Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Finally finished with Halloween....

Halloween may have been over a few days ago but I was just getting started with the "Day of the Dead" pumpkin by Noteworthy Needle and since it was for Sara, not the store (although I suspect she'll just leave it there until next Halloween) I needed to finish it.  On Halloween day I gave her a basket filled with Day of the Dead items but let her know that her real gift would arrive late.  As I reported last blog post, I punched the first pumpkin incorrectly and my drill went through at one point so I had to begin all over again with a 2nd pumpkin.  Anyway, here's the result of my toil on Day of the Dead....
I still made a couple of mistakes, ran out of WDW Onyx which I was using to stitch the design (and I wasn't sure we had any more in the shop, but even that didn't deter me.  Instead, I used the WDW everywhere but the eyes to see how far I could get with it.  I left the eyes until last as I thought that would be a good place to switch to DMC black.    I still had a small amount of WDW  left so I stitched the 3 rows on the outside of one side of each eye, one row on the bottom, and 2 rows on the top and then switched to the DMC as I didn't have enough to finish the eyes.     It really doesn't show that I switched blacks,  which doesn't bother me at all.  I am not a Day of the Dead person, so it wasn't a project I  loved to stitch, however since it was for Sara it became a labor of love.   I'm thrilled to have it done even if it is a little late.  Now on to my final pumpkin of the season, Autumn's Blessings.  And I am also working on Erica Michael's latest strawberry.  I'm actually stitching the silk gauze strawberry, however, I chose to work it this time on 28 ct. over one so it's a tad larger than the 40 ct. gauze piece but it's still got all the detail and none of the background to stitch,  I realize Linda has a linen strawberry for Christmas as well,  but they don't have the detail of the 40 ct., so that's why I decided to do that one.  I started to stitch it over 2 on 28 count so it would be larger but decided to tone it down a little for this one, and stitched it over 1 instead.  But I still intend to do an oversized strawberry and might even do it over 2 on 18 ct.   That would be the granddaddy of all strawberries, but I thought it might be a cute idea for a strawberry display.  Linda had one large one done on her display in Nashville the first year she introduced the strawberries and I've been dying to do the same ever since I saw hers.  Well, that's what has been happening here since I last spoke with you.  Still straightening up the apartment getting ready for the holidays.  UGH, I do hate that.  Takes time away from my stitching.  Sara leaves on Tuesday for the Attic so I'm in charge for the week she's away which means I'll be in the office or in a shop.  But this will get me ready to start my winter shifts, working every Friday through Monday until April.  It's hard to believe I have to start working again after I've had so much time off, but since I can stitch while I work I guess it won't be too bad.  But I sure will miss my stitching spot and T.V.   In case I have nothing to add for the next few days, have a wonderful weekend and hope your needle gets a little use before I talk with you again.

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