MerryChristmasAtoZ

Welcome to my site! I use this blog to post my progress on the cross stitch and knitting projects that I am working on. You can find out more about me, check out more details about my projects, or check out a random post. You can also subscribe to my RSS Feed to receive updates as I post them. You can also contact me if you have any suggestions, questions, or random thoughts. Have a look around and feel free to come back often.

As I look back over my archives, I am embarrassed to realize that it has been over a year since I last posted anything about this project. The last few months have been filled with more knitting and crocheting than stitching. As a result my cross stitch projects have been neglected.

Part of the reason for this is probably that I have felt blocked with this piece (no pun intended). The carolers really caused me problems for some reason and the snowman is stitched with blending filament. I have come to dread blending filament. If I stitch with floss and filament together the filament always seems to work itself behind the floss so that it doesn’t really do anything. My solution to that problem is to stitch with floss and then stitch with blending filament over the top of the last leg of the cross stitches. This leaves me with a feeling that I am covering ground that has already been covered and I feel like I am not accomplishing anything.

I am glad that I finally sat down and finished these two blocks. Now I can say that I have stitched from A(ngel) to P(resents). I think that next time I will work on the header before I start working on any of the other letters.

For some reason, the carolers don’t seem to want to be stitched. The last time that I worked on this piece, I had a false start with them and ended up ripping out a ton of stitches. I thought that leaving them alone at that time would make them more agreeable. However, that has not been the case.

I have been plagued by misplaced stitches several times. There is nothing more demoralizing to me than to have to take out several stitches that I have already placed. Even with these errors corrected, the tiny areas around the heads finally got to me and I decided to call it off. I justify this to myself with the realization that all of the necessary backstitching will require me to go overtime on the rotation. I feel bad leaving a picture undone, but console myself with the idea that next time I will be able to mop things up quickly and move on to a block that really wants to be stitched.

The little pictures in this piece are deceiving. Whenever I start it, I think that I will be able to finish three or four of the pictures. Reality starts to set in when my rotation time is more than half gone and I haven’t even finished one picture. To add insult to injury, it always seems to take several hours just to backstitch in the outlines.

Backstitching is a real pain, but it is its own reward. It adds meaning to the picture. Suddenly it is obvious that each bell is connected to its own ribbon (one ribbon is green, the other red) and that each ribbon is tied in a bow. The red ribbon is in front of the green one. That picture of the bells is really alot better looking than I thought it would be.

At this point, I wish that I could spend more time with the Christmas alphabet. However, other things are waiting for me.

The nice thing about doing a piece like this is that it is actually a lot of little pictures. With minimal effort and time you can do a few cross stitches, outline everything with backstitch, and you have a picture to show for your efforts. The experience is rewarding and intoxicating. The time that I spend here always goes by fast.