Crafty Rahenna

Octopus Treasure Cave - WIP #3

2012-02-10T11:56:00.000-08:00

I've finished as much as I can of Octopus Treasure Cave part one! I'm still waiting on the bead pack, and I'm missing the perle that goes around the border and the blackwork waves. I'm sure those will arrive long before part two is out. :)

Again, sorry for the bad pictures... the dark fabric seems to be forcing me to use the flash, and some of the colors are very light and they get washed out. Doesn't help that it's a gloomy day, so no help from the sunlight!

This is the full part. The top and bottom (purple) were originally charted for a blue/green color, but I chose purple instead as the color I was subbing for the blue/green silk was very dark and got lost in the fabric. I also completely changed the blackwork pattern on the top to work better with the dark fabric and purple thread.

And my sad attempts at getting closeups of a few specialty stitches. Each quarter of the border has a different stitch, and it was fun to have a lot of variety!

I'm really looking forward to the next part! For now, it's back to Titania. :) ~~Or I might be naughty and start Butterfly Garden...~~

WIPocalypse already?

2012-02-07T17:09:00.000-08:00

How did an entire month pass already? I feel like the new year's just started! Guess it's time for the WIPocalypse already, though... so here we go!

I've been working on Octopus Treasure Cave since the beginning of the month, and I've completed the main portion of the border! These pictures are terrible, by the way... can't seem to get good lighting for the dark fabric, so you'll have to survive with some icky flash shots. The colors are a lot nicer in real life, I just can't show them properly yet!

Closeup of the blackwork (purplework?) on the bottom. It's actually supposed to be a green/blue thread, but the one I'm using to sub for that one is too dark and it blends into the fabric. The purple looks really nice, though! I might go back and take out the blue blackwork on the right side of the border and do all four sides in purple instead...

I made some progress on Titania as well, but no pic this time. She's all folded up and put away nicely while Octopus is on the scroll bars. Next time. :)

Octopus Treasure Cave - WIP #1

2012-02-02T05:56:00.000-08:00

The first part of Octopus Treasure Cave was released yesterday! I hopped right to it and managed a measly 1/4 of the border, not counting the beaded or blackwork areas. :) It doesn't look like much yet, but I'll keep going today.

Sorry for the awful picture, it's too early for a daylight photo and the flash washed things out a bit.

This is being done on PTP Phantom with a special thread conversion known as "the stuff I already had." I did order a few threads but I'd say about 85% is from stash. Go me. :)

I must say that working on dark fabric has been an experience! I spent a lot of time obsessively counting and frogging at first, but I seemed to get the hang of it later on. My greatest fear is that things won't line up once I get back around to the beginning.... :p

Not sure that working this on the scroll frame is a good idea as the tension isn't that great and I really need the fabric taut so I can find the holes more easily. Plus I'm getting a serious crick in my neck from being hunched over so I can see the light I put behind the fabric! I might put this on the ol' q-snap for a while. Might need to get a 14" square snap so I can do the entire thing on it like a cheater. :)

Back to work!

updated goals & bucket list

2012-01-30T13:33:00.000-08:00

I just realized I haven't posted goals in ages! I'll just skip right to February, then...

February goals:
- finish Titania (been working on her since finishing Tree of Hope)
- part one of Octopus Treasure Cave (can't wait!)

Okay, maybe finishing Titania will be impossible, but I'll make a nice dent in her anyway. Here's how she looks at the moment. There's a bit more at the top that's been wrapped around the scroll bar, but not enough to really count for anything!

Annnnd a preview of how my Octopus Treasure Cave will end up looking on the fabric I chose - Phantom by Picture This Plus. Should be here any day now. :)

And a new bucket list as I've recently discovered some new things, or decided to favor certain ones more than others... because as queen of my blog, I can do that. :p Not counting my current WIPs, my top ten (for the next five minutes, anyway!) looks like this:

- Bluebeard's Princess (Mirabilia)
- Butterfly Garden (The Drawn Thread)
- Chinese Garden Mandala (Chatelaine)
- Finery of Nature (Dimensions kit)
- Hope (Brooke Nolan)
- Night (Teresa Wentzler)
- Octopus Treasure Cave (Chatelaine)
- Sparkling Shamrocks (Sweetheart Tree)
- South Seas Mermaid (Mirabilia)
- Woodland Faerie (Teresa Wentzler)

Finally, I'm feeling major chart lust lately! I need to get Drawn Thread's Butterfly Garden (I suspect the love fairy may bring it on Valentine's Day!) and I'm seriously considering subscribing to Spring Knotgarden before the group is closed at the end of February. I've admired that one for a while, but I recently looked at some WIP pics... bad idea! :p

it's DONE! :D

2012-01-28T14:47:00.000-08:00

Tree of Hope is finally finished! I just attached the last of the beads. :)

I didn't stitch the floral motif under the bumblebee for two reasons:

- The LNS cut my fabric too small for it to fit comfortably, despite me clearly specifying 2 free inches on each side. :x

- There's nothing else that low on the design, so I thought it might look unbalanced anyway.

Here's the full piece, followed by some detail shots. I don't think I've seen this design completed before, so hopefully this will be interesting for everyone. :) All can be clicked to enlarge!

And finally, some thoughts/suggestions I'd offer to anyone interested in stitching this design. Or myself, if I was actually crazy enough to stitch this again. :p

- add more orange beads to the lotus flower in the tree
- remove all mint green beads from the treetop (fill with Waterlilies 226 Seaglass)
- remove all light blue beads in the tree immediately above the bird (fill with logical tree color)
- make flower motifs on the left/right symmetrical (I did this as they are slightly asymmetrical on the chart, which looks sloppy/unbalanced)
- change flower bud in center of tree trunk to look more like a bud and less like a letter Y :p

I may still go back and take out the light blue beads above the bird. I have no idea what they're supposed to represent. The ones on the right could be an extension of the wing, but as for the columns of beads above the bird... why are those there? My gut was to stitch that area and I should have gone with it.

But for now I'll just bask in the glory of the largest project I've ever finished. :)

sooooooo close!

2012-01-23T08:31:00.000-08:00

IHSW was an amazing success! I've really been stitching nonstop every night since the last time I posted, so maybe the W stands for WEEK in my case. :p I'm so close to finishing the stitching on Tree of Hope - all that remains is the rest of the flower on the right, the dragonflies above the flower, and two small motifs at the bottom of the trunk.

I was ready to set this bad boy on fire yesterday, though! I think all the color changes in the flowers was getting to me, and my eyes were pretty strained by the time I wrapped it up for the day.

But looking at it again and seeing how close I am to finishing... mmm... :) I want to stitch even though I had to put this monster on the dreaded scroll frame. I hate that thing, but I hate squashing stitches with a q-snap even more, so sacrifices were made.

Enough blabbing, how about some pictures?

Almost full view (the top is completely finished but wrapped around the scroll bar):

The two insane flowers with too many colors!

And the left side maiden with her flower and butterfly:

I want THIS as my reward for finishing...

http://www.drawnthread.com/butterflygarden.html

But that will just give me MORE eye strain in the long run, so maybe I'll wait a bit on that one. :p

a maiden appears!

2012-01-16T14:03:00.000-08:00

I've been stitching away on Tree of Hope and finally took a picture of my recent progress. The last time I posted about this piece was three months ago, and I had just finished the top of the tree! After that, I did a bit of the trunk and put it away for ages.

See that blank spot in the middle of the tree trunk? Everything under that AND the entire right side maiden were completed in the past week. The maiden was started Friday night and finished Sunday morning. I estimate she took about 15 hours... so that means the second maiden will be taking a little more time to show up, as I need a break!

It would be nice to have her companion done by this time next week, though... I really felt like Tree of Hope was taking forever, but now I'm solidly past the halfway mark and I feel good about getting it done soon-ish! Once the maidens are finished, there's some more flower and insect motifs, but the stitching is much less solid on those. And then, of course, BEADS. Billions of them. :p

Whew. Ever feel like you spend more time thinking about what to stitch or drooling over your stash than you actually do stitching? I wish I could be more focused and get more done! Instead, I read blogs and get jealous over how much everyone stitches... well, duh, Rahenna, if you turned off the computer, you could do it too!

Okay, I'm off to give maiden #2 another arm. XD

WIPocalypse & finishes!

2012-01-09T09:24:00.000-08:00

Let's do finishes first because those are more fun. :p

This is Pumpkin Flower Sampler by Bent Creek! I finished the stitching last Thursday at knitting group because I'm a rebel like that. Got some buttons over the weekend to really finish it up. The design called for square buttons but again, I'm a rebel so we have stars and rounds instead. SO THERE!

And I don't think I ever showed this cute CCN (or was it LHN?) design my wife finished last year. Oops! So here it is! Love that little crow button. :3

Hmm, and now WIPocalypse...

And I'm working on CCN's Cherry Hill now, which was my day five CJC start. Since I'm no longer participating in CJC, I'll probably just work on this between my larger WIPs until it's finished. This is a cute design but a very boring stitch because of all the large areas of the same color. If we have any other designs like this in the stash, I think I'll pass on them!

As for "real" WIPocalypse stuff (aka WIPs carried over from last year), I did a little work on Tree of Hope yesterday but I don't have a picture to show as it's just part of the tree trunk. Not very exciting. :p I'll probably do more today since Cherry Hill is getting on my nerves with all that one-x-at-a-time green.

CJC is over for me :p

2012-01-05T09:15:00.000-08:00

Ah, such a boring post since there's no pictures! I'll definitely have a finish or two to share later this week. :)

But this post is to say I'm giving up the Crazy January Challenge. Now that I'm five days in, I've realized that I can't STAND having that many barely-started projects hanging around. Most of the things I've started so far are small, the sorts of projects I could finish in 3 days or less, but since the goal is to move on to something new every day, they get put aside. And that drives me NUTS, so I have to stop.

I'll still stitch everything from my list, but they'll be started and finished in a more controlled manner, which will allow them to serve as breaks from my larger WIPs.

Yeah, it's just a mental thing, but sanity is better than insanity. I think. :p I'll still be following the CJC Yahoo group with interest since I'm nosy like that!

I'm kind of bummed because my plan was to do a giveaway for all the patterns of the CJC projects as I finish them, but... I can still do that! I love the idea of giving away all my finished patterns because, hey, let's be real: I'm not going to stitch anything twice. :p

Back to the day five project... or maybe day one, hmm...

CJC - day 2!

2012-01-02T19:00:00.000-08:00

Here's my Crazy January Challenge day 2 piece, Bumble Bee by Sisters & Best Friends. It's also my first finish of the year. :) I know I'm weird but it kind of bothers me because it says "bumble bee" even though bumblebees don't live in beehives! It's still cute, though, especially since I added lazy daisy wings to the little bee... poor thing didn't have any in the chart!

Put a few more stitches into yesterday's piece as well, but I still have the entire pumpkin at the top to go. No update picture as there's really not much to see there! Since it's already 9pm, I don't think I'll be doing any more on it tonight. Probably won't touch it at all tomorrow either, as my day 3 piece is Woodland Faerie by Teresa Wentzler! I'll be lucky if I manage even two inches of the border on that beastie. :p

World of Cross Stitching - is this legit?

2012-01-01T22:10:00.000-08:00

Hopefully someone will know the answer to this...

I recently got one of those "please subscribe to our magazine" letters in the mail. It's from World of Cross Stitching (a UK magazine) and it's advertising a year for $49.99, which is much less than the 65 pounds I found it for on the publisher's site.

Thing is, I got a similar notice a while back, and I think it was for a US version of the magazine. This subscription letter looks the same (as far as I can remember) but doesn't seem to be for a US version. Anyway, I responded to the request for the US version because it sounded like a good deal (I think it was even cheaper than this one is advertising) but nothing ever came of it. No payment was taken and no magazines ever arrived.

So... has anyone else received this subscription request? Or did anyone get the older one and subscribe, AND actually get anything?

I'm interested in a magazine other than JCS, since that only has about two decent projects per issue, but if this is some sort of scam obviously I'm not going to try it again. Any ideas?

If it helps, the address on the envelope is:

PO Box 433041

Palm Coast, FL 32143-9945

...which already seems fake since the last four digits of the PO Box should match the extra four digits of the zip code. Actually, checking it on the USPS site indicates that this address is one of those little postal outlet stores. Not looking good, is it?

CJC - day 1

2012-01-01T20:18:00.000-08:00

Before I post today's Crazy January Challenge progress, I actually had one more finish yesterday! It wasn't much of one, though, since all the project needed was cording, but hey... why not list it? Most of the stitching was done by the UFO RR last year, though, so I can't take credit for all of it.

Here we go! Dimensions Oriental Butterfly all ready to be framed. :)

And today's CJC piece is Pumpkin Flower Sampler by Bent Creek. All that's left is a bit more of the vine under the letters, then the big pumpkin at the top. It's a good thing I saw pictures of this one finished online, or I'd never have started it... the model picture is in serious need of color correction. It's so orange that the vines look brown instead of green, and you can't really tell that the letters and the specialty stitches are different colors. Yuck.

So while I'm tempted to finish this up today, I don't feel like stitching until 1am. Especially with Skyrim calling. :p

Happy new year, everyone! \o/

last finish of 2011!

2011-12-31T08:31:00.000-08:00

I know I said I wouldn't be finishing Chelsea this year, but I decided to power through it and get it done even though my eyes were crossing after all the close-up work. So glad my wifey was there to attach the corner beads for me, I was losing my mind at that point!

These are small thumbnails but you can click for BIG images. :)

Whew! I'm glad that's over. This was a beautiful design but took a LOT longer than I expected... it's about 5 x 5 inches but probably took over 30 hours to complete. I'm glad I have the finished product but if I knew how fiddly it was going to be, I probably wouldn't have bothered. I'm still not thrilled with the long stitches on the shells, but I'm not messing with it any more!

Apparently this design was made to fit perfectly on the top of a very expensive box from Sudberry House. After all the time spent stitching, I think it deserves the royal treatment!

I know I sound like I'm complaining a lot, but that's just my sore eyes talking! It's amazing in person, full of sparkle from the braids and beads, plus the herringbone stitch gleams even though it's just cotton! I wish the pictures could capture the shine... and imagine how great this would have looked in silk! But no, I'm not making another! :p

If anyone is interested, this pattern is Chelsea (by Janelle Giese) from the May/June 2010 issue of Just Cross Stitch magazine.

Time to rest my eyeballs so I can start the Crazy January challenge tomorrow! :))))

progress on Chelsea

2011-12-30T06:13:00.000-08:00

Ah, yes, did I forget to mention that's the name of my current WIP? Well, now you know. :p It's coming along nicely though I've slowed down now because of the specialty stitches. Couching is very pretty but also a pain in the you-know-what!

I'm working on the empty boxes near the shells now. The stitch here is plaited herringbone, which looks AMAZING but takes forever to do since it uses three strands of DMC and I have to be careful not to bring the needle up between the threads that are already there. I've been using a pin to push the existing threads out of the way and that seems to be working. It took me a few episodes of old school Doctor Who (I'm talking black and white, first Doctor stuff!) to complete the block you see on the right.

And here's a closeup! There will be beads in the very center once it's done, but I'll finish up the other three blocks before adding anything that might snag my precious threads. :p

I was hoping to squeeze this in as a final 2011 finish, but I think this may end up as the first finish of 2012 instead... unless one of the small Crazy January projects gets done on the day I start it!

Oh, and Randi is having a nice giveaway on her blog for reaching over 100 followers! Check it out!

new WIP & last stash of the year!

2011-12-28T07:25:00.000-08:00

Back from vacation, not at all rested but I had a lot of fun, so that's okay. Our trip to NYC was the highlight of the week. Got to visit the Met, saw the talented and gorgeous Cillian Murphy in a live solo performance, ate at an incredible French restaurant, and got married! Not sure what could top all that. :)

I started a new little project before leaving and made good progress while I was away. It's from a semi-recent JCS magazine... the first picture includes the magazine so you can see what this will actually become. I'm a sucker for specialty stitches!

And a closeup. The grey on the very inside is darker than in the model because I decided that combining DMC 168 & 169 should be illegal. :p

Oh, right, no vacation is complete without scoping out the LNS scene. I picked up a JCS ornament issue I was missing and the Lizzie Kate summer alphabet. My GF (oh, excuse me, wife!) got two small kits by Elizabeth Designs, a Dimensions chart by Haruyo, and a small Lizzie Kate design.

And what about the Rosewood Manor ABC Tapestry? Well. It's not really our style and if I had just seen the booklet, I wouldn't have given it a second glance. Buuuut... there was a completed model on display with such vibrant colors and on such a teeny fabric count (must have been 40 or higher!) that was just stunning! My sister took a sneaky snap, but it's MUCH prettier in person.

I wish her camera had been able to get a better picture, because it was AMAZING. I'll resist the urge to put this on my Crazy January list since I don't have suitable fabric and I don't need another giant project on there. This big guy will have to wait its turn. :)

IHSW... went a little crazy :p

2011-12-18T09:34:00.000-08:00

Well. No progress on any of my large projects, but I stitched three more ornaments and the TW fob is finished! Can't take any credit for the finishing, my GF always helps with that, but I did stitch all of them! :p

So we have...

- Christmas Candles (freebie from Elizabeth's Designs)

- Celtic Inspiration ornament (freebie from Teresa Wentzler)

- Angel Ornament (Paw Printings) ...but the fabric is green, not grey!

- Angel Wreath (freebie from Abi Gurden)

The candles and wreath are stitched on the pretty fabric that Ruth sent me in our exchange... probably the fastest I've ever used a piece of fabric! :p

Now, of course, the rest need to be finished...

And maybe I'll stitch something else today! I dunno, I should really be packing for vacation. I'll be away from tomorrow until the 26th. Of course, I'm bringing a project with me, so maybe I can have yet another finish before the end of the year! *greedy* :D

a quick break!

2011-12-15T12:10:00.000-08:00

I got tired of Wisteria (surprise, surprise!) so I made something else instead. This is Celtic Inspiration Ornament, a tiny freebie from Teresa Wentzler.

And I mean tiny! The stitch count is only 20x20, but I've expanded it to 22x22 with a little border so it can be made into a scissor fob.

Still not in the mood for Wisteria, so I'll either do another small or work on a different WIP. Should probably consider working on one of my goals for the month, eh? We'll see how I feel about that. :p

wisteria grows!

2011-12-12T12:47:00.000-08:00

What a cheesy post title. :p Anyway, I'm quite pleased with my progress on Wisteria and VERY glad to be done with all those leaves! There's more leaves on the far right, but I don't have to stitch those right now, nyah nyah! :p

I still don't think there's any way to finish by Christmas but at least there's visible progress. :)

exchange with Ruth!

2011-12-11T12:18:00.001-08:00

My final ornament exchange has arrived safe and sound! I actually received it earlier this week but kept forgetting to take pictures until it was late, and I prefer taking pictures when the sun is out! :) This exchange is from Ruth, and man, I'm jealous of her amazing finishing technique!

I received the ornament, a lovely card (beautiful art!), a piece of metallic fabric that will make another great ornament, and four skeins of Waterlilies in pretty seasonal colors! I really wish I'd thought to include some threads in my outgoing swaps. NEXT TIME for sure! :)

A closeup of the main event! This little pillow is perfectly stuffed and edged with beads! I hope that I'll be able to do such a good job finishing someday. I wish you could feel just how plump this ornament is! The beaded edging is beautiful and looks great. :)

And here's what I sent to Ruth! A Teresa Wentzler ornament, a scissor fob (made by me!), and two seasonal charts, plus a greeting card. I must say, the netting stitches on this ornament made me a little crazy, but the result was worth it.

And that wraps up my ornament exchanges for this year! I should really post a picture of my ornament tree one of these days... but it's still pretty empty along the bottom. I'll definitely be doing more swaps in the future, but not four at once... that was a bit much! Maybe just one or two for Valentine's Day?

I went to my LNS yesterday and drooled over all the ornaments that were on their tree... the thing was covered in them, and there were more all over the store. Ah, jealousy. :p

Of course, I came home with STASH, but I put it all away before I thought of taking a picture. Bah! It was mostly threads again, some for a few of the Brooke Nolan angels from JCS magazine plus a few stray DMC I was missing. Also grabbed a Mirabilia muse (Caprice, I think) and the new Merchant Mermaid, which I'll try stitching without the anchor medallion at the bottom. Tail reconstructive surgery time! :p

I made huge progress on Wisteria, but I'll save that for next time. Enjoy the swaps for now! :D

thread stash!

2011-12-07T07:59:00.001-08:00

Man, the mail is SLOW around this time of year! This package was shipped by Priority on November 30 and I didn't get it until last night... that's one week! Does not bode well for shipping satisfaction ratings when I mail my eBay stuff... but I'm sure people expect that. I hope! I do enjoy selling stuff on eBay, I recycle the money into stitchy stash and other goodies so I don't have to touch the "real" budget when I want to indulge.

So, yes, this bit of stash is powered by... stuff I didn't want anymore. :p These are the rest of the threads I needed for my Crazy January starts, and since they looked so pretty, why not share a picture? :)

Most of the Kreinik is for one design (Hope by Brooke Nolan) - crazy, right? CRAZY SHINY! :p

Unfortunately, that's all to report for today. But everyone loves stash!

ho hum

2011-12-05T08:08:00.001-08:00

I'm having a bit of a cranky day, not for any particular reason, so maybe a stitching post will help. Or maybe I should go fondle my stash! Which reminds me, maybe my threads will be here today... too bad the mail doesn't come until late afternoon! :p

Even though Wisteria is stitching up fast, I'm not sure I can finish in time for Christmas. I've finished most of the first two pages, the left side of the design, but there's still some leaves to go before I'm truly done with those pages, not just at the bottom but also on the right side of the stem. Those cross over onto the right side pages, but still...

But anyway, I'm happy with how the flower closeup came out! The colors looked a little odd until I started working with them... wasn't sure how the darker colors in the center were going to come out. Not bad. :)

I feel like I want to start something new, but considering my list of WIPs and the fact that I'll have Crazy Janaury to take care of all my startitis, I will resist! Sometimes it's tough to have all your WIPs be big projects, though... I feel like I'll never get to start anything new ever again. :p

Oh, yes, and I have a fall theme now because... hey, it's still warm here in Texas! :p

November/December goals

2011-12-01T10:05:00.001-08:00

Time to see how I failed last month. XD

November 2011:
- send all exchange packages by the 15th - YES, all shipped on the 15th, delivered on the 17th
- finish Amaryllis kit - NO, did some stitching but didn't finish it
- finish Butterfly Scroll kit - NO, didn't touch it
- make visible progress on Tree of Hope - how about NO progress? :p
- WIN NANO - YES, and this was more than enough to make up for everything I didn't do!

So, new goals...

December 2011:
- finish Wisteria
- finalize Crazy January list (I blame my exchange gifts :p)
- gather/organize Crazy January materials
- finish Amaryllis kit
- finish Butterfly Scroll kit

I'd realllllly like to finish another big project this year, but I have to be realistic. Visiting my family for a week over Christmas carves out a chunk of time... though I'll bring a project with me.

And here's my current progress on Wisteria. I'm working on the purple flower at the bottom.

exchange with Measi!

2011-12-01T09:43:00.001-08:00

Imagine my excitement when I came home last night and discovered another exchange package on my doorstep! Of course, I snatched it up and opened it within seconds of getting through the door. This exchange is from Measi of WIPocalypse infamy. :D Which reminds me that I should get cracking on those link buttons...

But first! Look and be amazed by how spoiled I am! XD

The full package! I'm definitely stitching both of these designs. Maybe I'll have to rearrange my Crazy January Challenge a bit... And threads! I LOVE Crescent Colours, I've built up quite a stash but all of these colors are new to me. Thanks Measi! :D

Lest we forget the main event, check out this amazing ornament! This is also a Teresa Wentzler design, and I love how there's so much color! I don't know if you can see it in this picture, but I think the hanger is a type of kumihimo braid, it looks awesome in person. :D

And a shot of the pretty back (why didn't I think to back my exchanges?) with all those gorgeous threads in the background. Talk about spoiled, right?

And finally, here's what I sent as my half of the exchange!
Measi, stop reading if you haven't opened it yet! :p

This ornament is also a TW design (good taste, what can I say?), and I included two winter charts and a scissor fob that sort of matches the ornament. Not pictured, but I also sent my extra copy of Cirque des Cercles (don't ask, haha) as a thanks for being such an amazing moderator/cat-herder for several round robins I participated in over the last couple of years. :)

Just one more exchange left. I hope it gets here soon!

oh dear...

2011-11-30T11:34:00.001-08:00

Have you seen the new Octopus Treasure Cave from Chatelaine? I know I said I was only going to do ONE of Martina's designs because they're so large and expensive (if you get all the goodies) but... this one has an octopus! AN OCTOPUS!

I really wanted Deep Blue Sea, but I like this one even more! Surely this would be reasonable in DMC and with the beads/crystals I already have in my jewelry-making stash. Right? RIGHT?!? :p

exchange with Rachel!

2011-11-29T12:32:00.001-08:00

I came home yesterday and found a sad, smooshed box waiting on my doorstep! Fortunately, everything inside was safe, the box just got a bit squashed in the mail because it wasn't very full.

Inside was my ornament exchange and giveaway prize from Rachel! The black and white snowflake ornament is from the giveaway, and the larger pillow (a Teresa Wentzler design, I'll have you know! :p) is the ornament exchange. There's also a lovely spool of HDF thread (my first one ever!), a pretty Elizabeth's Designs winter chart, and a little silk gauze chartpack. Just reading the instructions for the silk gauze pattern kind of scared me, but I'm going to have to give it a try. :)

Now, pics!

The two lovely ornaments!

I wish you could see the finishing on these. But they're mine, so you can't. :p

Everything together:

And finally, I can reveal the exchange goodies I sent to Rachel! This white ornament was my very first piece to have cut threads on it, and I was really worried that it would come out wrong. But it was no problem at all, to my relief!

I also included a card, a scissor fob, and three small Christmas/winter themed charts. :)

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to put my new treasures back on my ornament tree. :)

PS: I won NaNoWriMo this morning! Now I can stitch again. XD

IHSW... finally!

2011-11-27T18:09:00.001-08:00

Hopefully I can cheat a bit and say that Tuesday through Friday was my IHSW, since I wasn't able to participate on the actual weekend due to NaNo and packing for a trip to visit family. I took my wisteria project with me and actually spent the entire flight over working on it. Only two hours, but it went by fast because my hands were busy!

I put in a few more hours on Wednesday and Friday too (spent Thursday eating lots of Thanksgiving noms!) and ended up making quite a bit of progress!

I'd say this is about 20% complete so far. Definitely do-able by Christmas, since NaNo is done at the end of November and I can devote time to stitching again. :D

I started another knitting project, but again, there's nothing to see yet so... no pics!

exchange from Shannon!

2011-11-26T16:14:00.001-08:00

Ahhh, now that I'm finally back home, I can share pictures of the lovely exchange I received from Shannon! I received the package at least a week ago (sorry, can't remember the exact date) so these pictures are very late!

Check out this pretty design! It's finished as a very fluffy pillow that has a lot of squish. It's fun to squeeze. :) Be sure to look at the bigger image so you can see the over-one stitching!

And this is the full package of goodies! There's some nice backing fabrics that I'll be using for more ornaments, a cute pad of sticky notes, a skein of thread, beads, a pencil, and of course, a card. :)

Thank you Shannon! I hope you enjoyed my exchange as much as I like yours! Here's what I sent out to Shannon...

More exchanges to be posted when they arrive! :p

planning for 2012!

2011-11-20T15:21:00.001-08:00

It's never too early to plan ahead! Never mind that it's IHSW and I haven't even picked up a needle yet this weekend. I blame NaNo, Skyrim, and errands, in that order!

I've added a page with details of what I'll be stitching next year in Measi's WIPocalypse. This is nothing special, just a list of projects I expect to carry over into 2012. Too many. >.>

The interesting part is my list for the Crazy January Challenge, because it has PICTURES! Oooooh! :p

List is subject to change at my whim, but I'm 99% sure this is final. A lot of it is kitted up already, and I plan to order missing threads soon. Like right now. Time for shopping, gotta go! :)

I'll leave you with a pic of Hope by Brooke Nolan, one of my fifteen chosen designs, so this post isn't totally boring. :p

Wisteria... and stash!

2011-11-18T13:35:00.001-08:00

Finally updating! I finished my Loopy Beaded Scarf (knit project) but I don't have a picture as it hasn't been blocked yet... need to get more pins before that sucker can be stretched!

I caved and showed my GF what I'm making her for Christmas, because I just wasn't making ANY progress by trying to stitch during the day. I've been all NaNo all the time during the days, and in the evenings I couldn't work on it because... GF is home. :p There was no way I could finish on time that way, so I gave in and showed her...

Here's what it'll be when I finish!

And my progress! Before I showed her, all I had was the green stem, the bottom two leaves, and the darker branch that runs diagonally from the stem toward the bottom right. I've spent TWO NIGHTS on it since then, look how much has been completed! Almost three times what I started with now!

And if this looks different from the model pic, it's because I changed the very dark brown in the leaves/flowers to a lighter brown so it wasn't so stark. :)

Okay, you say, that's nice, but where's the STASH? Well, I found a message board post from someone who was selling some fabrics, including some Sugar Maple Fabrics. I've never met a piece of SMF I didn't like, so I had to snag a few. I used to wonder what the big deal was about SMF, but once I got my hands on my very first piece, they instantly became my favorites. Just look at the amazing colors!

Sadly, I've never STITCHED on a piece of SMF yet (despite having about, er, ten pieces of the stuff...) but that's got to change. My next start will be on SMF or else!

Okay, back to the NaNo dungeon... up to 31k words and I've hit a sweet spot where I have two VERY easy chapters going at once, both of which will end up being super long. Finally, all that struggle earlier this month is paying off! <3

knitting update!

2011-11-11T20:22:00.001-08:00

Well, it's not stitching but I do have a knitting finish! Sorry for the terrible picture, I took it with my Playbook while it was still on the blocking wires (stretching out the lace pattern) so it's not the best...

This crocus dishcloth pattern is free from Kelley on Blogger. :)

My GF and I have started going to the knit-in Thursday nights at Yarntopia. I'm almost finished with my loopy beaded scarf thanks to two three-hour sessions there. Of course, I've already started a new project, but there's so little to show that it's not worth a picture. It seriously looks like a line of yarn on a needle. REAL exciting. :p

This month will probably be poo for stitching as NaNoWriMo has eaten my brain. I'm trying hard to get ahead but after taking last weekend off (BAD idea) I'm scrambling to keep up. I'm exactly 300 words behind as of this very moment, so I should be able to get ahead this weekend. Surely I can crank out more than 2000 words on a Saturday!

Another off topic thought: if you haven't seen In Time yet, I highly recommend it! I've been anticipating the movie for AGES (two words: Cillian! Murphy!) but fully expected it to be terrible since the script was so dang cheesy. It wasn't exactly high art, but it was quite enjoyable. And, y'know... Cillian. ^^b

HAHA I can't believe this is the first time my sad obsession has reared its ugly head here. :p

October/November goals!

2011-11-01T07:59:00.000-07:00

A new month, a new set of goals. :D

October 2011:
- stitch Measi's exchange ornament - DONE!
- stitch Shannon's exchange ornament - DONE!
- finish the treetop on Tree of Hope - DONE!
- spend at least 10 hours on Cirque - only 6 hours in here :x
- NO NEW STARTS! - DONE!

Unplanned:
- stitched Ruth's exchange ornament
- stitched Rachel's exchange ornament
- finished all 4 exchange ornaments!

Because I'm mean, you can see the backs of the ornaments. :p

I think I need to accept that I'm not feeling Cirque right now, and that it's okay to put it away for a while. If I keep forcing it, I'm gonna set it on fire or something. :/

So, November is gonna be tough since I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this year (write 50k words in one month, basically!) and I'm determined to win this time! Already got 2241 words for today and it's only 10am WOOT WOOT. \o/ Thanks in great part to Darren Hayes and his amazing, inspiring, flawless, etc voice! ILU <3333

Anyway, that means stitchy goals will be a bit light this month.

November 2011:
- send all exchange packages by the 15th
- finish Amaryllis kit - didn't realize it came back from the RR almost done! (thanks Blu!)
- finish Butterfly Scroll kit - another near-finish from the RRs :)
- make visible progress on Tree of Hope
- WIN NANO (ahaha not stitchy but whateverrrrrr)

censored! :p

2011-10-25T08:18:00.000-07:00

I've finished the stitching on all four of my exchange ornaments! It's KILLING me that I can't post pictures because I have no other progress to show, so... here's the censored version! :p

Hopefully I've pixelated this enough that no one can guess what these are. :)

IF YOU KNOW, DON'T TELL! :p

I'm pretty excited because one of these features my FIRST EVER cutwork. Or whatever you call it when you cut and remove a few threads. It came out looking just like the picture! :D

Now comes the hard part... the actual finishing! I need to get some cute backing fabrics because I don't really have anything appropriate for these designs in my stash. OH TRAGIC, I have to go shopping! *mock sob*

Hmm, what else? I'm working on Cirque again, but I haven't done enough to show. I have to get on that or I won't even make my pathetic goal of 10 hours for this month. Boo.

IHSW = IHK(nit)W? :p

2011-10-16T12:44:00.000-07:00

The weekend isn't over yet, but I don't think any more stitching will get done. And to be fair, none of the stitching that happened was done by me, ohohoho! It pays to have other crafty people around. :p

The giant lollipop is finished!

Now I can work down the trunk and do something other than leaves. And I should really do more of Cirque... I've put in about four hours since Thursday so there's some visible progress. Unfortunately, no picture of that one because... I dunno. :p Maybe I'll edit with one later.

Yeah, here it is!

But I don't know if any stitching will happen, because I've been distracted by THIS:

The color is more accurate in the second picture (closeup).

This is only my third knitting project (and I've only finished one of the other two, haha) but it's going really fast and it looks cute because of the beads and colorful yarn. We went to the local yarn shop (Yarntopia) on Friday and picked up the yarn and pattern because there was a finished sample in the store and I couldn't stop coming back to it and making pouty faces. :p This pattern is called "Loopy Edged Beaded Scarf" by Sony Hartley and I'm using the recommended yarn, Ella Rae Lace Merino.

The scarf is supposed to go until it's about six feet long, and I have about one foot now. So stitching may have to wait a bit while I plow through this bad boy. :D

PS: Wagapapa, please contact me so I can send your giveaway goodies! :)

giveaway results!

2011-10-13T06:52:00.000-07:00

I couldn't wait until tomorrow. XD

Sooooo, the winners are...

Jayne wins prize #1 - the charts and floss!
Wagapapa wins prize #2 - charts and fabric!

Could you comment with your email addresses, or send me an email at rahenna[at]rahenna.com? :D

And here's my little spreadsheet showing how I did it.

Thanks so much for entering and being a follower, everyone! This was a lot of fun and I'll definitely be having more giveaways in the future. :D Now, if I'm NOT following you, please let me know! I think I got everyone but I'm not sure as a few of you have more than one blog. Help me find your stitchy blog. :)

Time to go work on MY stitching... :p

crazy treetop

2011-10-11T13:38:00.000-07:00

Don't forget my giveaway! The deadline for entering is tomorrow! There's two prizes up for grabs and only 19 comments so far, so you still have a good chance. :D

Odd, my tags (excuse me, labels, whatever) aren't showing up for me to click. Hopefully my posts haven't magically become untagged! >.<

I've been quiet, but I'm stitching! I'm working on an ornament for an exchange, so I can't show that here, boo. But Tree of Hope is slowly growing! Here's what it looked like last month (and the month before that, haha):

And here's how that gigantic treetop looks now. I'll finish up the rest of the orange today. Yay to my GF for doing all the filling in between the leaves. Yes, I cheat. :p

Need to hurry and finish that orange because the Ink Circles SAL starts today and I HAVE to get some of Cirque done this month or I'll be really disappointed with myself. BACK TO WORK!

questions about Chinese Mandala...

2011-10-07T14:04:00.000-07:00

Rachel and Joyce, I blame you for this post.
But also need one of you to answer some questions, haha!

I've been thinking about doing a Chatelaine for a while now. Just ONE, because they're huge and complex and expensive, so I had to take my time and pick the right one. I've been torn between Chinese Mandala, Butterfly Sparkly Garden, and the new underwater mystery (and I totally looked at the full preview, so there!).

But you two with your constant Chinese Mandala updates have shoved me over the edge! I was dying after the spring scene, and then Joyce had to post a detailed closeup of the summer scene. Self control = gone!

So, about three minutes and $40 later, I have a few questions for you two. :p

- Did you guys get the materials kit or assemble them on your own?
- Does the "full kit" include the bead pack as well? Kind of odd that it's a separate item...
- AM I CRAZY???????

And don't forget to check my previous post and enter my giveaway. Wheeeeeeee.
(okay, no more sugar)

giveaway time!

2011-10-04T09:44:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love a good giveaway? NO ONE, that's who! So I'm having my first giveaway to celebrate the super-belated opening of my Etsy shop, Silverfruit Design. I registered as a seller over two years ago and finally got around to photographing some of my jewelry. Oops. :p

BUT that's not why you're here. You want goodies! There's TWO prizes for this giveaway because... there just are, so don't question it! :p

Prize #1 is a selection of five different Christmas themed charts, plus some floss in Christmassy colors. There's 2 skeins of Dinky Dyes silk (on the left) and 9 skeins of DMC (on the right). They're all random, not the colors used in the charts... just ones I thought were pretty. :)

Prize #2 is a set of two larger Christmas themed leaflets, plus a FQ of hand-dyed fabric from Sunny Dyes. (SD is awesome, by the way!) The color of the fabric is Faerie Heaven and you can see a better picture of it by clicking here. It's a 28 count opalescent evenweave. Ooh. :)

How to enter!

Be (or become!) a follower.
Comment on this post. Please leave me a link to your blog so I can follow you too. :)
For a second entry, advertise this giveaway on your blog. If you're doing this, please give me the link to the exact post when you comment.
Please only post ONE comment. So if you're advertising, please do that first, then come back here and comment with your link. :)

How to win!

I'll list everyone's name (twice if appropriate!) and use random.org to choose two random numbers.
The first person chosen wins prize #1...
...and the second gets prize #2!

I'll ship prizes anywhere in the world, so anyone can enter. :)

Enter by October 12! I'll post the winner on October 14.

goals & a giveaway!

2011-10-01T20:05:00.000-07:00

Let's review my goals for September. Where DID September go?

September 2011:
- spend at least 25 hours on Cirque - not even close (about 6 hours)
- complete trunk & nearby flowers on Tree of Hope - well, no, but I'm working on the tree part again!
- finish knitting the washcloth - nope, only halfway done
- start a new knitting project (SOCKS!) - and no again!

Hmm, that's pretty pathetic. But I did have these unplanned starts AND finishes:
- Sunflower Fairy (Nora Corbett)
- candle ornament (Dimensions)
- Tree of Stitches (Abi Gurden)
- plus a start on a SECRET PROJECT oooooh!

All in all, a good month for stitching. :)

How about some realistic goals for October? :p

October 2011:
- stitch Measi's exchange ornament
- stitch Shannon's exchange ornament
- finish the treetop on Tree of Hope
- spend at least 10 hours on Cirque
- NO NEW STARTS!

And for the giveaway (no, it's not mine, though I have plans for one soon!) - Kay of Kay's Random World is having a sweet Christmas giveaway at her blog! Check it out and become a follower. :)

sadness is...

2011-09-29T08:46:00.000-07:00

...wanting to start something OMG RIGHT NOW!!! and not having the right fabric on hand. Or in this case, having the right fabric, but just a bit too small, and I've already learned my lesson about squeezing things in on fabric that's not big enough. Sigh, grumble, pout, etc. Now I have to hope one of the local big box craft stores has some cream Belfast in stock, because sometimes they do... and sometimes they don't!

That's okay, I need to head in that direction to get my illustrious community college student ID anyway. Can't buy the student edition of CS5 without that as proof of my broke peon status. :p

Anyway! Whining and rambling aside, I do have a small finish! The comments on my Sunflower Fairy seemed pretty evenly divided between Cirque and Tree of Hope, so of course it was logical to do something completely different. Riiiiiight?

This is the companion to the tree ornament I did about a year ago. Only took me two days to stitch, then some slacking off before actually finishing it into an ornament. Have to get some practice before working on my ornament exchanges for Measi and Shannon, after all. :)

I think I'll divide my stitching time between Cirque and Tree of Hope, since my GF has volunteered to help fill in the solid areas around the leaves on ToH. Don't want to lose out on the opportunity to have someone else do half my work for me! :p

But if I manage to get my fabric, you bet your behind I'm starting something new! Unfortunately, I won't be able to blog about it at all because it's my GF's Christmas present and she reads the blog, so... no news on that until the end of the year. Or earlier, if I cave and give it to her early because I'm a sucker like that. XD

EDIT: Mission accomplished, linen has been obtained, no thanks to Hobby Lobby for jacking up the price four bucks on a FQ of Belfast. And no thanks to me for leaving my 40% off coupon on my desk. *facepalm* Also, the community college can bite me, I've been there FOUR TIMES trying to get my ID and every time there's some BS reason why no one is available to do it. RAWR!

ornament swap?

2011-09-27T07:20:00.000-07:00

NOTE: I've already taken on all the swaps I can manage for this year! :p

Hey, would anyone be interested in doing a holiday ornament exchange with me? I've been wanting to do a swap for a while but I'm not sure how to find a group (plus I'm a weenie about groups). Now that I have a few followers, maybe I can swap with one or two of you? :)

My thoughts were...

THEME:
- This would be a Christmas/holiday/winter ornament exchange.
- Please no religious-themed designs for me.
- But I can stitch an ornament for you with a Christian theme, if you like! I don't think I have anything appropriate for other religions, though.

STITCHING & FINISHING:
- Ornaments should be stitched on evenweave/linen and finished as an... ornament. :p
- I'm NOT picky about finishing. I don't mind if this is your very first ornament. :)
- But I'm not very good at finishing myself, so please exchange with me only if that's okay. Of course, I'll do my best, but I don't have a lot of finishing experience.

ETC:
- Extra goodies can be included in the exchange, but it's not required. :)
- I will send extras because I'm a nut like that, but please don't feel like you have to send me anything other than the ornament!

Here are examples of ornaments I've made in the past so you can get an idea of how my finishing looks.

If you're interested, could you leave your email address in a comment so I can contact you directly? :) If several people have already commented, please comment anyway since it's possible that an exchange may not work out, or I'll want to take on more than one or two. :D

NOTE: I've already taken on all the swaps I can manage for this year! :p

ta daaaaaaa!

2011-09-22T13:07:00.000-07:00

Sunflower Fairy is all done! The wings took me forever because the DMC metallic threads are a terror, even though they look nice. Beads were easy, just used whatever I had lying around that looked close enough to the model photo. Lots of substitutions here since I didn't have all the Valdani threads and wasn't about to go buying them just for this!

Just have to find and order a suitable frame and get her ready for gifting. :)

What should I work on next? :)))))) Current WIPs are:

- Angel Procession (TW)
- Tree of Hope (Mirabilia)
- Titania (Mirabilia)
- Cirque des Cercles (Ink Circles)

almost done!

2011-09-21T06:51:00.000-07:00

I've been stitching like a nut on Sunflower Fairy because she MUST BE DONE soon. :p

Just a few petals, her wings, backstitch and beads to go!

IHSW results

2011-09-19T07:41:00.000-07:00

Nyoops, I forgot to post about my participation in this month's International Hermit & Stitch Weekend before taking part, but I guess I was too excited about it. Here are the results! It looks like more than one person can do, and it is... I had my GF help out a bit and we kind of switched off between these two pieces. :p

Tree of Hope got some love, and now has a ton of leaves on the right side of the tree:

And Sunflower Fairy has something to stand on and the promise of a ton of petals!

I think I'll focus on the fairy until she's done, since I need her framed and ready by early October. Eeep.

Update for Kate (and anyone else who might be curious!): The fabric for both pieces is 32ct raw linen (the color is actually called raw). The fairy's linen has been tea-dyed to be a bit darker, but it's hard to see the difference in the pictures. In real life, the fairy's linen is more brown, while the tree's fabric (not dyed) is slightly grey. :)

sunflower fairy

2011-09-11T12:48:00.000-07:00

I made pretty good progress on Sunflower Fairy, considering how much WoW I've played this weekend. XD Her entire body is done except for her wings (sparkly) and the beading. Of course, the remaining part is much larger in comparison, but...

I don't really like how her face is white, though. Stupid variegated thread. :x I might take that part out and redo it.

I'm taking a break from her for a few days since there's an Ink Circles SAL on the Love 4 Stitch Alongs board. I've put in all of ONE hour of the 25 I set for my goal, and at that pace, well... not gonna happen. Here's the latest update, not that it's much different from last time!

Tree of Stitches is done!

2011-09-09T07:04:00.000-07:00

Finally finished up after slacking off for a couple of days. :p

The full tree (colors are most accurate here):

And a closeup of some of the stitching, but the color is a bit too yellow and I don't feel like opening Photoshop to correct it. XD

I think I'll have to revise my goals for this month, because I've been convinced (quite easily, thank you :p) to start Sunflower Fairy by Nora Corbett as a gift for my GF's mom, since her birthday is in about a month. That means I really only have about three weeks to finish in order to have enough time left for framing. Soooo, here's the floss toss. The design calls for Valdani for everything, but I'm substituting other overdyed threads from the stash as needed.

As you can see, the linen is a bit too light and too grey, so I tea-dyed it to be a little darker and more brown. It didn't really get the mottled effect like I was hoping, but at least it's a better color now. :)

the bucket list :p

2011-09-06T14:32:00.000-07:00

I was updating my stash inventory since we bought some kits during Joann's sale a while back (40% off plus free shipping? yes plz!) and I don't want to risk getting something twice.

Then I looked closely at that list and said:
Self, are you ever going to be able to finish even half of that stuff?
Of course, the answer is NO. But what am I realistically going to stitch? Hmm.

Time for my bucket list!

I'll definitely finish my current WIPs. They wouldn't be WIPs if I didn't love them. :)

- Angel Procession (TW)
- Tree of Hope (Mirabilia)
- Titania (Mirabilia)
- Cirque des Cercles (Ink Circles)
- Tree of Stitches (Abi Gurden)

Now, as for the rest? I'll pick my top ten, that sounds fair. :)

- Bluebeard's Princess (Mirabilia)
- Dragonfly Pond (Dimensions)
- Fall Fairy (Dimensions)
- Finery of Nature (Dimensions)
- Flowers and Lace (Dimensions)
- Night (TW)
- South Seas Mermaid (Mirabilia)
- Woodland Faerie (TW)
- old world map with mermaids (magazine pattern)
- annnd one of those cute bird stamp Christmas ornaments (Dimensions)

Don't mock my love of Dimensions kits, they are awesome and I won't listen to anyone who tries to tell me otherwise. ALSO MERMAIDS ARE COOL. :p

Let's see how well I stick to this. Obviously, no new starts until I finish something!

most of a tree

2011-09-05T12:12:00.000-07:00

Can't seem to put this one down! Every section is something totally new so as soon as I finish one, it's on to the next. I think this is up to part 11 or 12 now, though those pesky french knots are STILL on hold.

Probably won't finish today, but definitely within the next couple of days. :)

the tree is growing :)

2011-09-04T13:30:00.000-07:00

Here we are, more of the lovely Tree of Stitches! I think I'm on part 7 or 8 now, though not all of my progress is shown in these photos. The two little green stitches have been joined by most of their buddies, but I haven't taken a more recent picture yet. Next time. :)

So here's the full tree. You'll notice that french knots have still not made their appearance. :p

And a closeup of everything. Of all the stitches so far, I have to say cushion stitch is my favorite, the pink/purple ones that look all fluffy like pillows.

Jerusalem stitch (topmost blue), on the other hand, can go rot in a ditch somewhere. It's a vertical version of rice stitch (the center blue) but because it's vertical, it just looks like a miserable blob. The long bottom legs get lost and you can't see them sticking out at all. Or maybe I just fail at stitching! We may never know...

I wonder how much I can finish over this long weekend... :p

start-itis, I has it

2011-09-01T13:25:00.000-07:00

Because it makes sense to start something else when you already have a full slate of goals for the month! This is Tree of Stitches by Abi Gurden, a SAL pattern that's available only on the Yahoo group The Stitch Specialists. I just had to become a member after seeing so many pretty trees featured in blog posts!

I've done parts 1 and 2, and I'm working on part 4 now. I'll go back and fill in part 3 (french knots, ugh!) after finishing part 4 so it'll be easier to see where the knots go. And also because I need to ask my GF for help. XD

I'm stitching on Picture This Plus linen in the lovely Sterling color. My threads are going to be a mix of Waterlilies and Dinky Dyes silks, one color for the trunk and then four colors for the leaves... one color for each of the four seasons. Right now you can see the icy blue/purple of winter and the pink/brown/purple of spring. :D

Haha, maybe you shouldn't look too close at my shamefully bad stitches. :p

I did more of Cirque too, but it's just more brown and no one cares about that, right??

Cirque again :)

2011-08-29T08:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is me trying to actually use the built-in image upload instead of sticking stuff on my own site and linking it. Let's see what happens...

Here we are, Cirque at 57 hours! I think I'll continue with the outlining until I can't do any more without repositioning the snaps, then go back and fill in the patterns. Sounds like a plan.

Speaking of plans, if you're already thinking of your 2012 stitching, you should check out the 2012 WIPocalypse @ Measi's blog. :p

May as well check in with my goals since the month's nearly over!

August 2011:
- finish Garden Party done!
- spend at least 10 hours on Tree of Hope not sure, I forgot to track my time!
- stitch and send Laural's RR done!
- start a new knitting project (maybe socks?) done, but it's a washcloth :p

And some new ones. :)

September 2011:
- spend at least 25 hours on Cirque (cuz I actually track time on this :p)
- complete trunk & nearby flowers on Tree of Hope
- finish knitting the washcloth
- start a new knitting project (SOCKS!)

not usually this efficient

2011-08-26T20:18:00.000-07:00

Okay, this doesn't usually happen but I finished something else! I had a small Dimensions kit, Birds and Swirls, that I started a while back, but all I finished was the border full of half stitches. Yesterday I pulled out the kit and decided to get to work. Thanks to some boredom and lots of TV (read also: Doctor Who :p), here's another finish. :)

click here for full size! :D
Actually, I wouldn't look too closely at that scan. I hate stitching on 18 count fabric, the threads pile up and look miserable. I swear my stitching isn't always this nasty. :x But I did all the lazy daisies LIKE A BOSS, so you can look at those. :p

And all framed up!

click here for full size! :D
Watch out, this second picture is HUGE. :p

I'm out of small WIPs so I guess the next finish will be a ways off. Or I could cheat and start another small. :p

Current WIPs:
- Tree of Hope (Mirabilia)
- Titania (Mirabilia)
- Cirque des Cercles (Ink Circles)
- Angel Procession (Teresa Wentzler)
- Dragonfly Pond (Dimensions kit)

a small secret finish!

2011-08-24T15:50:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a secret project for the last two days, but since it's a small, all the stitching is done. :D This is Enchantment by The Sweetheart Tree, which has been sitting in the stash all kitted up for ages. We were looking through the stash over the weekend and fondling the pretties. I could tell my GF was pretty sad that something so small and pretty was just sitting there, so I decided to make it for her as a surprise. :D

She hasn't seen it yet, but I'll give it to her tonight and let her decide how it should be finished.

I was hoping to finish all the stitching today. This is almost all of it...

click here for full size! :D
...but then I went on to finish and do the beading!

click here for full size! :D
Not too shabby for two days of work! :)

IHSW results :)

2011-08-22T07:25:00.000-07:00

Okay, here are the results from International Hermit and Stitch Weekend!

Garden Party is all done, finally! By the time I got to the butterfly I kind of wanted to poke my eyes out with my needle because I was so tired of the huge, tedious frames around each insect. I'm not too thrilled with the design of the butterfly either, it seems very plain and boring compared to the other bugs. Maybe I just don't like that shade of blue...

click here for full size! :D
And the whole thing. Yes, I know I'm bad at taking photos. :x

click here for full size! :D
I wish I knew how long it took me to do things. The butterfly block only took three days once I made myself sit down and just DO IT. But as for the hours... no idea. Probably a useless figure anyway as we were watching Doctor Who, so I'm sure I spent at least half the time drooling openmouthed at the TV. :p

Tree of Hope got some love too. Not all of this progress is from the weekend, though! I worked on the branches on the right side of the tree, and the lightest colored leaves just to the left of the center, near the top. I think I finished all the leaves of that color on the left side of the tree.

Still not even halfway done with the tree! I may give up on that area for now and work my way down the trunk, stitch a maiden or something instead. :p

click here for full size! :D
Well, at least one thing's been knocked off the WIP list. ONWARD!

note to self!

2011-08-19T06:29:00.000-07:00

Just need to remind myself that I signed up for International Hermit and Stitch Weekend this month, so I'd better not forget to post my progress pics on Monday! :p

Nearly finished with Garden Party now, finished up the bumblebee block this week and started the last one, butterfly, two days ago. Thanks to evening Doctor Who marathons, I'm at least 2/3 of the way done and will likely be finishing today! Then it's back to Tree of Hope for me. :)

Oh, the camera is magically working with my compy again! Here we go, progress!

click here for full size! :D
And yes, I WAS fabulously mature and took a progress pic when Butterfly was just Butt! I REFUSE TO GROW UP. :p

goals for August

2011-08-07T15:45:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd start tracking my goals. :)

August 2011:
- finish Garden Party
- spend at least 10 hours on Tree of Hope
- stitch and send Laural's RR
- start a new knitting project (maybe socks?)

Hmm, maybe that's too easy, but it's good to have achievable goals. :p

planning for post-RR stitchy life!

2011-08-06T13:27:00.000-07:00

Been working on RRs so long that it's hard to remember what was going on before I started them! Now, don't get me wrong, round robins are excellent and I've loved having the chance to work on so many things without the responsiblity of finishing them (heh heh heh) but I'm glad that the end is drawing near so I can devote some quality time to my own projects too.

Here's what I have in the works!
- Tree of Hope (Mirabilia)
- Titania (Mirabilia)
- Garden Party (Country Cottage Needleworks)
- Cirque des Cercles (Ink Circles)
- Angel Procession (Teresa Wentzler) - lots of progress thanks to the RRs! :D
- Dragonfly Pond (Dimensions kit)
- small bird project (Dimensions kit)

I'm going after Garden Party as my next finish as it's pretty small and I'm already around 65% done. From there, I'll probably tackle the small Dimensions kit since... it's small. :p

After that, who knows? Titania has been lingering for years, and Angel Procession is my oldest WIP. I made a huge dent in Tree of Hope after just a couple of weeks, though, so I might keep on that since I love the design. Cirque needs some love too! And Dragonfly Pond has so little done that I'm just going to frog the entire thing since I'm swapping out the metallic threads anyway.

Other things I wanted to start soon...
- Woodland Faerie (Teresa Wentzler)
- Bluebeard's Princess (Mirabilia)
- South Seas Mermaid (Mirabilia)
- old world map w/mermaids (magazine design)
- Flowers and Lace (Dimensions kit)

I LIKE MERMAIDS OKAY?

Stash levels are reaching critical mass as well. I ordered 9 FQs from Picture This Plus during their July sale, and just today ordered about 10 FQs from Silkweaver (I had a 30% off coupon, what did you expect?) and then 8 FQs from Polstitches to finish setting the budget on fire. And now that I think of it, I forgot to order a grab bag.

So. I think that'll have to be it for the year! In my defense, I've been selling a lot of random junk on eBay recently and most of the money came from those sales, so it's not as bad as it sounds. :3

Anyway, thinking of doing a giveaway soon! What kind of stuff is good for that? I have a few FQs from Silkweaver that I've pulled out of my stash because I'll never use them... one of those would be a nice gift, wouldn't it? Also sorted the DMC (in drawers, even!) and have a bunch leftover. Might be a nice option for someone overseas where it costs a ton!

Okay, too much rambling and no pictures so I'll zip it now!

Measi's Summer Fun Giveaway!

2011-07-21T06:03:00.001-07:00

Measi is having a nice summer-themed giveaway! Check it out! :D There's two pretty charts (one is CCN *drool* and the other by Pickle Barrel) and six skeins of Gentle Art threads. Yum! :3

Summer Fun Giveaway @ measi.net

lots of stitches!

2011-07-11T16:51:00.000-07:00

Boo, haven't been around much, but that doesn't mean stitching hasn't happened! A lot has gone on in the last month. :)

Got a good amount of time in on a round robin for Catherine...

click here for full size! :D
Started Tree of Hope by Mirabilia on July 2 to celebrate being on vacation!

click here for full size! :D
Bought some stash on vacation too. :D

click here for full size! :D
And my girlfriend finished the scissor case and fob from her cute set! Still a pincushion and a biscornu to go!

click here for full size! :D

click here for full size! :D

click here for full size! :D

click here for full size! :D

never enough Cirque & a cute needlebook!

2011-06-12T19:51:00.000-07:00

Not much excitement around these parts, though I did manage to put nearly 10 hours into Cirque since my last post.

Here's how it looks at 47.75 hours!
I'm kinda mad that I ran out of red before finishing in the upper right. Oh well. :p

click here for full size! :D
The more interesting stitch this week was made by my girlfriend, who stitched up a sweet little needlebook (needlecase?) featuring some cute birdies. :3 It's a freebie design from a German stitcher named Sylvia K (link goes directly to the featuring post). The site and pattern are in German but it's easy enough to follow!

click here for full size! :D

click here for full size! :D

click here for full size! :D

click here for full size! :D
The needlebook is part of a set that also includes a scissor case, scissor fob, biscornu, and a pincushion, so expect to see more shiny things soon. :D

back to Cirque!

2011-06-04T18:42:00.001-07:00

Now that my latest mermaid is finished, it's back to Cirque des Cercles! This will be my focus piece until I finish... or until I get distracted by some other shiny thing. :p My goal for this weekend is to finish filling in the smaller circles at the top (well, it's the bottom in the pic). Should be easily achieved since I'm almost done.

And, okay, having a billion more episodes of Sherlock Holmes to watch is definitely a motivation. No more TV unless I'm stitching! :p

So here we have Cirque at 38.5 hours!

click here for full size! :D
Annnnd... that's all to report! :p

MM is done!

2011-06-02T10:21:00.000-07:00

BAM. Finished Mediterranean Mermaid over the long weekend, but of course I was too lazy to post until now! She's really close to the edge on both sides, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that her tail has a little more room. I'll probably just sew a strip of fabric to both sides so I can frame her - I still have plenty of the fabric seeing as I was so stingy with how much I used for her!

I still need to order the swarovski crystals that go on her, but I'll pick them up next time I order from Artbeads. Seriously, all these "treasures" and stuff are outrageously priced. The teardrops for this lovely lady are 66 CENTS EACH. The best price I saw on the repackaged "treasures" was $2.30 EACH. Where's my eyeroll smiley?

Anyway, enough snarking! Here's the beaded babe. :) I changed her tail to grey - as much as I like green, it seemed totally out of place. I also swapped out whatever the other treasures were for some 4mm blue swarovski bicones I had on hand, much prettier than the dark ones originally used. Oh, and her lips are a nice red, not a pale pink. WAIT, one more - I gave her more of a bust, because mermaids aren't supposed to be flat-chested! :p

I'm very satisfied with the changes I made... but I think I'll have to go back and give her an eyebrow before I'm totally content! :p

click here for full size! :D

click here for full size! :D

click here for full size! :D
Next up... Cirque des Cercles!

finally more progress!

2011-05-24T18:01:00.001-07:00

Work and other RL things have been cutting in to stitchy time, but I finally have enough to warrant an update. :)

click here for full size! :D

click here for full size! :D
As you can see, I'm dangerously close to the edge here. :( I thought the fabric was 32 count, and it's actually 28 count... and the design would have had only about 1.25 inches left on either side on the 32 count. So now I'm stuck with even less. I'm not sure how I'm going to frame her when I'm done. I may cave and take her to a framer this time instead of doing it myself as usual, because there is just NO room for error here.

Bah. Anyway, even though I'm beading, she's still missing her tail fin! I'm changing it from green to grey because I saw one with that modification and liked it a LOT more than the green tail. Even though green is my favorite color. :p

well, she has a head now!

2011-05-01T09:40:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is taking longer than I thought...

click here for full size! :D
But to be fair, I didn't really do any stitching during the week, and yesterday was a slow day for stitching as well. I was hoping to finish all the stitching this weekend, but that may not work out. Hmm.

weekend mermaid, take two!

2011-04-23T21:45:00.000-07:00

Got a LOT done in the last 36 hours or so...

click here for full size! :D
Let's see how much more I can add tomorrow. Would be cool to get to the beading before the weekend is over!

another mermaid?

2011-04-22T11:06:00.000-07:00

Finally started Mediterranean Mermaid, after months of pining for it. She's coming together very quickly, I've only worked on her for five nights (maybe 2-3 hours each?) and there's already so much done!

click here for full size! :D

Let's see how much I can do in one weekend... *rubs hands together* Also, she's so SHINY, which is probably a big motivator. I like sparkly things and there's a lot of sparkle and beads going on here.

One small modification - the way she's charted, it's like she has negative boobs. HAHA NO. This is a MERMAID. (Seriously, her chest is concave!) So I rounded her out in the front a little. It's already stitched, but you really can't tell since there's no context for the boobage. :p

Oh, and I'll be changing her tail fin to grey as shown here. I love green, but it looks totally out of place on this design!

a dragonfly appears :p

2011-04-09T18:41:00.001-07:00

Finally finished up the dragonfly block of the Garden Party series. The border for the bumblebee block is coming along as well, but I want to work on something else for a while (figures). Well, here it is!

click here for full size! :D

What to do now? I can...
- continue with the bumblebee block
- start Mediterranean Mermaid
- work on Titania
- work on Cirque des Cercles
- or say screw it all and play video games for the rest of the weekend XD

a finish, minus a few beads! ^^b

2011-04-02T21:39:00.000-07:00

My mermaid is almost done! All she's missing is one color of beads, an opal color that will be scattered in the outer border. Everything else is done! Yes, I stayed up until 11:30 to finish her. :3

Soooo, I present to you:
The Belle of the Sea (Enchanting Mermaid) by Lesley Teare
from The World of Cross Stitching #152

click here for full size! :D

click here for full size! :D

click here for full size! :D

Ahhhh, feels so good to have something (almost) done, finally! I can start something new without guilt now. *rubs hands together* Or I might get back to the garden party blocks, which I really should take a new picture of...

Or start Mediterranean Mermaid. Mmmm... *slobber*

mermaid progress!

2011-03-30T14:22:00.000-07:00

Finally got a few pictures taken. See, I have too been stitching!

Mermaid progress!

click here for full size! :D

Gathering Honey progress! (by GF)

click here for full size! :D

hi, I'm Rahenna, and I'm a stashaholic

2011-03-21T09:13:00.001-07:00

Wow, it's been a while since I posted! I promise I'm still alive and stitching, but I don't have any new photos to show. I've made a lot of progress on the mermaid, and the GF has completed the center of Gathering Honey - minus the eight billion backstitches, naturally. :3

I've also done a bit on the CCN Garden Party bugs (remember those?) and have most of the frame completed for the next block, plus the top of the third block. I was on a loooong plane flight and worked on those areas since I didn't have scissors available. No fun doing anything that would use up LESS than a full thread.

So while I don't have any interesting stitchy pictures, I do have some stash pictures!

click here for full size! :D

This is a combined stash zone. The yarn (top left) is my GF's and will eventually become neat things like socks and shawls. And no, that's not ALL of her yarn. HA HA HA. XD

Next to the yarn, we have two tubs of XS fabric, and then the white basket of specialty threads on top. One box of fabric is aida (lots of colors, including a ton of cute Silkweaver sample sizes) and the other is all evenweaves. Both are exploding, so there's more fabric somewhere else that we'll see in a moment. And no, I didn't buy ALL of it myself; much of the fabric was inherited from my mom, who was quite a hoarder of shiny things.

Below that, there's my beading stash, which really needs to be cleaned out. I got a lot of things that were cute, cheap, or on clearance, and while it's pretty, I really only do beadweaving (with tiny seed beads and the like). My goal is to give away or sell everything I won't use, and just buy what I need for a project instead of having stash bloat.

And under THAT is some assorted larger jewelry related stuff that doesn't fit in project boxes.

click here for full size! :D

I TOLD you there was more yarn. XD XD The classy Carrabba's bag holds GF's in-progress knitting, the small red bag is for needles, and that white tub on the floor is the beginning of my jewelry stuff cleanout. Oh, the armchair that's barely peeking into the left of the picture has a box on it. That box has MORE XS fabric in it. Yeah, we have a problem. :p

click here for full size! :D

Okay, I know this doesn't look very impressive, but these three crates are stuffed full to exploding (in fact, the one in the middle IS exploding) with XS kits, charts, magazines, and doodads. The one on the right has magazines and charts held vertically in magazine organizers, and there's some unused q-snaps and such stuffed in the front of them. The one in the middle holds unopened large kits and a few boxes of bobbined thread. The one one the left holds small kits, chartpacks, tiny leaflets (think Sweetheart Tree and the like) and anything that didn't fit somewhere else.

The white plastic bag in the far right holds half of our DMC. There's a canvas tote bag there too that has the other half. I will never need to buy DMC again unless I run out of a particular color! The tubs under the bags are more jewelry stuff and miscellaneous crafty bits.

Again, I'll point out that we're a household of two stitchers AND that most of this stuff was inherited from my mom. She sold on eBay for many years but also collected a lot of items that caught her eye, even though she rarely stitched. I'm not completely innocent, of course... just mostly. :p

Oh, I almost forgot! The red bag sitting in front of the crates holds in-progress XS projects. It's thinned out a lot since I started this blog!

And that's the craft side of the library! The rest of the room is lined with bookcases and holds mostly books, but there's also some video games (we're total gamer girls), lots of Japanese magazines and comics, and a ton of dolls on display along the tops of the shelves. I guess that's what happens when you take two people who have been collecting for years and merge their goodies together. :)

So, guys, show me YOUR stash! *nosy*

short post

2011-03-02T20:40:00.001-08:00

I was going to make an intelligent post, but then I was trapped on a conference call where everyone was arguing and I lost my will to live. *sadface* So all we have are pictures for now.

Mermaid progress!

click here for full size! :D

Gathering Honey progress! (by GF)

click here for full size! :D

All our specialty threads! Mostly Dinky-Dyes silk that was purchased at the recent Houston get-together. :) The beautiful full hanks in the second image are "defects" and were very cheap, but they're gorgeous IMO and I can't wait to use them!

click here for full size! :D

click here for full size! :D

GTG & progress!

2011-02-20T18:57:00.000-08:00

My girlfriend and I went to a lovely get-together hosted by Jo of Dinky-Dyes and managed to get in a good four hours of stitching. And some tasty eats. And some chatting - but mostly listening. We're a little shy, you know. :p But our ears were open and we DID listen to everything that was going on around us!

And, of course, we did a good deal of shopping - like YOU could resist with all that shiny silk right in front of you!

First up, progress on my Cirque (30.75 hours now):

click here for full size! :D

And the magazine mermaid (which I didn't work on at Jo's, so this is just progress over about a week or two):

click here for full size! :D

My girlfriend's been working on a pretty design called Gathering Honey from a super-old magazine. She's wanted to start it for years so I kicked her in the butt and she finally dug it out. It's funny because she's always the one with a billion things left to finish, but this is the only major piece she has going right now. I'm the offender with all the different projects going at once this time!

The model:

click here for full size! :D

Her progress:

click here for full size! :D

Sadly, I don't have a picture of the mountain of silk we bought, or the pretty hand-dyed fabrics, but that means I'll have something to show next time. :p

Mermaid Heart (mini)

2011-02-11T22:21:00.001-08:00

Completed this last weekend but of course never got around to posting. :p

This is the mini version of Mermaid Heart by Just Nan. It's a teeny thing, about 2x2 to fit into the little frame. Sadly, after working this up, I didn't feel like doing the full size version, so it's been put away for now. Making crazy progress on the round robin piece I have, though...

Anyway, the pictures! :3

Flash:

click here for full size! :D

No flash:

click here for full size! :D

round robin success!

2011-02-06T10:45:00.001-08:00

Angel Procession is back home! Well, okay, it's BEEN back home for a while, but... I finally took a picture. XD

Before...

click here for full size! :D

After!

click here for full size! :D

I can't believe the entire insane border got finished! All that's left for me are angels. Thanks so much to PugMama, Measi, Catherine, Rachel, Wench, Spryntz, and Linda! :3

the stitchy wall

2011-02-04T09:59:00.000-08:00

I keep meaning to put up these pictures of our entrance hall, which we hope to completely fill with finished pieces someday. :3

click here for full size! :D

click here for full size! :D

click here for full size! :D

click here for full size! :D

click here for full size! :D

a mermaid & a finish

2011-02-03T20:58:00.000-08:00

Finally updating again. :)

Made lots of progress on the mermaid! She's from a UK magazine. I know it's hard to tell from the pic, but the circle border around her is metallic gold, and the blue backstitching is also a metallic.

TIP for the DMC metallics: Seal the cut ends of the threads with a bit of clear nail polish so the two twisted strands don't unravel! And don't be tempted to just seal one end. It's probably worse than leaving both undone. Trust me. :x

Also, why do metallic threads have to make my hands smell bad, hmmmm?

click here for full size! :D

And my girlfriend finished an old WIP of an iris that we found in our craft bag. I did the backstitching. :)

click here for full size! :D

Hoping to get a lot done on something this weekend (not sure what!) as it's COLD outside and I think I'll be spending some quality time with Netflix. XD

WIP list & plans for 2011

2011-01-25T13:01:00.001-08:00

I think plan #1 should be... stop forgetting to post! The good news is that I've been spending lots of time stitching. The "bad" news (for stitchy matters, at least!) is that I've also been spending lots of time writing, posting in my "real" blog, and playing community games on Livejournal. Whoops. :3

I was reading the WIP Killers thread over on The Wagon and thought I'd list my own, plus estimated progress and some goals for the year. Sounds good, right?

WIP list
- Titania (Mirabilia) - about 40% done, maybe?
- Garden Party (Country Cottage Needleworks) - 25% done
- Enchanting Mermaid (from a UK magazine) - 35% done, needs a new scan
- Cirque des Cercles (Ink Circles) - 25% done
- Dragonfly Pond (Dimensions) - should I even be listing this? :p
- Angel Procession (Teresa Wentzler) - about 55% done (THANK YOU UFO RR!), needs a new pic!

And of course, everyone wants to start MORE projects, right? Here's what I have kitted up...

kitted up
- Mediterranean Mermaid (Mirabilia)
- Woodland Faerie (Teresa Wentzler)
- about a billion Dimensions kits, yes, they are my weakness...

Of course, I'm not allowed to start anything until at least one WIP is completed. But which one should it be? I'm currently working on the magazine mermaid, which is kind of odd since that's my girlfriend's project. I get roped into working on her stuff all the time. HMM. I was thinking of saving Garden Party for a trip I'm taking in mid-March since it's relatively small and there's only a few threads for each block.

I'll probably make Titania my focus after the mermaid's done. Sounds like a plan.

could it be... Cirque?

2010-11-27T21:12:00.000-08:00

Of course it could. :p I picked up the exact purple I wanted from the LNS (CC's Pansy Purple, if you must know :3) but I couldn't find a single blue that I liked. I must have spent a full 20 minutes looking at all the colors for all the different companies... Crescent Colours, Gentle Art, Dinky Dyes, Caron, others I can't even remember. Not a single sapphire blue that I liked.

So I replaced the blue with CC's Bejeweled, which is a rich, dark green. It's not exactly what I wanted, but none of the blues were even close to being what I wanted, and green's my favorite color anyway, so nyah. :p

Here we are at 26.5 hours!

click here for full size! :D

click here for full size! :D

My girlfriend and I made matching little Christmas kits yesterday! We were digging through our stash on Thanksgiving evening and admiring all the shinies. These two kits were taking up a lot of space in one of the small kit tubs because of the frames, so we dug them out and stitched them up. Cute and fast! I did the one with the red fabric, she did the green. I think we'll give them to her mom for Christmas. :)

click here for full size! :D

Now, if only Queen Lazybutt would get to work on her round robins... :p

more Cirque!

2010-11-19T21:32:00.000-08:00

Got some progress on Cirque! Unfortunately, not much during the week, but last weekend was good for stitching. Couldn't post because my webhost wasn't cooperating and I couldn't upload my scan. :p

Ended last weekend at 12.5 hours:

click here for full size! :D

And brought it up to a total of 15 hours while watching DVDs tonight:

click here for full size! :D

Now the hard decisions come in. Keep on with Cirque, or give in to temptation and start Mirabilia's Mediterranean Mermaid? I finally got all of my supplies in (lots of bling!) and the fabric I ordered during the Sunny Dyes sale.

The fabric is great, by the way, I should really take a picture of what we got. Sadly, two of the pieces have the pattern in the dye going the wrong way for what I'd wanted to use them for, so while I love them, I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do with them. I can probably squeeze South Seas Mermaid in the other way, but there's no way it will work with the other pattern. My bad for making assumptions, and I'm very happy with the fabrics otherwise. Hmm...

a new start!

2010-11-12T20:17:00.001-08:00

Remember my colorful plan for Cirque des Cercles?
It's okay if you don't, because here it is again. XD

I got started this week! Here it is after 7.5 hours of work.

click here for full size! :D

Looking good! I put another 45 minutes in this evening and completed one of the flowers that's between the main circles (you can see it's just started here) and started on the green base for the one opposite. As for colors... I'm using the DMC color variations line for most of the colors. The brown is Crescent Colours Caterpillar, and the light green is GAST Spring Green. I need to find a suitable purple, and I'm not really liking the DMC dark blue because it has a lot of purple in it.

Oh, tragic, I'll have to look at pretty threads. :p

RR & more Titania

2010-10-22T17:02:00.000-07:00

Got my stitching done on Blu's round robin! This will be a pretty palm tree when it's finished, but for now it's a blotchy pot and a lot of background. :3

click here for full size! :D

Titania is getting too big for the scanner. I'll have to resort to the camera soon.

click here for full size! :D

I also have TW's Woodland Faerie all kitted up, but I can't iron my fabric because the last time I used the iron, the scrap fabric I was using MELTED onto it. Luckily it didn't get on the actual piece I was ironing (Barnabee :3) but it DID completely ruin the iron and I haven't picked up another one yet. Blah. :p

Barnabee's Bride :3

2010-10-15T16:52:00.000-07:00

Whew. I had my father and brother visiting for a week and it's been slow going on the stitchy front. I was able to make some good progress on Titania but I haven't scanned her yet. I'll do an update for her soon.

But I did manage to start AND finish Barnabee's Bride by Just Nan. This was an easy project, completed in the span of about 24 hours. :3 I don't have the right kind of glue, so the shell button is shown loose here.

click here for full size! :D

Speaking of Just Nan, I also picked up the chart and all the goodies for Mermaid Heart. I'm not a JN fan, but that particular design was very appealing to me, as was this one. And, okay, I bought Floral Fifteen because that's just awesome. :D

Got to stop buying new designs, I'll never catch up. We had another expensive trip to the LNS this week, but hey, it's vacation... right?

ladybug! (again)

2010-10-01T18:46:00.000-07:00

Finished the ladybug about 30 minutes ago. It's so cute when it's all done! I haven't stitched much in the last few days, but I'd say this took about a week, assuming about two hours of stitching time per night. Each side of the square took one weeknight, and I did the entire center over the span of one evening and some TV time today. :)

click here for full size! :D

Decided to do them all in a row! Dragonfly is next. :3 But... is that really what I want to do next? HAHAHA. I could work on Titania, or one of my round robins...

Or maybe start something new. I don't usually like Just Nan designs, but I couldn't resist picking up the chart and fabrics for Floral Fifteen. Love the colors! I also kitted up TW's Woodland Faerie, but the fabric I ordered won't be arriving until next weekend or so. Hmm...

ladybug!

2010-10-01T09:01:00.000-07:00

I'm currently working on the Country Cottage Needleworks set of four Garden Party designs. I'm about halfway through with the ladybug and I'm trying to decide how I want to lay them out on the fabric! Four in a row? In a square as shown on the CCN website? I don't know! Fortunately I have a day or two to decide since I still need to finish up this cute little bug. :3

click here for full size! :D

What should I doooooooo? XD

two completed ornaments

2010-09-19T16:13:00.000-07:00

Finished my two latest ornaments today with lots of help from my girlfriend. She has a LOT more patience than I do when it comes to fussy details!

click here for full size! :D

Annnnd that's all I have for today. :p

Just kidding. My girlfriend just finished the lazy daisies on her Sorceress (Dimensions) kit after much nagging from me. XD

click here for full size! :D

finishes & RR progress!

2010-09-18T20:08:00.000-07:00

Finished my JBW star ornament from the JCS issue yesterday. It's a cute little guy and was very quick to stitch. I modified the pattern a bit because it wasn't completely symmetrical for some strange reason, and I'm totally anal about stuff like that. :p

click here for full size! :D

Got in some good progress on Measi's Magical Night (Teresa Wentzler) for the first round robin! I finished the moon, added the swirls on the sleigh, and filled in some other areas, mostly around the swirls and the gold below. Also did some backstitching. I'm not done yet - still have about a month to go with this one - but I thought I'd take a scan now so I can see how I progress over the next few weeks. :3

click here for full size! :D

And my girlfriend finished her Mermaids (Country Cottage Needleworks) project today as well! It's really cute with all the specialty threads. I was hoping we could frame it right away, but the frame we have is too tall even though it's the right width. Poop. Now it has to go in the box with the growing stack of finished pieces. Oh well, now we'll be able to get it framed in white as shown on the chart...

click here for full size! :D

another ornament!

2010-09-12T18:15:00.000-07:00

Finished a second ornament, same one as before, only this one's in pink. Well, it's not really finished, but I finished the stitching and will assemble it in the next couple of days and get it out to my friend Mab. :3

click here for full size! :D

Already working on the cute JBW star ornament from the JCS ornament issue. It's coming along quite nicely even though it's my first time stitching over one. No picture yet, unfortunately, I figure a progress picture for something that takes only a couple of hours is kind of lame. XD

Titania - true progress :3

2010-08-28T07:59:00.000-07:00

Okay, here's a true progress scan for Titania. :3 I did NOT do all this stitching in the last couple of days - a lot of it was already done. The new parts are everything below (okay, more to the side of) the orangey ribbon. :)

click here for full size! :D

Got to scan my WIPs so I can get input on what to send for the round robin... XD

Titania!

2010-08-25T17:50:00.000-07:00

Finally posting a scan of my progress on Mirabilia's Titania. I've actually completed quite a bit more since this scan was done. The orange ribbon is completely filled in, and the end of it to the right is complete too.

click here for full size! :D

Debating what to send around for the second UFO round robin. I have a number of things in progress but none are really UFOs, just kind of waiting while I plug away at Titania. :3 I might send Dragonfly Pond to get a bit of a boost on it. It's a bit tough since it's on dark fabric and the metallic thread is kind of driving me nuts. I'd be eternally grateful for any help getting that one past the "just started" mark. :D

round robin :3

2010-07-27T08:43:00.000-07:00

Whoops, I haven't posted in a while. I'm stitching, honest! The latest round robin project I worked on was the lovely Queen of Freedom by Mirabilia. The first picture shows the full project, and the second is the area I worked on (bottom of the dress and the blue starry ribbon).

click here for full size! :D

click here for full size! :D

I'm working on other things too, but no pictures yet. I'm making a pink version of the ornament shown in the previous post, and I've made a bit of progress on Dragonfly Pond. It's going slower than I'd like because the metallic thread is SO. ANNOYING. But it looks pretty! I'm also kind of worried that the fabric isn't big enough for the project even though I measured it when I took it out of the kit. Must be the way it wraps around the snaps or something...

little ornament

2010-06-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

Made a little ornament from the JCS ornament previews in the latest issue. There's a few others in there that I'd like to make, but this one was small and simple - just one color of silk and a scrap of fabric. Of course, finishing it was a disaster because I suck at sewing, but that's what cording's for, right? Hiding all the loose ends and nasty threads. x.x

click here for full size! :D

I have no idea what the color of the thread is, but it's pretty close to the color recommended in the magazine. :)

finished the castle!

2010-06-11T17:43:00.000-07:00

Here we go, finished Ivory Castle about ten minutes ago. :3

click here for full size! :D

I have the next project for the round robin I'm in - lovely Queen of Freedom by Mirabilia, and she's mostly done! Can't wait to get my grubby mitts (okay, CLEAN mitts) on that! Maybe tonight if I don't get sucked in by TV... we just got Netflix and I look forward to rotting my brain. Haven't watched TV in 10+ years!

Also itching to start Dragonfly Pond, yet another Dimensions kit. I got outbid on that one about five times before I finally managed to get it. I love the stained glass look, and I'm a total sucker for dragonfly designs.

building a castle

2010-06-05T17:02:00.001-07:00

Been working on an older Dimensions kit recently. It's a small one called Ivory Castle, and it's pretty cute despite being about 15 years old. It's so old I can't find a stock picture of it for comparison.

click here for full size! :D

There's still the rest of the arch around the castle, a crest below, and some decorative stuff above. I'd say I'm about halfway done.

Well, that was a boring post. :p

two more finishes!

2010-05-26T19:38:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm cheating... this first one was stitched by my girlfriend. I did the backstitching for her since she hates it, but I loooove backstitching.

click here for full size! :D

And a small kit on 11 count Aida that I did for my girlfriend. It would have taken less than a week if I'd been stitching regularly. Since I got busy/distracted, it took about two weeks from start to finish. :)

click here for full size! :D

Also did some work on my round robin piece! I need to do more before sending it on. I added half of the blue sign (at top) and most of the blue outline/structure to the building at the bottom, plus some of the brown.

click here for full size! :D

More to come... :)

oldest project ever

2010-05-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

Well, oldest for me, anyway. I don't remember when I got this kit, but I know it's followed me around for at least ten years. I'm so glad it's done - I think it was about 90% complete on the stitching, but there was a TON of backstitching. TONS. I like backstitching and I am utterly sick of it right now.

I also think this project is hideously ugly, but maybe I just hate it right now.

Anyway, here's the finished product!
It does look pretty good in person, considering the kit is from 1990...

click here for full size! :D

Whoops, it's also time for May's TUSAL photo! Here we go. :3

click here for full size! :D

two finishes!

2010-04-18T16:49:00.000-07:00

One's mine and one's not. :p These are photos, not scans... turns out my scanner isn't compatible with Windows 7. Oops. At least the camera works fine, and it's actually a better choice for showing off the bling on these two. :3

First up is my finish, TW's Dragon Rampant. Yes, I've featured him before, but now he's 100% finished with the netting in the border. Glamour shots ahoy! :3

click here for full size! :D

click here for full size! :D

click here for full size! :D

And my girlfriend finally finished Mirabilia's Sweet Pea. I did the random beading (the stuff not on the main part of the figure or the brown curlies) because she couldn't stand it anymore. :p She looks great!

click here for full size! :D

click here for full size! :D

click here for full size! :D

What's next? I'm working on Mirabilia's Titania and an ancient Dimensions kit called Ballet Still Life which I've had for about 15 years. It's old, it's ugly, and I have no idea why I got it (hey, I was about 15 at the time, how should I know what I was thinking then? :p), but it's almost done so I'll finish it anyway! This is what it will look like:

It's not that ugly when viewed from a distance, is it? XD

April TUSAL

2010-04-18T16:47:00.000-07:00

Here's my April TUSAL photo! Sorry it's late... just got a new computer and I'm still getting things installed.

a dragon!

2010-04-01T14:34:00.000-07:00

But not quite a finish, since I missed the backstitching on the outer edges of the border, and I don't have the gold braid for the netting on the border. I still think he looks great! He looked good without the backstitching but it's amazing how much definition the BS adds to the piece.

click here for full size! :D

almost a dragon!

2010-03-28T18:56:00.000-07:00

I know I said I wasn't going to keep finishing things so quickly, but I've been inspired to stitch a lot lately, and my TW Dragon Rampant is almost finished!

Here's how he looked yesterday:

click here for full size! :D

And here's how he looks right now!

click here for full size! :D

I still need to finish the border on the left, all the backstitching, and there's blending filament that gets added to his lightest yellow. And then the cord for the netting along the border, which I'll have to order. Bah!

ugly biscornu!

2010-03-23T17:36:00.000-07:00

I know you can't tell from the pictures (well, maybe you can...) but this biscornu is ugly in three special ways:

1. It's understuffed. By a LOT. I kept seeing warnings about overstuffing them so I was paranoid and overcompensated way too much in the other direction. I actually stuffed in two little bits when I had the eighth edge half sewn, so it could have been even worse. *sigh*

2. When I was trying to stitch the hanging cord into the seam, I trimmed the fabric because it was getting in my way. I completely forgot that doing so would cause it to unravel - there's a span of about five backstitches where the fabric unraveled all the way to the stitches. I'm amazed it wasn't completely ruined.

3. You can see the knot where I ended the thread. It's glaringly obvious... to me, at least.

But even though it's ugly, it's finished! Came out smaller than I expected once it was all stitched up, too. Well, it's still kind of cute. I think.

click here for full size! :D

click here for full size! :D

click here for full size! :D

I've run out of stuff to finish quickly. Honest. I don't know what to work on next, hmm. I got a Sweetheart Tree kit titled Cherry Blossoms Biscornu, but I don't know if I want to deal with the potential fail of that $20 investment just yet. :p

planning...

2010-03-20T13:30:00.000-07:00

I recently bought Cirque des Cercles. And then about two days after I received it in the mail, I found it buried in my mom's stash (my father gave me all her stuff after she died). Soooo, it's a sign. I need to make this.

I've planned out my colors. I just scanned the image from the front of the chartpack, then painted over the image with various colors until it looked good. Here's the plan so far - eight colors total on a light cream background. It's a small image because I don't want to show a huge scan from the chart, even if it's the sample on the front.

Yes, I like colors. :) I'll probably try painting it in subdued colors too, just to see which one I end up liking more.