Toddle On

Rachel's To the Beach (pretty bad picture here since I can't find one online) by Janlynn wraps up the last UFORR.

As it arrived:


As it goes out:


I had a bit of an issue with this one. A few hours in I realized that certain places weren't matching up and then I figured out that a stitch had been off. And I had picked that stitch to start from. Grrrrr.

So to wrap up: Would I do another UFORR? You bet. It's an excellent chance to work on designs I'd never otherwise touch. And sometimes you get sucked into adding to your stash anyway. Plus you can't beat having someone else get you over the block on whatever piece you're stuck on. And there's none of the stress of a trying to come up with a layout like in a themed RR.

Cons? Well, you really have to be able to keep up. The ones I've done have 6 weeks (post takes up some of that time). But if you lose your mojo it just sucks. And you may end up working on something you don't care for. I've been lucky, all the ones I've worked on are interesting in some way. Also depending on how tight finances are the postal costs can add up. If it's a well run RR then the mail will be tracked and depending on where you're mailing to it may get expensive.

So why am I not participating in another one? Have you seen my WIP list? And my next up/short list? I need to get some of my oldies out of the way.

An excellent place to go is the TWRoundRobin board, which runs both UFORRs and themed RRs throughout the year. But think about it several times because it is a serious long-term(ish) commitment.

Snooze On

Continuing my work on UFORRs, this is Tali's Sleeping Beauty by Mirabilia.

As it arrived:


As it goes out



She's rather massive and has far more white than you'd suspect from the model. As a rule I tend to pick a colour/area and follow it through. I know some folks like to go page by page. So for her I decided to stop where the working copy cut off (about halfway through the blanket). It didn't work. Apparently I'm incapable of stopping at a page's end, I just have to follow a line of colour and finish it off.

As pretty as she is, this Mira is one that's never called to me. Her sleeping position looks awkward, and I think she looks a bit pregnant (shades of the Perreault version there!). Also my first Disney movie was Sleeping Beauty, so I expect her to be a singing blonde named Aurora.

On the other hand I've never seen Disney's Cinderella, so I'm fine with Mira's version. She's actually on the list...

Magic

My second UFORR arrived home yesterday.

Palm is a Dimensions kit that I started when my stash was not at hand. Big thanks to the ladies who worked on this: arthenice, Theialin, MissStitchy, Rachel, Frog, Rahenna, pds and Measi.

I sent this out:


And the magic of the UFORR returned this:


Palm
14 ct Khaki Aida
Isn't that just incredible? I have a feeling this will feature during the 2012 Wipocalypse.

If You Could See What I Have Done

This wraps up one of the UFORRs I'm participating in. The other has 2 pieces to go. This is Rahenna's Amaryllis in Bloom by Dimensions.

As it arrived:


As it goes out


I'm not sure how visible it is, but I've done a fair bit of the half crosses in the background.

In odd news my SD reader is acting up. It doesn't register my SD card when I insert it, but the computer will read the card when it's in a camera that's attached to the computer. Weird.

Benefits of Outsourcing

So I've been showcasing other people's UFORRs for the past year. Today I'll show you the other side while I celebrate the first finish since April! (Are you shocked? I'm appalled by my lack of finishing!)

This was Rose of Sharon when I sent her off: Dress done, arch and flowers not.


Rachel, Theialin, Tali and Kris worked their magic, and returned this:


Isn't she gorgeous? I'm so, so happy that she's done! And the fact that I got to stitch my favourite part and left the not-so-favourite bits to someone else? I'm smirking all the way to the finished drawer.

There are so many greens and pinks in the foliage it isn't funny.

Title	(Red) Rose of Sharon
Designer	Mirabilia
Start date	March 6, 2009
Finish date	She returned on August 17, 2011 so I'm counting that as the finish date
Total time	I put in 121 hours and have no idea how many the ladies put in
Fabric	32 ct Ivory lugana
Floss	Conversion as given here

And now for a lot more pictures of that lovely dress!

Wonderous Wings

Continuing the trend of UFORR stitching (it's been two months since I posted a picture of my own work. Are you shocked? I'm flabbergasted), this is Theialin's Butterfly at Night. What information I can find is conflicting, but it appears to have been designed by Maria van Scharrenburg for Lanarte. While it's not on their website anymore it does appear to be available as either a kit or as a leaflet along with its sister design.

As it arrived:


As it goes out


I love those wings. The translucent part where the moon shines is achieved by full crosses with one strand. While the darker outsides are two strands. You can hardly tell that some of those translucent colours are the same as the ones in the larger area!

This takes care of the postal strike backlog. Now I'm back on track with two still with me. However! I'm setting them aside for a bit so I can work on something of my own.

Rejoice!

For I have returned! I have battled demons and monsters and persevered and am back!

This one is Lindsay's Beguiling Tiger. I got a bit of a shock when I received it since (keep up with me here) I'd seen a picture of it the previous stitcher had posted and since it looks so detailed I'd assumed that it was a bigger piece. Not so. It's 5x7 on 18 ct. The second shock was when I realized how tiny the holes looked. Apparently I'd gotten used to the 14 ct of the previous designs...

As it arrived:


As it goes out



Now this isn't anything near how much I usually stitch on a round but I was running horribly late so I just sucked it up and sent it on.

And then I pulled out the next RR and somehow it was "click". I may have a picture by the end of the week...

A Clowder of Cats

Yes, you read that right. A group of cats is properly a clowder. And here I thought nothing could beat a congregation of crocodiles.

This is Measi's Smoky Mountain Cats. I think it's by Sherry Vintson for Pegasus Originals Inc, but it isn't on their website.

As it arrived:


As it goes out


I added the top row of cats. I'm rather ambivalent about this piece. The monochrome blue was fun until it stopped being fun and then I just wanted to randomly stitch one of the cats in red.

On an unrelated note: every now and then I look at all the amazing photos that people stage and think "I should do that. Make it look nice." And then I try for about 3 photos, quit and post whatever looks semi-decent. Hopefully people are here for the stitching (and maybe my brilliant wit) and not for my artistic abilities ;)

Shamble On

You know those old fashioned zombies? The ones that shuffle along wailing for brains? They move faster than my stitching.

But it turns out that if you stitch a bit every day eventually you reach those brains have progress.

This is Kris' Spring Sampler designed by Sandy Orton for Janlynn.

This isn't as much as I usually stitch on a UFORR, but with my mojo? I'm sobbing tears of pride.

As it arrived:


As it goes out



Tomorrow will be the other UFORR, which had even less progress. sigh

PS. If anyone has been wondering why I haven't been leaving any comments, my commenting-mojo (if there is such a thing) is dead. But if I've ever left you a comment, if you've ever left me a comment, if I'm a Follower then rest assured that I'm visiting, drooling and coveting your stitching! (just not admitting it)

Pale Colours

Another UFO RR piece :)

This is Arthenice's (not sure if she has a blog, I haven't managed to find it...) Angel of Spring by Lavender & Lace.

This was an interesting experience, since before I got it I was really looking forward to it. And then I got it and didn't want to stitch on it. Mostly because I had Apache Wedding Blessing arrive almost the same day and it was so much more colourful.

I struggled with the wings. Even though they have lovely venation from afar, close up it just looks all white, so I kept putting it aside. I eventually buckled down and once I got to the ribbon I didn't want to put it down!

Lesson learned: stitch the colours since I enjoy them a lot more!

Other lesson: The L&L angels are not for me. Way too pale. Admittedly only Grace and Hope were vaguely on the list, but since they're mostly white they're departing said list.

As it arrived:


As it goes out:

Are Those Canadian Geese?

First installment of yet another UFO RR.

This is Measi's Apache Wedding Blessing designed by Sandy Orton for Janlynn.

The repetition of the border was very soothing and the changes in the feathers/stones wasn't too bad. I did my standard hours on it and finished a ton more than I ever imagined!

As it arrived:


As it goes out

A Castle, Some Greenery and A Rant

The 4th round (I can't believe that it's already half way through) was Theialin's My Lady's Chateau.

It arrived as this:


And I really really wanted to stitch the castle. But I've been stitching all my favourite parts on everyone's UFOs. Admittedly I don't think this is a bad thing, because the idea is to give these UFOs a nice boost. But...am I depriving someone further down the line the chance to stitch a part they have their eye on? Am I over thinking things???


So I stitched the castle and tons of boring greenery to make up for my self-induced guilt. Which leads to the rant:

This is a Dimensions chart, so multi-coloured symbols. That I can deal with. But a "E" next to "E"? and "r" next to "r"? And a light green heart next to a black heart? (There was also a blue heart, but thankfully in a different part of the chart). Aaarghh!!!

Actually, now that I look at it I got a crazy amount done! Maybe I should apply this "guilt" thing to my own works...

Wander Around

The third round of the UFO RR was MissStitchy's Enchanting Geisha, who reached my house as this:


And will be leaving as this:


Originally I planned to stitch her hair, but the relentless black drove me away, same with part of the kimono. So I went to the background, got tired of the half stitches and stitched some of the coloured bits in the kimono. Apologies to whoever gets trapped with the black ;)

The colours are very pretty and being Dimensions there's a lot of odd colour/strand number combinations, but the effect looks lovely.

A Beehive?

At least that's I thought when I saw the orange "thing". Turns out it's part of a roof.

Round 2 of the UFO RR was Rachel's Wizard of Oz.

Upon arrival:

Upon departure:

Finished off the page and put out a feeler into the next.

Cartoon Ark

Back in August I signed up for a UFO round robin. Now technically the only piece I could legitimately call a UFO was Ganesha. However He consists of large amount of blended confetti (and my father would never forgive me if He wasn't wrought by my own two hands).

So I decided to send out Palm, which I'd begun a month before. Not sure if I've mentioned this already, so bear with me if I have. Back when I was moving and I very efficiently packed away all my stash (and my books) I had a few hours in which the only thing I could find was a kit by Dimensions, which I promptly began. However when my stash arrived I promptly went back. So out of all my WIPs it was the one I wanted to work on the least. So I sent it off.

The first piece I got to stitch on was Rebekah's Noah's Ark. When it arrived at my house (after a 3 week trip).

And will leave in a week as this:


The creatures are eyeless due to my intense dislike of French knots. So some soul with much better skills at French knots can have their pleasure.

Now for a bit of whine, because what's one of my posts without some crabbing? ;) The clouds in the design were not filled in. There was no white in the kit and they were just outlined. I think that's lazy/shoddy. It gets even worse when you realize that there are giant pandas and swans in the design which would have unstitched areas next to stitched areas. Now I'm all for picking a blue fabric if you have a giant sky or a giant ocean and don't want to stitch in the background. But I think outlining an unfilled area is just weird.