Thursday, March 27, 2014

March WIPocalypse & goals!

Ahhh, where did March go?  Time flies when you're stressed out, I guess.  I'm combining a late WIPocalypse update with an on-time monthly goals post.  Yup.

First up, goals.

March's ridiculously ambitious goals were:
- Spring Knotgarden - half of part five, for real this time. - HAHAHA NO
- complete five blocks of Floral Fifteen OR start another JN - how about NO JN progress at all?
- band sampler round robin! :D - well, I mailed one but got another I didn't start yet... so sort of?
- post for all my SALs only once per month and ON TIME :x - did SFS, late WIPocalypse, no JN this month... sigh
- keep spending within Stitch from Stash limits! - didn't spend a penny!

Ugh, that did NOT go well.  My de-stress activity of the month was gaming instead of stitching, and I anticipate that continuing into April since I just started the next game in a series I love.  I'm already a third of the way into it, so I'll probably finish in a couple of weeks and get back to stitching.

April's goals are:
- finish Cattleya Orchid
- complete five blocks of Floral Fifteen OR start another JN
- band sampler round robin! :D
- post for all my SALs only once per month and ON TIME :x
- keep spending within Stitch from Stash limits!

I'll let Spring Knotgarden continue taking a nap for a little while.  And let's not even think about how little I've done toward my yearly goals... sigh.  At least I'm stitching something, right?

Here's the orchid as of now!  I'm really NOT enjoying the little blackwork orchids around the center garden.  They look great on the chart but don't translate well to the fabric... too much over-one backstitching, it makes the whole thing look like a blob rather than a defined orchid shape.  Meh.


Okay, and for WIPocalypse, this month is about the places you stitch!  I only have one place and that's the couch in the living room.  Here's a real-life, didn't-bother-to-clean pic of what it looks like right now.  Mmm, dirty carpet.  In my defense, when I was a kid my dad would make me vacuum EVERY NIGHT so I feel like I've already hit my lifetime vacuuming quota, mmmkay?


Sooo, it's pretty clear that the right side (left in the pic) is my half of the couch, with all the charts and threads all over the arm of the couch and the coffee table in front of it.  The middle is my wife's spot, and you can see her knitting on the table toward the right side of the pic.  Obviously the last cushion is reserved for cats, as modeled by Loki and his awesome cone of shame.

Oh, and the zippers are visible on "our" cushions because they had to be turned around.  The outside edge got squashed by too much sitting (haha) so we're trying to even them out a little.  Might be time for a new couch, ya think?  Actually, I'd love to get the cushions re-stuffed or whatever, I looove this couch and we have a barely used loveseat and armchair to match.  Why replace all that just because a couple of cushions got smooshed?

Okay.  Back to those stupid blackwork orchids... *pout*

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Stitch from Stash - March report!

I think the fact that I haven't posted in almost two weeks kind of lets you know how this post is gonna go...

New starts from stash:
- NONE, unless we count the Sylveon freebie I stitched up for my Pokemon group's spring swap event.  It got finished as a cute no-sew cube before it was sent off to a new home!  I'm kind of sad I couldn't keep this for myself, but I can always make another one. :D


If you want to make your own cube, here's the tutorial I used, it was GREAT!  And it's seriously so easy to do, it only took me about an hour to make the cube and that's only because I was anal and kept going back to repin things as I went along. :3
http://hannahxs.blogspot.com/2007/11/no-sew-cube-tutorial.html

WIPs or UFOs worked on:
- Cattleya Orchid Panel

After surrendering to the frog a while back, I actually made some good progress!  The entire center garden is done, except for the surrounding blackwork.  And beads, of course.  I've made some mistakes here and there, but I'm tired of frogging so it will just stay how it is.


Sorry for the partial pic, I didn't want to move the qsnap until I'm ready to work on another section, since I'm kind of worried about using the snap on the metallic blackwork... eee.

Amount spent:
NOTHING.  I was too worn out for stash enhancement this month between taking care of a sick cat and an unexpected full-time work opportunity - which is very much appreciated since kitty has really racked up the bills at the emergency vet!  I didn't spend a single penny on stitching stuff!

So I'm carrying over $28.30 to April, giving me a budget of $53.30 for the month.  I'm currently organizing a group buy of the Mirabilia "freebie" Arezzo from Casa Cenina, so I know I'll be spending at least part of that!  Might be a good time to grab another Renato Parolin pattern as well...

So... did anyone else buy anything good this month? :)

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

okay, I surrender!

Okay, whoever let the frogs out can put them back now.  You win.  I surrender. :(


I feel like I've frogged at least twice as much on Cattleya Orchid as the "progress" I have to show here.  I mean, I'm kind of embarrassed to make a post with such a tiny amount of progress. >.>

I haven't been stitching much lately because I've been gaming (catching up on the Atelier series since Escha & Logy is out today and OMG WANT!) but I do stitch during lunch.  Except it's more like I stitch, then frog, then stitch a little more, frog that too, etc.


So, that bit of border on the left has been stitched at least three times.  At least that was because I was feeling wishy-washy about the colors in the thread and not due to any mistakes. (I mean, unless I find something later... gaaaah!)

And my tiny blob of a blackwork orchid there USED to have leaves and a stem, until I realized it was the wrong color.  Apparently it does NOT match the top blackwork.  The lines on the chart are the same shade of green, but I magically couldn't read the directions to see the actual color used, so riiiiip!  Blah.

I swear, that border and the green box better be in the right place or I'm gonna scream. :x

Sunday, March 09, 2014

a wild Sylveon appears!

Haha, what?  Yeah!  I'm a member of a really active Pokemon collectors community, and I joined a swap event.  My partner said she likes custom stuff, so as part of her gift, I stitched her a Sylveon, a cute pink Pokemon who is verrrrry popular right now. :D

It should be okay to post here, I don't think anyone from that comm cares about my stitching blog. :p


I think I'm going to finish her as a no-sew cube so it will be more exciting than just a framed picture.  And if anyone cares, the fabric is PTP Mint (Belfast, of course!).

The pattern is from Birdie Stitching, if you use the search box, there are TONS of Pokemon! :)

Wednesday, March 05, 2014

drive by posting!

So I don't have time to write a post, but here's a pic of the orchid!  Finally finished up the blackwork, so I'm officially done with the top third of the project!  Well, except for the beads, but I think I'll do those last.


The colors are beyond awful in this picture but you get the idea.  If the sun would ever come out, maybe I could take a picture outside.  Of course, since I take all my pictures at night, that really doesn't make sense, but you know what I mean...

Okay, time for bed. :D

Saturday, March 01, 2014

monthly goals!

Haha, my goals are sometimes TOO ambitious...

February's goals were:
- Spring Knotgarden - half of part five (because it looks crazy!) and the missing grass! - Did the grass, but not even a quarter of part five.  Booooo. :p
- complete five blocks of Floral Fifteen OR start another JN - started and finished three JNs!
- band sampler round robin! :D - done and in the mail!
- post for all my SALs only once per month and ON TIME :x - YES!
- keep spending within Stitch from Stash limits! - YES!

Okay, that wasn't too bad, actually!  Spring Knotgarden totally kicked my ass though. XD  I didn't have as much stitching time this month since I got called up to work (I do temp/contract stuff for a local training company) AND my cat has been sick and needs a lot of TLC.

And here's the band sampler round robin pics. :D

My section (the fabric is white, NOT pink!)

Full sampler so far:

I'm really pleased with how it turned out!  I was a little anxious at first since this particular one was completely up to me with how to proceed... no limits on colors, designers, or anything else!  Do what you want is fun, but it's also tough!  I think I did a good job of matching the color/design themes. :3

My goals for March will be the same as February! XD

March's goals are:
- Spring Knotgarden - half of part five, for real this time.
- complete five blocks of Floral Fifteen OR start another JN
- band sampler round robin! :D
- post for all my SALs only once per month and ON TIME :x
- keep spending within Stitch from Stash limits!

WHEEEEEEEEEEEE