Turtle Trot - February

It's time again for the Turtle Trot SAL -- working on a list of 10 WIPs that need some love and that I post about on the 10th of every month.

I only worked on 4 of them in the past month:

Catch a Falling Star (HAED)

On January 10th

On February 10th

Ciara Blue (Blackwork Journey)

On January 10th

On February 10th

Damask Square (Ink Circles)

On January 10th

On February 10th

Wise Wisdom (Stoney Creek)

On January 10th

FINISHED!!!

One down … nine to go. :)

Been a long time ...

After an entire year of not putting a single stitch into any of my HAEDs, I am happy to say that I completed page 3 of Catch a Falling Star by Julie Fain.

This one is going away for a bit (I have a new start or two coming soon), but hopefully I will get back to it later this year. It's a very easy (and slightly boring) stitch right now … thank goodness I decided to tent it.

IHSW - January

It's the first IHSW (International Hermit & Stitch Weekend) of 2014. Not only did I remember to sign up for it, but I stitched too!!

During my wrap up posts for 2013, I discovered that 10 of my 14 finishes last year were gifts. Holy crap! That's a lot of stitching for others and very little stitching for me. :( I also realized that I did not put one single stitch into any of my HAEDs last year. Not one! That is tragic and horrible and it must be rectified.

So … I pulled Elizabeth off the frame and put Catch a Falling Star by Julie Fain on. This piece is almost entirely navy blue (939) at the moment. It is easy, blocky stitching at its best. I'm working 2 over 1 tent on 25 ct ice blue lugana.

From a distance it looks awesome. I started page 3 and put in 2033 stitches. I used to use a Q-snap when I worked on this project, but now I've got the Millenium frame. It's easy to work with, but that fabric looks huge! So much space to fill still (and that's just the first row)!

Up close, there is a bit of show through. The coverage isn't perfect, but I find the stitching easy and enjoyable. I've tried tenting on 28 count and it is just too squishy for me. Knowing that it looks fine from a distance makes it easier to accept the close-up imperfections.

Turtle Trot SAL - January

Last year I didn't participate in any SALs (I think the Ultimate Crazy January Challenge, the WIPocalypse SAL, and the TUSAL in 2012 burnt me out a little). This year I decided to ease myself back into the swing of things by participating in the Turtle Trot SAL hosted by BAP Attack.

I've chosen 10 projects, both older UFOs and newer WIPs, that I would like to make slow and steady progress on this year. These pics are the most up-to-date available for each project.

1. Baked Alaska (Glendon Place)

2. Catch a Falling Star (HAED)

3. Ciara Blue (Blackwork Journey)

4. Damask Square (Ink Circles)

Side note: Damask Square was my New Year's Day start for 2014. This is the first progress pic of it. It's stitched over 1 on 28 ct black lugana using white HDF silk.

5. Drama Queen (custom chart by Skitzzzzz)

6. Elizabeth (Mirabilia)

7. Home Sweet Home (HAED)

8. Lickle Bit Shy (DMC)

9. Welcome (Kincavel Krosses)

10. Wise Wisdom (Stoney Creek)

Progress, progress, new start?

Lots to share today!!  I have made excellent progress on Cirque des Carreaux in the past week. I've now finished 4 1/2 + pages (don't you just love throwing away pages of a chart that are completely highlighted??!), and just 2 partially completed pages to go!

I also got a bee in my bonnet (no pun intended) and put in about 1000 stitches on Sunflower Bee - the project I started at the retreat for my dad. The colours aren't too exciting, but the subtle pattern emerging is kinda cool.

I'm not entirely sure I love stitching 1 over 1 full crosses on 28 ct. I picked up some more fabric from my LNS the other day to restart QS Blue Butterfly, so I might try tenting 2 over 1 on 28 ct for that and see how it goes.

I did mention a new start, didn't I? Well, it's not quite a new start, but I kitted up something new and will be starting it in the next few days. My dear stitching friends, who are INCREDIBLY enabling, have talked me into trying counted canvas. I was browsing my LNS the other day while I waited for help with fabric and saw this pattern:

Well, those are some of my favourite colours and I just fell head over heels for this pattern. Of course I bought it on the spot, and the next thing I know, I'm being told to kit it up so I can learn how to do it this Tuesday. More pics to come I guess.

Aren't these threads lovely? I havent stitch with the Caron Snow or the Rainbow Gallery Overture before, so this will be quite the adventure!

Stash, beautiful stash!

I've been rather naughty lately. I went on a bit of a stash buying spree online, and it's all finally arrived!

I ordered a couple patterns from 123stitch.com. I generally dislike Joan Elliot designs -- her fairies and goddesses do nothing for me. However, I stumbled across her Geishas, and I was in love! I have no idea when I'll get around to stitching them, but I just had to have them in my hot little hands! My mom and I both spent several years learning to speak Japanese (for fun), so I bought Red Geisha for her (the colours are so my mom) and I bought Blue Geisha for me. They'll make a lovely set one day I think.

I also ordered some squissors from Mabel Figworthy's Fancies. I joined the year-long hardanger SAL that she's hosting, and thought that if I'm going to be doing so much hardanger, I should have better tools. Aren't they pretty?

Even though I sometimes dye my own fabric (and as a result I have oodles of dyed fabric in my stash), I just couldn't resist buying a few pieces from Sparklies in the UK.

These four are all 18x13 pieces of 28 ct lugana - from left to right, Oceans Depth, Aries, Rain, Basically Bonkers. They're nice, but not quite as vibrant as shown on the website. I chose these ones as potential backgrounds for the dragon charts I have from Fire Wing Designs.

For fun, I also ordered a 1/2 yard grab bag of lugana. Basically I get a hodgepodge of fabric colours picked by Sparklies with a few big pieces and some ornament sized pieces.

The bigger pieces (from left to right) are Dark Goddess (25 ct, 18x13), Misty Morn (28 ct, 18x13), and Pisces (32 ct, 18x27).

There were also a few smaller pieces, but they weren't labelled with names, counts, or sizes. They are quite nice though!

I've also been kind of naughty on the HAED front - a few have landed in my shopping cart during the February sales.

Little Red Riding Hood:

Peacock in Full Bloom:

Rapunzel:

Sharla:

My First Retreat

Just got home from my very first stitching retreat. It. Was. Awesome.

It truly felt like Christmas - I stayed up late the first night talking, laughing, and stitching, then got up early the next day, stayed in my jammies, and went running out to the main room to stitch again. It was better than Christmas because it didn't end after one day!! Big shout out to my partners in crime - Caroline and Tracey!!

So much progress - oh my gooses!

The first night I worked like a madwoman and completed page 4 of Drama Queen. That's 6 pages completed now or 32, 582 stitches or 42.2%.

I stitched every day from 8am till 2am - barely stopping for meals. It was a blast! I will admit that my attention wavered a bit, so I changed projects frequently. Luckily I brought quite a few with me. The only one that didn't get any love while I was at the retreat was Elizabeth by Mirabilia. She'll come out to play once I have a few other WIPs finished.

Definitely made some progress on Cirque des Carreaux. I think I've finished about 2.5 pages of the 6.

I finally put a few more stitches into Rules For Life by Kincavel Krosses. I love this piece. I'm hoping to finish it sooner rather than later.

I had a few new starts as well.

I started Ice Blossom by Just Nan and it was a bit of a disaster. Not only was I stitching white on white which is challenging, but I was converting the recommended threads to HDF silk and DMC perles. I did quite a bit of frogging, and I still have more to frog because I stitched one part without the sparkly metallic it needs. *sigh* It looks okay though. I like the textural differences I've added.

I also started Sunflower Bee by HAED for my Dad (he doesn't know about this though). I gridded the first page and put in 100 stitches. It's 88,900 stitches in total, so bigger than Drama Queen, but I'm stitching it on 28 ct white lugana so it should be roughly the same size. No idea when I'll actually get this one done, but the chart is full of big blocks of colour for the first few pages. It should be an easy stitch for now.

I also managed another start/finish!! I worked on the February design in the SotW hardanger SAL from Mabel Figworthy's Fancies. I didn't follow the directions for colours and I changed the beads to French knots (I can just see the beads being ripped off by my nieces within hours of getting it), but I think it looks pretty good. I forgot how time consuming woven bars are to do! It felt neverending. I also found the bead edging stitch to be fairly difficult and quite annoying. I referred to it often as the "stupid stitch." It turned out all right in the end.

Overall, the retreat was amazing. I am dead tired, and yet I feel refreshed, re-energized, and more like a real person than I have in a long time. It was good to take a few days for me without any guilt and with little thought for school and my responsibilities there. I didn't even check email!! (I dread going to check it now though.)

I've already put in my deposit for the October retreat!!