Stitch from Stash 2014 January Update

Hello everyone,

I decided to join Mel over at Epic Stitching in her quest to stitch from stash in 2014. To do this I had to figure what I had in my stash. After moving into our place almost a year ago I realized that some stuff was put up and organized but everywhere I looked I found more stuff that I didn’t realize I had purchased.

Since this post has turned into such a long post I am going to put my stats at the beginning so that if you don’t feel like reading to the end.

Amount spent: $23.00 US ($16.00 on fabric and $7.00 on threads)

New Starts from Stash: Spooky Welcome (Stoney Creek) & Steam Butterfly (HAED)

WIPs or UFOs worked on: None

To sort and organize was the first step in preparing for 2014 and the Stitch from Stash 2014 Group.

To this end I went all around the house and picked up every piece of stitching stash I could find (yes you read that right, I had stuff stashed everywhere) and dumped it in the living room. The first day the living room was unusable to anyone but me. I started by sorting things into a couple of groups: Kits (or items I have kitted up) that I eventually want to do, Charts (both free and purchased), Items to be sold (or traded), and trash. Isn’t it amazing how much we collect as crafters? This first step was difficult because I had to decide if I really wanted to stitch that particular pattern/kit. Some of them I still really liked but wasn’t sure that I would ever really do. Finally after a full day of sorting I had to get the living room cleaned up so that DD could have her birthday sleepover. Everything then got moved to my bed. My reasoning: if it is on the bed, I can’t sleep until it has been sorted and put away.  It turned out to be a good idea. Not only was I able to stay up late enough to make sure the 3 teenagers finally fell asleep, I had a good list of what I had and a good idea of the projects I tentatively wanted to complete this year. I was also able to go through all the fabric I have and made a list so that I could quickly see if I had the fabric on hand for a project. I measured each piece in my collection then wrote on a scrap piece of paper the type of material, the count and the measurements. Then I wrote the same information in my craft notebook. I started this notebook last year after reading that a couple other stitchers/crafters kept a journal of their starts and finishes. I never really thought to do this with my fabric before, but now I am so glad I did. 

Now that I am organized (to a point) I wanted to stitch something. Last year Over a year ago now, I purchased a couple of HAED charts.

Boo by Randal Spangler (picture from HAED site)

 

I decided that one of my big projects this year was to finally start and make decent progress on this chart. I had already purchased all the threads and even the fabric for this piece before I moved, but never got around to doing more than a couple of stitches before we moved. I pulled out the box with the threads, found the pattern and realized I didn’t have the size fabric I needed. So out to the store I went to pick up some fabric. I went ahead and picked up some fabric for the charity stitching I plan on doing this year. I get home and look at the chart for the dimensions of the fabric needed and realized I am missing the first page of the chart. GGGRRRRRRR!!!! I knew that it was not with any of my other stitching patterns since I just went through all those. Off I go to the computer looking for the original download. Nothing!! Then I remembered I printed the chart at my old job and should have it on a thumb drive. YIKES!! The thumb drive is missing. I think I had two more charts on that drive that I wanted (one already printed). I was so disappointed.  

So back into my journal to find the next project to work on. I settled for Spooky Welcome by Stoney Creek. 

 

I am not an orange fan so into my fabric basket I go diving. I find a beautiful purple piece of 32ct Belfast Linen by Under the Sea that I picked up from one of the FB Stash unload sites. Then I start thinking about the thread. The pattern calls for DMC 310 Black. I thought it looked a little harsh, so into my threads I go alookin’. I finally settled on DMC 796 a beautiful dark blue. I look again at the chart and realized I need 10 skeins. YIKES again. So the next time I had to go shopping, off to the craft section to pick up some more.

 

I have made some pretty good progress on this one if I say so myself. 

I put aside Spooky Welcome to work on a quick chart for Q4OC. I was able to get this completed in just a week. Such a fun little project. 

Last week I was looking at the HAED site to see about purchasing my Boo pattern again and found that they are having a sale. Can you say “TEMPTATION”? I decided against purchasing a pattern this time and instead decided to work on the other chart in my stash:

 

Steam Butterfly by Brigid Ashwood (pic off of HAED site)

I pulled all the threads that I had and realized I am only missing 19 out of the 90 colors called for in this pattern. I did have to pick up some of the background color that I was missing to be able to start. So Saturday I finally sat down to start and started with 2 over 1 tent stitch on 22 ct Aida. The threads didn’t cover enough so I decided to do a small test area of 3 over 1 tent and still did not like the way it looked. I frogged all the stitches I had done (about 400) and started over with 1 over 1 full cross. Again after about 300 stitches, I decided that there was still too much fabric showing so I frogged all those stitches. They say that the third time is a charm, and they are right. This time I tried 2 over 1 full cross and like the coverage. Did you know that 310 and 939 look the same when stitched next to each other? Neither did I until this project. This is my progress after 405 stitches (out of 134,808). A long way to go yet, but it is a start.

 

Ta Ta for now,
Angela