My January 1st Project

Always have to have a new start on January First!

I thought I might start Lavender & Lace's Angel of Hope, which my mother also wants, but I decided instead to start a kit that I've wanted for a long time and finally got my mitts on.

It's a discontinued Dimensions Gold Collection and is called 'Gift of the Eagle Feather'

There's a whole lot of half-cross stitch in my future!

Sometime this year I will also start Angel of Hope, and probably another HAED. 

My rotation is going to be these projects (no particular order)

Unspoken
Gift of the Eagle Feather
Flower of the East
Lovers
Chang Wufei
Monthly Snappers
Acquainted with the Night
and something small.  Don't know what yet :D

I still don't have pictures of the framing but they are coming soon!  Everything looks great :D :D :D

Tama

Mini Moods of Change

While waiting on getting my stitching back from the framer, I thought I would show you guys this pretty thing.

It's a free pattern from the same designer that did the 'Mini Rings of Change' that I crocheted earlier this year.

His shop is HERE, for those interested.

I did this in a few days, on breaks at work, while I was finishing up Gracie at home.  It was done in the last days of November.

It's really pretty - I used Coral, Lt Coral, and Brick Red.  I have no idea what I will do with it.  I will say it was a lot easier and quicker than Mini Rings.  Smaller, though.

I want to make the big version now :D  But I will be good and get back to my large projects of Rings of Change first.

Probably.

PS - I showed this to my brother, and he said it was very pretty, but made him hungry, because I did it in 'bacon' colors.  Men... XD

Angel of Grace

All done up!

I got an extra day as my framer had to close on the 9th so I'm going in tomorrow.  Therefore, I had a bit of breathing room.

Finished her up last night and she's lovely!  There's an ort laying next to her wingtip in the picture, but I plan to take a better one after she's been pressed, anyway.

She's currently drying from a very successful bath.  She's so gorgeous!  I wish you guys could see her in person!!!

She's 11x17 on 32ct Bay Leaf Joblean.  I don't have a start date, and she languished in my UFO pile for years, so I can't really say how long she took.  But she's done and I'm thrilled :D :D :D

I have two more finishes to show you tomorrow - I will be scheduling the post 'cause tomorrow is Framer & Christmas Shopping Day.  I plan to be happily exhausted XD

In the Home Stretch

I am so close to being finished with Gracie!

If she's going to be framed for my Mum for Christmas, she has to be done, washed, dry, ironed, and ready to go by the time I go to bed on the 8th.

So even though I'm close, I have to stay busy!  Tomorrow and Friday I won't have much time to stitch - Sunday, either.  So it's down to Saturday and Monday.

I did up all the roses on her skirt (aka confetti-land):



And I am somewhere around 2/3rds done with the ruffle:



I have to finish the last, large bit of ruffle and then go back and do all the metallic bits that I left.

Then she will be done!

I'm thinking of posting my daily progress just to keep myself on track.  We'll see :D


PS - I also have to get my nephew's Lego-Letter name done by Tuesday evening, but I only have to finish backstitching the bottom border on that.  I'll show you guys soon!

The Progress of Gracie

Yep, still a bad blogger :D

I started to try and post all the progress pictures I have taken of Gracie since the last post, but it got crazy really fast!  I have decided to save them all and make a slideshow with them at the end.  Or some kind of video.

Anyhoo - here is Gracie the last time I posted about her!

And here is Gracie NOW!!!

I have started on the roses that edge the bottom of her skirt, then it's only the ruffle and the rest of the metallics to go!  Woo hoo!!!

I'm a Really Bad Blogger

At least, since early September, I am a bad blogger.  Nothing!  Not one post.  Bad me.

I've been stitching though, and I'll show you what it's been in the next few days.  I have a smaller finish and I've made GREAT BIG PROGRESS on Gracie :D

But here's the bit for today's post - I have finished page one of Unspoken!

Last time I showed it:

September's Progress:

And now October's:

So the next page has some, hmm... soft-focus tree branches?  And I think the start of his hair!  Lots more confetti than this one (though this one had more than I thought, especially those last two columns) but hopefully with Flosstube to watch it won't take too long :D

Two More Rotation Turns

On August 25th, I picked up my Bent Creek Snappers to work on.

The project was here last time:

I got 'July Sings' done - the birds are supposed to be in a variegated blue floss, but I'm using the DMC conversion.  I didn't want them to be all the same color, though, so I used three shades of blue from the same color family, antique blue.  The two on either side look pretty much the same in the picture, but there's an obvious difference in real life.  They have black french knot eyes that also show up much better in person!

I didn't get much further - it was a busy time.  Only a little of 'August Rings', finishing up here:

This one will be turning up again soon.  I'm enjoying it, but at the same time, I'm just ready for it to be done.  I know, it has a big ol' hoop mark, but this one is definitely going to need a bath, anyway.

On August 30th, I picked up Gracie.  She did look like this:

I got one ribbon finished:

Then I got a lot more of her pink under-skirt done.  She finished up here:

With a more appropriate needle minder, lol!!!  (The one in the second picture was 'Dracula'!)

A Pun, in Stages

For my BIL's Christmas present, I have stitched a pun!

Here it is, in stages.

Can you guess what it says?

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Silly puns make me smile :D :D :D  and my BIL really likes them.  This pattern came from nerdylittlestitcher on etsy.  I have several more of her patterns and I will be doing another for my brother's present.

This one didn't take me all five days; two of the days, I did not stitch but slept instead XD

This is also kind of a double-present.  I showed it to my sis to make sure BIL would like it and after declaring yes! she said she would also hang it in her vegetable-themed kitchen and requested more of the same.  So yay!

Two Project Updates :D

I've been such a bad blogger, I know!

But I am sticking with my rotation so here you go with two projects - I have another but I will show it tomorrow.

On the tenth, I knew I had some days of double shifts ahead of me even though I was promised no more (the things I do for a bigger paycheck!) and so I chose an easy project that had been riding around in my purse.

It is the first name that I'm doing in the Lego Block alphabet.  Here's where it was on the 10th:

I was worried that since I changed the width of the piece that I might have to fiddle with the border, so I worked over to the right side without finishing the letters.  Then I took my marker and did some counting:

Works out perfect :D  Here's where I finished up on the 14th - close to halfway done.  I would say more than halfway done, but there's a huge amount of backstitching in this, obviously!

Two letters, the border blocks, and a metric ton of backstitch to go!  This is a really fun, easy piece - all bright colors and the pattern is easy to work with and most of the time you barely have to look at it.

On the 15th, I got out my HAED, Unspoken.  Here's where he was last time:

And I finished up those two columns and started the confetti of the next two.  It's only about six colors, but they are scattered and random.  Once I get that done, the fill-in of the Winter White is easy-peasy, mindless stitching.  I'm pretty sure I'll have a page finish when this gets its next turn!

And on the 20th, I started a new project and finished it up today!  I will show it tomorrow :D

Playing Catch Up

I ended up working double shifts again, after I was promised that I wouldn't have to do any more.  So from the 3rd to the 9th, I had very little stitching time.

Which completely sucked.  :C   Bleh.

But I did get a little done, so here we go!

On the 1st, I had picked up a UFO.  I was fooling myself that it was a WIP, but a bit of research showed me I haven't worked on it since 2010, so yup - it's a UFO.

Mirabilia's Archangel:

Which did look like this - and I totally remember why I put him away.  That one-over-one on 32ct skin!

Working on HAEDs made this a little easier - it's still much tinier than my HAED projects but I got his hand done, at least :D

And some scroll.  So yay!  Progress on a very old project!  I didn't do any of his metallic yet because I remember needing Thread Heaven for it and I had to order some.  Let me just say that the colors do not do this project justice - they are beautiful rich greens and blues, not the drab olive and dull blue they look like here.  I'll try better lighting next time.

Then on the 5th I picked my Snappers back up.  I had gotten to here:

And made some joke about only getting the suitcase done next time.  Well, it turned out to not be a joke.  I only got the suitcase done.

Still happy with it, though - it is now halfway, border and all :D  Please pardon the big ol' hoop mark!

And this one was not in my rotation plans but there was one day I was just too tired to work on Archangel's over-one skin and so I picked up my China kit and finished off part one - it is the partially-stitched kit, which is divided into several parts, like so:

And here is part one done (a little flash-burned).  

The words and the first crane.  Part two is the single little crane so it will be finished quick.  I'm really looking forward to getting this done so I can see how well the ink really does wash out!  (Also, I may put a little backstitch in the crane's wing.  The camera flash washes it out a little, but it does lack some definition, in my opinion.)

I Forgot to Post!

Sorry, I have been a bit under the weather for the past little while - I did stitch, although not as much as I had been, and I completely forgot about posting.  Ah, well!

On the 20th I picked up 'Unspoken'.  Here's his before pic:

And his after pic:

I got two columns a little over half done - for some reason I chose to work over twenty stitches instead of in columns of ten.  I dunno why :D

Then on the 25th I picked up 'Acquainted with the Night'.

I went from here:

To here:

I really wanted to get the horse's shadow done, too, but I didn't make it.  But I will be stitching the cowboy and horse next turn and I'm really looking forward to it!!!

I picked up another project yesterday but I will say what it was at the end of its rotation turn :D

Happy stitching!

A Report on Little Projects

This post will include finishes, a start, an old WIP, stash, and the bunny story!

First off - I finished 'The Great Light' on 7-17-15:

It came out really pretty!  I did do the tiny french knots in the scripture reference in the wrong holes - they were supposed to be in the middle of the squares.  I fixed it, but the holes they were in are kinda big now.  Usually washing will fix that, though, and this one is gonna need a bath since it went to work with me :D  The only thing I really don't like about it is that the cross on the steeple is off center.  That's the way it's charted, but I may redo it.

That makes 4 out of 7 of Bucilla's 'Christmas Promises' kits done.  Here are the three I have left in my stash:

'Emmanuel', 'Guardian Angels', and 'Peace'.  I will probably do either 'Emmanuel' or 'Guardian Angels' next, since they are similar, and then work 'Peace' in between them.  I won't be starting one yet, though.  I pulled out a Crazy January start - I think from 2013! - to work on next.  It is 'Three Kings' from the 1988 Gloria and Pat freebie pattern leaflet.

I only have the head of the King in green done so far.

And now for a Bunny Story!  I said in an earlier post that the Bunnies were another CJ start, and I had gotten this far:

Originally, I had intended to do just two bunnies, a pinky-white one and a brown one, and give them to my sister, who is a rabbit lover.

Then, this Easter, I made these cakes - remember?

One went to my oldest nephew, whose family was staying with my Mum and Dad.  Everybody ate some of it, but when they got up the next day and looked for the rest - the cake was there, and the candy was there, but the bunny peeps were mysteriously gone.

I also had about thirty bunny peeps left over, and my sister, who doesn't like carrot cake, had asked that I save them for her.  She loves peeps!

Well, they also mysteriously vanished.  Turns out, my Mum has discovered that SHE loves peeps, too.  This is the first year she ever ate any.  The ones at my house had gotten a tiny bit stale, and she says she likes them even better that way.

Weird mother - and this is a lady who will take the food off her own plate to give to someone who wants it - but she was absolutely, 100% unapologetic about eating all the peeps!

So here's how I finished up the bunnies, and the trim I bought for making them into a cushion, a cube, or a flatfold - haven't decided which:

And they will be presented to my Mum on her birthday :D  She will LOVE this and laugh like a lunatic!

Lastly, a start.  I have three nephews - 12, 6, and 2 - and they all are obsessed with Lego!  So I bought this alphabet on etsy:

And I have started the first of three names to be stitched in Lego blocks :D  There is a truckload of backstitch in these and I will be doing it as I go along :D  I'm stitching it on white 18 count.

So, two 'purse' projects done and two more to take their place.  Yay!

And now, I go back to my regular rotation, because I don't have any double shifts for at least the next two weeks (I hope).

Wufei, and a Silly Dilemma

So, the 10th's project change meant I picked up my pattern of Chang WuFei.  I think I haven't worked on him since... March?  I think.

Anyway, I barely got anything done.  :C   I had a double shift on the 10th, the 13th and the 14th, and so he was sadly neglected.  Here he was then - I neglected to take a wide shot:

And here he is now:

And here is something I wasted about a half hour on - I made a copy of his pattern (I created the original myself, in PCStitch) and then used a green floss color to block out everything I had already stitched because I was having trouble, for some reason, working out what was his sleeve and what was his torso.  The only bit I forgot was the edge of yellow that outlines his other shoulder.  Anyway, here is a green alien head XD

And the regular pattern picture for comparison:

The reason I wanted to know is that I've made myself a small goal on this, and won't mind a bit if I don't make it - I want to get his torso done by the end of the year.  Then I'll just have his arm, wristband, and hand left.  I'm not pushing for a finish with him - I've got too many Christmas Prezzie ideas.

Now to kinda change the subject - I have a rotation dilemma.  Normally I would pick a new big project to work on today, but I have already pulled a double shift on one job and have to go to my other job for a few hours this evening.  I have doubles tomorrow and Friday, and a single shift on Saturday, then about four hours on my other job, again, on Sunday. (bleh, I want a vacation!)  So anything I pick is not going to get much love.

On the other hand, I finished up the last full-stitch color on 'The Great Light':

Cream - it's only on the path.  I've already started backstitching and finished off the church and part of the words at work today.  This gave me a bit of inspiration - what I was thinking of doing was taking a break from my rotation and trying to polish off this and the bunnies, and maybe another small project.  What do you guys think?

And then on the 20th I would pick up a big project again.