April WIPocalypse

I realized only a week ago that I have spent the entire month of April working on my large finishes and neglected to start anything small at all. So consequently you will only see this post from me and no Smalls post. Hopefully I can find the time to get started on another small finish for May. In the meantime I have some pictures to share of my larger works in progress.

You will remember from last month's post that I was close to a finish on Thirza Hudson 1825. Shortly thereafter I powered through and finished off the over one with her name and date and then the remaining border. 

 This has been such a joy to stitch and it's the sweetest little sampler! I have already had it stretched and I'm hoping to get it framed in the very near future. 

After finishing Thirza, I turned my attentions back to 1897 Schoolhouse Designs My Precious Jewel. Because I didn't have the chosen fabric for this design, I went with Picture This Plus Earthern, which I had in my stash. However I have had to adjust the colours of floss I'm using accordingly. I had hoped to do the whole sampler in silks but that hasn't worked out for various reasons. So as it stands, I'm stitching with a mix of silks and overdyes, some of which are the called for overdyes. 

This was my progress as of March.

Here's my progress as of April 23

The called for floss for most of the white areas is Gentle Art Shaker White. My lot was more of a creamy colour and I wanted to achieve the white look that the chart displays on its cover so I went with Picket Fence. It worked well for the house and area but hasn't worked as well in some of the smaller motifs at the top of the piece. I'm currently trying to decide whether to frog them and go with another colour of floss altogether or find a brighter white that will stand out more on my fabric choice. 

 My brain was tired of trying to make a decision so for now I moved on to the funky tree that drew me to this piece in the first place. I also love the little teapot motif at the top which is ghosted now with the white. 

Up close the motifs look like they work but from a distance they're just ghost shapes on the design. I'm still working on the tree and surrounding area while I let my frustration settle. I'll have to decide at some point but for now I just want to stitch!

I recently picked up the birth sampler I did for my sweet little grandson along with a LaDDa finish from 2018. I used the same frame for both pieces and I absolutely love how they turned out. As you can see from the one photo, my grandbaby isn't quite sure how he feels yet, lol!

This weekend marks the start of a Blackbird Designs SAL, a new start or a WIP. It's being sponsored by Brenda and Laura of Flosstube fame. I have pulled out a start from 2019 from the Ooh La La book which is called Last Rose of Summer. I actually am going to restart the piece on a different piece of fabric and as well I now have the called for floss. I wasn't happy with my original fabric choice and some of the DMC conversions of the overdyes. I'll have a pic of my progress from each weekend for you. I'm already enjoying it much more this time around.

I'm also looking at several starts of another small sampler....  Little Deeds by The Scarlett House, Little Robin Designs Clarissa Beaumont 1875  and Hedgerow Stitching Jane Thwaites 1828. I'm just in the process of kitting each and then I'll decide which to start first! See you next month!