of the year, or beginning of next year.

The thing to remember is this is my hobby, so I shouldn't pressure myself, it should be enjoyable.  So if I find another process that I prefer then I will change.

Page finish QS Old Friends

Page 2 of QS Old Friends is finished.

The mans shoulder and hat are appearing.  It's a nice change to see a bit of colour.

A reminder that this is what the finished work will look like.

I've been keen to start some other projects and get a rotation going.  I'll be putting Old friends away on the weekend to work on this one that I have just bought.  This is Ornament The Witching Hour from Heaven and Earth Designs.  Old friends will be my focus piece.

I've also just bought Ornament Healing Rose, again from Heaven and Earth Designs.  I was thinking this one will go in my bathroom.

x stitch project bags, new needlekeepers and stitching journal

I've been watching a bit of flosstube recently and seen a lot of people keeping their WIPS in project bags and also found a couple of tutorials.

I thought this was a good idea so made myself a couple.

Those that know me will be aware that daffodils are my favourite flower.  So the daffodil fabric was perfect for me.  I used the same fabric to make some clear vinyl fronted bags for holding floss skeins. So much prettier than the ziploc plastic lunch bags I've been using.

The second bag features some machine embroidery from a designer I haven't bought from before,  ohmycs.com.  They have some nice designs and are a good price.

Tutorials I followed were from avery claire project bag tutorial, kindred stitcher youtube tutorial and
Calico flosstube #40
 I had 2 Fat Quarters of the Daffodil fabric and the dimensions I used for the large project bag were 12.5" x 12.5" for the front and 15" x 12.5" for the back. For the vinyl bag I had to use what was left over from one of the fat quarters and it worked out around 9x8", using 4, 2" strips for the zipper piece.  The 9x8 piece is folded over to the front to create the binding around the bag so the actual finished size is smaller.

I also made and bought some more needlekeepers

In the top photo, the blue gem is the one I made.  I bought the gem from Geoffs emporium for just 40c and glued a magnet to the back.  I'd bought a set of craft magnets a couple of years ago from a $2 shop.
The bottom 2 photos are actually souvenir fridge magnets bought from a $2 shop.  These are like small trays and attach perfectly to my lowery stand which is magnetic and they are ideal for storing my working needles.  When I'm working on one colour I have 6 needles threaded at a time, so one tray keeps my threaded needles and when I've finished with that needle it goes into the second tray.

I also needed a new stitching journal.

I found this lovely VanGogh journal at PaperPlus. It was a bit more than I intended to pay, but I love it and it will last me for years.
My last journal was started in 2001 and is now full.  I enjoy looking back on what I was doing.  Below is my old journal.

I'm hoping to keep my new journal a bit more organised that the old one.

QS Old Friends page finish

The first page of the pattern  is done.

The shape of the tops of trees is just visible.
I treated myself to a Lowery workstand and I'm loving it. I can stitch without any strain on my hands from holding the q snaps  and there is even enough room for the cat to lie on my knee when I'm stitching.

I haven't  found anywhere to buy it from in New Zealand so bought it from Siesta Frames in the UK.  Amazing service from them and their couriers. I ordered it on Thursday  and received it on Monday.