Step 1 of filling in the background of Hope from The Cabochons Series by Susan Portra was the long strands laid on the true diagonal first one way and then the other. I only went wrong a couple of times and saw it quickly enough.
I wanted the long stitches laid before our Saturday ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter Stitch-in (in April) to be sure of the pattern. It took a couple of nights to get these in. The top ones were a little tricky even though they are on the true diagonal.
When I saw this photo, I thought it was the light that reflecting oddly. Can you see it? I didn’t see anything missing. So, I continued.
I got 2 tack down stitches in when I remembered how much I disliked Tiara. So, I went to my Kreinik gold drawer and found 102 looked so close to Tiara T101 that I decided to switch. I happened to have 2 full spools and one very full spool in #8 Braid. I won’t have to Hope that I’ll have enough. That made my day!
I got 3 rows of tacking stitches in when I saw it wasn’t the light that was an issue! I missed laying the threads in the opposite direction on the two right areas. That was easy enough to remedy.
Although I was ready to stitch, I didn’t get any done at that Stitch-in because I was working on our group Santa canvas. It’s looking good!
But, I did have time to work on it a few days later at a Stitch-in with my EGA Brandywine chapter and again during a couple of Zoom meetings over the last month. The tacking stitches took some time but it really turned out nicely. The color in the photo below is more accurate than what’s in the previous photo. Today was an overcast day when I got the photo.
I’ll use this ornament to demo finishing for my Needlework and Textile Guild of Media in June. I’ve got a couple of weeks to prepare.
Now, I’ll get the next Cabochon ornament on the bars for our May 22nd Saturday Stitch-in with ANG Main Line Stitchers. I’m excited to see what’s ahead.
I had to cut out portions of Rhapsody to get enough of the purple color to span the top wide area. I used the lighter white portions on both smaller side areas below.
Again, I swapped out French Knots for cross stitches. The 1×2 alternating cross stitches fit nicely in the area with the top cross pointing towards the center as has been done throughout this design.
This is my progress after stitching during my EGA Brandywine’s Quarterly meeting, ANG Main Line Stitchers chapter Stitch-in, and football.
I’ll save the background for another Stitch-in.
It’s rather appropriate that the first of the Cabochons by Susan Portra to start in 2026 is Hope since I am hopeful that I will complete the series this year. It’s actually the 4th in the series (still missing 11 and 12 if anyone has a lead on how to get them).
Hope is supposed to be on a gray canvas using Rhapsody R04. My canvas is called pewter, a type of gray that looks great with this Rhapsody. Although my card of Rhapsody is not numbered, it goes great with Neon Rays N08 which is in Susan’s original colorway. I am switching out Anchor Floss and Pearl #5 for DMC threads.
The basting of the outline was done last night. I did get the top row of 26 cross stitches in at our ANG Main Line Stitchers chapter Stitch-in today but I was convinced to rip them out because I had not done that many and they had not been done according to the instructions. The top stitches of the cross stitches are supposed to point to the center. I had spent too much time shopping and talking to restitch them there. And, I had forgotten to get my unstitched starting photo.
So, this was my progress during the Saturday night football games.
Filed under: Other People's Designs, Susan Portra, The Cabochons, Charity, Susan Portra, The Cabochons, Desire, Susan Portra, The Cabochons, Faith, Susan Portra, The Cabochons, Harmony, Susan Portra, The Cabochons, Hope, Susan Portra, The Cabochons, Joy, Susan Portra, The Cabochons, Love, Susan Portra, The Cabochons, Passion, Susan Portra, The Cabochons, Peace, Susan Portra, The Cabochons, Purity, Susan Portra, The Cabochons, Rapture
From my 2024 Year in Review post, I had said,
Goals #21-28 for 2025 are to kit the eight pieces in The Cabochons series by Susan Portra that I have acquired and at least get started stitching them (to make this a realistic goal).
Final Goal #29: Don’t get any more goals!!
Well, I need to update this as follows:
Goals #21-31 for 2025 are to kit the eleven pieces in The Cabochons series by Susan Portra that I have acquired. Thanks to a recent Ebay auction, I obtained 3 more.
Final Goal #32: Don’t get any more goals?? Or, should I just let this one go?
All of the kits have the bead packs. One of the designs has all threads (Love), and four of the pieces came with canvas. Oddly enough, one of the designs doesn’t say to use Rhapsody, but I’ve got to use Rhapsody in all of them. I was able to find 5 skeins of the now discontinued thread, Rhapsody, on Ebay and/or at Janna Needle Art. However, I will have to modify the threads to match the replacement color of Rhapsody I selected for 5 of the designs.
There are at least 2 in the series that I am missing: #11 and #12. I don’t know what they are called and have a search on Ebay to alert me if any Cabochons are posted. Does anyone have any idea what they are named and/or does anyone have them to sell?
I don’t think I posted the ones I got from Alex-Paras NeedleArts. Here are those and the other designs – all now ready for kitting.
To date, I have:
I bought some threads for four of the kits that are using the suggested Rhapsody thread from Karen at Nimble Needle in NJ. She gives a 10% discount to ANG and EGA members. And, she had the current issue of Needle Pointers available for people to look through right next to the front door. Nice of her to support ANG!
I do have to substitute DMC for Anchor and substitute for two discontinued Fyre Werks but I think there are Fyre Werks Soft Sheen threads that will work.
As I search for colored 18 count canvas and work on kitting them all, I will start on the Love design, which is done on white canvas and came fully kitted.
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