Work from Stash and One BAP for 2009, Week Thirty-Four

Back in January 2008, this is what my collage of San-Man Original "snowmen" looked like. So far, it consists of the following charts:"Carrot Snow", "Lilac Snow", "Luck Snow", and "Could It Bee Snowing" (although beads and buttons are still to be applied) with "Summer Snow" in progress:

And this is what it looked like after one day of stitching with white this past week on "Summer Snow". I know - you can barely see it but it's there...

I had picked this piece up to have something to do while I waited for "Walking to Town" to dry after washing it in an attempt (only partly successful) to remove the marks made by my Q-snaps on the navy Aida. Once dried, I started on backstitching:

Maybe one more week? After backstitching, there is the beading. And then back to my San-Man snowmen!

Work from Stash and One BAP for 2009, Week Thirty-Three

Getting there. Only two more major "colors" to stitch  (both half crosses so it should move fast but both are blends - two strands of one color and one of another so that can be a pain) as well as the odd missed stitch here and there and then it will be time to backstitch and add the beads for snowflakes (I will NOT do French Knots on that navy)! But first I have to wash this piece and see if I can get rid of those marks left by the Q-snaps...

Work from Stash and One BAP for 2009, Week Thirty-Two

Fudging, fudging, fudging! No matter HOW hard I concentrate, I cannot count properly on this dark fabric and I keep making mistakes! AAARGH!

But I CAN see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel!

Work from Stash and One BAP for 2009, Week Thirty-One

Had five recent pieces framed this past week...

And made some progress on Walking to Town...

Work from Stash and One BAP for 2009, Week Thirty

Making progress. Sadly, my Q-snaps are marking the Aida so I hope it will rinse out before beading.

Work from Stash and One BAP for 2009, Week Twenty-Nine

And yet another completion!

This one is called "Wedding Blessings" and is a design by Cathy Bussi which was published in the August 2009 issue of "The Cross Stitcher" (Volume 26. No. 4). It is stitched in DMC on opalescent white linen, 28 ct.

Now, for my next WIP, I've selected "Walking to Town", a Dimensions kit designed by Fred Swan. It was started back in 2001 when we were living in Saudi Arabia, it languished in storage until early 2006, and here is what it looked like in February 2008.

It's on 18 ct navy blue Aida and uses a lot of VERY dark colors (black, forest greens, dark browns)  so it isn't my favorite piece. Also, I had decided to "bling" it up a bit by adding Kreinik white blending filament to all the snow and white and silver seed beads instead of confetti stitches for the falling snow. It has quite a few counting errors in it so fudging is necessary. This will take me some time.

Meanwhile, it's time to take some pieces to the framer, I think.

The Village Needlework Shop

Fully backstitched and ready to press (the linen really wrinkled badly). once pressed, I will cut out this shop sign, done on plastic canvas, and place it above the door, under the top middle window... It's actually smaller than it looks here!