Slow Sunday Stitching - December 7 AND 2025 Rotation #7, Slot #3 (Not Counted Thread) Changeover

Let's get the leftover stuff from last week out of the way first.

The November section of the Daily Temperature Log was done in "Norwich Stitch".   This is a specialty stitch that I'd never come across before.  

 It builds up from a 6 x 6 cross in layers to make a sort of basket weave effect.   Very interesting texture and easy to do.   Plus the stitches were arranged in a regular grid last month, which made it an easy to memorize and execute section.

And the entire thing prior to starting the December section - which is large Octagonal Eyelets.  You'll see that section (and a finish) on New Years Day!

I did post the Mead Dragon last Sunday when I finished working on it, but here it is again with a link to the stats post for November.  She's coming along.  Currently (after another week of work) at just over 85%.

In addition to the daily stitch on the Temp Log and at least 100 stitches on the Mead Dragon, I have been working away at the vintage needlepoint from Germany.  I got the materials to extend the sky and figured out places and a technique of 'speckling' the two colors to keep from having a harsh line between them.   You can see that the new yarn is just slightly brighter blue, but within the variation of a summer sky.   And since there's no harsh edges, it looks acceptably deliberate.

Working ten hours got me halfway across the sky and clouds that take up approximately the top quarter of the piece.   When this comes up again in the rotation, I'll be working on the cloud areas on the left side and the sky areas around them. 

And the back so you can see the progress: I've been working this piece in hand because I don't have appropriately sized stretcher bars, but I am not loving it.  It's hard on the hands and I can't use my floor stand to stitch two handed.  

also fixed the place where I'd carried a thread across the tower by mistake

Plans for the rest of December until I restart the rotation on New Year's Eve.

• Finish December section of the Daily Temperature Log.   Measure it for a frame.
• Continue the daily progress on the Mead Dragon. (This is slot #4 on the last rotation of the year)
• Frame the Majestic Eagle crewel piece to give to my grandson for Christmas
• Make the Unicorn needlepoint into a box pillow for my granddaughter for Christmas
• Get the design wall set up in my new sewing room (!!!!!)
• Piece quilt backing for "It was the 80's.   I finally have my sewing room set up!!
• My son's dog got ahold of Carl's stocking - it needs a MAJOR repair (pictures to come).  Don't worry, the destructive canine was not Della. She only carries around plushies, socks and other fabric things and stashes them in her bedding undamaged.  I think she remembers having puppies.

Quilts Ahoy.  I'm feeling the urge to sew for the first time in years. Here's the finished top for "It was the 80s".   I haven't worked on it for five years.  But eventually everything gets their turn.

Linking up with the SSS crew where you can see some amazing quilts and needlework!  They keep me motivated.

FINISHED QUILT TOP - It was the 80s

colors truer on this picture

 It took me FIVE years to finish that last "Y" seam on the bottom right.  Why?   But it's done now.   I'm working on getting the bias strips for the binding all cut, then I'll work on getting the back pieced.   I have half a dozen left over blocks and strips of squares and some mini blocks that weren't used on the front and several fabrics that need to be used up because I don't want them in my stash.  (Looking at you, bright neon rose!)

you can see the lower corners here

The idea was a mostly blue and white sampler quilt with bits of pink/rose.   I'm pretty happy with how the top looks.   I need to figure out a better display solution, though.

Full Coverage Month End Report - November 2025

 

About the same number of stitches on the Mead Dragon in November as there were in the last couple of months.   I'm continuing on the 100 stitches a day plan.

I finished 3,463 stitches in November for a yearly total to date of 43,645 stitches and a project total of 79,738 stitches of 94,500 or 84.38%.  Currently working on row 287 of 350.

And where I was this time last month for comparison.  What I accomplished was just tons of confetti - in the background, in the drinking horn, everywhere.  That's pretty much going to be the story for the rest of this piece, TBH.  But seeing the percent inch up is still motivating.   I'm going to continue with at least 100 stitches a day for December, continuing to fight the confetti fight all the way LOL.   It would be nice to get to row 300 by the end of the year, but I'm not going to stress too much over the holiday season if I can't get that many stitches in.   I know I'll have a bunch of church and family responsibilities over the next few weeks.

Slow Sunday Stitching - November 30, 2025

End of the month (almost).  But I didn't stay up late to do my 100 stitches on the Mead Dragon after midnight last night, and I won't know what the high temp for today is until midnight tonight.   So you'll get the end of November report next week; though I'll post the month end stats on the Dragon later today when I finish working on it.  (ETA:  That post is here.)

What I CAN talk about right now is the vintage needlepoint.    I've put in just short of 5 hours on it so far - all in the sky area.   As I reported, the kit is short on materials for the Continental Basketweave technique that I chose.   So I've been jumping around working on 'puddle / cloud' shapes to work in some replacement materials in different shades or dyelots of blue (still waiting on my order from 123 Stitch). 

On a high-quality painted canvas like this, the paint color is closely matched to the yarn and it's hard to tell where the stitching is actually completed.  Here's a shot of the back of the canvas for reference.  The rightmost quarter of the sky is completed, and I've moved over to the center clouds, leaving a large gap just above the tower for the replacement color to fill in.

Notice that I've only used three colors so far.  I'm glad I decided to start at the top, though.   Best to get that unwelcome revelation about the material shortage when I still have time to course correct.

Linking up with the SSS crew - they get me through the rough patches! (Current roundup is here.)

FLASHBACK NEEDLEWORK: "Macintosh Rose Smalls" by Textile Heritage

 

There was a set of older smalls that snuck into the photo of my start (and issues) on a vintage needlepoint project.   These are my needlepoint specific needlebook and scissors fob.  

Project Name: Macintosh Rose Needlebook (fob modified from the needlebook pattern)

Designer: Textile Heritage (Scotland, UK) 

kit gifted to me by an online friend (Beth)

Threads:  kit DMC

replaced the kit Aida fabric with 36 count white linen and did not use the provided cording.

covers /pages of needlebook have template plastic inside to provide stability

needlebook pages edged with nun's stitch

stitched in Jan / Feb 2003

"Houston, we have a problem....."

I'm working on the new start for the 'not counted thread' slot on my rotation.   This is the vintage German needlepoint. 

That is one quarter of the blue yarn.  The scissors are pointing to where the one quarter point of the canvas is.   Yep, not nearly enough yarn.    

Here's the entire sky and clouds area

Since I don't have a cover page or instructions and this kit is a MINIMUM of 35-40 years old and maybe much older, there's absolutely no chance of getting matching materials.  A close-ish color match done in 'cloud / puddle' shapes in the center top around the church tower and over on the left side would probably look OK and give enough coverage to eke out the yarn.  Even a summer sky has various shades of blue, after all.

Luckily DMC still makes 4 ply wool tapestry yarn.  However, I don't have a color card for the wool.  So I just sent an order off to123Stitch for several 8-yard hanks of various pale blues.  (And three shades of bright green just in case it's not only the one color that's short.)  I did check the stash, but the only blue tapestry yarn I have is way too dark for a summer sky.

I'm guessing that if this kit is older (post war up to the 1970s) that the materials are not generous due to material shortages and therefore it was meant to be done in half cross, not continental stitch.  Half cross puts a lot less yarn on the back of the project and also distorts the canvas badly due to all the stress on the ground being in a single diagonal direction.  Continental stitch done basketweave style (which is the technique that I'm using) is so stable that you barely need to block the canvas when done since it distributes the stress of the stitches equally in both the horizontal and vertical directions.

You know, I am going to be happy when I finish up the vintage projects.  It seems like every one of them has materials issues! 

Slow Sunday Stitching - November 23 AND 2025 Rotation #7, Slot #2 (Historic) Changeover

 It was a good week this week on the needlework front.  I finished off the ten hours on the Blackbird Designs historic inspired project "And to All a Good Night".   I am now at 58% on this piece.   I finished the bricks down to the top of the front door and the first half of the mortar in that area plus all the mortar in the upper part of the house and the interiors of the windows up top.  The gaps over the door and lower windows will have a huge floral swag with a pineapple, foliage, and large burgundy ball ornaments.  Hopefully I'll get to that part next time this comes around, because frankly I'm tired of bricks and mortar LOL.

Where I started the rotation for comparison (no mortar in the upper part of the house yet and the window insides only barely started):

Moving on to the third slot in my needlework rotation - not counted thread.   I introduced the new needlepoint project a couple of weeks ago (link to that post).   But I won't have time to do the set up on it today.  Bells are playing at both the main service and Evensong.   Wish us luck, the morning piece has a lot of difficult techniques and bell changes; our bass section is struggling.

I'll check out the rest of the SSS crew after all the church stuff (link to current roundup).