Monday, June 29, 2015

Convent's Herbal Garden HD


I finished this Chatelaine a few days ago. The beading seemed to go on forever, though really there's not that much for a Chatelaine. I enjoyed the piece, but the instructions were pretty difficult to decipher. I had instructions from the initial mystery release (from a kit I bought way back when), and those are a little rougher than the printed instructions. I think I should have just bought the chart and saved myself the headache.

I also learned that Marlitt is discontinued! I guess the difficulty of working with it wasn't worth the prettiness of it. There are some substitutes for it, but fortunately I didn't run out of it. No, it just hid away in my stash until I had bought a replacement. Then it turned up. Of course.

On a recent jaunt to ABC Stitch Therapy, I picked up the charts for a few Just Nan smalls. I stitched up a strawberry bunny and need to do the finishing of it. I also ordered the fabric for the smalls, so I see some of those in my future. I just need to switch mindset from a large piece to a bunch of smalls. It's difficult sometimes; other times I need the break.

Speaking of, I'm contemplating the next piece to put on my scroll rods. I really should finish up some past projects. I'm running out of project bags! Maybe it's time to go through my WIPs again, but most of them are non-cross stitch. It's hard to get out of my comfort zone.

9 comments:

Anna van Schurman said...

Very lovely! I'm always so impressed by you super stitchers who can commit to such BAPs.

Blu said...

Congratulations! It looks so amazing!

Brigitte said...

Congratulations on finishing this wonderful piece. I wasn't that successful stitching it. I joined the mystery group back in ??? and worked on it until part 4 but then abandoned it. And meanwhile I don't even know if I still have all the instructions for the remaining parts, lol. BUt I think one day I'll return to it. You were doing so great finishing it!

Suz said...

I have that piece back from when it was a mystery class, too! I didn't buy the threads, though, so I'll have to look for replacements if/when I get around to it. I only have the first installment stitched.

Your piece looks phenomenal! Huge, huge congrats on such a beautiful finish!

Marie said...

Truly stunning! Your work is so beautiful.

ABC Stitch Therapy? I use to frequent their shop in Grantham, NH when I went to my Dr. at Dartmouth. I remember learning that they were heading to Texas. Actually, not too far from where I lived when I was in TX. Lucky you…don't you now have two shops in that area, Three Stitches and ABC?

I too need more stitching bags…Vonna (Twisted Stitcher) makes great ones. I believe she has some on sale. :-)

Christine said...

This is stunning! I would never have thought to do a design like this but seeing your finished piece is making me rethink that! Congrats on a beautiful job!

Deb said...

Wow! Stunning piece!

Needles Everywhere said...

Beautiful piece. I empathyize with your frustration with some of the "older" Chatelaine charts. I love some of the designs, but many of the threads have been discontinued. I guess it forces us to personalize them! I, too have had some trouble understanding the instructions. Thank goodness for facebook and utube!

Kismet said...

Thank you so much for posting decent pics of your work. I'm stitching (and recolouring this as I wanted to use threads already in my stash) this at the moment, and yours are the only photos I've found which show the actual colours used. Everything else just shows a murky impression. It's been very helpful.