2 days of stitching

Ok first, I must say, getting a picture of this project is not easy at all! It wants to be all blurry or whatnot. Booo. But eventually, I got a picture clear enough to not be random blobs of various shades of red.



This is actually 2 days of stitching as I didn't take a pic of it last night. I was going to keep track of how many hours I stitched . . . eh that didn't happen. This might have been 10 or so between yesterday and today? Not really sure tho. Weekend stitching is great for getting a lot done. I do very much like being able to take the + color and saying, "hmmmm where's the next bit of that? Oh I see 2 blocks up and one over to the left." It's still a lot of #817 . . . but I'm doing some of that, then some of the confetti colors. I guess all the other colors are confetti since at least 2/3 of this is 817. lol


Don't think I've forgotten about Snappie, since I haven't. I just got wrapped up in Courage, plus being a bit disappointed with the measuring. I do want to pick her back up tho and try to get close to being done by Sunday's game. Probably won't happen tho.

New HAED, Courage

Ok so the first piece I tried gridding was a piece of 20-count black lugana I got on eBay. It was big enough to use for 2 different pieces, the mermaid with the aqua hair and a HAED storykeep, Courage. I've had this pattern and the corresponding one, Strength, for a while now. Actually a little over 2 years, since 9/22/09.

This is what Courage looks like. It's actually only got 11 total colors, one of which is black. So since I'm using black, I'll just have 10 then.


This is after about 8 or so hours of stitching! The gridding does seem to help find where to start things, provided, of course, that the gridding is accurate. But so far, so good.

There is a looooooot of #817 or the # symbol. I mean a looooooot! I definitely will need to go to the store and get some more of that color! I've done a good start to it, most of what I stitched was #817 and I only have 1 1/3 pieces left. (Meaning a full piece and 2 strands.) But unfortunately, AC Moore did not have any 817 today. :P I suppose I'll go on my way home from work Monday to Michael's, I think I may get 2 skeins as there is so much of that color used. I think this is going to look gorgeous! I might think about filling in the dragon at least, possibly with maybe 2 strands of black blending filament? Not sure about that tho. I do think I'll need to possibly do a running stitch or a backstitch along the outside border as the framers would maybe not get it right otherwise. It's supposed to have a bit of a black border.

Now . . . onto the "new HAED" portion of the blog entry. They have released a map of Middle Earth! As in from the Lord of the Rings books/movies! And the super cool part of it was that I had gotten The Hatchling (the one which makes me think of Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern) and QS Pirate Dragon (which makes me think of Girdlekrep the kobold from the Pathfinder game I play in) and it said on there to email Michele if there were any design ideas I'd like to see. So I did just that. And I got an email reply stating she's had one for a while and it was just released! omg . . . just like Christmas! I hopped on, even though I was not planning on buying another one, and THERE IT WAS!!!! omgimusthaveitNAAAOOOWWW! So yeah, it had to come home to me.


I think once I stitch this (no telling on how long it will be before I can even consider it!) I will be the envy of cross stitchers, nerds, and gamers everywhere. They will bow in awe of my nerdness . . . I will be queen of the nerds . . .
(ok maybe not)

Latest on Snappie

Ok so I did get some more done on Snappie. I had actually done some on Saturday and yesterday, but didn't really feel like taking a pic/updating the blog/etc. I figure I've done another 9 hours into her. I have found that the fabric is not really the size I needed for this . . . sigh . . . it will only have about an inch of space on the bottom edge and I'm trying to find out how much there will be for the top, especially that the top has a selvedge edge (or whatever it's called). But I'm really too far into this project - over 1/3 of the way done I'm guesstimating - that it's too far for me to scrap her and restart on a different piece of fabric. Oh well.



18 hours into this project now.

The latest on Snappie!

Ok, so after going back to Michael's again . . . and spending my 37 cents for a skein of 939, I then discover it is a very dark blue, hmmmmm that seems to match very well to one already in my bag . . . oh crap. I had already had it out and I couldn't find it because I was looking for a green instead of a blue. Well crap. I did the same thing with Fragile. oops

So I did decide to stitch for another 3 hours, bringing my total to 9 so far. I didn't get nearly as far as I thought I would, I will blame it on watching tv, there was a new series (Secret Circle) which I was watching . . . yeah I'll go with thaaaat. Oh well, it still won't take me long I think. So here's the latest:



9 hours into the Little Snap Dragon

Update 2 for Little Snap Dragon

Ok . . . so I picked up the skein of #798 today on my way home. Good, right? Yes? Ok . . . took a shower and started work on the piece. I was going along fairly well until . . . 939? Where's 939? I see 989, look again. I realized I think I misread 989 as both 989 and 939 . . . ugh! So I go to my box expecting to see it. No 939. And not in the bag-o-leftovers either. Sigh, one more to pick up. But I did go ahead and do all I could on the head/neck without it and aside from the gaps for 939, that bit is done. And I had stitched for 3 hours tonight. So that's 6 hours into the stitching. (I'm not counting the time I put in to de-scenting the fabric!) But even with the missing color, I'm rather pleased with this. Plus, this batch had more confetti to it, and that always takes more time. I'm looking forward to both a) getting the 939 to fill in the gaps and b) to doing the arms/hands and then the rest of the body. And of course, to get the whole picture done. I wonder how long it will take.


Started 9/13/11, 6 hours of stitching.

The Little Snap Dragon and smelly fabric

Ok so I had found a piece of what I thought (according to the listing, the pic was not good enough to tell) was 22 count Hardanger. And it would be a perfect size to stitch Rendezvous. And the whole thing cost $4.49. Well it was not 22-count Hardanger, it was 25-count lugana. While I do very much like 25-count lugana, I don't think I'll probably ever stitch on 25 over 1 again (with possibly, just maybe, the exception of maybe Dad's commissioned piece). Oh and plus . . . what a stench! Blech! So I sent the eBay seller a message saying hey, it's 25-ct lugana and it's very smelly, like cat pee or something, but I can wash it tho. So she replies saying she'll refund my money and to keep the fabric. Which - yay. So I was looking at my bookshelf (not thinking "oh what can I use the smelly fabric with once it's washed") and the first one I pull off is the Little Snap Dragon by Kustom Krafts. And lightbulb! This will be a perfect size piece!

But first . . . time to de-smell the fabric . . . far easier said than done! I'd been keeping it in the envelope it was mailed in, it was that smelly. Oh I did get that piece of 20-ct black lugana - no stinkiness - and have 2 projects in mind for that - the HAED SK Courage and a pattern of a mermaid with aqua green hair I got on eBay years ago (lots of confetti I think . . .). But anyway, back to the stinky. I washed it twice in cold water with my, well it's not soap, cleaning agent I guess to call it. It's this nifty stuff called Mountain Mist Quilt Wash. You never, ever should use Woolite - that leaves residue on your fibers. I've only ever had to wash 2 items in the 19 1/2 years I've been stitching, but I got a bottle so if I ever had to, I could. There's also something called Orvus, but I've never used that. And when I wash something like this, I swish it around and then let it soak for a while, at least 20 minutes. Ok . . . more like 3 hours because I forget to go back and take it out/change the water.

So . . . after 2 washes, you'd think that'd be nice and clean-smelling, right? Wroooooong! No it still smelled awful! So after consulting with Mom and finding out we did indeed have OxyClean, I decided to add some of that. I remember Grandma K used that on the hummingbird piece that my aunt's dog stole and stepped on it when I was still working on it for my other aunt. I don't remember how many washes, but she finally got it soooo light - and it's on the back - you could barely see it. Plus it did help that most of his paw print was in the border area which was not stitched, so it was covered by the frame. I got that same Hummingbird Society picture last year I think on eBay. So I combined the OxyClean with the MMQW . . . oh noes! Still somewhat smelly! Ack, cannot win! Tho now it smelled musty/moldy. So I took that darn piece of fabric and laid it out on the tub floor (it was clean) and sprinkled 2 whole scoops of OxyClean on the thing, one on each side, and scrubbed at it. Then after that soaking, I rinsed it really well and let it soak. Ok . . . is it good now?

sniff . . . sniff . . . nooooooo! Still smelly!

Dammit, I didn't want to use Febreeze . . . since one of the ingredients listed is perfumes. But at this point it was getting - ok already past getting - ridiculous! So I hung it up and spritzed the heck out of it! Then I let it dry. I went back and . . . almost the whole thing had no smell! There was just oooooonne little bit left. Febreeze bomb it!!!! Let it dry. sniff . . . sniff . . . omg . . . there is no smell. No smell?! Wooooooooo! So then I washed it one more time with the MMQW, rinsed/soaked it 2 more times and let it drip dry. Then it was time to iron it and it could then be a home for my Little Snap Dragon.

I think I earned that piece of fabric.

So after that whole debacle, you probably want to know what this Little Snap Dragon looks like?

This is what the Little Snap Dragon will look like:

It's sooo cute! I have a definite penchant for little, cute dragons! I think she'll kind of go with the little sad pink dragon (HAED SK Fragile that I submitted for the rewards program), he might like a friend.

This is how far I have gotten after a little over 3 hours of stitching.

Wow! Sooo much faster than a HAED! lol

So she'll be about 14 by 20 according to my calculations, perfect for this piece of fabric - 20 by 27 (well ish, some of the strands frayed off with all the washing). It won't matter tho if it's not exactly 3" around since I'm centering her. I'm stitching her on this piece of 25-count ivory lugana, stitched over 2 with 3 strands. Yes, I usually do stitch 25 over 2 with 2 strands, but I wanted a lot of coverage. I mean it wasn't bad with the 2, but I much prefer the 3 for this particular piece. Oh . . . I should have done 2 with 2 strands of blending filament! Never mind, I have already started her. Oh well. It's sooo funny to be stitching on 25 over 2 after having worked on Tannith for quite a while on 25 over 1 . . . these are HUUUUUUGE! I think I may see how long it takes for the dragon to be stitched before going back to Tannith. Don't worry, I'm not setting her down (and will still take her to work in case I actually eat lunch, I can work on her then), I just think that this will be sooo quick to stitch.

Ugh

I am so disappointed in the piece of fabric I received today. The only good things I can say about it are that it a) only cost $4.49 and b) it shipped relatively quickly. That's about it. I mean ok don't get me wrong, the fabric is not bad fabric but it is NOT what I paid for. The eBay listing clearly stated 22-count ivory Hardanger fabric. I did not get 22-count ivory Hardanger fabric, I got 25-count ivory lugana fabric (or possibly jobelan or monaco fabric, but I don't think those come in 25-count. Oh . . . and it gets better. The seller mentions they have cats. Well it smells like they peed on the fabric. I really didn't want to use 25 over 1 for Rendezvous. :( I suppose I'll have to just suck it up and buy the yard of it that's listed. I did send the seller an email/message telling them that they totally sucked. I mean I was nice and all, but that is definitely misrepresented. Plus . . . stinky cat pee smell. I said something like I'll have to wash it before it can be used for anything. But it's just disappointing. :(

Ok so I was a bit bad

Ok so I was a bit bad. I spent money. Buuut on the other hand, I did get a temp job, so I could justify spending some money.

I found a nice piece of 22-count I think ivory colored fabric which will be big enough to stitch Rendezvous on.
In case you forgot, this is what Rendezvous looks like:

It reminds me of Tannith & Corsaire. It also only has like 50 colors (lol "only" . . . I suppose references go a bit skewed when stitching HAED's). But I counted up, and I have probably half of the colors from this in the Tannith one. I'm waiting to put up a pic after I get a significant portion done on that one. It's going to take me a bit longer now that I'm working again. Plus I've not even worked on Heart of the World for a while. But hey, $4.49 is an excellent price for the piece of fabric I got for Rendezvous.

I also spent money to get a piece of 20-count black lugana. I've used 25 count, both stitched over 1 and stitched over 2. But I was thinking 20-count black lugana might just be what I'm hoping for for Healers Touch. I don't really want to stitch almost 40,000 black stitches, so black fabric sounds like a plan . . . buuut I don't like the look of aida and black 25 count will be a pain to stitch, so 20 count black lugana might be the best of all possbilities. :)

(I also won a nightmare mini on eBay - I cannot find the one I had bought before and while I think it was at home, it could possibly be in the pod. If I find it, I can always list this one.)

I also couldn't find my Mystic Stitch chart for Housework. I had gotten it a couple of years ago, but wasn't in any rush to stitch it. I even got the 32 count lugana in the "voodoo" combination - it's a bit softer than the linen colors, but still maroon and orange. The fabric is sitting on my shelf of videos. But I cannot find the pattern anywhere! I've looked for months around the house and still cannot find it. :( I don't think it was in the pod, but I'm starting to think I've lost my mind (also I can't seem to find the Robin Hood/Sherwood Forest one either, but I don't want to stitch that now)

Soooo . . . what to do to remedy this? I bought a new one. I just have to work 3 hours to pay for the Mystic Stitch order. I'm ok with that.

This is Housework. She'll be stitched on that voodoo fabric, so instead of a black background (which is supposed to be stitched . . . yeah right so not gonna) it will be a maroon/orange one.


This is the other one I bought - Night Shade II - this is the smaller version. There's also a HAED, but that's bigger than either one and I want her to go with Housework really well, so I'm doing the smaller one. I don't know what color I want for her background tho. I kind of think a blue. I think they'll go really well together, like opposites - red/blue, facing opposite ways, etc. I didn't see any other designs like that and I kind of like that they're a pair.


And Mystic Stitch is running a sale where if you buy 2 patterns, you get 2 free. So since I decided to get both my backgroundless witches and that made twooooo . . . I could pick 2!

So I picked Belladonna. She would be a good character picture, I'll have to remember that.


And the other free one I picked was Lissander.


I didn't get this one, but I think it's very striking. There's a 3 baby ghosts one I like too . . . I'd need to pick another 2 for the sale, tho it'll probably end before I get more patterns . . . tho that 3 baby ghosts would go well with that one ghost chick pattern that reminds me of Helena Ravenclaw aka the Grey Lady. Oh well . . .

Ok . . . monkey bib!

Ok now I can put up a pic of the monkey bib! It's all done! Woooo yay me! Done and on it's way to Brigette. I have to say this is the most akward piece of stitching I've ever done, and that includes a pocket of a hot pink t-shirt I stitched a pair of bunny rabbits on many years ago learning how to use waste canvas. I remember stitching that . . . I was visiting my granny and watching the series after "Are You Being Served" it was their PBS fund-raising bits. Ah yes, memories . . .
Ok so back to the monkey bib. Yeah, I had to hold my hand in a weird sort of way to be able to reach the back of the stitching area. Plus I'm not sure about this whole pocket thing, but hey I'm not washing it, so I don't care if it gets food in there. So I thought it would take foreeeeee-ver to stitch the second monkey. I just kept getting soooo bored with the first one, like "are we there yet" with little kids/road trips. But Brigette, who was never like get it done NAOW, did gently ask how it was coming, since said baby was due soon. So I buckled down and told myself "no Tannith until the monkey bib is done!" And 8 hours later, the second monkey was totally done and the 3 little hearts I added as well. And it was funny, I was like I think this will take me about 8 hours. And it did.



So I can't remember if I posted this or not, but this is the butterfly UFO I finished a few weeks ago. So I decided I'd send this with the monkey bib, since Brigette loves butterflies! :) One more finish for 2011 and a home for it, yay.


So because I was working very hard on the second monkey, as well as on the internet a while, I just haven't worked as much on Tannith as I thought. Plus . . . on that gold medalion bit on her skirt, I have hit confetti! I mean it's not uber-bad, like evidently almost every page of Mystic Stitch's Once Bitten (according to the lady stitching her, who btw, I think my "I want to stitch as fast as Angella" whinging has helped me get faster, has reported it is). But still there is confetti. But once I get that and maybe some of the green on the right side done, I'll take another pic. I do want to find the black on that part, I'm almost nervous, not really, maybe more a bit iffy, to just count over from the left bit, near the top of her butt. Like I'm afraid I'll count a bit skewed. Plus . . . a lot of black isn't that much to stitch in a block, even if it's best to do that first if possible.

I'm not sure how fast she'll be stitching up now since I'm supposed to start a new temp assignment on Tuesday [crosses fingers] so I won't have as much free time. But that's ok, I need a job. (I missed the temp agent lady's call and she was gone by the time I checked my vm so I hope I still have a job.)