A Gift About Change

A few weeks ago one of my good friends successfully defended her PhD dissertation. She is finally a doctor! :)

In celebration and recognition of her achievement, I stitched a gift for her -- Metamorphosis by Ink Circles.

As she unwrapped it, I told her the name of the design and explained that it was meant to mark the subtle but significant changes doctoral students go through as they make their way through the ups and downs of a PhD. Then I explained that I had stitched it in shades of blue because that colour embodies the calm, cool, and graceful manner with which she carries herself as a person and a scholar.

There were definitely lots of waterworks and hugs. Simply put, she loved it. Giving a gift like that and seeing how much it was appreciated made my heart sing.

Progress in stages

I've been rather busy lately with school, so I've been spending my few spare moments working on projects that don't require a huge amount of concentration. I'm quite taken with the canvas project I started a few weeks ago, so I've made a good bit of progress. I've also been trying to capture the "stages" as I finish them. (My apologies for the one blurry pic, but it's the only one I have at that point.)

It's kind of fun to see the project grow like this. :)

Fabric and a floss toss

I've been a little lot naughty lately and new stash has been accumulating rapidly on my craft table.

I fell in love with Evening in the Park by Chatelaine almost two years ago, and last fall I caved and bought the pattern and floss pack for it. Since then I have been searching and searching for the perfect fabric to stitch it on. I accidentally stumbled upon a new hand-dyed fabric website, Under the Sea Fabrics, and, lo and behold, I found the PERFECT fabric. Of course, one can not simply order a single piece of fabric, so three pieces ended up in my shopping cart.

I waited (impatiently) and finally the package arrived! And I was heartbroken -- the one piece I most wanted wasn't in the bundle. I emailed the company immediately and Leslie responded within hours, apologizing profusely. She promised to ship it priority post the very next morning.

So the pieces I got in the first parcel were Sugar Plum Fairies (32 ct opalescent lugana):

and Cosmos (32 ct opalescent lugana):

I have never bought opalescent fabric before, and I'm not sure what drew me to it this time, but the fabrics are brilliant. Now to figure out what to put on these two!!

The precious fabric for Evening in the Park finally arrived (with a sweet card full of apologies and a bonus piece of fabric).

The extra fabric was Cotton Candy (28 ct jobelan):

And here is Ice Princess (32 ct opalescent lugana) with the silks for Evening in the Park:

I love the soft purply blue with lots of sparkles! I think this piece will be a birthday start in August. I hate to wait so long, but I really must finish a few other things first.

A finish but no happy dance.

I did it. I finally finished Cirque des Carreaux by Ink Circles. This is stitched 1 over 1 on 25 ct Nightfall lugana by Sassy Fabby's using Epiphany silk by Carrie's Creations.

I adore the pattern. I love the fabric. I swoon for silks.

I hate the finish.

One of the skeins must of been from a different dye lot (my fault) and it is glaringly obvious to me. I do not have it in me to rip it out and restitch it. At least not at the moment. So it'll go away into the done pile and I'll look at it again in a few months. Maybe.

I'm glad I'm finished, but I wish I loved it.

Not up for a happy dance.

Bits of progress and a finish too!

My attention has been kind of scattered this week -- very busy with school, so I don't have big chunks of time to stitch. That tends to make me project hop!

First up, is my newest project Birds of a Feather by Nancy's Needle. I am really loving working on this piece, and the progress attests to that. I've managed to finish the inner octagon already!

I can't bring myself to work on Cirque des Carreaux again quite yet, so I pulled out another piece that is a simple, mindless stitch - Rules for Life by Kincavel Krosses. I think I made some great progress on this piece too. (Maybe doing a quick rotation is the way to go for me ... who knows?)

And finally, I started and finished the April design for the Song of the Weather hardanger SAL hosted by Mabel Figworthy's Fancies.

And the first pillowfront for my nieces is fully stitched. Now I just need to find the time, fabric, and motivation to make the actual pillow.

I'm a stitching addict (aka why I shouldn't try new things)

So, I did it. I tried counted canvas.

And of course, I love it.

I had a blast yesterday morning learning how at my friend's house. Thankfully I already have experience with hardanger, so the chart wasn't too difficult to figure out.

My problem is ... once I start, it's hard to stop.

I did the middle squares and 6 of the 8 "bird" motifs while at my friend's place. Once I got home, I just couldn't put it down! I just kept stitching and stitching! It took all my willpower to put it away once I was done the inner star. I can still hear it calling to me from its project bag.

I'm in trouble.

I've already started browsing websites for patterns. I am going to try to restrain from kitting up any more until I've finished this one. That's the rule -- only one counted canvas project on the go at a time. (We'll see how long that lasts ...)