Progress on Lottie

Sometimes it's really hard for me to get inspired - then sometimes, all of a sudden, I see a pattern that strikes me and I'm just bit with a bug. I'd actually seen this pattern months ago but had hemmed and hawed about buying it because the last thing I needed was another unfinished project. But suddenly, Sunday, I found myself not only purchasing, but immediately starting on it...

I enlarged the pattern 170%, because I wanted Lottie to be a large work. I had to photocopy it in sections and tape the 4 pieces together. Then I used 2 sheets of tracing paper to trace it with my transfer pencil.

Then, came the fabric - I had a beautiful new pillowcase with subtle vertical stripes woven in - I thought they'd be a sweet background for my girl. I probably should have tested on a small section first? Because this fabric was a be-atch to transfer to! I had to go over the same sections over and over and over and still the lines were very faint in places. Oh, well. Learn for next time:

I had to start right away, because faint lines fade fast, so I sat down and did over 6 hours of stem stitching. I used 3-4 different blonde, olive-y shades for Lottie's hair, a nice bright blue for her dress and dark brown for her sash. After 6 hours:

On day 2, I finished up her hair, fur, ruffles, dress and sash, the dotted border and her locket:

This was a small change I made - instead of the bead necklace in the pattern, I drew in a heart pendant with a cursive "L" because in my imagination, Lottie is a sweet girl who is loved and cared for, in spite of her unusual appearance. I used one strand of gold metallic thread to make it dainty and teensy.

There were a lot of elements that drew me to this pattern, but one especially was the delicate rendering of the hands:

I'm really loving this pattern and quick progress - just the flowers are left! It's really made my imagination go wild and and I've developed quite an affection for Lottie. Here she is, after about 12 hours of stitching: