Pictures Ahoy!

And I've done as much as I'm ever going to on Japanese Octagon Box, so let's call that a finish shall we? I made so many random changes on this. I left off the golden flowers because I didn't want to struggle with the overlay backstitching in a metallic business. I used the provided DMC conversion (which Martina warns is not quite equivalent) so there are parts where you can't really tell that there are different greens involved. I have no idea if this is true for the "proper" threads NPI and gloriana. But I can live with it. I left out the beads just under the upper Rhodes stitches. I replaced all the beads in the bottom 8 motifs with a light purple metallic. I'm rather fond of the cherry blossom(?) tree. But those over one birds were so not fun. When I was putting this away to be framed in the future I was a bit disconcerted to realize that I don't have much space left in that drawer.

Title	Japanese Octagon Box
Designer	Chatelaine
Start date	February 29, 2012
Finish date	August 23, 2012
Total time	91.25 hours
Fabric	32 ct white lugana
Floss	Mostly the DMC conversion, a couple of Dinky Dyes
	and Kreiniks that I didn't note down *is sheepish*

Summer Blahs

I'm blaming the hot thunderstormy weather for my severe case of ennui. Here's another piece that's getting somewhat close to the end. And I still haven't picked up that Kreinik for Legends, which I need for this as well.

Japanese Octagon Box Panel
32ct white lugana

Full Moon Frenzy

Tons of progress on Japanese Octagon for this month's

Japanese Octagon Box Panel
32ct white lugana
I'd just a tad obsessed with this one. I've also made so many changes that I haven't written down that I don't want to put it away in case I forget any of them before I get to the last two panels!

The over-one "clouds" gave me fits. At least half of them are in wrong places, but luckily it doesn't make much difference. I am not looking forward to the over one birds.

The Fine Art of Fudging

Japanese Octagon Box Panel
32ct white lugana
See those octagons? They're all wrong! And it's a combination of several factors.

First I stitched one octagon and then I stitched the rest looking at the first one. Several of you are already shaking your heads.
Then I went ahead and filled all the spaces with Rhodes rectangles.
Then I did all the black stitches for one lantern counting from the octagon.
Then I stitched one row for the second lantern counting from the octagon and rest counting off of that row. (With me so far?)
Then I realized that the first and second lanterns were not the same.

Going back to check where the mistake was, it took me a while. I had stitched an extra line for one of the boxes on the octagon. What was mean to be a 2x2 square for a bead had become a 2x3 square into which I'd stitched a Rhodes. The whole octagon was wrong.
Having stitched and filled in six octagons I'm not crazy enough to frog them.

Instead there will just be extra space around the lanterns and bonsai trees, and that Rhodes will replace the bead. In fact, I'm toying with replacing all the beads with floss. From what I can tell they only appear around the octagon and near the top frame...

And it's only the six frames because that fits in my Q-snap without any moving. So I'll probably finish off these panels before I get to the last two.

Leap Day Start

So I'll start by confessing that while I think Chatelaine's mandalas are lovely and that I love to look at people stitching them, there's no way I'd ever stitch one for myself. Simply put: I can't get past the fact that there are upside-down parts. Can't get past it.

Some of the band sampler type designs are very pretty, but it's Japanese Octagon Box that has stolen my heart! Specifically the main panel. It's got that weird panel/spaced-box look and it's just lovely.


Japanese Octagon Box Panel
32ct white lugana
I'm only stitching the main panel and I plan on framing that. My finishing skills are nowhere near enough to tackle the box and I'll get more mileage out of a framed picture than I will of an accessory box.

I'm stitching this with the DMC conversion provided by Martina. The only problem is that there are some varigated colours that don't have an equivalent, but I'll tackle that when I get to it.

It's also progressing faster than I though it would. I've always had this image of Chats as monstrously epic works that take decades to finish. Perhaps most people just get stalled a lot? Or maybe it's because I'm only stitching half of the whole design... At any rate, this being a leap year start, I'll count it a success if I finish by the next leap year.