A new start and a question

I first saw this on Michelle's blog where she's doing two, one in ecru and the other in blue-grey. I've done a few small hardanger pieces but since this didn't look too difficult I decided to join in.

It's a SAL conducted by Mamen (I knew two years of Spanish would come in handy!). It's at part 6 right now. I just finished part two.



I wanted to do it in non-traditional colours. This is black on pale grey-green. The photo is pretty bad, but the thunderstorm isn't great for lighting!

I knew from the start that I wanted it in not-white colours. It was a toss up between red or black floss, and I eventually went with black. The fabric? That's a pretty funny story. I was at my LNS and she had this lovely pink fabric and I was leaning towards that.
LNS: What are you starting with that choice?
Me: A hardanger bag.
LNS: Black on pink fabric? Who is it for?
Me: Me
LNS: Pink fabric?
Me: Yes
LNS: No, that won't work.
Me: Why not? It'll look great!
LNS: Definitely! It'll be gorgeous. But it'll never be used.
Me: ?
LNS: Honey, you're not a pink kind of girl. Can you honestly see yourself carrying a pink bag?
Me: But it'll look gorgeous!!!
LNS: But will you carry it in public?

We decided on a grey-green!

As to the question: I'm having trouble picking something to work on. Bluebeard's Princess is waiting for beads, Elemental Dragons is on semi-permanent hiatus, and the others aren't calling very loudly. So I thought "Why not let others choose?"

There's a poll up by the side. What would you like to see? Either finished or just a lot more stitching? Progress pictures are in the sidebar. Let your voice be heard! Exercise your right to vote!

Rose of Sharon Red Conversion

Since I've had a few people ask and to make life easier for all:

The dress:
746 becomes 666
745 becomes 321
676 becomes 498
729 becomes either 815 or 816
829/680 becomes 814
680 becomes 814/898

The conversion I've stitched is with gold ruffles.
Cream ruffles
3756 becomes 3865
3752 becomes 712
932 becomes 739
931 becomes 738

Gold ruffles
3756 becomes 746
3752 becomes 745
932 becomes 676
931 becomes 729

All credit to Princess on the Mira BB

Mail from across the pond

Cath, over at The Stitchin' Chicken, had a small contest a while back and sent me this very cute pincushion! Cue to me spending the next ten minutes trying to figure out who the designer is and where I'd seen it before (since it looked familiar). After my mental acuity failed I turned to Google which gave the answer in 0.18 seconds.


A Hug Will Do

A shot of the very pretty backing. Why is it that my local stores never have anything like this? Or if they do, why can I never find them?


And it's my very first Lizzie*Kate.

End of May Long

Well, May Long Weekend was productive in the sense that I slept and rested, but not very productive otherwise.

I did finish off Rose of Sharon's gorgeous dress.


Rose of Sharon
32ct Ivory Lugana

May Long begins with a whimper

Background for non-Canadians. Victoria Day is celebrated on the 24th of May or the Monday before it. (Hey what can I say? We're a bit strange that way~). It celebrates both Queen Victoria's and the current reigning monarch's birthday. Elizabeth II's actual birthday is April 21, but the "official" one is May 24th.

It's the only long week-end in May and is called May Long Weekend (self-explanatory), May Long, and May Two-Four (because it's around the 24th and you drink beer that comes in a pack of 24, a "two-four"). It officially begins on Friday at around 4 o'clock or whenever you escape leave work. It's when everyone goes up to their cottages and summer begins.

I had big plans: finish Bluebeard's Princess, finish all the Bunnies, finish my bag, sleep. I started beading BP around when May Long officially started (4-ish). And then I discovered that I hadn't bought one of the beads. So she's paused.


Bluebeard's Princess
32ct Laurel Linen
Some close ups of the beading so far:


The beads are the more expensive Magnifica, which lie very prettily.

Wrapping up the bunny fest

Bunnies in a Basket
28 ct opalescent whitePrevious bunnies here

Designer is Brittercup Designs of the famous cat outlines.

This took the longest and I was sick of the basket by the end. I am wondering if the flower on the left is too close in colour to the heart? I'll have to see how it looks in sunlight. On to something NOT over one.

TUSAL May

Once more, it's a day late.



Tons and tons of red from Cirque des Cercles and Rose of Sharon

1 Bunny, 2 Bunny, 3

As hinted last time I've had a couple of small finishes.

A while ago Pumpkin posted this and they were so cute that I just had to stitch them.

I'm doing the whole lot over one on 28 count opalescent white something with the DMC conversion. A few colour substitutions since I don't have all the colours.

One of these has a mistake. A pretty major one, any eagle eyed spotters?

Bunny Ornament:


Love Bunnies:


And I've just started Bunnies in a Basket.

Now the question of the day is how to finish them? They're all pretty tiny. Bunnies Ornament is going to be a scissors fob, but I'm undecided on the other two. I'm thinking a needlebook and a pinkeep, but which one for which finish? Any suggestions? Or maybe something completely different?

The mistake? The grass under the right bunny in Love Bunnies is higher than it should be. I missed a row when stitching the tail, and I didn't feel like frogging, so more grass!
And honestly? Would you know if I hadn't told you~

C'est fini

A big thank you to everyone for the encouragement and support. Sometimes it's just about having someone listen~

The weekend was very good in terms of stitching. I finished off all the back stitching in Weekend in Paris. This is a bit of an odd design since only the lady and a few of the letters are full crosses. The entire background and all the red are half crosses. They look thick because they are either 3 or 4 strands! All the half crosses actually skewed the piece a little. The corners aren't right angles but are slightly off. I'm trying to figure out how to stretch/warp it to a rectangle instead of a parallelogram.

Since I like doing this sort of thing, a before backstitch picture:


And after:

Start date January 18, 2010
Finish date May 9, 2010
Fabric 18 count white Aida
Total time 47.25 hours

And because I want more finishes I have a couple of new starts. I'm pretty sure that one will actually be a finish by tomorrow. (Since they'll take less than 10 hours I'm just going to sneak them in and out and we'll all pretend that my wagon/diet/whatever is still working LOL)

A "Poor Me", All Whine Post

Backstory: I just finished my 1st year of a 2 year program that will turn me into a lab rat (in either the chemical or biological industry). Part of the program is working a Co-op term which I started on Monday. I've only worked full time once before and that job wasn't very hard.

I AM EXHAUSTED! I wake up at the crack of dawn, wear my winter jacket (why yes, Winnipeg weather has gone back to the single digits!), catch a too-early bus for 1 hour, work & work & work, take the bus home, eat and then sleep. It's times like this that I wish I could just stay in school forever! Studying is so much more easier than working! How on earth do you who work and herd kids do it? I can barely herd myself!

So what with all the fatigue I really haven't had much of a chance to stitch anything, which is making me crabbier and more grumpy.

Did I mention the weather? Today was a high of 6 Celsius. With a windchill of about -2. In May. *Grumble grumble swear grumble*

And of course my camera batteries are dead. I think it's a conspiracy involving the camera people and the battery people to drain money from poor crabby students.

Sigh
Grumble
Grumble
Grumble

I swear I'm going to end up being the neighbourhood crazy crabby lady (without cats) who sits on the lawn, threatens kids when they run across the lawn, and complains loudly about how "Back in my day...", "...walked twenty miles in the snow in my bare feet..." and "Kids these days have no respect..." etc.

And I'm hungry. But never at lunch or dinner time. Just at random hours. eg I wasn't hungry at dinner time (8 pm) but I'm starving now (at 1 am).

Where's my rich Prince Charming who'll sweep me off my feet to live the life of luxury I was meant for?

In keeping with my grumpy mood instead of flowers and spring I'll leave you with these winter pictures cannibalized from the net.




PS. I'm just venting. I'm incredibly grateful for my job and really enjoy what I'm doing.

April Achievements & May Goals

Goals for April:
1. Go back to a rotation Not really. I worked on two things.
2. Finish Weekend in Paris I finished everything expect the backstitching.
3. Stitch Wisdom from Legends of Dragons No. It's just not calling me. Time to put it away for a while
4. Work on Red Rose of Sharon A couple of hours

April was rather slow. Too many assignments and tests. But now that school's out (YAY) but co-op begins (BOO) hopefully things will be different.

Goals for May:
1. Finish Weekend in Paris
2. Finish the Red Rose of Sharon dress
3. Start a Hardanger bag

Two weeks worth of mail

All rounded up in one convenient and late post.

First was this ton of ribbons from Staci. This by itself has almost quadrupled my ribbon stash. Now I can stop using that single giant roll of black (which technically matches everything) and add more colour! Canada Border Services must have been particularly paranoid when they checked this because the envelope was very chewed up when it got to me. Ah, what would we do without Ziploc bags?


Second was Why Hoard Gold by Dragon Dreams. I won this on a SAL and it winged its way pretty fast. A big thanks to Silverlotus who also tossed in the Marlitt threads, all the while telling me what a pain they are to use~


And wrapping it up this is lovely lot that arrived from Nima in Oman. A lovely piece of soft feeling fabric, beads and embellishments (some of which sadly broke in transit, but the rest are fine and very very cute) and she even threw in these gorgeous crochet flowers. She suggested that they could be coasters, at which I gasped in revulsion. Such pretties deserve a much better fate! (I am very hard on coasters. I misplace them at a ridiculous rate.) On this day Border Services seems to have been unconcerned since it arrived with nary a crease!

Going around in circles

I worked on CdC this weekend, and had a bit of progress. Mostly I've been reading, watching Shah Rukh Khan dance on a train and avoiding that massive assignment that's due Tuesday that I haven't even started. *sigh*


Cirque des Cercles
32 ct Lemon Whip Lugana, DMC 115
I did however run across a small problem: I made a few mistakes, and when I frogged them the holes were red from the dye. Any hints on how to get rid of this?

TUSAL April

A day late, but only because I thought the new moon was today.



This is the 4th and last jar in my hunt. It's mine so no one (Mum!) can throw it out and I like it (yay) so it will stay.

The blue-greens are from Bluebeard's Princess
The red is from Rose of Sharon
The flash is because I still can't take decent pictures.

I haven't been stitching much lately due to assignments and upcoming exams. And a mini-slump. I seem to have these one-week slumps. Put it down to my short attention span.
I have been visiting everyone's blogs, just no commenting whatsoever. Another mini-slump.

Maybe I should give up on this "stitch only WIPs" thing and switch to a "stash only (with needed floss) thing"... I wouldn't be buying anything, just starting lots more stuff...hmmm

A crisis that wasn't

Our epic tale begins the Monday after Easter as our young heroine takes out Rose of Sharon to work on. A few happy hours of stitching, and she picks the next symbol to work on.

"Oh, it's a blend. Let's see 814 & 898. Hmm...898 is brown."

But she hasn't used that particular brown in this design. And she knows that she has already stitched this symbol before. She hunts up a previous stitch and compares.
.
.
.
Horror! She used 498 in place of 898! Is she losing her sight? Is her handwriting that bad???

She wonders if it should be changed. She dithers. She ponders. She questions the universe. The universe does not answer.

It must be frogged and replaced. The shading will be wrong. And if she didn't it would nag her forever!

Decision made, she fortifies herself with chocolate and coffee and bravely takes up the monumental task.

30 minutes and 25 stitches later she is done. She glances around, hopes no one noticed that the epic frogging was not very epic and quickly and quietly moves on.


Rose of Sharon
32ct Ivory Lugana

Mail & lessons in geography

Paula from Spokane, Washington sent me all this as a giveaway win. I have plans for that fabric. (Well, I have plans for all my fabric, they just don't leave my mind.) Leftover fabric and everything else will be somehow involved in something St.Patrick's Day themed.

I keep hearing "from our studios in Spokane, Washington" in my head. Any ideas where this is from? I keep thinking it's Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune, but they're apparently filmed in LA...



The card about Spokane is really interesting. Of course, I had no idea where Spokane was and had to look it up. It's in Washington, which I thought was the city with the white Lincoln Statue. Not so. It's a state below BC. (I'd have guessed it was out east.)

Out of curiosity: where did you think Winnipeg was, or did you already know? Before we moved here my mum thought it was on the coast near Vancouver! And what's the weirdest misconception you've heard about your city/state/country?

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.

February Achievements & March Goals

Goals for February:
1. Finish Jack-O-Lantern Fob Done
2. Finish Weekend in Paris Nope
3. Start Autumn Winds Started but not much progress
4. Stitch a needlebook Yes, but I don't like it
5. Stitch a bag Done! And I adore it~

Other things I did that were unplanned:
1. Finished Bluebell
2. Started By the Window
3. Stitched the Legends of Dragons border

Goals for March:
1. Finish By the Window
2. Finish Weekend in Paris
3. Stitch Wisdom from Legends of Dragons
4. Work on Red Rose of Sharon

Not exactly a new start

I did about an hour's worth of stitches in January and now an hour's worth in February. At this rate this'll take a few hundred years...


Cirque des Cercles
32 ct Lemon Whip Lugana, DMC 115

The fabric is yellow. Not white.
One day I'll master the art of amazing photos. But that (like finishing this) won't be any time soon. *Sigh*
But I do like this red. Thank you to every enabler who used this in something and convinced me to pick it up~

Giveaway winner

First off, thanks to everyone that entered. I was a nervous wreck convinced that no one would enter so it was very gratifying to see people enter~

It was so much fun finding out how close people had been to Winnipeg. And kind of stunning to realize that people from such varied and "distant" lands are reading the ramblings of moi!

Now I'm sure you cared nothing for that, but only care about the result.

12 days. 28 people.

Randomizer (no picture, sorry) gives us:

#3 Angela

Angela of the lovely finishes. I can feel the pressure bearing down on me. All I ask, Angela, is that you be gentle~!

I've sent you an email. Send your snail mail by March 1. I'll suffer through my finals (next week. sob), bite my nails and rip out my hair trying to finish Small Token nicely, and send it out (eventually)...

Pretty in blue

Finished off the beading on Bluebell last night. The beads on her are crazy! There's microscopic ones (teal) and monsters (clear & blue). It was annoying getting the clear ones to stand up instead of flopping around.



Some closeups of the beads:




Start date October 2, 2009
Finish date February 20, 2010
Total time 43.5 hours
Fabric 32ct Waterlily Jobelan

Changes:
DMC 730 instead of Caron Waterlilies 204
Kreinik 9300 instead of 093
Kreinik 093 instead of 1223
Kreinik 001 instead of 1432
Kreinik 26V instead of 080HL
Kreinik 22 instead of DMC 838

This takes care of all the Pixies I've been called to stitch (so far). I can hear Lady Hera calling to me, but I'm ignoring her because I already have a ton of new starts with less than 10 hours stitched and I shouldn't start another one.

Bag it

"Spring" break has been rather unproductive in terms of visible stitching progress and vastly productive in terms of sleep and general laziness.

However I did manage to drag out my sewing machine and put together this:



I absolutely adore it! The outside is a home decor fabric, and the inside is a silky red. However it's a lot floppier than I expected! A lot floppier!



Here it's being propped up by about a dozen paperbacks


I probably should have added some black ribbon/strips to accent. And if you're eagle eyed there's a tiny part near the bottom that didn't meet that's been fixed by hand. And the black straps aren't exactly aligned.
But that's being very nitpicky and this bag looks and feels gorgeous! I can't wait to take it outside~

I didn't use any interfacing because the outside material was heavy and the lining so silky that it was a pain to get them aligned and I'd have never managed if there'd been interfacing.

As I said: it's floppy and the sides fall in. But if I actually push them in it looks good. You can see that a bit in the first picture.

Edit: Switched my comments format after someone mentioned that they were having problems. Drop me an email if there are still issues~

TUSAL February

Mum reclaimed the water glass, so I'm using a University of Toronto mug. One that belongs to my brother who doesn't go to UofT. And he's never explained why he has a mug from there...


What's new:
All that cream is actually yellow from the Legends border.

Wow that flash really picks up all the dust and smudges!

So close...

Tomorrow is Louis Riel Day and this week is spring break. Although considering the amount of snow outside the "spring" part is a joke! Since I'm actually caught up on all my assignments, there will hopefully be lots of stitching progress this week.

Yesterday I dug up Bluebell with the intent of finishing her. And I could have too. However the curly vines are actually backstitched with DMC. Odd considering Nora's love of sparkly bling! So I've decided to swap it out for a metallic, and since I don't have a brown one I have to dash to the LNS during the week.


Bluebell
32ct Waterlily Jobelan

I found her wings to be too eyecatching, if that makes any sense. I want Bluebell and the dress to be the focus, so I switched around the colours in the wings. I'm not sure that worked out. It was fine before the outlining purple which seems to be a bit too dark. And I think the paler purple is too pale. But it's pretty and I hate frogging Kreinik, so it will stay.

I don't have the required Caron Waterlily and my LNS would've taken ages to order it, so after staring at the model, finishes online and squinting at the Caron website, I swapped it out for DMC 730, and am pleased.

And if anyone is planning on stitching her, the backstitch around the flowers had no code on my chart. (Not sure if it's been changed for newer prints.) It's apparently 800 according to Wichelt. Just a heads up.

Today was spent on the Legends' border, so just imagine the border growing. Not worth a picture~

Giveaway

And this one is actually mine~

So to celebrate 100 posts (this) and 50 followers (sometime last month!) I'm holding a small giveaway:



If your reaction is "What on earth is that?" Fear not. It will be a needlebook. Currently it's a WIP. (How shocking!)The picture will change as it is completed. The fabric is actually a muddy mottled green. (Ignore the hair. I'm shedding.)

Rules:
Comment on this post only and state that you'd like to win.
That's it.
Edit: I will announce the winner here and send an email (if possible). You have 5 days to respond after which I'll pick someone else.

Bonus:
Let me know how close you've been to Winnipeg and I'll send something.
Eg. You've never been to Canada: a moose
You've never been to the prairies: a sheaf of wheat
You live in Winnipeg: I have nothing for you
(Note: the above are examples. You will not receive a live moose! I'm pretty sure shipping one is illegal.)

Deadline:
February 24th 10:00 PM Winnipeg Time

Good luck!

A new start for the Olympics

I decided to use the Olympics as an excuse for another new start. This is my first HAED, and in an attempt to be somewhat sane, it's a Quick Stitch.


Autumn Winds
28ct antique white Lugana
The fabric choice is simply because on 28 ct she comes to about 7x5, and that brings my framing costs down (I'm looking at all kinds of things as I decide what to stitch).

I think I'm going to have to accept defeat and invest in multicoloured highlighters for her. Scanning ahead it's going to be tricky following a symbol because they wander quite a bit. (Did that make any sense at all?)

The goal is to finish her by the time the Sochi Olympics roll around.
What you thought I was going to say this Olympics? Let's try and be reasonable here!

(No, I had no idea where the 2014 Olympics were being held. I had to look it up.)

Mail!

A while ago I won Paulina's giveaway and it arrived today:


A close up of the cat

And the backing fabric

I have no idea how to finish such a finicky shape, and now that I have this cat I won't ever have to learn! Paulina's done an amazing job. It's very soft and cute!

The Dutch Treat Designs bag comes with the fabric and I was 2 seconds from starting, but I'd already put a few stitches in a new start. So it will have to wait. It does call for Perle cottons that I don't have. I'm debating buying them or using regular DMC...

I love getting stuff! *twirls and giggles like a moron* Stitchers are such generous and wonderful people!

Borders and other joys

Weather here has been lousy lately. Warmish one day and freezing the next. Ah good old Winnipeg winters...
I have to mention the giant ice patch along my walk to the bus stop. Honestly, there's this one spot where there's always a giant icy patch about 3 feet long. It snowed last night, so I figured the patch would be covered and I could walk on it, but no. It was icy, while the area around it was powder! I have a secret suspicion that someone runs out and throws a bucket of water to ice it up, and cackles as unwary pedestrians crack their skulls!


Legends of Dragons
28ct antique white Lugana
I finished Magic and started on the border. I'm not very fond of them, but they add so much...

I had thought that I might use an overdyed but couldn't find one I liked, so I just went with what's charted. It is a very nice border after all. However it has 2 primary yellows, one secondary and a last one for a few random stitches. I tried stitching just one colour but kept getting lost, so I grabbed another needle and now I'm alternating between the two primary yellows. Stitch one, then stitch the other. This way the second one can "check" the first one.

It worked but I was still frogging. I don't like to highlight even though I use working copies.. Mostly because I move on and then forget where I am relative to the already highlighted parts. Finally I came up with this low tech solution which is working quite well:

One giant paperclip that slides along as I go! I am quite pleased with myself over this solution!

I don't usually order charts via my LNS, but I decided to give it a try. Ordered one last month and asked her yesterday when I could expect it. Apparently they don't have enough to warrant an order from that supplier so they're waiting until the order is a good size. ETA: mid March. I ordered in mid January. If I'd know that it would've taken that long I'd have done it online and paid the shipping anyway. Guess I'll stick to the net for my charts and go to the LNS for fabric and beads.

Random ramblings

This arrived in my mailbox on Tuesday! Picture now, because my camera battery died and I finally replaced it. I won Danielle's floss giveaway, and WOW is she awesome! They're all gorgeous and soft and I pawed them for a long time before putting them away. (I was very careful not to drool on them.) Now to figure out how to put them to best use...



It's always nice to know that I'm not alone in my woes. When I told my brother he said something about women not being able to ask for directions!

As for the scissors: thanks to everyone who suggested ways to get them. However JoAnn's apparently doesn't ship outside the States. Grr... And when I asked the local WalMart I got a "what kind of scissors?" as a response. Once we sorted out what I meant, it was "No" and "I'm sorry I have no idea where you could get one."

So I whined in class to my friend.
Sidenote: She's a crafter! My age! I couldn't believe it. She sews clothes and quilts and stuff. (I know there are stitchy crafters my age out there, but she's the first one I've met IRL).
Anyway a few hours of my moaning:
"I can get you a pair for $15."
"Really???"
"Yes. Watch where you're pouring that @#$! chemical!"

So now I have a pair of Fiskers pinking shears.

Fob finishing and other adventures

Today's post is a hodge-podge of things.

First: I finished my Jack-O-Lantern Scissors Fob. Started it yesterday but didn't assemble it till this evening. It's a freebie by Casey Buonaugurio. You'll note that while lots of people are stitching Valentine themed stuff, I'm...on Halloween.


Jack O Lantern
28ct antique white Lugana

The blending filament is for scale. The tiny biscornu is my ex-fob and my Halloween Fob is on my flowery scissors.

This was fun and quick to stitch but a nightmare to finish. My first try I couldn't get the corners to lie properly, so I stitched down the corners for my second try. I have no idea how the queens of small finishes manage it! I have absolutely no desire to start another fob! (Also I don't have a scissor for it...3 fobs, 2 scissors)

Second: I decided it was high time I picked up a pair of pinking shears. My needlebooks so far have straight edged felt and since the pinked edges are so much cuter...
Anyway Michaels doesn't have them, so I drove over to Fabricland to be told that the ones they had were ~$50. For that kind of money they need to made of pure silver and sing as they cut! No pinking shears for me. My needlebook's felt will have straight edges.

That's all for stitching. The rest is just...sad, in a pathetic sort of way.

You know when you're driving downtown, through all those one way streets, around rush hour and there's that one idiot switching lanes, cutting you off and generally making you swear and shake your fist? That crazy drunk driver? Today, I was that person. Minus the drinking.

To make a short story long: my mum was going to take the bus downtown but since it was so cold I offered to drive her in. I've never driven in downtown anywhere, and never in a place with lots of one ways. I looked up the route on Google which lied to me. So I decided to accept my mum's directions and drive. All was perfect until I dropped my mum off and realized that the road I'd just driven down was a one-way and I didn't know how to get back. What followed was half an hour of me driving down random streets trying to find a road I recognized, cutting people off as I switched lanes and generally wreaking havoc across downtown Winnipeg. Clearly, I survived. But I am very sorry for all the people who were subjected to my driving.