A Secret Revealed

I mentioned a while back that I was stitching a number of pieces but couldn't show them just yet.  I was able to show you my parent's anniversary piece the end of May and now I can show you:

These are Love You Dad and Love You Mom by Bent Creek.  They're stitched on 32-count Summer Khaki Belfast (more golden brown than beige) in the DMC conversion.  There are heart buttons on Mom and a star button on Dad.  I'm trying to decide between flatfolds or pillows for finished-finishes.  Why the secrecy?  Well, Alex and Michelle - see my previous post - didn't make the official announcement that they're expecting until this weekend.  Yep, we're going to have a new addition to the family come early December (I think we're going to find out this weekend if it's a boy or girl).   Everyone is very excited - this will be my sister's first grandchild and my parent's first great-grand.  So far, Mom and baby are doing well.

So onto current stitching.  Goldie came out of hibernation and I did a fair amount on her.  She went from here:

to here:

Lots of filling in now and I am going to have to do something about that blue nose. I've been researching ways to fix it, but haven't come across the perfect solution yet.  I don't need to cover it up, just tone the blue down a bit.

I've been stitching on a WIP that I found while digging through a box.  It's a Whimsies by Dimensions kit and is stitching up quickly. It's done on plastic canvas and I'm having a horrible time photographing it, so will wait a bit before trying again.  It's going to be my travel project as I don't have to worry about a hoop or scroll rods so nice and compact.

So, onto the last of my WIPs:

This is New England St. Nick from The Goode Huswife.  It's stitched on a 30-count Onyx from Weeks Dye Works with NPI silks (oh to have that disposable income again).  I bought the pattern, fabric and threads from In Stitches in Alexandria, Virginia when I went up to the Woodlawn needlework show a number of years ago.  The designer moved and stopped designing not too much after I bought this but I read somewhere that she is going to re-release her charts so this may be available at a reasonable price again.

This a from the Lilac Studio's leaflet Rose Duet I and is Rosa Gallica Versicolor.  It's stitched using DMC but I can't remember what the fabric is.  I do remember that it is a very open weave - something I don't really care for.  It stitched up fast as I remember that this was only a couple of night's of stitching.  My plan was to do all four, - Rose Duet I and Rose Duet II and hang them in my dining room.  I haven't had that particular dining room for almost 11 years now, so I'm not sure where I'm going to put these.  Maybe the guest room.

Next is:

Santa of the Forest from Lavender and Lace. It is stitched on a 32-count Natural Linen with DMC and, later, lots of Kreinik (actually it's charted with DMC 284Z but I absolutely refuse to use it).  I have a love/hate relationship with this piece.  I love the colors - the reds just jump off the fabric and the detail is what you would expect from a Lavender and Lace piece; however, this is the third time I've started it.  The first time I think was my fault as I think I miscounted my starting place and could not fit the crook of his staff on the fabric.  I'm not exactly sure what happened the second time, but I suspect the fabric was cut to design area size as I quickly discovered that there was NO extra fabric.  I was mad about that one as I'd taken the pattern to the store with me and I remember talking with them about my first issue.  I went to a different store for the third piece and they measured, remeasured and measured again just to make sure.  Hopefully third time is a charm. 

Next is:

Tiles from Sue Lentz Needlework.  I can't tell you much about this one. I got the kit at an EGA swap night.  The fabric is a white evenweave, but that's about all I can tell you.  The piece isn't charted, it's all directions - stitch 24 stitches on the diagonal and the like.  I love the color palette but it takes a lot of concentration.

and last but not least is:

By the Bay Needleart's Fall SAL. At the time I posted my list to the tab up top called "All My Other WIPs" I couldn't find this one so there isn't a current picture of it. I found it a little while back, but couldn't find the patterns (it's a three part SAL), so I was going to throw it out.  I'm glad I'm a bit of a procrastinator when it comes to throwing out crafty things as a few weeks ago I was surfing her blog and found the posts with the pattern, so I'm back in business with this one.  It's small so I may slip it into my Smalls SAL so I can get it finished.

So, that's all my non-Chatelaine or HaED WIPs and a little bit about each of them.  The good thing is that I still like each of them so they will be finished some day.

Back into the office tomorrow, I worked from home today, and then on Wednesday I'm driving to Michigan.  My Mom is hosting her family's reunion on Saturday, so lots of good fun, good food and people (they're good too).

Giving June a Miss

Before I jump into the excuses well-thought out reasons for not posting or stitching...

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY Alex and Michelle.  My Nephew and Niece are celebrating their first wedding anniversary today.  In case you don't remember, here's a photo from the day:

So, um, yeah, well, stitching....

See it started with an innocent work trip.  I had to pack and get everything around the weekend before the trip so not a lot of stitching that weekend.  I then had to unpack and do laundry and all the normal weekend stuff the weekend I got back, so no stitching that weekend.  I could have stitched while I was gone, but I have learned that I am so tired at the end of a full day of training that I usually have to frog everything I did, so I read instead in the evenings.  So, yeah, that's what happened.  I am so far behind on all my SAL check-ins that I'm just going to give June a pass and work on making July better which it won't be as I have two trips to Michigan for family reunions - see what happens with trips earlier in paragraph.  I do know I won't be doing any more work travel this year.  We got our Administrative budget last week (our fiscal year starts October 1st, so we've been guessing for the last 9 months on what our budget would be) and we had a rather significant, unforeseen, reduction - so no more travel or pens, paper or other supplies and don't even ask to take a class or other training.

So what have I gotten done?  Well I have been working on Just Nan's Seasonal Gems II Summer.

This is stitched on 28-count Platinum Cashel with the called for DMC.  If you are stitching or have stitched this one, mine is a bit different from the chart.  I decided I didn't need it to say Summer and it bugged me that the design wasn't really centered in the border, so I am modifying. If you've been reading my blog for any period of time you'll know I am not a pattern changer - I was attracted to the design just the way it appeared on the chart so I don't change things.  This is HUGE for me.  I haven't done anything really major, just flipped the piece around and stitched the top band of motifs on the bottom.  That move changed up the middle motif a little but now it's centered, so I'm happy.  I need to figure out what goes in those gaps on the sides.  I also need to add beads, Kreinik and eyelets, but there's really not a lot left before it's finished.

This weekend I pulled Chatelaine's Japanese Zen Garden back out.  Last time you saw it, it was here:

and today, it's here:

I didn't do all of this stitching this weekend, just haven't updated my progress photos in a while.  This is stitched on 32-count Summer Sky Jobelan with Martina's DMC conversion.  I am using the called for PTB, beads and two threads that didn't have a good conversion.  As usual, I love stitching a Chatelaine and am looking forward to settling in for a good stitch the rest of this afternoon.

To continue my WIP review, I have:

Liz Turner Diehl's Flamigerge Egg.  This is stitched on the called for fabric, but I can't remember what it is, with the called for threads and I can't remember those either, so will have to get back to you with that information.  When completed, this will be in the fashion of a Faberge egg but with the very non-Russian motif of flamingos.  Now all I can see are a line of flamingos wearing Ushankas or maybe Cossak hats...

The next one is another Liz Turner Diehl piece (I have several of her gardens in my stash too):

Hannah's Hummingbird Knotgarden.  The Hubs gave this kit to me for my birthday a number of years ago - it has a copyright of 2007, so probably not too much after that.  It has Madeira and Rainbow Gallery Glissen Gloss threads which are both new to me.  I enjoyed working with the Madeira but the packaging caused me a little headache and I still haven't figured out what I'm supposed to do with the leftover bits.  The kit also contained all the beads.

Blackbird Designs 2011 Loose Feather's Design is next.  I have a start on part one the alphabet bleeds over into part two a little bit

Again, called for fabric and threads.  I am pretty sure I got this as a subscription piece through Wasatch Needlecrafts (sadly now out of business).  This is the first piece I put on my belt scroll - the fabric mounts on the ends rather than the top for those pieces that are too long for even the longest scroll rods.  I did discover that it works best on shorter pieces as you would need arms like an orangutan to reach the top of this one comfortably for those of us with human length arms, turning it upside down also works.

And last for this week is Mill Hill's 2006 Buttoned and Beaded Christmas.

I am stitching all six kits side-by-side on one long piece of fabric.  I think the fabric is a 28-count raw linen.  Another one that's using the belt scroll - this one fits much better as it's shorter.  I really like the Mill Hill kits as a "grab and go" piece but am always worried about mangling the paper, so when I saw them on fabric it was a complete "palm meet forehead" moment - why hadn't I thought of that before?  Although I'm sure it goes back to my earlier discussion of "not a changer" or more likely it's "there's a perfectly good piece of stitching paper why should I spend money on fabric?".

And I have been doing some stashing I have GOT to stay off  Floss Tube as I have a serious case of stash envy and I go looking at things and then they're in my cart and then, well you know *sigh*.  This

is Evening in the Shire from CutePatternsByMaria an Etsy store (don't even get me started on the evil wonderfulness of Etsy).  I bought a piece of Twilight Mist Jobelan that I think will work really well.  I also bought Sea in a Bottle:

  I haven't found the right fabric for this one, but have a piece of Twilight/Silver that I think might work.  There are a couple more patterns in her shop that I am tempted by but I am determined to stick to my Stitch from Stash budget for the rest of this year so on my wish list they will stay.

A weird work week coming up for me.  Independence Day is on Wednesday so I'll work Monday and Tuesday, have Wednesday off and work Thursday and Friday.  Friday is my work from home day so only three trips into the office this week.

Stay cool or warm if you're in the Southern Hemisphere.  We're in the middle of an early summer heatwave with temperatures in the mid- to upper-90s with "feels like" temperatures into the 100s.  Tomorrow's heat index is supposed to be near 105 so not looking forward to walking to and from the train station tomorrow afternoon.  I think I will work on Christmas cards on Wednesday - think cool and you'll be cool right?