u/Andolie_Kitten

Pattern: https://totoostitch.com/products/cinderella-mandala-cross-stitch-pdf

Woohoo! I remembered to link the pattern two weeks in a row!

Moved on to a bunch of the specialty stitches. Couching is more tedious than I would expect, but I love how those purple flowers look every time. Speaking of tedious, backstitching with blending filament. I'm a little over halfway done with that on the 3rd castle. Just one more to go. I don't think I'll ever do that again. I'll sub the blending filament for something else.

I still have all the Edmar Rayon jessicas and smyrna stitches to do along with the satin stitched feathers, and the towers so maaaaaaybe I'll get the left-hand stitching done over the next week and can get to beading again. We'll see. I've been feeling pretty cruddy today, and work has been crazy busy. I'm also running a "half-marathon" this weekend, but it's the Quitter's Run, so you're encouraged to not finish. 😆

Included picts of the castle with and without backstitching. The color difference alone is just nuts to me.

Pattern: https://totoostitch.com/products/cinderella-mandala-cross-stitch-pdf

Closing in on 75% complete!! I didn't quite get the over 1 castle done like I wanted to, but I got distracted by the towers and slippers.

I tried using Pattern Keeper again. Big mistake. I thought that maybe the PK version of the chart had a stitch only section, and I imported the wrong part. Nope. PK version has everything. Ok, fine. There's a stitch only part in a different pdf. Import that, set up all the grids, type in the colors, aaaaaand that version just makes all of the over 1 stitches into black squares.

The slippers were straight up missing a row when I imported it into Pattern Keeper. I ended up stitching those twice this week because I didn't catch it sooner. I knew better than to use PK, but I tried again anyway. I also screwed up the top of the blue tower. Just a touch frustrating this week, but I got around 2500 stitches in despite that.

I've also been mixing in a couple of easier projects, so I thought pop a pict of those in. Forevermore by Long Dog and Sunny Side by JedXStitch. I 100% have already JedXStitch's marketplace patterns & fabric for them. 😆

Before I forget, yet again, Pattern: https://totoostitch.com/products/cinderella-mandala-cross-stitch-pdf

The right side is complete, and I flipped my stand around to work on the left. I lost some stitching time to family obligations last weekend, but I took my tablet with me and marked off the pattern on Pattern Keeper to get an estimate of how far along I am. While the site states you can use Pattern Keeper, it's not good, so I figured I could at least get a better estimate of how far along I am. Supposedly, I got to 70% tonight. Ok. It's probably more like 60% because it doesn't count back stitching or specialty stitches. Either way, we're definitely over the halfway point, and officially 3 months in. At this rate, I should be wrapping this up just before the holidays.

I actually have been feeling the tiny stitches, so I dove right in and got to work on that 3rd castle. I'll probably balk at the back stitching again, but it'll get done eventually. The goal for next week is to finish that castle and start the back stitching. I'll probably go back and forth between it and other parts to break it up.

Unrelated, I had to go check out the cross stitch at the state fair. I was both surprised and impressed to see that a stitch of Lola Crow's Extraordinary Birds took best in show! All of the submissions were wonderfully done.

Wow! I'm at months for this project. August 4th is technically the 3 month mark.

I also think I can say that I'm over 50% complete 🥳 I can't really count the stitches because of all the specialty stitches, backstitching, and beads. Therefore, I'm going by section. There are 5 sections, top, left, right, bottom, and center. The stitching for each is 10%, and then the beads are the other 10% of each section. Since I've finished the middle and top, that's 40%, and this week, I finished the stitching for the right side and made some good progress on the beading. Yep, I decided to do the beading instead of stitching the left. "I crave beeeeads!!!"

I did at least add up the beads & crystals. There are a total of 7,051 of them in this project.

My goal for next week is to finish the beading and move over to the left side.

Bonus: I finished my little Princess Donut stitch. I picked up the pattern on Etsy, and it was awful. I subbed 3777 for 300 and blended the 3371 with 300 to try to get a better torti look. I might go back and redo the sunglasses. They mildly annoy me. I also had to add bling because "I do like sparkle, Carl". Words were added by me. And yes, it's book 3 Donut with a book 7 quote. 😆

We're getting far enough along in these posts that my poor, swiss cheese brain has to go back to last week to see what the week count is.

I feel like this right side is taking \*forever\* to get done, but looking back, it's really coming along just as quickly as the top and center motifs did. My brain is thinking that because it is shorter it should much faster than it is. I also have been taking more breaks to make sure I stay caught up on my SALs and didn't have a holiday/birthday break to just sit and stitch.

This week was mostly backstitching and specialty stitches. I finished the backstitch on castle #2! Just two more of those suckers to go. It's not the backstitching itself that's getting me, it's the fact that it's over 1 and it's with blending filament. That flat, plasticy stuff that disappears between the stitches or just sit incredibly wonky if it twists even the slightest bit. Thank goodness for my magnifying lamp.

All I have left to do this weekend is the rest of the royal blue backstitch around the big purple flowers, some smaller Jessica stitches and the 6 little window motifs in the bottom corner. Then I have to decide if I want to keep stitching or start beading. I'm torn here. Part of me wants to do the left side stitching just so the piece looks even more filled out. However, "I crave beads. Give me more beads". (Side note: I need to find a cute pig small and put that line in it.)

I did attend the Lindy Stitches Midsummer virtual retreat. That was a ton of fun. I hung out at the first timers table a lot and attended most of the meet and greets as well as the Flosstube live sessions. I didn't spend to much money in the shopping hall. I set myself a budget and I stuck to it. I definitely had this project out and my camera on so if you saw it, that was probably me!

There was a bit less progress this week than in the previous ones. I took yesterday & today away from this project to finish up the blue colorway on the Carolyn Manning June SAL. I couldn't choose between the 4 colors, and I had a weirdly long skinny piece of aida, so I'm doing them all.

I did manage to get a good chunk of the specialty stitches around and on the carriage done, and I finished the pillars and tops of the bottom corner towers.

My goal for this weekend is to finish up the stitching on the right side. We shall see what progress I make there since I'm attending the Lindy Stitches virtual retreat this weekend. I've never done one of these, so I'll have to figure out the camera deal. That might dictate which project I'll work on.

Pattern: https://totoostitch.com/products/cinderella-mandala-cross-stitch-pdf?\_pos=9&\_sid=2baf0e917&\_ss=r

SAL: https://www.carolynmanningdesigns.com/the-stitch-alongs.php

I keep having to zoom out to get the whole pattern in a single picture. Between the holiday and taking a couple of days off for my birthday, I made some great progress. I also upgraded my stitchy spot! I've been saving up all year for a Lowery stand & birthday money put me over the top. 🥳 It took some putzing around to get things situated, but my 28" frame fits, and I can move it around so that I can reach about anywhere on it comfortably.

I started by doing both the left and right sides, but it was a bit annoying to have to readjust, so I just stuck to the right side. I also learned that doing tent stitches in both directions helps keep the over 1 neater.

I'm m not sure if I'll bead the right before moving back to the left yet or not. That's a decision for later.

Pattern: https://totoostitch.com/products/cinderella-mandala-cross-stitch-pdf?\_pos=9&\_sid=2baf0e917&\_ss=r

Almost at the 2 month point. I also have a nice long weekend coming up with the holiday and taking a couple of days off for my birthday. My goal is to finish the beading at the top early Friday so I can scroll and start working on either the left or right side.

This week was beading. My husband is thoroughly sick of me randomly yelling, "I love beeeeads!" and "Give me more beeeeads!" If you've listened to book 8 of Dungeon Crawler Carl, you know the exact voice being used for this. 😆 I got most of the top done. I am missing 1 type of pearl, which is on its way, so I'll have to go back for that. I am also skipping the 9mm and 12mm beads since I don't think they'll scroll well.

Pattern: https://totoostitch.com/products/cinderella-mandala-cross-stitch-pdf?\_pos=9&\_sid=2baf0e917&\_ss=r

I'm hoping to finish the blue and purple towers on the left and right sides before this weekend. Then, I plan to bead the entire top save for the large 12mm beads. I don't think those will scroll well, so I'm saving them for the very end.

This week features a ton of backstitching with blending filament. I'm not sure how others have done this, but the one I'm using is 1 flat monofilament with 2 darker 'hairs'. I'm stripping of the hairs because they're a pain and just leaving the flat monofilament. Then I mostly try to get that flat as I stitch. I fail just as often as I succeed. Even using a second needle as a laying tool, it's quite difficult to get the tiny stitches to lay flat. The larger ones aren't too bad. I mostly made sure the long ones stayed flat and didn't worry too much about the short ones.

My birthday is coming up soon, and I took a couple of days off to just sit and work on this project. I'm so excited for it! I hope to have a ton more progress in the next couple of weeks. Maybe I'll even get to scroll my frame some.

Pattern: https://totoostitch.com/products/cinderella-mandala-cross-stitch-pdf

So much 1 over 1 cross stitch this week! I was 100% putting this off after doing the roses in the center, but it ended up being a lot faster than I feared. It was pretty much just horizontal and vertical lines instead of shading, which probably helped a ton. Now, for an unhealthy amount of backstitching using blending filament. I got it started tonight, but I just wasn't in the mood for even more fine detail work, so I moved over to the next set of towers. Hopefully, by week 10 I'll have the top entirely done, including beading. We shall see. I did order the correct magatama beads. I mistakenly ordered long magatama, which are almost twice the length. I also have the correct 3mm blue pearls on the way too.

Still absolutely in love with this project. It's been so much fun to stitch.

Pattern: Cinderella Mandala

Edit to include pattern link

​

I did not realize how much I got done this week until I looked at last week's post. Loads of specialty stitching. I learned how to do couching as well as an Amedeus stitch. That's the cross that's half silk and half petite braid in the center section of the columns in the upper left. Those were definitely a challenge.

I'm hoping to finish the diamond that is the top corner and then the arches that go on top of the columns this weekend. We'll see. Saturday is looking to be beautiful, and there's a flower bed that needs dirt and flowers in it. Plus, we haven't been to the pool yet this year, and it's going to be a great day to fight for a pool chair.

After those are done, I'm tackling the large over 1 castle above the carriage. That will take a lot of time to finish.

Pattern: https://totoostitch.com/products/cinderella-mandala-cross-stitch-pdf

Hard to believe it's been a month! I started this project on May 4th, and poof, it's June.

I wrapped up as much of the beading as I wanted to do in the center design and finally plucked up the patience to finish the 4th over 1 stitched rose. I realized I ordered the wrong size in one of the pearls. The company says I can return the incorrect ones, but I have to pay to mail them back, then pay the full $7 shipping again to order the correct ones. Blerg.

*Drumroll* I got to scroll the frame!! I swapped out the side bars for a longer pair so I can do the entire top of the design without needing to scroll more. I'm so happy to get back to some good, old-fashioned, 2 over 2 cross stitch. 😆

Stayed up a bit late last night to finish the two crowns. Next up are the pairs of glass slippers by the crowns. Then, I'll probably do all the specialty stitches around those areas and decide if I want to start tackling the large-ish over 1 castle that goes above the carriage or make my way to the top borders.

This has been such a fun and challenging stitch. I am enjoying this one so much! Now I can't wait to start my first Chatelaine, but I'll finish this one first.

A bit late this week, but I made a nice amount of progress with the extra day off. I got a bit tired of over 1 stitching and just couldn't resist doing some beading. I have felt & batting to use when I adjust the scroll frame to protect the beads. Once I finish the last over 1 rose, I plan to finish the smaller beads and then move to the top. I'm excited to stitch the first of the pumpkin carriages!

I started with the beads on a slant. When I stitched my luna moth, I tried putting the beads in all kinds of directions. On that one, I liked the beads on the slant matching the wings, so I started the same way here. Then I got to looking at Chatelaines and a stitched example of this one, and those had the beads vertically. I figured I'd give the vertical a shot again, and I'm glad I did. I'm loving the look. Not that the slanted ones were bad at all.

If anyone wants a quite thorough beading video, Deb the Traveling Stocking Stitcher has an excellent video all about beading Chatelaines. Much of the info applies to any beaded croas stitch, though. https://youtu.be/zJzoknis7gg?si=EVirstJQEd-C9Yif

Pattern: https://totoostitch.com/products/cinderella-mandala-cross-stitch-pdf

Been a busy week with my boss retiring and finally getting to celebrate the better half's birthday. The over 1 stitching is coming along nicely. It doesn't look like I've made much progress in terms of size, but I've gotten in about 2k stitches.

This is my first time working with silks. They are so nice to use. They pull so smoothly and lay much nicer naturally than cotton, but probably not something to use all the time given the price difference. I'm getting used to the petite braid metallic as well, but the blending filament used to backstitch the birbs gives me fits. I strip away the 2 tiny bits and just use the single wide strand since I'm not actually blending it.

If the weather holds this weekend & my husband feels up to it, we'll be putting in a flower bed which means less stitching time again. One of the few times in rooting for some rain.

I had Friday off for the better half's birthday, but he's still quite under the weather, so I got extra stitchy time. I plan to do the pigeons and roses, then start beading the central motif before moving onto the carriages. This weekend will be busy, so I probably won't make as much progress.

This week's lessons: Don't trust PK's imports on this pattern. The .pdf that's meant to be uploaded doesn't match watch PK actually imported. I don't fault the designer nor the software. This pattern has loads of specialty stitching, beads, and fractionals which PK doesn't handle well if at all. I was going to have to use the pdf for those things anyway. Petite stitching makes progress feel so slow. I've got about 800 stitches in that rose on the upper right.

Cinderella Mandala by Totoostitch.com

Edit: Grammer

Since this is such a large undertaking for me with tons and tons of new things, I figured I'd document the process in its own posts vs. just adding to the Sunday WIPs post

This pattern is Cinderella Mandala by Totoo Stitch. I'm a complete sucker for all the old fairy tales, and while Sleeping Beauty is my favorite, this pattern is just too gorgeous to not do.

Tonight, I stitched just the very center medallion. Tons of firsts. First time with linen on a scroll frame. First time using petite braid and silk lame. First time doing crescent stitches. I've already got some magnifying lenses on order, so don't zoom in too much because they aren't the neatest stitches ever. I might end up redoing them. 😬

Backstitching never fails to amaze me. 3rd one I've finished that needs a frame now. Saving up my money to get the very nice ones folks have recommended. This one went a bit faster since my husband spent the last 10 days in the hospital. We're home now and he's recovering, but there's not much to do there except to sit and wait on tests to be done and wait more for the results and try not to worry. This was an excellent distraction.