Stitching Update

 Hello, dear friends,

I am back again, trying to revive this blog of mine. Will it work? I hope so.

Over the past year I have not posted much (anything, really), but I have been stitching and puzzling - when not working or studying. I am trying to finish my second AS degree - in Accounting this time, and I am getting ever so close to the finish line. Right now I am just three classes away from completion. 

So, what have I been stitching on? Some time last year I saw this and got curious. The name of the project - "Charles Dickens" - got me interested, as at the time I was also watching the show "Dickensian". 

The kit is by Bothy Threads. I have always been curious about their "cut through" projects, but this seemed too interesting and unusual to pass by. 

Next - there's "Mary Mary Needleworker" by Lindy Stitches. 

Still love the colors - and the details, like the mushrooms and the thread bobbins, but the skirt is starting to get to me. It is just so vast and so orange. I know it will look beautiful once it's done, though. 

Finally, I have been doing some puzzling. Here's my favorite as of today - the Zodiac Circle. 

I worked on it while listening to "Troubled Blood" by Robert Galbraith. The puzzle completed the book experience.

I hope you read my post until the end and did not get bored. Please leave a comment if you can. 

Until next time, 

 

A Happy Birthday And A New Finish

Hello, my dear friends!
Today is my daughter Rita's birthday. She has turned 14 years old. For  the past six years or so, every time it comes to one of the kids' birthdays, I always have to check and pinch myself: really? They are - how old?
For the past couple of days,  I have been busy - ordering the cake, organizing dinner plans, buying birthday gifts, and - stitching. Now the cake is in the refrigerator, the dinner plans are made, and all we need is for the birthday girl to come home from school. As for the stitching - this is what I have been stitching all the way until last night.

"Gemini" by Julie Hasler
Stitched on 14 ct Navy Blue Aida 

I own a whole book of patterns by Julie Hasler, called "Fantasy Cross Stitch. " I bought it, I looked through it, and I decided to stitch a Zodiac pattern for every one of my kids - five of them, - and also one for myself and my husband. That was...let's see.. about ten years ago. Every year I want to, and every year something comes up: work, life, other stuff... This year, finally, I stitched one! "Gemini" - for my daughter Rita.

After big projects, it did not look like much work - indeed, it only took about 2 weeks of very relaxed, "free time" stitching. Yet, the color changes and the details do require a lot of attention... it seems like, just as I set myself to stitch on one color, it was time to switch it to another and re-thread the needle....
Originally, I got one of these brass/gold looking hoops to mount it on, but then decided instead on a simple wooden hoop. Decorated it with rickrack ribbon from Nancy Turner's collection, and put a red flower bead on the top.

Gemini Close Up

Tonight, we are having a quiet family celebration - talking, eating cake (and sushi), and spending time together. All the noise - friends, guests, sleepovers - are still ahead, this weekend...

Several hours later - here's the cake...

The petit fours...

And the complete ensemble! 

Thank you for reading my ramblings, friends! 

Until next time,

Stitching, Watching and Reading

Hello, my dear friends! Once again, it has been a while - three months since I posted last... Thank you for not giving up on me.
What has happened in those months? First of all - lots of stitching (of course)... Since January, I have been working on a Christmas Stocking - yes, another one - and yesterday night, late - very late - I put in the last stitch! To celebrate the completion, I had a glass of champagne  cup of sparkling cider...

"Toys and Games" Stocking

Here it is - all ready and made.... I enjoyed working on it - so many details, so many French Knots! 

Jack in the Box and Teddy

I have never in my life seen a real Jack in the Box. The closest thing to it might be the one in the episode of "Twilight Zone", when the monster boy turns his neighbor into a Jack in the Box toy and sends him into the corn field. Hmmm, I am getting a bit morbid here, aren't I? 

While working on this project, I have seen a couple of shows, and I also discovered for myself books on tape. Well, to be precise, I discovered them a while ago - on the shelves of a local Barnes and Noble store... Then I also discovered their prices - and realized I would have to take out a loan to have an audio library I would want. But where is a will, there is a way... Long story short, our local library happened to have quite a few audio books on CDs. I checked out "Kiss Me Like a Stranger" by Gene Wilder - best... listen I have ever had in a long time - while also stitching. Now my goal is to listen to "Notes on a Scandal" by Zoe Heller.... 

What was I talking about? Ah, yes, shows... One of the shows I watched this year was "American Horror Story". Amazing actors (Kathy Bates as a Southern slave owner, Jessica Lange - evil power hungry woman), good script... The only down side - for me - was that I often ended up staring at the screen with my mouth open - instead of stitching.

Another good show I discovered was "Once Upon a Time" - fairy tale characters "stuck" in our world by the enchantment of the evil queen... Only, with time we learn that the queen is not so evil - just miserable... Little Red Riding Hood - not so little any more, and required to wear the red cape to avoid turning into a blood thirsty monster.. And in the middle of all - Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin. Could it get any better?

In conclusion, I want to share the results of my experiment. I have got the idea from Laura - my long distance friend and a talented stitcher - when she published a video/slide show of her stitching progress on a project, from beginning to end. So, that got me interested. I asked my DH to help with the Movie Maker program, he obliged - and... voila!

Now that this project is finished, I will have to find a new one... I think I will work on a family sampler, it has been calling my name for a while now...

Thank you for reading my ramblings! 

Back to Stitching!

My sudden "outburst" of crochet seems to be over, and with all the exciting news about Etsy and network social life I am still stitching! About a week ago, I decided to "clean up" my WIP box, which resulted in adding two more projects to my stitching stash, so now I put three projects in rotation. The first one, of course, is the Hogwarts Crest.

Hogwarts Crest

As you can see, I have advanced a bit on the lion and the motto ribbon, and also started on the helmet and feathers at the top. I really like working on this one.

 
Then, I have found a Blue and White Sampler I started ages ago.

Blue and White Sampler

This one has many motifs and is stitched on 14 ct Aida. Just this fact reminds me how long it has been, because I have not worked on 14 ct Aida for over two years. It is pleasant to remember where I started and "get back to basics," so to speak... I remember the first time I saw it in the Home and Garden collection. I was attracted right away to the alphabet and the lady with the gentleman. Then, after I got done with them, I ran out of the dark blue thread (one of the two colors it uses), and that is what put this project on hold.


Finally, my third project is the Carson Mansion by Debbie Patrick from 'Victorians Across America" series. I started it on a whim about a year ago, but never got it finished.

Carson Mansion

One thing that surprised me about this one is how much black color it uses. Yet, the finished picture looks so vibrant! When you start stitching, you find black in almost every window, on the curtains, in the corners of the building and on the balconies, not to mention the outlines and decorations (that I expected.)

 These are all my stitching updates. I am also charting "For Me and My House", thinking about other charts, and reading. I have almost finished "Dead Man Walking" by sister Helen Prejean, such a powerful book. I also did some research about sister Helen online, found her Facebook page and her blog. Now I know what she looks like and read her posts, I have a better picture of what she is like. Don't get me wrong, the movie was great, but having Susan Sarandon's voice in my head while reading does get quite annoying.
Have a good stitching week!

Celtic Lady Update

I have been working on my Celtic Summer lady, and it actually looks like I may be able to complete it some time soon. I have to restrain myself from putting in more beads ("Stitching first," I keep saying). I think she is turning out rather well.

Besides her, I have sooo many projects swirming around in my head... I want to stitch celtic designs. I want to stitch fantasy zodiac signs... I want to stitch Victorian houses... But - all in good time. Maybe I should stitch myself a phrase "One thing at a time"...

Stitching Project - Hunting for Threads

A couple of days ago I started the Celtic Summer project. I picked up the DMC threads; found the beads; now I am on the hunt for Needlepaints and Rainbow gallery... I must have visited about 20 stores - physical and virtual - and Ebay has proved itself once again. Although with Needlepaints being phased out, they are hard to come by. I found one shade - six colors; nothing else is available.
I looked up the conversion chart from Needlepaints to DMC and to other floss manufacturers. I think by the time I am done with this project, I will know enough to write a paper on floss manufacturers and conversions of color.
I am glad to see that my hunt has paid off. Does anyone have any advice? I have not stitched enough to post a picture on the SAL blog yet, but it is coming along, and I like it.

More on beading and blackwork

During the past two weeks of my - self-imposed - vacation I had time to think, to learn new embroidery techniques, to improve on the old ones, and... to work on some projects. So -

First of all, Blackwork. It is totally awesome! This is the first time when the front and the back of the stitching came out exactly the same (except for a few knots on the back). The Pears project is the example of the Blackwork technique. - By the way, the pattern is taken from the Needlework Tips and Techniques site, by Carol Leather. I find her instructions very easy and helpful.

Second technique I had a chance to improve on was beading. I am getting addicted to it. Since I first tried it on the Mandala Garden project, I have been looking for opportunities to use beads again and again. So, here's a new completed project - a headband for my daughter's fairy Barbie doll. It was created from scraps of Aida cloth leftover from the Pears project and from beads leftover from the bird. My daughter said she liked it.

Hmmm... tomorrow I am going back to work. But, I still have a Sampler project in the works - hopefully, it will be completed within the next two to three weeks.

New Projects and New Websites

Lately I have been working so much and stressing so much that I was unable to do anything else. My stitching project lay unfinished, and even when I did make an effort to pick it up, I would find myself asleep with the needle in my hand.
Something had to be done. So, last week I decided to take a vacation. I started it on Monday, and I am not going back to work until the 9th of November.
Now, my time is split between helping my kids with homework, doing puzzles and - of course - needlework. I am trying to learn blackwork, a very intriguing way of stitching that was introduced to England, I believe, by Katharine of Aragon, Henry VIII 's first wife. I quickly learned that the most difficult part of blackwork is not stitching, but counting the stitches and following the diagram. I made a mistake in my project once, and ultimately had to start over.
I also made an addition to my website: my visitors that appreciate needlework can now find a link to a very useful site - Needlework Tips and Techniques - by Carol Leather. This website contains very useful information about every aspect of stitching, as well as easy instructions and tutorials on stitching methods.
In addition, I have reopened and updated my Etsy shop - take a look at it if you wish. The link is at the bottom of the page.