Slow Sunday Stitching - August 24, 2025 AND Rotation #5, Slot #2 (Modern) Changeover

Busy weekend - Carl had a 5K on Saturday.   (It was a wet run but he didn't melt 😅) So of course, I had to cast on a charity hat to have something to work on while he was running the course.  

Fall colors LOSY hat (link to my Ravelry page):

I kept up with the daily stitching this week, and after getting off to a rocky start last week, the remaining rotation hours on Just Nan's "Butterflies, Blossoms and Bees" flew by!   I finished the middle band (except for the beading) and got the first step of the center square completed.   I'd hoped to get a little further, but I lost a couple of hours to that frog visit!  

Time spent frogging and fixing mistakes does count in my timed rotation slots.  It's a part of the needlework journey, after all. (It happens to all of us. 😟😕) Next time I work on this, there are more eyelets, more cross stitch and backstitching, but what I'm really looking forward to is the little over one bees!  

Here's what this project looks like at the 30-hour point:

And here's where I started the rotation for comparison:

fabric color is truer in this photo

Linking up with the SSS crew (current round up is here).  Then I'll be getting out the surface embroidery project - the floral tote.   I haven't worked on it since my grandson and I went on our road trip in late June/early July before Independence Day!  

ETA:  The race was at a small lake near our city and went along the shoreline. I think I got a good picture of him at the finish line:

The mis-matched socks are deliberate;

it's become his 'signature style' for luck in races.

Slow Sunday Stitching - August 17, 2025

Well, this week was not as productive as I had hoped on the needlework front.   While I did keep up on the two daily projects (the daily high temperature log and the Mead Dragon), the Just Nan piece hit a snag.   I spent several hours putting in the plaited stitch border in the wrong place (and then taking it back out carefully as the overdyed silk floss in the custom color "woodsmoke" doesn't have much extra and is no longer made). 

But now it's all in correctly and I'm ready for the corner eyelets.   I'm hopeful that I can get the rest of the border stitching done this week.   But the detour was quite frustrating. 

Linking up with the SSS crew (current round up here). 

PS:  Last week I called the Plaited Stitch "not too difficult" - I think I cursed myself LOL.

Slow Sunday Stitching - August 10, 2025 AND Rotation #5, Slot #1 (Historic) Changeover

Well, I have put in 15 hours on the Blackbird Designs "And to all a Good Night" (Loose Feathers #11).  Ten hours gets credited to this rotation and five to the 'Christmas in July start' that was kind of between rotations as I was moving.

I'm at almost 25% and well into the roof of the house.  I really don't want to put it away, but that just means that I'll be happy when it comes around again!

And where I was when I started this rotation for comparison:

Next up is more on the Just Nan piece.   I'm hoping to get the first part of the center border done this week; it's a plaited or herringbone stitch, which is not too difficult.

Linking up with the SSS crew (current round up).

Slow Sunday Stitching - August 3, 2025

What a busy month July was - I took my grandson on a quick road trip to spend a long weekend with his other grandparents.   We got back home just in time for the 4th of July holiday.  Then I moved.  I'm finally getting settled in, though decorating and small projects will be ongoing.   You know old houses - there's always something.   The "new" house is actually older than the "old" house - the new place was built in 1920, so it's just over 100 years old. 

I have garden plans!  This week a small shed in the back was torn down (it was failing, you couldn't even close the door, and it was mostly a home for mice).  Glad to evict those tenants LOL.  I liked the garden bed I had at the old house, so I bought two for the new house.   I'm watching the sun patterns to figure out where to site them.   One thing I love about the new house is that there are two hose bibs on opposite corners of the lot.   Thanks for thinking ahead, Dad!

The first of the month means it's time to do an update on the daily projects.  This month's temperature daily log was another Rhodes Stitch variation - this time it was butterflies.

And here's a close up of the stitches.   Like all Rhodes Stitch variations, the individual stitches that make up the larger stitch are worked in a spiral and the varying lengths make up the final shape.

And overall, the piece is really filling in now.   We have had a relatively cooler summer with no highs over 100 degrees F / 37.7 C.   Though we may get there in August - it's not unusual for the summer highs to linger into early September.  So I haven't had to use the two 'hottest' colors (yet).

And the Mead Dragon is coming along - see the July month end post for stats and a comparison picture.   I hit a milestone in early July and got to the 2/3 point. 

Last but not least, the Blackbird Design piece "And to all a Good Night" is at 13.5%.  It's actually a bit more than that since I finished the snowflakes and there are 5 Queen Stitches in each one.   But they don't show up in Pattern Keeper.    I'm excited to get into the top of the house this week.   Time to roll the fabric up!

Checking in with the SSS crew (this week's link).

Full Coverage Month End Report - July 2025

 

Stitches in July = 4,449, which brings me to a yearly total of 30,094 and an overall total of 66,187 or 70.04%.   Quite a bit of progress in the confetti of the drinking horn and you can see the tail starts to curve around under the edge of the wing.   I'm on Row 234

Where I started the month for comparison.

I have had to drop out of the #WIPintoshape challenge due to moving house.   It was just getting very stressful to have a daily deadline on this project, especially since the mileage was starting to get into the higher numbers.  So, I have had to drop back to just my previous goal of "just" 100 stitches a day.

Slow Sunday Stitching - July 27, 2025

Update on the move.  There's still some out of season clothing and decor and the shop stuff that needs to be moved.  (I need to clear out the shop area in the new basement from the tenants abandoned belongings).   But I have slept here, cooked here, showered here and done laundry here.   I think that means I'm moved!   I still feel odd when I walk in, like I'm expecting it to be my parents' furniture instead of mine LOL.   And I haven't even started decorating - there are still windows without curtains even (only the bedroom ones are up).

Needless to say, there wasn't much crafting this week.   I did get a couple of hours in on the BBD piece.  I'm now at 6.61%.  The nice thing about two over two on 28 count is that if I have good light, I don't need magnification. 

Lettering is done and I got a start on the moon and stars in the upper section.    The moon color shows a lot more variegation in the photo than in real life.   Odd, it's usually the other way around.

Late hooking up with the SSS weekly roundup.   They probably think I perished under an avalanche of boxes.   Actually, I haven't started unpacking the library yet, so it could still happen!

Full Coverage Milestone (2/3 done) AND 2025 Rotation #4, Slot #4 (Pictorial)

Before we get to pretty pictures of Mead Dragon, a quick explanation.   I hit a major milestone on the project only a week after I did the June monthly update.   And I was also not THAT far out from the end of the rotation.   So, I decided to post both updates together when I hit the second marker.  Therefore, in chronological order:

Monday, July 7

 62,995 of 94,500 stitches = 66.66%.   Mead Dragon is 2/3 done.  When I started this project on 1/31/2024, I estimated it would take three years to complete.    I'm ahead of schedule by a bit more than six months!

And at the end of rotation #4, I was at 65,354 of 94,500 or 69.16%.   On row 231, so no matter if you look at stitch count or row count, I am on the final third of this project! 

Tuesday, July 22

I'll do the usual end of month update with monthly stats and a comparison picture from the end of the prior month.  Lots of Dragon content this month 🐲🐉👍