This weekend is the virtual retreat 24 Hours of Cross Stitch. I always try to get the Friday off, but didn't manage it this month; too many people were already on the vacation calendar. So I took off Thursday and scheduled work from home on Friday. We are back to the physical office two days a week, and working remote the other three days. I would much rather work remote full time and avoid the horrible commute, but it is what it is. Since I won't be able to do much stitching on Friday, I'm adding Thursday to my retreat weekend. The only thing I have to do that day is to go get a blood draw for my yearly physical lab work. Midweek days off seem so self indulgent!
 |
| Planned Projects for #24HoCS |
So, my goals are:
- Work on my Blackbird Designs project "Their Song"- 5 hours (Getting a little more time in on my #BBDweekendSAL project.)
- 200 stitches on my full coverage piece, JC's "USMC seal". I'm trying to do 200 stitches every Friday and at least for this month, it's worked well. Should hit the 3/4 point on the lettering - I'm close!
- Dutch Beauty - 10 hours. (My standard rotation slot for a Vintage/Historic Reproduction or Inspiration project.)
- Plum Street Samplers design "Corgi Caboodle". Five hours on this is the second WIPGO goal for April. Get it set up today and then work on it for as long as I can after my other three goals for the weekend are met.
Progress:
Thursday 4/21:
A bit over five hours of work, and got the lower left side and corner established and the date in, the very start of the bottom "border" (really just a zigzag motif). and stitched the next to the last of the black birds. I think this one is NOT a corvid (crow or raven); there is a red patch on this one's breast. If it was on the shoulder, I'd call it another of our native birds, the "Red Winged Blackbird"; though their call is no more melodious than a raven's caw - more of a screech.
 |
Friday 4/22:
240 stitches on the USMC Seal one over one on 28 count. Thank heavens for a good magnifier light!
I did not think to take a 'start' photo, but I was just barely finished with the "E". This also marks the 3/4 point on the blue and white lettering area. A few columns of solid blue and I will start on "Marine"! It's not QUITE at the 'push to a finish' stage, but getting there!
Saturday 4/23
Very nearly six hours on Dutch Beauty so far today. All concentrated on the left side of the nest and the bottom part of the left side shore plants on Page Q/17. The bottom green and the 'twigs' are done up to the page break.
One thing I love about this design is that the flowers, though stylized, are almost all recognizable. These are water iris (aka 'flags'). They commonly (at least around here) come in two colors, a deep golden yellow and a bluish purple. They have a very shaggy flower, just like the garden iris, but grow in marshy conditions. Very appropriate to this motif of water grasses around the swan's nest.
Cattails are the other plant that is showing up so far. Broadleaf cattails / Common Bullrushes are native to my area and are found along ponds, slower flowing creeks and in roadside ditches that stay moist most of the time. The "hotdog or sausage on a stick" shape of their seed pods makes them super easy to identify, even at driving speeds! Since this is a European sampler, these are probably the related Narrow Leaf species, though.
And where I started for comparison:
Sounds like a glorious stitching weekend!
ReplyDelete