Stitchier

Typing “stitchier” will get you a “that’s not spelled right, or something” red line. Stitchier, stitchier, stitchier. March isn’t half over yet, and I’ve already stitched more than last year, so stitchier it is.

Here’s what I’ve been up to–Oh, wait! I forgot to share this last year–

 

This is Just Nan’s Gingerbread Jingle Mouse, stitched on 32-ct gingerbread fabric (I want to say Picture this Plus?) with recommended DMC fibers. I stitched it for a friend for Christmas. It’s so freaking adorable. You know how sometimes you stitch a gift and don’t want to give it away? Yeah, that. I gave it to her, but it wasn’t easy. OK. Now for 2015 stitchier stitching.

Last December I was in AZ, and visited the Attic Needlework shop in Mesa. Yes, it’s as wonderful as you’ve heard. It was more wonderful than I expected, honestly. I relieved them of much stash when I was there. The Just Nan mouse above was one item that left with me. Another was this Rovaris pendant, which I stitched in January.

 

I completed the stitching fairly quickly, but I haven’t assembled it yet, because it went missing twice. The first time was in my stitchy trash can (gasp!). The second time was because I have too much stash. I rediscovered it yesterday. I’ve got to get busy with the assembly.

Next came Leaping Cat by La-D-Da. I stitched this over one over one on 40-ct. Light Exemplar as an experiment. There are counting errors that I learned to accept, though I wouldn’t have on another project. It was just too small and confusing to find the errors.  I love it anyway, so the experiment was a success.

 

What this project needs is an image that gives perspective. Trust me, it’s small. The framing was unexpectedly expensive. It deserves the extravagance.

I did some work on a WIP, too. Going to Market by Dimensions. The mother and child are walking to market, waiting for the background stitches. I’m stitching this over one on 32-ct. It’s challenging, but much easier than over one on 40-ct. linen.

I have strong magnifying lenses I clip to my glasses.

 

I also finished the January design of A Year in Chalk by Hands On Designs. I couldn’t resist. I couldn’t wait to stitch it. I haven’t decided how to finish it. I don’t plan to stitch every month. I have March on order at my LNS. They are very cute designs.

 

I’ve also been working on a bigger project–Bargello Symphony by Loretta Spears. I’m not stitching this in the original colors. My sister saw my original Bargello Symphony and asked me to stitch it for her, but not in pink, as she doesn’t like pink. She ultimately decided on taupe and cream colors. My sister once asked me to never stitch anything for her, which, OUCH! But really, better to know beforehand, yes? I got over the sting quickly. More stitching time for presents for me. 🙂 When she asked me to stitch her something I was surprised and flattered. It’s really important to me that she likes it. I’ve been sending her progress pictures.

 

Fabric on the stretcher bars!

 

First stitch!

Part one (of six) complete.

 

Part two complete.

I have to wait to complete the third part. The instructions say you only need one spool of metallic, but I used it up already. Maybe I cut the pieces too long. I don’t know. But I’ll be able to complete part three when the spool comes into the LNS, as I had to order it. It’s so weird to be stitching this again. I never expected to.

I hope you’re warm and dry. Happy Stitching!

Live, Laugh, Love

I actually finished La-D-Da’s Live, Laugh, Love last month. I hated every shade of green I  owned, and then I remembered that I love Caron Waterlilies Cafe Au Lait. I’m pleased with the finish. This piece was what got me my out of my funk. I had been trying to finish a block of CHS’ Shores, but I couldn’t do it. This design kept calling to me–Yoo-Hoo, Terri, you know you want to finish me, come on, give it a whirl–So thank you, design, you were right. 🙂

Vitals:
Live, Laugh, Love by La-D-Da
Stitched one over two on 36-ct linen (pearled barley, I think) with CC Belle Soie Espresso and Caron Waterlilies Cherry and Cafe Au Lait.

Happy Stitching! 🙂

Daisy, Daisy

Soon after I completed Bargello Symphony (sigh!) , I picked up this long-term WIP that’s been languishing in my “travel” bag. It’s a kit by La-D-Da. She published the design in a leaflet with two other lovely heart designs.

This one speaks to me bc as a twenty-something single girl working odd hours, I was dating a man with two daughters. During one of his visitation weekends he took them camping overnight. They woke me then next morning by serenading me with a tune they sang with the park ranger the night before–Daisy, Daisy. My beau let me know that they weren’t singing an actual marriage proposal (much to my relief–we’d been dating less than six months). It was so sweet and so fun.

Vitals:
Daisy Daisy kit designed by Lori Markovic of La-D-Da
Stitched using supplied linen and fibers except:
Belle Soie Creme de Menthe was replaced with RG Splendor S1158 and S1063

I didn’t like how dark the Creme de Menthe floss was. You couldn’t read the words where the leaves are stitched.  I got the two Splendor skeins at a needlepoint shop near the boy’s school. My LNS only carries Waterlilies silk floss. The needlepoint store I went to didn’t have much in the way of floss. I was looking for Belle Soie, but I figured I was lucky to get any kind of silk floss. The shopgal was very helpful. I had fun “forcing” an over-dyed look.

For the record, I did end up marrying the guy. I’m not sure why, considering he doesn’t remember this sweet and romantic moment. 😉 Harrumph!

Daisy is also a great female pet name. A friend’s daughter named her rabbit Daisy. One of our dwarf hamsters was named Daisy, too. She was such fun.

Spring Needlekeep Kit

I’m thrilled to have finished my Spring Needlekeep kit by La-D-Da into a needlekeep—-plus fob. 🙂 I had a bit of trouble understanding part of the instructions. A quick email to Lori Markovic solved that problem in less than 24 hours. Have I mentioned that she’s wonderful? I ran out of the gray floss in this kit (misplaced, most likely). The kit doesn’t specify the floss name, so I emailed Lori to ask her. She told me, but offered to send me replacement floss to ensure I had the same dyelot. I was relieved, as I only needed one length of floss. She’s amazing. This kit is when I learned I don’t like stitching with Vikki Clayton’s silks. I know many people love her floss. I’m sorry. I tried. I didn’t love it. What I do love is my Spring Needlekeep! Lookie!!

Spring Needlekeep and fob by Lori Markovic

Here’s the back. I love the I Dream of Jeannie bead-tail. They remind me of I Dream of Jeannie, anyway. 😉 I used a Blackbird Designs  alphabet for my initial and stitched it over one. I don’t remember exactly where I found it just now. The square bead at the top of the gray heart is what gave me trouble in the instructions. The way I read the instructions, I thought the cording with that bead was also supposed to be attached where the bead-tail is attached. It didn’t make sense, somehow. After Lori cleared it up, I had the typical A-HA! moment of understanding.

Here it is, opened, with the gorgeous, irresistible butterfly rightside up.

And here it is, um, upside down.

One final picture of the needlekeep opened. Le sigh. Isn’t it to die for?

Spring Needle-Keep

I love Lori Markovic.  I mean, who doesn’t?  (If you don’t, I can’t hear you, la-la-la–la-d-da!)

 

Some day (maybe soon!), this will be a lovely needle-keep and scissor fob.  I bought this kit a couple of years ago.  Look at that butterfly!  I didn’t try to resist.  I only worked on it when I needed to wait for my son, so progress was very slow.  I finally decided I wanted to finish it and worked on it more often, at home rather than, er, “abroad.”  Unfortunately I lost a bit of floss, most likely when it was a traveling piece.  The kit uses Vikki Clayton silks, but Lori used her own names to describe the colors in the kit.  I emailed Lori to ask her the name of my missing color so I could replace it.  Lori graciously offered to send me replacement floss to ensure I had the same dyelot.  I didn’t ask for, or expect, this kindness.  I am grateful, and if she had a web home, I would try to become her #1 stalker.  I know I would have a lot of competition, but I would give folks a run for their money!  😉

I goofed on the scissor fob.  It was supposed to be stitched with the dark gray on the inside, the brick red color on the outside.  Oops.  No need to frog that.   The back of the fob, the stitching on the right, isn’t part of the design.  I knew I wanted my initial, but the one I chose would have been too big if I stitched it over 2, and was too small over one–it left the back side of the fob looking very bare.   I couldn’t match the inner corner motifs from the front on the back, because I would have run into the monogram.  I’m pleased with my solution–using part of the middle motif.  You can see my inspiration in the bottom center of the needle-keep dark gray stitching.  I’m pleased, especially because it didn’t take me hours of worry and indecision to find a satisfactory solution to my dilemma.  I made it work.  <–outs myself as a Project Runway fan.

Vitals: Spring Needle-Keep, a kit by La-D-Da.  Stitched with 35-ct WDW linen and Hand-Dyed Fibers silk, as provided in kit.  Initial on fob by Blackbird Designs, from the Joyeux Noel sampler in their Joyeux Noel book.

Back to school

I lost my blogging mojo this summer.  It was a wonderful summer, visiting the husband for two solid months.  Long-distance relationships are hard and lonely.  Thank goodness for Skype.   Today is the boy’s first day in a new school.  We’re very excited about this school and hope it’s a positive change.   Back to a routine that hopefully includes stitching and blogging.

I didn’t get much stitching done while we were gone.  The light was bad in the husband’s apartment, and I didn’t want to buy a stronger lamp for the place.  Then what excuse would I have?

Here’s what I managed to stitch:

Jingle! Biscornu by Just Nan.

Pineapple Fob by It’s Fine-ally Finished

And of course,

Glory Fob by Shepherd’s Bush

 

Elizabethan Stitching Accessories by Talledo Designs.

I screwed up with my counting for the pincushion. I want to make it a mattress cushion, and thought it would be lovely to have the bargello side border. However, I counted terribly, and it’s too short. The worst part is that I don’t have enough of the silk left to stitch another border. I’ll have to stew about what to do for a while. *sob* 😦

After I got home, I stitched this (very slowly):

Live, Laugh, Love by La-D-Da

I’ve abandoned this. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with it, I just don’t love it. Surprising, when you consider how much trouble I went through to get this. I visited three stores before I found it. First store hadn’t received it yet, second store had no idea what I was talking about (!), and finally in Las Vegas (thank you, Stitcher’s Paradise!) I got the last copy. And now, I don’t love it. 😦 I’m not loving the green at all. OK, I’m not even liking it. It’s the third shade I’ve tried. I love the brown (CC Belle Soie Espresso). Love it. I like the pink (Watercolors Cherry). I thought I would love it, but I only like it. The green, not so much. I tried. I really did. It’s just not working.

I’m going back to other projects. I received my new fabric for CHS’ Shores of Hawk Run Hollow, and put about twenty stitches in. And I have other wips, not to mention smalls that need finishing. Enough to keep me busy without driving myself crazy.

Happy Stitching!  It’s good to “see” y’all again.

Down by the Bay…

Where the watermelons grow
Back to my home
I dare not go
For if I do
My mother will say,
“Did you ever see a llama, wearing pajamas,
Down by the bay?”

So, you know how you see patterns, and you love them, but you don’t need to get them right away, but then you see patterns and you must have them, right away? This is a “right away” pattern. I don’t know when I’ll stitch it, but I don’t care. It was posted as a new pattern on Hoffman’s site today.  I can’t wait to get it.  The boy and I were singing this song to each other just before Easter. Must. Have…Will. Buy. Soon…

Down by the Bay by La-D-Da

I love this pattern so much, it’s broken my stitchy silence! 😀  It’s not completely surprising, seeing as how I love Lori Markovic’s designs ever so much.  This struck me like a bolt of lightning.  If I was on a stash diet, I would break it to get this pattern!  Yes, indeedy.  I’m not on a stash diet.  I should be, but I’m not.  But if I was, I would use all my stitchy points on this pattern.  Am I gushing overmuch?  Are you thinking, “You know, Terri, it’s cute and all, but you’re really spazzing out about this pattern, and I don’t quite get it?”  That’s OK.  You know the feeling.  I know you do. 🙂

In other stitching news, I was very busy with non-stitching activities shortly before the boy’s spring break.  We went to visit the hubby during the break.  I didn’t get much stitching done.  In fact, I’d say it was about a dozen stitches until the plane ride home.  I intend to finish that project tonight, and get a picture and some stitch-speak up this weekend.

Happy Weekend Stitching!