June Achievements & July Goals

Goals for June:
1. Finish Bluebeard's Princess Done!
2. Get caught up on the Hardanger Bag SAL No. Got up to part 3, and then put it away.
3. Start Runekeeper Saga Done.
4. Work on whichever piece wins the poll Done. Quite a bit of progress too.
5. And now that I've discovered the poll options, go crazy with the power!!! No. Completely slipped my mind

Other things I did that were unplanned:
1. Started and finished the stitching on The Pink Bag. Now I just need to assemble it.

Goals for July:
1. Stitch Bent Creek's Shamrock Row
2. Finish another part of the Hardanger Bag
3. Finish at least two colours from Runekeeper's Saga
4. Finish Minx's skin
5. Work on Cirque des Cercles, if I can squeeze it in

Cerchio

I had some comments about how this was a piece unforgiving of errors, and I thought "Well, it's not like I make mistakes" and "I'm a careful counter"

Do you see where this is going?


Cirque des Cercles
32 ct Lemon Whip Lugana, DMC 115

The leftmost motif in the uppermost row is in the wrong place. It's should be the next left motif. Not a problem since I'll just switch motifs.
Then I stitched the "fixed" motif one row too low. Frog and redo. One row too high.

Two hours since last week and into the pile.

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. - KJV

Title: Italian

A Fantastical Start

I had a new start. BUT I was good. Sort of. It's one I've been planning for a while, so it was a WIP without stitches, right?

I've only ever seen this finished once, but as a fan how can I not stitch this tribute to all fantasy/RPG cliches?

Dragon Dreams' The Runekeeper Saga:


It's got it all: a Hero, a Wizard, a Princess, the Companions (Bard (although I think he looks more like a Thief), Elf, Knight), a Castle, a Dragon, a Unicorn (Ok, that's a bit uncommon), a Sword, a Crown and of course, the Evil!

I'm going to get the border out of the way first. I was going to stitch block by block and have 12 mini HDs, but I've decided to have some fun instead. I'm going to go by colour. And post a picture after each colour. It'll either be very interesting to see the pictures appear as colours increase, or we'll all get sick of seeing strange blobs!


The Rune Keeper Saga
28 ct Antique White Lugana
And I've made changes. You can't really tell from the model, but the inner borders are different for each motif. Except that you can barely see the light ones. I'm just going with my favourite (Bard's) for all of them.

Kreise

Since I'm going to be posting a picture every week, I can at least try to make the titles more fun. I have passed the halfway point. Woohoo!


Cirque des Cercles
32 ct Lemon Whip Lugana, DMC 115
Title is German for circles. (According to Google anyway. Any Germans out there?)

TUSAL June

With Yoyo (our host) disappearing due to computer issues(?), and me being too lazy to look up the new moon, I just wait for someone to post and then post mine. This is 3 days late:



The pink is from The Pink Bag

(In my defense the new moon in May was the 14th, so I thought it would be around then this month too...)
But July is 11th, and I shall be prompt!

Pink!

I spent most of this week working on The Pink Bag from Dutch Treat Design's Pink Collection. I won the chart from Paulina (who's kinda disappeared...anyone know anything?). She also threw in the required Anne Cloth.


The Pink Bag
18 ct Anne Cloth
It was interesting working on the Anne Cloth. It's 18 ct, but the stitching is over two. The fabric is very soft and distorts if the stitches are pulled too tight. And since my fingers are usually a bit dry, I kept getting caught on the fabric.

The design called for Perle cotton in various colours. But since my Perle collection is black, red, blue and ecru, and I wasn't going to buy them just for this, I used 4 strands of regular DMC floss.

Start date June 1, 2010
Finish date June 12, 2010
Total time 13 hours

Changes:
Where the pink lines cross is supposed to be eyelets, but the ones I did distorted the fabric far too much, so I just did Rice stitches. Rice stitches are new to me, but the instructions were good and the stitch itself is very easy.
I didn't like the called for 502 and used the softer 320.

Front:

Back:

Flap:

I won't be finishing this as a bag. I'm thinking a hussif or something similar pending a suitable finishing fabric.

Samedi de cirques

Kristen and I decided to make Saturday our day for sharing CdC progress. I was good last week, not so much this time.

Eerie Beauty

Now, this is probably just me, but I find that BP's face, that high forehead, her colours, the fabric, all add to give her a slightly eerie feeling. My brother says she looks unearthly. I even had the notion that she could be the wicked sea witch to my more innocent MotDB...


Bluebeard's Princess
32ct Laurel Linen
Start date March 11, 2010
Finish date June 6, 2010
Total time 62 hours

She has an insane amount of bling. I used everything as recommended except I switched out the (too expensive) gold beads for some I had in my stash.

When she first came out, I was bothered by her forehead and the border. I have moved beyond the forehead, but I still dislike the border. Also, my other mermaids are free floaters, so she fits in better by herself.

I think the sea pegasi are cute, and I'd love to stitch them separately some other time.

The votes are in!

And folks want red circles! (except for those who wanted something else LOL).

I give you:


Cirque des Cercles
32 ct Lemon Whip Lugana, DMC 115
I thought I'd been posting more pictures of CdC, but apparently not (I'll do better). This is it as of 10 minutes ago. I worked on the upper right motif today. Getting a mini HD with every motif increases the enjoyment factor.

I try not have a very dark stitch right next to a very light stitch, which is probably unnecessary but makes me happy. Right now that dark patch in the middle of the light red in upper rightmost motif in the house that Jack built is bothering a tiny bit me. The upper left of the motif is dark, and the lower right is light except for that patch. However in the big scheme it's not important, and shall not be tampered with.

Canada Post not at fault!

Way, way, way back in February(!) I had my first giveaway, which Angela informs me has arrived. And while I'd love to blame Canada Post, I can't. They actually delivered in less than a week. I, on the other hand, took way too long.

The tale is a tragicomedy, involving a sudden crazed dislike of the initial backing fabric and finish, a frantic restitching of the piece, a somewhat satisfying finish and a whole lot more angst. But I won't bore you with that.

Angela sent me the most wonderful email and has such a lovely post about it. I've just been smiling all day (and read that email over a dozen times)!

I suppose it's true that we are our own worst critics.

A couple of pictures of what I sent:



I had a lot of fun trying out new stitches for the finish. The initial is in outline stitch.


I've learnt a few things from this:
I should have the entire giveaway ready, and only have to write a note and put the address on the envelope. Otherwise I'd just procrastinate like crazy!

And there's nothing, nothing like finding out that the recipient likes what you made.

May Achievements & June Goals

Goals for May:
1. Finish Weekend in Paris Yes! Now to find a frame. And since she's 5x7 it isn't going to be expensive!
2. Finish the Red Rose of Sharon dress Done.
3. Start a Hardanger bag Done.

Other things I did that were unplanned:
1. Stitched Bunny Ornament, Love Bunnies & Bunnies in a Basket

Goals for June:
1. Finish Bluebeard's Princess
2. Get caught up on the Hardanger Bag SAL
3. Start Runekeeper Saga
4. Work on whichever piece wins the poll
5. And now that I've discovered the poll options, go crazy with the power!!!

Despite working full time it feels like I did a lot of things in May. And I think this is the first time I've hit all my goals.

A new start and a question

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

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



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

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

We decided on a grey-green!

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

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

Rose of Sharon Red Conversion

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

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

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

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

All credit to Princess on the Mira BB

Mail from across the pond

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


A Hug Will Do

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


And it's my very first Lizzie*Kate.

End of May Long

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

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


Rose of Sharon
32ct Ivory Lugana

May Long begins with a whimper

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

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

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


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


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

Wrapping up the bunny fest

Bunnies in a Basket
28 ct opalescent whitePrevious bunnies here

Designer is Brittercup Designs of the famous cat outlines.

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

TUSAL May

Once more, it's a day late.



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

1 Bunny, 2 Bunny, 3

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

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

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

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

Bunny Ornament:


Love Bunnies:


And I've just started Bunnies in a Basket.

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

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

C'est fini

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

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

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


And after:

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

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