Squinty and Wingless!

Another free kit from Cross Stitcher. It's an owl, how was I supposed to resist? He had been calling out to me when I saw him advertised in the previous issue. Therefore it would have been rude not to pick him up. I did make some changes to the design. A couple of them were intention and a couple were, erm, not so intentional.

It should be noted that I HATE stitching with soluble canvas. Until now I had yet to finish anything that required using it. It starts off fine but then the oils in your hands soften that canvas and cause it to distort. Therefore keeping your stitches even is not easy. There are only so many times that you can use anitbacterial gel.

I persevered though and did get all the stitching done. This is the first time I ever got to the seeping stage. Of course I would discover something else I don't like about the canvas. No matter how long I soaked it for it didn't feel like it had properly dissolved. The result of that was that the texture of the felt had changed making it stiffer.

So to the changes. First of all I decided I didn't want to stuff him. I still stitched both fabrics together but I wanted hanging on the wall and I thought that it would sit better without the stuffing. For that reason I also didn't attach the keyring to the ribbon. These were the deliberate changes.

I don't know if you notice but he is a little bit lopsided. This is what happens when you pay zero attention in lining up the canvas. The pattern clearly warns you of this but I was too impatient to get started and by the time I did notice I wasn't going to unpick it (I don't think the canvas would have held up to that). Then a few days ago I noticed some felt on my desk. Wondering where it came from I had a look. It was then that I noticed the shape and it dawned on me. My poor owl was supposed to have wings and I completely forgot. Oops! The poor thing had no chance really.

As for the soluble canvas. This months kit with Cross Stitcher also requires it. Since I want to make it I am giving it another chance. It's not felt this time so hopefully it won't have the same effect on the fabric.