28 February 2008 at 17:28 (Quiz/Meme)
No updates to post. I haven’t been doing much stitching the past few days. It’s been so cold lately, and it’s making my fingers really stiff. I do plan to do some ornament stitching tomorrow, so I’ll try to share a picture on my next post. :)
On to this week’s SBQ:
What is your cross stitch weakness? (i.e., What do you have to have
when you see it, even if you are supposed to be on the Wagon?)
Hmmm…I would have to say Mirabilia designs. I absolutely love Nora Corbett’s patterns. They are some of the most elegant and beautiful designs available out there today. I admit, lately I’ve become a big fan of Country Cottage Needleworks designs…maybe they’ll become a new obsession. :)
One last thing before I go - please visit Stitch Pink. It’s a nice stitching site promoting breast cancer awareness. If that’s not incentive enough - then check out their 26 February post - you can enter to win a Little House Needleworks kit - “Where There Is Life”. Go there now! :)
5 Comments
23 February 2008 at 18:05 (Stash)
Thank you everyone for your lovely comments about Celtic Summer. :) Unfortunately, I’ve been a bad girl and haven’t done any stitching at all this week, so no further progress has been made yet. :( I plan to resume work on her tonight though.
I’ve added quite a few things to my stash recently. Here’s are the charts I have acquired:
I also treated myself to complete set of Crescent Colors floss. I’m still waiting for that to arrive though.
And last but least, here are scans of my latest Silkweaver FOTM pieces. All of them are 32 count Lugana.
1. Periwinkle Pizzaz
2. Rock-A-Bye
3. Limited Edition FOTM
Well, that’s all for now. I’ll try to post some progress pictures after this weekend (if my camera will let me). Happy Stitching everyone!
P.S. Chiloe - I’m not sure what I’m going to work on next. Probably a Christmas ornament (I’m trying to do one a month). I do need to start thinking about a project for my sister-in-law’s baby though…
P.P.S. Sachiko - If you like the “Celtic Summer” pattern, I would be happy to give it to you when I am finished with it. :D
5 Comments
20 February 2008 at 18:41 (WIPs)
A whole week without posting - man, that was hard! I went and had the memory, video card, and sound card upgraded so I was without my computer last week. But, I’m back and I have a picture to share! :D
I squeezed in 25 hours of stitching on Celtic Summer last week during the stitch-a-thon. Here’s what she looks like now:
Sorry for the poor quality photo, but this was taken with my broken camera - I’m still shopping for a new one. At any rate I’ve finished almost all of the Needlepaints stitching. All I have left to do is the DMC thread stitches and the beading. Phew! I can’t believe she’s almost done!!!
Well, that’s all for now. I have stitchy blog reading to catch up on!
12 Comments
13 February 2008 at 19:22 (Quiz/Meme, WIPs)
Do you have any projects that you have scrapped and started over? What
made you start over from scratch?
Actually, yes! Celtic Summer was a project I started and then scrapped. Why? I didn’t like the fabric I used - this was around the time I discovered Silkweaver. ;) Thankfully, I wasn’t very far into the project when I decided to start over.
Well, not much to report this week. I’ve been working like crazy on Celtic Summer - averaging about 3 to 4 hours a night. I wish I could share a progress picture because it looks VERY different from my previous update, but I discovered yesterday that my camera is broken. :( I’m hoping that I have enough money left over from my tax return (after I buy 2 new tires this weekend) to buy a new one. Keep your fingers crossed for me! :)
4 Comments
9 February 2008 at 9:43 (Stash, WIPs)
I received my two Mirabilia charts in the mail yesterday. Hooray! They are so beautiful. Can’t wait to start them, but it’s going to be awhile since I plan to try and finish some other projects up first. :) And speaking of projects I need to finish up…
As promised, here is a progress picture of Celtic Summer.
I’ve been working on the border along the top this week. I think this weekend I’m going to try and finish the rest of the outside purple border. I should start showing a lot of progress on this piece over the course of next week. I’m participating in a stitch-a-thon over at the CrossStitchCrazy board. The stitch-a-thon runs February 11th-17th. I did fairly well during the one last month, so I think I can get a lot accomplished during this one too. :)
Before I forget…let me answer some questions I saw in the comments. By the way - I’d like to thank everyone for leaving such kind comments on both Celtic Summer and Knot 5. They really do help keep me motivated. :)
Chiloe - My last FOTM shipment was from my customized list option. My customized list consists of Expressions linen (1/4 yard), Expressions Lugana (1/4 yard), Classics linen (1/4 yard), Classics Lugana (1/4 yard), Reflections Lugana (2 - 13″x18″), and Solo Minis (4 - 9″x13″).
Nicola - My celtic knot piece (a.k.a. my traveling project) will end up as a bourse. After seeing so many of these lovely bags on various blogs, I’ve been dying to try making one, so I plan to attempt one with that piece.
Well, that’s all for today. Happy stitching!
6 Comments
7 February 2008 at 17:28 (Stash, WIPs)
This week’s SBQ:
Are there other crafts that you have tried and abandoned? Why do you
like stitching better?
I took a needlearts class in high school and got an introduction to crochet, knitting, and candlewicking. I like crochet as it’s pretty easy to do. I’ve not done a lot of it, but I do have several pattern books, an entire bin full of yarn, and lots of good intentions on doing something someday. :) I think I’ve only ever completed two crochet projects (a potholder - for the class - and a baby blanket for a niece). I didn’t enjoy knitting at all. I love the look of knit stitches, but I am not good at consistency. My stitches always end up getting tighter and tighter until I can barely slip the stitches off the needles! Not fun. I didn’t care for candlewicking either. As if doing a French Knot here and there wasn’t bad enough, but an entire project consisting of knots - no thanks!
I’ve been cross stitching since I was about 8. My class that year made ornaments for our parents as a Christmas project and I really took to stitching immediately. I think the main reason I like stitching so much is because it’s easy. And I like the piece of art you end up with at the end. :)
In other news… I’ve been working on the border of Celtic Summer. It’s going well, if not particularly fast. I’m finding the border coming along a lot better than when I did the border for Celtic Christmas. :) I don’t have a picture to share today since I need to get some batteries for my camera. I will try to share a picture tomorrow.
Received my Silkweaver FOTM package today. I received another piece of Lavender Swirl fabric - but this time it is a 28-count Cashel linen and it’s much larger as well. This piece actually looks darker than Lavender Swirl Lugana piece I received last Monday. Oh well - no complaints here. I love purple. :)
Well, that’s all for today. Happy stitching everyone!
2 Comments
4 February 2008 at 20:34 (Stash, WIPs)
Wow - what a game! That was the best Superbowl I have ever watched. I love underdog stories - so to see the NY Giants win last night was absolutely thrilling. Congratulations to them! :)
Obviously, I didn’t get much stitching done last night as I was too busy jumping up and down in front of the TV, but I did put a few stitches in on my traveling cross stitch piece. Why do I call it my traveling piece? Simple - because it’s the project I take with me when I’m away from home! :) I started it a couple of weekends ago when I was at my parent’s house watching movies with my dad (we had a mini marathon of Doris Day/Rock Hudson movies). I chose this piece because it only required 2 colors (well, 3 if you include backstitching). I took this piece along with me to my sister-in-law’s house last night. I got about an hour’s worth of stitching done on it during the Superbowl pre-show.
Here’s a picture:
The piece is called Knot 5 - designer is Judith A. Choffin and publisher is American Whimsy Designs. Fabric is a Silkweaver Solo. I’m afraid I can’t recall where I found this pattern (it’s a freebie I got off the internet at some point). Tried doing a Google search, but came up with nothing.
I think I might stitch a bit more on this piece tonight before bedtime. This piece is so close to being finished that I’m tempted to keep working on it. But I’ll be a good girl and resume work on Celtic Summer tomorrow evening. :)
Received some bad news about my order from Down Sunshine Lane. All but 2 of my patterns I ordered are out of stock. :( I was given the option to put my order through as is or just order the 2 designs in stock (Crystal Symphony & Mermaid of Atlantis). I opted to just order the 2 in stock patterns - I would’ve lost my discounted pricing on the out-of-stock items. The whole point of shopping during a sale is for the discount! Oh well…
5 Comments
3 February 2008 at 1:12 (Stash)
Okay, there were just TOO many sales going on this weekend for me to ignore them. :P
Friday afternoon I stopped by a local fabric shop to pick up some fabric for two of my ornaments I want to finish off this year. To my surprise they were having a huge sale. Hooray! I discovered they had a small cross-stitching section and picked up two packages of DMC variegated threads. They’re so pretty - I can’t wait to use them!
I hit an online sale that Down Sunshine Lane was having yesterday. I bought a bunch of Mirabilia patterns. Ever since I saw the Christmas Eve Courier series posted on a message board I knew I wanted to get those. I picked up Dasher & Donner. Also picked up The Stargazer, Mermaid of Atlantis, and Crystal Symphony - three of the most absolutely divine patterns I’ve ever seen. And last, but not least, from the Pixie Couture Collection, I chose Fern. Can’t wait to get my hands on these patterns. :)
So, I have a bunch of charts coming my way in the coming week or two. Not to mention my next Silkweaver FOTM (received an email saying that it was shipped Friday). I think I’m all set for awhile…at least until the next sale comes along. ;)
3 Comments
1 February 2008 at 23:31 (WIPs)
What a long week! I can honestly say I’m glad the weekend is here. :) I’ve been so worn out after work the past few days that I look forward to relaxing this weekend. I only got about 9 hours in on Celtic Summer this week (including this evening), so not a ton of progress, but I’m happy I got a big chunk of purple finished on the skirt. I decided to do some work on the border tonight. Managed to get all the gold finished on one side. Here’s a progress picture:
I haven’t decided whether or not I’m going to work on her this weekend. I really need to get started on a birth announcement piece for my sister-in-law if I want to get it completed before she gives birth (late March/early April). We shall see…
At any rate, hope everyone has a happy weekend. I’ll be stitching and watching the Superbowl - go Giants! And maybe I’ll check out some of various stitchery sales going on. ;P Until next time - happy stitching!
P.S. Chiloe - I think Blue Diamonds would make a great background for a snowman or santa pattern.
6 Comments
28 January 2008 at 19:09 (Stash, WIPs)
My first Silkweaver FOTM selection arrived today. Hooray! I received three 9″ x 13″ pieces of fabric. Here are some scans of the fabric:
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Blue Diamonds - it is an opalescent Lugana in 28 count.
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This one is called Lavender Swirl - it is also a Lugana in 28 count.
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Mountain Mist - this is a Cashel in 28 count.
I think my favorite of the bunch is Blue Diamonds, but I do like Lavender Swirl too. Not sure what I’m going to do with the third one…maybe it will be good for a Halloween-type project. We shall see.
I was a bad girl and didn’t do much stitching this weekend. As a result I did not make any progress on Celtic Summer. I spent Saturday helping my sister-in-law move and Sunday playing World of Warcraft. I should be able to make some good progress on her over the course of this week though - after reading all the kind comments about her I am extremely motivated to stitch on her this week. Thanks everyone! :)
I did get a couple of hours of stitching in yesterday, but it was on my Elemental Dragons project. I was going through my projects and it just called to me. :) I hadn’t realized that I had finished Dragon of Fire, so I decided to go ahead and start Dragon of Water. It didn’t start well - my first hour of stitching had to be frogged and re-stitched. Argh!!! I think I’m good to go now. Here’s a picture of how the project looks currently:
Funnily enough, the fabric I’m using on this project is also Mountain Mist - but it’s an opalescent Lugana. In reality, it’s not as dark as the picture looks - it’s a bit paler.
Well, that’s all for now. I’m going to go stitch on Celtic Summer some more. Thanks for looking and happy stitching!
7 Comments
