More Framing, Pt 2

Finishing up what I started yesterday, here are (most) of the rest of my current framing adventures...

First up is Glendon Place's Mixed Berry Cheesecake.  I still flove it to death, and although the picture makes it look greenish, the frame is actually silver with plummy accents:

Next is my beloved Dracula.  It's hanging in the bedroom (I had a perfect spot for it).  It has the same 'double frame' style that Tapestry does, with the black frame with red scrollwork acting as a mat to the regular black frame around it.

And finally, Regal Peacocks by Teresa Wentzler.  I started this in 2000 and finished in 2001.   I really liked the same inner frame we used with Tapestry for this one;  people who have seen it in person really like the piece overall, which also makes me feel good about it.

I remember, once upon a time, that a friend came to visit my place with her son.  She was someone I met on the TWBB, and because I had nothing on the walls remotely resembling stitching, the son remarked "I thought she was a stitcher?" or something along those lines to her.   I'm happy to say that if anyone came to visit my place now, they would definitely know that a stitcher lives there, and that makes me happy.

Finished (and FINISHED!) Not Today by Crown Street Cottage

I did it - I finished and finished Not Today (for reasons, before the sugar skull)

It's a Game of Thrones black/red work pattern I purchased from Crown Street Cottage on Etsy.  This is a link directly to the item for purchase.

I stitched it on a piece of white evenweave I had left over from another project that I decided to coffee dye.  Long and skinny, just like this banner.   I was originally going to get a generic sword shaped letter opener, but discovered that the Game of Thrones (officially licensed, yo), Ice (Ned Stark's sword, which is the same one in the banner as far as I can tell) was only a couple of bucks more.  So worth it.  It was also one of the few that was long enough for the width of the fabric.

What really cracked me up was that I had gotten some light weight command hook picture frame hangers for the kitchen.  They don't adhere to the travertine tile so well, but they're not only fine on the door, they are the exact width of the blade of my letter opener.
So now it is hanging in the entrance to the LadyLair (aka Lady Cave 2.0)


I was originally going to finish the back with a red fabric, but I found a black and white fabric I really liked - it reminded me of the House of Black and White, which is perfect for the design (if you don't GoT, just trust me).

Started 2/15/2017; Finished 7/23/2017

Nifty Ice letter opener and perfectly sized command hooks for hanging

Top section:
For someone who does. not. like, blackwork/backstitching, I sure did a lot of it.

Middle Section:  Pretty sure that's also Ice (and more backstitching)

Bottom - probably the hardest/most fiddly section; mostly quarter stitching and BS
That tassel was.... challenging to sew into the bellpull.

The backing - I really, really like it.

So here I am, letting my geek flag (banner) fly (hang).

#WIPWednesday What is the one thing we say to death?

Not that I'm not still working on my skull, but I really wanted to share a piece I had started and (also) not blogged about.

It's a Game of Thrones black/red work pattern I purchased from Crown Street Cottage on Etsy.  This is a link directly to the item for purchase.

I am stitching it on a piece of white evenweave I had left over from another project that I decided to coffee dye.  Long and skinny, just like this banner!   The banner is longer than I was expecting (thinking the number in my head and handling it are routinely wildly different for me), but I am loving it!  I think when I'm done, I will get one of those sword-letter-openers to hang it off of (dulled, of course).

Here are the first few bits.  I'm on the last section now, and it's a doozy! (you'll see when it's done!)

As of February 18

As of February 19

As of February 22

As of February 25

I had planned to finish this bell pull while I was living at my new city (there was a 2 1/2 week overlap where I started work, but before we closed on the new place), since I would be alone in an AirBnB or a hotel, but I ended up watching Netflix on my laptop or just playing some Starcraft instead ;)

When I'm done playing with my sugar skulls, I'll probably get this done so I can hang it on my LadyLair door.

Happy Friday! Dracula Book Cover Happy Dance!

I got so wrapped up in everything going on (job move, etc.) that I totally forgot to post something I finished!   This is a freebie from Life's Trivial Pursuits.  I learned about it from Jo at Serendipitous stitching.   I stitched it on Aries from Sparklies.

I started it on December 21, 2016 and I finished it on February 14th, 2017  (which is just about the time I accepted the new position and went into OMG, we have to pack and move and get a new place, not necessarily in that order! overdrive ;)

I cannot, for the life of me, get my camera to take a color accurate picture, so you'll have to forgive and trust me on it.   I've doctored them as best I can, but Aries is a cool toned, gorgeous rich red that was just perfect for this piece.  I look forward to framing it.

I used petite treasure braid in gold (PB02) for the lit window (because Dracula would never use fluorescent lighting!!!) and the actual "Dracula" lettering, and I used the B5200 instead of regular white for the moon.  The rest is black.   I love the way it came out.

Thankfully, I keep a spreadsheet of the stuff I've stitched, so when my blogging fails, I can update myself :)

January WIPocalypse (a bit late)

I am getting to this a bit late for reasons.
I'm also backdating it (I'm actually writing it on Feb 14th), because I can (muaahaha).

January was an incredibly busy month.  Not to get overly political, but the US political game became an utter (bigger?) shit show and I've gotten far more involved than I have been in the past (apparently this is how the GOP is going to go about making radicals - good on you, GOP!).   

I live in NC, which is one of those states where things are at an interesting (if that's even a good word for it) tipping point, and I feel it is my duty as a citizen to do what I can.   

That said, there's been a lot of activism and a lot of craftivism that's cut into my stitching time.

ALSO, I swear to the sweet baby octopus that I took pictures of my WIPocalypse progress, but guess what!  I can't find them anywhere on my device.  I'm simultaneously bent out of shape about it and too lazy to actually do anything about it, so I'll just have to use my words!

Let's roll:

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I went on a trip to Vegas over MLK weekend to visit and stitch with friends.  What's really cool is that I stitched on three other people's pieces!<3 div="">

I worked a little on Dracula, and I swear the fabric is more blue, less tomato

I worked on Deco Spirits for a bit - I started the water block, but I can't find a picture :(

And I started on a Glendon Place Dessert - Fruit Cocktail, that I purchased at Stitcher's Paradise.  My first 2017 start!

At Stitcher's Paradise, I also purchased a Victoria's Sampler State kit - California and a couple of other things I cannot remember off of the top of my head (dangit).   I also got the threads and beads for Letters for Nora - A (plans!).  I didn't really purchase much.

At the quilt store we visit every year (Quiltique), I got a pattern for a friend (she had posted it on FB and others had also posted it on her wall - haha), and I got a few fat quarters.  I got three to make another needleminder book (with Tula Pink fabric), and I purchased three fat quarters that I will use to make the wall hanging with the VS states that I want to get finished.

And after that there was the Women's March in Washington (yes, I went, it was awesome).   I got in on the PussyHat making and made around 30 hats (so many hats!).   Between the long flight to and from Vegas and a huge delay that had me at the airport for nearly 8 hours, I knocked tons out!

Seriously, here's my "Carry-on":

This was one of the boxes I mailed off to the PussyHatProject (I also gave out hats locally and I think we must have given away another 20 hats at the march itself, because I kept finding them everywhere, like I couldn't even keep track of what I had made, and my friend Michelle also made a stack of polar fleece kitty hats):

My one march shot I want to share, because it was so awesome!   A quilted! sign:

I didn't get much other stitching done, now I'm working on rainbow and brain hats (wheeeeeee).  I have slacked off a bit, but I should pick them back up.  I think my first WIPocalypse finish will be Dracula (I forgot to list it on my WIPocalypse, but it definitely qualified).

And in the middle of all of that I've been job hunting, so I've been out with that quite a bit.  Yay me.

Question of the Month – What Stitch-a-Longs (SALs) are you participating in this year?

I have been horribly remiss about reading my stitching blogs, so I'm not sure what I'm missing out on, to be honest.   I know I'll be taking part in WIPocalypse, TUSAL, and TW October for sure.   When i get back to reading regularly, if I see any that look good, I'll join in (I'm also hoping for another SoloSeptember).

I haven't made my new ort jar for this year, but I am keeping them in a glass separate from my 2016 orts.  I need to make a 3D thing for my 2016 orts and I'm thinking of the Hands On Design Block Party Vino (I hope I got that right).

Triforce of Badassery, Framed

I finally got around to framing Triforce.

It was a gift for a friend's birthday, so it seemed a little inadequate to just hand it over.

I special ordered the frame to fit, I wanted a plain black frame, no mat, because I really like how simple the design is.

I decided to not glass it, as I think it would take away from the metallic.

And, of course, I used a black foamcore so that it stayed as dark as possible.

Since it was a fairly easy piece to frame, I went ahead and did it myself.  It's properly pinned and laced (to keep the extra fabric behaving).

I threw it up on my entryway wall to take a quick picture. I'm happy with it.  

Triforce of Badassery (SpriteStitch)

May I present:

Triforce of Badassery from SpriteStitch.  
Started 12.24.2014
Finished 8.27.2016
Done all in PTB 01 on 28ct black lugana

For some reason, my phone does not like this gold.   Sorry about the various colors, I gave up trying to color correct everything, because I was just making things worse.

The PTB wasn't bad to work with at all - I used 2 strands for everything.  I didn't loop, I had my needle in the middle of the thread so I could use it down to it's last bit and it seemed to keep the metallic thread under better control.     It doesn't lay so flat or pretty, but the sparkle is worth it (and it's a gift to a non-crafter, so I'm not too worried about being harshly judged).

I think I'm just going to frame it in a plain black frame with no mat, because it should look good like that (no glass, either, I generally prefer glass, but I think too much of the texture/sparkle will get lost).

This is my 5th WIP down from the beginning of the year, so I'm feeling pretty good about what I've done this year, and now I'll get back to Egyptian Sampler (I was so close to being done, I brought this home to finish it off over the weekend).

August WIPocalypse!

I think I'm one of the few WIPocalypsers that didn't Olympic stitch, but I still got a lot done... just not as much on my WIPocalypse pieces (Darn you, Tapestry and Barbarian Pooh!)

I have been working a bit on Triforce of Badassery at work.  My September "free time work" project will be genealogy, so I'm hoping to get this finished quickly and work a bit on Desert Sunset before the Labor Day weekend.

I was here:

And now I'm here, finished the first two triangles, working on the third, all in PTB 01:

I made progress on my EPIC RoundRobin.  I finished up the last two bands that I needed to do, now the only thing I have is to do a band on my own RR and it will be done (I'm so tempted not to and declare it "finished," of course).

Belinda's

Melanie's

And I finally got Egyptian Sampler in the Qs.  I'm always amazed at how freakin' slow TWs are, and this border is fussy as all get out on this one (I can't quite get into a good groove with it).

I started here:

And now I'm here (after several evenings of stitching):

It's like TW is taunting me.  Not only do I pick up a TW after forever, but I'm literally stitching almost nothing but quarter stitches with blended threads.   "Did you miss me?" taunts my TW piece.  "No, did you misssssss me? Muahahaha!!"

The progress is also a little skewed.  This was part of a UFO-RoundRobin at some point, and whoever did the left side papyri was one thread off at the top, so I had to frog them all and start over.  I noticed it when I went to start the fourth papyrus motif and saw that it didn't match up (on linens I always try to use two points of reference since the slubs and general variety of thickness sometimes throw me off).   I traced the mistake up all the way to the top.  Oops.

I'm one color away from being done with those 5+6 papyrus motifs so I can start with the eyelets and then I'll backstitch all of it.   I'm actually starting to look forward to the backstitch at this point.   I'll do the Papyrus panel next.    I'm hoping to post on WIPWednesdays for this one, because I feel like if I keep seeing progress, I'll be happier.  I think once the backstitch starts getting in there and makes it look more polished, that will definitely help.

I've stitched TWs before, I'd just forgotten how much slower they are.  I'll get over it, but I might go straight to Fantasy Sampler after I finish this one, though, instead of stitching something easy between them, just so I don't spoil myself again.

Question for the month: Have you ever read any fictional books that involve embroidery? If so, give us some recommendations?
I'm sure I have, but I don't really remember any all that well.   I do keep all of my reviews on Goodreads, but embroidery isn't a category I've ever used (I kinda wish I had, now).

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And for some non-WIPpy fun, I had a piece of evenweave left over from the Barbarian Pooh piece that will be the exact size I'll need for Not Today.  Only it was white, which is not what I want to stitch this piece on, but I had left over coffee, soooooo...

I spritzed it with some foaming bleach cleaner, let it dry in the sun, rinsed the heck out of it and I am so happy with the result!

I'll only have a little over half an inch on each side of the design, but I'm going to finish it into a bellpull anyway, so I don't really need the extra.  I serged it so the pieces won't ravel any further.  I can't wait to stitch and finish that piece over the holidays.

WIPWednesday

I have two! updates.

One is for the Zelda piece I'm working on at work called Triforce of Badassery (pattern courtesy of SpriteStitch).  I finished the second triangle and can move onto the third.  Huzzah!  I am hoping to get this done in time to get it finished for a friend's birthday and I think I'll make it! (plus, another finished WIP/WIPocalypse item!)

The other is that with my Winnie the Pooh project done, I've slapped Egyptian Sampler back in the home Qsnaps!

I would really like to get it done, though admittedly, I'm not super enthused about stitching it.  I think my lack of enthusiasm is because I've been spoiled on easy stitching - no blending, little confetti, few quarter stitches.  I love TWs and I love them when they're done, but they are more complex than I've been stitching for a while.  I'll be happy enough when have this one done, though.  And I'm hoping that once I 'get used' to TW stitching again, it'll inspire me to work on more (since I have so many WIPs).

Though probably not this weekend, I've been itchin' to videogame ;)

TUSAL and #WIPWednesday

First off I have my orts for the Totally Useless Stitch A Long hosted by Daffycat (button over there in the sidebar).

I have my before/after backwards, but I was so excited about my afterwards!  And while the pictures are not at the same angle, I think we can all agree that there's some definite progress in there.  I have my Tapestry orts, plus the left overs from the Texas kit and the FlipFlops kit (not all that much, really, but yay!)

And for WIPWednesday, have a little Tapestry!

What I'm trying to do is concentrate on the bloom going out at the diagonal in the corner, and then filling in any of the color that I'm working with (so the other blossom motifs grow slowly but surely).  I'll finish the diagonal and then the right side so I can move to the upper middle.  Truthfully, I'm losing interest in stitching this piece - I rarely stitch on large pieces straight through like this, but I'm so close, I'm stubborning my way through it.  I know I'll feel a huge sense of accomplishment when it's done and that's holding me.   I figure it'll take another couple of weekends to finish because I, fortunately, don't have plans for either other than this Friday :)

And for my work #WIPWednesday, I've picked up the Triforce of Badassery again.   I'm off by one row, but I'm just working around it and not frogging, because metallics, UGH.
I'm stitching this on 28ct black lugana with Petite Treasure Braid 01.

This pattern is somewhere on the SpriteStitch site.   I'm nearly 1/3 done!

May WIPocalypse

Wow! I totally forgot that May's WIPocalypse was Saturday!   I was actually at my first pig pickin' and had some friends in from out of town, so I wouldn't have gotten to it sooner anyhoodle.

I missed April's Check-in (I still blame the TV Liquor Cabinet), so there will be a bit of 'slightly older' updates posted (well, from late March/April).

For one, I finished the #WWCKD:

And I've been working (on and off) on my Zodiac Mystery since then.   I did not take a picture of the whole thing, so I'll just post the sections I've finished here - the entire inner ring/solar system, Aries (April) and Taurus (May)

I'm not stitching (currently).  or doing anything else fun, really.  I have a certification exam on Friday (not tomorrow, but next), so I'm making myself do that.  I've even deactivated my FB to keep myself from wasting time there, because do you know what's more exciting the the Public Health Service, CDC, or other Federal regs?  EVERYTHING.  Especially Facebook.   I can keep myself from gaming, because turning on multiple devices is enough for me to check myself, but the siren song of social media is just too much.

Hopefully I'll have more Zodiac soon.  I'm working on Sagittarius and I've gotta knock it out so I can get to June's sign :)

April's Question: What do you listen to while stitching? (via Jo)

I'm usually watching a movie or TV show (Netflix or Amazon Prime, most likely).  Sometimes I'm watching the other half play a videogame, but not so much lately.    Every once in a while I'll be listening to an audiobook.  I listen to a lot of audiobooks, but usually at work or while driving (not so much while stitching).

May's Question: What were you stitching this time last year and have you finished it? (via Jo)

Honestly?  I was in a Very Bad Place^TM last year, and was not stitching anything.  Glad to see that's not the case this year, though.  I was supposed to be stitching the Zodiac Mystery sampler, and I'm happy to report that at least I'm stitching on it this year.