4,581

What is this large number? You're probably asking that. Why it's just the number of stitches of 032 #4 Krenik braid in SK Logan. Of course the number for the full size Buzz is almost 25,000, so not as much as all that. Still, that's not a small number by any means. Though it will be quite sparkly when it's done. I had pulled out from my "extra floss" all the colors I had so I didn't have to either go buy floss (hey use what I've got) or broach my stash. Of course, I know that there are some colors that are probably in QS Snowflake or SK Forbidden Doorway. So I'll see what is in those when I run out of the "extra floss". I've got another 10 colors yet to start. I'm currently working on 3, though one is that #4 braid. I'm alternating the braid with floss. I can see where the cat is and the flowers and some of the greenery. I know I've got extra skeins of 310, I might pull that out and do that before going back to Snow. I will use 3 strands of black, I like to give extra coverage on the black, and of course be sure to railroad it. I dislike when the background shows through. I'm thinking he's going to look stunning. Of course, I keep thinking, of I should stitch this or oH I should stitch that. I need more hours in the day. And a job (I have put in like 14 job applications so far this week). And the winning lottery numbers.

RAK

There's a wonderful little program/ability/whatever you want to call it on the HAED site called RAK - Random Act of Kindness. That's where you can buy a chart, but rather than downloading it (or having it mailed to you if you get a printed copy), you send it on to someone else. Granted, I don't have the money to do so, though I've several people I've wanted to send charts to. Oh if only I won the lottery. lol some people just to see how fast it could be stitched, there are some ladies I've spoken with on FB that simply amaze me with the speed they stitch. I swear they have +2 Needles of Haste or something. But I digress. On one of the FB groups, someone suggested that there should be a document with email addies on it/names/etc so if someone wanted to RAK another, they could. Seeing the phrase "I got rakked!" makes my mind go wait what? it doesn't sound like it's a good thing, though it is.

Sooo . . . I checked my email after being ofline since Friday night and I saw I had not one but two emails telling me I had something rakked to me! Wow! lol though they did have lots to choose, there are so many I like, my preeescious . . . So I got Faces of Fairy 185 (the red "I am ninja") by JBG from Liz D. and QS Poisionous Beauties, also by JBG from Michelle D! I'll post pics in a bit as I'm on Netty at the moment. I'm deciding if I am so tired that I can't stay awake long enough to turn Tagetarl on and download the charts (and post the pics) or if I should just crash until after church (hopefully). I probably should be responsible and go to bed as I've just yawned so largely I couldn't see anything. It was a very long day babysitting (during my friend's work and then when she went to the ER for jaw pain, there wasn't much they could do for her) and then another friend came over to do the laundry and then we sat around talking for hours. Yup, gonna crash.

As promised, here are the beauties!:

Faces of Fairy 185:



I am ninja, you are ninja . . . ok enough of Ask A Ninja (YouTube it if you've not seen it, the Pirates of the Carribean is hilariouuuusss!) I, of course, like to have pairs if there are pairs, so eventually, I'll get FoF 187, who is her blue companion . . . lol I should stitch this one and then submit her for 187 as the reward! This little lady is the more eye-catching of that pair, with all the red. Plus, I think I remember reading about how red is a lucky color in Asian societies (Chhinese culture)? I forget where I read or heard that, but I think I did. But if it is, that can't be a bad thing. I used to not like red that much, but over time, I think I do.

And QS Poisionous Beauties:



She reminds me of Poison Ivy, who I loved when Uma Thurman played her. I had said oh no you shouldn't add anything else to the wishlist . . . that resolution was broken when I saw Michele's had added her to my newsfeed. I'm terrible. lol I used to not like JBG's work - the eyes looked too big and the whole thing looked strange, but then I found QS Rose Fairy. Which I will probably work on later this year, must finish confetti. But now I like them more and more, plus, I tend to want to collect sets, like I'm still somewhat annoyed Revenge of the Sith will never be on VHS, I have all the others on VHS and episodes 4 - 6 in two different box sets. Dammit George Lucas, you messed up my symetry. But anyway, there are other QS's that are like QS Rose Fairy, so they're on my wish list as well. Then I was like oooh this is pretty, that's pretty . . . the HAED site is dangerous. lol

SK Logan

Wow . . . two blog posts in one day, well technically two days since it's after midnight, and therefore a different day? Well the last one was just a "oooh I saw something nifty!" sort of post, while this one is an actual update post. And rather than on Snow, it's Logan.

I got kind of sick of looking at blue and blue-like colors while working so diligently (ok maybe not that diligently, but at least attempting to steadily work on) QS Snowflake. But I don't know what was going on, but when I selected colors, it seemed to take me forever to get through them. I didn't think there was a terribly great amount of confetti, but I suppose there is. Oh well, she will look stunning once I find all the stitches on her. It's like there's at least one - and usually more than that - that have taken ninja lessons and hide from me when I'm going through and marking the pattern and then stitching them. I'm always like, "wait, how did I miss that, where did it come from?" And I just made myself think of Ask A Ninja when I mentioned ninjas. I am ninja, you are ninja, we are ninjaaa too . . . ok enough of that.

So . . . being as I wanted something other than blue and blue-like colors, I decided something vibrant would be a good idea. And the little ziplock baggie containing the threads of Logan were indeed bright and vibrant. So while I wanted to hurry up and stitch Snow and get her done for the rewards program, I decided to keep interest in stitching would be important as well. So I decided, the ladybug wings are a nice large vibrant section, I'll stitch that. And so I did just that. Then I decided well, there is a little patch of that light yellow and the not-as-quite-yellow yellow right next to it. And of course, there is always more Krenik to be stitched. There's lots in the Logan pattern, so if you loathe it, this is not the pattern for you. Though, you could always just skip the Krenik, or substitute something else instead. Then I started looking at the pattern and found all the rest of the not-quite-as-yellow yellow and the light yellow . . . and hey wait I have this light gold color, I could find those and . . . So evidently I'm going to be working on this one a little bit more than I thought.

But that's ok since the rewards program will last from June 30, 2012, to August 31, 2012. I thiiiiink I can get both Snow and Logan done by then. Of course, that still leaves Doorway waiting to have her page 2 worked on. But she's just going to have to wait.



Soooo . . . here's Logan's progress, there will be more updates when I've gotten further along.



Not too bad for about 5 days, especially when I have been distractable and antsy. I looked at my stack of UFOs and USOs and WIPs and organized it and things like that. I decided I should set my mind to finishing at least one of my UFOs from the red World Wildlife Federation bag where I keep most of my oldest UFOs. Now which shall I pick? I'm kind of leaning towards Silent Night, which is done on black aida and has a bunch of animals in a winter sceene with snow on the ground and a big star in the sky. Since that one might be the closest to being done. Plus, I would love to see the finished piece and to be able to share it with my viewers. So . . . what does that mean?

Welllll . . . that means I need to finish QS Snow, SK Logan, and page 2 of Doorway as soon as possible. Because I want to also finish one of the UFOs, maybe even two if I do both Silent Night aaaand say the space tiger. Then I also reaaaally want to stitch QS Rose Fairy. She's the little darling I am going to stitch in memory of Granny, who passed away April 2011. And I really want to also stitch QS Lotus Wood and Rendezvous. And the Middle Earth map. And my stocking. And the skating penguins . . . I need a 48 hour day or something like that.

Chocolate D&D dice

I just found these nifty instructions on how to make molds for D&D dice. I think I would like to make this and then make sets of D&D dice in chocolate for my gaming friends and then sell them. (Maybe also individual sets of molds of D&D dice.) How cool would that be? Oh now I want some chocolate . . .

Nifty!

Well I am ticked! I just checked the White Willow Stitching website, as Jamie of White Willow had commented on my post in the White Willow Facebook group that she would be posting my finished piece in the gallery. And she did, which the nifty part is that it's the first on the page. Sweeeet. So here's the finished gallery page of White Willow Stitching. Plus, when you're finished drooling over those lovely finished pics (the tribals are very popular lately!), you can go and see what you can find on the rest of the website. I've got a bunch (probably too many to stitch in a lifetime, but hey I'm gonna live forever, right?) of the patterns on my wishlist. My last foray into ogling, I mean looking, at the website found me a darling little pattern of a couple of frogs on a lilypad with a big pink flower. Somehow I'd missed this being added to the patterns. Granted, I'm looking for a full-time job and money is very tight, but one day, I'll add some more White Willows to my cross stitch librarty. Plus, I have the Samwise Gamgee pattern, so I really should get the other Hobbit patterns (and Legolas). I'm a big LOTR nerd afterall. (tho when I will have the time to stitch them all and then more importantly, the money to frame them . . . must win lottery . . . ) http://www.whitewillowstitching.com/finishedpatterns.html

I know I know

I thought I would do better this year, but evidently life keeps getting in my way. So I have gotten many things done since the last blog post. Plus I just started a new blog, For Sale, which is the various sorts of craft things I make and can sell and how much they are. (Plus the Facebook game called Bejweled Blitz is a little eeevil!) I've got to remember to edit this one to post pics, as it's a pain in the butt on my netbook.

Sooo since my last post I have gotten more things done. I got page 1 of SK Forbidden Doorway with about 2 weeks to spare until the next page came out.



My problem was then that it was like "but didn't I finish that one?" when it was only page 1 I finished with.



Plus . . . again I got distracted. I still have not finished the Ecclesiastes piece I'd started on the rest of the green aida.

I did find loads of patterns and kits I would like tho lol . . .

I started and finished a piece for my sister in memory or our granny, who passed away April 2011. She picked out Rosefly, which is available from White Willow Stitching. I hand dyed a piece of 28 count white evenweave which I stitched over 2 threads with 2 strands (full crosses). I think it took three or so weeks? I forget now. I got it framed at AC Moore, using this nifty black wood frame that has this interesting lattice on it that looks like a rose trellis. My sister decided she liked that one best as well, which is what we went with. :) Now I'm just waiting for her to pick it up.



I finally got SK Fragile framed! Yay! It took about 3 extra weeks and quite a pain in the butt to finally get done. The first frame was out of stock and then the framing place never did get it in. But they sent it back to allow me to select another frame. Which I did. But it finally did get all put together and is now safely on my wall.





Which made me realize ooops I took the nail I had had my Daniel Radcliffe picture hanging. Tho that was ok, since I was still waiting for them to send in the correctly sized mat. That took a couple of tries, but I was able to take it down there Wednesday and Tim popped him out of the frame, took off the offending one, positioned the new one and after cleaning the glass, finally put it all back together. And Daniel looks so very happy to have a mat that fits right. Plus, I decided I was going to find a nail and hang him up. I was going to put him back on the same wall he'd originally been on . . . then I saw where there was a space between my light switch and my entertainment center . . . so there he went! And looks quite happy there.

I've been planning where I want things to go when I move to the bottom floor. Even for things I've not even started stitching. lol

I also retroactively gridded Legend. Yes, that Legend. The one I haven't worked on since 2009. I also stitched a bit further along on it during the Memorial Day weekend. One day, it'll be done. I also found that while I started counting correctly, I did not continue counting correctly . . . oops.



Speaking of retroactively gridding, I gridded Heart of the World. It took me about 5 tries at the beginning. I also cut and then gridded a piece to stitch QS Rose Fairy on. Not sure when I will get to her, but I'd love to get her finished or maybe started by November 4th, which was Grandma K's birthday.

I think I also worked a little on the tribal butterfly. And also Tannith. Tribal Butterfly, from White Willow Stitching, stitched on linen (I think either 28 or 32 count) with Caron's Waterliles silk:



And here's a bit of sleeve of Tannith:





I finished SK Strength to go with SK Courage - some of the time, I doubted if it would look right, but I knew it should since there is a finished picture on the HAED website. It took until right at the end of each page before it all fell into place. it almost looks like there is a second shadow dragon in the piece. Courage is bold, while Strength can be subtle. And both of them are currently waiting for my friend Julia to frame them (no idea when that will be tho). She paid me with patterns, one of which is QS Snowflake.



Speaking of QS Snowflake, I am currently working on her. Well ok, I decided I wanted to work on some crocheting this week, but still. I started her May 2nd and thought I'd be further along with her. But then again, I was also working on other pieces (like Doorway) and didn't stitch the whole time. I've been able to work on her some of the time at my temp job. It had originally been a full time job, but they realized it was about 4 hours or so, and some of the time, I have to wait. At least this way, I can keep busy. Snow is going to look amazing once I actually get her done. Why am I stitching her? For the HAED rewards program of course! This is what she will look like:



Here's the last picture I took, I've gotten further on her though:



I decided I would select the Flower Fairy SK for SK Strength. And for QS Snowflake, I was going to originally maybe pick QS Paddy's Luck or something like that. But then I realized she really kind of goes with QS Bubbles. So that's waht I'm going to pick for her. And I realized I might just have enough time (since the reward program is June 30 - August 31) to maybe get SK Logan done. Plus I want to make him for Mom, since she loves ladybugs.

There is a ton of Krenik #4 braid on that one! lol It's a good thing I love Krenik! I had started him and decided to concentrate on Snow. Which wouldn't be bad, except ooops . . . one of my felt tip pens accidentally went in my TBBT bag with no cap on and bled through the bag . . . and the bottom margin of Logan. I washed and washed and washed and rinsed and rinsed and rinsed and washed and rinsed again the darn thing. It's a lighter raspberry now. I will have to frog the bottom bit of the krenik as it's now sort of a pink color and oh well there will just be a bit on the bottom that will be pinkish. It will make it an original. I have a picture of him, but it's mostly white/sparkly krenik on white aida but with a patch of yellow, so not much to see yet.

Oooookay . . . I want to finish the two arms of the little girl bear I started early yesterday morning and then maybe try to get some done on Snow. And remember to go on the other computer and post pics. And stitch some more.

Ok it's been a while

I know, it's been a while since I last blogged. I've been busy and kept forgetting. Ooops.

Ok, let's see . . .

I finished Courage! I finished that on December 31, 2011 - with about an hour and a half left to go in 2011. lol only I will go to a New Years party and take my stitching. I can still be social.




I then started Strength when I got home. There are like twice the colors and about 50 times the confetti. lol This is page 1:

And this is page 2:



But I'm now on the last page and am hoping to get it done soon - like by Saturday! lol That's when the 62% sale at AC Moore for custom framing ends. Julia and I had gone a couple of weeks ago while it was still 61% off then and had them put together the mat/frame combos we liked. They printed up a paper she can take back in when she goes to put them in. They are gonna looke totally awesome when they're framed.
I'll post pics either later by editing the post or when I get on firefox if it doesn't post on IE.

I did start SK Forbidden Doorway, but haven't gotten very far. For several reasons. 1) I restarted it like 2 rows (I gridded) lower than the original start. 2) I have been working on other things. My original start was in the upper left corner, but I didn't like how far up I was - little room at the top with much more at the bottom. (She's being stitched on 22-count Hardanger, so far so good.) When I restarted her, I decided to do all the krenik #4 braid, which is on her skin. I worked on her for a few days after the 1st page of Strength was done, then again after the 2nd page was done. Then I got distracted on day 2 of my "2 or 3 days working on Doorway". Here she is, though it's not a gret picture:



What distracted me? My nephew, Logan, decided to a) join their church and then b) was getting baptized (which has happened). So I had decided I wanted to make him a bookmark for his bible. (btw - I say "my nephew" but that's because Julia told her kids to call me "Aunt Sarah" which I love) Sooo . . . I was going to stitch some angels, but then kept looking through my stash. I found a lovely, mostly backstitched bookmark. It had a church/house and says "as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" and the verse. It took me like 6 or 7 hours total to stitch. I decided to stitch it on 14-count green aida and change the colors.



Then . . . I got further distracted by the pattern on the page accross from that one - a filagree/vining border around part of Ecclesiates 3:1. I realized the rest of the piece of green 14-count aida would work. Then I decided I would do the backstitched words in gold #4 braid, the roses in some of that rayon/satin dmc floss, backstitching those in a slightly darker color, and the filigree/leaves/vines in silver #4 braid. I still need to finish the bottom and to pick out a much darker color for backstitching, but I'm over halfway done. I just put that one down so that I could go back to Strength. Plus, I will need more silver braid - it was a brand new spool and I'm 2/3 done with it. lol

Ok . . . so off to grab a gerbil and work on Strength!