Done At Last!

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It’s finally finished! I am so glad I persevered with this project. It actually didn’t take long to finish at all, once I had my system down for doing the grass part.

The fabric color was really tricky to capture on camera. It is actually a nice green color, and neither of these photos do it justice.

Start date: Summer 2012 (I think)
Completion date: October 29, 2021

Now to start on something for Halloween, even though it won’t be finished for this year!

XXX
Carrie


The Home Stretch

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I am so close to finishing this project that I started in 2012! I finally came up with a system to make the grass at the bottom not so terrible. I started with the darkest brown which is not only the easiest to see, but also has the least amount of stitches. I used a Post It to keep my place on the chart and then crossed off my stitches with a marker. I did all of this color in a huge area. Then I moved on to the medium brown, which also was easy to see and marked that off with a different colored marker. Then when that was done I started with the third and final grass color, a pale brown that is harder to see against the fabric color. I started on the right hand side and stitched only the bottom stitches. After doing a large section that way, I went back and filled in with that color up to the top, and this was so easy to do while watching TV because there was no counting involved. After doing the right side of the pattern this way, I then moved on to the middle. Now that the middle is done I am working on the left side. After this area is filled in I will only have to do some backstitching in the grass and this project will be DONE! I am determined to get this finished before the end of the year so that it does not turn into a 10 year project. 9 years just sounds so much better 🙂

XXX
Carrie



Slow Going

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This grass area is so slow going and the counting is so difficult. As much as I want to finish this ASAP, I think I am going to have to put it away again for a while. It’s a good thing I was never a model stitcher for a magazine, as this project has been worked off and on for 9 years!

XXX
Carrie


Deer In The Woods… Again!

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I started this deer project in 2012, thinking it would look great in my husband’s cabin. I worked on it for a while, put it away, worked on it some more, put it away, etc. Now it’s 2021 and this is one of my few UFOs. I can’t stand to see it sitting in a drawer any longer, so I have decided I am getting this back out and won’t stop until it is done! The only part I have left is the grass, which is three shades of brown and then some wispy backstitches. Every time I try to work on this I get stuck because the pattern is so confetti-heavy and hard to follow. But I am determined to get this done, soon. This photo is my starting point.

XXX
Carrie


Deer In The Woods

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After finishing my last project, I decided to tackle the Deer In The Woods again. I have not worked on this in almost a year, and it was started several years before that. The shades of green and brown are not only boring to stitch, but difficult. Yet I want to get this one over with so I can start on something new. In a few days time, I managed to complete the last of the trees and started on the grass.

The grass is proving especially difficult, so after working on it a bit I decided to put it away again in order to work on A Summer Ball. In a couple of weeks I will go back to the deer and hopefully finish it up. Then I will finally allow myself to start on something new.

XXX
Carrie


Where has the time gone?

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Wow, I can’t believe how long it has been since I last posted. So much has gone on here, although not much of it was stitching-related. It started just before Halloween when my daughter Adrienne got strep throat. After that, there was so much sickness in this house. Our son Aaron got it the end of November, and then my husband Jim, and then me. Aaron was not responding to the antibiotics, so they switched his to something more powerful. Jim took his round but then had to take another round after that. And Aaron ended up getting strep again about 2 weeks after finishing his meds. During the Christmas holidays we lost power due to strong winds. We were without power for 4 days, including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I actually did get some stitching in during that time, because there wasn’t much else to do. But I could only stitch when there was enough light in the front window, which wasn’t for more than a couple of hours per day. I finished my hedgehogs, but have not had a chance to sew them together yet. I then started working on the deer in the woods again, not because I love that project so much but because it would have been too difficult to find supplies for a new project in the dark! On January 3 we were without power once again, but this time it went out at midnight and was back on by the time we came home from church. The kids went back to school today, which means I can finally get caught up on some work. I suppose the Christmas tree should come down, but I don’t feel too motivated to do that yet.

Looking back on last year, I suppose I got a good amount of stitching done, considering my hectic lifestyle. I am hoping that 2016 brings even more free time so I can do what I love to do the most. Happy New Year!

XXX
Carrie


The Deer In The Woods

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I am down to only a few WIPs. Peacock Tapestry will take years to finish, so I am not going to bother with that. Maybe when the kids are older and I can concentrate on it better. The hummingbirds were stitched on such small count fabric, I doubt I will be able to ever finish that. Since I don’t have a whole lot done on it, I think I will just toss it (I don’t think I have ever thrown out a project before!) But it is just too hard on my eyes. I made a huge mistake of stitching over one on it, and it is probably 25 or 28 count fabric. The embroidered pillow cases are not even cross stitch, and they aren’t much fun to work on. And then there is this deer in the woods. I started this thing a couple of years ago, I think. I thought it would be a quick and fun project. I was wrong. The colors are entirely brown and green, and there are lots of shades of each. The chart is from a magazine and is in full color, so I can’t easily photocopy it to mark off my stitches. But now that the stocking is done, I have started working on it again. It will be my “once in a while” project. When I get tired of it, it will get packed away again. Here is my progress so far.

 deer1

I have also decided on which tiny project to tackle from my stash. It is the free WOXS kit of a penguin on skis. It has a card and envelope for easy finishing. Hopefully I can whip up a bunch of these small freebies throughout the year.

penguin1

XXX
Carrie


WIP? UFO? IDK!

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I’m not exactly sure what the difference is between a WIP and a UFO. I guess a WIP is something you are actively working on, and plan to finish, while a UFO is something that got started but then put away and will probably never be finished. I don’t know what category this deer would fall into. I started it not that long ago – late last summer, I believe. But after a while the colors just go so dreary, I had to put it away. The linen was getting annoying to work on, too. But now that I have finished up several new projects, I felt that I had to get this going again. It will hang in the cabin my husband is building, once it is finally built. He started working on that in 1996 and here we are in 2013, so I don’t feel there is any rush! But it would still be nice to be able to finish and frame this. Hopefully I will be able to get a good amount of this done before having to put it away again. Greens and browns are not my favorite colors, but we’ll see how it goes. Here is the “put away” progress photo.

XXX
Carrie