"Are you a seasonal stitcher, or can you stitch on any holiday/seasonal stitch at any time of year?"
I don't consider myself a "seasonal stitcher" in that I stitch whatever appeals to me at the time. However, there are seasonal items which get started (and sometimes finished) ahead of the season when the magazines and charts start appearing on the market for Halloween and Christmas. Both seem to start in September of each year although there are some hints earlier in the summer (the dreaded Christmas in July issues of British stitchery magazines and Just Cross Stitch's "Christmas Ornament Sneak Peaks around the same time), most of which do not get me started!Lately, when decorating for the holidays, I have determined the i have MORE than enough stitched ornaments for both Halloween and Christmas and so now the only seasonal attractions for me are the occasional larger piece. Not sure why --- no place to hang them and they take up so much room if framed so they tend to languish in a "finished stitching/finish it off" bag in my craft room once the stitching is completed.
~~~~~WIPS~~~~~
While "stay at home" orders here in Ohio are slowly lifting (we're still on a "mandatory mask" order right now and cautioned to "go out" only if necessary), I have had the time to do quite a bit of stitching.
"Love Is..." was actually tackled this month! It's not done yet but a long shot, but I'm past all those nasty French knots!
I still have not re-started "Save the Stitches".
~~~~~Travelling Needlepoint~~~~~
No progress to report on "Butterfly on Scroll".
~~~~~Completions~~~~~
I have a completion! "Historic Biltmore" by The Posy Collection, PC-776. Started July 2014, finished September 12, 2020. Finished size 15" x 10" on 14ct Charles Craft Aida, using DMC threads.
~~~~~SALs~~~~~
I have stitched on three SALs...
1. "52 Weeks of Blackwork" by Purple Peppermint; various randomly selected shades of pink, purple and blue DMC on 28ct tea-colored evenweave. Completed weekly installments Week 36 through Week 39, plus some additional border. Week 40 comes into my mailbox on September 30.
I'm thinking of signing and dating this along the both border so once I turn the corners on both sides, I will have to plan out the pacing for this before completing the border.
2. Linen & Threads 2020 SAL "Friends and Family", stitched on 28ct "Lavender Sunset" (not very lavender) Jobelin using Threadworx "Rocky Mountain (1070). September installment completed on September 4, 2020. The October installment is due online on October 1.
3. Stitchonomy 2020 SAL, "Halloween 2020", was started in late September, with subscribers getting some advance information early in the month. The fabric and floss kit doesn't arrived two days after the first pattern piece (the frame) was issued (the postal service is definitely slow these days) so I started using the recommended DMC colors on a lavender 14ct linen. I made some substitutions in pattern (several cats instead of the icons provided, using an alternative set and a previous SAL pattern to create my cats) and used DMC4245 variegated thread for the letters and date in the frame... I plan on using beads for scattered "sparkles" in future.
The fourth SAL is "Christmas Shadowbox Sampler" SAL by Faithwurks Designs & Just CrossStitch. Installment 4 was finished August 11 (not counting beads and other embellishments) on 28ct slubby white linen, using DMC, Weeks, Kreinik and Rainbow Gallery threads. Installment 5 is not due until the next issue of Just CrossStitch magazine, so I didn't stitch on this at all this month.
~~~~~ In the Pipeline~~~~~
Nothing new at the moment, although fabric and floss (two sets - what I get for double ordering!) for "Pandemic" by Long Dog Samplers have long been in my possession. Still made no choices as to which sets of thread/fabric to use. I have ordered some new cones and skeins of thread in hopes that they will make the selection easier... This is a HUGE project and I may chicken out long before I get started.
~~~~~Goals for October ~~~~~
I still am not at all inclined to get out there and play, travel or otherwise risk my health. So I will continue to "stay home" a except when "necessary" (haircuts, doctor's appointments, financial consultant, and the like)...
I am still watching online chats, tutorials and the like for paper crafting which can take up as much as 8 hours a week that otherwise could be devoted to stitchery.
In the year-long art community, where members engage in facilitated learning through monthly mixed media art projects and challenges, I have competed the third challenge and project. The fourth challenge and project is scheduled for October.
I am stagnating at 11% remaining of my storage space on my DVR. I have four recorded television series to catch up, all of which do not lend themselves well to stitching at the same time.
I am sticking to my goal of at least 30 minutes a day of reading, both for pleasure (crime fiction and science fiction) and for enlightenment (I love histories and biographies). A recent favorite is The Girl on the Wall, One LIfe's Rich Tapestry by Jean Baggott, 2009, Icon Books, LTD. London. An expert needleworker, she illustrated her life in a large tapestry/tablecloth and was encouraged by her history tutor at university (she was an adult student, getting her degree in history in her 60s!) to use it to illustrate her life growing up in England from the 1940s on. I read it on my iPad and really wish I could justify the huge price to purchase the book in hardcover because there is supposed to be a foldout print of the tapestry in color in the back of the book. The online version only shows small bits in each chapter, all in black-and-white.
I have been rationing my stitching time to two or three hours a day, for about five days a week. The release of SAL installments varies from project to project so planning a rotation is still iffy, at best.
What I HOPE to do in October is:
a) keep up with "52 Weeks of Blackwork": the installments, weekly on Wednesdays, are small and, along with some additional border stitching, are doable in one night of stitching per installment. I just need to motivate on the border stitching...
b) keep up with the daily installments on Stitchonomy "Halloween 2020) SAL
c) continue to stitch on "Love Is..." . There is a chance that I can finish this!
d) complete the October installment of "Friends & Family" by Linen & Threads
I will start work on "Christmas Shadowbox" SAL installment 5 if it comes out digitally in October.
"Save the Stitches" may or may not enter into my stitching rotation.
Meanwhile, I'm saying home, keeping healthy and hoping the same for all of you!
