Jolly June and Stitchmas in July Progress

Hi Everyone

By the time you’re reading this post we will be nearing the end of June and my boyfriend and I have had a weekend at the coast. It’s been a topsy-turvy few weeks for us – especially my boyfriend. In the space of two weeks, he was told that his contract was finishing at the end of June because funding had been cut. He was then told a week after the first phone call, that the project was too important and that funding had been re-instated for the project, as well as his contract! Whilst all of that was happening, his new car arrived and he was having all kinds of fun getting it registered in Canberra (it had been trucked up from Melbourne, Victoria – roughly 6 to 8 hours drive away).

Whilst the drama was happening for my boyfriend, I got to head down to the coast a couple of weekends ago on my own and catch up with my parents which was good. It had been about 10 years since I’d travelled to the coast on my own! I use to do the trip regularly on my own as a way of recharging my batteries and hibernating from the world. As much as I missed my boyfriend, it was good for him to have the thinking space he needed. Because he was able to decide what he wanted to do with the job loss (before we found out he’d been offered the job back) and make some really positive decisions.

Meanwhile, as I’m writing this post, the clouds are starting to come over and the rain we’ve been anticipating should be starting to make it’s self known. Which means that I should be getting some more stitching in. My friend and I have started up our stitch ‘n’ bitch sessions again as restrictions are being lifted even more in Canberra and surrounds. Our aim is to alternate between each other’s places on most Saturdays, with the flexibility of postponing it if we have appointments, are needing to/wanting to travel etc. It was a really good start to the weekend, because the hilarity leading up to our catch-ups, we had been living about half an hour away from each other, but were Skyping because of the social and travel restrictions 🙂

Stitching progress

Since my last post about Jolly June and Stitchmas in July, I’ve been working on:

• Gundaroo Mini Mushroom
• Fight Like a Girl
• Autumn Castle
• Candy Express
• Santa’s Coming
• Zebras

Gundaroo Mini Mushroom designed by Kristen Gawronski

I know this has nothing to do with a Christmas theme. It is something that makes me happy as I continue to make progress with it. One of the things I found after working on it for so long, is that the pattern has the same symbol for two different colours! How on earth did I manage to miss that?! I’ve decided to go with the greener tone and it should blend in well.

Fight Like a Girl designed by Tanya Amity

Again, not a Christmas theme project and one that’s not bringing me much joy once I start stitching it. Some of the things that will help (I hope) is to put the project in a larger hoop. I’ve got so much fabric to deal with because of the size of the project, that if I have it in a larger hoop, I can roll the excess around it until I need to move the hoop. Similar to what people do with Q-snaps and scroll frames.

My other issue with the project is being tired when I’m stitching it. It’s on 18 count navy blue fabric and I’ve adjusted my light so that it’s shining from underneath rather than overhead. It’s helping a bit. But more sleep is definitely needed for when I work on it so that I don’t make as many mistakes when I’m working on it and mis-counting my stitches.

Candy Express designed by Shannon Wasilieff

I’m looking forward to eating some gingerbread when the season kicks in again. I’ve been having fun stitching it and I’m looking forward to finishing it as well! The two main things I’m dreading with this project is the back stitch and beads…As long as I keep reminding myself that it’s worth it at the end, it’ll be okay.

Christmas Owls designed by Jenny Barton

I’ve been working on this project most days for the last week or so and I’m really happy with how it’s progressing. My boyfriend was able to change the light in one of the rooms we hang out in, so that’s helped a bit with stitching at night. One of the things I’m looking forward to with this project is the glow-in-the-dark thread for the moon. It looks just like white DMC thread – either the Blanc or B5200 – and feels quite similar to the cottons. I’ll just have to wait and see how it is when I’m stitching with it!

Santa’s Coming designed by Durene Jones

Last week my aim had been to finish stitching the banner and my nephew Ryan’s name. I’m really happy with how this has worked out. I haven’t had to re-stitch his name and centre it, which I’m super relieved by! I’m already thinking that if I stitch this pattern again, I might change some of the colours to different shades or tones of what you’re seeing in the images below to make them bolder. The challenge will be making sure they don’t clash.

Autumn Castle designed by Evgenia Kolesnikova

I’ve slowly eased up on stitching this project. I’m still enjoying it. It has however become a little like the Fight Like a Girl project because of the amount of errors I’ve made with it so far. Something I really had not expected and I’m quite disappointed by the number of mistakes I’ve made with it so far because it’s on pink fabric and in a larger hoop! Like Fight Like a Girl, stitching on it when I’m tired is most likely the main reason why I’ve made so may errors with it. I’m just thankful that it’s a solid piece and that I’ve been stitching long enough to be able to blend my mistakes in with the rest of the project, without frogging it too much and it working out in the end.

Zebras by Design Works

I feel like I’m losing my mojo with this project, which I’m surprised by because it’s so colourful! Interestingly, the images below of the updated progress show just how stiff the Aida is – but that’s Aida to a tee! In the updated images, you may notice that the project isn’t in a hoop and it’s held its shape. I should have ironed the project before taking the pictures. I do like how the fabric frames what I’ve done so far. What do you think?

Something funny…

Every so often when I’m browsing through Pinterest I’ll come across some really cool subversive cross stitch that I think suits me to a tee. The one I recently came across is shown below:

Anyone who knows me well or has seen my desk at work, knows that to the untrained eye, my desk or home looks like a bomb hit it. To me, it’s organised mess and 90% of the time I know where things are. The question is whether you can wait about 5 minutes for me to get it to you?

The other subversive cross stitch I came across that makes me chuckle when I read it is:

My sense of humour can be quite dry at times and I try to use sarcasm to defuse a situation and lighten it. If my death isn’t caused by my sarcasm, it’ll be caused by my head being in the clouds and off with the fairies daydreaming, resulting in me not paying attention to where I’m going or what I’m doing!

Until next time,

Happy Stitching!