My Mental Health Weekend was a complete success! I'm ready to get back to doing all of the stuff I should be doing (instead of stitching all day), and that's a sure sign the break was needed and effective. I highly recommend it.
Sunday was the Austrian Grand Prix. Can't stitch while that's going on... too exciting.
But I did finish Super Honeybee! Here she is, in all her super power-y glory!
I stitched her on 32 ct. mint green linen, which I obviously can't get a good picture of! The top two pictures are too washed out, and the bottom is too yellow. Anyway, it's a very pretty soft green. Here are the other changes I made:
DMC 894 changed to 3609
DMC 956 changed to 3607
DMC 601 changed to 718
DMC 209 changed to 955
E168 changed to Kreinik #8 101
eyes, eyebrows, nose: DMC 3031
cheeks: DMC 224
lips: DMC 223
hair: DMC 4145
earrings, floss lasso: Kreinik #4 001HL
pants, trim & soles of boots: Kreinik #8 010HL
(on the parts where I used #8 braid, I would have used #4 if I had had it; that's what I would recommend for 32 ct.)
The next thing I need to do is have a Finishing Weekend. I have a bunch of projects that need finishing and framing. Maybe I can swing that in a couple of weeks.
It's the first day of summer. Where has the first half of this year gone?!
I "summerized" the basket in my sewing room. I don't have many summer finishes because--I must confess--I have no interest whatsoever in summer. I use it as a preparation period for my two favorite seasons, fall and winter.
And I came sooo close to finishing Super Honeybee, but we had some severe weather last night that interrupted my stitching. All is well, but I didn't quite finish her.
I have to say, I absolutely love how she's turning out. That raised eyebrow kept bugging me, so I changed it. I think I'll change the "B" on her shirt from silver to pink as well, so it will show up better.
The MHW continues apace: slowly. It's been a slooow, quiet weekend (except for weather drama last night), which is just what I wanted. One more day to savor.
Could the Mental Health Weekend (MHW) get any better? Why yes, yes it could. When I decided to give myself a mini-vacation, I also placed a strategically timed order with 123 Stitch, knowing it would arrive in time for my MHW (because they have such great service). Sure enough, first thing Friday morning, stash arrived!
The new Mill Hill Celtic Santas: Scotland, Ireland, and Wales
And a couple of spooky-cute designs. I'm starting to feel ever so slightly Halloween-y. It happens around this time every summer!
Movie-watching marathon... Bogie and Bacall!
Bacall: I don't like your manners.
Bogie: And I'm not crazy about yours. I didn't ask to see you. I don't mind if you don't like my manners. I don't like them myself. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them on long winter evenings.
So great.
Painted the piggies purple. Because it's MHW.
And got Super Emma Honeybee about half finished. As you can see, I've changed pretty much everything. When I get her finished I'll list my changes (if I can remember them all). I showed her to Mr. Wonderful and he said, "She looks like you!" Precious man.
Still debating about that raised eyebrow. I may change it. And I had to change the mouth because after stitching it four times, I couldn't manage to keep it from looking like a duck's bill (my fault, not the designer's). And that hair took forever. It's stitched in DMC Color Variations 4145 which--amazingly--is really close to my actual hair color of dark ash blond. But what took so long was that I stitched the hair in "waves" instead of in rows so that I would get a more realistic look, instead of the bands of color you get when you stitch in rows.
I had to mark off every stitch to keep track of which "wave" I had stitched and where I should go next. A lot of trouble, but I like how it turned out.
I really enjoyed my Friday. Especially when Mr. Wonderful brought home Mexican food for supper!
The MHW continues...
I am not a TV watcher. I like sports and old movies, but that's it. Last week while perusing the TCM (Turner Classic Movies) schedule, I discovered that Thursday night was monster bug movies and all day Friday was mystery/suspense movies. Also, the Austrian Grand Prix is Sunday (that's Formula 1 racing, by the way). An idea was born. I decided to do something I never do: sit in front of the TV for hours stitching and watching old movies and racing. I've been in need of a very low-key "mental health weekend" and this weekend would do nicely. I had a very productive week, got everything on my list done, cooked up a storm on Thursday so Mr. Wonderful wouldn't starve... and then I went "off duty."
I had laid in supplies:
I chose a fun new project. I thought about working on Snowfire Christmas, but that takes too much brain power and I wanted something to capture the spirit of my weekend. I chose this freebie by Brooke Nolan. You won't be a bit surprised to hear I'm changing all the colors in her outfit, as well as cutting and coloring her hair (so she'll look a little more like me!). Oh. I'm also putting pants on her (also so she'll look more like me). *snort*
I settled in to watch mutant insect movies from the 50's, because why not?
Someone else showed up. Yes, that's the TV you can't see.
Giant larva attacks Tokyo!
I'm feeling better already. I mean, how could you not?
Stay tuned for all the unexciting low-lights of my ultra low-key Mental Health Weekend!
My humble little stitching blog has hit 100 members! Thank you to all who have joined. Thank you to all who have left such sweet comments.
I know I am not a typical blogger. My blog is not exactly easy to stumble upon. That's on purpose. I don't share much personal information. That's on purpose. I am what is called a "no reply blogger," which is apparently a huge no-no in the blogging community. That's on purpose. See a theme here? There are reasons I have made these choices, and I am aware that as a result, my little blog will never be wildly popular or have oodles of members. That's okay with me. I do appreciate every one who has managed to find me, and every one who has joined, and every one who comments.
And despite my best efforts to keep a relatively low profile, Tiger Lily has still managed to become an international celebrity. Fame is so tiring.
First picture, leaflets 1-3: Chickadee, Cardinal, Tree Sparrow, Whiskey Jack, House Finch, Robin
Second picture, leaflets 4-6: Bluebird, Goldfinch, Wren, Hummingbird, Golden Crowned Kinglet, Nuthatch
Third picture, leaflets 7-9: Christmas Robin, Mama Cardinal, Oriole, Swallow, Summer Tanager, Wood Thrush
The Christmas Robin is finished as an ornament because she was first published in the 2010 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issue and I stitched her then, not knowing she was the first of a series. She was re-published in leaflet #7. I'll re-stitch her at some point, as I've decided these will be made into a wall hanging someday.
Just finished the Woodthrush, the 18th and last Button Up Birdie (Victoria Sampler).
Hope to get pictures of the entire set tomorrow when the light is better.
Guess what? My first Button Up Birdie (Victoria Sampler) finish in over a year! If you've been here that long, you may remember that I was slogging my way through the whole series... all 18 of them. Here's Summer Tanager, #17. One more to go and I will have completed the whole series.
If you'd like to see a few of my other Button Up Birdie finishes, click on the label "birds." There are only a few there, as I had stitched some before I started blogging. When I finish the series I'll post all 18 of them.
Welp, another month gone by, another band done. *sigh* At this rate, it'll take me until December to finish this sampler. I'm just not getting/taking the time to sit and stitch like I need to in order to make the progress I want to make. I'm sure a lot of y'all can relate to that. So, here's a band of right angled leaf stitches.
Now I'm going to go stitch something that doesn't require me to stare at the chart.
Super cute chubby little gnome for May!
I'm sooo far behind with my projects, but I finally have a little finish. With as little stitching as I've been getting done, I'm surprised I'm not further behind with this series, but I'm hanging in there. Fifteen have been released, #16 should be out next week.
Changes on this guy... I omitted the Christmas lights along the top of the birdhouse (I think those are lights) and added a few more snowflakes to fill in the space left empty by doing that. I gave him a brown eye instead of blue, backstitched his head in 321 instead of the two colors suggested, and backstitched his beak in one strand of 310 instead of two.
If you'd like to see all my other finishes in this series, along with the changes I made, just click on the Advent Animals label.
Happy Stitching!
The best thing about re-arranging my sewing room is that now my stitching chair sits under the window (instead of next to it) and Tiger Lily can climb onto the back of it and get right up to the windows. She has a window with a little basket in front of it downstairs, but until now she didn't have a very good view from an upstairs window.
Today was a gorgeous day, and I had all the windows open. There was a stiff breeze and she was able to get a snootful of fresh air and a little sun. Here she is... fur blowing in the wind... taking the air.
This is a happy kitty.
I've never had an ort jar or ort bag or anything used just for orts (wow... autocorrect really does not like the word "ort"). I usually just pile them on the table next to me, or on the base of my Ott light, and then toss them when I'm finished stitching for the day. When I spruced up my sewing room a couple of weeks ago, I decided it was time to find the perfect ort jar.
Mr. Wonderful is something of a pottery connoisseur and buys local pottery every chance he gets. I have a few pieces as well, but he has quite a beautiful collection of pottery from all the places we've been. This past weekend we were at a local festival and I found this sweet little pot and thought, "There's my ort thingy!" It's actually hard to find pale pink pottery. I've only ever seen two pieces, and I bought them both.
It's somewhat irregular... sort of lumpy, with the rim higher on one side than on the other, but that gives it a character I love. I also love the wide mouth, which makes emptying it easy. I readily admit that I'm easily pleased by really simple things, and this little pot is one of them. I'm so happy with it, and wanted to show it off.
Happy Stitching!
This is a very small section of Antique Bee Sampler by Elizabeth's Designs. It's stitched with Caron Wildflowers Tiffany Rose, Weeks Squash and Whitewash, and DMC 310 on 32 ct. mint green Belfast.
I need to have a very productive May, stitching-wise. I'm a little behind on the Advent Animals. I'm about halfway through #13 and #15 just came out. As I confessed yesterday, I didn't get all the bands done on Snowfire Christmas that I wanted to. And there's other stuff I want to be stitching on. I need more hands.
Well, here I am, sneaking in under the wire with a sad little sampler update. I managed to get one whole band stitched this month. I guess that's better than no whole bands, but really. I'm now a couple of bands behind my schedule, as I want to have this finished in June. I still need to find an alphabet I really like and chart our names and wedding date, which I'll be using to replace a couple of bands. Here we are...
If you're a regular visitor, you know I have a thing for Fabric Flair fabrics. Some of y'all have even commented on my--ahem--interest (I'm looking at you, Vickie!). Can't help myself. Their fabrics are just too yummy to resist. I didn't even try to resist the latest addition to my fabric stash... this gorgeous snowflake fabric.
I am having a fit to start something on this, but I've got some things that I need to finish first. My pictures don't do it justice, but hopefully you can see that it has a very subtle silver thread in it that just gives it a soft sheen. It's not as sparkly as opalescent fabrics. Love.
Found these goodies at Jo-Ann Fabrics!
This is a Riolis kit. When I saw it last month, I gasped. Out loud. "GASP!" Like that. I ordered it faster than immediately. It arrived a few days ago. Gorgeous, huh?
I must, must make time to stitch this. It's too beautiful to linger in the to-do pile and I want to enjoy it.
Catching up on the stitching I've neglected. Here's a wee bunny enjoying an April shower. He's supposed to be a jack-a-lope (with antlers), but I left off the antlers. I also changed his colors to DMC 840 and 842 to lighten him up a bit and make his eyes more visible.
I've got to pack a lot of stitching into the next 6 days if I'm to stay on schedule with some of my on-going projects. So far, so good on this one. But it's only April...
