Love Notions Boyfriend cardigan and cross stitch progress - silks

Long line cardigans are everywhere these days.  I decided it was time to add one to my wardrobe when Love Notions had the Boyfriend Cardigan as their $5 Friday special.

I'm loving this cardigan and have already worn it a lot.  Summer is very late in getting started here, in fact I'm still in my winter clothes - the first time ever for October, so it is still getting a lot of use.  I'm thinking ahead to next winter and would like to make a fleece one for around the house - would be super comfy.  

The back hem looks wonky, that's only because I stand wonky!

I added 1 1/2" to the length as pattern is designed for 5'6" and I'm 5'9", other than that, made no other pattern alterations.  It took around 4 1/2 hours to sew and was an easy sew. The pattern called for 2.5m and even though my fabric was 150cm wide I needed all of that fabric, in fact I was worried I wasn't going to have enough to cut the sleeves.  The tight fit is probably due to lengthening the cardigan.

My last post said I was waiting for silks to arrive.  They came!

Floss toss against the fabric, these are GAST and WDW from 123stitch,  The fabric colour washed out in the photo

Another floss toss with the silks from Silks4U.  Again the fabric colour washed out.

Both orders took 2 weeks to arrive, even though the silks4u is only from Australia. She does say on her website that Australia Post is very slow, so I didn't fret too much when the order from 123stitch in America arrived before the Australian one!

While I was waiting I went back to Old Friends and this is where I finished the rotation.

I've started His Eye is on the sparrow and really enjoying it.  Should get a progress photo in my next post.

cross stitch wips and silks, 24 hours of cross stitch

I've spent the last few days working on my cross stitch.

I finished a rotation on Witching Hour.

Over half way done.  This has gone back into rotation.

For my 1st of month start, I began At the Steps.  I still have today to stitch on it and will start a new project tomorrow.

Progress so far

It may not seem it from the photo but there are quite a few different colours in there, black, shades of blue and green.  So far I've done 4519 stitches out of 244,800 and 27 hours.  1.85% complete.

Last weekend I took part in the 24 hours of cross stitch challenge.  The idea is that over 48 hours you try to do 24 hours of cross stitching.  I managed 11.5 hours and 1814 stitches.

I've also made some more project bags along with vinyl pockets on the front to put the picture of the project and matching vinyl front bags for the floss.

I have 5 sets made.  I'll be working on 6 WIPs so need to make another set.

I also covered a box in the same fabric as my Roman blinds to keep the bags in.

These sit beside my stitching chair.

So tomorrow is the 11th of the month so a new rotation.  I really want to start a sampler but don't have the silks yet.  For Sans Souci  I ordered PR 147 from Silks4U



It is described as
This is a 230 - 240 metre, 6 strand hank of our new Premium Silk. It is has a lovely shine, the strands are thicker and it is soft and beautiful to stitch with. This is equal to 29 - 30 skeins of DMC. It has great coverage with 2 strands over 2 fabric threads on smaller count fabric and canvas and with one thread on 32 count fabric and above.

This hank is hard to photograph. The lighter teal colour is DMC 3844 and the darker colour is a deeper richer shade of teal.. Because this silk is so shiny, the differences in colour are often exaggerated in the photo

For His Eye is on the Sparrow I have ordered the Gentle Art Sampler threads from 123stitch.  They didn't have all the threads in stock, so the missing 4 I ordered from Ribbon Rose, here in Auckland.  I put the order in late morning on Monday and they were delivered on Tuesday.  The courier charge was just $4, it would have cost me more than that in petrol to drive over there.

These are the 4 I have against the fabric I want to use.  The fabric is a lot more coffee colour in real life.

There is a chance the silks from Silks4U will arrive tomorrow.  They are sent through Australian post and no tracking, but I ordered them last Wednesday.  However the threads from 123 stitch haven't yet arrived in New Zealand.

So tomorrow if the silks arrive I will start Sans Souci.  However if they don't, then my spinning wheel tells me Witching Hour.  However as I haven't worked on my focus piece, Old Friends since I last did Witching Hour, then Old Friends takes precedence.  So tomorrow I will go back to Old Friends.