April IHSW & another bonus TUSAL

This weekend was IHSW - the International Hermit and Stitch weekend hosted by Joysze at her blog and on Facebook.   I stayed at home, nursing a sick puppy (Mona is off her arthritis meds and on prednisone, which makes her sad) and watching a bunch of Netflix (mostly Marcella).

I meant to work on finishing my Hearts of America, but I was way too lazy to straighten up the craft/guest room enough to get to the machine, so I worked on Deco Spirits instead.

I was here (working on Water):

and now I'm here:

I usually wait to do the metallics later (all of that blue and the gold is kreinik and PTB), but because there was so much, I decided to get it over with a little early and then get back to the white.   I had to take the picture at an angle because it just would not show up in straight on photos.

My stitching has been super slow, because a certain Tiny Monster keeps demanding attention.  And if I don't pay attention, she starts running off with threads, kreiniks, etc.    And I've also discovered the joy of having a black haired dog.  I used to just find white hairs stuck in everything that I couldn't quite remove.  Now I have fine black hairs in the mix with those white hairs.  Oy vey!

And as a bonus, I also remembered to take an ort/TUSAL shot (TUSAL, the Totally Useful Stitch A Long hosted by Daffycat (also on Facebook), where we show off our orts). I have to keep pushing down the orts, but I'm getting a nice Deco strata in there ;)

Sugar Skull by Mill Hill - Fini!

Unfortunately, the Partner and I ran amok of a little norovirus this past weekend.
The upside was a lot of audiobook listening and a bit of stitching while I was burning the house down washing a whole lot of loads of laundry to make sure it didn't come back.  Luckily we have a three day norovirus policy at work, so at least I didn't use my PTO for it.

But I finished the Mill Hill Skull!   I would have finished it three days earlier if I'd found the posy button sooner.  It went missing in one of my bags and it took me a bit to find.  I was actually trying to order a new one when I finally ran across it (in my Freshwater Pearls project bag).

I stitched it on 28ct white lugana rather than the perforated paper that came in the kit.  I love the effect with all of the beads, I enjoyed doing it a lot less (haha).

Sugar Skull by Mill Hill, Finished 9 Apr 2018

There was definitely more than enough beads and threads for this kit.  I'll have to give it away because I don't want to waste (not enough to do it entirely a second time, but probably enough where it won't cost too much).

I started working on Deco Spirits, hopefully the Air block will be my next mini-finish before I move onto something else... or maybe onto the next block.  :D

More Sugar Skull

I mentioned previously that I was switching from the "cross stitch then bead" to "cross stitch and bead by color."

And then at some point (but not early enough to make it really fun), I decided to take a picture after each color.

I wish I had gotten a post-green pre-yellow picture, but I didn't.  Oh well.

Yellow is done!

Orange is done!

Magenta (medium) is done!

I think blue is next, but it will be less striking because I did the stitching, while I hadn't finished all of the orange stitching (and none of the yellow)

This make progress fun!

March 2018 WIPocalypse

Not a whole lotta WIPocalypse progress to report.    I was busy either not crafting, or just working on my two Brooke's Books Ornaments.

I did decide to pick up my Mill Hill Sugar Skull.  I've decided to do it a little different than the instructions strictly call for (other than stitching it on evenweave instead of the perforated paper).  I like the support that beads get when they're part of the stitching (vs being added later), so I'm finishing up the stitching with the final two floss colors that are not used for beads (light red and dark magenta) and I will start beading/stitching at the same time.

I'm just going to go down the list of colors and get it over with.   I am in both the "not wanting to wor on this piece" and in the "I want this piece over, so I want to work on it" mode, haha.

Here's where it was:

And here's where it is now:

I anticipate having it done by the next WIPocalypse (*yay*)

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.

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.

Plenty and Blessings by Brooke's Books

Today I have too many pictures of my Brooke's Books finishes - Plenty (fruit basket) and Blessings (fish).   These are both part of the Bride's Tree series.  I know Brooke's Books mostly from the 'dress up' series that are really pretty dresses from the Disney princesses.

Both of these were fun to stitch, Plenty was way faster/more fun than I thought it would be!

This is Plenty, this first picture is the best color-correct photo I managed.  The close ups seem to pull warmer, but that's OK.  I really, really like the addition of the champagne beads, they're fantastic.

The pattern calls for an overdye, but I did it with the equivalent DMC (which is listed in the pattern)

Wine! Pickles!   Plenty, by Brookes Books, finished 3-18-2018

And then there was Blessings.
I saw this finished as a sample in Stitcher's Paradise (in Las Vegas).  It is such a pretty fish, and I just loved stitching on it.

I couldn't find a place where I liked my signature, so I ended ups signing in the dirt (as it were).

So those are the ornaments - I think they're super adorable.   Hopefully I'll have more progress for WIPocalypse (since I skipped last month), now that I'm stitching again.