April Achievements and May Goals

Goals for April:
1. Finish a Mill Hill ornie. Yep. Mandolin was finished at the start of the month.
2. Finish-finish a small from the Drawer Where Things Go To Wait (Forever). No. I completely forgot and didn't even look at my finishes.
3. Put 20 hours into Autumn Winds. Only 10 hours this month.

Unexpectedly This Month:
1. Taught myself to knit.
2. Finished a ruffle scarf.
3. Started a cable scarf.
4. Finished Celtic Autumn.

Goals for May:
1. Finish a Mill Hill ornie.
2. Start something big.
3. 20 hours of Autumn Winds.
4. 20 hours of Cinderella.

April Small

This month's small is Mill Hill Mandolin, as previously posted here.
Next up is either Violin or Trumpet. Probably Trumpet.

Stitch From Stash - April

Month: April
Spent: 9.95

Carryover: 50.85

This month's expenditure was for the Kreinik to finish off Celtic Autumn. I also spent about $26 on knitting needles and yarn, but I'm not counting that since SFS is cross-stitch only :)

I think next month might be when I spend the carryover since my LNS is having a sale and I want to pick up some fabric for new starts. I've only got three projects I'm actively working on (and three on the backburner) and it feels strange.

Autumn Finish in Spring

Celtic Autumn is finally finished!
I finished Celtic Spring in October 2011 and now Autumn can join her to wait to be framed. I have no plans on stitching Summer or Winter. Actually when I first thought about stitching Celtic Spring, she was the only one I was going to stitch, since I find the original Autumn very drab. But then I came across this conversion (I can't remember where and I can't find it again) so I decided to stitch her too.
This wasn't without it's own drama. See here for the drama of starting wrong and frogging. But she was a very easy stitch overall.
I made a few mistakes in the scrollwork. There are some stitches where there should be beads.
She actually took me longer than Celtic Spring, even discounting the mistaken hours. I guess three years has made me slower ;) I'm tempted to start something new, but I think I'll work on Autumn Winds for a bit and see if the urge goes away. I still have a lot of very old WIPs to slay.

Title	Celtic Autumn Orange Conversion
Designer	Lavender & Lace
Start date	November 11, 2014
Finish date	Apri 25, 2015
Total time	91.5 hours
Fabric	32 ct white lugana
Floss	DMC as charted
	Kreinik 26
	MH 2011, 2033, 2055

More Of The Dress

I picked Cinderella back and worked a little on her dress. It's a huge dress so it doesn't look like much progress.

Cinderella
32 ct Charcoal Lugana
In better news, my LNS has finally got the Kreinik I was waiting for so I'll finish Celtic Spring after I pick it up. I've been waiting for this single braid since January. It's ridiculous how long it takes her to get stock in. It's frustrating because it's the only cross stitch store in the city and I want to support it so that it doesn't close down. But it takes so long that it's easier to order things online if I'm not browsing. Sigh.

Merry Mandolin

This month's Mill Hill is Mandolin. I had a brief pause when I had to go pick up the gold beads but otherwise it was an easy stitch. And then it took me a week to get around to cutting it out.

The strings are supposed to be backstitched but I was lazy and just did them as long stitches. They might slacken over time, but that would look a little natural (don't the strings of stringed instruments loosen if they aren't used?) and it would look better than the dips from couching.
There are a few gaps in the greenery where the kit had tiny bells. Since I'm stitching from just the chart I haven't gone looking for any replacements. If I come across them on my random shopping trips I'll add them in, but otherwise they look fine as is.

Title	Mandolin
Designer	Mill Hill
Start date	April 5, 2015
Finish date	April 7, 2015
Total time	3.75 hours
Fabric	14 ct white perforated paper
Floss	As charted
Beads	MH 2001, 2011, 2014, 3043

All Ruffled Up

I ran out one of the beads for Mill Hill Mandolin, so I started a ruffle scarf.
I bought this yarn ages ago with the idea that I would crochet a ruffle scarf. That turned out to be trickier than I thought and I had trouble following the crochetting instructions, so I put it aside. I wanted to try something simple for my first knitted project and this was a good one. The ruffles mean that my few mistakes are well hidden:)
The yarn has tiny sequins on the bottom. They aren't very visible. And the yarn isn't grey. That' just all the artificial light and flash. The first picture is accurate for colour. It's solid black :)

I picked up the beads, so I should have mandolin finished by Thursday at the latest. And I have plans for my next knitting project: a slightly more ambitious scarf with cables!

Title	Ruffle Scarf
Yarn	Red Heart Boutique Sashay Sequins
Start date	April 4, 2015
Finish date	April 5, 2015
Total time	4 hours

I Have Made A Terrible Mistake

On the 31st of March I was looking at random videos on the internet and on impulse clicked on a knitting one. It was a very complicated looking shawl and I was all set to admire it and move on when I saw one of the videos on the sidebar was how to do a beginner knit stitch. So I watched it.

The next day I went out and picked up a pair of bamboo knitting needles so I could just "try it out". My test sampler looks like this now:
I can knit and purl, which is apparently all there is to knitting. Why didn't someone tell me this before? And why did the last person who tried to teach me make it seem so complicated? Clearly they were a terrible teacher and I should have tried again!

I got bored of the knit stitch (called the garter stitch when it's multiple rows), so I moved on to try combinations of knit and purl. I'm going to try a cable next and then increasing and decreasing. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to knit just about anything after that. Oh, and maybe figure out how to do a gauge properly.

It's kind of hilarious and kind of terrifying because I started out with the wooden straight needles because everything I read said that they were the easiest for beginners. I'm finding that they grip the yarn a bit too much for my liking and that casting even 30 stitches in difficult to manage. I guess I'm going to pick up some circular metal needles soon lol

But fear not, readers who are here for my stitching. I have in no way lost my love for that. In fact, I'm starting a Mill Hill ornie today since my left thumb knuckle is hurting. I think I knitted too much last night.

March Achievements and April Goals

Goals for March:
1. Finish a Mill Hill ornie. I finished French Horn and even cut it out.
2. Finish the castle and trees in Cinderella. I ended up frogging the metallic backstitch (and then frogging and stitching all the surrounding DMC since it got fluffy and shredded) so that I could couch it. Despite all that work it was probably faster than struggling to backstitch with the Kreinik. I'm never doing that again!
3. Put 20 hours into Autumn Winds. I put in exactly 20 hours.

Unexpectedly This Month:
1. Stitched a lunch bag.

Goals for April:
1. Finish a Mill Hill ornie.
2. Finish-finish a small from the Drawer Where Things Go To Wait (Forever).
3. 20 hours of Autumn Winds.

Carry Lunch In Style

I made a lunchbag! I followed this tutorial from Pink Penguin. This was a request but I'm really tempted to keep it for myself!
It looks huge in this picture but it's only about 12x12x6 and that 12 inches is with the handles included. It's not insulated, but it is lined with the same fabric as the brim. There's also a cover that pulls together as a drawstring. It's the first time I've done anything like that, so I didn't fiddle with the pattern but followed it exactly.

A terrible shot of the inside, but it gives you an idea of what it looks like.
I was initially going to add the recipients initials but I decided to just go with a detachable flower instead. It's a kanzashi style flower based on this tutorial. It took me a lot longer than necessary because I kept missing the folded in bits when I stitched it together. But now that I have the hang of it I can see myself making them when I need a pretty embellishment. The flower is just tackled on for the photo. I need to find a pin of some kind for it.
Because I wouldn't be me if something didn't go wrong: I ran out of black thread and I have no orange, so I had to do all the stitching in white. The topstitching was a nerve-wracking job since mistakes were going to be incredibly obvious. I cut the outside in the wrong size, but was able to repurpose it for the cover which is an inch smaller. I forgot to change my needle position from my last project so the seams were 3/8 instead of 1/4 inch. And I already mentioned the flower issues.

But all in all, it was an evening well spent and I'm very pleased with myself!

And in case anyone is thinking of making this themselves, the tutorial is very easy to follow, except that her instructions on boxing corners aren't very clear.

Third Instrument

I still haven't figured out how to take good pictures with my phone, so it's a truly terrible picture of French Horn for the Smalls SAL.

Title	French Horn
Designer	Mill Hill
Start date	March 2, 2015
Finish date	March 25, 2015
Total time	3.75 hours
Fabric	14 ct white perforated paper
Floss	As charted
Beads	MH 252, 2011, 2055, 3043

Stitch From Stash - March

Month: March
Spent: 3.32

Carryover: 35.80

I picked up some DMC that I ran out of, and some fabric and interfacing for finishing (which thankfully doesn't count for SFS because it would've put me way over budget!).

In frustrating news, I'm unable to use my camera for the foreseeable future. I'm going to have to use my phone, which as nice as it is, is very annoying to take pictures with.

Onto The Dress

I took a brief break from struggling with the Kreinik to stitch a bit of the skirt. I'm loving it so far.

Cinderella
32 ct Charcoal Lugana
I also got a new sewing machine and have been playing around with it. I keep forgetting to take a picture of it. This weekend, I promise.

Starting Over

When I last posted about Autumn Winds she looked like this:

Autumn Winds
28ct antique white Lugana
Since then I've managed to lose my original working copy, been unable to work backwards to figure out which parts I've stitched, kept it hidden, and finally restarted it.

I'm going with a block by block method, and now she looks like this:

Autumn Winds
25ct white Lugana

Castle And Shrubbery

I'm almost done the non-dress bits of Cinderella. I just have the metallic parts of the castle left since I'm not going to stitch the frame. Unfortunately the metallic I have is a bit thick so it's not much fun to stitch with. I'm really really looking forward to getting back to the dress!

Cinderella
32 ct Charcoal Lugana

February Achievements and March Goals

Goals for Febuary:
1. Finish Mill Hill Harp. Done.
2. Finish the castle and trees in Cinderella. So close. I have two colours and the backstitching to go. Apparently the castle and grounds are a lot bigger than I thought.
3. Finish Celtic Autumn if the Kreinik comes in. It didn't come in, and so I haven't finished it.

Unexpectedly This Month:
1. Turned Cool Christmas into a journal cover.
2. Started and finished Chocolate Needleroll.

Goals for March:
1. Finish a Mill Hill ornie.
2. Finish the castle and trees in Cinderella.
3. Put 20 hours into Autumn Winds.

Harping On

I stitched Harp from Mill Hill's Harmonic Holiday series. Unlike last month, I actually cut it out this month. It's missing the harp-strings, but that's because I ran out of the gold Kreinik. Maybe next month I'll have something completely stitched and cut out and ready to hang? One can only hope!

Title	Harp
Designer	Mill Hill
Start date	January 31, 2015
Finish date	February 1, 2015
Total time	4.25hours
Fabric	14 ct white perforated paper
Floss	As charted
Beads	MH 2011, 2022, 2055, 3043

Stitch From Stash - February

Month: February
Spent: 20.93

Carryover: 14.12

When I signed up for this year I kept thinking that I wouldn't use the bonuses because it sounded like too much work. What do you know I was right! I did it last month because it was easy. I took one look at what I stitched this month, tried to remember whether I had bought the chart more than six months ago, and just gave up.


As planned last month, I bought Canadian Hearts by The Victoria Sampler. It has all 10 provinces and the 3 territories. It also has the city of Victoria (because the company is based there, I guess), but I won't be stitching that. What it doesn't have is the one for the country. That's in the International Hearts I leaflet, along with a bunch of other countries that I have no plans to stitch. I don't think the kits are being made anymore, so the next part of this project is figuring out how to get my hands on the Canada chart.

So, er. Is there anyone out there who has the chart and is willing to lend it to me? I promise to stitch it asap and return it. *winsome smile*

I plan on starting these after I finish the Mill Hill Holiday Series as part of the Small SAL. So, in July :)

Taking My Own Sweet Time

Four years ago I made a "temporary" cover for my stitching journal. Today I finally made a new cover for it. I used Cool Christmas, which I also stitched four years ago. I really take my time finishing things lol
It was a bit of an adventure because I got the margins wrong, had to improvise and then got confused about the actual assembly. But all's well that ends well and this is so much cuter in person!

Pink For Valentine's Day

My attitude towards Valentine's is a resounding "meh". I think it's a ridiculously commercialized occasion but if people want to celebrate it then more power to them. It makes no difference to me (other than the post-Valentine chocolate sales, which are an excellent thing).

So of course I had to stitch hohla's latest freebie SAL "Chocolate" in pink.
It's stitched on 28ct lugana in various pinks from my stash. It feels like I've been using these threads forever in the attempt to use them up, but there's always plenty leftover!
I don't have a lot of pink beads. The first ones I found were giant ones that didn't fit into the spots at all. I was so pleased to find a ton of these smaller pink ones. In fact, as I type I have a horrible suspicion that these beads are not leftover from some other project but are meant for Cinderella. I'm too afraid to go look o_O
I feel like I'm becoming an old hand at these specialty stitches. I've done all of them before. But they're still so much fun!

Title	Chocolate Needleroll
Designer	hohla design
Start date	February 5, 2015
Finish date	February 12, 2015
Total time	8.75 hours
Fabric	28 ct white lugana
Floss	CC Carrie Berry, CC Goldfish, GA Cranberry, WDW Peony
Beads	MH 2004