The Groom Stitch Guide

All I have had time to do today is read the stitch guide...three times.  It is full of wonderful directions and great tips.  Big tip...stitch the shoes before stitching the gold and black line borders.  If I was just stitching along in the order the guide was written, I would have stitched those lines before turning the page to see the tip.  And this guide is huge.  I don't think it will be as difficult, as say Stirha Cal Dron, but there are a lot of directions.  There are referrals to past diagrams from other guides too.  You might want to pull those out and put them with this kit so it is ready when you get ready.   I have made a copy of the guide that I can write on and not worry about getting dirty.  I highlight the number of strands and the thread called for in each area in yellow.  Then I highlight the diagram number in pink.  That may be going a bit far,  but it helps me.  So it couldn't hurt.  I am really going to try to finish this guy this month.  I plan to do the background rings last and then stitch the same background on the bride right after that while I have the count in my brain. Don't forget to make a color photocopy of the canvas for placement purposes later.  (Then destroy the copy please!)

Here is Ethan looking over my shoulder.  If he wants to sit in my lap, he just puts a paw on my back and waits for me to clear a space for him.  When I say, "OK!" he gets in my lap.  Cool cat.

Here comes the groom.

Hello everyone.  Yes, the groom will be at your homes soon.  He is being fitted for his coffin,

er...shipping box, this week.   He is wearing his finest duds.  HE thinks he looks so cool.  We'll see what the bride thinks.   

I have been working on a piece for my second grand-niece.  It will be a Christmas present, and I decided to devote the rest of the month to getting it done.  She is currently 4 months old.  I visited her last night.  She was already in bed, so I spent a few minutes watching her sleep.  Her three year old sister likes to play hide and seek, but she asks you where she should hide while you are counting to 20.  She says her sister cannot yet count to 20 because she has no teeth.  Kids...you gotta love um.

Weekend Stitching/Set little goals/Meet the Groom

As we move into this weekend, hopefully more people will be moving on to the walls of the Haunted House.  I can't stress how important it is to break the work into sections. That's the only way I could look at it without feeling overwhelmed.  There's a lot of house to stitch.   I urge you to needle up say six needles with each combination of threads.  It is so much easier to just tie off and slip the new needle in where you have just left off.  Plus it makes it easy to change  color combinations as you approach areas where  you would like the threads to be darker.  Does that make sense?   I have had a few arguments with the Lorikeet.  Remember Amy's tip in the directions.  And that's another reason to go on and strip a lot of Lorikeet at one time.  Grrr. Make sure you understand that each story of the house has a different stitch. It would be so easy to mindlessly repeat a pattern all the way to the roof.
Not that I think that any of you are "mindless"!