Saturday, June 30, 2012

goooooooooal

Or something. :p

Since June is almost over, it's time to recap my goals!

June goals!
- Part 3 of Octopus Treasure Cave (once it's released) - DONE except for a little beading
- Finish beading part 1 of OTC! - DONE
- Complete either one more corner garden OR one more cat-ear garden on Spring Knotgarden - NO, didn't touch it!
- Do not start anything new. :p - NO, had two unexpected starts!
- Do not BUY anything new! - NO, made a planned trip to the LNS for fabric and got a few unplanned items... and then there was the PR SAL... and the PTP fabric orphanage...


Sigh.  That didn't work out so well!  Let's try again for July.  Less specific this time as I seem to rebel if I have clearly defined goals.  I figure "stitch a little every day" is just as good. :)

July goals!
- Finish beading part 3 of Octopus Treasure Cave
- Finish angel #4 on Angel Procession
- Stitch part 1 of the PR SAL
- Stitch at least five nights each week :)
- Do not buy anything EXCEPT threads needed for the PR SAL and PTP fabrics during the Christmas in July sale!
- Frame the Lesley Teare mermaid and Chelsea (have all supplies, just need to do it!)

Speaking of framing, Tree of Hope finally got framed today.  It's not difficult, it's just tedious work.  We really need to make up a framing kit and store it somewhere instead of running around crazy, gathering stuff from the computer room, craft room, junk drawer, and garage every time we frame something!


What a beauty. :)

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

sooo close!

You know... Wentzler patterns are complex, but they're really not that insane.  Or maybe I have a lot more experience as a stitcher now, and nothing seems impossible for me these days. :)


The over one hands almost made me go blind(er), but I love the way they look! And yes, I will be giving this poor angel a face soon, since there's not much else to work on, just a ribbon and the hood. Can't avoid the face forever. :p

And then... the backstitching. Because there's no way I'm leaving the BS on all six angels until the very end!

Sunday, June 24, 2012

princess crown

My goal for this weekend was to finish the crown on Bluebeard's Princess, and I just managed to squeak it in. :)  I'm actually missing two stitches of the very dark blue, but I'll add those after posting!


The backstitch makes such a difference!  The fish/eels look amazing now.

I can't wait to get started on Mirabella herself!  And Jo, thanks for the tip about moving the border, she does look squashed and the ends of her hair look artificially cut off to fit in the border.  I'll definitely be expanding so she can fit in there comfortably. :)

Off to sneak in another few stitches before bed...

Saturday, June 23, 2012

startitis - I HAZ IT

Oops.  How did this happen?

Last night, I was feeling bored with my current projects... guess all the complexity was starting to wear on me.  In a moment of weakness, I started Our Love Nest by Country Cottage Needleworks.

Here's the model...


And here's my progress.  Not bad for a couple of hours, when you consider that this chart actually is kind of big.  At least, that's what I'm telling myself. :p


Today, I was feeling the urge to start something from my actual bucket list, since I felt bad about having a random start that was NOT on the list.  I've had Bluebeard's Princess kitted up forEVER, but kept waffling on the fabric.  I originally had a purplish Silkweaver lugana, but swapped in a tan/brown Sugar Maple linen.  I wasn't totally happy with that because the color was too close to her skin color, so I'd been thinking about using a blue linen.

I mean, she looks pretty awful on this olive green background, right?


Well.  I ended up going back to my original Silkweaver choice.  I'm not 100% sure what color this is, but I'm reasonably confident that it's Dusk.  Of course, if you order that color, there's no guarantee that you'll get a fabric that looks anything like this. :/


Too bad pictures can't show how sparkly this is already!  All the gold and green are metallic. :)

If I start anything else this weekend, I'm going to go hide in shame. :p

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

angel time!

Progress has been made!


Not bad for two evenings of stitching, Monday and tonight.  The outline of the lute is pretty easy to see now, and I've started to fill it in.  Poor thing needs a head, though!

I wish I could stay up and stitch, but I'm already sleep deprived this week, and tonight's not going to help that situation.  Getting up at 5:15 should be illegal... *sigh*

Sunday, June 17, 2012

IHSW - Iris & Angels!

Had a pretty good IHSW (though it's not over yet!) despite doing a lot of things out of the house this weekend.  There was Father's Day dinner last night with the in-laws, and today we were out for seven (!!!) hours to see Romeo & Juliet and to grab some food afterward.  Yeah, maybe I left the house way too early, but you never know how traffic is going to behave, so...

But progress was made!  I gridded page two of QS Iris and added some new colors, including a whoooole ton of pink.  It looks a bit grey in the picture, but all that stuff on the right IS pink, I promise!


Then yesterday, after dinner, I was digging through the trunk of WIPs and other stuff we keep under the coffee table, and you won't believe what caught my eye... my oldest WIP, Angel Procession by Teresa Wentzler!  I sent this one out for two UFO round robins but I don't think I've personally put a stitch into it in about ten years. *shame*

Since my RR friends did such an amazing job on the wings of the two central angels, I decided to give one of them more of a body. :)  I didn't do ALL of the robe you see here, but a good chunk of it is my work.  Finally!


And maybe this is silly, but I've started working on my stitching bucket list.  I always start random things without considering the designs I REALLY want to stitch.  Maybe this will keep me focused!

It got me thinking... what if I hosted a SAL for the second half of 2012, asking everyone to list some of their bucket list items (maybe up to five?), and challenge themselves to work on them?  Of course, there would be prizes... I was thinking that each bucket list finish could be worth one entry to win a PTP hand-dyed fat quarter of choice, with a total of three prizes available.

I know I'd enter that! :p

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Iris update

QS Iris by HAED (Josephine Wall artwork) is coming along nicely!  I've done another four evenings of work on this one, Monday through tonight, and the section you see here is now 80x100 stitches, a full page.  Of course, it's not done yet, but it's getting much closer!

It feels like it's moving along pretty quickly, and somehow I find the stitching method simple.  Maybe it's because I'm cheating and only doing half stitch.  The coverage is decent but I want more on my next project, so I'm thinking about 2 or 3 strands over one on 25 count.  That's NOT happening until I finish Iris, though.  And maybe a few other things, because I'm feeling a bit nervous about having seven WIPs!


The shape of the first iris flower is showing nicely.  I'm happy with how it's progressing!  I think I'll put it aside once the weekend hits so I can get the octopus beaded and finished, and maybe come back to this.

Or maybe I should work on a sad, neglected WIP.  What's your vote?  Here's my WIP list, excluding Octopus and Iris. :)

- Angel Procession (TW)
- Butterfly Garden (TDT)
- Spring Knotgarden (Chatelaine)
- Titania (Mirabilia)
- Wisteria (magazine chart)

Sunday, June 10, 2012

a wild octopus appears!

 ...I don't know why that's the post title because I don't even like Pokemon. :p

Almost done with part three of Octopus Treasure Cave!  Just have to finish beading THE OCTOPUS and add a few stitches I missed here and there.  It got kind of confusing with all the color changes, but as you can see, the 'pus has turned out great!

Excuse the odd foggy glare in the center of this first image, I'm not sure what happened.  Maybe it's showing part of the stand through the fabric or something...


I modified the octopus a little bit.  The color I subbed in the red parts is Waterlilies Espresso, which has some very dark browns and greens in it as well, so there's some more color than you'd see with the silk that's actually called for in the key.  I also added some orange to replace some of the yellow areas, and ignored the lightest yellow, using the medium yellow to fill it in instead.  Not sure I like the orange patch on the tentacle in the upper right, but I'll sit on it for a few days.

The COOLEST modification is something you can see clearly if you enlarge the picture.  I'm using off-white beads and putting them ON THEIR SIDES so they look like suckers!  They always looked like little white circles on the official design image, so I planned to do this from the very start.  Awesome, right???

Yeah, I'm full of myself today. :p


And I finally got a good photo of the beaded corners, thank you to the sun for cooperating today!  Still a bit overexposed because there's too much shiny, but that's okay with me. :)


So I'll finish up the 'pus in the next day or so, and then it's time for Spring Knotgarden.  Or maybe HAED Iris for a bit of mindless fun before the next complex project. :p

Sunday, June 03, 2012

early WIPocalypse post

Looks like June 4 is the next WIPocalypse date, but I thought I'd post early. :)

Here's what I've been working on lately.  First, Octopus Treasure Cave!  The beading of part one is finally done, and I've made a good start on the newly-released part three - which is THE OCTOPUS!  Plus a few bits of seaweed and coral. :p  All that's left is to finish is the octopus.


A better view of the coral and things on the right side...


And just to prove that you should never say never, I always said I'd NEVER stitch a HAED pattern because I just don't get the appeal of reproducing something in cross stitch when it would make more sense to buy a poster or print to frame.  And then I started poking around the website during the last sale, thinking that if the designs are popular, maybe I should give it a chance instead of just dismissing the whole idea.

So here's most of page one of HAED - QS Iris by Josephine Wall. :p  And since I started it LAST month, that means this month's goal of not starting something new is safe.  For now...


I'm stitching with two threads over one on 22ct hardanger fabric, using half cross-stitch.  It's actually going very quickly, this is only four days of work on this project!  I've already washed out the grid lines for this area since it's almost done, but I'm using a fine point, washable blue marking pen to draw in the 10x10 grids, and it works beautifully.  Just a few squirts of water, and the lines disappear.

A spray bottle of water is good for when your new kitty misbehaves, too. :p  This is Oscar, a nine month old tuxedo kitty we adopted from a local nonprofit.  Oscar is a terrible name, so we'll probably change it.  For now, he's "the other cat" or "stumpy" since he was born with about 1/3 of a tail. :D


Don't be fooled by the big-eyed look.  He may seem innocent, but he likes to eat toes, attack yarn, and practice his slick ninja moves on his big brother.  Oh, and run around the house like a crazy beast after midnight.  In other words, he's a typical cat. :p