June was the month I got back on the cross stitching wagon. I reckon I spent more time stitching this month than I have for the whole past 12 months! (Well, excluding the period of maternity leave before my daughter was born and I went MENTAL).
I attribute my new found productivity to setting up a rotation system and also going back to work. There's something about working that makes me feel a more urgent need to spend time on my hobby!
So let's have a look at my progress...
FINISH!!
First of all, I have a finish yay. This was a quick stitch for a friend's wedding. It was a custom made design off Etsy, from a designer named Youmakemesewhappy. My friend picked out this type of design. She is a stitcher herself so she understands how much time it takes to cross stitch, and she also has quite particular taste. So I felt it was really thoughtful of her to pick something out that would prevent me from spending months stitching something she hated the sight of! When that happens no one wins.
So I sent the Etsy designer a photo of the happy couple and a photo of their beloved pooches, and she sent me back a really quick and easy pattern.
My friend who is getting married says she has a beautiful frame already picked out, so that makes life SUPER easy (and saves money for me to donate to another present for them!).
MY WIPs
Candy Cane Santa Stocking
This one got a workout for a good ten days. It's such a fun, happy stitch. It's well progressed and at the point where I am familiar with most of the symbols and what is going on in the design and it's very easy for me to just get in the zone and stitch right through my daughter's two hour nap without blinking an eyelid.
I love the vibrant colours and can't wait to backstitch this bad boy and bring it all to life! I am dreading the finishing part though. I can't sew, I butcher things, and I love this piece so much that I think I would prefer to pay a professional to turn it into a stocking than risk doing it myself.
New start - Design Works Birdcage
Oh gosh I have loved this design for so long. I have been itching to start it since I added it to my stash. Then the Great Flood of 2016 happened (we were relocating interstate from Perth to Melbourne, then we got rained on in Adelaide and half my stash was water damaged and I had to throw it out) and I realised that if I don't start on some of the stash that is left, I am risking it being lost for good!
I allocated room in my rotation for a new start - to keep my stitching morale bouyant, as starts tend to do - and I was torn between this and another Design Works pattern with a cat in a shoe. I held both designs up for my husband to look at and he said of the cat "that is so ugly how could you ever think that is okay to stitch" that I decided I don't want to keep the cat kit anymore! When he has such a violent reaction to something I'm working on, it ruins it for me! Hence why I try to avoid ever asking his opinion. Ha!
He had much nicer things to say about Birdcage though, and from the moment I started I really enjoyed this kit. The colours are a lot more varied and pinky than what the cover picture suggests, but it is still going to look spectacular when it's done. Metallic threads are a complete pain in the butt but man they are EFFECTIVE once done.
So here is where I got to on Birdcage in about five days (because I spent half the second rotation on the wedding stitch and then the other half on birdcage). Next month I look forward to doing a whole ten days!
HAUL
I miss my pre-baby days of being able to buy whatever cross stitch stash took my fancy but those days aren't coming back anytime soon. I'm a responsible mother now, ha! This year I've been much more austere and I'm planning to stitch almost exclusively from stash until it's eaten up. So how's that for Madam Stash, eroding her stash until there's none left!
This month the only cross stitch related purchase I made was a Pako floss organizer. This is so I can add one of my Dimensions Gold WIPs to my monthly rotation. I think it is going to be Balloon Glow.
JULY PLANS
So I am already underway on my first rotation - Candy Cane Santa - and then I will spend 10 days on Birdcage. By then hopefully my Pako has arrived and I will spend the final 11 days of the month on Balloon Glow.
Look forward to updating you again next month! In the meantime, you can follow my progress on instagram: @madam_stash
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