Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Rahenna vs. Spring Knotgarden - round one

Okay, this thing is killing me, but I'm not giving up!  The border is killer with multiple colors, crappy threads (I just looove the squeak of dry silks... not!), solid stitching, over-one, and a bunch of fractionals... plus all the eyelets above that!  But guess what?  It looks AWESOME when it's done so I just gotta suck it up and do it!

Almost completely done with one side... the hard part is done, anyway!  Just need to do some backstitching, some half stitches, and all the specialty stitches.  Am I the only one who thinks the specialty stitches and beading are the most fun?  Some people seem to dread them, but I'm like GIMME MOAR! 8D

Oh, yeah, I'll also need to do the beading at the outer edge but I don't think my q-snap is big enough.  I'll have to get creative with doing that.  Maybe one or two sides at a time, taking care not to smoosh all the other beads on this monster.

BUT ENOUGH TALK! Have at you some pictures. :)


And a closer view of the top, because I am still the worst at taking pictures.


So.  Almost a quarter of the border down.  A LOT more to go.  It would be a lot easier if the silk that's used most in the grass wasn't CRUNCHY but whatever.  I can power through it.  I'll just complain the entire time. :p

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Stitch from Stash - April report!

Posting early so I don't forget!

New starts from stash:
- Letters from Nora: A (Nora Corbett) - finish is HERE
- A Day at the Beach (Sweetheart Tree)

I didn't get too far before putting this aside, sadly.  I've done all the companion pieces to this one, and on those, I did a lot of the stitching over-one since that was a suggestion in the directions.  Well... since this is a larger piece, there are a lot more of the same motifs.  If I want them all to match, there's a LOT of things that need to be done over-one.

I wasn't in the mood for that, so I didn't get too far.


WIPs or UFOs worked on:
- Cattleya Orchid (Chatelaine) - finish is HERE
- Floral Fifteen (Just Nan)
- Spring Knotgarden (Chatelaine)

I wanted to finish five squares on Floral Fifteen, but I only did one, plus the outline of four more.  Maybe I'll do more by the end of the month?


Spring Knotgarden is baaaack!  This may take up the rest of my stitchy time for the month.  The only additions so far are the brick-shaped stitches on the bottom corners.  Hard to see in my terrible photo, but it's a pale pink.  I just put this back on the q-snap last night but I have big plans for the rest of the week!



Amount spent:
I had $53.30 in my budget from this month since I didn't shop at all last month.  This month, I organized a group buy of the Mirabilia "freebie" Arezzo from Casa Cenina.  CC only ships by express if you're an international buyer, and the chart would have been about $66 with shipping if purchased individually.  I gathered a group on FB and we ordered a total of 17 kits to slash shipping per kit by a TON!

It was kind of crazy. :p
I only kept ONE, I promise!  The rest are already at their new homes. :)

I also picked up Christmas by Renato Parolin.  My stitching wishlist is very small now and I'm only buying items that have been waiting on that list for a LONG time.  This fit the bill. :)


=== details ===
Arezzo - $28.02
Christmas - $24
total spent = $52.02 ($1.28 remaining)

I'm hoping May will be a better month for stitching, now that Loki's back to normal.  And also hoping that the return of my stitchy bug does NOT also mean the return of my shopping bug!

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

gimme an A for Awesome!

Or more like "All done!"  What a fast, pretty stitch.  Here's Letters from Nora A (Annabelle) with a bit of a color conversion, done with plenty of time to frame before Mother's Day. :)

Sorry in advance for the miserable pictures... it's dark in here and I'm terrible with my camera.  I tried to fix 'em up in Photoshop but I think I went a little too far with the intensity.  The wings aren't THAT bright.  But the fabric color is all wrong, it's a soft green, not harsh like it appears below.

Oh well.  Just look!

With and without flash...

Yes, the colors are different. :)

Random shots.  She's holding a crystal star!
 

I guess the stitching curse has been broken!  She took me only five days to stitch, and I didn't start until the evening on day one.  Plus I had to work one of those five days and I barely stitched at all that day.  So yes, these little fairies go FAST!  She was a lot of fun, too, very enjoyable with only a few colors but a lot of beads to make her special. :)

Next up... maybe Floral Fifteen for the Just Nan SAL? :)

Monday, April 14, 2014

new start! (letters from Nora A)

I thought I'd work on something new and EASY after having a rough time with my orchid.  Plus... Mother's Day is coming up fast and I want to give this to my MIL as thanks for helping us out while Loki was really sick.  I know she loves our crafty stuff even if she doesn't do it herself.

So, here's the "start" of Letters from Nora (A for Annabelle) by Nora Corbett. :)


Nice start, huh?  I put the first stitch in on Saturday evening and she's already this far along!  Just the wings, arms, and her head left to stitch!  Of course there's lots of beads too, this IS a Mira design after all. :p  But I'm glad she's super fast to stitch so I have time to get her framed before Mother's Day. :)

Sorry for the terrible picture, it's stormy here today so it's gloomy inside too.  The fabric is Sea Spray opal Belfast from the Crafty Kitten.

Maybe my next post will be a finish!  Super happy because she was on my goals list for this year too!

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Orchid is finished!

I think this was done about a week ago, but things have been so hectic I haven't even had a chance to post.  Kitty had to have additional surgery, but is finally home for good and doing much better!

This orchid has been cursed for me.  I started it around the time Loki started having problems, and I finished it just as he was finally, for real, not-gonna-die recovering.  All that stress was stitched into this piece, and while I wouldn't say I frogged as much as I stitched, I definitely ripped out at least 25% of all the stitching on this piece (then restitched it, of course) because of stupid mistakes.

This is the sort of project that I'd normally finish in less than a month.  It took me almost two, between all the ripping and the general lack of motivation.  Once I sat my butt down, it got done quickly, despite all the frogging.

I have mixed feelings about this piece because of the outside circumstances I had to deal with while stitching it.  It's beautiful, but I was ready to set it on fire a few times.  There were literal tears over some of the frogging sessions, and I think I threw it across the room at least once when I got YET ANOTHER knot in my silk. (And Waterlilies usually don't knot on me... that's how I knew I was stitching badly!)

Well, I guess I'll shut up and let you look at it. :)







Stitched on 32ct Belfast by Picture This Plus - color Aerial.  Man, I love me some PTP!  I'm tempted to get another FQ of this color but I'm not going to... gotta use what I have first, instead of hoarding!

Hopefully I can blog more often now that Loki is doing better.  What a doofus.