Saturday, November 27, 2010

could it be... Cirque?

Of course it could. :p I picked up the exact purple I wanted from the LNS (CC's Pansy Purple, if you must know :3) but I couldn't find a single blue that I liked. I must have spent a full 20 minutes looking at all the colors for all the different companies... Crescent Colours, Gentle Art, Dinky Dyes, Caron, others I can't even remember. Not a single sapphire blue that I liked.

So I replaced the blue with CC's Bejeweled, which is a rich, dark green. It's not exactly what I wanted, but none of the blues were even close to being what I wanted, and green's my favorite color anyway, so nyah. :p

Here we are at 26.5 hours!


click here for full size! :D



click here for full size! :D


My girlfriend and I made matching little Christmas kits yesterday! We were digging through our stash on Thanksgiving evening and admiring all the shinies. These two kits were taking up a lot of space in one of the small kit tubs because of the frames, so we dug them out and stitched them up. Cute and fast! I did the one with the red fabric, she did the green. I think we'll give them to her mom for Christmas. :)


click here for full size! :D


Now, if only Queen Lazybutt would get to work on her round robins... :p

Friday, November 19, 2010

more Cirque!

Got some progress on Cirque! Unfortunately, not much during the week, but last weekend was good for stitching. Couldn't post because my webhost wasn't cooperating and I couldn't upload my scan. :p

Ended last weekend at 12.5 hours:


click here for full size! :D


And brought it up to a total of 15 hours while watching DVDs tonight:


click here for full size! :D


Now the hard decisions come in. Keep on with Cirque, or give in to temptation and start Mirabilia's Mediterranean Mermaid? I finally got all of my supplies in (lots of bling!) and the fabric I ordered during the Sunny Dyes sale.

The fabric is great, by the way, I should really take a picture of what we got. Sadly, two of the pieces have the pattern in the dye going the wrong way for what I'd wanted to use them for, so while I love them, I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do with them. I can probably squeeze South Seas Mermaid in the other way, but there's no way it will work with the other pattern. My bad for making assumptions, and I'm very happy with the fabrics otherwise. Hmm...

Friday, November 12, 2010

a new start!

Remember my colorful plan for Cirque des Cercles?
It's okay if you don't, because here it is again. XD



I got started this week! Here it is after 7.5 hours of work.


click here for full size! :D


Looking good! I put another 45 minutes in this evening and completed one of the flowers that's between the main circles (you can see it's just started here) and started on the green base for the one opposite. As for colors... I'm using the DMC color variations line for most of the colors. The brown is Crescent Colours Caterpillar, and the light green is GAST Spring Green. I need to find a suitable purple, and I'm not really liking the DMC dark blue because it has a lot of purple in it.

Oh, tragic, I'll have to look at pretty threads. :p

Friday, October 22, 2010

RR & more Titania

Got my stitching done on Blu's round robin! This will be a pretty palm tree when it's finished, but for now it's a blotchy pot and a lot of background. :3


click here for full size! :D


Titania is getting too big for the scanner. I'll have to resort to the camera soon.


click here for full size! :D


I also have TW's Woodland Faerie all kitted up, but I can't iron my fabric because the last time I used the iron, the scrap fabric I was using MELTED onto it. Luckily it didn't get on the actual piece I was ironing (Barnabee :3) but it DID completely ruin the iron and I haven't picked up another one yet. Blah. :p

Friday, October 15, 2010

Barnabee's Bride :3

Whew. I had my father and brother visiting for a week and it's been slow going on the stitchy front. I was able to make some good progress on Titania but I haven't scanned her yet. I'll do an update for her soon.

But I did manage to start AND finish Barnabee's Bride by Just Nan. This was an easy project, completed in the span of about 24 hours. :3 I don't have the right kind of glue, so the shell button is shown loose here.


Speaking of Just Nan, I also picked up the chart and all the goodies for Mermaid Heart. I'm not a JN fan, but that particular design was very appealing to me, as was this one. And, okay, I bought Floral Fifteen because that's just awesome. :D

Got to stop buying new designs, I'll never catch up. We had another expensive trip to the LNS this week, but hey, it's vacation... right?

Friday, October 01, 2010

ladybug! (again)

Finished the ladybug about 30 minutes ago. It's so cute when it's all done! I haven't stitched much in the last few days, but I'd say this took about a week, assuming about two hours of stitching time per night. Each side of the square took one weeknight, and I did the entire center over the span of one evening and some TV time today. :)


click here for full size! :D


Decided to do them all in a row! Dragonfly is next. :3 But... is that really what I want to do next? HAHAHA. I could work on Titania, or one of my round robins...

Or maybe start something new. I don't usually like Just Nan designs, but I couldn't resist picking up the chart and fabrics for Floral Fifteen. Love the colors! I also kitted up TW's Woodland Faerie, but the fabric I ordered won't be arriving until next weekend or so. Hmm...

ladybug!

I'm currently working on the Country Cottage Needleworks set of four Garden Party designs. I'm about halfway through with the ladybug and I'm trying to decide how I want to lay them out on the fabric! Four in a row? In a square as shown on the CCN website? I don't know! Fortunately I have a day or two to decide since I still need to finish up this cute little bug. :3


click here for full size! :D


What should I doooooooo? XD

Sunday, September 19, 2010

two completed ornaments

Finished my two latest ornaments today with lots of help from my girlfriend. She has a LOT more patience than I do when it comes to fussy details!


Annnnd that's all I have for today. :p

Just kidding. My girlfriend just finished the lazy daisies on her Sorceress (Dimensions) kit after much nagging from me. XD


Saturday, September 18, 2010

finishes & RR progress!

Finished my JBW star ornament from the JCS issue yesterday. It's a cute little guy and was very quick to stitch. I modified the pattern a bit because it wasn't completely symmetrical for some strange reason, and I'm totally anal about stuff like that. :p


click here for full size! :D


Got in some good progress on Measi's Magical Night (Teresa Wentzler) for the first round robin! I finished the moon, added the swirls on the sleigh, and filled in some other areas, mostly around the swirls and the gold below. Also did some backstitching. I'm not done yet - still have about a month to go with this one - but I thought I'd take a scan now so I can see how I progress over the next few weeks. :3


click here for full size! :D


And my girlfriend finished her Mermaids (Country Cottage Needleworks) project today as well! It's really cute with all the specialty threads. I was hoping we could frame it right away, but the frame we have is too tall even though it's the right width. Poop. Now it has to go in the box with the growing stack of finished pieces. Oh well, now we'll be able to get it framed in white as shown on the chart...


click here for full size! :D

Sunday, September 12, 2010

another ornament!

Finished a second ornament, same one as before, only this one's in pink. Well, it's not really finished, but I finished the stitching and will assemble it in the next couple of days and get it out to my friend Mab. :3


click here for full size! :D


Already working on the cute JBW star ornament from the JCS ornament issue. It's coming along quite nicely even though it's my first time stitching over one. No picture yet, unfortunately, I figure a progress picture for something that takes only a couple of hours is kind of lame. XD

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Titania - true progress :3

Okay, here's a true progress scan for Titania. :3 I did NOT do all this stitching in the last couple of days - a lot of it was already done. The new parts are everything below (okay, more to the side of) the orangey ribbon. :)


Got to scan my WIPs so I can get input on what to send for the round robin... XD

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Titania!

Finally posting a scan of my progress on Mirabilia's Titania. I've actually completed quite a bit more since this scan was done. The orange ribbon is completely filled in, and the end of it to the right is complete too.


Debating what to send around for the second UFO round robin. I have a number of things in progress but none are really UFOs, just kind of waiting while I plug away at Titania. :3 I might send Dragonfly Pond to get a bit of a boost on it. It's a bit tough since it's on dark fabric and the metallic thread is kind of driving me nuts. I'd be eternally grateful for any help getting that one past the "just started" mark. :D

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

round robin :3

Whoops, I haven't posted in a while. I'm stitching, honest! The latest round robin project I worked on was the lovely Queen of Freedom by Mirabilia. The first picture shows the full project, and the second is the area I worked on (bottom of the dress and the blue starry ribbon).



I'm working on other things too, but no pictures yet. I'm making a pink version of the ornament shown in the previous post, and I've made a bit of progress on Dragonfly Pond. It's going slower than I'd like because the metallic thread is SO. ANNOYING. But it looks pretty! I'm also kind of worried that the fabric isn't big enough for the project even though I measured it when I took it out of the kit. Must be the way it wraps around the snaps or something...

Sunday, June 27, 2010

little ornament

Made a little ornament from the JCS ornament previews in the latest issue. There's a few others in there that I'd like to make, but this one was small and simple - just one color of silk and a scrap of fabric. Of course, finishing it was a disaster because I suck at sewing, but that's what cording's for, right? Hiding all the loose ends and nasty threads. x.x


I have no idea what the color of the thread is, but it's pretty close to the color recommended in the magazine. :)

Friday, June 11, 2010

finished the castle!

Here we go, finished Ivory Castle about ten minutes ago. :3



I have the next project for the round robin I'm in - lovely Queen of Freedom by Mirabilia, and she's mostly done! Can't wait to get my grubby mitts (okay, CLEAN mitts) on that! Maybe tonight if I don't get sucked in by TV... we just got Netflix and I look forward to rotting my brain. Haven't watched TV in 10+ years!

Also itching to start Dragonfly Pond, yet another Dimensions kit. I got outbid on that one about five times before I finally managed to get it. I love the stained glass look, and I'm a total sucker for dragonfly designs.

Saturday, June 05, 2010

building a castle

Been working on an older Dimensions kit recently. It's a small one called Ivory Castle, and it's pretty cute despite being about 15 years old. It's so old I can't find a stock picture of it for comparison.


There's still the rest of the arch around the castle, a crest below, and some decorative stuff above. I'd say I'm about halfway done.

Well, that was a boring post. :p

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

two more finishes!

Okay, I'm cheating... this first one was stitched by my girlfriend. I did the backstitching for her since she hates it, but I loooove backstitching.


click here for full size! :D


And a small kit on 11 count Aida that I did for my girlfriend. It would have taken less than a week if I'd been stitching regularly. Since I got busy/distracted, it took about two weeks from start to finish. :)


Also did some work on my round robin piece! I need to do more before sending it on. I added half of the blue sign (at top) and most of the blue outline/structure to the building at the bottom, plus some of the brown.


click here for full size! :D


More to come... :)

Friday, May 14, 2010

oldest project ever

Well, oldest for me, anyway. I don't remember when I got this kit, but I know it's followed me around for at least ten years. I'm so glad it's done - I think it was about 90% complete on the stitching, but there was a TON of backstitching. TONS. I like backstitching and I am utterly sick of it right now.

I also think this project is hideously ugly, but maybe I just hate it right now.

Anyway, here's the finished product!
It does look pretty good in person, considering the kit is from 1990...


Whoops, it's also time for May's TUSAL photo! Here we go. :3

Sunday, April 18, 2010

two finishes!

One's mine and one's not. :p These are photos, not scans... turns out my scanner isn't compatible with Windows 7. Oops. At least the camera works fine, and it's actually a better choice for showing off the bling on these two. :3

First up is my finish, TW's Dragon Rampant. Yes, I've featured him before, but now he's 100% finished with the netting in the border. Glamour shots ahoy! :3




And my girlfriend finally finished Mirabilia's Sweet Pea. I did the random beading (the stuff not on the main part of the figure or the brown curlies) because she couldn't stand it anymore. :p She looks great!





What's next? I'm working on Mirabilia's Titania and an ancient Dimensions kit called Ballet Still Life which I've had for about 15 years. It's old, it's ugly, and I have no idea why I got it (hey, I was about 15 at the time, how should I know what I was thinking then? :p), but it's almost done so I'll finish it anyway! This is what it will look like:


It's not that ugly when viewed from a distance, is it? XD

Thursday, April 01, 2010

a dragon!

But not quite a finish, since I missed the backstitching on the outer edges of the border, and I don't have the gold braid for the netting on the border. I still think he looks great! He looked good without the backstitching but it's amazing how much definition the BS adds to the piece.


Sunday, March 28, 2010

almost a dragon!

I know I said I wasn't going to keep finishing things so quickly, but I've been inspired to stitch a lot lately, and my TW Dragon Rampant is almost finished!

Here's how he looked yesterday:

And here's how he looks right now!

I still need to finish the border on the left, all the backstitching, and there's blending filament that gets added to his lightest yellow. And then the cord for the netting along the border, which I'll have to order. Bah!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

planning...

I recently bought Cirque des Cercles. And then about two days after I received it in the mail, I found it buried in my mom's stash (my father gave me all her stuff after she died). Soooo, it's a sign. I need to make this.

I've planned out my colors. I just scanned the image from the front of the chartpack, then painted over the image with various colors until it looked good. Here's the plan so far - eight colors total on a light cream background. It's a small image because I don't want to show a huge scan from the chart, even if it's the sample on the front.



Yes, I like colors. :) I'll probably try painting it in subdued colors too, just to see which one I end up liking more.

another finish?!

I promise I'll stop with the finishes. Honest. :)

This is Golden Thought, a little Dimensions kit that I started about a million years ago. I was a bit iffy about the backstitching since it's on plastic canvas, so no quarter stitches - the backstitching goes over whole stitches and looks a little weird in a few places. Overall it looks pretty good, though!

Excuse the bad photo. I hate my camera. Oops, did I already say that? There's nothing wrong with the camera itself, I just don't know how to use it.


Okay, here's my current WIP list:
- Poinsettia Biscornu (Kitty & Me, from a JCS ornament magazine)
- Dragon Rampant (Wentzler freebie)
- Titania (Mirabilia)

See, none of those are quick finishes! I've been suckered into making the biscornu double-sided, so I'm only half done with the stitching. The dragon is only vaguely dragon-like at this point, and Titania barely exists at all.

But the round robin will come first this weekend. Wheeeeee. :)

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

TUSAL update

Here's my second TUSAL photo! :)

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Holly is DONE!

Holly is finished!

I'm soooo proud of myself! This is the first large project I've ever finished (stop laughing, this is large for me!) AND she only took me about a month! I could have finished faster, but I got lazy after the Olympics ended and I wasn't on the couch for hours every night. I also had to wait about two weeks to receive some of my supplies because something was out of stock in my order.

Here she is! This is a scan for now - I hate my stupid digital camera.

Ah, what to do now? I guess I should finish Golden Thought before starting anything new. Oh, the word on that one is Simplify, not Believe, so maybe I'll make the word panel after all. I like simplifying. I'd be a minimalist if I didn't live with a pack rat! :p

Saturday, March 13, 2010

too much SEX :p

Hey, not like that! Stash Enhancement eXperience, thank you! :3

So, today we (me and my girlfriend Marfisa) went to 3 Stitches, our closest LNS. Not exactly local at about an hour away, but more local than anything else.

Ohhhhh man. Talk about turning an addict loose in the crack shop. Surprisingly, we got away with only $80 worth of goodies. PICTURE TIME!

First pic is Marfisa's stuff. :)

Little House Needleworks - Fresh Watermelon
Country Cottage Needleworks - Summer Garden
Country Cottage Needleworks - Mermaids (and all the yummy special threads!)


Most of this is my stuff.

Fabricare - cuz we'll need this!
Sweetheart Tree - Cherry Blossoms biscornu kit
Mirabilia - Shakespeare's Fairies
Cross Eyed Kat - Principia


Well, it turns out that the location of Beadoholique that we haven't been to before (there's one much closer) is just a bit down the street from 3 Stitches. It would have been dumb not to stop in, right? So, bead stoppers and some blingy crystal AB beads that we HAD to have.


Um, annnnd my long-awaited order from Stitching Bits & Bobs was waiting in the mailbox when we got home. :D I'm not going to list them all because I'm lazy, but you can see that we're filling in our Mira mermaid collection (and others, naturally), and I've wanted Cirque des Cercles since I first saw it. So there. :p

Plus all the bling needed for me to finish Holly and for Marfisa to finish Sweet Pea, of course! Now I have to get back to work on that... I'm soooo close! Bluebell and her bling pack are for Marfisa. I have to get to work on Titania once I'm done with Holly...

Thursday, March 11, 2010

lots of progress

Okay, progress on three things!

Finished my Christmas tree ornament, finally. I had the cording and backing pieces made up for weeks but never glued the pieces together. Lazy.


Finished stitching all the non-sparkly bits on Holly, and started adding some beads. I'm still missing the green braid and red beads, but my order was finally shipped today and maybe I'll be lucky enough to get it Saturday. *crosses fingers*


Progress on Golden Thought - lots! I can probably finish this in one sitting, two max. I don't know if I want to do the border for the "thought" that hangs off the bottom of the finished ornament. I think it says "believe" or something - kind of cheesy, and what are you supposed to believe anyway? In yourself? In fairies? Meh.


Annnnd I need to pack up my stuff for the round robin so I can mail it off this weekend. Exciting! I almost want to keep the project and work on it myself. :D

Saturday, March 06, 2010

sooooo close!

Well, I've finished most of the stitching I can do for now. Need to add some white on her wings - didn't realize that until after I scanned. Bah. Still waiting on a recent order that includes the other color of braid that I need for her headdress and all the little shiny lines that are poking out of her wings and skirt.


Well, back to working on the white. Grr, I thought I was done!