Long Dog Sans Soucis

I have decided to start a Long Dog sampler. My favourite is Pilgrim, but before jumping into a major one I wanted to try something smaller - Sans Soucis came into the picture. San soucis means carefree - it is a nice world to think on, having no restraints, no virus, simply enjoying life... I was thinking a lot what fabric and thread should I use: my favourite silk is Caron Waterlilies and Gloriana, both are quite expensive, especially for such huge pieces as a Long Dog. I usually stitch on 32 ct 2 thread, for Sans Soucis I need 10 skeins, for Pilgrim it takes 20-22! If I stitch 40ct 1 thread it is only 4 and 9 respectively. 

  

I have ordered 40ct zweigart Newcastle to try - and it was awful. I tea dyed, and I liked the color, but stitching full coverage 40 ct 2over2 with 1 floss is really hard - I just hated it. I was thinking maybe I van get used to this, but there was no joy at all. Then I tried the 32ct 2 floss - and I just loved it, and having a hobby is about having fun, I opted for this version.

Next thing was the color. I knew for the dark borders I will use Caron Black Forest (#63), and my all time favourite is Mulberry(#152), so it will be also added. But since it is carefree, I wanted something fun as well. I have seen a green-blue version of the piece, so I was trying to add this to the mix. First I used Gloriana Wood Pond (#49), but it was kind of disapperaring in the fabric, so I frogged and changed to Rainforest(#67) - much better!

        

Long Dog Samplers: Sans Soucis

Fonal / Floss: Caron (#63,#153) Gloriana (#67) Edmar Rayon (#206)

Anyag/Fabric: Tea dyed Zweigart white 32 ct line

 

Fig in the Pomarium

I have finished the Fig tree in the Pomarium. There is one without backstitching and one with backstitches added. It seems to be a little washed out, in real life the colors are much brighter. I have to do something with my phone's camera...

 

Chatelaine: Pomarium

Fonal/Floss: DMC + many silks as suggested in the kit

Anyag/Fabric: Zweigart antique white 32 ct Belfast

Rosey future

I have worked on my mothers quilt. She asked roses, and roses she will get. I made a huge amount of small blocks (father said: just nothing fancy, no small pieces needed :) ), it is going to be a double Irish chain. However, it seems to be a little too white now, so maybe I will change the big white blocks and add some more color - I will see.

 

Startitis is on

Usually I am sticking to one or max 2 quilting projects a time, but in the last weeks I have started several.

• Winter Maize: piecing done, applique in line
• Rose Quilt - a present for my mother, the design is done, simple squares cut, small pieced squares are in the making, around 200 out of 240 is ready
• String - a few pieces done, I started it as a leader/ender project
• Round the Year - 8 out of  16 done

Cross-stitch wise I am also working on more than my usual list:

• Long Dog - to be started, under decision (the decision being a very hard one)
• WIP:
• Pomarium - present rotation piece
• Kingfisher - holiday piece
• Autumn Watergarden - waiting for next turn
• UFO
• Heirloom Nativity Sampler - only a tiny bit of hardanger missing
• Riolis cottage - acrilic floss, most probably will never finish...
• Around the World in 80 Stitches decided to be ready, only a finish is missing, I am thinking finishing it up as a box for my cousin or mother

Weekend of many fixings

I had accomplished many things, almost all of them different from my plans. We have a small appartment what we rented out, and the last tenant moved out in February. She was from Sweden, and left for home before Christmas, and decided to stay at home. Then Covid came, and since it is in the inner city, the market froze for rents - and to tell you the truth, I was also not very keen on meeting people...

However, I was also renting out my parents' similar appartement and when it was taken in 3 days I realised maybe I should change the photos in the ad, which were taken 10 years ago :) My parents' one is in a green part of the city, but our one is also a very nice little flat. Usually it was taken in a week, therefore not much marketing was needed, so I simply used the existing ones from the ad. Then I read an article about flats and photos, checked what is in our ad, and realised the first photo is nice, but the second one has a 20year old huge tv and a big stereo in the center - not very appealing features in 2020!

I deleted the photo with the tv, and at last an appointment was made. However, when I went there to show it, I realised the flat is really in need of a big cleanup. It was cleaned in February by the girl who moved out, but it was half a year ago, and spiders were quite busy in the meantime. Fortunately I did not  liked the guy who saw it, so it was not a big disappointment that he was not interested. Then last week I went through the flat, checked everything, throw out many unused half useful things which were left there by the previous tenants. I cleaned the windows, soaked all the curtains for half a day then decided to throw them also away. So I needed new ones, bought the material and sewed them. I also got a new table with chairs, so I made some cushions as well. I changed all the beddings, fixed the broken little things - I remember one shelf was already moving when we left the flat some 15 years ago. 

I realised I did so many flat fixing in the past years (renovating and remodelling ours thrice, buying and upgarding 2 for my parents) that things which seemed huge burdens are simply everyday stories now. So I made an appointment for Wednesday to change the gas heater, for next week an electrician comes to check and fix the lamps, and I thinking doing a quick wall-painting, because the walls are quite dirty - not visible at first sight, but not nice if you look closer. If still nobody is interested then I will have the bathroom fixed, since it is clean and usable, but far from glamorous. I should have done this in the last 6 months, but it is better later than never...