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).