March Achievements & April Goals

Goals for March:
1. Finish By the Window Done
2. Finish Weekend in Paris Nope
3. Stitch Wisdom from Legends of Dragons Started but not much progress
4. Work on Red Rose of Sharon Not one bit!

Other things I did that were unplanned:
1. Started and stitched everything but the beads on Bluebeard's Princess

Goals for April:
1. Go back to a rotation
2. Finish Weekend in Paris
3. Stitch Wisdom from Legends of Dragons
4. Work on Red Rose of Sharon

Colourful and shiny...

While my one-at-a-time plan shows great progress on one piece, it means I don't feel much like blogging since the only thing I have to show is the same piece.


Bluebeard's Princess
32ct Laurel Linen
That conch! I had to stitch it three times before I finally got it right. The first time I had somehow stitched it one row above her hand. So I frogged and stitched it again. Only to make the exact same mistake! No screaming, but a quiet whimper and another try and third time was the charm.

This is my first time working with silks, and it's been a bit more stressful than I care for. Not the using the silks part, but the variegated part. I've only used variegated threads for samplers, geometric designs and such. I find the stripy effect weird on blocks of stitches. The outside of BP's tail is stitched in Umbria, which is a green & brown thread. Mine looks green and purple. I've been obsessed with trying to figure out how to make it look good. I did manage to get the stripes in the bottom to be all purple (except one where there's a green line. I have to fix that somehow.)

Cue 3 hours on the Internet looking at various finishes and WIPs to see how it looks. Most people's seems to be green, mine looks purple. The result is that while folks seems to have a blue-haired mermaid with a greenish lower body(Missy's, Andie's) I have a blue-haired mermaid with a purple-edged pale green lower body. I'm still trying to decide if this works or not.

Warning: The following content may be offensive to silk snobs. Reader discretion is advised.

Stitching with silk is nice, but I don't understand the big worship. I don't hear the legendary lack of scratching/whatever because my headphones are too loud. And while they do slide nicely, I use Kreiniks. Those things are a pain to pull thorough and after them, anything DMC does is nothing! Yes, they feel nice, but really, she's going to be framed. Behind glass. Where the only thing you'll be able to tell is that she has lots of beads, shiny metallic thread, and more thread. Not that part of her is silk and the rest DMC. And see above for my overdyed stresses. Can't say I'm joining the silk worship camp. Different strokes, I guess.

But they do feel very nice to fondle.

In completely unrelated news: last Thursday was -15. Tomorrow is supposed to be +18. (Edit: that's in Celsius). I really wish the weather would settle so that I can pack my coat away and find my flip flops.

Another award

This time from both Cath and Michelle. Thanks ladies!



1) Put the logo on to your blog or within your post.
2) Pass on the award to 12 bloggers.
3) List the nominees in your post.
4) Let them know they've received this award by commenting on their blog.
5) Share the love and link to the person from whom you received the award.

Passing on to some wonderful people who should be followed slavishly:
Bonnie
Claire
Sarah
Rachel
Valerie
Myra
Kathy
Lee
Meari
Paula
Siobhan
Cathey

Blog Award

Evalina passed me this award! (Thanks so much~)
My first one. It's always so much fun to have people acknowledge and enjoy my babbling.


The rules of Beautiful Blogger Award are simple:

1. Accept the award
2. Thank the person who gave you the award
3. Add a link to the person who gave you the award
4. Put the award on your blog
5. Write 10 things about yourself others might not know about you
6. Pass the award on to 10 others

Ten things that may be of interest that I probably have not mentioned before:

01. I used to collect stamps until I was about 12. I still have them all. (Somewhere)

02. I am a vegetarian since birth. (Vegetarian parents)

03. I've worn glasses since 10. I credit reading by torchlight under the bedcovers.

04. I am a chronic speeder but have yet to get a ticket. (Knock wood!)

05. I am my maternal grandparents' eldest grandchild and paternal grandparents' eldest granddaughter. (Oh the pressure!)

06. I cut my waist long hair to chin height last year. I have tons of hair accessories that I can't use anymore but I am incapable of getting rid of them.

07. My first cross stitch project was a yellow giraffe when I was 10. Bloodthirsty child that I was, I drew dots with red markers to represent blood.

08. I am directionally disabled. I can cross the street, turn around in a circle and lose my way.

09. I don't own any pairs of heels, because I have an irrational fear of falling.

10. I am terrified of height. I can only climb on chairs if I can hold onto a wall. I'm too scared to jump on my bed.

Passing on to (in no particular order):
Michele
Nic
Annie
Janaina
Chiloe
Missy
Mel
Lynn
Angela
Laural

No mirror

Apparently she's substituting a conch instead!


Bluebeard's Princess
32ct Laurel Linen
She's stitching up much faster than I expected!

Cathey: This is what she looks like.
Kristen: I have no idea what beading needle I use. I just told my LNS lady that I needed one that could go through the tiniest Mill Hill beads and she gave me a couple.

TUSAL March

In what is turning out to be a dismal pattern I have a third jar for the third TUSAL picture.



The reason that there's less thread is because my Mum threw out my previous orts in the name of Spring Cleaning. And the new container is because "using your brother's memento is wrong!"

The bit of red is from Cirque des Cercles.
The cream from Weekend in Paris
The blue-greens from Bluebeard's Princess

Let's see if this container lasts more than just one photo and returns in April!

Blue March

Eleven days into March, the snow is melting, the streets are filled with water, and I've packed away my boots!

After By the Window, I wanted another finish. So I took a look at my WIPs (all 8) and none of them are near finish. Except maybe Weekend in Paris, but the cream background is too annoying. A few are about halfway done, most have barely been started. So what do I do? Why another new start! (Yes that should give me another finish soon...)


Bluebeard's Princess
32ct Laurel Linen

She's on the recommended fabric, which is a rather stiff linen. I don't care much for the feel of it, but I couldn't find any other colour that I liked and since it just goes on my Q-Snap there shouldn't be too much trouble.

I don't think a mermaid should be caged in, and the border is kinda blah, so no border, and therefore no crown of fishes. And even though the sea horses are cute I'm leaving them out.

WARNING: Whining ahead!

She has 8 packs of Magnifica beads, 3 Treasures and 4 Caron Waterlilies. Gorgeous? Yes. But EXPENSIVE! I actually came home with two beads and two Waterlilies. I have to wait for a while before I can scrounge the money for the rest.
This is an issue because as an unemployed full time student I'm not only living and eating on my parent's dime, I'm also funding my cross stitch via them.
So with 9 WIPs, and 4 patterns fully kitted, I really shouldn't be starting anything. And since I don't stitch many smalls (lousy at finishing them) everything takes at least 40 hours, usually ~50-120, it isn't as if I'm going to run out of things to stitch. So in an effort to get my habit under control I've decided that I won't have any more planning. So I will buy anything else I need for my WIPs, start everything I have kitted and nothing else until I have nothing kitted and am down to 5 WIPs.

Wish me luck and feel free to send reproving tsks if I stitch anything other than my WIPs or start anything that isn't Cirque des Triangles, Cirque des Carreaux, The Runekeeper Saga or Sleepy Hollow.

Keeping Kleenex in business

So I had another finish yesterday:



Start date February 18, 2010
Finish date March 04, 2010
Total time 42.5 hours
Fabric 28ct antique white Jubilee

If your reaction is "I don't remember seeing pictures of this..." you're right. This is the first I've mentioned it. And I really can't think of any excuse.

Post Valentine, I was surfing and came across this couple by Soda. And there are books! And they're reading. (OK, he is and she's been bored to sleep) I had to!

Getting the fabric was an investigation worthy of Poirot himself! I wanted it on the same fabric as the last one and I thought it was lugana. It wasn't. After begging my LNS to help me, and getting some looks of pity we figured out it's Jubilee.

I've decided that I like Jubilee. Sadly it doesn't come in 32 ct, which is what I use most. Oh well. 32ct shall remain Lugana, or the occasional Jobelan.

A before backstitch picture:

I like Soda patterns because even though the colour changes aren't at all gradual, the finish looks adorable and cartoony.

As for the topic: I'm sick. Horribly, horribly sick. I've been hacking up a lung and sneezing my way through boxes of Kleenex. Not fun :(
Hasn't stopped me from stitching Cirque des Cercles, but I'm sure that it's now a bioweapon.

In nicer news, the weather is heading into the positives next week! Well, there will be slush, but I'm trying to focus on the positive.