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.

January Achievements & February Goals

Goals for January:
1. Finish Holly Done
2. Start Legend of Dragons Done
3. Start Autumn Winds Nope. She didn't call me
4. Stitch a needlebook Sort of...I started but got nowhere
5. Stitch a bag Completely forgot!
6. Stitch at least 20 hours on Ganesha No. And it's about time I accept that it's just not going to happen in the near future

Other things I did that were unplanned:
1. Finished Christmas Angel
2. Started and finished a motif from Mother Maya
3. Started and finished Small Token
4. Finished Baby Shamrock Biscornu
5. Started Weekend in Paris
6. Started Jack-O-Lantern Fob

Goals for February:
1. Finish Jack-O-Lantern Fob
2. Finish Weekend in Paris
3. Start Autumn Winds
4. Stitch a needlebook
5. Stitch a bag

Taking advantage of GFJ

or Guilt-Free-January.

I haven't felt like working on any of my WIPs. All my large ready-to-go pieces aren't calling. So I pulled out Dimensions' Weekend in Paris on the 18th. (Yes, 10 days ago.)

Why no picture? Because a few hours after starting I also started Ink Circle's Cirque des Cercles. And then didn't work on either of them for a few days. The weather was lousy and I was listless. But I got back to Weekend, so it's all good.

Of course, I'd cannibalized the 18ct ivory aida for I-have-no-idea-what purpose and had to replace it with white. Then I realized that while my top stitches usually all go \\\ this picture will look better if the stitches go ///. So now I have to work on it sideways so that it'll come out fine.

It's 5"x7" so it should stitch up relatively quickly.


Weekend in Paris
Dimensions

Oddly the title of this piece is "Weekend in Paris" but the text on the design says "Weekend a Paris". I'm pretty sure the "a" is supposed to be "à" with the accent. Now I was taught that the translation for "weekend" was "la fin de semaine".

So questions for any Francophones:
Is "weekend" vs "la fin de semaine" a Quebecois vs France-French thing?
Should there be an accent on the "a"?
Are there any other spelling mistakes? (Is Arc de Triomphe ok? Why do I want to stick an accent on it?)
My French is tres mal.

Also: when did Dimensions get bought out?

Trim, ribbon etc giveaway

Riona over at Oubliette is giving away ribbon, trim and lace.

It's a first come first serve basis. You can pick out 15 yards of whatever you like. She just wants postage. There's a ton of stuff, so I suggest you take a look to see if there's anything you like.

Is 3 a collection?

I finally finished Baby Shamrock biscornu, which brings my total biscornu count to 3.

Side 1

Side 2

Before assembly:


Start date October 10, 2009
Finish date January 22, 2010
Total hours 18
Fabric 28ct antique white lugana

I made quite a few little changes to this one:
Since I didn't have the requested overdyed green I did all that part with a blend of 2 DMCs.
Subbed the requested beads with ones I had. The result is that the green are seed and the white are petite.
The original had the shamrocks alternate colours. Since the lack of symmetry made me twitchy, I made them mirror images.
Couldn't find any buttons I liked, so I just used green beads.

This was my first time doing a beaded edge of any kind, and it was much easier than I thought it would be. The problem I had (same as my other biscornus) was stuffing it. I'm always convinced that it's about to explode as I'm stitching up the final bits, but once the polyfill gets evenly distributed it always ends up being just a bit short. It looks fine, but one touch will tell. One day I will master the ability to stuff the perfect biscornu. (But that day was not today...)

It's very cute and I adore it. There is a fob as well and I'm trying to decide if I want to stitch it.
I only have two scissors and they have fobs already.

To wrap up, a picture of my little collection:

Biggest to smallest: Baby Shamrock, Kissy Cross, Bulgarian Motif

Off topic: I have 50 followers as of yesterday! I'm stunned and flattered and still smiling like a loon. I was planning a mini giveaway to celebrate 100 posts (this is 91), since I figured that would be my first milestone, but apparently not! Since I haven't still gotten everything together I'll just have a double celebration. Probably in 9 posts.

Moving past the arch

The reason my Rose of Sharon was stuck here is because of that arch.



There are 4 greens, 5 pinks, 1 brown and 4 creams in there. They aren't in blocks, they're not random confetti. They are pervasive, everywhere and are a pain to do. I've always known that I need to finish the arch and the columns before the dress because the dress is the ultimate goal and I'll stop once I hit that. So everything else has to go first.

This weekend I dragged her out and got the hardest part of the arch almost done. There are a few stitches missing where I didn't notice them, but I'll just fill those when those colours pop up again. I got a bit down a column and I got bored. Again. Now while I can keep on stitching her I keep finding excuses not to go near. So I put her away at this point:



A shoutout to Andie who inspired me. The original yellow dress did nothing for me and so RoS was not on my list until I saw her red version and had to have one of my own.

TUSAL January

I joined the TUSAL this year, and almost forgot to post a picture for the first day. *Sigh*



I decided to make mine a floss orts only glass. I think I should switch to a bigger glass. Or maybe I'll look for a nicer one...

Let's see:
The green and pink threads are from Small Token
The blue from Legends of Dragons
The white is my attempt at whip stitching Baby Shamrock and failing.

Join here. There's nothing involved but collecting orts. (And frustrating yourself trying to find a pretty container.)

Blowing my own trumpet, patting my own back

and other acts of egoism.

I had quite a few people ask me why Christmas Angel was going into storage (because I lack the funds to get her framed right now), and I decided to take the opportunity to show off some of my stuff.

Warning: Lots of bragging and photos to follow!

First the explanation: I love stitching large pieces, which means that I have to get them framed, because honestly, how else can you do justice to some of them?

As of right now these are in my "To Frame" pile. I frame stuff about twice a year, usually when my framer has a special going on. The way I work it out is that I have two massive expenses but I only have to feel horrified by the expense twice a year. (It works and I'm not messing with it.)

Christmas Angel	Holly	When Witches Go Riding
Trick or Treat	Poppy	Winter Queen

Hmmm. I didn't realize that I had so many finished Nora Corbetts/Mirabilias.

Not pictured are pieces destined for non-framing, like Think on These Things (bellpull), Out for Coffee (cushion), Scheherazade (table topper) and assorted undecideds.

Now for the ones around the house:

Mermaids of the Deep Blue	In Harmony	Part of Fantasy Sampler
Buddah and Bonsai	Four Animals Silhouette	Dragon Ride
Butterflies Among Bamboo	Tiger

Stretch, Coffee Chocolate & Men, Coffin Buzz, Book of Ink Circles, Garden Friend aren't shown, because I haven't gotten around to taking semi-decent pictures of them framed.

And no pictures of my smalls/other finishes. Well, no pictures on this post. Everything has pictures in various photogenic degrees in my sidebar.