Sunday, January 15, 2017

I’m involved in three challenges with the various cross stitch groups I belong to.

One of the groups has a January to March challenge to stitch something cheerful, suggesting something with bright colours or a tropical feel. While my piece may not be as colourful as some I will be very cheerful when it is done! There are some brighter coloured flowers coming along later but it looks a bit dull right at the moment. It is a spring-like theme so I thought it would fit – not that anyone is going to kick me out of the group because it isn’t just right.

The second challenge is to complete something for Canada’s 150th birthday. Someone posted their completed project using this pattern and I was able to track it down. Kathryn picked up the thread for me and I was able to make a start on it today. It is surprising how quickly it goes when you aren’t constantly changing colours.

The third challenge is to stitch our way across Canada, also in honour of the 150th. There are milestones along the way, you can stitch on any number of different pieces, and different stitches (full cross, half-cross, French knots, backstitch) all have different values in the count. The first milestone is Haida Gwaii and I was sure that after stitching all weekend I was going to get there but I’m 36 stitches short. I’m finding it surprisingly easy to count the stitches, something I’ve never done before.

My final challenge of the day was finding a pattern that I purchased in Houston. The Canada 150 project made me think of redwork and I hunted high and low for a Valentine’s Day pattern. I looked through my embroidery and redwork patterns a few times, and even more scans through my wool felt appliqué basket. It wasn’t until late this afternoon that I thought that it might have been a quilting pattern and there it was, stored in my basket containing my “small” projects. With the reminder about my February cards showing up today it is the perfect time to get a start on it.