The two WIPGO numbers for me for February are both my Noel Sampler – 40 hours worth of work and I hadn’t started it yet so this morning I spent right at three hours working on it.
The floss is Victoria Clayton’s silk and I used her “knowledge base” cross references to do my own conversion.
I am not (at least not yet) a floss snob. I do not have a problem with DMC or Anchor floss. In fact, Rachel of Needle & Flax (flosstube channel) almost exclusively uses DMC and her work is amazing. She also has the Needle & Flax website where she dyes and sells linen and I do love the feel of her linen and her colors.
The linen I’m using is Fiber on a Whim’s Cream and Sugar, 40 count. I’ve resisted buying Fiber on a Whim because it’s a bit more than most linens and I don’t even know how I ended up with this one piece in my stash, especially since it came from Brick City Cross Stitch in Ocala, FL, but, I have a rather large piece of it so I cut out what I needed for this piece and I love it!
A fat quarter of XJu at Kitten Stitcher is $40 for a fat quarter while Fiber on a Whim is $45 for a fat quarter so it’s $20 more per yard. I love XJu’s linen and, as you may have noticed, use it for most of what I stitch but after using Fiber on a Whim, I won’t squawk about the extra money for it when they have colors I want.
Most all of the dyers use Zwiegart linen and, though I know nothing about linen, I’m kinda thinking all Zwiegart linen should be basically the same, though I did hear someone say on a recent flosstube that the linen they received from Zwiegart recently was a bit thin. My guess is that depending on whether dyers wash the linen before dying or soak it after dying in hot, warm or cold water, that makes a difference in the “tightness” of the weave to some degree. Hot water might shrink the fabric a bit and make the holes a bit tighter. I have no idea. I’m guessing! Why do I even do that?
All this to say . . I stitched 3 hours today on my February WIPGO project so that leaves 17 hours more to go but I have a really tight deadline on the other project, and it’s very doubtful I can finish that project on time and we all knew that when I started it – I was just giving it my best shot so, I’m back to working on that one.
All that to say, this 40 count Zwiegart feels much more tightly woven that some 40 count fabrics. I do not like flimsy fabric . . at all! This piece of Fiber on a Whim is definitely not flimsy and it is a joy to stitch on.
cindy says
hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you have worked three hours on a 40 hour project, you have a lot more than 17 hours to work on it.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
It’s two – 20 hours sections so I’m planning to do 2 – 20 hour segments so at least if I don’t make the whole 20 hours, I’ll get credit for one number.
Cindy F says
I finished the stitching on Alphabet En Blanc last night so all I need to do is add the buttons! I sewed more than the 6 days of my WIPGO chart so glad to get one done. My second WIPGO was an Owl Forest start so last night I decided to do the Hydrangea chart. I have their floss for that and got a great piece of 18ct Aida from ToDyeFor. The only thing I’m trying to decide is how to store the threads since they recommend doing small areas and not loop the thread unless you can arrange the color correctly. I cut one color and put it on a drop floss card but I wound another on the cards they provide and will see which way works better so I can get the color changes. I’m excited to finally start it today!