Gifted Gorgousness

It's time for .  Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching and gives us a chance to thank people that have gifted us with patterns, fabric or fibers.  My major piece is Shakespearean Fantasy from Heaven and Earth Designs.  Pull the Other Thread gifted me with the pattern.  I started the first of the year and put a few stitches in each month. 

Here's where it was at last month's report:

and here's where it is today:

 

I have close to half of page one finished.  At this rate, I will have a finish sometime around 2030. 

 

I have decided to ditch the rotation for the next month or so as I would like to make some serious progress on Christmas Presence and that isn't happening with only an hour or so of stitching a week.  I won't get too much stitching in this week as I am heading to Portland, Oregon for a training session.  



A rare non-SAL check-in post

For the first time in ages, I am not posting about a SAL check-in. 

Elegant Doily from Kayann's Kreations was on the frame this week.  The last time it was in the rotation, I found every excuse I could to not work on it. This piece is the only WIP I have that is a chore to work on.  I know, if it's not fun, why do it? Shear stubbornness.  I am so far along on it that I can't bring myself to throw it away and I know if I take it out of the rotation, it will never be seen again. 

Here's where it was when I pulled it out:













I finished the wrapping in those nine blocks and did a lot more cutting. I also decided that I didn't like the spider webs and took them out. I think I am going to leave the border open, but as always, it's subject to change.



In my last post, I talked about the Chatelaines I had finished. Jo from Serendipitous Stitching suggested I show them all. So, this collage is for you Jo...

The picture is clickable

The six smaller ones in the first two rows are the Mini Mystery Mandalas. I don't remember which one is which, but I do remember they are stitched on Silkweaver fabrics - the third one from the left in the top row was a finalist in their stitching contest one year (I don't remember that either).  The one on black fabric is Roses and Violets, it was Sampler Mystery IV when I did it. The Christmas one is Christmas Mystery IV. There are two photos of Egyptian Garden, the first shows it at the framers (Jill Rensel) and the second was taken at the fair.  Caribbean Mandala was Mystery XII when I stitched it. I did the framing, and it is hanging in my office.

I started the new The Sampler Life block this morning.  It's called Spring Hearts and was designed by Olde Willow Stitchery. 

This one was smaller, 47X47 then the others, 50X50, so I backstitched an additional border to make it the same size.  Shakespearean Fantasy is on the frame right now and I will probably be stitching black, black and more black this afternoon.

Four check-ins?!?

So much for my little brag in my last post about being all caught up. It only took a few days and I am late for two and have two more for today. Fortunately for your reading time, the pieces fit all four SALs so the post should not be too long (yeah right!!).

First up is  or Designers Everyone Should Instantly Get to Notice. It is hosted at NCC International Headquarters.  This month I'm going to highlight my favorite designer Martina Rosenburg (formerly Weber) of Chatelaine. I have Secret Victorian Garden in my rotation right now and it is now here:

One more corner, the outside border and thousands (yes thousands) of beads and it will be done. Where to start with Martina's designs? I suppose Leonore's questions are a good place...

-Have you stitched a piece by this designer before? YES!!! I have started nine other pieces (see the list in the right side bar and pictures up there in the Chatelaine WIPs tab. I have finished a number of her smaller pieces, three of her samplers and two of her large mandalas. Just tooting my horn a bit, the Caribbean mandala shown on the chart pack was a photo of mine (I think the background color has been photoshopped with black now, I did mine on African Daisy) and I won a first place and Best in Section in the Virginia State Fair for my Egyptian mandala.
-Would you buy/stitch a piece by this designer again? Again YES!!!  I have many, many, many of her large mandalas and a few of her smaller samplers in my stash with most of them fully kitted and ready to go. I only need more stitching time. I have not bought a new one recently but that is a function of my economic situation rather than falling out of love with her designs.
-What made you chose this particular design/designer?  It was a combination of color and design. Martina has an amazing eye for color. She also combines various types of threads with specialty stitches and beads and sparklies to create a feeling that evokes the design name perfectly.
-Did you notice anything that distinguished this designer from others? Yes. She was the first designer that I had noticed that released a large pattern in monthly pieces.  Her large mystery mandalas are her signature pieces and it was like getting a gift every month when that email showed up telling us the new part was available. The mystery aspect was also new for me. It was a leap of faith to invest the time and money into a piece that you had no information on other than a name and description.  I was never been disappointed.  She also has large mandalas that were released all at once for when you were feeling less adventurous.  The only draw back is the price.  The materials can be costly if you decide to use the called for silks and over-dyed threads. Fortunately, Martina provides a conversion to DMC which makes these much more affordable and unless you put your DMC one right next to a called-for-thread one, nobody will know that yours is the "economy" version.

From DESIGN to , YOTA and the HAP SAL.  WIPcoalypse is hosted by Melissa at Measi's Musings, YOTA is hosted by Pull the Other Thread and the HAP SAL is hosted by Stacy at Crossed Stitches.  All three aim to help us focus on finishing what we have already started rather than just adding to that stack of WIPs.  I worked on a few pieces from the WIPcolaypse and YOTA Project tab (up there at the top) and one of them, Shakespearean Fantasy, is my HAP SAL piece.

Shakespearean Fantasy was here when I put it up a few weeks ago:

Secret Victorian Garden, Spring in the Air and Christmas Presence are also on the list. Spring in the Air was finished and can be seen here (if the link doesn't work, there is a Finishes tab up top).  Christmas Presence went from here:

To here:

Still so many stitches left just to finish the first page...

This month's WIPocalypse question is: What makes you pick up a long abandoned UFO rather than begin a new piece? Oh that is easy! Guilt!  I have a total of 32 UFO/WIPs and do not need any more.  Because I gravitate towards large pieces, whenever I get the urge to pull out a new Chatelaine or HAED, I look at the WIP list (I refuse to call them UFOs as I intend to finish each and every one) and the urge evaporates. I have also been able to satisfy the new start urge with smalls. I have participated in a smalls SAL for several years so I have the impetuous to finish them each month.

So much for a short post...

July Smalls Check-in

I am back from my trip to Michigan (thanks Nancy, Joe, Alex, Mom and Dad for a great time). For the first time in years, I didn't take any stitching with me. Between the catching up, reading and running around, I didn't have time to miss the stitching.  Just before I left for my sister's, I finished Just Nan's Swan Lake. 

 

 

This is my July   piece. I, once again, wasn't thrilled with this month's piece for The Sampler Life SAL and didn't feel like digging around for a replacement, so gave the large piece a miss and focused on this one.  The Smalls SAL is hosted by Heather at Stitching Lotus. It encourages us to give the smaller pieces a bit of attention too.  I am a BAP stitcher and to often forget that these smaller pieces are just as beautiful and, in many cases, just as intricate as the larger ones.

 

I did all my running around this morning and just have a bit of housework to finish up and I will be done for this week. I hope to sit back, stitch, and enjoy the rest of my vacation. 

 

And just because it's been a while.  Here's a picture of Trouble that The Hubs sent a while back.

 

 

The cats love to hid behind the blinds and spy on you.

IHSW and Stitch from Stash

Month: July
Spent: $0
Earned: $0

Two posts in a week? and I am (or will be when I publish this post) current on check-ins? Vacation is wonderful! 

I really did go into this IHSW (sponsored by Joyze at Random Ramblings) with hopes of sitting and stitching and possibly finishing Just Nan's Swan Lake. The reality was somewhat different. More reading than stitching and no finish, but it was very relaxing.

Swan Lake is now here:

It continues to amaze me how much detail a designer can pack into a small space. The fabric color is slightly off (it's a bit more green) but the thread colors are very accurate.

That little notation at the very top of my post is for .  Mel at Epic Stitching hosts Stitch from Stash and broke 2015 into two separate SALs. I took part in part A and decided to give part B a go. Stitch from Stash is a reminder to look at what we have before buying yet another pattern that will probably just sit in a file folder somewhere.  We get a very generous $25 USD each month (or your currency) so it isn't a fast, but a diet.  So, for July:

Budget $25
Spent $0
Forward to August $25

Hmmm, checking back it doesn't look like I had any starts from stash this month. I did pull a pattern, threads and fabric out of my stash to start Just Nan's Florentine Floral but no actual stitching happened.

 I will probably continue with Swan Lake this afternoon and maybe put a few stitches in Secret Victorian Garden but there is no hurry (and THAT is the reason I get so very little done while on vacation - I keep thinking that there is no hurry and before I know it, it's time to go back to work).

Progress, a finish and a check-in

Here I thought I was being good and back to a weekly posting schedule but I looked at my last post and it was more than two weeks ago! I honestly don't know what I am doing with my time although I do vaguely recall that I had to rearrange me work schedule and last weekend was just strange. Despite all that, stitching has happened and I even have a finish!!

I'll start with the finish, Just Nan's Spring in the Air

It is stitched on 28-count Natural Cashel with DMC and whatever beads came in the embellishment pack. There is also a very cute pansy charm in the middle. I am not sure what I am going to do with it, but it is hanging on my display curtain right now.  Florentine Floral was randomly picked to take the Just Nan slot in the rotation and is ready and waiting.

I also had progress on a couple of pieces, another Just Nan, Swan Lake went from here:

to here:

I was so pleased when the circle closed correctly!!!

And Christmas Presence from HAED went from here:

to here:

Interestingly enough, the detail shows up better in the photo than it does in person. That bit of beard actually looks like curls and hair, in person it just looks like a blob.

And my check-in is for  which is hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching and is for us to show everyone that has gifted us with a pattern that we really do appreciate it.  I have counted Christmas Presence as a gift as it is a freebie from HAED and therefore a gift yes that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  My main gifted piece is Shakespearean Fantasy.  Pull the Other Thread gifted me this pattern (aren't stitchers the most generous folks?!?!) and I have been stitching away since the first of the year.  When I put it away last, it was here

I spent my last round with this stitching mostly black. That blob in the corner is just about 1/4 of page one!! I probably added a bit more green too.  My plan right now is to finish all the colors on these pages and then start on the colors on the right half (or so). Once those are in, it is just black to fill in the background and then onto the next two rows of pages.

You may have seen it in the background of Swan Lake, Chatelaine's Secret Victorian Garden is on the frame for a while. As of 3:45 this afternoon I am on vacation for two weeks and while I will be in Michigan for a bit of that time, I have nothing else planned for the rest of my time and hope to spend a good chunk of it stitching.  Here's where it was last time I put it up:

I hope to finish this corner and get the first band of the outer boarder that blue line done before I put it up again.

Three more check-ins

Well, I was caught up with my SAL check-ins for a couple of minutes days! Three more check-ins to catch-up with today, one on Saturday and I will be caught up for a while. I am starting to feel more settled at work which is, I hope, a sign that I will be more settled here at home.

So first up is  or Designers Everyone Should Instantly Get to Notice. It is hosted over at NCC. I have been very remiss posting to this SAL, but this month will recognize an "oldie but goodie" Just Nan.  According to their website, Just Nan started as a company in 1991 and I have been collecting and stitching her designs since right about that time. I have enough patterns and kits in my stash to almost be embarrassed as she was a must-buy for years.  My latest piece is Spring in the Air

Leonore gave us a list of questions to guide us for each post so...
-Have you stitched a piece by this designer before?  Oh yes. I have 20 or so pieces, mostly smalls and class projects hanging in my den/stitching room and I did five of her Christmas stockings for gifts one year. I also have a number of unfinished-finished pieces just waiting for me to get into a finishing mindset.
-Would you buy/stitch a piece by this designer again? Yes, although I did lose the "love" when she moved away from her sampler style, I have enough in my stash to keep me stitching her designs for a number of years.
-What made you chose this particular design/designer? Nan has a very distinctive style and color palette. I can still look at a stitched piece and pick her pieces out. For this particular piece? I love pansies and I am a sucker for seasonal series pieces. Unfortunately, I am not sure I will finish this series. I purchased this pattern and Strawberry Summer but when Winter Blues came out, I didn't like it. Nothing against the series, design or designer, it just did nothing for me.
-Did you notice anything that distinguished this designer from others? As I mentioned, she had a color palette that appealed to me and she was using unique, for me at the time, threads - perle cottons and silks.

From DESIGN to the HAP SAL.  The 2015 HAP SAL is hosted by Stacy at Crossed Stitches and highlights all those huge projects, defined by Stacy as "the smallest of the dimension of the stitch count is 300", you are stitching or want to stitch and maybe even finish in 2015.  My HAP for 2015 and the next 10 or 15 years is Shakespearean Fantasy. When I showed it to you last week, it was here:

Sunday evening, I put an additional 400 (gridding is good for stitch counting) black stitches in and it now looks like this:

In addition to my HAP SAL piece, Shakespearean Fantasy is one of my  pieces.  WIPocalypse is hosted by Melissa at Measi's Musing and is another SAL to help us focus on getting through our WIP pile.  I think between last weekend's post and the pictures above, I have posted updates of all my WIPocalypse pieces. There is a complete list in the WIPocalypse and YOTA Project List and 2015 Stitching Plan tab up top there. Melissa also gives us questions for each month's post. This month's is Fantasy or Reality? Which do you prefer to stitch? Figures or abstracts? I lean more towards reality or at least someone's concept of reality!  The presentation may be abstract, the theme is usually based in reality.  It isn't that I don't like fantasy pieces and I have stitched a fair number of them, but it it more a function of my stashing habits or lack thereof. When the majority of my stash was purchased, there weren't a lot of really good patterns that I would define as fantasy.  There has been an explosion of designers in that area over the last ten years or so, but I haven't been buying a lot of stash in that time.  With unlimited financial resources, my stash would look much different today.

As WIPocalypse and YOTA have the same goals and pieces, I am counting this as my YOTA post and am now AHEAD!!! with my SAL posts. I am sure I will get behind again soon enough so I won't rest on my laurels for too long.