A very late update on my T & E Mandala

I took pictures of my progress on the mandala several weeks ago, but I've been out of the province and haven't had a chance to post them.

And so ... here they are:

I am hell-bent on finishing this piece. It's just very slow going.

Poppies for my Mom

My mother turns 70 in a year and a half, and it just dawned on me the other day that if I want to stitch something in time for the big occasion, then I need to start right now! After thinking about what I could possibly stitch for her that she'd go nuts over (and knowing that I didn't want to stitch any more butterflies for her) a perfect idea came to me. Poppies. My mom loves poppies. More importantly, my mom loves the way a certain artist, Angie Strauss, paints poppies.

Luckily, my mom happens to be good friends with the artist, and I know her as well. So, I immediately scoured her website to find the perfect painting that my mom didn't already own, and then I emailed Angie and enlisted her in my secret project. Being the dear that she is, she instantly gave me permission to have the painting converted into a cross stitch pattern. She even had a super high quality .jpg sent to me.

Once the perfect picture was in my grubby little hands, I emailed a lovely lady in the UK that I know from crossstitchforum.com who does conversions for a small fee. I've seen some of her work and know she's very good, and she certainly didn't disappoint! We went back and forth several times -- on the first go the poppies looked spectacular but the background was kind of blah. Try two had the background really capturing the brushstrokes and complexities of the paint, but the poppies looked one dimensional. I asked her to see if she could combine the best parts of each. Lo and behold, third time was the charm! The poppies looked great and the background captured the brushstroke details without being too confetti heavy. In a word -- perfection!

I started it on Mother's day (how symbolic!) and decided to share the project with my mom that evening instead of keeping it secret. I was just too excited to keep it from her for more than a year, and this way I didn't have to have a cover project to hide what I was doing. My mom was speechless that I went to so much trouble for her (no trouble, really) and is thrilled to be able to watch the progress of the piece as I go.

Look for updates soon!

I Lied ...

There are only 211 beads on Jasmine Pixie, not 300. But they are all on now ... she's finished!!! (Though she still needs a wash and a press.)

It's amazing what a little insomnia can do. :)

I love the beading on the flowers on her dress, but the wings and a few of the longer trails are perhaps a bit too densely beaded for my liking. I'd guess that's partly a function of shrinking her down to 22ct over 1 and using all petite beads. If I ever did another pixie/fairy/mermaid of this type, then I wouldn't shrink the piece, I'd just suck it up and stitch over 2. It's unlikely that I'll do another like this anytime soon though.

Thankfully I do still like her enough to get her framed and hung up -- but not till the fall when I've recovered from my traveling spree this summer.

Mandala - May Update

Tomorrow is the final group gathering for both the Thread & Eye Mandala and the Blackwork SAL groups. Those who can from both groups will gather to ooh and ahh over the work that's been done thus far.

My blackwork piece was finished a few months ago and will be proudly displayed, but my mandala has taken a backseat more often than I wanted and isn't anywhere near done yet.

Over the past week as I traipsed all over the province for a conference, I did get a little bit nearer to being finished.

Just the corners left to stitch. I'm hoping the balance of colours evens out a little. I feel like it's a little blue/green heavy right now.

This piece will be headed out East with me later this month as I attend yet another conference for school, and I hope to finish it on that trip.

One step away from a finish!

After almost a year, I have finished all of the cross and back stitching on my Jasmine Pixie by Mirabilia. Now I just need to attach approximately 300 beads and it'll be done! It feels good to be close.

And again, it has to be put to the side because I can't travel and bead ... Maybe I'll get to it in July once all my traveling is done. Here's hoping!

Cards for Great Friends

Just thought I'd share the cards I recently made for a few very good, very deserving friends.

Finally an Update!!

It has not been a stitching-friendly month. Between schoolwork and traveling I have managed to get barely a stitch done on my Thread & Eye Mandala project.

It's not much, but here it is ...

The next few months are full of school and travel and so I am sad to say that my updates may continue to be few and far between. :(

More Cards for Charity

I managed to finish a big assignment for school this morning, and so I treated myself to a small shopping spree for card-making goodies. Then I spent a good chunk of the afternoon and evening putting together a few more cards.

Hope you like them (I can't tell if I'm getting better at this or not):

Suddenly Its All About Cards

This blog is really supposed to be about stitching, or at least mostly about stitching. Lately my time to stitch has been severely limited and what little stitching I have done hasn't really resulted in progress worthy of taking pictures. This is very frustrating to me. I like progress, I like finishes, and I love stitching, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards for me right now (no pun intended). Instead I take an hour here and there to unwind by making cards.

A lady on crossstitchforum.com had asked if people would donate stitched pieces for a craft table at a Cystic Fibrosis fundraiser in England (a cause close to my heart). While I had every intention of stitching up a few bookmarks for her, my school schedule and workload have made that impossible. Fortunately she's happy to accept non-stitchy donations as well.

This is the first batch of cards.

HSH - March Update

I really had hoped for more progress than this, but a quarter of a page is better than nothing. I really do like working on this piece, I just wish I didn't have so many other projects stealing what little stitching time I have available.

And a few more cards (it's nice to have a hobby where every time you sit down to work on it you have at least one finish).

Can't say I'm a huge fan of the second card, but it's always good to try new things and new ideas.