May WIPocalypse

May has come and gone so quickly and the heat of June is already upon us. Gazebo stitching has commenced in earnest although not as often as I would like. Planting my pots and cleaning up the garden has taken precedence. A special thank you to my dear husband for his help with all this. It's been such a treat to be outdoors again after being cooped up inside throughout the pandemic. Hopefully we'll be able to have some family and neighbours visit soon.

The first weekend in May I participated in the Blackbird weekend SAL which is being hosted by Brenda and Laura of Brenda and The Serial Starter fame on Floss Tube. Basically you pick any Blackbird Design that you fancy, either a new start or one in progress, and stitch on it the first weekend of the month. Then you post your progress on Instagram using #bbdweekendsal.

Initially I was going to find a small start for the weekend but after looking through my WIPs I found a Blackbird Design which I had started in 2019 and not completed. Last Rose of Summer Sewing Box can be found in the Ooh La La book. It calls for 36 ct Picture This Plus Gingerbread linen. I only have 32 ct Gingerbread so I chose another of their linens in the 36ct. I wasn't happy with my fabric choice and hadn't stitched all that much so I decided to start the whole piece over again. This time I used 36 ct Fiber on a Whim Muted Sedona which is fairly close to the Gingerbread colour. It tuned out so well on this fabric and I'm really pleased with it. 

The only thing that bothers me about this finish is that the letter J for my last name looks more like a T to me. I'm going to see if I can find another cursive alphabet with a J or else redesign this one myself. I checked in some of my other Blackbird books but quite often the letter J doesn't appear in alphabets. The hunt is on! Then I'll have to finish it in the oval to place in the sewing box which I'm lucky enough to have. I purchased one at the last Prim Stitchers Society retreat that I can use for this.

About halfway through my finish of the above design I learned of another weekend SAL taking place with Annie of The Proper Stitcher. This one is a sweet sampler from Little Robin Designs called Clarissa Beaumont 1875. I had downloaded the pdf chart from her site several days before I heard about the SAL and had already kitted it up as a new start on my immediate radar. I'm using the called for DMC and 40ct XJudesigns Light Hazelnut linen. The colours are quite bright and cheerful. This SAL takes place every weekend and your progress can be posted either on Instagram or Facebook on The Proper Stitcher. Here's my progress as of the end of the first weekend.

The rest of the month I gave some much needed attention to My Precious Jewel. I can see the finish line approaching on this one. I've completed all of the motifs now and I'm currently working on the over one verse. After that only the border remains. I have restitched some of the white in the motifs with a brighter floss and I still have to go back and restitch a couple others.

The first two photos are where I left off last month.

Here's my updated progress:

Now I'm off to find another Blackbird Design for the weekend SAL.

I'll leave you with a few pics from my garden. I love seeing all the flowers in bloom once again!

One of my favourite columbines!

It was a banner year for my lilac, seen here in the background.