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Friday 24 June 2016

Recovering from the Marathon!

Thanks to everyone who commented on my Marathon Post.  It was such a fun day and so much easier and less stressful than trying to do a Start A Day like the DUCJC.  I will definitely be doing it again next year.  It was worth taking the time in advance to sort out the projects, making sure the charts, threads and fabric were all in one place.   And didn't they look great all laid out on the bed?

Thanks for the feedback on Bande de Dragons too.  I think I will be taking Christine's advice and cutting down what I have already done and completing the segment of the border as a stand alone piece.  Then restarting the design on a higher count over one.  It's not just the scratchiness of the fabric it's the large scale.  I am used to 32 count or 28 count hand-dyed which shrinks.  14 just seems enormous and it's a big design to start with.  25 count over 1 will bring it to a more manageable size.

At least three other bloggers joined me for the day:




Why not pop over and see how they got on?

Prior to my Marathon we had IHSW hosted by Joysze of Random Ramblings and I made some fantastic progress on my Elizabeth Shephard sampler which has been my designated IHSW project for the last two years.  Here's where she was before the weekend:


And here she is now:


I stitched the rest of the swan motif, all the one to the left and some brown border!  There really is just one weekend of stitching left in her and then I get to choose another long term IHSW project.

Prior to that I continued with the Daffycat Reindeer series.  I completed six of the designs and made them into a cube finish.

Stocking Reindeer

Ribbon Reindeer

Star Reindeer

Here are all six together:


And here's what I made them into:



I mounted each square on some thin card and then whipstitched them into a cube.  I threaded some beads onto a piece of cotton thread to make a hanger and then the other ends of the thread to make some beaded tassels at the bottom of the cube.  Now all we need is Christmas!

I also completed another one of my Just Nan smalls, Beehive Violets:

stitched on 28 count evenweave

Which meant a new start on Big Bee, Little Bee, also by Just Nan:

stitched on 28 count evenweave

There are four of those beehives to stitch and some corner border too.  This is quite a stitch-dense design compared to the previous one and is taking a little longer.

The day after the Marathon I had quite a lot of household things to do which were held over from Monday.  And trying to decide what to stitch first out of all the choices!  When I completed my 30 minutes on Teresa Wentzler's You Were Hatched I noticed that the dark blue did not meet up with the lighter blue I'd stitched for the DUCJC.  I thought the best thing to do was find the error and fix it right away than put it away and not want to face the frog.

So here is where I left off after the Marathon:


and here is where I was after the frogging session:


All of that top blue was out by one row.

And here's where I am now:

stitched on 28 count lilac evenweave

I've stitched all of three of the blues and most of the lightest blue, you can really see the design taking shape now.  Of course, those four colours are actually eight because it's a Teresa Wentzler which means Blended Threads!  This was intended as a Birth Sampler for the Small Boy, he's only seven after all!

Finally, I'm still really behind on blog reading but intend to try and catch up over the next week.  So sorry, if I haven't been to visit recently.  Also, if you took part in The Longest Day Marathon, let me know and I'll add you to this post with Brigitte, Melinda and Kerry.





29 comments:

diamondc said...

Jo: I love the Reindeer cube what a great idea, love love love Just Nan Smalls, they are so sweet.
I looks like you have great start on your Teresa Wentzlers design.

Blessings
Catherine

Vickie said...

I am loving the looks of You Were Just Hatched!

gracie said...

Love Just Nan designs...looking good.

Beth in IL said...

Wow! What a great post. Like the longest day marathon too, but I know that will never work in my household. Well, maybe if I ran away from home for the day...

KimM said...

Jo, love the reindeer cube! It's so adorable!!
xxx

Barb said...

Lots of wonderful stitching. Elizabeth Shepherd will be finished soon. She is beautiful!

Ruth said...

Heavens!!! I bow down to your productivity!!!! We are not worthy. Love all the progress--- and I thoroughly covet your reindeer cube. Sooooo cute.

Bea said...

Elizabeth S looks wonderful - soooo close to a finish. Boo hiss to the frog, but he obviously didn't slow you down much. Love the cube by the way.

Linda said...

Another great post with more great stitching Jo. I so enjoy your blog. Love the cube finish.

Linda

Brigitte said...

Yes, the marathon day was a real fun day and I think that I will join you next year again. The day after I was a bit lost and would have loved to continue stitching on each of my marathon projects. And as I couldn't decide on which one to continue I pulled out my letter houses and continued on them.
You have two wonderful finishes here. I had seen your reindeer cube already on one of the SAL blogs. And your little JN bee is so cute.
A good idea to take out all the wrong stitches on your TW project immediately and restitch them. I know what happens when a project with a mistake is put away with the mistake still in - you never want to pull it out again.

Mini said...

Good progress on ES and You Were Hatched. Good that you were able to notice the color mistake early on in the project.
Wow that cube is lovely. What a finish.
Loving the Just Nan too.

Preeti said...

Lovely progress on your projects and the cube finish is beautiful !! The beehive one is very cute:)
You did great in your marathon stitching !! I have recently had many marathons of doing nothing, not even a stitch:( I started a crochet project last week but I am also doing some gardening stuff so that's taking a toll on my back and I am having severe back pain.

Christine said...

Don't sweat it. I haven't finished Eloise's birth sampler and she's 22
I love the cube finish for the reindeer. I wonder if some of the monthly series out there would lend themselves to a dodecahedron

Justine said...

I loved reading about your marathon day and I agree that bed full of stitching goodies looked very tempting! Great progress on Elizabeth and I really love your cube finish.

Margaret said...

What a great idea for finishing - a hanging cube. I may just purloin that one day :-)

Kaisievic said...

Love your hanging cube and great stitching. Good idea to deal with the blues problem - if you put it away it often seems insurmountable! Lovely finish on Beehive violets - such pretty colours.

Sarah in Stitches said...

Lovely stitching! The hanging cube is awesome. Great job! :D

jocondine said...

Cube is really nice, it seems to be the best way to make one (I had the idea of cubes for baby some years ago but have begun to stitch on a six sided pattern). Elizabeth Sh. is nice too. xxx

Desiree Ehleiter said...

I really enjoyed reading about your marathon. What fun! And I love, love, love your reindeer cube. What a wonderful idea! I love seeing creative finishing ideas - even though I never seem to finish off anything. I am having the hardest time finishing the Faces of Joan Elliott. I started that on 14 count, before I had confidence in myself that I could stitch over 2, and I regret it so. But I will finish it, as you will finish yours (at least partially) and will have learned from the lesson.

Kerryp77 said...

Hey Jo, thanks for the shout out. Love the cubes. The reindeer are lovely to stitch. ES looks amazing. I'm very tempted to get it myself. Loving the just Nan's - very sweet designs and you're getting through them so well. I'm impressed with how much you did on the TW design despite the visit from the frog. I must get the stitching out tonight I've got 6 small designs to finish by Friday!

beadgirl said...

I love the cube finish; I'll have to try that.

The stitching marathon -- wow! I can't imagine being able to spend a whole day stitching. I enjoyed seeing all your projects, too. And thanks for reminding me about the Tree of Stitches; I've been meaning to start that.

Heather said...

Wow lovely progress I love all of those blues together

OhSewCrafty said...

The reindeer cube is very sweet. Cute finish on the bee design too. I know what you mean about recovering from the marathon. It was the same for me after Maynia.

D1-D2 said...

Wow you've been busy!

The Knitting Cross Stitcher said...

Absolutely brilliant cube and I love your Just Nan stitching.

Leonore Winterer said...

I loved following your marathon, but even aside from it you have a lot going on! Great progress on Elizabeth and lovely little Reindeer. I also adore the bee smalls and You were Hatched of course, I wish this one was still available, it's so cute :)

Katie said...

I'm so far behind on blog reading. Just no time this time of year. But glad I stopped by to see your beautiful stitching. Keep it up.

gominam said...

I'm in awe of your Reindeer cube, i love love love it!

Julie said...

Love the cube finish, that's a great idea.