May your holiday be peaceful and restful.Peace
May your holiday be peaceful and restful.Oliver’s Bungalow Blog
May your holiday be peaceful and restful.All Wrapped Up
Here is the sum total of eight months of stitching:
Twelve sets of pillowcases. There would have been fourteen, but I’d already given two sets out a few months back. One of our extended relatives had a house fire back in October, an almost total loss. So while they were in rented housing, with someone else’s furniture, and getting hand-me-downs from everyone, including me, I thought it would be nice for them to have something new, made just for them. I had hoped to get two more sets done for them for Christmas, but I just couldn’t stitch fast enough. Oh well.
Neglected Blog
Poor lonely blog. The holidays are rough, aren’t they? You’ve been neglected. And it’s likely to continue into the new year. But don’t worry. Things should pick back up in January.
Friendly Field of Flowers
This is Tall Flowers from Bucilla.
These were a lot of fun to stitch, the stems went very quickly, but each flower took lots of delicate little stitches.
As usual, I didn’t follow the directions. I used stem stitch, back stitch, and French knots only. It called for other stitches, including satin stitch, but I didn’t want to see filled in spots, so I treated the whole thing like an outline. I also used stronger, bolder colors than usual, and I’m very pleased with how this set turned out.The thread I used:
DMC green #580 for the stems (it’s a nice bright olive-y green)
DMC yellow #742 for flowers and centers
DMC pink #3350 for flowers
DMC purple #3834 for the single butterfly
At first I wasn’t sure about putting a fourth color in there, then I wasn’t going to do the butterfly at all, then I did him with a pink body and purple wings. When I got to the second pillowcase, I decided the whole butterfly should be purple. More whimsical. The first one bugged me so much, I just had to tear out the stitches and do both butterflies in all purple. Probably an hour’s work. For a few moments, I felt a bit like Greg from Petch House.
At first I wasn’t sure about putting a fourth color in there, then I wasn’t going to do the butterfly at all, then I did him with a pink body and purple wings. When I got to the second pillowcase, I decided the whole butterfly should be purple. More whimsical. The first one bugged me so much, I just had to tear out the stitches and do both butterflies in all purple. Probably an hour’s work. For a few moments, I felt a bit like Greg from Petch House.Upstairs Bathroom Details: Things Still Undone
Someday I’ll find enough matching tiles to finish this spot above the door. They ended the shower area, and we thought it would be fine. Until we saw how awkward it looks now that the door trim is back in place. That spot is only three tiles high, and less than 30 inches wide. Plus, when you are in the room, it is mostly behind the support beam. But I know it is there. And it bugs me.
This extra wide door jamb is made of red oak, which when stained is one of the closest matches in grain to the original chestnut. I’m too much of a wimp to try matching it myself, so this is a project for Jack. Someday.
Green Bungalow Craftworks 