Two Finishes, One Floss Toss

Just finished this week, the Halloween SAL designed by Love Thy Thread. A bit late for this year, so we'll consider it early for next Halloween ;)

Stitched over 1 on a dusty dark purplish mystery 28 count evernweave I got on ebay last year, with DMC 51 and 310.

Next on my frame was Nora Corbett's Sweet Pea. This one has a very big dress and a lot of beads for such a small pixie, but I powered through it and here she is:

Stitched on 32 count opal evenweave Silkweaver solo, a light mauve. To be honest it was not a fun fabric to stitch on: it's very thick, and feels a bit like a jobelan that's been starched. The threads kept splitting so it was a bit hard to find the right hole sometimes.

Anyway, here are some artsy fartsy shots of the beading:

I substituted the Caron Waterlilies 210 with DMC Color Variations 4000.

And finally, last but not least in today's news, here is a gorgeous piece of fabby:

Isn't it gorgeous? This is the December 2012 Limited Edition that was sent only to Sparklies' FOM club members. I saw it in real life in a friend's stash and it was just the perfect fit for the next project I had in mind, so I contacted Kate from Sparklies and she very nicely made a new one for me.

Mirabilia's Persephone, next under my needle :)

Big stash haul and stitchy update

I've been mostly working on various crochet projects lately but I did try to work a bit on Sweet Pea.
Then on Thursday I went to the Knitting & Stitching show and came home with this lovely stash pile:

Lots of little odds and ends, some gorgeous fabrics from Sparklies, an embroidery kit, beads, floss, scissors, scroll frame, but most important of all, an amazing daylight floor lamp that has completely changed my stitchy life and gave my mojo a good kick in the butt. I've been stitching almost non stop since I set it up two nights ago, so here is a progress update on Sweet Pea:

Flowers update

I've been focusing mainly on my two flower-themed WIPs (not intentionally, it just turned out this way...)

Sweet Pea got a bit more petals and the beginning of her wings:

And Lady of the Flowers got a whole page finished. Woot :) Loving this one at the moment.

Framing and Sea Babies

Long time no post... Here is what I have been up to:

I framed Lily of the Valley:

The plan is to frame every Nora Corbet pixie I stitch in a silver frame. I didn't include the glass as I thought it crushed the beads and took away from the sparkle.

I also framed the mystery SAL from By the Bay Needlearts:

I love that frame, it's very Cape Cod-y :)

And finally I have been plowing along on the Sea Babies sampler:

I made a couple substitutions, changing the called for Glissengloss Colorwash 509 in the bubbles to DMC 3839, and Glissengloss Colorwash 542 in the heart to DMC Color Variations 4200.

Here is a close-up picture of the little seahorse, it's got lots of colors and backstitching (ugh!):

This sampler is very cute, but I cannot wait to be done with it so I can get back to my other projects, I'm itching for the specialty stitches of HDYGG and the subtle colors of HAEDs...

Happy stitching!

Maud

1089 Beads Later...

That's right, I counted them... It took exactly 1089 beads (and 3 plasters - those beading needles are sharp!), and we now have a happy dance! 
Here is Lily of the Valley, designed by Nora Corbett, a sparkly feast for the eyes:

Stitched on 28 count Jobelan in Summer Sky, with DMC & Anchor floss, Kreinik metallics and Mill Hill beads, finished on 4 June 2012

Lily of the Valley Update & Chatelaine New Start

Is there such a thing as a half happy dance? Because if there is, then I'm doing it for Lily:

I have done all I could using DMC and Anchor floss, but she now needs to go on the UFO pile until I am able to order the metallics and beads I need to finish her. Unfortunately, supplies and commercial shipping are so expensive to get to here in Ireland that this will have to wait several weeks (or months) until I need to place a larger order to justify the shipping cost.

Note to myself, since I keep losing bits of paper and I can access this blog anytime anywhere: need to buy Kreinik very fine braid 015, Kreinik BF 011HL, Mill Hill 02002, 03046, 10049, 16010, 16603, 42031 (2 packs).

Anyway, here is my first update on Chatelaine's Tiny Rose Mandala:

I completely enjoy the geometric symmetry in stitching this!

Also, last but not least: thank you to everyone commenting and following this little blog. It is very heart warming to read your encouraging notes and I really appreciate that you take the time to do it.

New Start & Lily Update

I started yesterday a little project I've had my eye on for a long time: Falling Leaves, a freebie from the DMC website, using 3 of their color variations threads.

I'm usually not too keen on freebie patterns, I often find them too simplistic or cutesy, but this one really caught my eye, I love the colors (Sara there are some lovely greens, you are going to like that).

Anyway, here is the floss toss:

And progress after one day of stitching:

Finally, an update on Lily of the Valley:

Only the wings left before I put her aside until later. This pattern calls for Kreinik and beads which I don't have, so finishing her will have to wait until the next time I need to place an online order.

TUSAL & Lily of the Valley Update

Well today is a new moon which means it's TUSAL time!

The blue and gold metallics are actually Sulky Sliver, which I have been using to grid my next HAED start, Celtic Fire. I have so far spent 4 mind-numbing nights griding (and I'm just a little over halfway done), so I hope it's worth it in the end...

Also some lovely blues and greens from Lily of the Valley, which because of the aforementioned griding did not progress as much as I would have hoped. Anyway, you be the judge:

Lily of the Valley

Well it's been over a week since my last post and it seems that I have picked up some followers in the meantime. To all of you, welcome and thank you for all your lovely comments!

I have been away to France to spend some time with my dad who just had quadruple bypass surgery. Thankfully everything went well and he is now healing nicely, what a relief!

While there I started Lily of the Valley, here is a photo of my progress so far:

The empty spots are where Kreinik and beads will be.
I absolutely love this design, and it represents a lot of firsts for me: first Mirabilia, first time on anything other than Aida, first time using Piecemaker needles. So far so good, I love everything about it, and it's moving forward pretty quickly.

In the previous post's comments, Darlene from My Life in Stitches is asking about shops in Paris. I am unfortunately not sure, as I never lived there, but I did a quick search for ''mercerie'' (LNS in French) in the yellow pages and came up with this list. Darlene when you look at those shops' addresses, the last two digits of the zip code will tell you which arrondissement they are in, so hopefully this will help organize your trip. Feel free to drop me a note by comment or email if you need help with translating or anything else :)

Balloons update and floss toss

The balloons are done! I love how cheerful they are, perfect for a child's room. 

I have finished the backstitching everywhere, so there are only some more clouds at the top and then the measuring scale to stitch.This feels like finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I've been working exclusively on this project since December and it feels like it will never end, I can't wait to move onto something else.


Speaking of which, I am going away next week to spend some time with my family after some tough events. I know I'll have a lot of downtime so I'm taking some stitching with me; I needed something smallish as I am only taking cabin luggage, and finally decided on starting my first Nora Corbett chart, Lily of the Valley (my favorite flower and scent) from the Pixie Couture collection.

Here is a quick floss toss for eye-candy purposes:

Of course as always the fabric doesn't show well in pictures, it is actually a lovely Summer Skies 28ct Jobelan. I don't have the Kreinik and the beads yet, I'm hoping I'll be able to find them in France, and if not they'll just have to wait until I place my next Internet order.


TTYL!