Whine and WIPs Week Two and Miss Valentine

For the last week, I've been working on my second project for the Whine and WIPs SAL in Stitch Maynia, Butterfly Rose Cross from HAED.

I've been working one hour a day on the piece each day before I do any other stitching. This is where I started back on July 8th:

And here is where I ended up seven hours of work later:

There is A LOT of blue in this piece, but I was able to finish one shade (3768) before moving onto the next most prevalent color I had left on this page (161). I really think that the next time this piece comes up, if I work hard, I might be able to have a page finish, which would be exciting! I will be starting another Whine and WIPs piece today and will share what a week of working on it will bring next week!

I also worked on Miss Valentine by Mirabilia yesterday:

Here is where I stopped with her yesterday:

Lots and lots of pink! I'm doing her on 28 Jobelan in Amour from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie using the called for Crescent Colorworks flosses. I just love her so far, even if all we have at this moment is a skirt with lots of holes in it! Ha!

Until next time!
~Katy

Whine and WIPs Week One and Let's Do Wine

For the last week, I've been working on my first project for the Whine and WIPs SAL in Stitch Maynia, Angel of Compassion from HAED.

I've been working one hour a day on the piece each day before I do any other stitching. This is where I started back on July 1st:

And here is where I ended up seven hours of work later:

Yes, it was seven hours entirely of Kreinik for this piece, but I'm really happy with the progress I made on it! I don't feel nearly as intimidated by this piece as I did when I started it for Whine and WIPs, even if I'm not done with the first page yet. There's a lot more there than there was before! I will be starting another Whine and WIPs piece today and will share what a week of working on it will bring next week!

I also worked on Let's Do Wine by Ursula Michael yesterday:

This piece goes very quickly and makes me think I will enjoy a blackwork piece if and when I delve into that. Here is where I stopped yesterday:

I'm doing this on 32 Lugana in Sorbet from Picture This Plus using silks from Mo's Sale. I really enjoyed working on this piece and am looking forward to it coming back up on the rotation!

Until next time!
~Katy

Flames of Desire

Happy Independence Day, everyone! I hope you're having a wonderful holiday weekend!

It has been a very long time since Flames of Desire came up in the rotation, between the A to Z challenge, all of my Stitch Maynia starts, and it's over all position in the alphabet! But it was definitely nice to get back to it yesterday.

If you may recall, I restarted this piece this year and changed the fabric to 32 Belfast in Mayan Apocalypse by Under The Sea Fabrics, switched from two over one full cross to one over one tent stitch, and started in the middle this time rather than at the wingtip. Here is where I stopped yesterday:

I know it's a powerful fabric and I know it's hard to envision now, but trust me when I say that red won't get lost in the fabric when it's all said and done. It's going to be a gorgeous firey background and I can't wait to have it finished, even if that day is a LONG way off!

Until next time!
~Katy

Butterfly Rose Cross

Yesterday I worked on the Butterfly Rose Cross from HAED:

Lots and lots and lots and lots and LOTS AND LOTS of blue.....

I love this piece, I think it's going to look stunning when it's done, but the big blocks of blue are something I can only handle for so long before it has to be put back down. I do kind of regret not getting the background removed and just doing this on a dyed fabric, but I started this before I knew about the beauty of hand dyed fabrics! Oh well!

And just a little FYI, don't expect another post from me until Monday afternoon, most likely. I've got some plans this weekend that will likely prevent me from blogging, but don't worry, I'll be back with lots of pretties to show!

Until next time!
~Katy

Angel of Compassion

Just a quick post today! I worked on the very Kreinik filled (over 40K stitches of it in the piece!) Angel of Compassion by Selina Fenech for Heaven and Earth Designs.

I love this piece, I think it's beautiful, but I could not get into it yesterday. I think the next time it comes up in the rotation, I'll need to do something other than the Krienik. But here is where I stopped yesterday:

Any progress is progress, right?

Until next time!
~Katy

Flames of Desire

Yesterday was Flame of Desire's turn to be in the hoop:

Every time I stitch on this piece I'm so glad I restarted it because I just love it! Some of the reds blend into the fabric for now but won't blend in so much when all of the stitching is complete. And for those that do blend in, well, the fabric (32-count Belfast in Mayan Apocalypse from Under the Sea Fabrics) looks like it is on fire, she is supposed to represent flames, she could easily set the fabric on fire herself!

Until next time!
~Katy

Blue, Blue, Blue!

On a day where the theme color is supposed to be green for St. Patrick's Day, I focused instead on the very blue filled Butterfly Rose Cross:

The nice part about large blocks of blue background is that it's easy to just lose yourself in the rhythm of the stitching when you don't have to change colors a lot. That's why I was able to get several hundred more stitches in last night:

Still lots more blue to go, but progress is progress!

Until next time!
~Katy

So Much Kreinik!

Angel of Compassion from HAED was up in the rotation yesterday:

I put in several hundred stitches of Kreinik in this piece this time around. SO MUCH KREINIK! But it's going to look gorgeous when it's all said and done!

I've decided I'm going to do all the Kreinik on this page first before going back and working on other colors. I think it will be easier to stitch in the non-Krienik parts when it is already essentially outlined by the shiny sparkly thread.

And remember...this is just page one...out of a twenty page chart! I have a loooooooong way to go and lots more Kreinik to stitch!

Until next time!
~Katy

Flames of Desire and a Sneak Peek

Last night I got to work on Flames of Desire once more.

And here is where I got to last night:

The more I work on this piece, the happier I am that I restarted it. I felt like I was able to make a lot of progress tonight using the tent stitch rather than full crosses. To make my life easier on this page, I took a color that was used quite a bit in the page and just focused on it tonight. I've found that the confetti in the HAED pieces is much easier to deal with when you have big chunks of color to help measure around it. Everything that I've stitched thus far seems to fit together much more smoothly than it did the first time around. Most importantly, I'm still utterly in love with the fabric!

Today, we also got a sneak peek at March's installment of the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's Story Time Sampler:

The general consensus is that March's block will be Sherlock Holmes! I love the BBC version of the show (and hello, Benedict Cumberbatch is just awesome, both as an actor and just to look at, hehe), and I have a beautiful volume of Sherlock Holmes stories here at home. I can't wait to stitch up this block!

Until next time!
~Katy

Butterfly Rose Cross

Yesterday was dedicated to my second HAED in my rotation, Butterfly Rose Cross:

I was able to complete another column on the first page and start the next one. Lots and lots and lots of blue...

Soccer games for the day are done and I'm staying home to thaw out the rest of the day from the biting wind chill, so we will see how the stitching goes today!

Until next time!
~Katy

Floss Filled Fun (And A Little Stitching)!

This is going to be a very floss filled post, but like any avid stitcher, I'm happy to be showing off more stash!

I threw my back out yesterday bending over to pick something up off of the floor, which was less than pleasant. I'm moving better today, but I'm still really slow. Stash mail helped cheer me up, though!

First, I am an avid fan of Mo's Sale hand dyed flosses and silks. I have used several of them in various pieces, and I have an almost complete collection of all of her offerings. I'm playing catch up from a few months when I wasn't on her auto-order list, but I'm getting there! Yesterday, I got my latest stash of what we fans call "Mo Mail"!

Here are the stunning silks (they're even more gorgeous in person):

 

 Mo even had some extra silks available in the Golden Sun color I'm using for my Zodiac SAL, so now I'm not worried I'm going to run out this year. Yay!

And here are the amazing flosses (also more gorgeous in person):

If you are looking for a new, unique source of hand dyed floss and silk, I totally recommend Mo. She is an absolute doll, her products are of beautiful quality and her prices can't be beat!

This wasn't the only mail I got yesterday. I also got the missing floss for The Little Mermaid! Yay!

Today also happens to be the February TUSAL check-in day. Here are my pictures for the month!

You can definitely see the layers growing of the different colors from the different pieces. I've "squashed" the ORTs down for this month and am ready to add more!

Oh yeah! I did actually do some stitching yesterday. It wasn't as much as I would have liked because I was in so much pain yesterday, but I did put some time in on Angel of Compassion:

Here is where I was able to get to yesterday before the pain was just too much:

I completely finished the second column (so much kreinik!) and that top row now goes all the way across to the edge of the first page. I also put in a few stitches of the confetti on this page in the third column. I'm playing around with trying to do more cross country stitching in this rather than column by column. We'll see how it goes the next time I pick this one up.

Here's hoping for less pain and more stitching success today!

Until next time!
~Katy

A New Start - Sort Of

So I have been working on my very first HAED, Flames of Desire by Lee Ann Seed, since 2012.

She was the first HAED I ever purchased because I fell in love with the beautiful firey fairy and I really wanted to stitch her. I actually had completed a page on her and was working on the second page, which is an accomplishment for HAED! So I had been plugging away on it here and there for awhile, but it's been several months since I picked her up. Yesterday it came up in my rotation and I was excited to pull it out at first. But when I started looking at it, I really was not happy.

 

I'm not entirely sure what it was. It could be that the 25 count Dublin Linen was really uneven. It could be that I was foolish enough to stitch two over one instead of one over one. It could have been that I was trying to do full crosses on such small fabric rather than tent stitching it. It could be that it was completely uneven when you laid it flat, with some parts buckling, other parts sinking. It could have been that though I love the color scheme with the fabric I chose to use for it, I no longer liked the specific fabric I had chosen to use. It was likely a combination of all of the above.

Now, I still absolutely adore this piece. I didn't want to stop working on it all together, but I did not want to continue with what I had already done. So what did I do? I started over, of course.

I changed the fabric to a 32-count Belfast linen (yes, still linen, and yes, smaller count) called Mayan Apocalypse from Under The Sea Fabrics. This linen seems to be woven more evenly and I have been DYING to find a piece that I could put on this gorgeous fabric and I think this will be perfect. I started in the middle of the piece this time rather than on page one. I'm doing tent stitch one over one instead of full crosses and two over one. Basically, I changed everything I was doing about this piece and already I am so, so happy that I did. Sure, it's disappointing to have to start entirely over on a piece, but I think I will be much happier with the result when all is said and done.

Today is a day I'm moving out of my standard rotation again because today, the February installment of the Story Time Sampler comes out! Yay! We've already been given a sneak peek of what is coming and all guesses point to The Secret Garden being the next installment!

I might have to raid my silks to see if there is another silk I can use for her hair so that I don't necessarily have two Golden Sun blondes next to each other, but we'll see what I can find! Can't wait to get started on it!

Until next time!
~Katy

Butterfly Weekend

Welcome to all of my new followers from the Grow Your Blog party! I'm going to be returning the visits little by little every day - there are over 400 blogs to go through after all! But I'm so glad everyone is here!

This past weekend I'm calling Butterfly Weekend since I worked on my two butterfly themed pieces. Granted, you can't see anything remotely looking like a butterfly in either piece yet, but it will come!

On Saturday, I worked on my Butterfly Fairy from Joan Elliott.

This picture does not do the gorgeous fabric I'm using justice. I'm using 28-count Jobelan in Lady of the Lake from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie and it's absolutely gorgeous in it's blues and purples. But I'm definitely happy that I have more than a yellow blob done on this piece. Not much more, but more!

Sunday had me working on my second HAED in my collection, Butterfly Rose Cross. This first page is all blue background. Lots and lots and lots of different shades of blue background.

Again, doesn't look like much yet, but I'm going to keep plugging away at it!

Until next time!
~Katy

Lots and Lots of Kreinik

I mean, really, LOTS AND LOTS of Kreinik in this piece! Angel of Compassion got some love last night. It doesn't look like much at this point - a blob of pinks and purples and oh, did I mention, lots of kreinik?

Like I said about HAED's, any progress is progress, especially on the background, and I'm happy with the progress I made. Even if it doesn't look like much yet! And I will say with as much kreinik as is in this piece, it's going to be beautiful when it's all done! Someday....

Until next time!
~Katy

TGIF!

Thank goodness it's Friday! It's been a very long week and I am looking forward to the weekend! I have to say that this March Madness has actually been a blessing for me. My time to stitch has been sporadic, at best, and I don't feel bad about wasting time during a rotation week - I just am working on different pieces each day as I can!

I have two updates from this week to show, and both of the pieces are from Heaven and Earth Designs. The first is Flames of Desire by Lee Ann Seed!

Here she was before:

And here she is after a bit of stitching on Tuesday night!

As of 3/5/13

Then Thursday night found me working on Angel of Compassion by Selina Fenech, one of my CJC pieces!

Here she was before:

And after!

As of 3/7/13

Lots and lots and lots and LOTS of Kreinik #4 braid on these two pieces, that's for sure!

I'm hoping to spend some good quality time stitching this weekend - can't wait to show you what I get done!

Until next time!
~Katy

End of Rotation Week and Start of Another

So yesterday ended my rotation week on Butterfly Rose Cross, and I'm very pleased! As a reminder, this is where the piece was at the beginning of the week:

Butterfly Rose Cross - Start of Rotation Week - 1/27/13

And here is where it stands now:

Butterfly Rose Cross - End of Rotation Week - 2/2/13

I went from one column with the second started to three columns with the fourth started - that's good progress if you ask me!

Today starts a new rotation week! I'll be working My Witch's Brew from Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe. I'm excited because I haven't been able to dedicate a full rotation week to this piece yet, as the last time I worked on it was over Thanksgiving week and I barely had any time to actually work on it. Here is where the piece is beginning today:

My Witch's Brew - Start of Rotation Week

This is one of my smaller WIP's, so I hope I can make lots of progress this week. I plan on doing lots of stitching during the Super Bowl this afternoon! Go commercials!

Until next time!
~Katy

Happy Groundhog Day!

I was super tired last night and just did not have the energy to blog, but I did work more on Butterfly Rose Cross:

As of 2/2/13

I've already made more progress today and can tell you I've finished the third column and started on the fourth! Yay! I'll post again tonight for my final post of the week for this rotation...

Yesterday was also the first of the month, and typically on the first, I review my goals from the past month and make new goals for the upcoming month. I'm a day late, but here we go!

At the beginning of January, I made the following goals for the year, which I'll be checking in on throughout the year:

1. Year of the Stash - I've made a lot of progress in this arena this month LOL! I have added several pieces of beautiful hand dyed fabrics to my collection as well as a couple of patterns through various RAK programs through groups I'm a member of on Facebook. I think fabric, though, is my weakness now! I mean, just look at this!

Beautiful Fabrics!!

I just love them all and definitely plan on adding more to my collection! My two favorite fabric companies are Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie and Under the Sea Fabrics, by far!

2. Crazy January Challenge - I want to successfully start all 15 projects in 15 days and will be very pleased if I can finish at least 1/3 of the projects in 2013. - The first part of this goal is done! I definitely did all 15 starts and am already making plans for 2014's CJC. This goal will be modified to just continue working on the pieces to try to get as many projects completed as I can!

3. Finish at least one of my 6 WIP's from 2012 - Can't mark this one off the list yet, but I'm working on it!

So goals specifically for February:

1. CJC 2014 - To get ready for the CJC in 2014, I am working on picking 2-3 patterns a month and determining shopping lists so I can spend the year getting ready. I have already picked a few charts for January's choices, but I want to pick February's choices as well, make a list of what I need, and review the stash I have to start making shopping lists. I have a $50 gift card from Michael's that I got for Christmas this year burning a hole in my pocket!

2. Keep up with my SAL's - I'm part of the TUSAL, WIPocalypse and Theme-a-licious SAL's this year, and I want to make sure I keep up with them!

Otherwise, I want to keep working on my projects and visiting your blogs - something I do almost every day already!

Will be back tonight to give the end of the week update report!

Until next time!
~Katy