FINISHED NEEDLEWORK: "Bell Ringer Santa" by Mill Hill

 Next perforated paper ornament.  This is a "family ornament" and it's representing ME!  Bell Ringer, of course, since there isn't a needleworker one.

This one went FAST - less than a month start to FFO.

Full Coverage Month End Report - April 2025

A decent month on the Mead Dragon for April.   I put in 3,843 stitches on it this month.  My daily goal is 100 stitches, and I met that goal every day. (A couple of days I just barely made it, but 104 stitches is still over the finish line for the day, right?)

That brings me to 52,813 of 94,500 or 55.89%.  I'm working on row 183; the halfway row was 175.  So by both row count and % in Pattern Keeper, I am well over the halfway point!

And here's where I was at the start of April for comparison:

The back leg is now all there except for the nails (looking forward to seeing those fill in, I love the way they look on the front paw hands) and I got the drinking horn better established.  I'm starting into a rather 'slog' section where there's not a lot to talk about.  More background, more drinking horn, more wing......   It will be like that until the tail shows up.  But at least I can see the stitch count go up every day.  

Slow Sunday Stitching - April 27, 2025

As promised, there's an Eagle!  With pine needles even.

That section has more stitching in it than is first apparent.  The centers of the clusters of each batch of needles are satin and long/short stitches, with long stitches radiating out. The stitch diagram is not particularly useful since it gives only a vague description of what colors go where, referring the stitcher to the cover photo for color placement.   That's fine, I still have the cover photo.  It's beat up, but still legible.  The issue comes where stitches overlap.  I think I've done a pretty good job just above the eagle's beak, but the next section has some places where there seems to be three layers!  I will just have to take my best shot and wing it as needed!   Kind of par for the course for this project.   May I say that I like the security of a chart with counted thread better?   

I'd like to get this section done before the end of the month.  With all the overlaps, I really don't want to stop 'mid-stream'.  It would be hard to pick up again.   I may just do a marathon this afternoon to try to get that whole 'all three layers' section done in one sitting so there's a smaller chance of getting lost.   

Staying caught up on the daily temperature log and also on the 100 stitches a day on the Mead Dragon.  I'll report on those in detail next week. 

I am up to the crown decreases on the purple and white striped hat for charity.  

AND the current perforated paper Santa is well into the beading.  Just the rest of his coat to go before I can start on getting him to FFO status - beard/moustache, making the hanger, cutting him out and applying the backing. 

Sometimes when I get multiple things close to the finish line like this, I can't decide what to focus on first.  Dither, dither LOL.  Maybe I'll roll dice!  Fessing up to my SSS crew (link to this week's round up).

Slow Sunday Stitching - April 20, 2025

Happy Easter to everyone celebrating it today.   Happy random Sunday to everyone else!

With it being Holy Week (with all the associated activity at church this week) and the garden going in (our last frost date is April 15), there was very little actual crafting done this week.   I did keep up on my daily goals on the Temperature Log and the Mead Dragon, but everything else was actually travel stitching progress. 

And the lion's share was on the perforated paper Santa.   I started this one on the fourth of April and I'm about ready to start beading it!   Just the cross-stitch part of the bell, a little bit of trim on the coat hem, and the rest of the hat to do first.  As per usual, the face without the beard looks a bit odd.

 I also got the next charity hat cast on, the ribbing finished and halfway to the crown decreases completed.   The pattern is "Turn A Square" by Jared Flood; it's available as a paid pattern on Ravelry.  The yarn on this one is a cotton/acrylic blend, so it will be a good 'three season' hat.   

Hopefully this coming week I can get back to my usual rotation.  I've promised the folks on the SSS crew an Eagle!  (link to this week's roundup)

Slow Sunday Stitching - April 13, 2025

 Gosh, it's been a busy week for crafting this week.  Before I forget, Tulip Festival.  Didn't get to spend a lot of time there this year.  My granddaughter, Alexis, managed to fracture a bone in her foot at gymnastics and was on crutches.  I swear, that girl is just like her daddy.  Fearless.   And giving me grey hair LOL.   My grandson, Carl too, with his motorcycles and daredevil bicycle stunts.   I think I cursed my son with the mother's curse - "May you have children JUST. LIKE. YOU."  And he did!   

Now on to crafting.  Here's the current travel project.  The next perforated paper Santa is the "Bell Ringer Santa".   It's gotten several hours of TV time in addition to the work I put in while waiting for Carl's running event to start and for him to finish the 5K last week.  About 700 stitches into it currently.   This one is part of the 'family' ornament series - standing for myself, of course. And a little for my mom, who got me into bell ringing in the first place.

The Bell Ringer Santa is "the" travel project and not "one of the" projects, because I finished the Goth LOSY hat.  It's a charity knit and hopefully someone will like it.   I'll be casting on another charity hat later this week.

And last but certainly not least, I FINISHED the stitching on the KC Plaza Sewing Bag!!!  (See the finished post for the photos and details.)  It's got a long way to go to be an FFO, but it's moved into the 'under the bed box' for the moment.  Working on it for the better part of a month straight has really burned me out.   This is why I can't be a purely monogamous stitcher!   But it won't languish for long.   I'm going to re-do my 'finish and frame' WIPGO board to encourage myself to get it fully finished.   I don't like seeing the 'to be finished or framed' number increasing 😖 

Here's a sneak peak of the next 'Modern' focus project.   This will be a start along with Brenda, @handworkmanic in May. 

It's a small piece by Just Nan called 'Butterflies, Blossoms & Bees'.  I got mine as an online class from Tapestry of Dreams, but never even got it started.   I'm doing mine in the silk version (very bougie).  That linen is hard to photograph; the purple shade under the needles and bead pack is more accurate.  It's only about 4 x 4 inches (10 x 10 cm) but it packs a lot into a small area.  Should be fun.

But before that new start, I need to finish off the last slot in Rotation #2 for the year.  So next up for my focus piece, I'm on to the "Vintage Crewel Eagle" for ten hours.  Hopefully I won't run into any more snags on that project - I'm starting to think it's cursed and it's SO close to a finish, just foliage left to do! (Picture next week if I'm lucky.)

The "Eagle" is the last of the 'zombie' / 'old' WIPS from both the Great Sort in 2015 and the COVID basement clear out.   Could not have done it without the encouragement and accountability from the SSS Crew.  (Link to this week's roundup.)

FINISHED NEEDLEWORK (but not FFO) - "KC Plaza Sewing Bag"

Over 20 years a WIP!   It's finally done - at least the stitching part is done.   "The Kansas City Plaza Sewing Bag" was a class in 2003 at a not really local needlework store that went out of business between the first and second class day due to the death of the owner (very sad).  

The project was designed by one of my fellow guild officers, Meridith Rosenblum.  She also designed the KC Historic Sampler Guild smalls (link to where I showed them off).   This bag is designed to hold the fancy tin and provide some pockets as well. 

Each side shows a different cityscape around the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City.  The shops on one side and the big fountain in the park on the other side. 

Stitched on 34 count "Cafe Aulait" linen with the called for DMC and Thread Gatherer Silks; there are also Mill Hill Beads and Krenick metallic threads.  

Stitches include:  Cross over two (including half, reverse half, 3/4 and 1/4 stitches), cross over one, tent and reverse tent, Back Stitch, Double Running Stitch, Eyelets, Satin Stitch, Scotch Stitch, Smyrna Cross Stitch, Rice Stitch, Long and Short, Shading in satin/long and short.  

Need to give a hat tip to the other four gals in the UFO Round Robin on the Legacy Embroider's forum for their stitching that got me going after the class.  And to the Slow Sunday Stitchers blog link up for their encouragement and accountability over the last few years, especially here lately when I was pushing to the finish.

I am committed to doing the finishing to get it to a usable FFO as soon as I can, but I'm really burned out on it currently.   I'm going to re-arrange my WIPGO board to include the finishing work on the bag so that it doesn't linger in the 'under the bed box' for very long.

Slow Sunday Stitching - April 6, 2025

First Sunday of the month, so reporting on the daily temperature log.  Pattern is Temperature Stitches by Stitching Mommy on Etsy.

And where I am overall.   March stitch was Diamond Eyelets.  Unlike most eyelets, these didn't give me much grief!

Other monthly reporting includes the Mead Dragon - details in the month end post here.  

I've also put in several hours on the beading on the fountain side of the KC Plaza Sewing Bag.  The design looks much more balanced with the water sprays filling in the top!  Still to do by mid-month, the beading in the water and the backstitch and beading on the border.   

In knitting news, I got to the top of the charity hat on Friday.

Now as I learned with the Musselburgh Hat, I can't do crown decreases in a busy environment, so I didn't take my knitting to Carl's 5K on Saturday.  This was his first non-school race.  He won his age bracket (M 15-19) and had quite a respectable time considering that the race was cold, rainy and VERY muddy.

Instead, I started the next perforated paper Santa.   I sorted thread and got everything set up and just barely started.  I'll show a picture next week.   Linking up with the SSS crew for the weekly round up of inspiration.