February Turtle Trot

I worked on six of my ten projects for Turtle Trot this month!  (Turtle Trot is hosted HERE)

Wufei, Yarr, Fred, and Snowing got no love but they're next on my list so there should be some progress in March :D

'Unspoken'  went from nothing to this:

Almost 1,000 stitches - quite a lot for a slow stitcher like me!!!


'A Great Light' got the first shade of blue done.

Before:

After:

'Cut-Thru Princess Palace' got some backstitching and a potty.

Before:

After:

Christmas Stockings got another finished off:

There are two left!


'Lovers' got the most visible progress -

Before:

After:

And this picture sums up most of my progress on Mary Wigham:

That's the fluff left from pulling out the invisible basket motif.

Here's the wee bit I have restitched - you can see the 'ghost' of the old motif around it!

By the time March rolls around, I'm hoping to have the two Christmas Stockings stitched so I can replace that slot with my Bent Creek Snapper project - otherwise I'm going easy on setting goals this year :D

January Snows! (and a Royal Flush)

I finished the first of my Snapper blocks - 'January Snows'.  I had to take it outside to get a good picture and it's still not the best.  The fabric is a sort of creamy tan color.  The floss looks pretty close in this, though.  A little brighter, maybe.

I have to finish the border around it and get 'February Glows' done this month to stay on schedule :D

I couldn't resist the pun for this next one - I worked on my Bothy Cut-Thru Princess Palace, which did look like this:

I did some backstitching, and then - I stitched the toilet in the bathroom upstairs!  So Royal Flush!  And my sister is rolling her eyes so hard they might fall out, bwah ha ha ha!  I could make a double-pun and say I've stitched both thrones?

hehehehehehehe...

Some Nice Bright Flowers

I've had a nice time stitching this basket of flowers!



Because outside, it looks like this:



Please don't mind the paint-stained ruler, it was the only one I could find!  This was on my steps - It was deeper out in the yard, but I wasn't about to venture out there!

January Projects #10 and #11

I am up to number 16 in my January projects, but I am way behind on my posts!  One of my coworkers has her mother in the hospital and I've been covering her shifts.  I'm not going to flood you with bunches of pictures all at once, though - so here are two for today.

#10 is my Princess Palace.  It did look like this:



I got it this far - finished the Princess, started the Prince, did a wee bit more wallpaper and some of the magic harp, stitched the champagne bubbles, and stitched a vase of floating roses sitting on a floating table (really need some backstitch!)  My goal on this one, by the February Turtle-Trot, is to have the right side of the room done and start filling in around it so I can backstitch the whole room at once.



#11 is the next ornament in my kit of 30 Christmas Stocking Ornaments - this one will grow up to be one with white poinsettias.  I got more done on it than most of my other projects.  Pic is a little dark so the white would show up.



I'll post two more tomorrow - today I am getting out Lovers for the IHSW, and it will be project #16 - so I am waaaay behind, see?

Three Done!

I finished my sibling's Green afghan on, hmm... I think it was Saturday!  and then on Tuesday my Mum and I sat down and did the fringe.

And today I got around to taking a picture.  I'm so very fast, lol!



It's on the same King-size bed as the others.  I'm not really happy with the fringe, although we did it just like the instructions say and it looks like the picture in the book, but to me it looks like it has gaps in it.  Mum says it's fine, so I will probably leave it as it is.



Very pretty stitch pattern!

Here is the start of the other afghan that has to be done for Christmas - Rainbow Stripes, for my 11-year-old nephew.  Super simple pattern but I'm having trouble with the yarn twisting.  Must figure out why!  It's two strands held together, but so was the green one and I didn't have any trouble.  I assume it's the different stitch pattern, but I don't know.



I haven't been cross-stitching much, since I've been focusing on these afghans, but the other day I cut a big curtain down into two small curtains for my kitchen window, and while I was sewing I though I would try making myself a q-snap cover.  So I got out some fabric from when I used to make custom nursing scrubs, and here is my first attempt!



It came out pretty good but the next ones I make, I will make wider.  I followed the instructions given but it's too narrow for my taste.  And there's not really any room to fold the extra fabric into, which was the main reason I wanted one.  But this one is cute!  I like smiley faces.  That's my Bothy Princess Palace in it - I picked it back up the other day and I'm nearly done with the wallpaper.

Let Them Eat Cake

I finally got around to working on my Princess Palace!  It's for a SAL that I've hung on to - the Bothy Cut-Thru SAL.  Info here with Debbie and here with Linda!

Here's how it was:



And how it is now:



I'm nearly done with the left side of the throne room - I have the metallic champagne bubbles and a teeny bit of princess hair and dress to go.  I've already started on the wallpaper stripes of the right side.  I stitched a cake and most of the princess this time round; so I thought - there is cake! and headless royalty! and thus I had my blog post title.

I like it when that works out :D

Tentatively

I have very carefully started to stitch again - day before yesterday!  My wrist was a lot more sore than I thought.  I had to drive a lot more than I usually do, too, which didn't help.  Gear shifts - who knew they could be such a pain? lol!

Anyway, I'm going really slow and not doing a lot yet, but Sunday I gave Wufei the outline of his other eye, and a little more skin:



And Monday I finished the left half of the white wallpaper stripes in the throne room of my Bothy Princess Palace.  I have reached the princess!  I could start her now, but I will do the pink stripes and maybe the cake first.



I really, really want to keep going on both of them, but I had to do a bit in my garden today and I didn't want to risk it.  Tomorrow will be a different story!

Better Late Than Never?

I've been working so much more lately - every month it seems to increase.
And my stitching decreases.
So do my posts, apparently!

I am not at home right now, and wasn't yesterday either, so I can't post pics of the Turtle Trot pieces.  Guess I'll have to stick with words.  Not a thousand, though!

Mary Wigham - got a motif
Fred - got a chunk of backstitching
Wufei - got what you saw in the YOTA post
Angel of Grace aka Gracie - got yet more of her burgundy ribbon done
Archangel - has more skin.  I may go blind
Lovers - has what you saw in the IHSW post
Gettysburg - I stitched a whole stripe of white! lol!

I don't remember if I got anything worth mentioning done on any other Turtle project.

I do, however, have my Bothy piece and my camera with me where I am currently staying, so here is a wee little progress:



Anyone for champagne?

A Brand New SAL

I was totally a bad girl (because it means a new start) and joined the Bothy Cut-Thru SAL that's hosted by Linda and Debbie (click on their names for the SAL pages).

I always liked these - the whole series is super cute! - but I resisted.  When I saw them being stitched up though - my feeble, fragile self-control snapped.  I got me a kit and away I go!

I chose the Cut-Thru Princess Palace - this one:



And here's my wee tiny start - a throne!



And really, part of another throne - that bit of lonely brown at the top is the toilet seat, lol!  I started in the middle, instead of the top left, because... I'm not sure why.  To make a change?  I think I'll work my way up first - I want to stitch that gigantic frog in the bathroom.

I will be working on this on Mondays only, so it may take me a while - so absolutely no different than my other projects!  Once I finish this one up, I want to start the Lighthouse.  It's my favorite, but when I was looking for one to start, I couldn't find a place to buy it at a price I could justify spending my stash money on.  I found the chart really cheap on eBay last week, though, thanks to Linda's sharp eyes!  But it's on its way from Belgium, so who knows when I will actually get it?

I'll have a crochet update soon - and something really, really, REALLY cute to go with it!