end of the month update

It's been a few weeks so I have more than usual to update. Really I should save some stuff for other posts but I just want to get it all done now.

First lets see Persephone:

No she is not finished yet! But I have completed the cross stitch part and some backstitch. I will do the rest of the backstitch and beading together. Going through my very unorganised messy stash I have found 5 of the 11 colours of beads this one needs. I will have to put in an order and wait for these to arrive via international post so this one won't be completed any time soon.

I did frog the hearts in the right hand side and took a picture as evidence:

 That took forever to unpick and it was the silk waterlily thread! I picked up another skein and at the very end I did need a few extra strands - so very close!

So I have been thinking about what I will stitch on next. I have so many WIPs and stash that it represents years of stitching that can be stressful to think about and of course there is always the lure of new designs and new starts. But I know I will feel better if I keep plugging along at what I have for a while longer.

I pulled out a bag which I designate the 'recent bag' as it has most of the stitching stuff in from the last two years and inside found two completed designs. So gave them an iron and took photos:

Roses of Provence by Mirabilia stitched on the recommended fabric 32 count linen by Wilchelt in the 'White Chocolate' colourway. Stitched between 2013 - 2014

The Industrious Bee by Theron Traditions on a 28count linen (not sure which maybe country french?) and good old plain DMC. Sitched between 2012 - 2013.

The next project I wanted to work on was Touching the Autumn Sky by Mirabilia. I started this one at least 5 years ago and haven't worked on it since. I gave it an iron and this is what it looked like:

I wasn't at all happy with the wrinkles left in it after giving it a really good hot iron with steam. I was wondering if I should just throw the fabric out and restart the design some other time. I wasn't unhappy with the idea of that I just wanted a decision made. I googled ironing cross stitch and chose a method I could get on with straight away without having to soak or freeze the fabric (I'm impatient) and that was to soak an old heavy cotton tea towel in water then place it over the cross stitch face down on a towel on the ironing board and iron on the hottest setting. There was a lot of hissing and steam and because the tea towel was smaller than the fabric I repeated this process a few times and this is the result:

Still faint wrinkles but good enough for me to keep working on it.

Over the past few weeks I did have a brief slump and so instead of stitching I thought about what I want to stitch... a wishlist / TBS (to be stitched) combined. The task I set myself was to narrow the list down and really think about what I liked as I have a tendency to want to stitch almost everything which is impossible. For my favourite designers I limited myself to 5 designs so that was fun almost like a contest with 'sudden death' rounds. The list is linked at the top of this blog and here as 'To Do List'. The list is quite long - even after paring it down heavily!!