WIP 4: Peaceful Paradise

Greetings again, with Day 4 of my WIPs catalogue! One of the nice things about pulling these out and inventorying them (and whatever challenges or issues they represent), is that when I stop by In Stitches, as I will tonight for Stitch Night and I did yesterday just to sit around and chew the fat, I can pick up missing fibers or embellishments and work toward completing some of these projects. Yesterday I picked up some missing thread and Kreinik braid for the Cross-Eyed Cricket Dickens project--I'm on the home stretch with that.

Kind of far from the home stretch, but still viable, is "Peaceful Paradise" by Praiseworthy Stitches [Edited to correct: NOT PS but Midsummer Night Designs!]. I started it in December 2007--probably it was a New Year's Eve start. I'm stitching it on Lakeside Examplar in 40 count. I love this linen, and there's no doubt that the older linens were more substantial and softer (and really, we're just talking about five years ago). I am still a Lakeside fan, and I love the range of colors and counts, but it's really a shame. Wish I'd bought bolts of the stuff. I've commemorated the death of my rabbit at the time, The Bunnyman, on the hillside. See the little black bunny? Martha, our best-ever tabby, is commemorated there as well; I changed the colors of the cat that was in the chart. I'm using the called-for Crescent Colours and Thread Gatherer cotton threads.


Here's what I accomplished last night--the verse that's jutting out to the left. I can tell this is an older effort by me becuase I started it in the middle, something I no longer do. You guys are going to laugh, but I can't find page 2 of the 12-page chart. Fortunately I have a working copy that I made, somewhere around here. Today's job is to find that page, since I really feel more comfortable working top-down, left to right. One of the things I'm keeping in mind is that I want to take a few projects with me to the Cape. This is one of them.


Here's the design in its entirety. I should mention that one of the shop's customers stitched this on 40 count over ONE and exhibited it in last year's Woodlawn Show. And to Maggie, who asked, there will be no Woodlawn show this year because they are removing the windows and replacing them (not the antique glass, but the wood parts) at the time that the show is normally held.


And here's a picture of the sweetest bunny ever, The Bunnyman. He showed up in our yard one spring day--he was a neighbor throw-away. He was a satin/mini rex that the neighbor's child won at the fair (what the heck! I hope they put a stop to that!) and lost interest in. He had been housed in a much too small cage and had lived on a diet of pellets. When he discovered he could live in our family room uncaged and have as much timothy as he'd like, he was in heaven. He and the tabby would stretch out in front of the fireplace and toast themselves when we made a fire.


Back tomorrow!