A Taste of Tuscany - parts 2 and 3 completed and annual target met!

Hello all!

Very long time, no see! I can't believe I haven't posted for over a month! I've had no real progress to show, but it wouldn't have hurt to just let you know that I am still here! At least I have kept up-to-date with all of your blogs and am impressed and totally jealous with the amount of stitching, buying and framing going on!

Behind the scenes I have been preparing for two major stitching projects. The first is a very demanding in-at-the-deep-end restart of a current WIP and the second is a ridiculous amount of stitching within a ridiculous amount of time. I won't reveal any more yet but disclose them when the time is right - probably the next couple of months or so.

On the actual stitching front, I've finally finished the second and third of the four Taste of Tuscany pieces. The variegated green and pink threads that I used for the plants on the first piece didn't work on these two so I frogged the lot and stitched the plants in their given colours with much better results. Finishing parts two and three also means I have met (and exceeded) my target for the year for this WIP! Yippee!

Here they are with their details then:

 A Taste of Tuscany by Rico Designs
Featured in Cross Stitch Crazy issue ??

Stitched on 16ct Light Blue Aida 2 over 1
Stitch count 54 wide by 55 high

Started - 19th April 2014

Finished - 29th July 2014
Total stitching time - 22 hours

A Taste of Tuscany by Rico Designs
Featured in Cross Stitch Crazy issue ??

Stitched on 16ct Light Blue Aida 2 over 1
Stitch count 54 wide by 55 high

Started - 1st July 2014

Finished - 3rd August 2014
Total stitching time - 23 hours

I'm really unhappy with the whiskers on the third piece despite trying to get them right umpteen times. As soon as this has been posted I'm going to frog them yet again and persevere until I am happy. Oh joy!!

EDIT - I have now re-done all of the eyes and whiskers of each cat in the yellow used on the charts. I am now one happy bunny as they look so much better (but I still hate French Knots!)

In anticipation of finishing all four Tuscany pieces (and because I'm impatient) I have already ordered and received the frame from ezeframe.co.uk. It's a black painted 13mm frame with a mid-green top mount, black bottom mount and non-reflective acrylic glazing. With hindsight I should have made the bottom mount slightly wider but, ho-hum, it still looks fine. It cost just under £20 - about half the price of going to a framers - and was made to my exact specifications. I am really happy with the result and as a teaser here's the first piece framed:

The fourth piece of Tuscany is about to be started with the intention of finishing and framing the complete set before the end of August. I shall then return to my larger projects which have been neglected for far too long and are crying out for attention.

Hopefully I shall be back soon with Tuscany completed and framed. So until then,

All the best and
Happy stitching :)
Rachel x