One week from now...

...I will be in (or hopefully almost in) Cincinatti, Ohio for the Mirabilia retreat. After attending the first two events, I missed out last year, so I'm looking forward to seeing my Mira friends again.

I've made a start on one of the newest Nora Corbett releases, The Blossom Collector, so I can take it with me to work on during the retreat. The chart photo makes her look very pink, so I chose SMF Hummingbird Lugana to try to soften that pink up a bit; so far, so good:

Judy Odell of Just a Thought Needlework Design recently asked for some small stitched pieces to finish for a new technique that she was working on. I sent her my Monsterbubbles Twitter finish, and she sent it back to me like this:

How cute is that?! She has shared the pdf with the instructions in her FB group, Just a Thought Needlework Design.

Judy has also started selling a stretcher frame set (info can be found in the group), and I bought one from her almost as soon as she released them, as I have long been wondering how to handle the piece of fabric I need for the HAED I bought over four years ago. The design is Foxglove Ball, and the stitch count is 625 x 833; on 25ct fabric over-1 the fabric needs to be at least 31" x 39". I got the 36" rods from Judy, cut my fabric to 32" wide and loaded the whole yard length onto the frame:

It has great tension, and of course works perfectly with my JAT stand. I recently printed out the entire 129-page pattern (which has it's own binder!), and I've had the floss ready for years:

Now I just need  to work up the courage to actually start something that daunting! To paraphrase an old saying "The masterpiece of 520,625 stitches starts with a single stitch". If I worked on nothing but this project (as if!), and completed one page a month, I could have this done in 10 years...

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend!

Flitting about

We've had a few days of unseasonably warm temps here in Wisconsin, so I tried to get outside and do some yard work while it was nice; those first few days of spring-like weather are so liberating! As a result, I didn't have as much stitching time, which is okay because I'm having a hard time sticking with any particular project

I did make a start on the anniversary piece, which has a beautiful blue palette but is going to get pretty repetitive with the border:

I managed to get the stitching done on the next two birthstone designs, but don't have the beads to finish them. To save on shipping from Canada I'm waiting until a couple more are released, and the last time I ordered it took five weeks to get here, so I'm guessing it will be a while before I get back to these!

This past week I noticed that Mill Hill had released six new Laurel Burch kits, dogs this time, and I just had to order them. Of course, I already have the six cat kits, so I pulled one out and made a start on it; this one is called Feathered Friend:

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend!

Gypsy Queen is done!

I finished her up this past Tuesday, and I just love her so much! It has been quite a while since I stitched a full-sized Mirabilia without putting it aside for a time, and I'm glad I stuck with her and finished. My wonderful husband got me a gift certificate to my framer for Christmas, so I'll be taking her over soon!

After the finish I spent some time cleaning up my craft room (i.e. putting away new stash!), and trying to decide what to work on next. Over a year ago I purchased a chart for my 25th wedding anniversary, which is now in just under two months, so I guess I'd better get stitching if I want to have it done in time. It's Everlasting Love by Praiseworthy Stitches:

I also recently bought the next two birthstone charts from Shannon Christine Designs. These stitch up pretty quickly, so they'll be nice when I want a quick stitchy fix!

Before I get too deep into any design, I decided to work on my Florence canvas, using materials received during my trip to The Primitive Hare's stitching retreat in Italy last year. I'll probably do a bit more tweaking, but here is a general idea of what it will look like:

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend!

The end is in sight

I made good progress on Gypsy Queen this past week, and should be close to a finish by the end of next week. I just love everything about this design; the beauty, the explosion of vibrant colors and all the blingy details. I'll almost be sad to finish her...almost!

In Rosewood Manor news, the model I stitched last summer will be released at the Nashville Market in about a week; it's called Just Peachy, and it used Sulky Petite threads:

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend!

Slow week

Had a bit of "stuff" going on this week, and ended up not even picking up my needle for two whole days! I'm hoping to make up for it this weekend, but we'll see how it goes. Here is Gypsy Queen after a bit of love yesterday:

I now have even more incentive to finish her up, because the newest Mirabilia has been released, and The Snow Queen is stunning!

In another little bit of serendipity, I had just received a piece of fabric from HLC Fabrics that I think will be perfect with the design:

I plan to use it as long as the floss toss looks good, although it will be a tighter fit than I usually like, as it will only have about 1.5'" borders along the top and bottom. I'll just have to make it work!

Last Saturday I finally received some bead packs from Canada that I had ordered in January, so I was able to finish up January Garnet from Shannon Christine Designs:

I'll be doing all 12 of the birthstones on a piece of cream/natural Tattersall linen:

I'll leave you with another picture of Gracie sharing HER napping table with me; she is telling me that my Ott light is way too bright!

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend!

Gypsy Queen update

I'm three weeks in, and am thinking that I can get her done in the next three weeks. I just absolutely love her; the details are stunning, and fun to stitch!

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend, and a Happy Valentine's Day!

Almost time to flip the chart

In another day or two I'll be done with the top half of Gypsy Queen, and I'm still loving every stitch. I'm always glad to be done with the skin on a Mirabilia, because getting that to look smooth involves a lot of fractional stitches. Here she is as of last night:

We had a snow day here this past Tuesday, and here is how I spent it:

While I'm definitely ready for spring, I have to admit that stitching in my craft room with my kitties isn't a bad way to spend a day!

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend!

If I didn't know how to stitch...

...I would have had to learn just to stitch this design! I'm working on Mirabilia's Gypsy Queen, and she is just everything I love about cross stitch; beautiful subject, very colorful and full of bling. Here is my progress as of yesterday:

A better angle to see the beads:

I'm hoping to get a lot done on her this weekend; I'm just loving every stitch!

Speaking of Mirabilia, the 4th annual Mirabilia retreat is taking place this April 7 - 10, in Cincinatti, Ohio. I missed it last year, but have signed up for this one, and have already booked my room. Nora will be there again this year, and will sign a pattern for you. If you're interested in learning about it and you're on Facebook, you can join this group. If you're not on FB, you can contact the retreat organizer, Leslie, through her website Under the Sea Fabrics. 

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend!

Like a kid in a candy store

That's me, after I finish a model (especially one that I worked on for the better part of four months!). I'm bouncing around my craft room, trying to decide what to stitch, and it's so hard to choose just one!

I have done some more on Bramble Crafts' Cinderella; the wicked stepsisters are taking shape:

I recently ordered some patterns from Shannon Christine Designs, and one of those was the start of a series of the monthly birthstones, garnet. I'm still waiting (impatiently!) for the bead pack to show up from Canada, but I did get all of the stitching done:

I'm planning to stitch all 12 of the designs on this piece of Tattersall linen; it should be a very colorful and sparkly finish.

By this past Thursday I was still feeling the need for more color, so I decided to start the latest Mirabilia, Gypsy Queen. I fell in love with her when she was released back in December, and I just couldn't wait any more. Here is my small start, on a piece of Belfast linen from Silkweaver named, appropriately enough, Gypsy:

I think I'm done bouncing around for now, as these three projects should satisfy my need for color and bling, but only time will tell.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend!

Still here!

I have been spending every spare moment on the model, and am happy (ecstatic!) to report that I finished it two days ago, and mailed it off to Karen yesterday. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted!

I spent most of yesterday taking care of my woefully neglected chores, and I still need to take the Christmas tree down, but I'm going to take the weekend off and do that on Monday. The lack of presents under the tree makes it entirely too easy for the kitties to climb up the middle:

Speaking of presents, I received my prize from the Winter Whisper contest, and love everything Laura sent:

Part of the prize was my choice of a digital chart, and I asked for her newest release "Into the Darkness"; I love how moody the whole design is, and am looking forward to stitching it.

My newest start is a chart from Bramble Crafts, which is known for their papercut designs. I asked the owner, Deborah, about possibly getting a couple of the designs as cross stitch charts, and ended up getting Cinderella and The Princess and the Pea. Today I started Cinderella:

The details are a bit 'blocky" due to the transfer process, so I'll probably play with it a little bit, but I think I'm really going to like this one.

I need  to stitch fast, because my almost-empty ort jar makes me sad; here's a picture of last year's orts, next to the soon-to-be-this year's orts (it does have a bit in it now, from finishing the model):

Hope everyone is having a good new year so far, and a great stitchy weekend right now!