Making Progress

I had not intended to update so soon, but here I am. I made some progress on the Winter White tree skirt and took pictures on Saturday after some stitching and again this morning to show how much more I got done. It is coming along very nicely and I'm almost finished with part C. Everything starts with part D and proceeds from there.

This was where I was on Saturday. I decided to go back and do all the silver braid and work it in along with the rest of the stitching. I still don't think doubling the braid works because it is too bulky and not at all attractive -- at least not to me. Working with shorter lengths makes the stitching easier, but it also means wasting more of the braid since it gets pulled and separated while stitching. Good thing there is a lot of braid included.

Close-up of the braided section. I'm considering doing some of the back stitching as well, but haven't quite made up my mind yet. The braid does make a lovely addition.

Today's stitching and a whole new section is nearly finished. I pulled out the A chart to use up the tweeded floss for the pine tree. I don't like wasting it and it just makes more sense to use it now instead of letting it get tangled up in the waste pile.

This is part of the new section with the ornaments and silver braid stitched in. Lots of pine boughs to go, but I'm getting there.

This ornament has a little cap at the top. That's where there are no stitches yet. The pattern calls for a silvery grey, but I've decided to drag out the Japan silver and do the cap with that. It looks like bugle beads in silver and will look more like what it is supposed to be. There are lots of beads to add, but I'll get to those later. I'm glad it is moving along so quickly.

I'll update again to share my progress, trials, and failures. Yes, there will be -- and have been -- failures. In the meantime,

Happy Stitching.

Five down and one to go

Finally. I'm finished with Savannah's Xmas stocking and have only Jordan's to do. This has been a long and full year so far, not that I haven't done other projects, too, but mostly I've worked on the stockings.

Savannah's has a few different features, but not too many. Little tweaks and tricks that make it unique and I think more effective.

The finished stocking

This is what the stockings looks like finished with the blending filament, silver cording, and beads attached.   Although I dislike back stitching, it does enhance the magnolias nicely and brings out the folds of the big blue bow in the center.

 You can almost see the shimmer of the opalescent blue blending filament in the snowflakes in the center and on the bauble to the left.

The beads on the blue bauble to the right and the silver cording on the bauble to the left are better shown here. 

Although barely visible, I did something different with the silver tops of the ornaments. Instead of the provided silver braid used elsewhere to nice effect, I used some Japan silver from Kreinik I've had for over 20 years. Because the Japan silver has a long, smooth shape, it makes a better ornament top and looks almost like the real thing -- or as real as it gets in x-stitch. You can catch a glimmer of the blending filament, same opalescent bluish lavender used elsewhere on snowflakes and the other ornament, outlining the central band of beading on the right. 

 

When you get right down to it, the Winter White stocking is quite lovely and it is worth all the effort to make it. This turned out better than I had hoped with the changes I made, and it will make a lovely gift come Christmas Eve.