Well, especially for Karen & Isabelle, here is the first progress piccie of Summer into Autumn that I started today. I was so over-tired this morning due to broken sleep, I frog-stitched the top band a sum total of 3 times and it’s such simple stitches!! Anyway, there are some things I don’t like about it, but some things I love about it … The dislikes are more to do with the kit itself – the threads are cut so darned short, they barely manage to stitch across the bands – for example just the short 4-sided bands and smyrna crosses I was left with literally one inch of thread in the needle! That’s spoiling the fun of stitching it a bit with me, ‘cos halfway across the band I’m focusing more on whether I’ll have enough thread to finish, than on the stitching itself 😦 I would have preferred to cut the threads myself to a reasonable length. Also, I’m not sure how I feel about the single strand coverage with the cross stitches – but with it being a kit, I daren’t increase the threads to two strands, as I won’t have enough thread to finish … I haven’t decided yet, but I may yet stitch it again with my own threads just to compare it later – and see how it looks with the 2 strands giving it a bit more concentrated colour.
On the positive note, though, the little bands are really fun to stitch – and they’re so tiny! Now I know what you meant when you were stitching it, Karen – the bands are only about 2 inches wide, with a nice mix of stitches and techniques. Don’t know whether I’ll match Karen’s finishing time of 5 days, but I might come close 😉
Well, time to think about getting to bed … it’s 1.44am, and I’ve only been home from work about 10 minutes, but I’m feeling pretty shattered – and I’ll be having another wake-up call in about 5 hours, from who I have affectionately nicknamed the “Bin B*stards” … it’s rubbish collection day, and the garbage trucks stop right outside my window at about 7am – mind you, it’s better than the last place I lived in … they came at 5.10am every week like clockwork, which is when they got their nickname! LOL.
Hopefully I’ll be able to put some more time into SIA tomorrow, as I still have 8 hours left in its rotation 🙂 Ooh, before I sign off, my order arrived from Nordic Needle today … some pretty stash enhancements – only missing size 10 short beading needles, which are still on backorder, but they sent me 2 x canvaswork charts by accident, so I’ll have to send the spare one back – fingers crossed they’ll reimburse me for the postage … Anyway, I’m a bit tired to post the stash contents today, so I’ll leave it for later 🙂
Feather Stitching 
Woo-hoo! Great progress Anne 🙂 I actually quite like the delicate effect of 1 strand over two, but if you’re used to a denser coverage, I can see that it might be a bit off-putting. I think it looks lovely so far – can’t wait to see more progress!
Your DT is looking very nice (thus far). I’ve seen it finished with the 1-strand & it is very beautiful once completed.
Given a choice, the 1-strand isn’t it for me, either.
Looking forward to hearing more about your stash enhancing ; )
I think the single thread coverage looks great in this picture. I am with you on the “too short” threads in the kits. I usually work with excessive lengths of thread so when I get this tiny precut pieces its frustrating. Great progress 🙂
One-over-two doesn’t have my preference either, but this looks very delicate and lovely.
Hope you catch up on your sleep!
Hi Anne, lovely progress so far on Summer into Autumn. I know all about the short threads in DT Kits too, earlier in the year I stitched Real Roses and the threads in there were so short I didn’t enjoy stitching it as much as I thought I would. Might just have to move Summer into Autumn a bit further up on my to do soon list, lol.
I agree with the others about the one strand over two looking quite lovely and delicate – appropriate for such a small design.
Don’t keep us in suspense for too long – we want to see what was in that NN package 🙂
Hey Anne, it’s a lovely surprise to see you’ve updated your blog again, with such a pretty picture! Oh I love that design. I would really love to stitch it some day! Your stitching is beautiful!!
The one-strand stitching makes it look so delicate. But then I get your point – I like also the “plump” effect of two-strand stitching. Like you say, since it’s a quick stitch, you can always stitch it again with your own threads! 😀
Oh it is so, so lovely. Thank you Anne for sharing a picture so soon :o) I really enjoyed it!
Anne – this looks lovely; you’ve got a great start on this project. This one is in my stash too, but I won’t get to stitching it anytime soon!