This morning I put the last stitch onto my runners and installed them onto the stairs in my dollhouse.  It is so satisfying to see these runners finally in place!  I secured them to the stairs by putting double sided acid-free tape onto each riser and carefully placing them on, one stair at a time.  Once I had them in place to my satisfaction, I cut some very thin brass rods to length and placed a small gold bead on each end of the rods.  A tiny bit of glue to each bead secures them to the wood of the staircase.  Below is a more frontal shot of the staircase with the brass rods in place.

This has been a fun project for me, but I am more than ready to start my next one!  Stitching the same pattern over and over became quite tedious towards the end.  However, I feel the effort was worth it. 🙂   Stay tuned to see what I start next.  I already have the fabric cut and stretched onto the frame, he, he!

My stair runners are continuing to progress at a slow, but steady rate.  I am now almost finished the third full window of stitching.  Once I finish this section, I only have to move it down once more to finish the length!  I am so looking forward to finishing this and beginning my next project.
I find that as I near completion of one project, I always begin planning the next one.  I have to be careful though and not get too excited over the next one because I always want to begin it right away.  Then I might put the current project aside in favor of working on the new one.  Therefore, I discipline myself and won't let myself even gather the threads together for a new project until I am finished the current one.  It is very hard though!
I have decided to stitch the Denise rug next.  I am looking forward to it due to its complexity.  It will be a nice change after working on the same pattern over and over again.
My next post regarding these stair runners will be of them completed and in place on the stairs of my Beachfront Mansion!

This past week I have been able to finish more of the stair runners and today I moved the fabric down in order to stitch more.  Although there is still a lot to do, I can definitely see progress.  I am looking forward to seeing these runners progress.
As the weather begins to improve, I may not do as much stitching while I begin doing outdoor yardwork, but I still intend to stitch as I know I would miss it if I didn't. ​🙂

Today, I thought I would post some photos of the back of my stair runners.  Since the runners will be approximately 20" long, I must move the fabric down as I complete the areas within the frame.  When I move the fabric down, I take care to put thumbtacks between the two runners and on the outer edges of the fabric.  This way, I don't distort the stitches that I have already completed.  When stitching, I also tuck the extra, already stitched fabric up behind with thumb tacks so that it doesn't fray or get dirty.

I am now entering my fourth week of isolation and social distancing due to Covid-19 and I am getting lots of things done in my various crafts.  In order to make it interesting, I rotate between my crafts every day.  Most often, I find myself in my workroom working on my dollhouse, however, I do take time every evening to stitch so I have progress to show you.
The pattern has been stitched for most of this window section of the runners and I am filling in the backgrounds.  I have a few more full window sections to fill but it is coming along slowly, but surely.  I am looking forward to being able to put the finished runners into my dollhouse. 🙂

This week I wanted to show you the progress I have made on the Ocean Runner and how I am moving the project down the frame as I finish each section.

Last night, I finally reached the top of the frame (for the most part) and decided to move the fabric down in order to work the next section.  This photo shows how it looks now that I have moved it down.  On the reverse side, I have not put my thumbtacks all the way across the bottom, only in the extreme corners and the center where there is no stitching.  This is so that the tacks do not pull the stitching out of shape or make a hole in the stitching. You may see that there are three holes in the fabric near the top of the frame.  These are just areas where the strands of fabric were pulled out of shape but is not torn.  I simply move the strands back into place and the hole virtually disappears.  There are three other holes near the needle that I have moved the strands around and they are almost gone.  Once I stitch over them, you won't be able to see them anymore. 

I am enjoying how quickly this project is stitching up as it doesn't take long to see more pattern emerge or to fill it in.  Most likely, I will continue with this one for a while before I return to my Sonja rug.

As I prepared for my trip to Antigua, I wanted to take along a project that was small enough to fit into my purse yet would give me an easy way to see my stitching well.   I couldn't take along my magnifying light visor so I tried to think of other things that would give me the best magnification and light. 
I found a pair of magnification glasses at the dollar store that worked well to bring my canvas and stitches into sharp focus when put on over my regular glasses.  I also found this wonderful little light at my local grocery store that clips onto my project perfectly.  The light is an LED light by Energizer and folded up very small to fit into my travel box easily.
I must say, that this little light did a wonderful job of lighting up my project when the surrounding light wasn't good enough.  I often wake up hours before my husband, when it is still dark out.  I would take my stitching out onto the balcony so that I wouldn't disturb him and would turn on the light.  The light showed up my canvas in the dark very well and I was able to stitch perfectly without strain on my eyes.