February Wrap Up

Well, February wasn't the best stitchy month for me, but I did reach a major goal, so it wasn't a total loss. I think February always throws me off because it's such a short month, and this year I was sick, plus there's been so much snow! Earlier this week, we had ice in the morning, which caused a lot of havoc, but I chose to stay home and stitch. :)

I haven't updated in two weeks, so here's what I was working on two weeks ago, my French Lavender kit by Riolis:

Please ignore the hoop marks. :) I worked on this for 6 days because I just couldn't put it away. I was tempted to keep going on this one, but I think I'll stick to my rotation for now. I was so happy to finally get the bottom of the basket done. I even backstitched it! The only bad thing is that I didn't notice one of the symbols in the leaves was supposed to be done in half stitch, and I did full crosses. I was debating just leaving it, but I think I'll restitch it after all. I like the textured effect it gives. And I'll have to take better pictures next time so you can see better. (Sorry!)

Luna did not get much attention in February, so I only managed a column and a half:

I'm still hoping to finish this page in March, so I'm still on track. It just feels like I'm going really slow on her lately.

This week I also worked on Stars by The Drawn Thread and managed a finish!

I got a lot done the day of the ice storm, so I just had to keep going to the end. The vines at the bottom were supposed to have buttons attached, but I didn't want to do that, so I stitched some red flowers instead. On the left, those are Leviathan stitches, which is a variation of the stitch used on the vine at the top. On the right, I did tiny Jessica stitches using a diagram I found on Google. Those were really easy and just add a little something different. So here's the full view:

I wish I knew how to get a better picture, but my phone just doesn't like to cooperate. But you get the idea. I'll have to custom frame this one, so it will be a while, but I'm so happy to have this done. This brings my wip count down to 67? I think? :)

That's all for now, I guess. I might start updating every 2 or 3 weeks now, just because I've got so much going on. We're really behind at work, so there should be a lot of overtime in my future. Hopefully I can keep up with stitching though. (Fingers crossed!) So, until next time! Happy stitching!

French Lavender

Just a quick update today on French Lavender, my kit from Riolis. I only got 4 days of stitching on this, but there is some visible progress:

My original plan was to finish off the basket this week, but after the first day, I really wanted to stitch with some color. So, I've started some of the leaves on the right side of the basket, and it was hard not to keep going up that side. But I really want that basket done! I should have it done next time though, and I'll probably do the backstitching there, too. I also started the shadow underneath, and I think it adds a little depth.

See? Short and sweet. Not all my posts are rambly. :) Next week I'll be working on Stars. Until next time!

November Wrap Up

Well, I didn't get in as many stitches this month as I'd hoped, but I was still fairly productive so I shouldn't complain. November was actually a stressful month for me at work with training people and deadlines; and when I'm really stressed at work, I'm usually too tired to stitch in the evenings, which really stinks. But I've been really conscious lately of how lucky I am to have my stitching in the first place, so I try not to let setbacks get me down. :)

Last week, I pulled out and older kit I started in 2016. Sad to say, I'd only stitched on it for 6 days in 2 years. So that has to change. This is a Riolis kit called French Lavender, stitched with wool on 14ct Aida:

It finally looks like I'm making progress! I've felt stagnant with this piece for a while, and I think it's because the color blocks are smaller and so randomly placed, it's hard to find a "path" for my needle to follow. It's not confetti, really, but a lot of stop and start stitching. Plus, the wool thread has to be used in much shorter lengths than I'm used to, so it's a constant balancing act between picking areas to stitch and not wasting thread. Finally, I decided to work on the basket as a way to ground my approach, and it seems to be working so far. The wool is still great to work with, but it does feel like a totally different type of stitching.

Next up is the Marquise de Caumont La Force. I'd hoped to get the first page completely done, but turns out that would mean completing 5 diagonals. I won't say I didn't try, but 3 diagonals felt like a good stopping point:

Yes, I'm still stitching that dark green/brown background. It looks boring, but it's really easy to stitch, so I'm enjoying it. I think the top of her hair is at the bottom of page 3, but it'll be many years before I get to anything interesting with this one.

But here's something interesting: I've finished a row on Luna! I am so pleased about this. Here's the before:

And since I had to adjust the frame, here's the full picture:

Isn't she just so pretty? :) I love seeing how far she's come along. I've already got her rolled up and started on the next page, so it's back to stitching the darker sky again. Hopefully I can finish a couple more columns this year.

Finally, here are my Temperature SAL updates. Can you believe there's just one month to go?

So, it's definitely cooling down now. It's interesting to see the symmetry of colors play out. It has been a colder year than usual, I think. We've already had some significant snow here, and usually that stuff holds off 'til the end of December. We'll see how the next month looks.

Okay, that's all I've got for now. Back to stitching! :)

WIPocalypse Challenge #4

Yes, another update. :) The Rotation Challenge continues!

Monday I worked on a new start, but this is actually planned as a gift for a friend's birthday in October. The design is fairly small, so I should get it done in time. This is from My Big Toe designs, called He Holds Tomorrow:

This is actually my first time using overdyed cotton (that's Monkey Grass from Weeks). I don't always do one stitch at a time, but I can still see a subtle color change, if I look really hard. The scrollwork was a lot of fun and worked up quickly. Looking forward to getting back to this again. Stitching this on 32ct Jobelan.

Tuesday called for something easy, so I pulled out another newer start, but one I haven't posted about before. This is another HAED, called Blood by Melanie Delon:

 I started this in March, I think, because why not? :) Actually, I really love this image, though it's hard to pinpoint why. There's just something about her stance and expression, and that wispy black smoke. And, my favorite color is gray. (Weird, I know.) Melanie says this is a portrayal of one of her RPG characters, which probably explains why she looks so fierce. I've started on page one, working on 25ct Pewter Lugana in tent stitch:

Most of a row done, not bad for an hour. But at the moment, it's only two colors. :)

On a side note, if anyone is wondering, I always like to work horizontally across a page when I use tent stitch. Every time I try tent stitching in vertical columns, I end up with "humps" and a visible separation between each column, even when I try to stitch across grid lines. I don't get that stitching across. I believe this is a tension issue, since loose tension lets the fabric pull more, but I have yet to try tent stitching on my Millennium frame. At some point I will though, and I'll probably share the results when I do. :)

So today, Wednesday, I went back to one of my Riolis kits, French Lavender:

It's still a blob, but the blob is growing! I still love stitching with this wool. It's sooo soft, and it hardly tangles at all. I'm still stitching in the shadows for the moment, but once I get to the lighter colors, they will seem all the more vibrant. Man, too many projects I don't want to put down!

For the Distance Challenge, I've finally hit a milestone with Scale and finished page 7!

I think she looks awesome. The nose looks so real, like it jumps off the fabric. This is one of those designs where the color choices during stitching seem really odd, but the result is stunning. I've already made a small start on page 8, so we'll see how much I can get done before the challenge ends on Sunday.

That's all for now. See you again soon! :)

Riolis Kit Review

Hello again! I've been kind of busy this week, but I've got a lot to ramble about show you. :)

This week I got started on some fresh pages for Flora:

I'm working two pages at once, since the lower page is just a small partial. Had a string of good days, so I managed just over 1700 stitches here. I think I've got the bits of her dress done, and a sort of outline on the big red flower at the bottom left. The mess of stitches across the upper half will someday be a bunch of grapes, plus a few more flowers. You can never have too many flowers. :)

I also finally pulled out Scale, though I didn't get quite as much done this week as I'd hoped:

I've decided to work down instead of across, so I've been stitching her left eye and bits of her nose. In fact, this whole page will be her very large nose. I'm hoping to get two pages done this year -- her nose and her cheek, to the right. Unfortunately, I don't think this will be very exciting to look at. Most of the color is on the far left; the page for her cheek is almost entirely white, with ecru for contrast. Not visually stimulating, but it does stitch up fairly quickly.

I've got Scale on a scroll frame now instead of a q-snap, and I bought a little something to help with the tension, so I thought I'd share:

 I've seen these on some of the Russian flosstube videos, and decided to buy them along with my Riolis kits. I have no idea what they're called, they were listed on ebay as "side stretch canvas". They were $10 for a pair, and are really simple and easy to use. The ends loop around the frame, then you weave the elastic around the side of your frame and attach a little clip. There are 5 clips, each removable, and they have a really good grip. Once they're on, you can tighten them up for more tension, as the ends are completely adjustable. I don't know if it will still be there, but I got mine here. The tension is not as good as a q-snap, but it's better than it was.

Finally, I did find time to play with my Riolis kits. (Actually, I couldn't wait anymore!) And I took lots of pictures. :)

First of all, the wool thread was packaged differently in a couple kits. My Sweet William kit looked like this:

All the thread is presorted and carded, all ready to go. Makes it really hard not to jump right in and start stitching. :)

But my French Lavender kit looked like this:

Just like Pastoral, a sample of each color is in it's proper place on the numbered card sorter, but the wool itself didn't even have a label. This wasn't really a problem; they were actually very well organized and in order, and the color differences are clear. But it did cause me a bit of trouble (though I shoulda knowed better).

My first inclination was to bobbinate all that thread, knowing it would be a hassle. I actually did okay for a few seconds; then I had a nightmare around my wrist. 30 minutes later, I had to use the scissors (but all the thread is still usable). So, lesson learned, here's how I managed.

Each skein starts out like this:

With a bit of finessing, it pulls apart to this:

But don't stop there! Carefully, so the threads don't tangle, you can find another seam where the thread was looped. Pull gently, watching the threads, and you get this:

I didn't find that seam at first when I started winding my first skein. I quickly realized my mistake, but I think it was too late. So in subsequent skeins, I decided to simply cut it here:

This results in fairly uniform lengths for each skein, at around 18-19 inches long. (You know, that "ideal length" they use in them fancy needlework schools?) At this point, I could have attached it directly to the card provided, but I wanted to use another fancy item I bought a few months back: little plastic rings:

After seeing how neat all those HAED kits looked, with all the floss sorted onto cards and kept in place with plastic rings, I thought I might use such a system to kit up my Golden Kite designs, as having identically cut lengths of thread is ideal for blended colors. I know that HAED sells them (or did at the time) but I thought their price a little high. So, I went hopping through the interwebs until I found The Ring Lord, a Canadian company that specializes in these things (though I think they're intended for cosplay?). Anyway, I got 100 half inch rings for just $5! Shipping to the US was also $5, but that's still a heck of a deal. And they work perfectly:

Isn't that pretty? Once I got going, this worked out pretty quickly, just 20 minutes or so. Then I just had to try it out!

This is a about three hours of stitching on French Lavender, starting in the middle. The fabric is 14ct, and it's kind of terrible at first. The edges are really sharp, and it's stiff at first, but it is softening up with time and handling. And the thread is wonderful! Very soft and smooth, easy to thread, easy to work with, the coverage is great, and I haven't had any tangling or knots (and I don't use thread conditioner). If you want to change the fabric on one of these, I wouldn't go smaller than 16ct for 2 strands, or it would be too bulky.

So that's it! I hope showing the wool thread helped anyone who might have been indecisive about trying out a Riolis kit. It's really not that scary, and they do have some wonderful designs. Hope I didn't ramble too much, and let me know if you have questions. Until next time! :)