Finish #6 for 2022

 

Finish #6 for 2022.  Courtney Collection - Pelican (reversed).  Stitched one over one using dmc 938, used 7 skeins, on 28 count PTP Doubloon.  

Just to show the project completed.  The bottom one is the original pattern version, and the top one is the reverse image that I just completed.  Same cut of fabric, same floss, both took 7 skeins of dmc each.  The bottom one looks a little wonky on the side, but they just are not laying flat.  It's really easy to get a mirror image pattern, and a good copy shop will not charge extra to do it.  

This was the first time I did a mirror version. And it's still my favorite.  The only ones I have framed and on the wall.

And also Beasties. These don't look like they match, but they do, it's just a weird photo.  I also have the original version of Knightmare done, and plan to do the mirror version.  And I'd like to do Mermaid's Folly in the mirror version too, but that's a big sucker, and I only have the original version done so far. But if you have a designer you like - doing mirror images - kinda fun. 

It's Finished - Hooray.

Courtney Collection - Pelican.
On 28 count PTP Doubloon.  One over one, used 7 full skeins of DMC 938.
Finished at 13 x 10.5 inches.  20 pages.
This is sort of accurate for color.  Actually, it kind of changes with the lighting. 
I am glad to be done, and happy with the result. 

19 out of 20 completed

Pelican - Courtney Collection.
19 out of 20 pages completed.   So close. 
Under 3000 stitches to do now. 

18 of 20 pages completed

This was the weird new start - Escher - Heaven and Hell - Cross Stitch Collectibles. 
It's 12 pages - and I completed 5.  It's solid.  One over one on 25 count.  It should finish at 8 inches in diameter.  Haven't done an Escher in a while, it's not gonna be my favorite, but it fit on the scrap of 25 count that was in my stash, and I had the pattern.  It was certainly different from the other things I have been stitching.  The angels are a light gray, there is a bit of white, and a bit of black, but mostly gray scale. 

And I said after a break, I would come back to Pelican - Courtney Collection.
Finished the page in the second row.  Now just have the first two pages.  18 out of 20 completed so far.  Just finished the sixth skein of dmc.  One over one on 28 counts PTP Doubloon.
 

Just Three More Pages To Do

Courtney Collection - Pelican.
This has just three more pages to finish.  The top row first two, and the second row second page.  That first page in the second row is done, and I finished that bottom row second page. 
Those top two are pretty solid and gonna take a while. 
And yep, that big open are is exactly that - big and open.
So close.   I will probably need a break doing something else, but then I wanna try to come right back to this.   17 of 20 pages are done.  It is kind of a lovely thing. 

Five Pages yet to go

Pelican - Courtney Collection.
Five more pages yet to do.  Four in that corner, and one in the bottom row.
Five skeins of dmc used at this point.  Just started the sixth skein.

Can't Count...

Pelican - Courtney Collection.
Last time I said this was in the hoop again and that I had 7 pages left to do.
I can't count.  I had 9 pages left to do.  Not 7. 
So it's 20 pages total, I had 11 pages done, as of last May.  
I did the bird's eye page, and then the page below that, and the next page down too.
Three pages done now, so I can say - NOW I have 6 pages left to do. 
And the right side half is now complete.  This is all based on me counting, meaning it's probably wrong.  And below is what it looked like when I picked it back up again.

And I tossed in a few hours on a new start of an old pattern.

Prairie Schooler - Harvest Time.  Doing the Village pattern.
It's on 28 count Ivory jobelan, one over one, dmc floss. 
I like all these silly village versions.  Stitching this one, and the bigger Christmas version I also have started, hopefully will get it out of my system.  They are not all that big - but they are time consuming little suckers.  This was two days of working on it, and back in the bag it went.  A hefty gallon plastic bag, not a fancy bag. 
Since I talked about blood donations last time, I will add on that I went last Monday to give whole blood.  But once again, kinda weird.  They have been posting they wanted type O donors for months.  Sometimes with a second blood type they also wanted.  Last weekend they extended their hours on a couple days to allow more donors.  I went on Monday just to get it over with, rather than wait till Friday, since I have anxiety.  What he told me was - the distribution processing center had called and said - they were OUT of type O blood.  Completely out.  This is not good.  So I asked how the day was going so far?  He said out of 26 donors, about 20 had been type O so far that day. 
And you might think - oh, they have sent it off to weather problem areas.  I don't think so because they have been asking for extra donors for months and months on their home web pages.  Hours later I was telling this to a friend, and I decided to look up his area, he is a 6 hour drive - a totally different blood distribution service area.  The web page for his site opened up saying their supply was critically low.  So that was interesting, cause it is not just one area.  And I am not part of the weather area.  Mostly it means - try not to do something that you need blood or blood products.  They might be harder to get than you know, and if you can donate - you might wanna consider it.  It's nine minutes to have a needle in your arm.  I try to think of it as - I'd rather be on the giving end because I am healthy, than be the needing blood end of the needle.

Something New Again...

Well, I slowed down on this...  started working my way up on multiple pages.  Just all signs I was burning out on this.

So decided to start Courtney Collection - Knightmare.  The knight's helmet.  It is smaller than the Pelican, it's only 12 pages total.  It is three rows, four columns.  This is the fourth column done - three pages completed, and the width of a top page is completed in the third column.
It's on a 28 count Dove Gray jobelan, with dmc 3799 floss.
Like the Pelican, I still plan to mirror image this one too.  I went yesterday to a copy shop, and for $4, now have the pattern pages mirrored for both these patterns.  This one is the smaller, it should finish at about 8.5 x 9 inches.  I can't say it's my favorite color combination, but it's using my stash.

Eleven Pages Completed

Eleven pages completed.  Bird legs this time.  Still have birdie toes... you already know I'm gonna do some feathers first. 
I was just impressed to get two more pages done.  This means over half of the twenty pages done. 
The photo finally shows it accurately...  Doubloon lugana, dmc 938. 

Nine Pages Completed

Nine pages completed.  Three skeins of dmc used so far.  And four pages started. 
The right side row is complete now, which is five pages.  I have done all the easy stuff, the rest are pretty solid pages of stitching.  That means progress will slow down. 

6 Pages Completed

Courtney Collection - PeliCan
Six pages completed, four pages started.  There are 20 pages total.  Yep, I am trying to work those really easy pages. The bottom left, and the page above that corner - done.
So I have a width measurement - and hooray, there will be enough fabric to do this again in the mirror image version.   I restarted this 12 days ago.  It's 12.5 x 10.5 inches.  Still on the third floss. 

Four Pages, Two Skeins Completed.

Courtney Collection - PeliCan.
Four pages completed, three pages started.  There is one more page wide yet. 
Let me just say, stitching feet, even bird feet, not my thing.  And that random sideways probably sand stuff - oh, that is just one step below stitching feet for me.  Luckily, there is not much more of either of those two things on this pattern.  And this is two skeins of floss used.  It's moving right along. 

Three Pages Completed

Courtney Collection - PeliCan.
Three pages completed of twenty.  Two more started to get me to the top and around the curve. 
About 10.5 inches from top to bottom.  Not sure if I am going to fill in, or keep trying to establish the frame and outline.  The pages started at the top are stitch heavy, as would be going to the side at the bottom.  I do admit, it's nice to complete pages, to have that feeling of an area being done. 
It sure looks different at different times of the day, and under different lighting.  Sometimes nearly black, sometimes much more medium brown.  Because these are all end pages, they are slightly more narrow than the other pages will be. 

Then was the ReStart...

This is PeliCan when I started it.  I was using a Colour and Cotton floss - on PTP Doubloon.

This is PeliCan when I RESTARTED it.  Same PTP Doubloon, and now using dmc 938, it's a dark brown, but this makes it look darker than it it is.  Crap camera.
Now officially, I admit I screwed myself up on the restart.  I couldn't get the stitches to come out, and I had a fat half cut, so I just flipped it around to start from the other end.  It was going to be less than half of the cut anyway.  About the second try to unstitch - I just scissor cut out the stitched corner - tossed it.
Then I remembered - and went - ah crap. 

Before I did this Courtney design in both the pattern way, and the mirror image way - I loved it.
That was also the plan for this pattern - so I would get....

And the fabric was big enough - till I scissor cut that corner out that I could not get unstitched...
Now - it's not big enough anymore.  So I messed up.  I am two pages of twenty pages completed.  It's the first skein of floss completed at the point I am now.   Which is all fine - I am happier with the dmc results.  But it wasn't the plan I started with.  What you can see at the moment is the bottom photo - lower right corner.  I now have more stitched on the restart than I did on the original start, but I have a long way to go.  If I had remembered, I maybe could have still gotten them both on there.  But I was most of the way thru the first page - when I remembered WHY the cut of fabric was soooo big.
I can still order more of the Doubloon - it might match - and it might not at all.  But I do basically have the butt end of the bird stitched - and figuring all this out - I felt a bit like the butt end of the bird too.  It's all good - most things work out in my life.  I can laugh about this and make fun of myself.  I also have the Knightmare helmet design - I planned to do that two ways too - and if I had messed up on that - more upset - so I'm good if I only end up with ONE bird.  Completed - it's 14 x 11 inches.  By the time it is complete, once might be enough.  Maybe a second bird still fits on this fabric - but wow the side margins are narrower.  The plan NOW is - I'm going to just stitch the ONE bird, and enjoy that, and see what that leaves me.