Tomatoes finish & May/June goals

Finished up Tomatoes a few days ago and here it is!

I made a few tiny changes as always. First, the tomatoes all the way on the right side were all the same color, but I changed two of them to the lighter red for some more variety. And there was some sort of green thing under the tomato cage to the right of the house. I guess it was meant to be a topiary? It honestly looked like nothing. So I copied one of the flower pots with a young plant from the bottom middle to put under the tomato cage instead.

I also goofed and stitched the tomato juice bottle one stitch too far to the right, which threw off a lot of other things but shhh... You don't really notice it unless you look closely. Honestly the table and basket above the juice and jarred tomatoes looks better one stitch to the right. It was way too close to the tomato cage originally. So I fixed it lol. :3

And finally, the goals. For May, I had:

• add one band to Peacock Band Sampler
• finish Raven Queen's dress
• stitch half of Tomatoes
• probably no buy of any stitching stuff

I... actually don't remember for the first two. I didn't take a lot of pictures this month (so I can't check my progress) and I was distracted by a lot of negative real life things. I think I made a lot of progress on the band sampler but my sense of time has been a bit messed up. Tomatoes obviously got more than half done in May (though I finished up in the first few days of June), and I did buy a few things that I've had on my wishlist for a while. But everything in the past 2-3 weeks is really fuzzy...

Anyway, new goals.

• finish current band on Peacock Band Sampler
• visible progress on Raven Queen
• visible progress on a Chatelaine WIP
• probably no buy of any stitching stuff

I've had fun with the small projects and I'm feeling the itch to work on a Chatelaine again. Not sure which one but probably Chinese Garden Mandala as that's the closest to a finish. I think I'll keep it in my monthly goals for a while as it would be nice to actually finish this beast!

Raven Queen progress & Apr/May goals

Finally, an update on Raven Queen! I didn't quite finish the dress but I made some good progress and I'm happy with how she's coming along. :)

Showing off the black stitching first because it's easy to see exactly where I left off last time and how much of this dress is new since last time. 

 I wasn't able to completely fill in the top by the end of April but I made a good effort!

I also made good progress on Peacock Band Sampler but I can't find the pictures I took. Or maybe I didn't actually remember to take pictures? Not sure but I will show it next time. :)

April's goals were: 

• add one band to Peacock Band Sampler - DONE! (actually added two)
• finish Raven Queen's dress - not quite, but made good progress!
• finish Cucumbers - DONE!
• probably no buy of any stitching stuff - bought Tomatoes (Owlforest)

I thought I already had the Tomatoes pattern but alas, no. I bought it to go along with Cucumbers, and it uses the same fabric and threads so no additional expense beyond the cost of the chart. Less than $5 since I got it direct from their website - their Etsy shop is almost 2x the price!

So for May:

add one band to Peacock Band Sampler

finish Raven Queen's dress

stitch half of Tomatoes

probably no buy of any stitching stuff

Starting to feel a bit excited about nearing the end of Peacock Band Sampler! It's really beautiful in real life and everything feels like a breeze after the Jessica band, lol. Should be done soon!

Cucumbers start & March/April goals

It's close enough to the end of the month that I think it's fine to post this already.

So first, I got a teeny start on "Harvest Season: Cucumber" by Owlforest. I'm stitching this on PTP Sterling, which I always expect to be grey like sterling silver, but it's a light green instead. Perfect for this design as the recommended fabric is almost the same color. And I'm using old/leftover threads from previous Owlforest thread packs so they're all a perfect match.

I've been feeling kind of sick recently so this is not good progress at all, but at least I started. Also the color correction on this isn't great but I think it will be better once I have more stitching done and can zoom out a bit. Or maybe the addition of the orange-red color will help balance it. Something like that!

And as for goals, here's what I had for March: 

• finish central band on Peacock Band Sampler - I forgot I'd already finished this!
• add one flower on Pennelate di Magia - change of plans, see below!
• finish(?) Raven Queen's skirt - DONE!
• start my next "small" - DONE!
• probably no buy of any stitching stuff - DONE!

So... Pennelate di Magia. I like the design but I cannot stand the fabric I chose. A while back I bought (aka wasted money on) some SMF evenweave from another stitcher who was destashing, even though I knew I wouldn't like it because it's 28ct. Even more so because it was the cheapest 28ct fabric possible, like jazlyn or something? Super stretchy but also very thick and with tight holes. Just awful. And unlike some other dyers where the fabric shrinks a bit when dyed, this fabric is solidly 28ct and my stitches all look like visually distinct Xs instead of making a cohesive image.

But I already did two flowers on it! So I tried my best to convince myself that I liked it buuuut... no. I can't. This fabric is terrible and the dye is so pale it's basically white anyway, and I loathe stitching on white. So this project is officially cancelled and I'm going to turn the two completed flowers into a needle book. I've already added the backstitch border around the flowers, I just need to do it around a blank portion with the same measurements and assemble it.

And now, new goals!

• add one band to Peacock Band Sampler (or at least half if it's a super huge band)
• finish Raven Queen's dress
• finish Cucumbers
• probably no buy of any stitching stuff

Same as last time, I'll no buy unless I need something for a current project. Some DMC is a bit low but I don't think any colors are in the actual "omg about to run out" zone yet. I do have my eye on a couple of indie patterns on Etsy and I might pick them up if the designers run a sale, but that's all.

Raven Queen update and Feb/Mar goals

First up, Raven Queen! I did a lot more of her skirt over the past week or so and had a nice time with it. Sometimes big blocks of color are what you need! Here's how she looks now.

I added one darker shade of blue to the skirt's edge in place of the grey that's been used in a few other smaller spots to show folds in the fabric. You can see that in the bottom right part of the blue trim. The grey area was too big and looked unnatural. It works well for the sharper folds on the left, but in this large area it didn't quite work. Luckily there was another blue in the same color family that works great. :) 

And now, goals! February went better than expected. 

• one section of Jessica stitches on Peacock Band Sampler - did the whole damn thing! :)
• one section of central band fills on Peacock Band Sampler - almost finished this too!
• add one flower on Pennelate di Magia - DONE!
• 100% no buy of any stitching stuff - DONE!

So for March...

• finish central band on Peacock Band Sampler
• add one flower on Pennelate di Magia
• finish(?) Raven Queen's skirt
• start my next "small"
• probably no buy of any stitching stuff

I say probably to the no buy because I have a few DMC colors that are running low and I'm not going to force a no buy when I need a basic supply to finish an active WIP. And Raven Queen's skirt might be a bit overly ambitious, but probably not. I'll push myself to get there and if I don't, that's okay. :)

My new start will be Harvest Season: Cucumbers by Owlforest. At 120x88 it's not really a small, but it's smaller than my usual nonsense. :3

Isn't that cute?? I just have the chart, not the kit, so I'll be grabbing fabric and threads from stash. I do have a good amount of Owlforest floss left over from previous thread packs, so I might have a few of the charted colors. If not, no worries, I definitely have something that will work!

Catstronaut - finish! (plus goals update)

Here's the Catstronaut in all its glory! I was able to adjust the colors pretty well this time, so this is actually accurate for once. The fabric is the perfect space background. :3

I only made one small change, and that was changing 553 to 552 in the purple yarn ball planet. 553 was too light, especially in the piece of unraveling yarn, but 552 looks perfect. I don't think changes would be needed on a lighter fabric (the model is on light blue) but my dark fabric made the lighter purple look too washed out, especially in comparison to 550 which is very dark.

~~~

And let's do goals since the month is almost over and I achieved them all. :3

January goals: all done! 

• frame my sister's birthday present and send it to her ON TIME
• one section of Jessica stitches on Peacock Band Sampler
• one section of central band fills on Peacock Band Sampler
• start a small (probably Catstronaut)
• 100% no buy of any stitching stuff 

February goals: (pretty much an exact copy of January)

• one section of Jessica stitches on Peacock Band Sampler
• one section of central band fills on Peacock Band Sampler
• start a small (TBD) one flower on Pennelate di Magia
• 100% no buy of any stitching stuff 

So here are the two spots I want to fill in:

If I end up doing more than planned (like I did this month) I'll be happy with that, but I won't push for more because the Jessica stitches can be very tedious. I don't want to get burned out like I did last year and put this project aside for months. Slow and steady!

Not sure what small I want to start yet. I have a lot of cute patterns from Etsy, but many of them are quite large. Catstronaut was one of the smallest out of the pile I purchased last year, easy enough to finish in a couple of weeks. Maybe I'll spend a little time playing with fabric to see what feels interesting. :)

ETA: Wait, I just remembered that I started Pennelate di Magia by Renato Parolin a while back, didn't like the fabric, never blogged about it, and shoved it to the bottom of the WIP pile! There's nothing actually wrong with the fabric other than it being 28ct evenweave (I prefer 32ct linen) soooo... that's going to be my small for next month. One flower panel!

Picture next time because I don't seem to have any in my records. Hmm. Well, here is the model picture instead! I'm doing the color version:

Hard to see, I know, but they are beautiful in person!

2026 goals (bonus January goals!)

Here we go again. Happy new year or whatever. 🎉

In an effort to retain what little remains of my sanity, let's set some goals for the year. As a bonus, I'll include my January goals here as well. In fact, let's start with those.

• frame my sister's birthday present and send it to her ON TIME
• one section of Jessica stitches on Peacock Band Sampler
• one section of central band fills on Peacock Band Sampler
• start a small (probably Catstronaut)
• 100% no buy of any stitching stuff 

Here's Peacock Band Sampler as it stands today. Well, almost? I already finished the light blue stitching between the satin stitch parts of the huge band, but I guess this picture is a tiny bit older than that. Anyway, I want to fill in the two areas circled in yellow.

And this is the Catstronaut. The light blue fabric is cute, but I wonder if it would look as good on darker fabric to give it more of an outer space vibe. I think the colors are light/vibrant enough to stand out on a dark blue but I might have to tweak a few things.

Alright, good stuff. Now for the year-long goals, mostly copied from last year.

• no large starts until one is finished
• start and finish as many small projects as I want
• sell all finished/destashed charts
• low buy of charts/materials

And more detailed goals for specific WIPs: 

• Amethyste Band Sampler: complete part 1 (of 3)
• Chinese Garden Mandala: complete one side
• Raven Queen: finish 
• Rosarium: complete center
• Peacock Band Sampler: finish Jessica and central bands, then as much of the rest as I like!
• Violet Patch Mandala: complete SE corner, E violet, redo some border colors

I think that's pretty good. Time to go make some Jessica stitches...