February Achievements & March Goals

So it turns out I forgot to make goals for January, so everything was an unexpected achievement ;)

Goals for February:
1. Start and finish the next Heart. Done
2. Finish Steampunk Serpent. Done.
3. Finish one mitt. No. The weather turned a little mild so I put it away because I thought spring was coming. Of course, it's -30 right now.

Goals for March:
1. Start and finish the next Heart.
2. Finish all the stitching on Cinderella.
3. Finish one mitt.

(Almost) Done With The Dress

It's been a while since I posted a picture of Cinderella, so here she is in all her pink glory. I just got started on her skin, so I'm hoping to have all the stitching done by March and hopefully a finish by April. Fingers crossed!

Cinderella
32 ct Charcoal Lugana

Catch of the Day

I don't remember where I even saw this first, but there was something that just caught me. I had it on my wishlist for months waffling on whether to buy it or not since it's a bit different from what I've been stitching lately. And then I remembered that I stitch for myself and that it was my money so went ahead and bought it XDDD

It was pretty fun to stitch (despite the fact that I felt like I was complaining about it 80% of the time). I will never pick this linen again, but it was a leftover piece from Bluebeard's Princess and I don't think I have any other design in my stash that would even remotly work on it. Plus it gives it a vibe like it's in the murky waters which is kind of nice.

It's charted in Weeks Dye Works, of which I have a few and was uninterested in purchasing, so I went with the DMC conversion. I think I mentioned it before but it wasn't the best conversion I've come across: there were multiple DMC options given per WDW (understandable since WDW is an overdye, but the DMCs were all so widely different from each other and there didn't seem to be that much variation in the WDW) and one of the colours wasn't given any DMC option at all. My choices were ultimately a combination of the suggested ones and literally me sitting there and staring at the stitched colours and the model and trying to pick something out of my box that would match. I don't think I did a terrible job although I'm not too sure about the grey bottom. I think it's a bit too grey; I should have probably gone with a more green-grey.

The design features some buttons that I don't have and I haven't dug through my button box for any replacements. I kind of like it as is, so I might leave off the buttons. This was also my first time stitching Colonial Knots and I was so confused about what I was doing. Next time I'll just do French Knots.

My conversion for future reference, and in case anyone is curious :)

Weeks Dye Works	DMC
Amber	977
Berry Splash	3687
Blue Heron	932
Capri	3766
Daffodil	3819
Deep Sea	3750
Eggplant	154
Grits	3865
Guacamole	3012
Seaweed	3362
Spanish Moss	647
Sweet Potato	920

Title	Steampunk Seaserpent
Designer	SamSarah
Start date	January 1, 2016
Finish date	February 21, 2016
Total time	25 hours
Fabric	32 ct laurel linen
Floss	See above

February Small

Pretty much a repeat of my last post since it was my finish of Heart of Newfoundland and Labrador and that's what I did for the Smalls SAL.



I actually got as far as taking out the cardboard to finish-finish it, and then came to my senses. There's no point in finishing one off when I can just do 14 all in one shot like a giant assembly line. (I can always find an excuse to procrastinate XD

I forgot to post my finish of Steampunk Seaserpent. Oops. Tomorrow?

All Provinces Done

And with my finish of Heart of Newfoundland and Labrador, I've finished all the provinces. Canada is composed of 10 provinces and 3 territories. Historically the difference between them is that provinces have their own provincial governments while territories are governed by the federal government. Recently the territories have their own territorial assemblies but their authority is still delegated from the federal government.

Mostly referred to as Newfoundland, the province of Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province and the last one to join Canada. There are numerous jokes about the "Newfie" accent and it's general incomprehensibility (although I honestly can't hear any difference from every other Canadian). It's also the originating location for both Labrador dogs and Newfoundland dogs. It's believed to be one of the possible locations Leif Erickson the Viking landed in the 11th century. There is actually a Norse settlement in Newfoundland that is a World Heritage Site. Fishing and tourism are it's major economies.

This particular pattern was frustrating because the model did not match the chart. The chart has a tree next to the puffin while the model and the instructions talk about a bird. I stitched the bird which I had to count out from the model. Also, the red in the model looks much more vivid than the one charted. I'm still a bit iffy on whether to leave the dark pink or rog it for a brighter red.

Pictured are the Pitcher Plant, Puffin and Black Spruce, the provincial flower, bird and tree respectively. The specialty stitch was the Slanting Star Stitch which was pretty easy (how many variations of a six-sided stitch can there possibly be???)

Title	Heart of Newfoundland and Labrador
Designer	The Victoria Sampler
Start date	February 8, 2016
Finish date	February 14, 2016
Total time	5 hours
Fabric	32 ct white lugana
Floss	As charted

Slow Stitching

I've been putting a few stitches into Heart of Newfoundland and Labrador but it's slow going. Not because I don't want to stitch, but because I just have. no. time.

Here Fishy, Fishy

Update on Steampunk Sea Serpent, since you can actually see the fish shape now.


Steampunk Sea Serpent
32 ct laurel linen
I also just realized that this isn't a sea serpent, since the "serpent" part implies a long snake-like body. Based on the light dangling, this is actually an anglerfish.