2013 - First Sunday Update

This is the first Sunday of 2013, and I think it would be a good habit to do blog updates each Sunday evening.  Here's what I've been up to stitchwise this past week.

I started HAED's Foregone by Marta Dahlig at midnight on New Year's Eve and worked on that this weekend as well.  Here's a picture of my progress so far with about 1800 stitches in.  This section is all dark colors, including black, dark brown, and deep plum.

HAED's Foregone by Marta Dahlig - first 1800 stitches

I've also been trying to select a framer for Gigi R's Belles-Lettres D that I finished on December 30th.  The first quote threw me into sticker shock, but I've come to realize that if I want such a large piece framed really nicely by someone who knows how to handle cross stitch, it's going to be expensive.  I now have two quotes I'm consdering and hoping to hear from one other source before making a final selection.  Here's the piece in question, which has a stitched area about 28" x 22".

Gigi R's Belles Lettres D - Waiting for Framing

I did receive the first page of the HAED BB Freebie SAL QS The Literate Dragon by Randal Spangler, but I have my rotation full for January and will probably start that sometime next month.  I'm really enjoying stitching Foregone, so I want to continue work on her, as well as HAED's Angel with Iris by Nadia Strelkina.  In addition, I will probably finish beading Mirabilia's Midsummer Night's Fairy and start Wisteria by The Silver Lining this month.  Those four will certainly keep me busy!

HAED QS The Literate Dragon by Randal Spangler - Probably a February New Start

HAED Angel with Iris by Nadia Strelkina - WIP

Wisteria by The Silver Lining - January New Start

Mirabilia's Midsummer Night's Fairy - Awaiting Her Final Beading

New Starts Coming!

Well, the Thanksgiving feast is over, and it's time to look forward to the December Holidays and New Year, which generally includes new starts for many stitchers.  Before I settle down to an afternoon of stitching, I thought I'd post some new starts I have planned myself.

First, the OneOverOners Yahoo Group is running a series of Designer Appreciation Events.  December and January features the work of Marc Saastad aka The Silver Lining http://www.thesilverliningonline.com/  One of the women in the group ran a giveaway this week, and I won the chart for Wisteria.  Once I receive the chart, I'll get the threads and start stitching it on 28 count black Jobelan, already in my stash.

Wisteria by Marc Saastad

I was gifted Mirabilia's Sleeping Beauty over 10 years ago by the designer, but never seemed to find the fabric that "called to me" for stitching it.  A couple of small dyers were having sales this weekend, and I finally found the fabric I'd been waiting for at Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie, whose website is:  http://www.stephsfabbys.com  The fabric I ordered is 32 count opalescent linen in Sunset, and I'll plan to start this sometime in 2013.  Here's a mock-up I put together on that fabric:

Mirabilia's Sleeping Beauty on Stephy's Sunset

The Heaven and Earth Designs (HAED) Bulletin Board is running a Freebie SAL for 2013 that I have joined.   To join, you must have been a member before sign-ups began last week, and the board is closed until that process is completed in early December.  Participants receive the chart of their choice from five QS and one SK designs, distributed in parts during 2013 following a schedule yet to be posted.  Those who complete certain milestones can receive one or more of the other charts offered after the SAL is finished next December.  All those who complete their piece are also entered into a drawing for a free HAED chart of their choice.  So far 291 stitchers have joined, and sign-ups are still open through December 2nd.  Of those, 114 have chosen Randal Spangler's QS The Literate Dragon, including me.  I'll be stitching this one 2x2 on 32count Belfast Linen from my stash.

HAED QS The Literate Dragon by Randal Spangler

Finally, I've already posted that I'll be starting HAED's Flight of the Lynx by Josephine Wall on New Year's Day.  This will do double duty for SALs in The Stash, Stitch and Honking Raketeers Club and the HAED Josephine Wall Cross Stitch Group, both on Facebook.  I'll be stitching that one 1x1 on 25 count fabric, though I'm still deciding which fabric I'll use.

HAED Flight of the Lynx by Josephine Wall

There are other charts in my stash waiting to be stitched, but adding these to my WIPs, I think my frames and Q-Snaps are pretty much committed for a while.  I really hope to have at least one finish next year!

Birthday Stash and Another Round of RAKs

Yesterday was my birthday, and I received a bunch of lovely cards and threads from stitching friends.  It was also the "official" start of the HAED All Hallows Exchange on Facebook.  I'd taken part in the earlier test rounds in the beginning of October, during which I received 4 HAED charts, 3 RAKs in the assigned exchange, plus one as an early birthday gift.  This time I've signed up for just one assigned RAK so far, for which Bea Lapp actually sent me 2 HAED charts since it was also my birthday.  I also found that Fiona McQuade from Scotland and I share the same birthday, and we exchanged HAED charts to celerate.  Here are the new HAEDs added to my stash this week:

HAED Biting the Sun by Kinuko Y. Craft
A Birthday RAK from Fiona McQuade

HAED Asian Fantasy 3 by Gracjana Zielinska
RAK'd by Bea Lapp

HAED The Wind in the Stone by Kinuko Y. Craft
RAK'd by Bea Lapp

It's Been a (Mostly) Great Week!

With the exception of being rear-ended on my way to work in the rain on Thursday, it's been a great week.  Even that wasn't terribly bad, since no one was hurt and my car just needs the rear bumper replaced.  Insurance will take care of that next week.

On the HAED All Hallows Exchange on Facebook, I gave and received two more charts besides the ones I"d mentioned earlier.  One is Diana by Josephine Wall and the other is City of Coins by Ciro Marchetti.

Diana by Josephine Wall

City of Coins by Ciro Marchetti

My (early) birthday present should come in handy for stitching all the beautiful charts in my stash.  My Mark 2 by Hearthside Craftworks arrived on Tuesday, and today I mounted a WIP, HAED's Angel with Iris by Nadia Strelkina on the scroll rods. What a joy it is to have this workstation!  The frame rotates 360 degrees with just a touch of a finger....great for all the HAED confetti!

My New Mark 2

A Closer Look at Angel with Iris

That's my news for the week, and now it's time to get back to stitching!

Just a Quick Note

I just wanted to post a note to let you know I now have a page with pictures of all the HAED BAPs in my stash.  Click the HAED BAP Stash link above if you'd like to see.

RAKS and Birthday Presents

What a great two days for a stitcher!  First, I'd joined a group on Facebook that planned to do a group HAED RAK between October 24th and October 31st.  Called the All Hallows Exchange, the idea is that anyone who joined would both give and receive a Heaven and Earth Designs chart from their wish list.  Well, with the HAED Columbus Day Sale in progress, the organizer asked if anyone would want to go early and test it out. Lots of us chose to do so, and she assigned givers and recipients in groups of six.  Kind of like passing the love, #1 gave to #2 who gave to #3 who gave to #4 who gave to #5 who gave to #6 who gave to #1.  This is lots of fun and still going on.  I received Foregone by Marta Dahlig from Jen Bell and gave Witchcraft, also by Marta Dahlig to Michelle Davis.

HAED Foregone by Marta Dahlig

HAED Witchcraft by Marta Dahlig

Next came a totally unexpected RAK from Liz Dewis as an early birthday present.  She sent me Flight of the Lynx by Josephine Wall.  I just had to say thank you, so I sent her Mini Feeling Better from her wish list.

HAED Flight of the Lynx by Josephine Wall



HAED Mini Feeling Better
by Maxine Gadd
















I have so many beautiful charts to stitch, and tonight my birthday gift from my husband arrived.  Shortly after 6:30pm, the postman rang the doorbell and delivered my Mark 2 Floor Stand from Hearthside Craftworks in Calgary, Canada. 

Mark 2 by Hearthside Craftworks

In less than half an hour, we had it unpacked and assembled.  I have a few things to re-arrange in the living room and will need to baste my WIPs on the new scroll rods, but I will definitely be stitching up a storm this coming weekend.

My birthday's actually not until October 24th, but I think I'll be forgiven for using it right away.  Don't you agree?  I can even use this with my recliner.  It will be such a joy to stitch with this one.  The first piece to be mounted will be HAED's Angel with Iris by Nadia Strelkina, a WIP which is almost 1/4 completed.

WIPocalypse and Bullfrogs

I almost forgot to post a September WIPocalypse report!  You can check out my progress on the WIP page, where I have updates on HAED Angel with Iris and Gigi R's Belles-Lettres D.



While I suppose that reverse stitching doesn't count for WIPocalypse, I think I could make the case that my current struggle with Bullfrogs requires sufficient effort to qualify.  Why Bullfrogs?  I think the work required to frog over half a page of HAED's Eternal Promise, which was tightly stitched with 3 strands of floss over one thread of 25 count Dublin Linen (tent) could not have been brought on by ordinary little frogs.

With all kidding aside, I'm actually in one of those odd moods where I'm enjoying the frogging and reclaiming a lovely piece of linen.  Just so you know what I'm doing, the picture on the right shows the stitching I'd done when I finally decided to reverese stitch the piece rather than continue a project I wasn't enjoying.

The two pictures below show my progress with the frogging project as of last night.  On the left is the front of the piece, so you can see that over half of the frogging is done.  On the right, you can see the back of the piece, and I think it's pretty obvious that all the threads were tightly tucked in and the bountiful confetti made for some pretty heavy padding.  Still, I've gotten over half of it frogged with no fabric damage, and I look forward to having a nice half yard of Raw Dublin Linen to either re-start Eternal Promise or start another project in the near future.

Closing September

With the re-build of this blog, I figured I'd follow the lead of Cindy Manock, who consistently updates her blog once a week.  Maybe that will keep Blogger from punishing me for being inconsistent in my posts!

Before I continue, let me thank those who expressed sympathy for my reverse stitching of Eternal Promise.  I will say that I consider that a long-term project.  Stitching with 3 strands on 25 count, even using the tent stitch, created a very heavily padded back due to all the confetti in this piece.  Several other projects are ready in the wings before this fabric is needed again, so I pick it up and do some frogging when I'm in a rare mood to do that.

John on vacation in San Juan

This past week has been one of planning rather than stitching.  My birthday is October 24th, and I'd teasingly asked my husband last week what he was going to get for my birthday.  He grinned and said, "Okay, you've obviously got something in mind.  What are we getting?"  I told him I wanted to get a floor frame, and he asked how he was going to know what, where, and how to make the purchase.  Now it was my turn to grin and say, "I can take care of all of that.  You can just take credit and say Happy Birthday."  He liked that idea, just as he likes my stitching. Isn't it nice to be married to someone for over 40 years who appreciates your hobbies?

I'd really done my homework on the floor stand I wanted and selected the Mark 2 by Hearthside Craftworks.  After discussing particulars with Helen, I placed my order this past week and should have my new workstation by my birthday.  It will work with my recliner and everyone I've been in touch with who has one absolutely loves it.  This will certainly put my stitching mojo on hyperdrive!

 The first piece that will be set up on the Mark 2 is HAED's Angel with Iris by Nadia Strelkina.  I started this piece in January 2011, and she's been stitched off and on since then, with 8 of 42 pages currently completed.  I've been stitching her using a K's Creations Z Lap Frame with Clamp which holds an 11" x 11" Q-snap nicely.  That was good for learning to stitch 2-handed, but now that I know I can do that, I really want her to be displayed on a larger scroll frame rather than all bunched up to fit the Q-snaps! 

I haven't really taken a picture of her since I finished page 7 and ironed her out.  Now I'm afraid to iron her again until I get a new iron.  Mine's getting old and we have hard water that occasionally leads to rust spots.   

As you can in the picture to the left, the fabric for the lower part of the pice is all bunched up in the Q-snap cover.  On the right you can see an earlier version of the full design off the Q-snaps.  What a pleasure it will be to stitch with the full width of the piece visible, rather than just a small window!



2419 Love's Messenger



My last stash purchase of September was a new release Golden Kite chart titled Loves's Messenger.  This is the smaller version at 200 x 249 stitches, but has 199 colors, of which 80 are solid and 119 are blends. 

In case anyone's interested, Golden Kite is having a 25% off sale on their site, and a few new releases such as this one are specially discounted.  The website link is http://www.goldenkitestore.com/ with the latest new releases listed at the bottom of the main page.

Gigi R's Belles-Lettres D

Finally, some notes on the coming week.  I do have one sampler I'm working on, Gigi R's Belles-Lettres D, which will not fit on my new frame.  This one is 36" wide, and I opted initially to purchase a crossbar that will fit up to a 30" frame.  All of my other pieces and those I plan to stitch in the near future will fit that size, and I can stay situated in my recliner where it stands.  So until the new stand arrives, I'll be concentrating on that piece, and maybe even getting it near to completion! 

That's it for now.  I hope you all have a great week in stitches!

Trying Again...

Last week I decided to post to my blog.  I know it was way overdue, since I had not posted since early July, but I guess Blogger decided I didn't want to blog anymore.  Nothing worked!  I kept getting thrown into a loop when I tried to work on it, and I couldn't even get into the help features to find out why.  Frustrated, I deleted it completely.  So....I'm starting again.  This time I'll take it slow and see what comes. 

What am I working on stitchwise?  I have a number of pieces in progress, but today I put in time reverse stitching HAED's Eternal Promise by Matt Stewart.

The design I have is the orginal retired version, which I purchased from Michele in July 2011 when she found six hard copies in her warehouse and sold them at a premium.  Last month she announced that she was again working with Matt Stewart and re-released Eternal Promise in a re-worked and larger format.  Anyway, the reason I'm reverse-stitching is that I started the original using a three thread tent stitch on 25 count Dublin Linen.  After more than half a page, I decided I really dislike the tent stitch.  I'm gradually taking it out, but with three threads, it's really tight and I have to be in a mood to concentratate on (dare I say the word?) frogging!  Still, I really like the fabric and want to be sure I don't ruin it.  That half yard will definitely be used for another project.