IHSW?

Hi all! I do hope everyone is having a lovely November so far. It seems I have finally hit my stride again with stitching, and have a small update on Pavonia to show off. :)

This weekend was supposed to be the IHSW sal, but unfortunately our beloved hostess seems to be missing. (I do hope she is okay...) But in the spirit of my favorite weekend of the month, I've hermited as much as possible and managed to knockout of big chunk of stitching. She still doesn't look like much, and she is getting very dark (I'm stitching the shadow side of her face, which is further shading the feathers behind her) but it won't be too long before she begins to look like something. Here's the before and after:

 I want to say I'm more than half done with the worst of the confetti stitches. The shadows have three main colors, and I did two this weekend, so hopefully next weekend I can fill her in a bit more. I'm saving her forehead for last, as my reward (and something to look forward to!). It will be so nice to stitch some nice light colors for a change.

I'm hoping I can finish this part by the end of the year. I'm also hoping I can resist buying too much stash during any holiday sales this weekend. That's going to be tricky...

Until next time!

Because Sharing is Caring

Hi everyone! Just thought I would take a moment to share something, as I have no idea how many people know about it. But for those who were once fans of Nene Thomas charts on HAED, this might be of some interest.

If you've seen my stash, you might've noticed I was a little bit peeved when Nene pulled all her charts  from HAED. I liked quite a few of them. Well, there was a reason for that. It seems Nene has decided to get into charting designs herself. While she's not charting all her designs -- only a very select few -- it's still worth mentioning that they are available, and the mock-ups are gorgeous! She offers two sizes: regular, which are usually 356x577 stitches, and "epic," which are around 554x898 stitches. They are kinda pricey, at $20 and $40 respectively, but might make a nice Christmas gift... Here are a few to tease you:

 

Unfortunately, I have not purchased one of these yet, but when I do, I'll let you know my thoughts on the charting. And of course, if you want to check them out yourself, look here.

And yes, I am making progress on my current wips, still working on Pavonia at the moment, but nothing worth showing. Instead, I'll leave you with another crochet finish, as these are quite popular this time of year.

Twin Kitties

Happy stitching!

Pushing Forward

Well, October has come and gone, and I still don't have a page finish to show you. I kept thinking, next week for sure! But here we are, several weeks later, and I have a terrible lack of progress. There are two main reasons for this: one is a cooking class I'm taking that is eating up my precious weekend free time; the other is my back, which has been finicky since an accident I had ten years ago, and does not like this change in seasons. It does seem to be getting better though (fingers crossed) so hopefully November will be more productive.

As for my darling Luna, she is just two partial columns shy of a finish for page 5. I really thought I'd be done with this page by now, but it's like I've got a block with her or something, so I'm putting her aside for a short while to focus on Pavonia, which I feel I've been neglecting.

It's very frustrating looking at that short bit of space, but I'm putting it out of my mind for now. I think I'm just a bit frazzled by the end of the year push to get all of my goals met. I don't know about you, but this time of year I always start thinking about all of my stitching projects, and I've already started planning for next year. It's fun to dream about what a project will look like at the end of next year, but first, I have to remind myself to focus on this year. To that end, I've made a small start on Pavonia's third set of pages, which I hope to have finished by year's end.

That dark swoop down the center is her hair, and to the right of that swoop begins her very large forehead, which I am beyond excited to get to. But first, I have to trudge through more feathers, which are still very confetti heavy and time consuming, though I wouldn't change them for the world. Her hair continues horizontally for four pages after this, just to give you an idea of how large she is.

Lastly, I'll leave you with another crochet cutie, this one made for a friend's birthday last month. She asked me for a pink zebra almost two years ago, and I finally got around to making it.

I don't think mine turned out as cute as the original, but I still like it. The pattern is from Janagurumi, here.

I suppose I'm done rambling for the moment. Hopefully I won't be another month without an update. ;)

Happy Stitching!

September WIPocalypse

Hello, stitchers! Time again for WIPocalypse, where I get to tally up my stitches for the month. But first, I would like to thank those who replied to yesterday's post. It seems like the Reading List is the way to go if you don't have Google+. Please let me know if you have any more problems though. (And I hope I didn't just jinx myself...)

Alright! Stitching! I didn't get quite as much done as I'd hoped, thanks to a large quilting project I'm doing at the moment, but still, not bad. I managed a page finish on Moon Indigo, and have started page 5, though nothing worth a picture at the moment. And of course, I started Cassiopeia! Began on the 18th, here's what she looks like now:

Cassiopeia, Sept. 28th

That border has the oddest color scheme to my eyes, but I'm going with it. This was actually the first time I've gotten to stitch with silk, and it was so awesome! This one is a beatiful Waterlilies variegation called Espresso. It changes from gray-brown, to green, to deep red and bright red. There's not much of it in the border, but it did make me nervous putting silk next to Kreinik, which is so rough. I'm starting not to like Kreinik very much, as it is so difficult to work with, but I do love the effect of the metallic. Perhaps one day I'll experiment with some different brands...

I don't really have a goal for my New Season, New Start projects other than to work on them for at least 10 days, and I actually met that goal with Cass today. (Two days to spare, yay!) Total stitches so far: 3,095. Not bad at all. I have no idea how many stitches there are, but I'm guessing it's somewhere around 35,000. So almost a tenth done? :)

This month's question is: Where do you buy most of your stitching supplies?

I buy almost everything online, as local stores just don't have the patterns nor the fabric I'm looking for. I had been buying most of my floss locally, until I realized how much cheaper that is online as well. So, yeah.

As for specific sites, there's only a few. These days, I mostly shop at 123Stitch.com. I love their fabric selection, as I usually stick to plain off white jobelan or linen for projects. Their floss is a good price, easy to pick out, and they have almost everything I'm looking for. Before I found 123, I always shopped at Julie's X-Stitch, but 123 is a bit cheaper. I really like the customer service at Julies, though, as I've had to order a few special cuts. They also have kits for all the Mirabilia patterns. I also occasionally stop by Nordic Needle. They were one of the few sites that had Rainbow Galleries Whisper, a mohair thread I need for Cass. (It's in the feathers.) And they have a few patterns that I've only seen on their site. Definitely worth a look.

Of course there are others, but I'll keep it short for now. Perhaps I'll make a links section at some point. Until next time. Happy stitching!

Trouble following my blog?

I know this has been an issue for a while, and I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post about it, but I honestly have no idea how to technology, so I was kinda stumped. But after a bit of head scratching and finger tapping, I found this entry on the blogger help forum addressing the same issue I have:

The old GFC followers gadget is not really recommended for use at this time. It is not stable and very unmanageble. Right now it only really remains on blogs/accounts for those that had it before it was discontinued for all products but Blogger. The follower's gadget you are currently using is the G+ Followers gadget and it only works if you  have chosen to use G+ with your Blogger account. If you aren't comfortable doing that ( many of us aren't), then you might want to look into third party followers widgets to add to you blog. Just be careful when adding third party content to your blog as there is no guarantee it will work with the Blogger platform indefinitely or that it isn't malicious. Only add things from trusted sites. Regardless of what type of followers gadget you decide to use, your followers will have to sign up with that system in order to be followers...which normally requires creating an account of some sort.

If you don't want to sign up for G+ (I have, but often wish I hadn't) there might be a sort of work-around to get awesome ImpStitcher updates without using GFC. I think if you add me to your "Reading List" on your blogger dashboard, you'll be given the option to follow me. It should be the same end result, just a bit more hassle-y process. (Yes, I just made up the word hassle-y.)

If anyone tries this, please let me know if it works or not. Also any other feedback or suggestions you might have are greatly appreciated!

Thanks for reading. Keep stitching!

September IHSW

Hello to all and welcome! Man, September is really flying by. IHSW is already over, and I have an official new start to show off. Yes, Cassiopeia has been on the frame for three whole days and I am thrilled to finally be working on her. I wasn't able to get as much done as I'd wanted, thanks to a quilt I'm working on for a friend, but I did manage a bit. So how 'bout a look?

Cassiopeia, Sept. 20

I've started at the bottom left hand corner, skipping over the border and going straight for that beautiful dress. I just couldn't resist all those deep teal greens and blues. So gorgeous! There is a lot of dress on this girl, so I'll be working on it for quite a while. At the moment, there are lots of big blocks of color, so it's working up pretty quickly. My total for this weekend is 1,159 stitches. I'll be sticking with Cass at least another week, then it's back to Luna to finish off page 5. Alas, all of my ladies are so demanding...

Until next time!

A Bit of Everything

Hi y'all! I'm back to show off another page finish! This time on Moon Indigo. That means four pages done, all nice and neat, and one more to go to meet my goal for this year. Here's how she looks:

Moon Indigo, Sept. 10

The moon is definitely on a downward curve, which means it's getting bigger and much more confetti heavy. I think it'll be tougher work on the sky though, which is down to two colors (mostly one, actually). Easy stitching, but kinda boring, so the moon will be a nice balance.

Also, since things are finally slowing down at work, I've managed a few other little finishes: some crochet critters and another hat.

The elephant pattern is one of my favs, but this is actually the first time I've used worsted yarn to make him. Usually I do a smaller version with sock yarn, which makes him about two inches tall (perfect for my desk at work). This one is about four inches, and sooo cute!  I'll definitely be making more in the future. If you'd like the pattern, he's from Denizmum on Etsy.

 Of course, I love the giraffes, too. I was experimenting with eyes a bit here, as safety eyes aren't really safe for small children. I call them Winky, Blinky and Pinky. :) This pattern is from djonesgirlz.

And of course, there's my hat.

This is a design by Knit Kid. It was supposed to be a woman's hat, but thanks to my laziness (not checking gauge) it's now a kid's hat. But it's still pretty, so I'm happy.

This Friday, I'm looking forward to my New Season, New Start for Fall: Mirabilia's Cassiopeia!

I fell in love with this design almost a year ago. I originally planned to start her in January, but decided to "practice" with Green Fern Fairy. But now it's Cassie's turn, and I'm super excited! I don't think I'll be getting much done this year, as I need to get back to Luna, but hopefully I can make a dent in that gorgeous dress of hers.

But despite all my current lovely ladies, I had to purchase one more. Yup, new stash, though the first in a while (and only one!)

White Queen, by Cris Ortega

This was another instant love piece, though I couldn't say what it is exactly I love about her. Probably the knife. It's kind of gruesome, but it makes her seem desperate, like she's just made a very drastic decision. And there's a lot of little details I like in this piece. The man's palm is bloody, but I don't know if he's dead. She's just cut her hair (it's on the floor) and there's a bit of blood at her nape as well. And then (totally random) she's holding a chess piece. (The White Queen?) It just raises a lot of questions. I've seen on the artist's website that this is actually an illustration from a book called Forgotten 3: The Hills of Silence. I'm tempted to read this book just to see if it matches the picture. (If anyone has, please let me know!) I'm hoping to start this one soon, like this year, hopefully, as I already have the perfect fabric in my stash. Of course, that's if I get another page done on Luna first, and then there's Pavo, and I could work more on Cass....

Wishing everyone abundant stitching this week. Until next time!