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!

Another half page done!

I finally put in the last few confetti stitches to meet my goal of half a page of DQ a month. The last little bit of this half page was very confetti heavy and it was slow going.

It'll be nice to put this aside for the rest of the month and work on some other projects that are screaming at me. I think I'm going to move over and do the top half of page 8 next -- the first bit is confetti heavy, but then there are some nice big chunks of colour at the far edge.

Chugging along with CdCx

I really like working on Cirque des Carreaux because it travels so well. One thread, no muss, no fuss. So I took it with me for a short visit to my parents' place. I made some really good progress too! Page 4 is now almost finished -- you can see the bottom left corner now!

IHSW March 2013

For the first time in a long time, I signed up for the International Hermit & Stitch Weekend hosted by Joysze over at Random Ramblings.

I hermited, but I didn't stitch too much. I worked on Drama Queen, but much of the progress was made pre-IHSW (but I forgot to take a picture before I started).

New scroll covers - aren't they lovely?

DQ is coming along nicely. There's even a small chance that I'll finish this half page before the end of March!

March was a Nightmare!

So I've been trying to keep up with the Song of the Weather hardanger SAL over at Mabel Figworthy's Fancies. Over a week ago, I put my fabric onto my new 12" millenium frame and away I went. It started out okay ...

(See the pretty new squissors I got? They are wonderful for snips in close quarters!)

However, once I got past the cutting and wrapping, I encountered the basque knots (the outer double border). Well, I couldn't get them right to save my life! I cut them out 3 times before I finally got them done. They aren't that pretty, but they're done. I hope I never have to stitch another one.

The French knots went smoothly (thank goodness) and they look nice and plump done in a perle #5. I think this design has all of my least favourite stitches -- basque knot, Queen's stitch and wrapped bars.

I did the first two designs with my fabric on a q-snap and now that I've put it on the millenium frame, the fabric doesn't seem to be behaving the same way. Not sure whether it's a result of the extra tension or the crappy stitching I did.

Back to Drama Queen for a bit I think. I've been missing it!

Two-thirds done (and a sneak peak)!

I've still been working on Cirque des Carreaux this week (when I've had time, which isn't often). The top three pages are now fully complete and a little of each of the next 3 pages are stitched as well. The entire piece is two-thirds of the way done.

The end is near, and yet somehow a long way off! I'd love to finish this in the next few weeks.

I've also put in a couple of hours on DQ -- here's a close-up sneak peak of the centre of the design:

Getting closer!!

This past week I have mostly worked on Cirque des Carreaux when I've had a spare few minutes.

Page 3 is only a handful of stitches away from being completed and that means only 3 partial pages to go!! I expect this one might just get finished by Spring!

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:

Stand-tastic!!

I love my millenium frame. I mean I really LOVE it. I ordered more extension bars and now have 4 different sizes. However, the bigger ones are a tad heavy and certain areas are harder to reach when held in the hand. So, I bought my very first stand:

Necessaire Stand by Needle Needs

Isn't it pretty?

I received it right before I left for the retreat last weekend, and I assembled it the moment I got home. And yet, I still haven't had a chance to use it.  :(  I'm swamped with teaching and schoolwork right now. If I'm lucky I might have time next week to try it out.

At least it's here and waiting for me!

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!!