Workaday Wentzler Wednesday

Yesterday was the third Wentzler Wednesday since I re-instituted the practice and I have to admit that I am going to have to get a lot more serious about this project if I am to have a hope in Hades of finishing it by Christmas.  It's just that I have been so preoccupied with The English Band Sampler lately that I haven't taken out my TW on any day but Wednesday.  And that is definitely not the way to make discernible progress.

And speaking of barely discernible progress, this photo really doesn't do justice to the time I spent stitching this piece yesterday.  The confetti stitching that is so typical of a Teresa Wentzler design takes so much longer than the more conventional style stitching.  Counting and recounting to make sure the placement is correct for all the bits of color ... especially those quarter stitches ... seems to take forever.  But the overall effect of a rich tapestry makes the time and effort well worth the trouble.
This Woodland Angel Christmas Stocking is intended for my oldest grandchild, Liam.  Having completed section 3 last Wednesday, I got a nice start on section 6 of the chart today.  This is not nearly as impressive as it sounds: sections 3, 6 and 9 are not much more than twenty stitches wide, being the very far right edge of the stocking.    I decided that I'd work down the right side of the stocking and then across the bottom to the left and up again to the top before cutting my fabric.  I want to have real hands-on evidence of the final size of the project since I hope to have enough of the fabric left to make at least one more, though possibly two more stockings on the same background for my remaining grandchild and the grandchild soon-to-be.  Since a stocking only requires a seam allowance, once I have an outline, I can trim this project more economically.  I don't want to waste so much as an inch because, with my luck, a mere inch would be exactly how far short I would fall for the third stocking.  I have a lovely Woodland Maiden Dimensions Kit  with a nice medieval feel that could be made to fit the dimensions of a stocking for my granddaughter Piper and I am always on the look-out for something that will be in keeping with this woodland theme for the baby boy that is due at the end of September.  Decades ago I stitched a Woodland Santa stocking for my son, the father of these three children.    And once I have the children's stockings done, I will have to find something suitable with a similar theme for my daughter-in-law.  The children's stockings will all be in a medieval style but since my son's stocking was a country primitive design, I'll look for something similar for my daughter-in-law.

And early this morning, before I went to work, I managed an hour of stitching and finished up the satin stitched band of The English Band Sampler as well as the bit of a divider between it and the second band.  I also started the second band but there is no use putting up a picture yet. Though I have stitched a fair bit of the first motif, it doesn't show up very well.  The pale tawny of DMC 3770 fades into the ground fabric and won't show to advantage till I have stitched some of the other colors in the motif and done the backstitching.  I plan to divide the rest of the week pretty evenly between the Woodland Angel and the sampler.