A stitching update

This past weekend I worked through The Attic’s Summer School. It was a really fabulous event. I was a worker bee, not a participant, but still got to enjoy some good stitching time and socializing with all the lovely stitching people over the weekend. That is a real perk of working at Attic Needlework! Here is some inspiration for you from the projects that were offered..

Attic events always leave me with a full cup and the motivation to go back to old projects and start new ones. I am eager to return to WIPs that have languished. One is the Checkerboard Stag Sampler. I got really bogged down with the satin stitched flowers on this one. The chart was very confusing to me. But I inspected our shop model a few weeks ago when we had a customer who also was struggling with this part of the design, and now I know what I’m doing! Here is one completed flower and the long stem.

It was supposed to be my Sampler September stitch last year but I just couldn’t get into it. And I won’t work on it this September either…because…I want to finish Dorcas Haynes! And I think I can! I have a forthcoming post on my progress on Dorcas…Summer School saw me working away on the Queen Stitches that fill the leaves in the large floral arcade band and I got over that hurdle, putting the last one in on Sunday morning of Summer School (then I started the berry vine but miscounted in the first bit of the pattern and had to take it out. Should have quit while I was ahead!) Ayway…there really is only a small amount to go so I’m making that final push.

And once Dorcas is done, I will be excited to work on Mary Ellen Turner (by Fox and Rabbit, teachers at Summer School). She got some time this month. Here she is at the moment:

Her castle is all outlined and slowly being filled in with bricks and having the border applied. I may abandon the castle filling for stitching moments when I don’t want to count and follow the chart and get going with the bird and floral elements. It goes along pretty quickly compared to the specialty stitches in Dorcas so I always feel like “wow, I’m a fast stitcher” when I move from queen stitches to cross stitches! It’s all relative, right?

So not sure if there will be other finishes aside from Dorcas this year, but as always I have my work cut out for me and many happy stitching hours to look forward to through the end of the year.

Will there be an seasonal stitching to round out the menu? We will see!