October Achievements & November Goals

Goals for October:
1. Get the last two UFORRs out. Done.
2. Finish Celtic Spring Done!
3. Start something Halloween. Started and finished Halloween is a Hoot.

Unplanned things:
1. Started and finished Shepherd's Purse

Goals for November:
1. Stitch at least two Christmas ornaments
2. Work on Sleepy Hollow (yes, after Halloween)

Not Going Crazy

Friday night I was all gung-ho to stitch the next part of The Great Escape but it didn't show up. I decided that I was confused about which week it was and mourned my dying memory.

Imagine my surprise when it showed up today! I am vindicated!

Here is an overexposed and atrocious photo in celebration.


The Great Escape
28ct white Jubilee, DMC 317, 318, 413, 414
Straight stitch is dead easy. But the counting? There was so much frogging and I'm still not sure if that left eyebrow is in the right place. On the other hand I can always redo once the eyes are stitched in...

Out of Season

Last night I took two hours to finish off Celtic Spring.


I left out the border and letters. I also decided to do the scrollwork in her dress in purple since I think the gold just fades right into the light purple. Admittedly I may have picked a too-dark purple...


I love how shiny her cloak edge is!


What else? My now almost habitual switching of beads. Charted she has 2 purples and 2 golds; I just used once each. And I went with all purple beads in the dress and all gold in the cloak. I think the photos make the purple stand out, but in actuality they blend right in.

Title	Celtic Spring
Designer	Lavender & Lace
Start date	December 26, 2010
Finish date	October 27, 2011
Total time	66 hours
Fabric	32 ct white lugana
Floss	DMC as charted
	Kreinik 26, 28V
	MH 252, 2011, 2055

A Mishmash of Items

Starting off with mail from Kati.

You know how they say that some people can flog a dead horse? My guidance counsellor once told me that I could flog a dead horse and then keep flogging it until it became a skeleton and still keep going. Why bring up this point? Because CP still sucks. This took a week to travel across 3 provinces. And my mail from the US is over a month late. Hilariously the government letter arrived and a duplicate arrived the next day. *Heads back towards that accursed horse*


So after admiring the charts I headed to my stash to see if I had any suitable fabric for Fine China. I was two seconds from pulling open my fabric drawer when I noticed three of my WIPs stare at me accusingly (one very close to a finish). I couldn't handle the guilt. I've managed not to start anything by avoiding my stitching area. This has the unfortunate side effect of preventing me from adding the ~100 beads necessary to finish off Celtic Spring...

Onto the second item on the agenda: this month's TUSAL.


The gold is from Celtic Spring, who as I've mentioned is waiting for beads. And there aren't that many beads either.

Item three is that my letter from my penpal arrived. I'm crafting my response back. (Ok, I've pulled out a piece of paper.)

Final item: I've decided to make some ornaments for Christmas. I'm not sure why since I don't celebrate Christmas and I've never had a tree and I don't plan on having one and I have no idea where to hang them. But I'm going to make them. I've already got Cool Christmas, and I'm thinking that I'll make things easy by picking some quick finishes. This way if this Christmas mania leaves me there's still a chance I'll have finished the designs.

So far I've scrounged up Daffycat's Reindeer Trio, some of Teresa Wentzler's freebies, Log Cabin Needlework's Noel, gazette94's Noel and Dragon Dream's Christmyth series.

Does anyone have any other small could-be-finished-quickly designs? And despite having several "Noel" I'd prefer secular ones. And this sudden desire to have several small finishes has nothing to do with the fact that it's almost November and I have half the number of finishes I had last year!

Trouble Ahead?

I tackled part three of The Great Escape . And since people unanimously demanded biweekly pictures that's what'll happen. Along with my babbling about the stitches :D


The Great Escape
28ct white Jubilee, DMC 317, 414
Two completely new stitches this time: Sorbello (third "band") and Cretan Catch (bottom "band"). When I glanced at the instructions I thought that the Sorbello stitch would be more difficult but it turned out to be easier than the Cretan Catch. I think the Sorbello stitch is very pretty. I'll have to remember it for future use. I'm apathetic about Cretan Catch

So I may be about to hit a snag with my grey owl. There aren't that many grey DMCs. I'm aiming for an owl with maybe 4 or 5 greys. That's two up there and I'm not sure there's sufficient contrast. (Admittedly this photo is taken in atrocious light.) I'm going to let it sit until the entire owl is done and hopefully it will look cohesive.

In unrelated news I'm wondering what's going on with my mail. The government swears it sent me a letter two weeks ago and I haven't received it and I'm waiting for some mail from the US that was mailed a month ago! Curse you Canada Post! (I think CP's sloth can be added as a certainty along with Death and Taxes)

The Best Laid Plans

This post has been in draft mode since the 8th. It got updated every other day but I never took a picture, so I never published the post. I was about to this morning when I realized that I could hold off and just show a finish this evening.


This is Shepherd's Bush's Shepherd's Purse (Talk about lots of apostrophes!). I stitched it as a wallhanging and therefore have flipped two of the bands upside down and moved the letters. I can't decide what to do about the button. In the original it's used to tie the purse closed, but I'm not sure it works for a wallhanging. Any comments/suggestions?


See that band under J-R? Swedish Weaving. I hate that band. And that blue Satin band? It wasn't symmetrical. Very obviously not symmetrical, so I had to frog it. Grr....

Let me take a moment to grumble a little. The threads arrived in one hank. There was Deep Raspberry, Deep Rose, Light Rose, Deep Lavender and Lavender. It took me about 10 minutes in the sun to differentiate the lavenders from the roses. But Deep Raspberry vs Deep Rose? It's a toss up. I just ended up picked one. And then Deep Green and Brown. Not something you'd think I'd have problems with. Except they looked exactly the same to me! I guess I was more irritated because I'd just opened up a Maia kit with had all the colours already in the thread sorter. Really for the cash I'm forking over for a kit is it unreasonable to expect things to come ready to stitch?

And sometimes the instructions referred to purples when it meant lavender. Is it too much to ask for someone to proofread? (Maybe I have an older kit and the newer ones are better?)


Once I started stitching though, all was well. This is a pretty quick piece with crosses and specialty stitches. I think the sheep are kinda weird. Admittedly I've never seen a sheep close up in real life (in a car when I'm driving through deserted countryside, yes) and I don't understand the love the stitching world has for them. Anyone care to enlighten me?

Title	Shepherd's Purse
Designer	Shepherd's Bush
Start date	October 8, 2011
F hoursdate	October 15, 2011
Total time	16.25 hours
Fabric	28 ct Putty Cashel
Floss	As provided in the kit

Easy

I just got around to part two of The Great Escape .


The Great Escape
28ct white Jubilee
It involves two stitches. The Feather Stitch (middle vertical), which I have done before and is ridiculously easy, and the Basque Stitch (lower right and left), which I have never done before and is also easy!

I got a bit confused because the chart had the feather stitch start in a different place than the instructions, but after squinting at the model I went back and fixed it.

So a quick question: parts come out every two weeks and I plan on stitching them the weekend they come out before the next one comes out. Now should I post pictures every time or should I save them up for one a month? There are 18 parts...

Toddle On

Rachel's To the Beach (pretty bad picture here since I can't find one online) by Janlynn wraps up the last UFORR.

As it arrived:


As it goes out:


I had a bit of an issue with this one. A few hours in I realized that certain places weren't matching up and then I figured out that a stitch had been off. And I had picked that stitch to start from. Grrrrr.

So to wrap up: Would I do another UFORR? You bet. It's an excellent chance to work on designs I'd never otherwise touch. And sometimes you get sucked into adding to your stash anyway. Plus you can't beat having someone else get you over the block on whatever piece you're stuck on. And there's none of the stress of a trying to come up with a layout like in a themed RR.

Cons? Well, you really have to be able to keep up. The ones I've done have 6 weeks (post takes up some of that time). But if you lose your mojo it just sucks. And you may end up working on something you don't care for. I've been lucky, all the ones I've worked on are interesting in some way. Also depending on how tight finances are the postal costs can add up. If it's a well run RR then the mail will be tracked and depending on where you're mailing to it may get expensive.

So why am I not participating in another one? Have you seen my WIP list? And my next up/short list? I need to get some of my oldies out of the way.

An excellent place to go is the TWRoundRobin board, which runs both UFORRs and themed RRs throughout the year. But think about it several times because it is a serious long-term(ish) commitment.

An Experiment

I'm thinking of stitching something over one on 32 count. But since I wasn't too sure I decided to try out a small design as a test.

Title	Halloween is a Hoot
Designer	Heart in Hand
Start date	October 2, 2011
F hoursdate	October 2, 2011
Total time	2.75 hours
Fabric	32 ct Laurel linen
Floss	Random DMC from stash
Other notes	Half crosses in two strands over one

Snooze On

Continuing my work on UFORRs, this is Tali's Sleeping Beauty by Mirabilia.

As it arrived:


As it goes out



She's rather massive and has far more white than you'd suspect from the model. As a rule I tend to pick a colour/area and follow it through. I know some folks like to go page by page. So for her I decided to stop where the working copy cut off (about halfway through the blanket). It didn't work. Apparently I'm incapable of stopping at a page's end, I just have to follow a line of colour and finish it off.

As pretty as she is, this Mira is one that's never called to me. Her sleeping position looks awkward, and I think she looks a bit pregnant (shades of the Perreault version there!). Also my first Disney movie was Sleeping Beauty, so I expect her to be a singing blonde named Aurora.

On the other hand I've never seen Disney's Cinderella, so I'm fine with Mira's version. She's actually on the list...

September Achievements & October Goals

September was very very good to me. Here's hoping that October will be equally or even more awesome!

Goals for September:
1. Dye some fabric. Yes, actually. I just keep forgetting to post a picture.
2. Work on Sapphire. Done and finished!

Unplanned things:
1. Finished Spring Blossom Biscornu
2. Finished Tree of Stitches
3. Started The Great Escape

Goals for October:
1. Get the last two UFORRs out
2. Finish Celtic Spring
3. Start something Halloween

TUSAL September

Almost missed today. I can't believe that it's almost the end of the month!


Blue from Tree of Stitches and white from Spring Blossoms Biscornu.

A Longish Post With Lots of Pictures (And Some Whining)

Exactly what the title says so you may either want to skip my inane ramblings and look at the pictures or grab something to drink ;D

The topic of discussion the last stages of finishing Tree of Stitches and the woes I encountered. So yes, I've finished it! *Dances in relief*


Tree of Stitches
28ct white Jubilee, CW Bermuda Reef, WDW Peony, MH 42010
All new stitches this time:


Fancy cross which is a Herringbone Square over a Leviathan. I love it! It's so pretty and I did it with one strand to make it look a bit more delicate.
Tied Windmill. Another stitch that I like! Abi mentioned that there might be a need to "nudge-and-stitch" to get the middle cross, but I had no such issues.
Leaf stitch. After the last two stitches this was kinda boring but easy. No falling leaves just because.

One look at the overall tree, and I decided that my Jerusalem stitches didn't fit in with the rest since they looked too thin. So frog and redo in two strands and the whole tree looks pretty full.

Now is the bit where I whine. A lot. I knew straight off that Horace the Rabbit and his flower were not making an appearance, but I wasn't too sure about Lester the Owl. So I gave him a try.

Snag 1: I couldn't get a decent Knit Stitch, which is what makes up his body. Several tries and I gave up. Then I dug up my various dictionaries of stitches to try and find a replacement. I tried Ceylon stitch, blanket filling and finally settled on the Triangle stitch.


And yes, he's yellow. I thought it would fit in with the otherworldly theme I was going for.

A step back and I found snag two: My eye kept being drawn to the owl. I've always planned on having the tree being the focus so that wasn't good. I still like the owl. He's just so cute. But sadly he was ruining my plans for this design. So I frogged him and his branch.

Next was trying to randomly fill the space with the surrounding stitches while not making it too crowded. I'm actually very very pleased with what I managed.

And then it was beading. Now I'm rather odd in that I enjoy beading. I find it very soothing, and in a project where the placement is more of a guideline? It was sheer joy. I went with tiny clear beads since I wanted a raindrop effect.


So what's next? I have two packages crawling their way to me. Whichever arrives first will be my next start. Until they arrive I'm off to put hours into a UFORR.

One last look:

Title	Tree of Stitches
Designer	Abi Gurden
Start date	August 6, 2011
Finish date	September 25, 2011
Total time	23.5 hours
Fabric	28 ct White Jubilee
Floss	Caron Waterlilies Bermuda Reef, Weeks Dye Works Peony, MH 42010

Rapid Growth

Having finished off two WIPs (and started something new) I tentatively have my eyes set on finishing Tree of Stitches (so that I can start two more things).


Tree of Stitches
28ct white Jubilee, Caron Waterlilies Bermuda Reef, Weeks Dye Works Peony
Continuing my stitch by stitch ramblings from last time:


Cushion stitch. I've done this before and I love it. It's such a dimensional stitch. I stitched it with 2 strands to make it extra high.

And then the Jerusalem stitch. This was completely new to me, and I didn't like it. And after the joy of the cushion stitch I just hated it even more. This was where I stalled. Eventually I managed to drag myself to finish it off. At two strands it was too thick and at one it's too thin. Let's chalk this stitch as one I'll be avoiding in the future.


Four new stitches in this picture. Going clockwise starting from below the Jerusalem stitch. There's one called a Floral stitch. It puts me in mind of kloster blocks from hardanger. I was really tempted to add some sort of modified eyelet for the center, but since I was stitching the "petals" in two strands it would have been too thick and I was too lazy to go to the trouble.

Then the Norwich stitch (bottom right). Where has this been all my life? It's such a lovely stitch! I love it! I changed it a tiny bit to look more symmetrical.

Star stitch. This reminded me of the Jerusalem stitch. A "+" bracketed by something else, but I found this much easier going and therefore I like it a lot more.

And ending with a Rhodes square. I've done a fair bit of these before and I love the way they stitch up!

Tree of Stitches is still available over at the Yahoo Group Stitch Specialists. I'm not sure when it'll be taken down but I'm betting pretty soon since The Great Escape has already started running. So if anyone is planning on grabbing it I would suggest hurrying. You can always just hoard it for the future. *glances at Castles in the Air, the 2010 AAN Christmas Tree and others...*

It's Not Really A WIP

The Great Escape is the new SAL from Abi Gurden of The Stitch Specialists.


And since it's only a small part every two weeks (which doesn't really take very long) it's not a proper WIP...

Not really...

Is anyone buying this?

I finished two things so I deserve a reward?

Whatever justification I come up with, the reality is that I've started it. I have dismal luck with ongoing SALs. I lose interest at around the halfway point and then wait for about six months after the end to finish. Maybe I'll have better luck this time.

Initially this was going to be a white owl on a dark background (Hedwig!) However this requires that I have a piece of dark fabric of suitable size that is not earmarked for some other project.

Second option: try to make it look like a sketch, so greys on white.


The Great Escape
28ct white Jubilee
Part 1 is the Montenegrin stitch in DMC 317. It's incredibly dense and kinda odd, but still easy. It's much more interesting very close up than afar.

Needles on FIYAH!

And since I had to use a beading needle the plural (s) applies.

As part of IHSW (which I have been participating in for ages but not promoting. oops) I finished The Sweetheart Tree's Spring Blossoms Biscornu late last night.


I initially put it away because the backstitch was annoying but when I picked it up I was in the zone and just raced through it!


And in what may become a trend, I made changes. The flowers are supposed to be outlined in grey but my attempts came out revolting so no outlining. And the provided beads are tiny. Now I'm all for the 40000 series for anything that has blocks of beads (I'm looking at you, certain Mira charts) but for isolated beads they were just too tiny and disappeared completely. So out came the bead stash and I replaced everything.


And then I couldn't find three of the paillettes so I had to improvise. And finally (whew) instead of using all three colours in the beaded border I used two.


Both sides are the same except the flowers are pink vs white. I actually prefer the white side. I also interfaced the stitching to see if it make a difference during assembly. I don't think it made much of a difference until I was stuffing the biscornu and I couldn't really tell how full it was. I think I may have overstuffed.

Title	Spring Blossoms Biscornu
Designer	The Sweetheart Tree
Start date	July 31, 2011
Finish date	September 17, 2011
Total time	16.75
Fabric	32 ct White Belfast & 32 ct Angel Blush Belfast
Floss	Floss as charted
	MH 2004, 2022, 40479, 42010, 60479

Happiness Is

Having your mojo come back with a vengeance and driving you to a lovely finish!


I fell for Sapphire when she first came out. I've already mentioned how I don't know anyone with a September birthday and that I don't like the May fairy. But the May birthstone is an emerald and there's enough green in Sapphire that I'm going to claim her as my "May" fairy.


I left off the wings since I don't care for them. I had to very slightly modify her left shoulder to compensate. And I left the vines/trailing frond things until the end and decided that she looks just fine without them.

I didn't like the coverage of the original Kreiniks. The "L" line is kinda thin. So I just dug through my stash and replaced two of them with thicker ones. I didn't have the required orange in any thickness so I randomly grabbed one. In the interest of being cheap frugal, I chose not to buy the Caron Waterlilies. Instead I stared hard at my computer screen trying to figure out what DMC the 175 looks like. It's only there in the cage base. The rest of the cage base is in 930, and the model makes the 175 look a little darker than the 930. So I went with 930+310 as a replacement for 175. (I have no idea how others do this sort of thing, so I thought I'd mention my way).


I was also under the impression that I had all the required beads. This was not so. I had half a pack of the green ones, so I used them for the isolates in the kimono. I also had the same colour in a smaller size, so that ended up in the sleeves. Every other bead was chosen by eyeballing online pictures and my bead stash. I ended up with two purples in the dress, although I don't think it's at all noticeable. I originally went with the ones in the "flowers" which didn't look good in the purple border, so I had to pick a different purple for that. I'm not sure they're any good either, but I don't have any other purples and I am disinclined to head to the LNS.


One of the results of changing the beads and the metallics was that I had issues with the hair. The contrast between the red+purple and the orange+yellow looks fine in the model, but my changes made them too strange. So I ended up switching the purple beads in her headpiece with red ones, and the yellow beads in the orange fronds with orange beads. This left a bunch of purple beads in her hair. I just replaced those with one of the browns from her hair. And I quite like the result. I think there's a slight difference between the original's face and mine, but I like mine, so it's all good!

Title	September's Sapphire Fairy
Designer	Mirabilia
Start date	May 20, 2011
Finish date	September 14, 2011
Total time	61.5 hours
Fabric	32 ct Waterlily Jobelan
Floss	DMC as charted
	DMC 931+310 instead of Caron Waterlilies 175
	Kreinik 026, 003HL, 152V
	MH 252, 2011, 2031, 2033, 3053, 18014, 42031

Head's (Not Quite) Up

Hey Joysze! Enjoy~


September's Sapphire Fairy
32 ct Waterlily Jobelan

Magic

My second UFORR arrived home yesterday.

Palm is a Dimensions kit that I started when my stash was not at hand. Big thanks to the ladies who worked on this: arthenice, Theialin, MissStitchy, Rachel, Frog, Rahenna, pds and Measi.

I sent this out:


And the magic of the UFORR returned this:


Palm
14 ct Khaki Aida
Isn't that just incredible? I have a feeling this will feature during the 2012 Wipocalypse.

August Achievements & September Goals

I usually review goals on the last day of the month. Would you believe that I didn't realize that yesterday was the last day of August?

Goals for August:
1. Finish and send out Denise's winnings. Denise, I'm sorry, but this is just not happening
2. Stitch on both UFO RRs. Possibly? I'll be honest, I'm getting confused so let's say yes.
3. Finish Spring Blossoms Biscornu. No.
4. Finish off at least 2 of my in-progress bags. No.

Goals for September:
1. Dye some fabric.
2. Work on Sapphire

Let's try and set goals that have a chance of being achieved.