Peacock Band Sampler - getting close!

It's been a while since I took a photo of Peacock Band Sampler. The last update was the center band and the narrow one just below it. Since then, I've added three more and started a fourth. :)

These have been relatively easy going, especially compared to the Jessica stitch nightmare on the top half. The wide blue band with the satin stitch hearts was a little boring, and I'm not sure if I want to add the little partial heart nubs at the corners. I did one at the bottom right corner of the band but I still don't know if I like it. There's still a parked thread in case I decide to do it. :)

The narrow band under that went fast, and then the wide green one took... a while. Too long, honestly, with just under 2/3 done when I sat down to stitch today. I was determined to power through and get it done, and it took about 2.5 hours, but it's done! I had to substitute a different thread for the specialty stitches because the two greens were impossible to tell apart. They worked better on the top half band where they were paired, probably because the specialty stitches were bigger/denser.

There's a little start on the next band from when my attention started to wander last week. Well, now I can give this new one my full attention instead of using it to avoid the wide one!

Only three bands left, including this barely started one! :3 

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 - finish!

It took a bit longer than I expected, but Harvest Season: Cucumbers is done! It's stitched on PTP Sterling Belfast, which is a greyish green color that's almost a perfect match for the recommended solid fabric. It's a little greener in real life vs here:

Okay, now that I look at this, I see that I missed a few stitches in the cucumber slices in the bottom right. Whoops. I've already taken this off the qsnaps so I'll have to fix it in hand. Should be easy enough.

Oh, and I made one kind of major change in the top left. There was a multicolored paisley-ish pattern up there that didn't seem related to cucumbers or pickles in any way. I changed that area to some white clouds adapted from other Owlforest designs. Sort of. About halfway through I decided to just wing it and I think it turned out okay. :3

Here's what the model looks like, just for comparison: 

And now a funny story. I ended up running out of the medium green color used for the leaves/stems of the plant on the right after stitching the largest leaf at the bottom. I have a few Owlforest kits from several years ago, before the bobbins were marked with color codes, and was frantically trying to find the same color in one of them. No luck, but then I remembered that I have a few Owlforest thread packs as well, so it was off to rob one of those.

Guess who had the thread pack for this design the entire time?

Well... I still have the thread pack for this design, minus one length of the medium green. Oh well, surely I have another pattern that uses similar colors. Like the matching Harvest Season: Tomatoes...

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 skirt!

It was a lot of work but I got Raven Queen's massive skirt done!

I think there's technically an area of black on the right side, above the dark grey edge, but I don't want to stitch it as charted. It sticks out a lot more than the top of the left side of the skirt and makes everything look unbalanced. Not sure if I want to leave it out entirely or cut it down to a thin border against the dark grey, kind of like how it is on the left side. Need to do more of the dress first to see how it looks. :)

So, one monthly goal down! Except I forgot that I'd already finished the center band on Peacock Band Sampler last month, so that's done too, but I didn't actually do it. You know what I mean. :3

I guess it's back to Pennelate di Magia for now! I think two weeks is enough time to completely stitch one of the flowers. Right??