In Full Bloom

First finish of the year! And it's almost the end of the month!

Nora Corbett's Lily of the Valley, without wings, with the skin and hair converted and a modified headpiece. Original here.
The skin was easy, but the hair gave me some trouble. Details of the exact changes below, but there's a giant blue streak in her hair ;).

Originally the beads in her hair were yellow, but with the dye job that just looked weird so I changed them to blue and I truncated the headpiece ruthlessly.

The beads at the bottom of the flowers were a pale yellow, but all the pictures of the actual flower online seem to be pure white so I changed the beads. (I've never seen a lily of the valley in real life, but they seem really pretty). Of course, the white beads are from a previously unopened package, which means they are being cannibalized from some other project (no idea which), so it should be fun seeing if I have enough when that project rolls around XD.

Her toes! The back of my mind asks exactly what those beads are meant to be and how they stay in position, but the rest of me screams "Pretty!" and ignores that part of me.

Giant beads are really giant!

And some more pics:

Title	Lily of the Valley
Designer	Nora Corbett
Start date	October 7, 2011
Finish date	January 29, 2012
Total time	36.75 hours
Fabric	32ct Waterlily Jobelan
Floss	Skin: 754-->435; 948-->436; 779-->433
	Hair: 767-->939; 782-->3371; 869-->838; 3823-->823; 3852-->310
Beads	3046,10049-->10104; 2002-->60479

Saturday Flashback

In the process of hanging some things up for framing I found an extra frame, checked my "Finished" drawer, couldn't find anything to fit, and instead found and finished Scheherazade. This is a design by Papillon Creations that I stitched in the Shahryar colourway on 28ct black lugana. Those were the days...

By finish, I mean I measured out 4 inches, cut and fringed off about 15 strands and called it done. Pathetic, I know.

In much joy I headed off to place my new table topper on a table, only to realize that all the tables in the house have a secondary function as storage surfaces. There is literally no table that is not covered in stuff! If I did use her as a decoration she would be covered in, well let's be honest, junk in two seconds.

*Wonders what to do, since if cleaned the tables would just be covered again within a day...*



And because I apparently stitched this before I was blogging (what!? there was stitching before blogging!?) here are some more pictures (all clickable). It really is a gorgeous design and I just love it on black!

A Rash Confession

Part 9 of The Great Escape, came out today, and I actually got it done!

Next up will be all the background detail.


The Great Escape
28ct white Jubilee, DMC 317, 318, 413, 414, 415
This week's stitch is the Queen Stitch. And I do confess, I don't understand why so many stitchers have trouble with it. I found it easy. Of course, these Queens are tiny at four vertical stitches, so maybe the bigger ones are difficult? *hides from the irate mob*

Creative Juices Stagnated

Two weeks worth of

.
Last week was the feather stitch. This one's really a linear stitch, and I couldn't think of any way to make it a standalone. I was also convinced that I'd stitched it before so I went straight for the variations, but now I think maybe I haven't...

This week was the Cretan stitch, for which I have done a variation but not the original. This one's somewhat uncreative because I couldn't figure out how to do it in a circle.

28ct Golden Honey Cashel, Dinky Dyes Aquamarine
I've also realized that I'm much better at following a chart and making tiny modifications than doing something like this from scratch, because I worry about things like "Is this enough stitches?", "Does this look balanced?", "Am I leaving too much space?" etc. And then I remember that I do this for fun and that this is essentially a giant doodle. I have gained an even deeper respect for designers.

Leaving Out The Middleman

It's the new moon! It's the

I don't think I've ever shared a picture of what I do with my orts at the end of the year. The one on the left is from 2010 and the right is last year.


This year I'm skipping the vase in the middle and going straight to the ornament. And for a change from last year's Beige Carpet Boredom I'm going to go with Finishes From The Drawers for background.


This month features olives and oranges from Adriana B, blues and greens from Lily and white from when I accidentally made a knotted mess and couldn't be bothered to untangle it.

Oh, and that's Mirabilia's Bluebeard's Princess as this month's FFTD.

Edited to add: I got the clear ornaments from Michaels just after Christmas.

Productive Hermitting

I spent part of the weekend finished the next part of Adriana B. I spent the rest of the time lazing around the house. All in all, it was a lovely weekend XD.


Adriana B
18ct white aida
Adriana B is designed by Aaron Art, stitched with the Sticklounge group, for the first International Stitch and Hermit Weekend.

Self Delusion

I've been running behind on the latest part of The Great Escape, and thought the next part would have been out yesterday. So I grabbed my needle, parked myself in front of the computer* and stitched away madly in an attempt to get caught up before the next one came out. The idea being as long as I didn't know it wasn't out it wasn't out. Yes, yes. I know.


The Great Escape
28ct white Jubilee, DMC 317, 318, 413, 414, 415
Buttonhole Stitch. Wikipedia informs me that if it's stitched close together it's a buttonhole stitch and if there's space it's a blanket stitch. One of the great stitching mysteries is resolved! As far as the stitch goes, I've done it so many times I could go so far as to say that I'm a pro at it.

Unrelated news item #1: I've been horrible, just horrible about leaving comments. I mark the posts I plan to comment on, and a few days later realize that there are too many, clear all the posts, and then rinse and repeat. I've still gawking at everyone's work, but mostly I've been stitching. So I hope apologies in the way of frequent stitchy pictures will be acceptable. *stares with puppy-dog eyes*

#2: Thanks for the inquiries about the missing floss, but I have to head to the LNS because I've run out of the Kreinik for Lily of the Valley, so I'll just grab it them. 'Sides which, it would take atleast 3 weeks for it to arrive by mail!

#3: Three weeks and I've fallen off the no-new-stash wagon. But what a way to go! As a PSA I would like to point out that Zinio makes the magazine available at just under CAD$6. Since Joan Elliot charts retail at about $14, this is a clear steal. The other charts in the magazine leave me apathetic, but Lady Bird Fairy alone makes it worthwhile. Now all that's left is to curse the fact that I never found this website while the Flower Fairy series was coming out.

*In front of the computer because I'm unwilling to print out a chart every two weeks for a minor change that takes about an hour to stitch.
And for the curious: Part nine isn't out yet.

Splotch of Blue

My New Year's start is crawling along. This is a 2012 freebie SAL by Heaven and Earth Designs. I'm stitching it on 28 ct over one, with half crosses in two threads. I'm missing one colour (which seems to be everywhere), and Michaels hasn't had it for the past month. I may have to break down and pay double price at the LNS.
SK Blue Moon
28ct Waterlily Linen, 2 over 1 half crosses

Blooming

The plan for this month was to work on Palm. In typical fashion, I have not touched that. Instead I've continued to work on Lily, who has flowers in her skirt and therefore counts.


Lily of the Valley
32ct Waterlily Jobelan

Old Hat

I'm a day behind on TAST and plan on being so. I like to see what others have done (and there is some gorgeous work) before I try my hand at the stitches.

Buttonhole/blanket stitch. I've stitched this endlessly for hardanger and went straight to the variations this time. I'm in love with the right flower and I have no idea what that weird square thing is, but now I have space for some fancy standalone stitch...

28ct Golden Honey Cashel, Dinky Dyes Aquamarine
I spent about two minutes wondering if I should be doing more of these stitches (some people are doing entire samplers per stitch), but then I thought unprintable words and decided that it's my random sampler.

On that note can anyone come up with a good name for this? I belong to the Leonard of Quirm School of Naming. I also tried labeling the stitches. Should I continue with that or skip the words and leave only the stitches?

Leonard of Quirm, for those of you who haven't read Sir Terry Pratchett (and why not?) is the fantasy equivalent of Leonardo da Vinci from the Discworld series. He's known for making incredible inventions and giving them horrible names. My personal favourite is The-Going-Under-The-Water-Safely-Device for a submarine.

Pretty, Pretty, Pretty

So after all the enthusiasm for Lily and the interest in seeing more of her, I feel slightly guilty at this next one. But only slightly.

This is a SAL offered by the Sticklounge group. It's in 6 parts and the last one was just sent out. It's one of those finish a part before you get the next types, so I spent the weekend stitching madly to try and figure out if I could get it done before the deadline for when parts stopped going out.

Part 1 took 11 hours. I don't think I need to worry too much.

Adriana
18ct white aida
This utterly lovely piece is by Nolda van Hezewijk of Aaron Art. I was completely suckerd in by the colours. A shout-out to Kielrain who's the enabler for this one.
And yes, this is a Loophole Exploitation.

The End Is Not Nigh

I started this sometime last year, October maybe?. I had a mad yen to work on her over the new yearand since she's a pre-existing WIP, she counts as fair game for the WIPocalypse.

Took her all the way to this, before I switched to something else for the weekend.
Lily of the Valley
32ct Waterlily Jobelan
I plan on stitching her without the wings, and have to figure out how to change a pale blonde to a tanned brunette..

I Must Be Strong

A while back Kim was giving away some stash to a good home, and when I saw Tradewinds and Heartfelt Chatelaine I pretty much threw myself at the keyboard to hammer out a message.

Imagine my surprise to find that she'd also thrown in English Cottage Sampler and Father Winter. More TWs for my stash!

And you know what I else I realized as I was pawing at everything? Tradewinds is a kit. Meaning the Loophole Exception applied to it too...

Why does the universe tempt me so!

And So Begins Loophole Exploitation

5 days in and I'm already using my loophole in permissible starts. Remember that bit about new starts as long as I have the fabric and floss?

I've decided to participate in Take-A-Stitch-Tuesday hosted by Sharon of Pintangle. More info here.

28ct Golden Honey Cashel, Dinky Dyes Aquamarine
This week's stitch is the Fly Stitch, which I've done several times, so I played around with it a bit: various sizes, upside down, but my favourite is actually the square.

Like the Real World

This part of the Great Escape featured the Wheat-Ear Stitch, which went on and on and on. Just like the wheat fields in Manitoba that go on and on and on for miles as you drive by.*


The Great Escape
28ct white Jubilee, DMC 317, 318, 413, 414
I found the Wheat-Ear Stitch very easy, but there are a billion of them in the wings, and I was sick by the twelfth one.

*Full confession: I've never seen fields of ripened wheat. I only seem to go to rural Manitoba in the winter, when all you can see is miles of bare flat land. I'm just extrapolating the miles of wheat.

Ominous Signs

16 hours in and I really hope the rest of the year isn't going to be like this!

First a look at last year's goals... Let's just say I missed every single one and leave it at that!
1. Work at least 100 hours on Ganesha (He didn't get a stitch last year)
2. Finish at least 10 of my carry-over WIPs
3. End the year with less WIPs than I started
4. Make one (themed?) pinkeep a month
5. Finish Sleepy Hollow so I can wrap up that contest (I haven't forgotten, just...not feeling Halloween)

So let's make this year's overall goals somewhat more achievable, shall we?
1. Finish Ganesh
2. Sort my life out to where I want it to be

As stated this is my list of permissible new starts. Of course, anything that I have the chart, 90% of the floss and a suitable piece of fabric is fair game. Hey, I have to keep my options open;P

Celtic Autumn     Sweeping Cobwebs     Misaki     Japanese Octagon Box     
Here Comes Treble     First Bass     Egyptian Sampler     Deco Spirits     
Cirque des Trianlges     Cirque des Carreaux     Cinderella     Blue Moon

And my New Year's start was from the list. Yay I've stuck to it!

Blue Moon
28ct Waterlily linen, half stitches in 2 strands
15 minutes in I went to snip some thread and realized that I'd been stitching with the wrong colour. 334 instead of 333. A feeble attempt to fudge failed when I realized that the later is a pale blue while the former is a vivid purple! Frog and restitch and one hour later I finish the 333 only to realize that I somehow don't have the next colour. And since I already highlighted the chart in preparation I'm going to have to wait till work tomorrow to reprint the chart.

It was when I went to note down the hours etc. that I realized that I haven't finished my last two New Years starts. (Legends of Dragons and Spring Queen) Is this yet another sign?

Add in some personal stuff that's making me seriously reevaluate things...

Well, it's a good thing I don't believe in signs and superstition. This year is going to be exactly what I want it to be and nothing is going to stop me!

Fun With Stats

Yes, It's the Year End Post of Epic Statistics!

Starting with a look at Goals for December:
1. Finish something. Oh yeah!
2. Make big plans for next year. Yep, see yesterday.

A quick look at everything I stitched this year:

Not shown are two that haven't been sent out yet. (oops)

And what I still have left:

And a look at numbers:
Total finishes: 29. One up from last year
New starts: 32!!!
Pieces started and finished in 2011: 24
WIPs at the start of the year: 15
WIPs at the end of the year: 17. Two up from last year
WIPs that didn't see a single stitch last year: 4
Oldest WIPs: 2 from 2009
Pieces completely frogged: 1

Fastest finish: A three way tie! Halloween is a Hoot, Noel and one of the can't-show pieces all took 2.75 hours
Most time consuming piece: Runekeeper Saga at 80.5 hours. I'm not counting Rose of Sharon (121+) since it was finished off during the UFORR
Pieces that took 10 hours or less: 18
Pieces that took between 10 & 50 hours: 6
Pieces that took between 50 & 100 hours: 3
Pieces for which I did not track numbers: 2
Hours put into UFORRs (approximately): 138.25
Total hours (approximately): 635.5 (That's an almost 24% drop from last year)

So the shocker is the 32 starts last year. I had no idea that I'd started so many. I guess they're like Pringles... Upon reflection I'm not very surprised that my stitching hours are down; I finished school and started full-time work so that cut into a chuck of time.

Year End? Make Plans

I had a very detailed post reviewing the year and making plans for next year and I somehow managed to lose it. Grrr.

Set in stone rules for 2012:
Only new starts from the permissible list (I still have to find out what I have fully kitted. This list will probably be up by Sunday).
Excepting DMC, no new stash. None whatsoever.

First up is the WIPocalypse: I will consider this a success if and only if I finish Ganesh. However I will be stitching on several of my WIPs/new starts as they fit in with

Pretty much the monthly plan. The preponderance of Ganesh is because I really need to finish him.

September is blank because I can't think of any smalls and December is a freebie~

Now I need to go dig up some finishes and take pictures, since I'm pretty sure I have a couple more than what I have here.

And OMG isn't that Theme-a-licious banner adorable???

TUSAL December

Last TUSAL of the year. I can't believe that I've been doing this for two years now!


It doesn't look much different from last month. Probably because the smalls haven't been generating very many orts.

Sign-ups for next year are here.

Two Horses and A Goat

First off I have to beg forgiveness for the ginormous close-ups. It's either this or a look at how close I'm positioning these. (The answer to that is too close!) Now onto the horses and goat.

Unicorn: a horse with a horn. Favourite of the medieval era.

Title	Christmyth Unicorn
Designer	Dragon Dreams
Start date	December 16, 2011
Finish date	December 17, 2011
Total time	3.75 hours
Fabric	14 ct white perforated paper
Floss	As charted

Pegasus: originally the white winged horse who accompanied Bellerophon on his adventures and went on to become a constellation. Now used to refer to any winged horse. I left off the meteor(?) since I couldn't figure out how I would go about cutting around it since it's a free floating structure.

Title	Christmyth Pegasus
Designer	Dragon Dreams
Start date	December 17, 2011
Finish date	December 18, 2011
Total time	4 hours
Fabric	14 ct white perforated paper
Floss	As charted

Satyr: originally the companions of the Greek gods Pan & Dionysus, they became part goat after the Romans absorbed and modified Greek mythos. I left off the free floating musical notes.

Title	Christmyth Satyr
Designer	Dragon Dreams
Start date	December 18, 2011
Finish date	December 18, 2011
Total time	3 hours
Fabric	14 ct white perforated paper
Floss	As charted

Now it's onto the ones where I don't have all the DMC. The problem is that there's a lot of shading that's causing frustration. Also, I discovered that there are 12 of these, not thirteen. Apparently I need to head back to kindergarten.

Wreathed in Colour

A big thanks to the lovely ladies for yesterday's advice!

I actually finished this a few days ago but the camera wasn't at hand.
I am not looking forward to cutting all these fiddly shapes out!

Title	Christmyth Fairy
Designer	Dragon Dreams
Start date	December 10, 2011
Finish date	December 14, 2011
Total time	4 hours
Fabric	14 ct white perforated paper
Floss	DMC 319 instead of 890
	Kreinik 101 instead of 100

Gratitude & Acknowledgement

Lisa (who's currently in Cambodia and posts pictures of that exotic locale) sent me this cute little keychain!
So ages ago I won Barbara's giveaway of this year's JCS Ornament issue. And when it never appeared I figured that CP had eaten it (it happens more often than is acceptable). So I was delightly surprised to spot this in the mail. Now in addition to the Christmyth series I've got a whole bunch of designs in this that I want to stitch!
Which brings me to an important question I've also been meaning to ask the readership. How do you deal with the following situation: you won something; it was mailed out; it never arrived; you aren't asking for a resend (really what kind of greedy-guts are you?); you don't want that person to think you got it and are being rude by not saying thanks. So how do you say: Hey, I know you said you mailed [item] out, and that was awesome of you, but it didn't arrive and I want you to know that I'm not being rude, but I wanted to make sure that you don't think I'm a non-acknowledging person, but in no way am I making some sort of "send me something, since that got lost" demand. So yeah, what's the proper etiquette in this scenario?

Spelt In So Many Ways

Whether you want to call it a griffin, a griffon, or a gryphon, this half eagle, half lion is still very cute.

Apologies to folks getting a little tired of this series, but I plan on continuing as long as the interest holds. Meaning, similar posts for the foreseeable future.

Title	Christmyth Griffon
Designer	Dragon Dreams
Start date	December 9, 2011
Finish date	December 10, 2011
Total time	4.25 hours
Fabric	14 ct white perforated paper
Floss	As charted

Come On Baby, Light My Fire

I did all the cross stitching on Sunday. Then it took me almost a week to do the backstitch. I blame the winter, which results in a cold house (regardless of the furnace), which results in a cold stitching spot and cold fingers. I'm been trying to hold off on using the portable heater already (only -20s now, I want to wait until it gets to -30), but I think it's time I just went ahead and used it.


I couldn't figure out what was making this Christmassy when I looked at the chart. Some of the others are obvious (carols, stocking etc). Even after I stitched it up I couldn't figure out what a giant gem had to do with Christmas. In fact, this post was actually asking about it. But I just realized that the phoenix is carrying a star! Better late than never ;)

Title	Christmyth Phoenix
Designer	Dragon Dreams
Start date	December 3, 2011
Finish date	December 9, 2011
Total time	4 hours
Fabric	14 ct white perforated paper
Floss	Kreinik 28 instead of 202. All else as charted

Here Be Dragons

One Christmyth Dragon, actually. One in a series of thirteen freebies by Dragon Dreams.


I can tell that the dragon is twisting around and carrying mistletoe, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how it's twisting.

The Kreinik coverage is atrocious but I don't feel like frogging it and stitching in two strands, so it will have to suffice. This is my first time with perforated paper and other than being awkward to hold, I have no issues. I probably will be a wreck when it comes to cutting, specially since this is such an irregular shapes, but that's for much later.

Now I'm off to work on the phoenix.

Title	Christmyth Dragon
Designer	Dragon Dreams
Start date	December 3, 2011
Finish date	December 3, 2011
Total time	3.25 hours
Fabric	14 ct white perforated paper
Floss	As charted. Backstitch in 310

A Brief Glimpse

of the headless horseman.

So I tend to save the backstitch till the very end and then show a before and after picture because I like seeing the difference the backstitch makes. I even did this for Dragon Ride which is a Teresa Wentzler, but that was before I started blogging (or taking pictures). I wasn't too bothered by that. So of course it would be soomething like this that makes me contemplate backstitching as I go!

I think it's the border. It's just repetitive and boring. Upon reflection I should have just left the border without backstitch and just done the horse and man.


Sleepy Hollow
32 ct Thunderstorm
He's now going back into storage since the light at night is too lousy for me to work on such a dark(ish) fabric. Next up is something bright.

November Achievements & December Goals

Goals for November:
1. Stitch at least two Christmas ornaments Stitched yes. Finished no..
2. Work on Sleepy Hollow Yes, but this one's kinda funny (funny-weird, not funny-haha). I stitched a little here and there, so I didn't post a picture since it didn't seem like there was any progress. Boy was I surprised when I checked the last SH post! Picture tomorrow.

Unplanned things:
1. Started that HAL Angel

Goals for December:
1. Finish something.
2. Make big plans for next year.

More Feathers

Part 6 of The Great Escape. This wraps up the breast feathers. I believe it's the wings next time.


The Great Escape
28ct white Jubilee, DMC 317, 318, 413, 414
The penultimate breast feather is the Oyster stitch. This was... weird. I spent the whole time convinced that I was stitching it absolutely wrong, even though I wasn't. I think it was the multiple wrapping.

The last row is the Breton stitch. This was alright, I guess. It's a very narrow stitch and takes a lot of individual stitches to look good. There are 10 Oysters and about 30 Bretons as a comparison.

TUSAL November

Sign-ups for next year are here.


All that blue is from that Hardanger Angel mess.
And that blob of white is from when I frogged some practice stitches to make way for said angel.

Now I'm off to stitch the next part of The Great Escape.

Eye See

More of The Great Escape.


The Great Escape
28ct white Jubilee, DMC 317, 318, 413, 414
Sprat's Head stitch in between the eyes. I've done this once before and it's a pretty easy stitch. I've never done the Jessica stitch before; I just know that Chatelaine stitchers mention it all the time as being not too much fun. Personally I loved it! I think it was the circular symmetry. And the Diamond Eyelet in the middle was old hat. Yawn.

Finish The Set

We have snow that is here to stay and the sun sets before 5 o'clock. I'd say winter is here to stay.

I had a rather slow week, stitching-wise. However I did manage to finish Intermediate Whitework Ornament in the same colourway as Beginner Whitework Ornament.


Lots of new stitches in this one. The centre is the plaited stitch and it's surrounded by diamond eyelets and queen stitches. I know that a lot of people complain about the Queen stitch, but I found it pretty easy.

The innermost red is the three-sided stitch which for some reason has you going over the same leg twice with one strand instead of once with two strands. Presumably there is a deep and meaningful reason behind this, but I can't for the life of me figure it out!

Plait stitch (over 4) bordered by Double Leviathan stitches are next. This was pretty easy too. Then the satin blocks to anchor the drawnwork.

And then I hit a snag. The instructions don't tell you which way to stitch the Hem stitch, and since I've never done it before I had to stop and look up pictures on the internet. And I didn't get back to stitching for a couple of days.

Once I figured that out, it was Rhodes squares in the corner. I left the drawn work until the very end.

The outermost border was supposed to be plait stitch over 2, but I found it too tight and frustrating (even with one strand) so I just quit while I was ahead and stitched regular crosses.

Finally (whew!) the cutting. I accidently cut off once of the vertical threads and had to reinsert one. I think it went pretty well, since you can't tell where the fix is! Otherwise I had no more trouble with this than anything else. I guess all those small hardanger pieces paid off.

And that is my epic working of IWO. In the future I'm more likely to stitch BWO simply because when I finish that I don't have to worry about placing fabric behind drawnwork~

Title	Intermediate Whitework Ornament
Designer	TWDesignworks
Start date	November 13, 2011
Finish date	November 19, 2011
Total time	6.75 hours
Fabric	32 ct white lugana
Floss	CC Bandana, WW Lucky, MH 42011

Happier News

After Friday's unhappiness I am pleased to show off a much more successful endeavour. Beginner Whitework Ornament by TWDesignworks.


Now I'm off to try my hand at Intermediate Whitework Ornament

Title	Beginner Whitework Ornament
Designer	TWDesignworks
Start date	November 12, 2011
Finish date	November 13, 2011
Total time	5.75 hours
Fabric	32 ct white lugana
Floss	CC Bandana, WW Lucky, MH 42011

Too Exhausted To Be Frustrated

I started this angel as part of a HAL and it's just been so frustrating. The instructions say to stitch the outline first. I started too close to the edge so I had to rip out an hour of work.

The second time I managed to squeeze in one side with a margin of ~6 threads. See bottom left.

I finally finished the outline and started the inner part only to realize that it didn't line up with the outline. See the upper right.

Sniping the outline is not an option because I'm running low on the floss, so I have to figure out where the error is and then unstitch. And I can't find the error.

The current plan is to stitch the inside and thereby find the error.

I knew there was a reason to start things in the middle.

Better Sit Down For This

Longtime readers should have figured out by now that I start seasonal stitching as the season in questions ends.

You should all be sitting down since I've finished a Christmas design. In November.

Crazy.

Title	Noel
Designer	Log Cabin Needlework
Start date	November 3, 2011
Finish date	November 4, 2011
Total time	2.75 hours
Fabric	32 ct waterlily jobelan
Floss	CC Bandana, DMC 319, MH 42011