Aurora

Long time, no post!  I haven't been stitching as much as usual, but I am back with another finish!  I actually thought that this particular piece would be the last of my summer pieces to be finished.  However it turns out that the easy two over two full crosses of this piece were just what I felt like stitching these past two weeks, so here she is - Sleeping Beauty by The Primitive Hare:

 

I chose to stitch her on 36ct Cream Edinburgh (the same I used for Red last year) and I changed the charted colour of her dress (GAST Banker's Grey) to an (unknown) GAST Ltd Ed I had in my stash as I wanted a more blue/grey look to it.  Although this is a prim design, I couldn't resist a tiny touch of sparkle so for the fibre in the spinning wheel I used some Petite Silk Lame Braid (love that stuff!).  Now Sleeping Beauty is done I might allow myself at some point in the future to add Rapunzel and Snow White to my collection - one day they would look nice displayed together in some rustic wooden frames........

 

I'm all behind with threadporn, so just last night I kitted up my two designs for this month, my Hardanger square and an appropriate freebie for me by Jeannette Douglas that I found on the Caron site.  Here are my thread choices, so hopefully I'll find the time over this week to get them stitched!

 

 

 

 

I haven't touched Butterfly Garden this month yet, I wasn't in the mood for "bitty" stitching and the next part of MBG will be out this coming weekend  - so all of that should keep me out of trouble until the end of the month.

 

I've also been umming and ahhing over whether I want to stitch another Chatelaine next year - Joyce has been tempting me with her Serengeti!  I've swished through my stash and I have a fair amount of the fibres required, but I will probably substitute the threads that I am missing for ones I already have in my stash.  If I did decide to go ahead with Serengeti, I may well force myself to make it a year long project - it's divided into twelve parts so makes it nice and easy to stitch a part every month in 2016!  That way at least I will get my money's worth out of the project, knowing my past history with Chatelaines once I start one it's very hard to stop stitching on it when I get going.  Sometimes it's nice to have a big project to get your teeth into and at 409 x 409 stitches Serengeti definitely fits into that category..........!

 

Happy Stitching!

July Operation Threadporn Report

The results are in, the threads have been counted - here are the designs for this month!

First up July's SOTW Hardanger design by Mabel Figworthy.  I chose another unusual colour combination, until you actually stitch with a thread it's hard to know how the colour variation will stitch out.  I'm quite pleased with the results and who knew how easy it is to add beads to hardanger:

Introducing ermine stitches!

 

A slightly more summery feel to my chosen freebie for this month, a design by The Snowflower Diaries, who incidentally posted a new freebie design to her blog this past week.  For this one I chose a OOAK hand painted sea effect jobelan that Sam from Chromatic Alchemy very kindly gifted to me last year along with cottons and silks from Nina's Threads that Chiara gifted to me via her Enigma (it has just occurred to me that I really should have used this finish for a Gifted Gorgeousness post..........muppet!):

 

 

 

Yes I know, epic fail on the finishing front but I'm just not in the mood for it at the moment.  If I force it, everything will just get finished for the sake of it into pillows or something easy that I can do - I have better ideas, just lacking the inclination at the moment :).

 

I am ecstatic to report that I have this month hit the magic number as far as thread usage percentage is concerned - probably helped out by the lack of thread buying going on here at the moment!  Here are the monthly totals to date:

 

Percentage of hand dyed thread stash used to date: 15.51%

Number of different stitches used to date:     48

Number of finishes to date:                          24  (9 of which are FFOs)

 

So seven months in and my target of 15% has been reached!  Maybe I could reach 20% by the end of the year - but a thread binge could strike at anytime.......vigilance must be maintained!

 

In other stitching activities this past week, I've put in few stitches on Sleeping Beauty by The Primitive Hare - she is no longer levitating:



 

 

I also completed Part 4 of Milady's Blossom Garden by Abi Gurden which came out on Sunday:

 

 

 

Loved stitching the drawn thread bands with all those coral knots!

 

Hoping I can stitch a word or two on my L*K before the month is out and then 1st August sees the release of the final block for Box of Delights!

 

Happy Stitching!

My Wimbledon Fortnight!

It was a fantastic tournament as always, the best man won on Sunday, I just wish that man had been Roger Federer :).

Anyway I managed a fair bit of stitching in between all the excitement - four new starts and two parts on my SALs, here are the pics!

Firstly I completed Block 5 on Box of Delights - the colours:

Top L-R: Hearts and Flowers Ltd Ed PB24, Argentine Tango PB59, Clockwork Orange PB49
Bottom L-R: Rainforest, Blue Morpho Butterfly PB18, Over the Rainbow

  

The "sweets":





 

One more block to go!

 

 

Up next was Part 3 of Milady's Blossom Garden:

 

Hello coral knots!

 

Then on to the new starts, firstly Living with Charm by Lizzie*Kate:

 

Slightly wishing I'd chosen my own colours on 40ct but still enjoying stitching it this way!

A levitating Sleeping Beauty by The Primitive Hare:

 

I changed the colour in her dress from GAST Banker's Grey to an unknown GAST Ltd Ed

 

Just Nan's Emma and Eliza in the Garden:
 

 

Absolutely adore this one!
I changed my choice of purple Mo cotton with a Dragonfloss one

And finally The Butterfly Garden by The Drawn Thread:
 

I just have to remember to add in the French knots to the Tansy.
I'm stitching this one in hoop and didn't want to squash them!

 

It was great to get back to regular stitching after quite a few months where it's been a bit hit and miss.  Unplugging from social media was definitely a bonus and is something I will be carrying forward.

 

In exciting international post news, I had a wonderful parcel of joy from Chiara over at The Grey Tail when she sent me the prize for winning her Stitching Enigma.  To say I was thrilled with the contents is a complete understatement and I cannot thank Chiara enough for her generosity (as well as the time and dedication organising the Enigma took!) and also Nina who chose and included the beautiful silks.  Despite knowing about Nina's Threads since 2011, I'm ashamed to say that these are the first in my collection - but after a bit of shuffling they now have their own dedicated drawer as I plan on adding to their number next year when I'm back on the thread wagon :).

 

Behold the Beauty!  Purples!

 

That's me all caught up!  I haven't pulled my Threadporn threads for this month's projects yet.  I'm feeling uninspired for Summer themed projects courtesy of the dull, grey, damp and misty weather we're currently experiencing - I can't believe it hit 30 degrees a few weeks ago!  I'm sticking with my Just Nan for the minute, maybe I'll be OAATer for a while, well at least a few days ................

 

Happy Stitching!

 

Summer Stitching Plans 2015

This post is coming to you slightly earlier than planned due to a lack of motivation on my part to get on and finish my WIPs - until the WIPs are complete none of the following beauties can be started (I am currently 1 WIP down with 2 to go).  This is the carrot approach to encouragement - the stick approach arrives next week when The Sister comes to stay for a few days lol (she isn't that bad really!).

From past experience I know that my level of productivity stitching wise drops sharply in the Summer due to Wimbledon fortnight and the ever present hope of warm sunny weather and outdoor activities!  I've chosen four projects to stitch on throughout July and August so that I can chop and change according to my mood in the hope of keeping my stitchy bug alive throughout the Summer.

Here are my plans!


1. Living with Charm by Lizzie Kate:

 

This one will be stitched as one long piece with the plan to finish it as a wall hanging :).  It will be stitched on 28ct Permin Buttermilk linen with all the threads exactly as charted (for a change).  I have had these charts in my stash for years and it will be wonderful to finally stitch them up.  28ct will be a nice rest for my eyes after all the 36ct and 40ct I've been stitching on lately!

 

2.  Sleeping Beauty by The Primitive Hare:

 



 

This time last year I was stitching on The Primitive Hare's Red Riding Hood, so it's fitting that I should also stitch on this chart after a year of it sitting in my stash.  Again this one will be stitched with all the recommended threads and fibres and on 36ct Edinburgh cream linen to match Red Riding Hood.

 

3.  The Butterfly Garden by The Drawn Thread

 

 

 

Another long time member of my stash!  This one had an option to be stitched in silks or cottons, but as is often the way with me I chose my own hand dyed threads for the chart (all counting to Operation Threadporn totals of course!) - seven Jodyri Designs hand dyed cottons and a Waterlillies silk (which was actually in the materials list).  This one will also be stitched on 36ct Edinburgh cream linen, as at 355 stitches wide it cuts down on size!

 

4.  Emma and Eliza in the Garden by Just Nan:

 

 

 

This chart also had a cotton or silk materials option and I again opted for cottons (and 1 silk!).  Although I had some of the called for AVAS in my stash, I did not think it necessary to invest the stash cash in the others when I had plenty of other options available to me.  This again will be stitched on 36ct Edinburgh linen (is it obvious I have metres of this in my stash lol?!) and this time with an assortment of different cottons:  GASTs, Threadworx, Mo's Sale and a random one from Canada!  I couldn't resist the call of the AVAS, so the wording in this chart will be stitched in silk.

 

If by some miracle these get finished before the Summer is out, there are four Cloudsfactory designs up next in the to be stitched pile - they require a bit more thought on materials and such before they are ready to be stitched up :).

 

For those of you that prefer the long winded waffling of the audio/visual version:

 



 

 

 

The prospect of having a clean slate and then four new starts is tantalizing - let's hope this motivates me to get on with finishing up my hardanger and goldwork!

 

Happy Stitching!