Not Appearing In This Post

are any pictures of Alphabetissimo, Egyptian Sampler, Celtic Autumn, Sweeping Cobwebs or Cirque des Triangle. This is excellent since I've pulled all those out, almost threaded the needle and then put them back. I've got way too many WIPs that are nowhere near finished.

Instead I've successfully finished all the black stitching on Namaste.


Namaste
32ct white Lugana
Now to start filling in the colours...

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!

Something A Bit Different

I saw this on a couple of blogs, and since there is a serious dearth of stitchy pictures (forgive me!) I figured I might as well play along. According to the US NPR this is the list of Top 100 Sci-Fi, Fantasy books.

Quite a few of the books that I've read was for high school. And I read a lot of the really old classics as a kid.

Bold – read or listened to the audiobook

Italics – partially read

Underline – want to read

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien – I like the books but I find that I have to work hard to read them. And I must commit sacrilege and admit that I love the movies more.

2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card – I haven’t read any of the “Ender” sequels but I have read all but the last “Bean” books

4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert – Only the original

5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin – I’ve read the first 3, and since GRRM takes such a long time between books I haven’t felt like reading and then getting frustrated with the wait.

6. 1984, by George Orwell – Ah, high school…

7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury – Ah, high school…

8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov - I've also read the "4th" book, but none of the other sequels/prequels.

9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley – Ah, high school…

10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman – The book is fun and so is the movie. Cary Elwes is gorgeous!

12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan – Gave up after book 9(?) when an hour after finishing I couldn’t remember what had happened. I’m just going to look up spoilers once the last books comes out (has it already come out? The 3^rd part of 3?) 

13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell – Ah, high school…

14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson

15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore – My brother’s been after me to read this forever. And since we actually have a copy I really have no excuse…

16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov

17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein

18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss – I’ve heard good things about this one

19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut

20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley  - This is such a classic!

21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

22. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood – Tried reading this for high school English and then again for Dystopian Fiction at university. Couldn’t finish it. My papers tended to be deal with the other books and say “oh yes, we also see this in THT.

23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King

24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke – I remember reading this and being confused. And then I watched the movie and was still confused. Possibly 12 is not an age to appreciate ACC?

25. The Stand, by Stephen King

26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson

27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury

28. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut

29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman

30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess – For that Dystopian Fiction course. The movie is quite fun too.

31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein 

32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams

33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey – I’ve actually read most of the original stuff by AM.

34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein

35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller

36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells

37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne

38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys

39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells

40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny

41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings  - Some good old-fashioned generic fantasy. I finished the Belgariad, but couldn’t finish the Mallorean since it’s just a repeat of the first.

42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley – I’ve checked this out from the library a dozen times and never gotten past the first 10 pages. 

43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson – I adore, adore, adore Warbreaker which is available for free on Sanderson’s website html or pdf (scroll half way down). Elantris is pretty good too. Sanderson writes amazing magical systems. I’m saving Mistborn for when I need a really good pick-me-up.

44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven

45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin

46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien – I found LotR a dense read. This was too much.

47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White

48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman

49. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke – I think I read this during my hardcore sci-fi phase.

50. Contact, by Carl Sagan

51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons

52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman

53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson

54. World War Z, by Max Brooks – Love, love, love this! I got goosebumps reading it. It makes a very ridiculous premise utterly plausible. The audiobook is good (narrated by tons of excellent narrators including Mark Hamill) but abridged which is infuriating, and I’m still waiting for the fully unabridged version.

55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle

56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman

57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett – I’ve read every DiscWorld novel, except the Tiffany Aching ones. Pterry is a god among men.

58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson

59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold – I’ve devoured all of them except Cryoburn and Cetaganda . Cyroburn because I haven’t gotten to it yet and Cetaganda because I keep forgetting to check it out from the library.

60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett – See comment for #57

61. The Mote In God's Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind – The first book is utterly enjoyable. Towards the end I wasn’t enjoying the preachiness. But I finished it, unlike the other epic fantasy of that time #12 WoT.

63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke – Yet another book I’ve checked out of the library a dozen times and haven’t read.

65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson

66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist – I hate the narrator for the audio version of this. I may look for a paper version.

67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks

68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard

69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb

70. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger

71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson – Like Mistborn #43, I’m saving this.

72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne

73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore

74. Old Man's War, by John Scalzi

75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson

76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke

77. The Kushiel's Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey – I tried reading this at the wrong time. 

78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin

79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury

80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire

81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson

82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde – I’ve only read the first book, which I quite enjoyed, but I can’t seem to get into the sequels. 

83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks – I recommended this to my brother without having read it myself (I never do this but I couldn’t think of anything else that fit his request that he hadn’t already read), and he’s been reccing it back.

84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart

85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson

86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher – OMG I want to build a shrine to Jim and I already worship at his feet. The Dresden Files is excellent stuff too. But if I ever feel like an incredibly long comfort read then I head to this. Plus Kate Reading is an amazing narrator.

87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe

88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn – This, along with the Thrawn Duology, was responsible for my high school worship of the Star Wars Extended Universe. I’ve read most of the EU up to the New Jedi Order. Then I learnt that one of my favourite characters was offed in Legacy of the Force and that was the end reading new SW. The Rogue/Wraith Squadron is pretty fun too.

89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan

90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock

91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury

92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley

93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge

94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov

95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson

96. Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis

98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville

99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony

100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis

 Now I'm really tempted to go back and read some old favs...

Out of Season

My Tree of Stitches is growing rather slowly, so I thought I'd share a picture of my newest biscornu:

This is The Sweetheart Tree's Spring Blossoms Biscornu. Yes, I started a spring stitch in the middle of summer when everyone is gearing up for fall & Halloween.


I decided to stitch both the top and the bottom at the same time. However I'm finding the leaves annoying. See how I have two colours extruding? Counting just the green cross stitch is impossible and I have to backstitch as I go. I am not a fan of having two colours going at the same time. I suppose I could end and restart everytime but that seems excessive.

In fun news, I received an absolutely wonderful letter from my secret penpal (organized by the ever impressive Parsley).

Tree of Fantasy

When I first saw pictures of Tree of Stitches I thought it was a pretty neat design. And then I had a vision of it in Caron Waterlilies Umbria (#204 here) on muddy green for a Halloween tree and I knew, just knew that it had to happen.

Unfortunately Umbria melts into only green fabric I have in stock completely. So I went in a completely different direction.

The trunk is in Weeks Dye Works Peony and the foliage in Caron Waterlilies Bermuda Reef which is a lovely green/blue. I haven't quite decided what colour the owl and rabbit are going to be, but I'm sure it'll be something unnatural and cartoonish.


Tree of Stitches
28ct white Jubilee, Caron Waterlilies Bermuda Reef, Weeks Dye Works Peony
Since I'm in the mood to do so I'm going to review each part.


After the cross stitch trunk and branch the first stitch was the Leviathan Stitch (aka Smyrna but I like the word leviathan more), which I've done a couple of times and is rather fun. The next was French Knots (Colonial Knots were an alternative, but I went with French). I found following the chart for the placement difficult so I just winged it to look like the diagram. (This would come back to bite me late). While I'm not going to rush out to stitch something entirely in French Knots, I've definitely gotten more comfortable and I don't think I'll be avoiding it anymore.


Next is eyelet stitches. I did this one with one strand and having done tons for hardanger this wasn't any issue. The next was Rice stitch and while I had no problems with the stitch I have to confess that I just don't like it. Not sure why. About five seconds after the last rice stitch I realized that I have extra space between the french knots and rice stitches. The model has no such space. I might go back and add in a few eyelets but I'm going to hold off until the whole tree is done. If it looks lopsided then I will add something, if not why bother?

Tree of Stitches is by Abi Gurden. It's still available over at the Yahoo Group Stitch Specialists. It'll be up until September which is when the next SAL (an owl) begins.

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.

July Achievements & August Goals

Goals for July:
1. Finish and send out Denise's winnings. Let's just put this off for another month, shall we?
2. Stitch on both UFO RRs. Yes, but I want to put some more hours into them.
3. 3. Work on Namaste. Sadly no.

Unplanned things:
Started Spring Blossoms Biscornu by The Sweetheart Tree

Goals for August:
1. Finish and send out Denise's winnings.
2. Stitch on both UFO RRs.
3. Finish Spring Blossoms Biscornu.
4. Finish off at least 2 of my in-progress bags.

Another July TUSAL

Yes, that's right. July has 2 new moons. There are 13 new moons this year. I was going to read up on why so I could try for a witty joke, but I'd rather get back to my book.


A weird shot resulting from using the flash in the middle of the night.

While I Wait For Perfection

I'll make do with average.

I am currently working on a new bag*. A really nice green and black one with yoyos and trim. The key word there is working. The outside is done. I just have to make the lining and then assemble it. However I've come to realize that I have issues attaching outer shells to linings. Somehow that's where it all goes wrong.

So while I dither on that, I made this:


This is what happens when you take an old sweater that's too big and cut it up. I think it was supposed to be red, but now it's more of a really faded pink. Not something I want to carry anywhere I'm trying to impress someone, but perfectly fine for when I want to hit the drugstore.


The top of the bag (originally the bottom of the sweater) folds over and widens the bag out, but I probably will keep it unfolded. Since all that pink was boring I tacked on a flower. (Thanks Nima!)


The inside is this yellow/gold that I quite like. Sadly I didn't have much of it so there's only one pocket. This is a bit of an issue since I carry a lot of smallish junk and I like to put them in pockets and this pocket is too small to hold everything.


As a bonus, I finally learnt how to use the fancy stitches on my machine! Woohoo. I remember reading that it's better to stitch stretchy fabric with a zigzag stitch...


There's no closure, since I couldn't figure out what kind I wanted and was too interested in finishing to put it off. I initially hadn't planned on boxing the corners but once finished the bag really needed it, hence the outside. And yes, the flower and the triangles are attached with white thread. I really wanted to take it out today and couldn't find my red thread. That will be fixed eventually.

While I very cunningly remembered the zigzag stitch for stretchy fabric, I seriously underestimated how much the stuff I carry weighs. The result is that the strap stretched out to a ridiculous degree, hence the knot. There's no way I'm undoing anything, but if anyone has any creative suggestions to shorten the strap that'd be appreciated!

*Technically I think I have 4 bags on the go...

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...

...

[Tumbleweed rolls by]

Just In Case

If there's someone out there who's trying to get a hold of the Joan Elliot Bookazine, pre-orders for the second printing are being taken here.

Pretty bad but clickable pictures of everything in the book:

TUSAL July

Four posts in three days! Talk about your freak occurrences.


I like this view of the jar. The colours are quite varied.
And that dark blue is from Smoky Mountain Cats.

June Achievements & July Goals

Goals for June:
1. Stitch, finish and send out Denise's winnings. Stitched but not finished. I blame the postal strike for not forcing the deadline.
2. Stitch on both UFO RRs. Done and mailed out.
3. Finish something. Anything! Ahahahahahaha. No.
4. Leave comments (since I don't think I left a single one in May). Can't remember, so we'll say no.

Goals for July:
1. Finish and send out Denise's winnings.
2. Stitch on both UFO RRs.
3. Work on Namaste.

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)

Ghoulish Behaviour

My other LNS is closing. (If you're in Winnipeg that's Kathryn's Stitching Studio. I think she does mail orders too. Last day June 29).

Everything is 40% off.

This was the first dash through accomplished without a shopping list:



Looking at the charts and my bill, I've come to a realization about why I don't stitch many smalls. I don't think they're worth it. Now before I get lynched let me explain:

See those four Lizzie*Kates? They each cost ~10. And I can probably finish one in less than 5 hours. So that's $2/hr.

See that Mira? That cost ~25. And may take about 85 hours. So about $0.30/hr.

Now what about a Teresa Wentzler? The last one I bought cost ~25. And that will take at least 145 hrs.

See where I'm going with this? I'm more likely to buy and stitch larger charts (even if they stay in my drawers waiting to be framed) because some subconsicous part of me feels that I'm getting more "value for money".

Admittedly HAEDs would be "worth" more on my scale, but I don't think a steady diet of them works for me.

So what about you? Any strange and twisty thoughts influencing what charts you buy/stitch?

Black and White

There's a slug outside that's moving faster than Namaste, but any progress is good progress. Except for the part where I somehow managed to combine two motifs into an unholy union and had to frog the whole thing...


Namaste
32ct white Lugana

TUSAL June

Since I was under the impression that the new moon was on the 3rd, I was very very puzzled at the number of TUSAL posts today. A quick check online and it still seemed to be the 3rd (um, no. That was last month). When I realized that it's now June the lightbulb finally gave a feeble flicker.


All that blue is from a UFO RR. And yes, my jar is posed on the Joan Elliot Ultimate Collection Bookazine. It arrived yesterday and I'm still smug about it. A ton of charts, 5 that I'm definitely going to stitch, for the price of 1.5 charts? Oh, yes. I'm so pleased with myself for grabbing it. *smirks and wants to pet a long-haired white cat*