For Everything Else There's Mastercard

Black satin		$ 1.00
White satin ribbon		$ 0.70
Clear beads		$ 1.00
Flower embellishment		$ 0.20
Velco		$ 0.20
Something that fits my specifications		PRICELESS

*Cost estimates based on fraction of material used. eg. 1/5 of $ 3.5 dollar ribbon. Small errors may be visible upon close examination. Beadwork cannot be rigorously handled. Washing is not recommended. Shelflife depends on amount of use.
**Giftcard for demonstration purposes only, not included.

A Contest?

How many hours to finish all the backstitching on Sleepy Hollow?

This is what it looks like at 96.5 hours (before any backstitching):


Sleepy Hollow
32 ct Thunderstorm
Rules of the contest:
You can narrow your guess to the nearest quarter hour.
Comments will lock in one week.
The closest guess will win something Halloween related (or Fall if the winner isn't a fan).
The prize will be sent out sometime next year since the rest of the year is no-new-starts. The prize will arrive before Halloween.

Random helpful/useless information

What is backstitched?
The text
Every motif in the border
The outermost part and the innermost part of the border
The trees, the grass, the gravestones, the pumpkin, the horse and the man
If it looks like there's a major colour change, then there's backstitching there
The moon is not backstitched

My record of backstitching:
Legends of Dragons border: 11.5 hours
Weekend in Paris: 6.75 hours.
Christmas Angel:13.75 hours.

*Sigh*

While I've been good and haven't started anything, I've also felt somewhat blah and not stitched very much. I blame the weather. Tomorrow's forecast is snow.

After I got tired of the Sleepy Hollow moon I stitched a little on (everyone's favourite) CdC.

Cirque des Cercles
32 ct Lemon Whip Lugana, DMC 115

TUSAL November

I can't believe that it's November! Almost the end of the year. Time just seems to go by faster the older I get.

Some red, green and blue from what I'm working on for exchanges. The gray is from my Sleepy Hollow frogging.

October Achievements & November Goals

Goals for October:
1. Finish Sleepy Hollow No. Apparently I keep over-estimating my rate of stitching
2. Stitch on the UFORR and mail it out Done.

Other things I did that were unplanned:
1. Got started on my exchanges

Goals for November:
1. Finish Sleepy Hollow
2. Stitch on the UFORR and mail it out
3. Send off my exchanges
4. NO NEW STARTS!!!

A Day With Sleepy Hollow

Rachel is hosting her all-day Halloween SAL, and since the only Halloween piece I have going is Sleepy Hollow that's what I'll be working on.

This is Sleepy Hollow as I start today.

After 3.5 hours:

I changed my mind about using a metallic after about 40 stitches. While I still think a shiny moon would be fun it's a bit too much of a pain. (Also I don't have a suitable yellow-gold colour).

And at the end of the day:

I Did Not Tell A Lie

In my last post I outlined my no-start plans and despite the encouragement I'm sure no one actually believes I can carry it off. But you'll note I never said anything about the rest of October...

I won Diane's giveaway of the JCS Christmas preview and it arrived last Wednesday. I immediately started Tis Green and was completely prepared to post a picture on Thursday when I realized that I had missed four stitches.

I put those stitches in today.



Start date October 20, 2010
Finish date October 28, 2010
Fabric 28 ct antique white Lugana
Floss Weeks Dye Works Emerald
Total time 5 hours

My new starts (for the curious) will be Cirque des Triangles (I plan on starting it after I finish Cercles), Mirabilia's Spring Queen, Mirabilia's Cinderella, Lavender & Lace's Celtic Spring and Lavender & Lace's Celtic Autumn. Hilariously, other then CdT, the rest will not be exactly as charted. But you'll have to hang around to see what I mean~

Past the Frame

Success! I've gotten past the frame. One small fix which I'm sure no one can tell and it's all good. It only lacks the beads which'll be added at the end.

Being very frugal (so much nicer sounding than cheap!) when I have a new start I only buy colours I don't have or if I think I don't have enough in my stash. This means that I occassionally run out because I think I have enough but I really don't. I'm probably going to need more of one of the browns in the tree.

Sleepy Hollow
32 ct Thunderstorm

Otherwise progress is pretty good. Thanks to everyone for the different suggestions on what to do on the moon. I think every option was championed and new ones introduced!

I went by my LNS and took a look at the called for Waterlily, which is a green/yellow that I don't care for. I think I'm going to go with a Kreinik for a sparkly moon. It will be the biggest block of metallic stitching I've done, so hopefully it'll go well.

Halloween being a week away I'm pretty sure this isn't going to be over, but I'm going to head for a HD. Plus, I have 5 new starts waiting in the wings. And I mean 5 big ones (I've given up counting smalls since I just stitch those whenever the muse hits). I think I'm going to have a No-Start-November and a Wrap-It-Up-December so that I can be ready for Guilt-Free-January. Anyone want to take bets on whether I succeed? ;)

Asymmetry Induced Resentment

Symmetry: beauty based on proportionate arrangements
Asymmetry: a gross violation of symmetry

The sheer amount of resent I feel towards Sleepy Hollow's frame cannot be expressed in mere words. (But I'm still going to give it a shot). When I looked at the frame I assumed that the spaces between the pumpkin-skull-pumpkin-bat was the same everywhere. Except the horizontal middle where it's clearly different. So I counted the repetition once and stitched one entire side of the frame and was most of the way through the second when I just traced over to check if it matched the horse.

It did not. There are two extra spaces after the second vertical bat.

I am not a happy camper. I'm not frogging and am just going to shorten the tree somehow.

But I'm still very, very resentful. Both at the border for not being consistant and at myself for assuming the pattern held.

A Horse! A Horse!

My kingdom for a horse! (Richard III, 5.4.7)

So spurred on by several people I decided to give Sleepy Hollow my best shot. So I stitch happily until this:

Sleepy Hollow
32 ct Thunderstorm
Swore profusely when I realized that I'd made a counting mistake and frogged 45 minutes until this:

And then I pushed on until: :


I've actually gotten a bit more of the grass done than in the picture. The plan is to finish the grass, then get back to the border, stitch the tree and gravestone, the moon, the clothes and finish it off with the pumpkin.

As far as the moon goes I haven't decided if I want to use the Waterlily. The model moon has a stripy look (which I've mentioned a billion times that I don't care for in non-geometric designs). The question is whether I want to use a yellowish DMC, or go with a metallic for a sparkly moon. So what are the suggestions? Stitch with Waterlily, go with DMC, or go sparkly?

Now numbering seven

I decided over Thanksgiving that it had been forever since I'd had a finish (actually only the end of August) and that I needed to finish something. And since it looks like my goal of finishing Sleepy Hollow is a pipe dream I decided to stitch something small. And what is the single small finish that I have mastered?


Yep, another biscornu.


I stitched the #18 biscornu from Aurelle. The blog is French but the freebies are easy to find. The giant Index is your hint;)

I left out a few bits to make it fit onto the scrap of fabric I had.

It's on 32 count waterlily linen. The light pink/peach is Weeks Dye Works Peony and the dark is Crescent Colours Bandana. The beads are Mill Hill 40479. I went a little crazy with the beads and even stitched them to be oriented properly.


Start date October 10, 2010
Finish date October 11, 2010
Total time 7 hours

My collection as it now stands


Clockwise starting from the new one: #18, Bulgarian Motif, Baby Shamrock, my own puttering, Garden biscornu, Fall Dreams, and Love. And except for Baby Shamrock they're all freebies.

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.

TUSAL October

I was looking up at the sky on Monday morning as I was walking to the bus stop and was greeted by a gorgeous dawn sky. A beautiful crescent moon, tons of stars. I even saw Orion, the only constellation I can recognize.

"Self" I thought "you must take a photo (if you can)". So today I went out with the camera. I had somehow failed to grasp that a few days after the crescent moon comes a new moon. Oh well, I might be able to have a good Halloween picture at any rate.

This month's TUSAL picture:



The bit of red is from Cirque des Cercles, the black from Sleepy Hollow, the green from Why Hoard Gold? and the bit of blue is from the RR I'm working on now.

In the background is a souvenir stein I picked up in Germany last summer. I'm one of those tourists that's keeping the tacky/kitschy/silly/stereotypical souvenir industry in business. I just love having stuff from countries I've been to. (And yes I sometimes count airports if it's unlikely I'll get to the actual country anytime soon.)

Failing to Accept Defeat

Let's begin by admiring my new lined pouch.


Isn't the green lovely? And that gorgeous crocheted flower that Nima sent me as part of her giveaway?
Look how successfully I've used the zipper foot for the first time ever!



Let's not notice how the "rectangular" pouch is actually more of a very strange quadrilateral. Let's dwell on the fact that it can hold my calculator and pens. And that I used photos which minimize the non-rectangular nature of the pouch.

Let us conclude by acknowledging that I can't sew using a machine and that it's a very very good thing I stitched my ladybug bag by hand.

Let us also acknowledge that this failure is not going to stop me from trying again.

Cute Ladybugs

I have piles of 1/2 yards of fabric. They're gorgeous and I adore them and I haven't been able to cut into them. It's quite quite pathetic. Last week I decided it was time to grab my scissors and get to work. I failed to cut into any of them. Instead I cut into one of my fat quarters. I stood holding my scissors and thought I can't do this. And then I thought "Oh for crying out loud! It cost me less than $2 dollars! So what if it goes wrong?" and I cut away.

I used Rae's Buttercup Bag freebie. I prefer my linings to be bright, so I went this cheerful yellow.

Since people will only see the outside I took extra care to make sure everything looks good outside (and slightly less care inside). The pockets are... well, not proper. I have realized that I can't stitch two pieces of square fabric, turn them inside out and get them flat. So I just used some iron on interface and stitched.

Instead of a magnetic snap I used an elastic hairtie and this cute ladybug button. The strap turned out a bit thin (mostly because my fat quarter wasn't 18"x22").


I took it out today and it fit a whole bunch of papers, my Ipod, wallet and keys with lots of room left over. About the size of my other small purse. If everything is in the middle of the purse then it gapes at the sides when closed, but as long as I make sure my junk is balanced it stays fine.


The whole thing was stitched by hand because I'm not all that great wrestling the sewing machine.

Tune in tomorrow for my attempt at using the sewing machine to make something.

And before you wonder at the frequent posts, I'm just making up for the camera-less time. Tomorrow will the last of the "catch up" posts and then it's back to our regularly scheduled programming.

I was a bit surprised by the number of folks who commented that "he" (my dragon) looked good. A bit sexist, I suppose, but I've always assumed that a dragon hoarding chocolate would be a girl! I think I know one guy who cares about chocolate, everyone else can take it or leave it. Unlike most of the girls, who are aficionados!

Green Dragon

Why Hoard Gold? as of right now. Taking a break from it this weekend to work on Rebekah's RR.


Why Hoard Gold?
28 ct white lugana
A big thanks to all the suggestions last post.

September Achievements & October Goals

Goals for September:
1. Finish Sleepy Hollow HA HA HA! No.

Other things I did that were unplanned:
1. Worked on Cirque des Cercles
2. Worked on Why Hoard Gold?

Goals for October:
1. Finish Sleepy Hollow
2. Stitch on the UFORR and mail it out

Not the most productive of months.

Red Circles

Yay I got my camera. Um, it's black and already has a billion prints. This was a test photo. I still have to read the manual and play with the settings.


Cirque des Cercles
32 ct Lemon Whip Lugana, DMC 115
Cirque progress for the month. You know, I bet if I really wanted to I could finish this next month. Definitely by the end of the year...

Zen & the Art of Exercise

Turns out that my local Canada Post closes at 3 on Fridays. So still cameraless. But I have now passed beyond anger and frustration and disappointment. I am a calm pebble in an ocean of tranquility.

After a session with Cirque I felt like more colour, so I went green.



Why Hoard Gold?
28 ct white lugana

This is actually stitching up quite fast and I'm enjoying it. The scan exaggerates the difference between the greens. I've decided to finish all the parts that use Anchor Marlitt thread first. It's definitely an interesting experience using them. They don't stay together. And they tangle up like crazy! The modus is short threads and firm, smooth pulls.

In unrelated news, my mum, in a fit of health consciousness, has bought a treadmill. And decided that I'm going to be exercising with her in the spirit of solidarity and because it's good for me (or something to that effect). I think she just wants me to suffer with her.
My first run will be tomorrow. So if I don't show up for the next while I'm probably looking for a chainsaw to introduce to the treadmill.

Really?!

Got the notice today that the camera is at the post office. Am I the only one seeing a connection between a whiny post and a delivery?!

No picture of my WIP because I'm not battling the scanner if a proper photo is a day away.

A big thanks to the suckers awesome people who've agreed to an exchange with me.

Randomness

Still waiting on my camera. Yesterday, according to CP it arrived in Winnipeg on the 18 and was re-routed and wandering the city. Today, CP has no idea where it is. *Sigh* Why do I keep hoping for miracles? You figure by now I'll have accepted CP and it's foibles.

Oh yeah, the day after my last whine session package 1 arrived in Venezuela (thank goodness) and the one to the States got there too. Still waiting on Malaysia.

Maybe I'll battle the scanner tomorrow for a picture of what I've been up to. Maybe.

And just for fun: a beaver. The one true Canadian animal. (I've never actually seen one outside a zoo.)


And to wrap up: anyone interested in swapping a biscornu? I figure we can each pick one of the billion freebies out there, stitch and mail. Or! I can send a biscornu (pretty much the only finish I'm truly comfortable with) and you can send me your favourite finish!
Keep in mind that the mail will go through Canada Post, the people who put the "snail" in snail mail. And you've heard me whine about them plenty! My email is in my profile.

Man Proposes, God Disposes

And in my case, the Devil Counterposes.

Proposal: I shall mail these two giveaway prizes off to Venezuela and Malaysia respectively and they shall arrive in two weeks.
Disposal: 4 weeks and they have not yet arrived.

Proposal: I shall purchase this camera over the internet.
Disposal: My choice shall suddenly go out of stock and I shall not be informed.

Proposal: I shall mail this package to the US and it shall arrive in 4-6 days.
Disposal: The package shall stay in the sorting office for 6 days.

Proposal: I shall work on Sleepy Hollow.
Disposal: Perhaps not.

Counterposal: Why not work on Cirque des Cercles? Isn't the red pretty?

*Counterpose is an actual word, but counterposal is not

The Galloping Hessian!

Today is the new moon. Unfortunately I lack a camera, and therefore no picture of my TUSAL jar.

In apology I offer this (atrocious) scan of my newest project: Glendon Place's Sleepy Hollow. His Headlessness is from Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" available for free since it passed out of copyright ages ago. A very enjoyable story but be warned that Irving is a flowery & descriptive writer.

My computer is on it's last legs and simply can't run any photo editing software. My camera died in the move and my brother took his camera when he went back to university. So until my new camera arrives (hopefully in a week) we'll all have to cringe through truly bad scans.


Sleepy Hollow
32 ct Thunderstorm
This picture in no way resembles what's sitting before me. Sadly it's the best I can do. The fabric is 32ct Thunderstorm linen, a very nice splotchy grey.

The scan actually cuts off a bit more of the border. I've reached the top and finished the rightmost pumpkin & bat. The border actually isn't too bad, but I'm alternating it & the horse so I don't get too bored.

A Different Kind of Biscornu

I have a daily commute which may or may not involve waiting 30 minutes for a bus. (Winnipeg transit is not the best in the world.) What better way to kill time than by stitching?

I didn't want to deal with multiple colours and in the hunt for a monochromatic small I dug through my freebies and started Anita's 15 sided blackwork biscornu. Except I decided to stitch it on 18ct black aida with white thread.


The motifs are 14 stitches long, which makes them a little under an inch. I've never made a 15 sided biscornu before so it should be an interesting exercise.

August Achievements & September Goals

Goals for August:
1. Finish Minx Done. Yay! Yay! Yay!
2. Stitch two scissor fobs Done. A seahorse and a Christmas Tree.

Other things I did that were unplanned:
1. Signed up for a UFO RR
2. Started a 15 sided blackwork biscornu as a travel piece
3. Started Glendon Place's Sleepy Hollow

Goals for September:
1. Finish Sleepy Hollow

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.

Christmas already?

Fear not. I haven't begun Christmas stitching before Halloween stitching. In fact I think I'll made September Halloween month. Unlike last year where the last two weeks of October were for Halloween stitching.

Back to Christmas. I mentioned that the other fob request was for a Christmas tree. After hunting I threw my hands up and went with one of the motifs from Just Nan's Merry 15.



Start date August 26, 2010
Finish date August 26, 2010
Fabric 28ct antique white lugana
Total time 2 hours

This one is a square and a bit bigger than the seahorse. Also the pot/tree bucket is a very odd red colour.


Tomorrow these will be with two lovely ladies who've made this summer job a pleasure.

Seaside fun

I've been hanging my Jack o'Lantern fob on my lunchbag at work and had 2 requests for a "hanging item." Work ends with this Friday, so it's about time I get cracking. Request #1 was for a seahorse, and it took me quite a while to find one.


This is a seahorse in Joan Elliot's Sea Goddess. I only had two of the required colours but improvised. I also found a button that I thought would go well.

Start date August 22, 2010
Finish date August 22, 2010
Fabric 28ct antique white lugana
Total time 2 hours

Post assembly it ended up being quite quite tiny, so I'm not sure if I should go ahead and give it, or stitch one of the other bigger seahorses.



The second request is for a Christmas tree, and I have to go hunting for that one now.

Well Planned

I had a finish way back in July and I forgot to post it. This, it turns out, was a good thing, since I have something to blog about. The last week has passed with exactly seven (count 'em seven) minutes of stitching. One a day when I pick up Minx, put in five stitches, stare at her, put her back down and wander away.

I blame the fall weather, the ending of my co-op work term, and impending school. My woes aside, here's what you're here to see:

Alexandrina's Fall Dreams Biscornu




Start date July 4, 2010
Finish date July 25, 2010
Fabric 28 ct black lugana
Floss GAST Daffodil, GAST Tuttifrutti
Total time 11.75 hours

I had to leave off the border. Why had to? Because I thought the fabric was 32 ct, and the size I cut would have been perfect. It wasn't so perfect since it was actually 28 ct.

My brother's immediate reaction upon seeing it was to tell me that I had "a bad yellow" since "it's all faded in parts" and "you should get a refund". Tuttifrutti isn't as varigated so he couldn't tell.

TUSAL August

Why does every website give a different day for the new moon? My dad insisted it was Monday, assorted websites disagree.


All the pink is from Minx's skin.

The end is in sight

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


Minx
18 ct white aida

The path to a new start

is lined with other new starts.


Why Hoard Gold?
28 ct white lugana
Dragon Dreams' Why Hoard Gold


Butterfly Bellfpull
18ct white aida (over 2)
From Lesley Teare's book Oriental Cross Stitch. Haven't been able to find a picture online, so I'll take one tomorrow eventually.


Cirque des Cercles
14 ct Khaki aida
Dimension's Palm. I think this is out of print since I can't a picture of this either. Photo of the model tomorrow eventually.


How Does Your Garden Grow (in the Dark)?
28 ct black lugana
This is Papillon Creations' SAL from 2008. I already stitched it over 1, but decided that I had to have the specialty version as well.

And after this frenzy of new starts I put them all away and went back to Minx. *Sigh* I think I have a problem.

And the Randomizer picked...

Now, I was planning on posting the results of the giveaway last night, but sheer exhausting and too much reading got in the way.

No screencap, but the winner of the kit and biscornu is
.
.
.
.
D@isy who is a pro at biscornus so I'm sure I can expect to see Spring Blossoms finished soon *hint, hint*

and the biscornu is
.
.
.
Mel (who doesn't appear to have a blog).


Ladies send me your mailing address and I'll have your prizes in the mail soon-ish. (I'm not promising Tuesday because I know better!)

A big thanks to everyone that played along and enabled me with a lot of great designers. A hearty welcome to my new followers, y bienvenidos a mis amigas quien habla espanol. Siempre es agradable encontrar a nuevo bloggers. (Como se dice blogger en espanol?)