More Framing, Pt 1

I thought I'd share some more framing (not all, I think I forgot to take pictures of Ferret Knot and Celtic Christmas, though I'll get there, too), because I have a lot of pictures, I'll break it up into a couple of posts...

First up is Tapestry by Ink Circles.   Nick actually framed it using two frames - the inner is like a mat, which is pretty cool!

Next up is Immaculate Heart by Ink Circles, which is probably one of my very favorite pieces of all time.   Because it feels so medieval to me, I wanted a really heavy frame, which is what I got!  It has that hand-scraped, irregular feel to it, which is absolutely perfect.

This first pic is a little washed out - it was hard taking pictures because it was pretty late/dark.

Next is a Commemorative Needleroll by Chatelaine Designs.
Martina came to visit Houston in 2005, and it was really interesting meeting her at Jo's (formerly of Dinky Dyes) house.   I finished this in 2005, but I redid the initials in 2014.   Right now it's my only finished Chatelaine, but I love it.

Framing is coming! Framing is coming!

In the past, I've gotten a few things framed at Nick's in Mesa (? I think it's Mesa, I visited my friends in Phoenix and they took me there).  Well!  One of my friends was in town (sorta) for work, and we met and had dinner.   She offered to take some of my stitching to Nick's since we're going to see each other again in a couple of months and I can fly home with my pieces (vs having them shipped like last time).  We didn't go to Nick's the last time a bunch of us were in Phoenix because he was ending his business, but for reasons he hasn't actually closed up yet.  Yay for us!

So we did some framing-by-text, but luckily Nick is pretty damn awesome and the options I got were pretty awesome from the beginning and I was happy.

First up is the Dracula book cover, which I finished earlier this year (and hey, this picture is really a color accurate photo of that Aries by Sparklies that I adore).   He is actually using two frames to make this, one frame acting like a kind of mat, which is WAY awesome.   This was so good that it was an immediate yes.   And to be honest, it's my favorite framing thing from everything that's getting done.

Next up is Ferret Knot by White Willow Stitching.   The other option had a frame that didn't have that gold edge, and I like the way it breaks things up.  I also love that suede mat, which I think should work super well with the overdye chocolate that I used in the design.   Much love for this (man these are going to be heavy ;) )

Next is Tapestry by Ink Circles.
And again, it's the double-frame thing.   Annette (link to her flosstube) showed me her Tapestry (or, rather, a photo of it) while we were hanging out a few weeks ago, and I really did like it.  This is the same thing she had done (and I think we've even stitched on the same fabric?  hah!).  We, and some other friends, all stitched on this together at the same time; starting at approx the same time.   It was kind of fun to be bouncing off of each other's progress pictures, and not only is it a gorgeous design, but I will always think of my wonderful friends when I look at it.   I can't imagine a frame I'd like better, honestly. 

Next up is Immaculate Heart (again, by Ink Circles).
It's a pretty small design, and I love the old world/medieval feel of it and wanted a heavy, thick frame to go around it.  And lo'!  This is the option Nick pulled.  So, yes?   Seriously, this guy is a genius.  And luckily this is fairly small so at least one of these will be easy to transport ;)

And finally, I bring you Celtic Christmas by Lavender and Lace/Told in a Garden
I stitched this back in 1998.  At one time, I "finished" it into a cheap Michaels frame using stitch witchery to hold it to the backing board, so there's still residue of that stuff around the edges.   Way back when I "didn't know any better" and what not.  Luckily the sticky stuff isn't anywhere near the stitching, but around the very edges;  it's not like that stuff comes off easily, either.

I don't have a blog post with her in it, but otherwise I stitched it as directed, same fabric, same materials, even that god awful DMC 284Z (I didn't even have to look it up, I remember that stuff!).  I recently hit this piece with a lint roller to try to get any extra dog hair off of it, and that gold started flaking!  So I thought I should get it framed tout-de-suite.

I didn't want it too look too Christmassy (hence the removal of the "NOEL" from above her head), but I stitched her because I love her red dress, so I knew I wanted red in the framing somewhere, but when it was the top mat, it just overwhelmed the framing.   This is eventually what we settled on - this was definitely the piece that took us the longest to pick a frame option for.  It's the costliest one we framed (I think the red is suede, and the tan is a really pretty silk mat, actually), but 1.  she's worth it and 2. it was still a helluva lot cheaper than if I'd framed her at a regular place here. 

I'm quite happy with this choice and now I have to decide if I want to hang her in a public area of my house or just put her above my dresser so I can look at her every day.

So that's the framing that's coming my way.  I should get everything by January at the latest, and I couldn't be more excited/pleased.   I hate to wish ill on Nick, but I hope the issues regarding his shop continue for just a few more months so I have one more crack at framing with him.   Mostly for those desert pieces.

Tapestry! by Ink Circles

I did a thing! It's an awesome thing!  It's Tapestry!

Tapestry by Ink Circles; finished 7 Aug 2016

I finally finished Tapestry on Sunday night.   I really thought I wouldn't get it done until this coming weekend, but I hit it with a determination I rarely muster for non-death situations ;)  I couldn't take any decent pictures because I finished so late on Sunday, Monday was way dark because of thunderstorms, and couldn't get outside until last night.  /phew

There are only two other large pieces I've stitched straight through, and the other two were because of "races" that I was taking part in as a stitcher (Storyteller, which was a brutal 6 weeks, and Moonlight Dragon).

I was completely out of Pine (the grass/dark green overdye) and I was down to my last length of Cider, and I had an entire skein of Aztec Gold left, which I just find baffling.  I still had a length of the first skein, so that was odd.   I just want to mention that, because these overdyes vary so much with lots that I'd hate for someone to run out of something.   I don't know why I would have run out of Pine, I am pretty floss conservative and didn't even use full crosses unless I was in an area where the color was changing on the thread.   Weird.

And it was stitched on my very favorite fabric in the known universe - Platinum 30ct Murano.

This piece isn't just really pretty, it is deeply, deeply personal to me:  I took part of an SAL with friends and (most of us) started when we were all together in Phoenix this year for a get together.  The fabric was gifted to my by a friend (who has/had a whole bolt of that Murano!!!) and I even had to borrow someone else's Dark Chocolate because I forgot to bring it with me.   I really enjoyed it, and I will always think of my very good friends when I see it.    I think I've even come up with a brilliant! scheme to get it framed this year so it can go on my wall of awesome women.

And sadly, no bling for those really hot, hot close ups, but I took some anyway.

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!

Tapestry update and plans, so many plans...

First off - here's where I stand with Tapestry!  I think I'm about 70% done.

July 28, 2016

Next?  Well, we're half way through the year, and I realized I've done a lot.  But I want to do MOAR!!! I don't know if it's really all that possible, but I'm gonna try.  And dream big, right?

So here's what I'd like to accomplish for the rest of the year, or is basically my rotation:

• Egyptian Sampler - Finish it!
• Fantasy Sampler - Finish it!
• Freshwater Pearls - PROGRESS!
• Deco Spirits - PROGRESS!  At least one more panel.

My work rotation (because I'm just going to stitch in my free time at work, when I can, assuming I don't get a new job, which I'm hoping for):

• Triforce of BadAssery - Finish it!  (this is something I'm stitching for a friend and his birthday isn't so far off)
• Desert Sunsets - Finish them!
• Biltmore - Start *and* Finish it!  (I need to find fabric for it, I'm not using the aida from the kit)

I am giving myself full permission to DROP ALL THAT SHIT in December (or maybe over the Turkey Day holidays).
Why you say?  Because for the holidays I wanna have fun, which means:

• Stitching ALL of the Just Nan mice that I have not done.
• Stitch the new Game of Thrones pattern I just bought (it's cute, and very simple). 

I can always go back to whatever I have on hand, or just play in my stash should I manage to finish those early.  

I get two days off for Christmas, so I should get a bunch done unless I'm engaging in obligations with the SO's family.
I don't waste vacation time over Christmas because I'm "essential" and my family is too far away to make a short trip worthwhile, and while I'm at it,  let me get a little rant out:
I'm a little cranky that the University is engaging in what I consider shenanigans.  We have four of five days (between Christmas and NY) as paid holidays, but due to the nature of our work, we will be working two of those (I don't mind, I get what's called "Equal Time Off" and I'd rather use that for vacation I choose).   The fifth day, the university is "closed" and *all* non-essential university employees aren't allowed to be here, but people must use their own vacation, which I think is unfair.   "Hey, you're not allowed to be here, but you have to use your own vacay not to be" is uncool.   Me?  I have to be here.  Doing very little, but hey, a warm body must be here in case of emergencies (which have happened) and my coworker will be out - she does a charity thing, and I honestly don't mind, so it's a perfect pairing.  So there's my little rant:  I'm sorry non essentials, that you get dicked over, and only by the grace of a boxed checked somewhere on my employment form do I get to be here and get paid without wasting leave, *and* get to hang out during a couple of holiday days for some free vacation time.  Yay.

That digression aside:

January 1, I'm going to start Namaste, and I'll try to stitch straight through that (I might consider alternating motifs and Deco Spirits panels).  And then I'll revisit goals and rotations.  Hopefully I will have made progress on the above.

I have plans for the new year, but I want to clean out more WIPS.  And I purchased a bit from the PTP sale, luckily those fabrics are for bucket list/future things like Amphitrite by Mirabilia (well, they call her Aphrodite, but they're wrong).

WIPocalypse for July?

As I stared at the moon this morning, I realized it should be time for July's WIPocalypse post!

My only WIPocalypse progress since the last post was finishing the Zodiac Sampler (huzzah!)

I personally only count older/previous WIPs for my WIPocalypse, so the rest of my progress isn't worth of showing off, but I am steadily working on Ink Circles's Tapestry.

And as a bonus, since I never got around to posting it, here is what my TUSAL post should have looked like:

Before:

After:

I added all of the kit threads from Through the Stars and the fluffy stuff on top is from Tapestry.  2016's biscornu is going to be fat!

This month's question from Measi is:

If you are not participating in the [Olympic] challenge, tell us how this year’s stitching is going for you so far, and if you’re meeting your stitching goals so far for the year.

First off, the reason I'm not participating in the Olympic challenge is that I don't have live TV, so I feel a bit disconnected from the whole Olympics thing anyway.
As for my stitching goals?  Just like always, I'm doing a fair amount of stitching, and I do think I've done a good job hitting my goals, but as always, I wish I were further ahead ;)
Taking part in the Tapestry Stitch Along with my friends is definitely pushing my WIPocalypse goals back, but I'm just as happy to be doing something with my friends.   It is giving me time to think about what I want to stitch next, which is nice, too.   I was thinking of Random-Number-Generating my rotation, but there are a couple of pieces I think I want to work on, which would be just as awesome.

And, I mentioned in an earlier post that I'd gotten rid of at least one WIP, so I guess there is that reduction.  

I just looked and I'm "down" 5 and I have what I think is a pretty realistic goal of polishing off two more.  So maybe I'm more pleased than I thought :)

WIPWednesday

Here's a bit more progress...

More Tapestry done!

I had a wicked head-summer-cold this weekend, so I just stayed in and watched some TV.  I watched Season 2 Penny Dreadful, finished Witches of East End and Hannibal season 3.   I stitched a little slowly, because Penny Dreadful and Hannibal have such awesome visuals, it's hard to pay attention to both!

I finished the left side middle - the way the motifs work, I think of the design as having 9 sections like a tic-tac-toe board.

And I got most of the bottom right corner done, too!

Post Seattle Tapestry update

As I mentioned previously, a bunch of us are working on Ink Circles's Tapestry.

Here's where I was when I got off the plane.  I was rushing to the corner because the fabric did not seem big enough, even though I measured, measured, measured:

July 3

 My colors are all off because of different lighting, but I really like working on each motif as I'd go.

July 9th

 I finished the whole corner bit, so I thought I would work down the right hand side.

July 11

 And this is the right side - I started by filling out the fleur-de-lis-ish motif from the center square and will use that as my guide on working down.  I'll probably work clockwise on this piece.

July 11

And just for fun, this was my view/seating arrangement for most of the stitching (it was rather nice).  I'm using an old kindle fire (that I don't use for anything, really) to stitch from while I travel, though it seems to be bleeding over into "not" travel, too, because it's convenient.  I scanned the design/pattern into a PDF and I'm using a program to highlight as I stitch.   It's not perfect, but it's fun for now.

How I organized my table and wine :)

View of Lake Washington (I think that's the right lake)

This will severely slow my progress on my WIPocalypse WIPs, but it's still fun.  I'm going to try to stitch this whole thing through, and we'll see how that goes.

Long weekend with friends

So this weekend is one of the two I look forward most to during the entire year - I hopped on a plane and flew out to Arizona to visit with friends.   Now, one of the places I lived while growing up was Tucson, and I've always wanted to go back, so the trip is always a little hard, because I just need someone in Arizona to hire me, so I can stay out there, and then I could sometimes stitch with local friends.

We did a lot of eating, a bit of drinking, maybe some playing, but definitely some shopping, sharing, and stitching!

First, my purchasing spree:

I got the newest Just Nan mouse - Romeo the Bridegroom and the Block Party - Vino from Hands On Designs.  Not much, but I am not feeling the need to purchase as much as I used to, especially with the thousand and one WIPS.    I think the Vino party block might qualify as my year end biscornu, because my ort container is getting quite packed!

The things I really wanted were more scissors, that that I got down to a science.

This is my first pair of Bohin scissors (I'm a Bohin needle junkie).  They're larger than standard embroidery, but that polka dotted stork!  I had to have it!

A swordfish? HECK YA!  They feel/cut awful, but let's be honest, I don't care.

And my new favorites - these are Premax, which is one of my favorite brands.  I have three or four pairs of premax and you cannot go wrong with them (my very favorite are from Fine Science Tools, followed by Dovo, of course, and I have a few others like Tres Claveles... in fact I think the only brand I don't like is Gingher).  So shiny, so pretty!  I love that darker silver.

We also hit a bead store, which I wasn't going to purchase anything from, but I decided making some needleminders might be fun.  Especially after I cut off the loops with my dremel.  I'm excited about the heart locket, because when I get the hinge off, I think that's going to make a riotously good needleminder

One of our hostesses and a friend made needleminders for us as well.   I have these nifty initial needeminders made from tile (the glare is covering that s there)!  And that nice little embossed button thingie :)  And that button!  And the octopus!

I also started Tapestry by Ink Circles

She also had a little contest/drawing, and I won second place.  As far as I'm concerned second place is the best!
That top thing is a magnetic tray, which was designed for tools/nuts/bolts/etc, but works just as well for scissors, needles and other goodies.    Heck, as much DIY as I do, it might be used for nuts and bolts anyway ;)

The Mill Hill kit is a cutie as well, and there were those Frixion erasable highlighters and that super bright/awesome LED light (I wish I had that when I was stitching on all of those dark fabrics!!!)

There's also the organizer thing, which might be my favorite thing ever.  I started to unpack yesterday, and then realized I'm flying back out on Friday, and just started organizing with that pouch instead. Magic!

There should be a blue highlighter in there, but it's hiding in my stitching bag

And then, the crazy generous hostess friend *also* had goodie bags for everyone.   I ADORE that Sweetheart Tree piece and will definitely be stitchin git.   There was the emoji note pad, the frog, some hand dyed threads from a place in England, and probably other things I missed taking pictures way too late last night ;)

Ribbit

 And while I was on the trip, someone was showing off a kit she'd gotten from the Bay of Evil, and of course I had to buy one, too.   The funny part was - I paid a little less, and the lady who posts them apparently only posts 2 at a time, and not so often that they're "easy" to get.  I got the last one!

It's a Russian kit, called "Kingdom of Books"
I am thinking of not doing the background, and just doing it on an overdye, I will probably change the book names (they're in Russian/Cyrillic now) to my favorite books, and I'm *also* thinking of going over one for this.. not sure yet on that one, though.

The kit materials are pretty nice, so I'll probably use the floss for it.  Can you imagine how nice it must be to just stitch a book at a time? Nice bite size nuggets to celebrate?

Kingdom of Books!

I think that's it for the purchasing.   Other than not really "feeling" the need to buy lots of stuff, I was very concentrated on getting a couple of more pairs of leggings from Fractal 9, the greatest leggings ever, who was having a big sale on Saturday and I also kickstarted a yoga mat that looks really cool.

We had some really fun times, and some really good discussions.  One of the things we were talking about was letting go of WIPs, and I realized that there are a couple I should just admit I'm not going to do.  One of them - well, I'm not quite there yet, but I did decide to un-WIP/UFO Dracolair's Phoenix, and in fact, I'll probably sell my Dracolair patterns.  I just don't think I'll ever get around to stitching them, and I could use the fabric I started Phoenix with for something else (it's a Picture this Plus, so that's good).

I also had another WIP that I never quite listed that I'll let go of, and I've already picked a pattern to use that fabric for!  I only had one band on the sampler, so it doesn't hurt to let it go.   I think after I knock out a few WIPs, I will start Ink Circles's Namaste on it.

And!  Here's the newest used-WIP that I purchased and put in the mesh bag that Phoenix used to live in!  It's called Russian Fairy Tales and it is a class kit by Joan Thomasson that came out in 1998.  I have been looking for it for AGES and it finally popped up on the Bay of Evil and I snatched it up... if by "snatch" you mean that I put in a disgustingly high bid and just let the 10 day auction ride itself out :)  But it's mine, and I didn't pay as much as I was willing to pay for it, so we all win.

Russian Fairy Tale - my long hunted lemming

My newest WIP is a stitch along I started with friends, it's the one that was pictured up above with the needle minders - it's Ink Circles's Tapestry and I am stitching it on Platinum Murano (30ct), and I am loving it so far.

As for Zodiac, I finished the last two - now I just have to take a picture of the whole thing!

Cancer!

Leo!

And for the final bit - I decided I wasn't totally pleased with my ort container, and I needed to put the orts that I collected over the weekend away, so I made a new container, took a picture of it with the current orts and then stuffed it (and I mean stuffed, because I put all of the left over floss from the Zodiac kit in there!).  It's a wine bottle I cut down, and I'm very pleased with it.  I think it will look like a core sample as I get more orts in there ;)

I kinda smooshed it all down there

That's it for now!  It was a terribly fun, full weekend, and I just love being with my friends.  Our hostesses were the best ever, and I already miss them terribly, but will think of them every time I stitch or see Tapestry.