WIP Wednesday: The SAL's and non WIP's

Having realised I was running out of space faster than expected last week I started a row of smaller squares - this week I continued that on the opposite side as that way I'd be able to get more of the crowns in that were this week's pattern. My plan for this row is a row of 1 x 20 stitches square box , 2 x 19 wide by 20 high boxes and then finishing with a 1 x 20 stitch square box.

You will have to click on the photo to be able to see it properly but in the box to the right there are 4 rotating crowns, with an eyelet in the middle as it seemed a bit empty and that is what looked the nicest as a filling. I used Color Variations 4129 for the crowns.

Dear Rien didn't get too much loving this week - though I did manage to finish the birds in the circle above and add the next circle, I didn't get more than a few stitches done inside the circle. I got rather side tracked finishing things - which you will see in a bit.

You can really see the colour changes starting to happen here - and it's only going to get better as I continue stitching!

First of all I made a tiny scissor fob as the Sunday Easter freebie, which was the 3rd of 4 free patterns I gave over the Easter weekend, you can read all about it here (and get the pattern too!)

Then I turned the Jasmine embroidery into the biscornu it was always supposed to be - I didn't make it into a fob as I'd forgotten to include the cording and didn't realise till it was done - ah well... it looks good as a biscornu anyway. If you would like to find the pattern for this you can find it here.

Next up on the finishing list was the April NFSAL pattern which I finished as a pincushion. I didn't have enough of the same fabric to make it a back so instead I extended the back stitching on two opposing sides by exactly half the width of the pattern and then I stitched it closed. I used the lines of backstitch that I didn't need to close the edges to add beads along the sides so looks to be stitched the same even if it wasn't. I didn't whip stitch this time - I tried another method I'd seen used by Kathrin of a shop called Gitta's, which was originally used for a 15 sided biscornu and I was intrigued enough to give it a go as soon as I could. You can find the finishing instructions here.

The nice part about it is that the beads all line up horizontally in a nice neat line unlike when you whip stitch, when it all is diagonal. It also has the perk that if you get called away for whatever reason while working on the finishing a quick glance at your work will tell you if it's time to add a bead or not as you always add a bead when going in one direction but not in the other.

This you saw a couple of weeks ago as a completed embroidery - now it's in the process of being changed into a little pillow pincushion. I'm sewing it together in a more traditional fashion as I don't have a compatible feel/type linen to use as the backing, so I'm backing this and the 3 others from the set with quilting fabric instead. I'm using red thread as I was unable to see the white thread I'd originally chosen and as a result my straight line became rather wobbly and was wandering off to the edge of the backing fabric. The red thread at least matches the red thread in the embroidery and the red patterned bits of the backing fabric.

All in all quite a bit of stitching happened, even if it wasn't on the SAL's

I'll be back on Friday with another mucha Princess - Jane this time (from Tarzan).