Rebecca Cullin Update

I thought I would share what I have stitched on Rebecca Cullin last week. I have finished the strawberry border and started on the bottom- there is a lot of intense solid stitching there! I have decided to focus on finishing the cross stitches before going back to the embroidery. The bullion knots are why I gave up last time, so hopefully completing the cross stitches is just what I need to motivate me to finish her this year!!

I hope this post works- I am trying to blog by phone. Sometimes it works and sometimes I get a big red "x" instead of a photo.

Lovely seeing everyone's New Starts and WIPs. I love to read Nicola's Scarlet Letter blog just before bed and add to my growing SL Wishlist!

Rebecca B in TN

December WIPocalypse Check In

Since I forgot to post last month's Check-In, I need to catch up!! First- I finished my Berlin Work Sampler!! This piece started the challenge on 32 ct Mystery fabric over one. I did not like how the stitches were turning out, so it became 38 ct. Creme Gander over one.

Second- progress on Moonlight Serenade, a HAED design. I have completed the first half of page one and almost page two...

Third- My Tribute to Ackworth Sampler. I actually need to get to stitching on this one because the deadline in the Sticklounge group is fast approaching!!

Fourth- Window. Another Sticklounge project that needs some love. I frogged a bunch of this last go around, but managed to complete another part.

Fifth- Mustertuch von 1783- This piece is turning out great. It is over one on 32 ct Raffia Cream with HDF conversion (and some variagated thrown in here and there). Very lovely!!

Nicola's Scarlet Letter Year

I am very happy to join all the stitchers in this Scarlet Letter year. Will this be the year I finally finish Rebecca Cullin? Probably not. I started her in 2005 and put a few stitches in every year. Then I get sidetracked. This year I will probably be sidetracked by starting even more SL projects. In fact, I started Spot Motif circa 1640 on December 1st just to celebrate this wonderful group!!
Here are the SL pieces I would like to focus on this year that are already started:
Rebecca Cullin 1801. I am not thrilled with the bird in the center and have already recharted it using a picture from the original sampler that I found online. Obviously I made a lot of changes in the top as well to add my initials and start year. I probably would not have done that if I were just starting, but what's done is done.

My work so far-

Polly Phillip 1792. I love the colors in this one, but admit my sister's name is Holly Phillips so I was drawn to it :)


And my newest Scarlet Letter start- Spot Motif circa 1640. This one is tent/continental stitched over one on 40 ct. Very fun!! I think I will work on outlining for the most part and filling in little bits as I go.


I have many more SL samplers in various stages- some kitted, some slightly started. If I could finish Rebecca Cullin it would really be a Red Letter Year for me!!!

Finished Berlin Sampler

Wow, it's been forever since my last post!! I usually blog by phone, but the recent upgrade on photobucket has made it quite a hassle to get pictures in the correct size/ clickable/ etc by phone. Hopefully I'll work out the glitches soon. I dragged out the laptop for this update. I have been focusing on Sticklounge stitching this past month. I finished my little Berlin Work Sampler. It is such a charming little piece. It is over one on 38 ct Gander Linen. I highly recommend this fabric!! No slubs, nice and even, easy to see... what's not to like??

I have also completed up to part 24 of Flower Power. I think I will add some color to the moon behind her, but am not decided on what to add- pink, gold, blue??

Window has gotten some much needed attention this past week. Mainly frogging of the blue green color. I completed part 7, and I think I will add dark purple (Old Maid of the Vineyard) for the flower. It is not fun to frog over one on 40 ct, but I have done it so much on this piece that it seems natural :)

My Tribute to Ackworth is stitched over 2 on 40 ct Prairie Grass using Moon Called Sea. My three year old picked out the floss for this one- right now green is his favorite color. He calls this one his cross stitch.

Many Years Ago part four- I really need to get this little piece done. The deadline is fast approaching!

Now I will try to get the sidebar updated and hopefully stay on track a little better.

WIPocalypse New Moon Check-in for Sep 29th

I almost forgot to post my Wipocalypse check-in!  Here are the pieces I worked on this month:

La Belle Dame Sans Merci:


Berlin Work Sampler:
I restarted this one on 38 ct Gander over one.


Arab Tent:
Finished my HAED Goal this month:

I have finally finished another HAED goal-this is the first half of pages 1-3 finished, about 11500 stitches..:

Over one on 40 ct HDF canvas lite tent stitch using DMC.

Flower Power

This is another Sticklounge piece I am working on- I had a major booboo and rather than try to frog it and try to find the mistake, I restarted. In the end, I think it was much faster than frogging over one on 36 ct. I am now caught up with where I was, but am only half way done. I plan to add some bright pink highlights eventually.

Tulip Praise

I have finally finished the first part of Tulip Praise. I started on June 16th on yellow fabric with purple floss, but couldn't make it work... It ended up being stitched on the same 38 ct Créme Gander that I used for Berlin. I think of it as my "Fifty Shades of Grey" piece- I haven't read the book yet, so I feel comfortable saying that right now, lol.

Aug 30 New Moon Update

I have worked on several of my WIPocalypse pieces this month. First is La Belle Dame Sans Merci. I am close to finishing my yearly goal on her.

Next is Lavender Blue parts 8&9

I have also been working on my Arab Tent new start from HAED:

And here is Mustertuch von 1783:

I restarted my Berlin Work Sampler. I liked the fabric color of the first, but it was too soft and the stitches were slipping and fabric warping. I restarted it and am much happier with the stitching:

Happy Stitching!

Berlin Work Sampler Restart

This is one of my Sticklounge WIPs. I am dreadfully behind. I realized it was because I hated the fabric. It looked pretty (32 ct inkspot) but it was too soft. Working over one with 2 strands tent was warping it. I have some 38 ct Gander that I wanted to try out, so I restarted over one full stitch on Créme. I like stitching it much more now and have a lot of catching up to do!

Lavender Blue

I finally finished parts 8 & 9 of Lavender Blue. Unfortunately, I messed up the diagonal squares in the left border. I thought they were the same, but a couple of places overlapped. This makes that side about 8 stitches off. No way am I frogging all that since it is over one on 40 ct. I'll frog the top and make it like the bottom instead of tapering to a point.

La Belle Dame Sans Merci

I have been working on my HAED goals again. This is La Belle- not quite done with the goal, but coming along nicely. I stitched her during the SWIP SAL and Confetti SAL on the HAED board. I had to force myself to put her down and work on Lavender Blue. Now I'm in a crunch to get Lavender Blue done by the Saturday deadline!

Fleurs et Papillons

I have finally completed part two of this beautiful design by Angie Designer. It is being done as an SAL through the Sticklounge group. Now I need to finish parts 8 & 9 of Angie's Lavender Blue! But first I am concentrating on completing my Arab Tent HAED goal...

The Arab Tent

I couldn't resist starting this one on the new HDF 40 ct canvas lite. I vowed not to do another in tent stitch unless it was on silk gauze. This is much the same as gauze, but much better because I can see the fabric. What a delight! The stitches are so tiny and even. The fabric is stiffer than Monaco, so it is not warping. I am switching between tent and continental/ vertical and horizontal directions. I am having a blast on the new fabric! I have already began planning my next HAED on this fabric (Chloris), but it is too beautiful to be so small. It will be over two, full cross, in HDF silks.

What it will look like:

August 1st New Moon Update

Time for another New Moon update! I have already posted Midnight Orchard, but since it is part of my WIPocalypse, here she is again:

And here is my Mustertuch von 1783 updated:

QS Red Poppy

I finally finished the top row of pages, despite all the confetti where her swirling red hair overlays the green background. Whew! Now onto the first half of the next row to complete my HAED goal. She is a very pretty little fairy.

Mustertuch von 1783

I finally managed to work on my SAL Sunday. Here she is as of 7/15/12. I am using the HDF conversion, but changing a few colors as I go- I'm using Mountain Shadow for the first green color in the top alphabet, PB Green for the cross border above it, added BeFuddled, a mystery gold, and the blue "a" at the bottom is BeSmurfed right now...I can't decide which Fagales to use. The "B" is a shade darker while the crown just above it is the shade called for. My fabric is Sassy's Cream Raffia which has a pinkish hue and I don't want the color to be lost on it, so I'll probably go with the darker?

Midnight Orchard and Napping Hat

I have completed two of my Half year HAED Goals so far and wanted to share them. The first is QS Napping Hat by Molly Harrison. I finished the top row of pages. She is one over one on 28 ct monaco with DMC.

The next finished goal is Midnight Orchard by Ian Daniels. This is a retired chart and very pretty. She is one over one on 25 ct lugana converted to HDF silks. The top row of pages are now finished.


I have four goals left and have already started working on QS Red Poppy.

July WIPocalypse New Moon Update

Here are a few updates to share.... Lavender Blue part 7 done


Midnight Orchard
I am very close to my yearly HAED goal on this one. It is stitched with HDF silks/ NPS

My newest HAED start- Moonlight Serenade. I converted it to HDF silks

Here is a photo of what it will look like one day:

June New Moon Wipocalypse Update

I finished Heart Note Alley!!

Tribute to Ackworth 9/20 finished:

Testing HDF's New 40 ct Canvas Lite

As soon as Vikki got the new 40 ct canvas lite in, I emailed her and begged for a yard in a nice lemon creme. She dyed it the next day, and I had it in my hands in no time!! It is quite beautiful and very substantial, but yellow is impossibe to photograph... anyway, I am going to try to put detailed photos here because photobucket decided to shrink out the detail...
The design is Funky Flowers- By the Bay Needleart. I am adding the "Stitch an Inch" bonus patterns to a border of my own creation. The first flower is Victoria.
I have stitched the upper left corner over one tent stitch. No slipping at all, even when going up or down to change directions. The slight line seen three lines down is stitcher error, not fabric. I decided to change the background color and stitched the new color right up to the old before frogging out the old-
The actual flower Victoria is stitched full cross over one. It is very smooth. No slubs!!
The border squares are over two. I used NPS black, and found it shredded a bit more than the HDF.

Pros (according to me)
No Slippage! NONE AT ALL! Stitches are even and not "knotty" like regular 40- can stitch the same way as over 2 without having to change direction on the horizontal thread to keep from slipping. I did not have to throw any extra stitches here and there due to one slipping under, which means easier to frog- appreciated on 40!
This fabric is perfect for anyone wanting to stitch a HAED on 40- it is heavy enough to hold up to parked threads. I always use Monaco because it is stiff- my next HAED start will be on this fabric!!!
Threads are even- not one "slub" so far. None expected from a visual look at the whole yard.
The holes are easy to see.
When I stitch with the 36 dauphin and normal canvas, I always get a blister on my thumb on the hand under the canvas- none with this.
Easy to iron- extremely light mist and wrinkles were easily ironed away.
Can stitch in hand easily! I don't stitch in hand, but I didn't want to cut the fabric until I was sure I wanted to do it over one- I was easily able to stitch in hand over one with no problems due to the stiffness of the fabric.
Cons- the machine marks- one 1 inch linear mark and about three that covered 6-8 threads on my yard. Not a problem for me, but could be for others. Luckily, DV said these marks are not all through out the roll.
I am using black NPSilk ( an old hank from another project) I had to frog one of the black squares and it shredded a lot. I don't think TG Silk n Colors would make it on this fabric without using short strands. I am using it on the 36 dauphin and it shreds terribly.
My next HAED start will be over one on the new 40!