Little Chapillon

If you've ever looked at charts by Nimue, you know they have a really cute series of cat/fantasy designs. I have two or three in my "Cats" binder, and then last October they came out with a new one called Chapillon and I fell in absolute love with it!

I ordered it right away, at the beginning of October, and I finally received it just over a week ago. Since I had a bit of stitching time for my own projects last week, I made a start on it right away.

It's a bit tricky to stitch, as there isn't much regard for the actual squares in the fabric when they draw the back stitching lines, and I'm not a fan of colors going through the lines (it just looks sloppy to me), but I have to admit that the details do look nice. Here is the first butterfly before back stitching, on a Silkweaver Cashel linen solo:

And after:

Then I worked my way down to the kitty's face, and gave him green eyes because none of my cats have ever had blue eyes. Here's the face partially completed:

And finished:

Now I can look at that sweet little face while I stitch on the rest.

This past weekend I started on a fairly large Rosewood Manor model, so my own stitching will slow down again. I also got a "thumb's up" from Wichelt on the Nora Corbett models, and they're already sending two more, so I guess they were acceptable to them.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Stash diving!

Last week I finished the second Nora Corbett model, so today they will wing their way back to Wichelt; fingers crossed that they will be good enough that I can do more of them in the future!

After that finish, I spent a couple of days getting caught up with the two SALs I'm really enjoying. This is Tempting Tangles Welcome SAL, parts 1-10:

And The Beautiful Sea SAL by Ship's Manor, halfway finished at eight parts:

For the past several months I've been a member of the Chatelaine Support Group on FB, and seeing all the pictures of these gorgeous, blingy designs has made me want to work on one again. Back in 2007 (wow, 10 years ago!!) I started the big Mystery X, Secret Victorian Garden, and kept up with it for the first four parts. Then the parts got larger, and I got distracted, and into the WIP bin it disappeared!

This past weekend they had a SAL in the group, where you post before and after pictures of your weekend stitching, so I pulled this old lovely out and worked on it again. Here it is on Friday (just as it was when it went in the bin 10 years ago!):

And last night:

These really are amazing designs, so intricate and full of sparkle. Perhaps if I keep this one out and just work on it a bit here and there I could finally have my first "big" Chatelaine finish this year.

Back when I was first introduced to Chatelaine designs, I bought three of the big ones and kitted them up, as well as a couple of smaller designs. All of the supplies have been in a bag in my craft room closet for 10 years, and when I pulled it out last Friday I found that I hadn't labelled the floss rings; this is what it looked like:

I was able to get everything sorted (and labelled!), and during this process I found a floss ring for Mini Mandala Mystery 1, with some of the floss already used. I honestly have no recollection of kitting this one, let alone starting it, but I went diving into my WIP bin again and came up with this:

It makes me wonder what other treasures are hiding in there that I've completely forgotten!

I've received a model from Karen at Rosewood Manor, though I'm still waiting for the floss to show up from WDW, so my own stitching will have to take a back seat again. The two SALs will be releasing parts this Friday, so I will at least keep up with those--don't want to fall behind now!

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Still keeping up

I think this has to be a record for me, keeping up with not only one, but two, SALs. I'm starting to think that I might be able to go all the way with these!

Here is the Tempting Tangles Welcome SAL, parts 1-9:

Now that the word "welcome" is finished (except for some bits at the bottom), I'm looking forward to seeing the parts that come next.

This is The Beautiful Sea by Ship's Manor, parts 1-7:

It will be half way to completion after the next part, and I'm hoping for more little sea critters.

I spent a day getting caught up with those pieces, and another day working on one of the designs in Sue Hillis' Dark Shadows leaflet:

This is stitched over-1 on 20ct Peoria Purple linen from WDW, and I used petite black beads for the dangling bits at the bottom. There are six charts in this leaflet, and I want to stitch them all; I bought the WDW linen in Aztec Red and Blue Jeans as well, so I think I'll stitch two on each color. Maybe I'll have them all completed by Halloween...

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Happy New Year!

I haven't blogged for a bit, because I didn't have anything to share, but now that the holidays are over I finally have time to stitch again!

I have finished my first Nora Corbett model, and it has been accepted from the photo, so I am feeling a bit more confident as I start the next one. I will feel even better when they have been mailed back and inspected in person; it's always a bit nerve wracking stitching for someone else the first time or two!

The stitching I can share is from two of the SALs I'm working on, Ship's Manor Beautiful Sea and Tempting Tangles Welcome. Both of these released another part last Friday, which I'll probably work on this coming weekend, so I'm not behind. Here is Beautiful Sea, parts 1-6:

And Welcome SAL, parts 1-8:

Due to a lack of stitching time, I fell behind on the Never Ending Sampler SAL, and as the bands come out a bit too often for the amount of time I have to stitch for myself, I don't know when I'll pick that up again...

I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays with family and friends, and wish you all the best in the New Year!