Join me for a drink

to celebrate a late night finish!


Minx
When I started her, I thought it would take maybe 70 hours. I can hear the laughter from here. (It took double that). With her blocks of colour, she was a piece for those days when you just want brainless and uncomplicated stitching.

I won the chart in a white elephant/dutch auction thing many Christmases ago. (And I have my suspicions that it's not an entirely kosher chart). The text is presumably Chinese and I have no skills in that department.

Since I had no idea what the chart is actually called (beyond the catalogue number) and because she's in a bar clearly getting sloshed and most terms used to describe her are rude at best I dug through my vocab and named her Minx (a flirtatious/impudent young woman)

Start date October 20, 2009
Finish date August 29, 2010
Fabric 18 ct white aida
Total time 142.5 hours

Edited to add: The lady who wanted the seahorse didn't show up for work on Friday, so it's sitting on her desk. Miss Christmas Tree admired her fob in a manner most gratifying. Then she told me that it was most definitely not going on her lunch bag since it was way too nice. She's going to put it on her Christmas tree. It totally made my weekend.

The end is in sight

It's not a very close end, but it's definitely visible.


Minx
18 ct white aida

Repetition

It seems like a lot of folks hate large blocks of colour and like changing needles. And this is fine too.
But right now I'm in the mood for utterly brainless stitching. Which for me is giant blocks of colour with very little thread changes. The background of this piece works just fine!



Of course I'll probably get tired of large blocks soon, but while the muse is willing I'm going to get as much done as possible!

I've also been listening to Terry Pratchett's "Unseen Academicals" on audiobook. I have about 2 hours to finish. While entertaining it's a bit odd, because the blurb makes it sound like the entire book is about the UU's football endeavours, but that takes up about a 1/5 of the book. Usually I find Terry's twists unpredictable, but not so in this: I saw certain things coming miles away. I wonder how much of this is because I've read all his books (and therefore am familiar with this style) or how much has to do with his Alzheimer's affecting his writing...

Why Such Strange Pieces?

I won this a few years ago in a really weird Christmas game. I think the organizer called it a Dutch Auction.

Basically you picked something in your house that you didn't like and wanted to gift away. Then you wrapped it in old newspaper, so that it looked generic. Everyone who had a present to donate could participate. Everything went under the tree. You drew a number from a bowl. In order of the number you picked a present and opened it. If someone else liked it they could "steal" it from you. You'd then have to pick a different present. Repeat until no one wanted what you had and the next person would go. I remember there was a really nice shelf that people kept "stealing". Someone put this up in order to get rid of it. I saw it and had to have it. Don't know why. It was funny because I saw it and stole it with great enthusiasm, and got a lot of baffled stares.



I have idea what it says, so she's been named "Minx".
Anyway, I put a few (~5) stitches in a few weeks ago and a lot more this weekend. So it's a new start now.


On 18 count Aida.

Why am I stitching her? I find her compelling. And I've given up trying to justify my very odd taste...