Thursday, December 31, 2015

December/January goals!

Here's how it went in December!

- stitch/send Mirabilia RR on time - done! (and the next one arrived!)
- stitch MH butterfly kit - done!
- finish leaves in Fatum border - done!
- plan & post about 2016 stitching! - done!

Worked out nicely since I went light on the goals. I spent most of the month writing and working on other projects, plus I got sucked into the game my wife got me for Christmas. :3

For January...

- stitch/send Mirabilia RR on time
- get materials for hardanger SAL (I have no fabric in the right count!)
- stitch part one of hardanger SAL
- make visible progress on at least one of my 2016 goal projects
- no shopping (except for hardanger SAL materials)

There. Not too crazy, and that gives me a lot of flexibility to work on something new if I want, or to carry on with an older WIP. I'm still waiting on fabric for two of my planned new starts, but I can start the others any time! In fact, I've already started the bride's tree ornaments... I should probably post a pic but I'll do that later. :3

Monday, December 21, 2015

getting ready!

Since I've already met my monthly goals, I think I'm going to get started on next year's plans! It took a couple of hours to gather up suitable substitutes for all the threads in the Bride's Tree Ornament set, but once they're all together, they look pretty impressive!

I wanted to do 100% cotton but I did have to sneak a few silks in there to cover some of the colors. I guess that's fine since the original charts call for mostly silks and a few cottons!

But what I did do was source everything 100% from my existing stash! Go me. :3


Closeup of the yummy colors!

My fabric is all cut and ready to go... all that I have to do now is get started!

Friday, December 18, 2015

another tiny finish!

It only took two days to work up this cute Mill Hill kit! With this, I've finished up my goals for the month - need to take a new pic of Fatum with the border all done, but I'll save that for another post.


Like the others, it's not finish-finished yet, but I did manage to stick it to the fridge so I can pretend it's been made into a proper magnet!

I think I'm down to three Mill Hill kits in my stash now... two that I'm not crazy about, and a beautiful one of cats silhouetted against the moon. Here's the three...

Love this one! (Moonlit Kitties)

Kinda meh about these. (Autumn Bouquet & Fall Blooms)

My wife likes those two, though (I'm sure she's the one who picked them out) so I may just do them as a gift for her. She used to stitch, but now she's 100% into knitting, so "my stash" is really "our stash" and contains all of her stuff too. :3

I have three others on my wishlist, but I'm not buying anything until I do something with all three of these... either stitch them up or gift/sell. I'm interested in working on using things up (not just stitchy stash, but all sorts of things) but I don't want to fall into the trap of making something I don't really like just for the sake of crossing it off a list, either.

I do a lot of reading about decluttering, minimalism, and recently, destashing makeup! One of the terms used for makeup is to "hit pan" which is to use up enough of something (like blush or eyeshadow) to see the silver pan showing at the bottom. I want to start doing that with all sorts of things around the house. And if I don't like something enough to "hit pan" on it, then maybe it needs to be escorted out, preferably by giving away, selling, or donating.

So I'll be making an effort to fully enjoy a variety of things! Tea, eyeliner, those interesting beans in the pantry, candles, video games, yarn, stationery, the contents of the freezer, nail polish, etc. I may ramble about it here on occasion, but only as a side note to stitching posts. 

Don't worry, this isn't going to turn into some weird decluttering blog. :p

Monday, December 14, 2015

2016 stitching plans

Ahhh, the year is almost over! You know what that means? Time to plan next year's stitching! And also to totally ignore the plans I made for 2015 because I didn't follow through on them, haha. Don't worry, 2016 will be a little different. :)

~~~

First up, plans for my current WIPs, in order of priority instead of alphabetical.

- Fatum (Passione Ricamo) ~ goal: finish in 2016!
- Beaded Dragonfly Tile (Chatelaine) ~ goal: finish in 2016!
- Night (Wentzler) ~ goal: finish 1/4 of the design in 2016
- Chinese Garden Mandala (Chatelaine) ~ goal: finish parts 1-6ish (all gates) in 2016
- Transcendence - Sessler (HAED) ~ goal: finish pages 8 & 9 in 2016
- Air ACEO - Butcher (HAED) ~ banished to UFO land for now

~~~

Next, general thoughts about 2016 stitching, aka a list of what NOT to do:

- No new round robins. They're fun, but I get frustrated about the lack of progress on my personal stitching. Next year, I'm stitching for me!
- No joining groups or SALs unless it's something I was gonna do anyway. I'm always SUPER PUMPED to join a SAL, then I fizzle out quickly and get annoyed about being obligated to do something like post a monthly update. Instead, I will admire SALs from afar. :p
- No mystery designs. Again, I get pumped about a group thing, then end up hating the design. :(

Basically, I'm going to avoid committing to any sort of group activity unless I'm 100% sure that it's something I want to do and can participate in cheerfully for the duration. Not just for myself, but I don't want to be That Person who brings a group down by being blah.

~~~

NOW THE FUN PART!
New starts for 2016!

Brooke's Books - Bride's Tree Ornaments

Veronique Enginger - Etude aux Fraises

Mirabilia - South Seas Mermaid
(informal SAL with Mel of Epic Stitching!)

Tournicoton - Jardin de Feuilles

I've also joined the Round in Circles SAL by Mabel Figworthy, because I've wanted to learn hardanger for years and never got up the guts to try it on my own. Yeah, it's a SAL, but it's really just a monthly pattern and skill to learn, and this is something I genuinely want to do!

Oops, I forgot one of my new starts! I remembered when it showed up in my mailbox yesterday evening, haha...

Rosewood Manor - Summer Quakers
(not my usual style but I saw a WIP and fell in love!)

~~~

And that's it for plans! I'm not going to overload myself with unattainable goals next year. 

Instead, I'll use the remaining time to make more progress on WIPs that aren't slated for finishing, or start other projects that catch my eye. There are plenty of other small kits and charts in my stash that could use some love, and my bucket list isn't getting any shorter! (Well, maybe a little, since I removed a few things that no longer sparked as much interest as they did originally...)

Thursday, December 10, 2015

another RR finish!

Here's a snippet of Forest Goddess by Mirabilia. I had to sub regular beads for the bugle beads because the portion I chose to stitch cut off some of the length of the beads. I didn't realize they were bugle beads until I'd already done a bunch of stitching... oops.


Now I can move on to something else... like finishing my crochet hat. :3

Monday, December 07, 2015

giveaway winner! (paging CalamityJr!)

Hihi! The randomizer chose CalamityJr as the winner of my little giveaway!

I think I already have your email address, but not your mailing address... could you email that to me at rahenna@rahenna.com so I can get your goodies sent out this week? :)

Thanks so much to everyone who entered!

I hope to have a stitchy blog post soon, though all I've been working on is the Mira RR. Maybe I should take a progress pic... I usually don't post about RR stitching until I finish my block, but this one is really killing me! At least I'm on track to finish and mail on time. :)

Wednesday, December 02, 2015

November/December goals! (and a tiny finish)

Whew, how is it December already?!? New month, new goals... but first, let's see how I did with the goals I set for November:

- stitch/send Mirabilia RR on time - well, I'm not late yet...
- finish Willow Queen - YES!
- take crochet lessons - YES!
- win Nano!YES!

Not too bad, except for the lack of progress on the RR. I'm having a rough time with the fabric on the current one, a very tightly woven, thick, opal evenweave. My eyes aren't THAT bad but the opal is throwing me off somehow, and the fabric is so tight it literally squeaks whenever I pull the needle through, and it makes the thread knot constantly. It's a shame because the piece is gorgeous and the fabric is so pretty. It's going to be a challenge to get this done in time. :(

Now, December goals:

- stitch/send Mirabilia RR on time
- stitch MH butterfly kit
- finish leaves in Fatum border
- plan & post about 2016 stitching!

Not too much, but I know the RR will be tough, and I'm caught up in other projects again. I'd rather set myself up for success. :p

Speaking of MH kits, I finished another little one last week!


This one seemed easier than the last. Maybe I'm getting used to stitching on the paper. Or maybe this one just had fewer fussy bits or something.

And yes, I know I'm doing the whole fridge magnet thing wrong. I'll finish it properly later. :p

Thursday, November 26, 2015

giveaway update!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Please be sure to enter my little giveaway if you are interested! I also have a small note to add regarding eligibility for the giveaway:

*** NOTE: A follower is defined as a Blogger user who shows up under the "followers" section of my sidebar. I apologize for any confusion but this giveaway is intended for active Blogger users only. If you are following via G+, please follow through Blogger as well. ***

I'm sorry if that's confusing or seems like I'm excluding anyone, but since I don't use G+, the giveaway was always intended for the active stitching community that uses Blogger, like me.

The only reason my posts appear on G+ is because they are automatically cross-posted and there is no way for me to turn that off. I generally delete my posts from G+ immediately after making them here, but I have forgotten and left some up for a while before getting around to deleting them. I assume that's how I've picked up a few "followers" from G+ who are not part of the Blogger system. However, I am limiting the giveaway to the definition of "follower" that was intended when I made the post - Blogger followers who appear in the sidebar.

At the moment, I do not have any entries from Blogger followers, so I will extend the giveaway deadline until December 6, with the announcement of the winner on December 7.

And of course I'd like to invite the two G+ users who have already entered to follow through Blogger as well! :) I see that one of you already has a blog, so it should be as simple as clicking the "join this site" button to "officially" follow my blog. :3

Sorry for the confusion and I will be sure to specify this next time! This wasn't an issue the last time I held a giveaway so I had no idea this was even a possibility. But now I know so I'll be more careful in the future. :)

Thanks for reading all that! I do have another finish to post but right now I have to go eat some pie!

Monday, November 23, 2015

a small giveaway! enter here! :)

A while back (was it last year? earlier? *cringe*) I mentioned wanting to give away the leftover bits from kits I'd finished, but I never really followed through on it. Well, I think I did hold one "stitch and share" type giveaway, but that was the end of it.

WELL. Time to fix that!

While cleaning up my stash, I came across a number of kits that were already finished and just had leftover charts and thread inside! I have no idea why I was keeping these... I never restitch anything. So now it's time for these to move on!

Here's what I have to give away this time. :)


Included:
- 6 sets of leftovers from kits (biscornu is chart only, the others include some threads, and the Mill Hill kit includes all the leftover beads too)
- 1 set of coaster patterns
- 1 wooden thread organizer

Giveaway rules:
- Please be a follower.
*** NOTE: A follower is defined as a Blogger user who shows up under the "followers" section of my sidebar. I apologize for any confusion but this giveaway is intended for active Blogger users only. If you are following via G+, please follow through Blogger as well. ***

- Comment on this post to enter.
- US residents only, please, unless you are willing to pay shipping. (Sorry, international shipping from the US is expensive and since I'm not working at the moment, I can't cover that cost.)
- Please consider giving these away when you finish with them. The circle of giving. :)

That's all! I'll pick and announce the winner on December 7! Be sure to enter by December 6 so you don't miss out. :)

a tiny finish!

Took a break from NaNo (only 5k left!) to stitch up a little Mill Hill kit that had been sitting in my stash forever. Yup, I still love beads. :3


I'm not really a fan of stitching on perforated paper, though... it picks up a lot of skin oils (as pictured) and I feel like it's just not thick enough to stand up to being handled. Also, stitches and beads aren't as neat as they are on fabric, since the paper doesn't have any give.

However, that didn't stop me from starting another MH kit from my stash immediately after finishing this one! I've been going through my stash over the past couple of weeks and seriously weeding out things that I know I'll never stitch. In the process, I keep finding lots of forgotten gems! There's nothing like a stash dive to calm the urge to get something new... there's plenty of new things already!

Saturday, November 14, 2015

the magic of beads!

Willow Queen is finished! There were a few curls and even a small leaf I forgot to stitch, so I took care of all those omissions and added the finishing touches... beads.

LOTS of beads!

 

It's a little hard to see, but the darkest beads have a pretty purple iris effect (mostly deep purple) and they're actually very shiny. And the long green beads are especially reflective when tilted under a strong light. I had to stop and back up to check out the light shining off them as I walked past the coffee table earlier!

As always, Mill Hill beads are a bit hard to work with since the quality isn't very good, but I was able to pick enough good beads out of the packs for a nice result. Some of the long blue beads have black marks on them, which is pretty annoying. :/

I have more than half of all the beads left, which is a bit of a surprise! There are two bead colors that call for two packages, and I didn't even open the second pack of the long green beads. I did have to take about five from the second package of purple beads, but if I wasn't so picky about what I use (and didn't lose so many in the couch), I bet I wouldn't have busted into that second pack either!

I really hope the new Mira release is more of this pixie collection...

Friday, November 13, 2015

time for the best part - beads!

Awwww yeah. This is my favorite stage of every project. Stitching is done and looking gorgeous, and it only gets better from here because it's bead time!


Now I just have to find my bead pack... oh, wow, it was exactly where I thought it was!

Time to bead...

Monday, November 09, 2015

pretty Willow Queen

As you can guess from the title, I'm still working on Willow Queen, but I've made a surprising amount of progress (in my opinion) considering just how much writing I've been doing this month.


I have to confess, the long brown skirt almost made me lose my mind, but I'm glad I persevered and finished that up before getting to the garland of leaves. Now it's just leaves, backstitch, and beads!

I might push for a finish this week, since I'm having so much fun stitching her. And I need a break from Nano hell every once in a while... I'm pushing to hit 25k today and my story is still just getting started! It's supposed to cover about 5-6 weeks of time and I'm still on day one! Well, there will be plenty of days that don't get written about at all, and of course the first day is critical. That, and I'm a nut and trying to work in 20+ characters, at least as brief introductions during plot points, which is taking up a ton of words...

Oh, right, I'm also learning to crochet! I have a second lesson this Wednesday, so I think I'd better gather up a few patterns that I want to do and try to learn the techniques used for those...

Hopefully next post will be a finish of some sort! Even if it's just my crochet apple, haha. :p

Sunday, November 01, 2015

October/November goals!

Ahhh, last month was a bit of a mess for stitching, thanks to a long trip (okay, it wasn't that long, but it felt incredibly long and I'm still recovering!) and the usual apathy. :p

Here were my October goals:

- stitch/send Mirabilia RR on time - YES, waiting to get the next one!
- finish Jardin Prive freebie trees - YES!
- start a new Mirabilia! - YES!
- finish leaves in Fatum border - NOPE!
- visible progress on main portion of Fatum - NOPE!
- visible progress on Beaded Dragonfly Tile - NOPE!

I didn't touch anything except the RR, trees, and Willow Queen last month. And this month is going to be rough for anything but writing since I'm making a serious attempt at Nanowrimo again this year... 2000 words so far, woo! So I'll keep it light:

November goals:

- stitch/send Mirabilia RR on time
- finish Willow Queen
- take crochet lessons
- win Nano!

Oh, right, I'm going to take a few private crochet lessons at the LYS. I want to learn how to make cute little amigurumi dolls, and I'm too impatient to try learning on my own. Well, I did that once and it didn't work out, plus I have no idea how to hold the hook or yarn or any of that really basic stuff, so I need to start from the very basics.

So, tiny stitching goals this month to leave room for bigger things! :)

Friday, October 30, 2015

half a willow

Well, roughly half of a Willow Queen, that is. There's still some branches and swirls around the top part, and of course, half a ton of beads, but I'm pleased with my progress so far!


Still a lot of brown to go, but at least her pretty face (and crazy antlers) can keep me company while I deal with a sea of boring dress. Might even start beading to break up the brown a bit, since I finally put her on a q-snap that's big enough to hold the entire piece of fabric! :3

Friday, October 23, 2015

just a peek!

This is just a tiny look at Willow Queen... I have a lot more done, but she's already packed up and ready to go on my weekend trip, so I don't want to get her out again. :p


It's a bit hard to tell from the picture, but I did end up going with the subtle brownish fabric. It's a little boring but I think it will work out well since she has so many beads.

Full progress shot when I return, I promise. I wonder how much I'll manage to finish while I'm away having a "relaxing" (haha) weekend. Visiting family... always fun. :p

Saturday, October 17, 2015

another RR finish!

Whew, even though this was a relatively small block for a round robin, it took me forever to stitch this pretty lady! Here's part of Queen of Freedom. :)


And I have a mighty NEED for the new Mirabilia!


Mermaids are my favorite, and these two are just amazing! I love the patterning on their tails. I don't love the price of the bead pack, but since I intend to do a bit of a conversion, I probably shouldn't get the beads as a full set. Patience is good. :3

Thursday, October 15, 2015

enabling post! :p

I was browsing on FB earlier and I saw a finished project posted by the actual designer - someone new to me, Shannon Christine Designs - and it was so lovely I had to go buy it right away! Even better, it was a set of four designs sold as one pack! (Well... it's actually one big design but they are very easily stitched as four smalls!)

Here's what it looks like:


And here's where to buy it!
Romance in Paris by Shannon Christine Designs - at Creative Poppy

There's also an Etsy store with more things that aren't on Creative Poppy:
Etsy shop!

If you haven't used Creative Poppy before, you can use the coupon code 4DOLLARS to get $4 off your first order, which is how I was able to get these pretties for $6. Even if the coupon doesn't work for you, $10 for four cute patterns is a great price!

This designer has more cute things too and I look forward to picking up more when my budget has a little more wiggle room. The end of the year is terrible for my family... all our annual bills are due around this time since this is the time of year we bought our house. Blah!

Yeah, I know I sound like an ad, but I'm genuinely excited and wanted to share! Plus I figure a new designer needs support. :3

Friday, October 09, 2015

decisions, decisions...

Taking a break from RR stitching - those Mira queens have really big heads, ahaha - to plan out my next personal Mira project! As usual, fabric color is tough to decide...



The first fabric (blue/brown) was my initial choice, but the blue is a bit brighter than I remembered. The very colorful one is probably TOO colorful... brownish is too same-y and boring, I think, and the green on the end may be a bit too green, if that makes any sense...

Maybe I'll have to take another look. :x

Sunday, October 04, 2015

finished trees!

These pictures are terrible, but since I already put the fabric away, this is all I have to show. :p



Not sure how I want to finish them... considering a four-sided spinning frame, except something like that is about $50, which is waaaaay out of my budget. Especially for finishing freebies!

Mira RR up next, I think...

Thursday, October 01, 2015

September/October goals!

New month, new goals!

First up, September's goals were:

- stitch/send Mirabilia RR on time - saving it for October :p
- finish Cherry Blossoms Biscornu - YES
- finish part 5 or 7 of Fatum - completed metallic border so GOOD ENOUGH
- finalize bottom border of Fatum - YES, and stitched most of it too!
- sell enough personal goodies to buy the Mira charts on my wishlist - YES

And new goals for October:

- stitch/send Mirabilia RR on time
- finish Jardin Prive freebie trees
- start a new Mirabilia!
- finish leaves in Fatum border
- visible progress on main portion of Fatum
- visible progress on Beaded Dragonfly Tile

Since specifying which part to stitch doesn't really work for me, I'm just going with the old "visible progress" method here. That way I can skip around and do what seems logical instead of trying to stick to a particular portion of a project.

And so this isn't a boring post with no pictures, here's my start on the final tree!


It should be easier than the others since the branches are covered in snow instead of leaves. I've stitched leaves in the wrong place so many times on these little charts! That's what I get for watching TV while stitching, I guess. :p

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

three down, one to go!

And the cute summer tree is done... though I did make a ton of mistakes on this one, so I spent a lot of time going back and fixing them! I'm hoping the winter tree will be easier since there's fewer leaves and other small elements on the tree.


I love how the bright colors look on the bold fabric, though! I did have to change the bird from blue to white because there's no way blue would have shown up on this background. :)

I'm itching to start a new Mirabilia after this, so I'll try to get winter done quickly!

Monday, September 28, 2015

summer and friends!

Wow, switching over to something small and easy was just what I needed to get my stitchy bug back! I've already finished two of the trees and I've completed the trunk of the third.

Left to right: Summer, Autumn, and Spring.


And a couple of closeup shots:


The trunk is a bit tedious to stitch since it's exactly the same on all four trees, but I've been doing that part first so I can spend the rest of the time working on the fun elements like leaves, flowers, animals, etc, without interruption. These are great TV stitching, too!

Depending on how this week goes, my next post may be a finish of all four trees! :)

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

moving on to smaller things!

I did pull out Beaded Dragonfly Tile for a few days and made some progress, but I was quickly defeated by the flower buds... at least 15 color changes in each, with many colors only used for a single stitch! (Or in an extreme case, ONE quarter stitch! Agh!)

So, I decided to start something small and simple! I've liked the seasonal tree freebies from Jardin Privé for a long time, and when I saw the ones stitched by Mrs Milkybar Kid for her "Operation Threadporn," my desire to start them was kicked into overdrive!

I'm doing something similar for mine too - pulling everything from stash and trying out some of the many, many, MANY threads I've accumulated!

First up is Autumn, since... it's September. :3


The colors are a bit weird in the pic... the darker areas on the fabric are a soft green, and the orange parts are more yellow. My phone camera is clearly not the best.

I'll post my plans for the other seasons soon, once I make all the thread decisions!

Friday, September 18, 2015

it's a border!

Well, a border without the purple leaf things, anyway.

Really not feeling this project, though. It's my easiest WIP so it's the one I've been keeping at hand, but it's starting to wear on me. I guess I'll try doing some of the internal stitching and see how I feel about it then. But there's still so much left to do...


I dunno, it doesn't look so bad now that I see the entire thing. Finishing the border should make for good mindless stitching, since all the leaves are the same shape.

I'd really like to start something new but I was hoping to cut down the WIP list. Maybe it's time to pick up my Beaded Dragonfly Tile again...

Friday, September 11, 2015

stitchy ramblings

Probably no pics in this post, unless I decide to show images of some things I intend to stitch, so this might be boring. :p

I've been thinking about SALs and goals and those sorts of things, and how they affect my stitching. Namely, I love the idea of SALs and goals, but I find that I like to rebel against anything that's telling me what to do. (Yes, I'm still mentally fifteen, haha.)

But without goals, I find that I don't ever finish anything, and while many stitchers are all about the process, I go batty if I don't finish things. I do enjoy the process, but it's discouraging if I feel like I'm not completing projects and getting them off my WIP list.

So I guess I'll reevaluate my goals for this year and see how it's going.

~~~

I said...

Current WIPs I want to finish next (aka this) year:
- A Day at the Beach (Sweetheart Tree)
- Angel Procession (Wentzler)
- Beaded Dragonfly Tile (Chatelaine)
- Floral Fifteen (Just Nan)
- Gypsy Mermaid (Mirabilia)

Surprisingly, these are all done except for Beaded Dragonfly Tile. I finally got over the problem with the beads, so all that's left is to stitch it up. It's not an easy project with many color changes on black fabric, so I took a break after fixing the beads and stitching a bit more. I feel pretty confident that I'll have it wrapped up by the end of the year, though!

~~~

As for the other WIPs I carried into 2015...

Air ACEO - Butcher (HAED)
I've poked at this a little, but haven't made any serious progress. This is a very low priority for me and I don't think I'll be working on it more this year.

Fatum (Passione Ricamo)
I've done quite a bit on this one and it's my current focus. I'm pretty sure this will be done within the next month or so, depending on what distracts me. :p

Night (Wentzler)
This was barely started and I'm not even listing it as a WIP anymore! This is one of my favorite Wentzlers, but I'm kinda burned out after marathoning Angel Procession this summer.

Transcendence - Sessler (HAED)
Literally have not even taken this out of the bag it's in this year. This is likely the only large HAED I will ever stitch, I love this illustration. I'm just not up to it right now. :/

~~~

Then I had some ideas about new starts for the year. I did get a tiny start on Chinese Garden Mandala by Chatelaine, but as usual, I kind of wandered off and did my own thing instead. The good news is that I've finished all those unplanned starts, so I won't be dragging around any neglected WIPs.

I'm pretty sure I'll be starting South Seas Mermaid (Mirabilia) very soon... ordered the beads I'm missing and I'm eagerly awaiting their arrival. Also excited about Willow Queen and the Raven Queen (got those beads too) but they'll probably go hang out on the bucket list for a while.

Speaking of the bucket list, I've edited that a bit, removing a few things and adding others. It changes around often, and I'm trying to keep it to something manageable and realistic.

~~~

Really need to stick to my decision to not join SALs or round robins in the future. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of SALs and I get super excited about them! And then I fizzle out.

And I love round robins too, everyone I've stitched with over the years has been amazing and did a beautiful job on everything! I just find myself losing focus after the first two or three rounds. I'd prefer to be in a faster-paced RR (like mailing every 3-4 weeks instead of every 6) but I know that's not feasible for most people. I have a lot of time to stitch (not that I always use that time wisely!) AND I'm a fast stitcher, but not everyone is the same.

~~~

Well, that was long and boring. :p
Please enjoy this random picture of my cat.

Wednesday, September 09, 2015

finished biscornu!

I'm so glad my wife likes assembling annoying things like this, because if it was up to me, this would forever be two identically stitched squares.


A friend gave me the chart for the matching fob for my birthday, so I'll probably make that soon. Unfortunately I didn't think to keep the leftover floss from this one, and it uses all the same colors. Oh well, it's mostly plain DMC so it's not a big deal, and I'd prefer not to use perle thread for the eyelets anyway.

Would anyone be interested in the used chart for this biscornu? It would be the chart and instructions ONLY - I'm keeping the leftover beads for the fob.

If you'd like the chart, please comment to say you're claiming it (so everyone knows it's already taken) and send your mailing address to rahenna(at)rahenna.com. US addresses only, please, I can't afford international postage at this time.

Monday, August 31, 2015

August/September goals!

It's monthly goal time! Let's see how I did this month...

August goals:
- stitch/send Mirabilia RR on time - YES, I will be done on time!
- and ONE of these:
..........reach one corner of Beaded Dragonfly Tile
..........complete one side of Cherry Blossoms Biscornu - almost!
..........complete part 5, 7, or 8 of Fatum - finished part 8 and most of part 7!

Here's my progress on the biscornu:


Yeah, that's a terrible photo, but it's kinda dark in here. This is almost done, just some backstitching, a few specialty stitches, and beads. Then I get to do it all over again for the other side. Sigh. This thing is really tedious, but not quite as bad as I originally thought.

So, need some new goals...

September goals:
- stitch/send Mirabilia RR on time
- finish Cherry Blossoms Biscornu
- finish part 5 or 7 of Fatum
- finalize bottom border of Fatum
- sell enough personal goodies to buy the Mira charts on my wishlist

Yup, that should do it.

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Mirabilia RR finish!

I'm alive, I swear! And done with Xenoblade so now I can stitch again. :p

I added South Seas Mermaid to the Mirabilia RR currently in my possession:


I love this design SO MUCH! She's on my bucket list and honestly, I'm tempted to just start her for myself. The fabric for the RR is 28ct evenweave and the beads fit SO WELL, but my stitches don't look as full as they do on my usual 32ct linen. I'm kind of torn between those two factors... I don't normally like 28ct but I can really see how it makes a difference when beading gets dense!

Either way, I'd have to wait a bit to pick up the beads and Kreinik I'm missing before making a start for myself. I had enough leftover from other projects to stitch this block, but not the full design. She's super blingy, especially when you get to her body and seaweed and stuff. :)

Siiiiigh, I want to start a new Mira for myself... :p

Monday, August 17, 2015

dense stitching = slow progress!

I feel like I'm not getting much of anywhere, but I know I've put in about ten hours on this since my last post! The area I'm working on is almost solidly stitched, and honestly, much of the remaining work on this piece is the same. It's slow going...

I also finished up the portion of the border I was working on, and I'll need to take a closer look at the recharting I'm doing along the bottom before I continue the border. Bummer, because it's the easiest part of this piece. I guess I should hurry up and finish that so I can take a break from the solid stitching when I need it!


Really itching for a new start, though I'm trying to wait until the next Mira RR bit arrives in the mail so I can pretend that's a new start.

Sooooo tempted to start Etude aux Fraises by Veronique Enginger, though!


Pulled all the threads, cut/ironed my fabric, and made my working copies (color chart, blah). It's all sitting on my coffee table, daring me to start it. Kind of wishing I hadn't started that stupid Cherry Blossoms Biscornu so I could start THIS without guilt instead! Almost tempted to give the started biscornu away to someone else who might enjoy working on it more. I really don't like working on fussy little projects, though I love the look of them when they're completed.

I do like fussy BIG projects, though. Chatelaine, anyone? :p

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

so when does a stash become a hoard?

Because I finally updated my fabric gallery, just with all the Crafty Kitten fabrics I've purchased since whenever the last time I updated was (probably over two years ago), and...

Yeah. Somehow I had 24 "undocumented" pieces of CK fabric that needed to be added!

Here's all of them in their colorful glory. All except two are FQs.


*sigh* I'm probably going to craft hoarder's hell for this. Except that would be heaven, right? Just imagine digging through and petting everyone's stash for all eternity!

Unless, of course, you're not allowed to touch any of it. :(

Please tell me I'm not the only one with a fabric problem. :p

By the way, the fabrics are...
Aleanna's Garden, Amethyst Dream, Aurora, Autumnal Woodland
Buttercup, Cherry Blossom, Enchanting Aurora, Fairy Wings
Glacial Ice, Hint of Autumn, Hummingbird, June 2015
May 2015, May 2015, Midnight Roses, Moondust
Peacock, Snapdragon, Strawberry Sorbet, Sunlit Heath
Sunset Garden, Sunset Garden, Tropical Seas, Winter Skies

Yes, there are duplicates. Yes, it was unintentional. Yes, I feel like a hoarder. No, I did not order this all at once. No, I am not being paid to advertise Crafty Kitten. :p

And no, I'm not sharing! :3

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

I guess I did make progress!

I wasn't going to post for a while since I didn't feel like I'd made progress on Fatum, but now that I look at the pictures I've taken, it's not that bad!


I started a bit on the hair in part 7, then skipped down to finish the rest of the wings, which spill over into parts 11 and 12. I think I've finally chosen how to do the bottom border so I can leave out the text, though I'll poke at it a little more before committing to anything.

Just for fun, here's progress from the last few weeks:


Not super fast, but not bad, considering how little time I've been spending on it. I wish I was more motivated... but I say that about everything, not just stitching. :p

Saturday, August 08, 2015

posting is hard! (July/August goals)

Clearly this is not going to be a good stitching month for me... not even posting goals until more than a week into the month! Been gaming again, and it's taking up a huge amount of my free time. In other words, all of it! (Playing Xenoblade, which totally lives up to the hype!)

Anyway, I'll set some very light goals for the month. :)

How did I do last month before falling into the Xeno pit?

July goals:
- stitch/send Mirabilia RR on time - done!
- finish Espressioni - done!
- redo messed up beads on Beaded Dragonfly Tile - done!
- reach one corner of Beaded Dragonfly Tile - almost... :p

Not too bad, actually! But I know I won't have a lot of time this month, so...

August goals:
- stitch/send Mirabilia RR on time
- and ONE of these:
..........reach one corner of Beaded Dragonfly Tile
..........complete one side of Cherry Blossoms Biscornu
..........complete part 5, 7, or 8 of Fatum

Sorry, no pics to share today! I haven't made enough progress on anything lately. :x

Friday, July 31, 2015

has it been a week already??

Wow, time flies when you're... well, I don't know what I've been doing, to be honest! Trying not to have a meltdown in this summer heat, probably. And yet I'm the nut who's experimenting with setting the thermostat to 80F/27C indoors and sitting in front of a fan. Electric bills suck. :p

I actually had a new start... I was looking back through my stash tag and noticed so many nice things that haven't been started (and some that have been sold/traded on without being used) and that kind of bothered me. So I made a small start on the Cherry Blossoms Biscornu by Sweetheart Tree. I thought it would be an easy stitch, but it's pretty fussy so I gave up after a few days.

Here's where I left off:


Also not a fan of the fabric stinginess of Sweetheart Tree kits. I totally get that this is going to be a biscornu and thus, most of the excess fabric will be cut off, but I'm really not comfortable with having less than one inch to spare around each half of the design! Makes it impossible to put into a q-snap without sewing extra fabric to the edges, which is a pain. :x

Made some progress on my fairy's wings last night at knitting group. Yes, I bring stitching to knit group because I DO WHAT I WANT. I always get lots of interest and compliments, so it's not like anyone actually minds. It's either stitch and stay the entire time, or attempt to knit and want to go home after 30 minutes. Since my wife is a SRS BSNS knitter, you can guess what she prefers... :p

So, here's the fairy (and everyone seriously adored all the sparkles that are going on here!):


I blurred out the corner because I was too lazy to move the chart, haha.

And I received a surprise gift last night too! The shop owner had a customer come in with some "lace yarn" she'd bought from Etsy... which turned out to be pretty much thread. Apparently the photo on Etsy was an extreme closeup that made it look like normal yarn! The customer asked if she knew anyone who could use it, and she thought of me, thinking that maybe it could be used as cross stitch thread!

I'd been looking for a nice variegated pink for Cirque des Coeurs for a long time, and now I have it! And it's 100% silk too. It's soooooo soft omggggg :p


I need to do some test stitching to see if I'd have to use one strand or two on Belfast. I'm hoping it's just one because getting two strands that match will probably be impossible, depending on how it's dyed. Plus, according to the chart, I'd just barely have enough yardage if I did two strands.

Might have to snag some 40ct fabric for this one in that case...

But isn't the fabric amazing? PTP Phoenix, perfect fit for this chart. :D