Hogwarts In A Bottle - FINISHED!!!

Hi there!

Yes, you read the title correctly... Hogwarts In A Bottle is FINISHED!!! Oh Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Dance!

I'll waste no time and go straight to the pictures...

At 190 hours:

And now FINISHED... ta-da...

Hogwarts In A Bottle by CutePatternByMaria (etsy)

Stitched on 16ct Lazurite hand-dyed aida by Chromatic Alchemy

Stitch count 119 wide by 233 high

Started - 7th January 2019

Finished - 9th October 2020

Total Stitching Time - 199 hours 5 minutes

I'm sooooo excited to have this finished, and will definitely miss it - even the backstitching! Despite its size (and if I didn't have anything else to do!) I would not hesitate to stitch it again, that's how much I thoroughly enjoyed every single one of the 25,000 or so stitches.

The only change I made was using 3799 for the backstitching instead of the suggested 310. Black can be quite harsh sometimes and I thought this needed something a bit more subtle. But that's just personal taste.

Talking of backstitching, I didn't keep a record of how long it all took but am guessing maybe around 30 hours. There's a lot of fine detail around the castle windows, bridge arches and train, some using one strand, some using two but, as with all backstitching, what a difference!

I've already ordered a frame so, assuming I frame it within the next couple of weeks (which I'm sure I will) the completely fully-finished Hogwarts In A Bottle will be ready for the big reveal in November's FFG SAL.

So what to do now that I've finished one of my bigger WIPs? Well, I am sorely tempted to start another Harry Potter themed design to replace this one but have (sensibly) decided against it for the time being; I have plenty of WIPs to be getting on with, and four more new starts planned for Naughty November, so really can't justify starting another one this year. Next year, however... well, that's a different story! ;)

Finally, here are all the progress pictures together so you can see how the picture grew with each 10 hours of work. I've tried to be all technical and make a simple slideshow. I don't know if it will work, so if it doesn't, or you don't want to watch it, I've added the pictures as well. The music is Ravel's String Quartet In F Major (automatically adjusted to fit the length of he slideshow) and was the closest Harry Potter type background music available with the program. Enjoy!

Take care,
Rachel x

Hogwarts In A Bottle - 190 hours

Hi there!

So I've put in another 10 hours in on Hogwarts this month. I caught up with the backstitching first - over 7 hours of it - which meant there wasn't a lot of time left to put in many x's. At least I filled that gap near the bottom right which has been bugging me for a couple of months!

After 180 hours:

And now at 190 hours:

Now that the bridge arches, clouds of steam and train itself have been defined, there's not a lot of backstitching left, so it's onwards with the stitching. It won't get completed in the next 10 hours, but it won't be far off. I'm getting excited now!

Take care,
Rachel x

Hogwarts In A Bottle - 180 hours

Hi there!

Here's the next part of Hogwarts:

Last time:

And now:

I've just about finished the train so only have the clouds of steam and lots of backstitcing left to do. These, as most of you have suggested, will take about 3 more 10-hour sessions, so the end is definitely in sight now.

Next time I'll be starting with some backstitching; I may be desperate to get the whole piece stitched up but there is also no way I want to leave the amount of backstitching left to last!

Take care,
Rachel x

Hogwarts In A Bottle - 170 hours

Hi there!

It's been far too long since I spent time on Hogwarts (middle of March in fact) but, thankfully, I've finally managed another 10 hours and, as you can see from the pictures, THERE'S A TRAIN!!! Or at least a good portion of it.

As I left it back in March:

And now:

I did think about working up and stitching the clouds of steam first, but I couldn't resist starting the train any longer! Isn't it lovely to finally see the red?

During August I'd like to finish the train and get some more backstitching in. Now I've returned to it, there's no way Hogwarts will be neglected again; by hook or by crook, this will be a finish this year!

Take care,
Rachel x

Hogwarts In A Bottle - 160 hours

Hi there!

I didn't get to work on this project at all during February and must say I really really really missed it. I was determined to make up for it in March and thanks in part to having a couple of 'self-care' (i.e. stitching!) days I managed the full 10 hours I'd hoped for.

I usually work from right to left but finishing the outside of the bottle was far too tempting. So I did that first then continued to fill in more of the mountains and steam.

Here are the pictures from January:

And now:

Next time around I plan to finish off the steam on the bottom right, the outside of the bottle on the bottom left, and add all the backstitching I can. Then, if there's any time left, I will finally allow myself to thread some red and start the train - I've definitely left the best for last!

Take care,
Rachel x

Hogwarts In A Bottle - 150 hours

Hi there!

Another 10 hours and another update.

This time I added lots of steam. I started with the steam clouds on the left, then my needle wandered to the steam clouds on the right it 'happened' to discover the bottom of the chart!!! It's now fairly clear exactly how much I have left to stitch.

Because I've now reached the bottom, there's no point in showing both the progress picture and the picture of the whole piece as they're the same, so here are just the pictures of the full piece before and after this latest ten hour stretch of stitching:

For those in the UK of a 'certain age', you might understand why I was mimicking 'phsss-chi-coof' (sp) to myself whilst stitching the steam!

Whereas previously I 'only' thoroughly enjoyed stitching this, I'm also now letting a tiny bit of excitement creep in as I'm getting closer to the end (although I reckon I've still got about 50 hours to go!) I deliberately left stitching the train to last and 'can't wait' for that first red stitch to go in... maybe not next time... but soon!

Take care,
Rachel x

Hogwarts In A Bottle - 140 hours

Hi there!

I've recently finished another ten hours on this wonderful piece.

I didn't do any backstitching this time, so have that to look forward to when Hogwarts comes out again in January, not that there's a lot but it'll be nice to keep up with it. Here are the progress pictures then.

Last time:

And this time:

And the full piece:

I'm happy to have vastly increased the amount of mountains (thank you, blocks of colour) and even added some of the smoke coming from the train funnel (the white on the bottom left).

More smoke next time and maybe I'll even reach the train itself.

Take care,
Rachel x

Hogwarts In A Bottle - 130 hours

Hi there!

So Hogwarts barged its way onto my frames and demanded more attention. There were good blocks of colour in this section so a LOT of progress was made during the ten hours.

Last time:

And this time:

And the full piece:

Now to go left a bit to finish the bridge supports and stitch some more mountains. Oh goody!

Take care,
Rachel x

Hogwarts In A Bottle - 120 hours

Hi there!

I had an absolutely fantastic week with Hogwarts, reaching a milestone now that I've more or less finished the buildings, including backstitching, and am moving on to the mountains and clouds of steam.

Last week:

And this week:

And the full piece:

And because I haven't shown it for a while, here's a reminder of how the piece will eventually look. It's satisfying to see I'm about half way through the scene itself.

Hogwarts is going away for a while now but it will be out again in November, hopefully for another two ten-hour sessions.

Take care,
Rachel x

Hogwarts In A Bottle - 110 hours

Hi there!

Phew! Another 10 hours on Hogwarts is over, filled with copious amounts of backstitching. In fact 6 out of the ten hours were spent backstitching which is why there hasn't been that much progress stitching-wise.

Last time:

This time:

And the full piece:

Here's the section before and after the backstitching:

The backstitching has obviously brought the buildings to life, so much so that I'm really keen to finish the remaining ones and backstitch them too! I wonder how far I'll get in the next ten hours? Stay tuned.

Take care,
Rachel x