A Bluestocking Knits

Ta-da!

I made a bit of a push to finish this, since it was so close.  I started it on the 27th of September, 2020, and finished it on the 24th of December, 2023 — just over three years.  It is of course the "Quaker Virtues" by Bygone Stitches (and it is apparently back in print since I bought the chart in I think 2019).  After much internal debate, I decided on DMC threads — since it requires 30 skeins of the main color! — specifically 931 Antique Blue Medium, with 930 Dark for the virtues and 932 Light for the scattered letters and numbers.  I admit to making a lot of subtle fixes and changes — there were a rather shocking number of mistakes in the chart, in motifs that are supposed to be symmetrical — and I moved more than a few motifs a thread or two to get what I felt was a better balance.  I also added a second line around the outside, which I felt gives it a bit more finish — but considering the size of the thing, it's a wonderful chart, and I enjoyed it and highly recommend it.

I had been sharing my progress via text messages with a dear friend who moved to another state a few years ago, and when I sent the photo of the finished piece, she said she thought this was her favorite of all of the stitching I've done.  I had been pondering pretty much the whole three years what I would eventually do with it — it's I think 29" x 23" (74 x 59 cm)! — and so I said quite impulsively, "Would you like to have it!"  She said yes, and as it was her birthday that very day, I took these photos, wrapped it up, and sent it off.  No time therefore, alas, to wait for better light, or to re-take that blurry one! but I was very pleased that she was so delighted, and am glad to know that it is going to a good home.

(I added in a "date" of sorts, changing two of the small characters near bottom center to 2 and 3 for the year.  I was going to change the E and U to my initials but there was no time with Christmas coming — we had twelve here sitting down to Christmas dinner! and hosted another gathering of eight the next day — and our friends unexpectedly in town that weekend, and so I put a quick inscription in backstitch along the selvage instead ….)