Stitching Update: May - July 2010

Due to many factors mostly stemming from my migraine still being with me (started late March and here still here) I have been very quiet on my blogs and with my stitching.

The treatment for my migraine revolves around short-term medication leading to regular sleep patterns and lifestyle changes (both work and at home). As part of this, I'm getting back into my stitching and  reconnecting with the world again.  Anyway enough whinging, onto the update:

Stitching update!



In June I finished off poor Jasper in Bloom.  Jasper was a project I cross-stitched in May-July 2008 as one of my train commuter projects.  Unfortunately the back stitching was getting me down so I put him away.  I found him last month while looking for a different project, and decided to "be good" and just struggle through the back stitching.  The struggle turned out to be a mere two nights in front of the TV, and he was done.

A lesson there in building molehills into mountains and the fear is worse than the event and a few other platitudes.


I then, flushed with this success, went back to New York and finished it off completely.  The silver scroll-work was a pain to do on Aida but well it always is :)  This Vervaco kit, unlike Moscow, contained enough fibres to complete the whole project.  I've included a photo of the finish here so you can see that Vervaco uses generous fabric sizes in their kits.  If only they included evenweave or linen as an option...

In late June-early July my mum visited for a fortnight. Mum brought over all of her finishes so we took them down for a Show and Tell visit to Colours Down Under :)

While mum was here, I mentioned that I had a "Fall limited edition" range of Carrie's Threads that was released in a collaboration pack a couple of years earlier.  I hadn't given away any of the threads because they all blended well together but I hadn't found a chart that I could use them on.  Coincidentally, the next day Tracy released a new free pattern, Celtic Spiral, to those on the Inkcircles email list.  Mum and I pulled out those threads and some fabric and started stitching!

Unfortunately for the stitching, I introduced mum to World of Warcraft that night and no further stitching was done for the rest of the visit.  The day she flew home I sat and stitched the rest of this piece, all except for the last 10 stitches.  You see mum and I both chose one colour the same in our palettes and I gave the rest of the skein to mum to take home with her.  I was a) quite sure I had enough and b) given our history mum always finishes our collaborated projects months ahead of me. In this instance, I was wrong on both counts.

Mum has popped a length of the thread in the mail and when it finally arrives I will finish off this poor thing.  Or not.  I just found out that the direction of the project should have been reversed for the Southern hemisphere.  {insert expletive here}.

After that I became all enthusiastic about our private round robin group starting up again, so I pulled out the Historical Dress Sampler that went around last year. I had great plans to stitch up the rest of the grey border pieces to make life easier for placement for the others. In the next four weeks I stitched precisely 10 stitches on it.  I gave up and just sent it on as is.  I feel so ashamed that I just couldn't motivate myself enough enough to stitch on it.

After it went, I started a new project, a piece for a friend's birthday in late August.  So this is my focus piece for the next few weeks.  I'll put up a separate blog with pictures and progress on this project on the weekend.  I was going great guns until I found one row of the wording was out of alignment, so I've unpicked it.  Hopefully I can have that area restitched before Sunday.  I will once again be using the Sunday updates to help keep up my motivation.

And that's it - all my stitching over the past two months :)

Sunday Update: 23 May 2010

Had a productive week stitching wise.  I've started the BAPXS "100 Stitches Challenge" and although I haven't stitched every night, the nights I have, I have put in at least 100 stitches.

This project New York is quite an easy one, with only 5 shades of blue and 5 shades of brown stitched on Aida. Even with my permanent headache/migraine I've managed to push this project along quickly. One more week and this might even be finished?

I was at the Perth Craft and Quilting Fair yesterday. The Quilt Display was awesome. There were so many unexpectedly powerful pieces there especially those on the theme of Anzac Day.

 I was good and didn't add to my stash *and*  I also resisted the temptation to start any new hobbies :) Knowing I need to spend a lot of money on Wednesday on medical costs helped my resolve to not spend money.

I did see a stitched model of a kit I have in my stash, so I might just have to make a new start tomorrow instead of finishing New York ...

WIP - New York

Cover of kit.

Vervaco kit in the same series as Moscow: http://gothtigger.multiply.com/photos/album/118/WIP_-_Moscow

Hopefully New York contains all the necessary thread :)

Moscow WIP

Received an envelope from Vervaco today.  They sent the replacement threads for Moscow.

Pretty fast timing for a request sent to Belgium and then had to follow me all over Australia :)  But they have sent sufficient thread for me to finish the design.

As soon as I get it out of storage again .....

Mel's Sunday Update

OK so its Monday and this is actually the first one I've put up for the year - I'm a slacker :)

Finishes:
Well I've only had one finish so far this year and an almost finish. BoInk is finished a scant couple of weeks ahead of the pack and Moscow I'm waiting on replacement threads from Vervaco in Belgium.

Round Robins:
Well the International Round Robin is off to a good start this year.  Mine is now with Laura and I've just finished my part on Kay's.  Kay's was quite fun because its all speciality stitches. Not a standard cross stitch in sight!  Of course I shouldn't have tried to stitch it with a head cold .....

Chatelaine's:
Well thanks to the vagaries of International mail (and an incompetent nincompoop who actually delivers the mail)  I've only received one of my Christmas presents this week.  So Chatelaine Workshop 1 will start at some point in the future even though the actual group is now closed.

I have however started Vienna Ball.  I'm still not 100% happy with my fabric.  But I'm using it anyway.  Part One is the border and I'm less than half way through - but I've got a while to catch up, we're only on Part 4 in the group ....

Black Bloomers:
You've all seen Tracy's pastel masterpiece Bloomers?  Well Tracy has sent me a variation to stitch called Black Bloomers.  I hope to be starting this tonight.

Gifts:
Speaking of International mail, a gift Kay sent back in September 2008 arrived this week!  I had been sent here, never delivered, never found by local postal staff, eventually sent back to the UK, repackaged by Kay and posted to my new Post Box and ta da! it is here. 

I adore the stitched dragon in the frame!  This sits next to my monitor every day!  Surprisingly the chocolate was still edible (urp).  The Socks look so kewl and I adore the Devil keyring :) The cat toy squeaks as well as being filled with catnip and on an extra long elastic.  I can't wait for Trubs to wake up to try this!

After Tracy showed a computer mock-up of Black Bloomers I decided I had to stitch it.  I begged Tracy for the conversion and put in an order for the chart (and the Celtic Ice ornament kit also fell into my basket),

Tracy added the fabric, all the threads and a copy of the Twisted Heart chart to my package.  Isn't she the sweetest!



Stitching wise that's about it from me so far this year - I know I'm a slow stitcher :)  The picture at the top of the screen is a type of pigeon that I'm now getting to my feeder station.  Sorry for the blurriness of the picture its taken through a screen door and a glass door.  The little things are still fearful and fly off as soon as I poke the camera out the door.

OK time for dinner and then to prepare my clothes, resume etc for an agency interview tomorrow morning.

Moscow

Moscow is finished as much as she can be.  The kit contained insufficient thread.  Weird funky thread.  Will figure it out later. All too hard right now.

Mel's Sunday Update

Wow - I think this is the first actual proper Sunday update I've done for the year!

Lets see so far I have one finish which I can't show until late next month.  I have finished the Inkcircles Mystery Book of InkCircles (BoINK).  You can see all the sections that have been officially released so far here.

For those who want to join in, the parts can be found here.

I didn't get to join in the unofficial Chatelaine SAL this month, but I am itching to join in next month!  As soon as my 2009 RR piece is finished and on its way to the next person.  I haven't done much on my RR yet, but photos can be seen here.

The only other piece I have worked on this year is a Vervaco kit called Moscow.  Anyone who remembers "Black Beauty or Something in Red" dresses from last year will recognise this as a similar style.  This kit was a gift from Chele.  Pictures here.

More Vervaco kits can be seen in my temporary Lust List here.

And that's it from me so far this year.  Except to ask the same question I ask every Sunday evening - why do I have to go to work tomorrow?  Oh yeah that's right, because I haven't won Lotto yet.  Maybe I might buy a ticket this year.

Today's picture du jour is Alison on Christmas Eve.

WIP - Moscow

Ran out of thread in kit. Don't know how to get more. Project stopped.

Moscow - one of three clothing styles by Vervaco.

Its the little things

If all bits and bobs arrived in time I planned on starting Vienna Ball on New Years Day.

I collected most of the DMC.
The specialty kit arrived from Debbie.
On New Years Eve the fabric arrived.

It was hideous.  OK not hideous - it was in fact quite a pretty pastel sky blue.  For something that called "Evening Shadows" and supposed to be dark purples and greys ????

Pictures for comparison here.

I was quite depressed about the whole thing.  I have emailed Catherine at Country Stitch and sending the fabric back.  She is dyeing a different colour for me once I decide between Twilight and Thundercloud.

So instead on New Years Day I continued stitching on Moscow.

I was sitting it down late last night (ahem early hours of the morning) and viewing the work from a distance - as you do.  I admit I was still a bit rankled that I was working on it instead of Vienna Ball. 

Mr S was just finishing up his stuff when I made the comment "I always seem to be working on boring pieces when you are around"/

I received a distracted "I don't think any of your stitching projects look boring".

Its the little things .....

Happy 2009 to all!