Still going!

I've reached the point in the design where it seems to get harder to get motivated to work on it, but I am pushing through it and hoping for the best! Here is Lady Mirabilia as of yesterday:

Part of the problem right now is that our 14-year-old Chloe has been sick for a while now. She was diagnosed with a blood condition when she was three, and at that time we thought she might only live to be nine or 10, so these past few years have been like a huge bonus. As she doesn't come into the basement where my craft room is, I've been spending more time upstairs with her, which means I can't work on a project the size of Lady Mirabilia while I sit with her. I've pulled out a Laurel Burch Mill Hill kit to work on, and this is my girl sharing "her" couch with me:

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

No more chart flipping

Last week I finished all of the stitching from the front side of the Lady Mirabilia pattern, so I'm enjoying not having to flip the chart anymore, and yesterday I put the final Qsnap extensions on so hopefully it'll be smooth sailing from here on in:

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Can't stop stitching!

I am so in love with Lady Mirabilia that I am having a hard time doing anything other than stitching--and my neck and shoulders are not thanking me for it! Here she is as of last night:

I did switch out one of the Waterlilies because I just didn't like the way the two skeins I had looked together, so then I also had to change out some of the beads, but overall I'm happy with the result.

Last week I picked up Moss Collector from the framer; I chose a fun green frame for this one to play off the greens in her skirt and pick up the hints of green in the fabric:

She's going to join her sister in the Black Forest, Blossom Collector, which I had done with the same frame except in pink:

When I picked up Moss Collector I dropped off Miss Solar Ellipse, and I'm really looking forward to seeing her done as the frame and mats I chose were very vibrant. Until then, it's back to Lady Mirabilia and sore neck and shoulders!

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

A finish and a new start

Last Wednesday I finished another escapee from the WIP bin, Miss Solar Ellipse on Ophelia Belfast by Under the Sea Fabrics:

The timing was perfect because the next day I received Lady Mirabilia, which is Nora's latest release and celebrates her 25th anniversary as a designer of amazing charts. I pulled the threads and went stash diving for a fabric and found a piece of SMF (Sugar Maple Fabrics) Snickerdoodles Lugana that I loved for this:

I started last Thursday, and here she is as of last night:

It's amazing to me that I stitched my first Mira, Villa Mirabilia, over 20 years ago and Nora keeps creating new designs that still speak to me as much as that first one did. Who knows, maybe I wouldn't even still be stitching if it weren't for her designs!

Last week I also picked up some pieces from my framer (including, oddly enough, two Noras!) and dropped off Moss Collector. Here is Nora's Peace Doves (from a book, but currently available for download at Herrschner's):

Miss Lole's Daggerwing:

And Lizzie*Kate's ABC Halloween:

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

A finish and another rescue

I was able to finish Nora Corbett's Moss Collector last Friday, and I am so glad that I pulled her out again as she is just so pretty and sparkly:

The wings were mostly stitched with Petite Silk Lame Braid, so they have a nice shimmer, and the moss also has some of that braid, as well as a lot of beads:

The beads used for the skirt are a clear mint, and I was concerned that they were a bit too light so I ended up using a couple of the green flosses to attach them, using colors that were better suited to the two tones in the skirt (olive and kelly). I have a few pieces at the framer that should be done soon, so I think I'll take this one with me when I pick them up and get her framed right away.

Since I enjoyed rescuing and finishing this one so much, I decided to go back to the bin and pull another refugee out, Miss Solar Ellipse:

After a couple of days work she now looks like this:

The back stitching in the wings makes a big difference in this one:

My goal is to finish this one later this week, and then I really need to get to work on a model, as I don't like to get too far behind on deadlines.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!