
I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th, if you celebrated! It was definitely nice to have a long weekend. I thought I’d share where I’m at on my Project Roulette WIP-down. On January 1st, you may remember, I pulled the first project out of the box and it was Hare Pyns. I got to work and finished that one up by the middle of January. Then I dove back into the box and pulled out the next focus project. I have to say I was surprised but happy to see this one come up next. My Anniversaries of the Heart has been a long-standing WIP and I’d really like to see it finished this year. The last block I finished was actually the June block. I skipped March, April, and May because I wanted my dad to see the June block I was personalizing for him and his mother before he died. Unfortunately, I didn’t get it finished in time. And I think after that, I just sat this piece aside.
I did eventually pick it back up and I started the March block on the plane to Germany in 2014. I’d worked on it a little bit here and there, but nothing substantial. So, this is what it looked like when I picked it up in January of this year. The before photo, if you will.

I worked steadily on it and was able to get it finished before the end of February. I had to make a couple of thread changes. At the bottom of the house, the “foundation” of the house is charted to be the two brick colors, one thread of each. I am stitching mine on 40ct and only using one thread, so blending two wasn’t going to work. My friend Mary suggested using the same color used for the window outlines. And it worked beautifully! Also, the called for color for the window fill in was so close to the outline color that I had to look for something else. After some trial and error, I found something that worked well but wasn’t too stark or bright. Mary helped by being a second set of eyes on that decision as well. So, this one is all thanks to her!
Here is the finished block. I love the way it turned out. It is personalized for Eric’s grandparents and the year they were married along with their birthdates (both in March).

And here’s a little look at how the whole thing was coming together with that March block finished. I love how it’s coming together!

And of course, once I finished March it was on to the April block – Pink Hill Manor.

Here’s my little bitty start on it.


And here it is finished! I stitched this one for Eric and I. We were married in April of 2006 and this year we celebrated our ten year anniversary! This was a fun one to stitch and went relatively quickly. I finished it up on March 30th.

And here we come to my tale of woe. I took a little break from my AOTH stitching to stitch a little gift for a friend’s birthday and then got started on the May block about April 5th or so. I worked on it but I was seriously slow-mo-joe-ing it on this block. Not sure if I was just getting burned out on working on this piece or what the deal was. But, I’d made some pretty good progress on it and I had it with me at my EGA meeting at the end of the month and then when I got home and was getting my things out of the car, disaster struck. I spilled coffee on my project bag. My mesh project bag. Here’s the damage.

So, it was coffee with cream and sugar in it so I knew I had to get it out. I attempted to blot it with a damp cloth, which did help with the coffee stain but left a dark line all around the edge of where I got the fabric damp.

I took my case to the Sampler World Facebook group and asked for suggestions. I have to say my friend Kim had the best suggestion (and she knows my sense of humor well):
I recommend voodoo. Bury the linen in a burlap sack in a graveyard at midnight of the next full moon. Sprinkle the earth with a mixture of rat toenails (clipped with your best embroidery scissors), Cheetos dust, and the ashes of a Krispy Kreme donut. Each night for the next seven nights, walk backward around the hole three times. On the seventh night, dig up the burlap sack and swing it over your head five times, facing east. If that doesn’t work, do what these other ladies said to do.
LOL! It gave me a good laugh.
Ultimately what it came down to for me was that the piece was basically ruined as is, so I took a deep breath and dunked that corner in cold water. Then I let it start to dry. Same situation – dark ring around where it got wet. So, I rinsed the whole thing in cold water. I let it dry and ended up rinsing it one more time. Once it finally dried, all traces of the coffee were completely gone. I had been most concerned about all the overdyed threads used in this piece. And one stitcher in the group asked specifically about my threads. She said that the Weeks and Gentle Arts (GAST) threads are for the most part colorfast now, but she said with the Crescent Colors threads (now Classic Colorworks), all bets were off. So, I knew I was running a risk that my threads might run, and I actually had some that did. The ones that bled were a charcoal grey and a burgundy. Everything else looked fine. And the bleeding wasn’t bad. I may still try to work on those later, but ultimately I decided that I had too much work in this to ditch it and I think I can live with the minor bleeding. So here’s what it looked like after its bath.

And I picked it back up and got right back to my May block, working on it at the Tudor Rose guild meeting.

And then finally, in a late night photo you can see the final finish of this block on June 20th. So, it took me basically two months to stitch this one. This block is in honor of Eric’s parents and their wedding year of 1972.

I am already hard at work on the July block and hope to really pick up the pace now that I’m over the hump. Needless to say, I leave the coffee well away from my stitching now! Anyway, I’ll be sharing better photos of the whole piece soon as well as how my July block is coming along. And of course, you can always follow me on Instagram if you want to watch my progress.
I am grateful for the help of fellow stitchers!
Yikes! I saw your post on Sampler World and am so glad they were able to give you advice. I’m so glad you got the stain out! It’s looking great. I am also working on AoTH and am up to block #7. I’m dreading all those lazy daisys!
Yikes! I saw your post on Sampler World and am so glad they were able to give you advice. I’m so glad you got the stain out! It’s looking great. I am also working on AoTH and am up to block #7. I’m dreading all those lazy daisys!
Whew!! REALLY great save!! It’s beautiful Michelle!
Whew!! REALLY great save!! It’s beautiful Michelle!
Your friends suggestion was so funny! I don’t remember reading that in the thread. I’m so glad it all worked out and that you’re moving forward with the rest of the blocks. I was so surprised at how much I love the May block on mine as the coloring isn’t something that I’d typically be drawn too but I think it’s one of my favorites!
Your friends suggestion was so funny! I don’t remember reading that in the thread. I’m so glad it all worked out and that you’re moving forward with the rest of the blocks. I was so surprised at how much I love the May block on mine as the coloring isn’t something that I’d typically be drawn too but I think it’s one of my favorites!
I’m so glad you were able to rescue this gorgeous piece without resorting to voodoo!
I’m so glad you were able to rescue this gorgeous piece without resorting to voodoo!