12 Months of Christmas: Piper Piping

Well, here we are at our final month of the year, and the suspense is on, huh? Will I finish this series in time for Christmas? Hmmm, indeed! Well, I am happy to be done with this cute Piper Piping, which means I have only 2 left to go before I'm done! This is #10 in the series of 12 Days patterns by Mmmcrafts on Etsy, in case you would like to stitch along!

I last left you with this teaser of my pieces all cut out and threads selected:

Again, I am using all Benzie Design felt - I have started getting a few questions about which specific colors I used - would anyone like that info in these posts? Which colors are you most interested in? Let me know in the comments, please!

Also pictured are 2 of the 3 DMC Etoile floss shades I used. I love the versatility of that pea/olive green floss - I used it on the green felt coat and the beige-ish felt hat, and it looked great on both.

Here's a pic of my process stitching, apologies for the night photo:

I love the Ecru Etoile floss - it has a really nice texture to it - again, it doesn't lay exactly flat, but I think that gives it a nice crewel effect.

Here's the back side of the coat - I used Etoile again on the pink #10 - I believe it was 4 strands there, and all 6 strands for the heavy pink border of the coat. As I've gone along, I've become more and more liberal with my use of glue - I was afraid to muck up my stitching at first, but now I love the way it makes this process so much quicker!

There's something downright charming about this little guy - and as so many have been saying of their finishes on Instagram, every finish is my new favorite!

Here's my finished work, along with a few of the threads I used:

What do you think? I am loving these colors so far, and feeling so lucky to have a huge tin of sparkly Etoile to choose from!

Here's a sneak peek of the colors I've chosen for the next ornament - #11 Lady Dancing!

JOIN THE 12 MONTHS OF CHRISTMAS STITCHALONG!

This stitchalong is easy, and no-pressure! To join, visit Larissa's shop to purchase the Twelve Days pattern of your choice. Tag your pictures with the hashtag #twelvedaysornaments and #12monthsofChristmas on Instagram so we can find them.

Leave a comment here with a link to your blog, or any space on the internet or Instagram where you are tracking your progress. And don't miss the page Larissa has set up with lots of tips for stitching this series: http://mmmcrafts.blogspot.com/p/twelve-days.html.

Previous Stitchalong Posts

#1-2: Partridge and Pear; Turtle Dove

#3: French Hen

#4: Colly Bird

#5: Gold Ring

#6: Goose-a-laying

#7: Swan-a-swimming

#8: Maid-a-milking

#9: Drummer Drumming

12 Months of Christmas: Drummer Drumming

Here is my Drummer Drumming, #9 in the series of patterns by Mmmcrafts, and I am quite happy with him! Working this pattern was a joy- now that I have embraced the complexities of the "people" patterns in this series, I am very pleased. My best tip on the latter half of the series is to follow directions carefully - even if you are 3d challenged, like myself, if you follow the directions, it will still come out nicely!

This was also the first ornament in which I used the free Etoile threads sent to me by DMC threads (thank you, DMC!)

I had a lot of fun experimenting with these threads, so I'm doing a mini-review of my experience stitching with them in this post. I used 1 dark pink shade of Etoile, as you see pictured above - color C915, and I used that to stitch together the body and drum.

Let me take you in closer to this thread, so you can get a true picture of its fluffiness:

See that texture? Wondering if it will lay flat? Well, it depends.

I found Etoile floss lays best when used sparingly- I used 2 strands for my stitching on the edges, and I had no issues with it laying flat. It's easy to separate, didn't fray, and stitched very smoothly, unlike other DMC metallic threads, which can be very stiff and unpleasant to work with.


Now have a look at this example -

I used all 6 strands on the yellow sash and it was much harder to keep the threads laying flat. It requires a lot of tugging. I've heard thread conditioner can help, but I didn't use that in my example. The sparkle on Etoile floss is subtle, but nice.

My take so far on stitching with Etoile on felt is that it is lovely to work with, and works best in moderation.

You may remember from my last post, Maid a milking, that I wondered if I'd used the wrong size bead for her head, and indeed, I did!

Classic case of me just using what I had, rather than buying more - my beads are 25.4 mm, as opposed to 20 mm. They still worked fine- I just had to make my hat a little larger for it to fit.

Here are some head outtake / rejects that didn't pass my stringent quality check:

Went a little too crazy with the gel pen.

Got too lazy and cut straight to the chase with the permanent marker, and the edges bled... A friend on Instagram had a nice tip to prevent bleeding - paint your head with acrylic paint first to provide a nice base.

Here is my finished drummer, in all his big-headed glory!

Got lazy and didn't do anything fancy with the drumsticks - just poked the pipe cleaners in, thought they looked cute, and left as is. I'm really enjoying these people ornaments, and I'm glad I had nothing to be afraid of. Once again I am grateful for Larissa'a excellent directions - follow those, and you'll stitch something just as lovely!

Next up is Piper Piping, and I've got my pieces cut and ready! Please join us - let's stitch!

JOIN THE 12 MONTHS OF CHRISTMAS STITCHALONG!

This stitchalong is easy, and no-pressure! To join, visit Larissa's shop to purchase the Twelve Days pattern of your choice. Tag your pictures with the hashtag #twelvedaysornaments and #12monthsofChristmas on Instagram so we can find them.

Leave a comment here with a link to your blog, or any space on the internet or Instagram where you are tracking your progress. And don't miss the page Larissa has set up with lots of tips for stitching this series: http://mmmcrafts.blogspot.com/p/twelve-days.html.

Previous Stitchalong Posts

#1-2: Partridge and Pear; Turtle Dove

#3: French Hen

#4: Colly Bird

#5: Gold Ring

#6: Goose-a-laying

#7: Swan-a-swimming

#8: Maid-a-milking