Yippee, February seemed to be a great month for working on WIPs – in fact WIPs have been the only things I’ve worked on. Not a huge amount of stitching has been done during week nights, as I haven’t been sleeping well thanks to the heat at the start of the month, but I often made up for it on the weekends.
First up was this one – I fell out with this one ages ago because I really hated how short the kit threads were, and felt like I was only getting a handful of stitches out of each length of thread before having to cut off and rethread the needle. So many times I felt like dragging out the DMC and re-kitting it up myself. Apparently I’ve got more patience this year – I just forced myself to ‘suck it up, princess’, not think too much about it, and just ‘stitched’. After a few colours I got into a rhythm again with it and just kept going until it was finished. It’ll never be my favourite piece of stitching, but I do like it now it’s finished. I think it may get turned into a slip cover for a notebook or photo album of stitching … I’m not sure really. Anyway, here’s the before (how it was when I picked it up) picture and the finish. The finished photo is closer to the fabric colour, but badly out of focus … oops.
“The Formal Garden” by Textile Heritage Collection
Stitched on 14ct dark green Aida (kit fabric) with kit threads
Finished 12 February 2017
Then the next one I chose to work on is another older WIP – I hate this one with a passion for various reasons. This one is Egyptian Garden Mandala by Chatelaine.
First of all I really hate the fabric choice … really and truly. I love the colour, don’t get me wrong, but the fabric is quite closely woven thanks to the dyeing process and the opalescent threads make it even harder to see the holes. Not to mention the beads are too cramped together and I keep having to omit and fudge the odd bead to get them to lay straight. I’ve tossed up a few times whether to cut my losses and start again on a non-hand-dyed fabric, which I know I’d enjoy soooo much more, but I keep looking at just how much I’ve stitched in comparison to what is left to be stitched, and it does seem a bit crazy at this stage to start again.
As well as the fabric choice, I got fed up with the over-one stitching, messed it all up, and had to unpick it … at that point it got thrown into the ‘naughty corner’ before I turned it into a Mexican hat dance accessory. Last weekend I bit the bullet and spent 2 hours pulling the over-one stitching out and started re-stitching it all again. If I thought the rest of the stitching is difficult to see the holes, trying to stitch with metallic threads over-one is, quite frankly, a right royal bloody nightmare on this fabric! I still have no idea how the hell I’m going to see to fill in the remaining stitches in those fishies!!
I spent so much on this kit, though, I just can’t justify throwing it out, and I really do love the design … so I figure I’ll just do little bits here and there in-between other more fun projects and eventually (some day before I retire and/or struggle with poor eyesight) it’ll become a finish … hopefully.
Anyhoo, here it is once again with the before and after photos. I guess it’s nice to see a bit of progress, although I’m already getting the urge to move onto something more fun, so I think it may not see much more progress for a wee while.
What’s next on the stitching agenda? Well, I still have my Hallowe’en SAL piece to work on, so possibly that one … but maybe a nice quick freebie or smalls piece to give me a quick and easy finish … maybe … to be honest I really don’t know what I feel like stitching, so it’ll be a surprise either way! 😉
Feather Stitching 
I think your fabric choice for the Chatelaine is great. I too was struggling stitching my Persian Iris Garden on black – just couldn’t see the holes, and then I realised I just needed better magnification and light! Is that worth a try? It would be a shame not to enjoy the process given how lovely the design is.
Thanks Alison – I use a daylight bulb already so sadly that won’t help. I’ve decided to just keep going and doing a bit at a time. I’m slowly making a bit of progress anyway 🙂
I love the chat too but yeah, sometimes that weave is too, too much. I re-kitted a TH kit and I admit it’s putting me off starting the next. It was very annoying to only get 10-12 stitches in!
Exactly! Have to admit I’m not in a hurry to buy another one, that’s for sure! I figured for the cost outlay for the kit it wasn’t worth rekitting … but never again!
I love the Textile Heritage kit! It has so much depth to those little trees.
Sorry to hear you’re not enjoying your Chatelaine as it’s beautiful.
Thanks Justine – I’m sorry too haha 😉
I am sure I stitched a bookmark by Textile Heritage a million years ago, the style looks familiar.
Such a shame about the Chatelaine, the right fabric makes such a difference to the enjoyment. Still, little steps and you will finish it eventually.
You may have the same bookmark as me Jo, it’s very similar to this one! Mine’s also a UFO hahaha … I decided I hated stitching it in hand so it got thrown in the naughty corner – I don’t seem to have much love for these, do I? 😉