Wow, it has been a while since my last post!! I have been diligently stitching on many different things. My favorite of the moment is SL Spot Motif Sampler. I have completed the outline along the top of the pattern and am now going backwards filling it in. Such a relaxing stitch over one tented on 40 ct. Having the outlining done makes it much more enjoyable.

I have also finished outlining the first panel of my SL Polly Phillip sampler. The colors in this one are so bright and beautiful- what a pleasure to stitch her!



I have also been working on my last few Sticklounge pieces. Unfortunately the group is going to fold at the end of June. I have mixed feelings about this- I can't seem to stop joining in the SALs, but it puts me so behind on everything else. Having deadlines is always a good thing, though, because it helps me have finishes! My much needed UFOs over the years will start to see the light of day after the group is final.

Tulip Praise by Gracewood Stitches. I have completely changed the called for colors and opted for blues and greys. There is still some frogging to do in that top band- I'm changing out the grey (HDF Smoke and Mirrors) for the blue grey color (HDF Dragon Toes).



This is Herz Yin Yang by Jean Louis Grandsire. It is being stitched with HDF Green Dragon Droppings and Purple Dragon Droppings (both custom colors). I may put and identical heart just below it with the colors opposite. It is over one on 32 ct and quite small for framing, but another heart would be about right.



I have finally finished my Odds and Ends Sampler from Tam's Creations. This photo is not the best, but I have decided the colors just can't be captured. There are a little over 90 WIPs/UFOs/Finished pieces represented in this piece!!



Thank you for looking!! I will try to remember to keep up more frequently!!

Mustertuch von 1783

I have finally completed another page on my Mustertuch. This is pages 1-3 completed- only 9 more to go. I really like this piece. It is over one on 32 ct Raffia Cream by Sassy's Fabbys using the HDF conversion and also some variagateds here and there.



I hope to continue to devote one week a month to stitching Mustertuch and should be able to make great progress this year if no new starts get me off track.

My Beloved Sticklounge Yahoo Group has decided to close its doors at the end of June. It was such a fun group with many great pieces to stitch along together. Many of the pieces we stitched were freebies from the web (such as the giant RMT and Old European samplers). It wasn't about getting great freebies- I have most of them already. It was about deadlines and actually seeing progress on so many different styles of cross stitch that I wouldn't normally stitch. I am still amazed that the Group Moms (Susanne and Susanne aus LU) were able to run the group as long as they did with so many members and so many projects. It was definitely a labor of love! There is a page of my blog devoted to all my Sticklounge finishes- there are so many! I will definitely miss the group, but I have planned to focus on my HAED stitching and Nicola's Scarlet Letter Year stitching when the group closes in June. I would like to say "Thank You" to the Susannes for letting me participate in their wonderful group since 2010 (even though I don't speak German :))

Rebecca Cullin Update

I have been diligently stitching Rebecca Cullin and have finally taken a full photo to show. She is quite large! I have decided to restitch the leaves in the top embroidery, but leave the flowers. I am waiting on an HDF order of the premium (twice the diameter) silks needed, so in the mean time I will put her away. If you look at the leaves under the carnation in the center, you can tell the leaf on the left is regular silk and the leaf on the right is premium. It stands out so much better!

I had the pleasure to see Bethany and her mom's inspiring photobucket pictures on Nicola's Scarlet Letter Year Blog 2. It was so inspiring that I have decided to pull out Polly Phillip. The colors in PP are so bright and happy. The inside panels are over one tent/continental stitch, which I love! I plan to outline the rest of the panel and then start filling it in.

Daily Strand- Mathilde Duforest and February Finish

I managed 44 strands during the month of February on Mathilde Duforest. She is coming along nicely! Here she is at the start of February:



And here she is after February Daily Strand Stitching:



I hope to make Mathilde my March finish.



My finish in February is a piece started in the Sticklounge Group. It is Petit Sampler by Claire Findley, stitched with Waterlilies Kelp on 36 ct Butterscotch Cookie by Sassy's Fabbys over one. This lovely little piece was lost in my "need to finish" drawer for months until I found her a couple of weeks ago and completed her by stitching about 15 minutes every morning before work while my four year old ate breakfast. I have decided this worked out so well that I will be working on RMT this way for a while to see how far along I can get- I consider it my AM Daily Strand piece, while Mathilde Duforest is my PM Daily Strand piece.

Rebecca Cullin, the Good and the Bad

The Good: I have finely been able to pay attention to my beloved SL Rebecca Cullin. I absolutely love this piece. I have been concentrating on the bottom and trying to fill in the massive amount of stitching in the border. After all my recent stem stitching with Ring in the New, I couldn't resist outlining the tree. The trunk will be filled with stem stitch and the branches are supposed to be straight stitch. I have been spending a lot of time on Mary Corbet's site trying to decide which stitch I wanted for the leaves. After rejecting the straight stitch and fly stitch, I decided to go with the fern stitch. I think it makes cute little leaves! I am using HDF Old Maid of the Forest in Premium. The trunk is an old dye lot of OMotF in SSR and darker, so it will make a nice trunk. I am using the chart/ stitched model/ and original Rebecca Cullin to decide how to stitch this cute little tree.



The Bad: I began looking closer at the work I have already done at the top of the embroidery... the stem stitching is dreadful!! It seems like such a simple stitch, but if you don't follow the rules, it can get very sloppy. I didn't realize there were rules when I first stitched that part. Thank you Mary Corbet!! Now I really must redo the stem stitch vine. I decided to go with premium there as well. You can see from the photos the beginning (on the left) that is redone is much nicer than the rest... I do not mind to frog the vine because it will be much prettier. I may restitch the leaves as well, but the flowers will stay.



Look at the lighter green vine in the center connecting the leaves- yes, that is supposed to be stem stitch!! Yuck!! That will get a definite do-over as well, but I have to order more premium floss first.



I will take a photo of the entire piece later this week after I have more completed. There are so many threads sticking out here and there that it looks like a real mess!!

Ring in the New

I have finished three more parts to my Ring in the New from the Sticklounge Group. I have really enjoyed stitching these little pieces because they are great practice for surface embroidery.








I am currently stitching SL's Rebecca Cullin which has tons of free hand embroidery and I feel much more confident now than I did when I started it. I figure I have almost mastered the stem stitch. I know that sounds silly because it seems so easy, but sometimes mine stem stitch looks great and sometimes awful. Turns out after reviewing Mary Corbet's site, I have been doing it right and wrong at the same time. I just keep telling myself "act like you're stitching left to right, no matter what direction you are going..." We'll see what happens when I get back to the embroidery part on Rebecca Cullin.

RMT up to page 18

I have finally managed to stitch RMT from the Sticklounge Group up to page 18. This piece is over one on 40 ct linen using HDF Rubbed Burgundy. It is such a beautiful piece!



I have also completed the March part to Ring in the New. I have major catching up to do since the deadline is March 1!! I think I got bogged down with this piece because I did not love the design, but the next parts are very nice. I would love to complete it because I have already purchased the fabric to make it into a wall hanging.

Testing HDF SSFine Ex Fried Pickles with black

Here is a photo of the little bit of test stitching I got to do Sunday over one on 40 ct... Restarting Pauline Schwartz:



In the far left corner is a regular SS strand of the same color so you can see the difference in thickness. The SSF is half the thickness of SSR and feels like working with a strand of spider silk. It is so delicate. My fingers are dry because I have to wash my hands so much at work, so it definitely snags more than the regular SS (on my fingers, not on the fabric) I recommend the Stitcher's Glove in a Bottle (I think that's what it's called- I get it from my LNS). Of course if your hands are not dry, then it's not a problem :) I can see so many possibilities with this floss... so many large monochromes can be reduced to over one on 40-45-even higher counts!!

Mathilde Duforest Update

I have stitched Mathilde Duforest everyday for the past month as my Daily Strand project. I have managed at least one strand everyday. Ususally one or two days a week I get to work on her during my lunch break. I am very happy with my progress! I put 54 strands in during January and am about 1/3 complete. It is so fun! It's amazing what how much I have completed with just stitching 15-20 minutes before bed. I really like this little piece. It is stitched over one on 38 creme Gander linen using a custom HDF color 3151/2453/2349.

My Framed Tribute to Ackworth

I finally had another piece framed. With the birth of my son 4 years ago, I have really cut down on having pieces framed due to cost. Who new a child could be so expensive? Anyway, I do always have my things framed using the non glare conservation glass- this adds greatly to the price. On a whim a couple of years ago I took a small piece that I liked (but wouldn't have been devastated if it was ruined) to Michael's with my 50% coupon in hand. I was very nervous because of all the horror stories out there. It was Garden Angel by La-d-Da and turned out great!! I chose their "Masterpiece" glass. Absolutely wonderful. The framing was nice and straight, and the glass was divine.



So this piece was placed on the wall amid a lot of other pieces with the normal conservation, non-glare glass and just looked "cleaner." I don't know, I thought it was my imagination because it was new. But after two years, it still looks like there is no glass at all- the Materpiece glass is truly wonderful. Unfortunately, they will not cut a piece and sell it, so the only way I can get it is to have something framed completely. Therefore, when it came to framing my Tribute to Ackworth, I held my breath and went back to Michael's. I talked extensively with the lady that framed it about the acid free board, no sticky material at all, no rust pins, etc.... My fabric was a little "wonky" so I was unsure what would happen. It actually turned out great!! The frame is perfect, the Masterpiece glass is exquisite, and with the 60% + $10 off coupon, the cost went from over $300 to $125. I am thrilled with the results!!



Now I have no idea what I will do when "And They Sinned" is ready. I'm still afraid to take it to Michael's, but I am so happy with both pieces they have done. Decisions, decisions....

Window Update

I am very close to another Sticklounge finish. I have two parts to go, but have moved on to RMT/ABC 1900 for now.



I have almost reached the half way point on RMT, and the deadline is March 1. I don't think I can make it, but it's ok because I had the pattern before the Sticklounge Group started stitching it. I still hope to get very close in the next few weeks.

Spot Motif circa 1640

I have managed to get a little more done on my Scarlet Letter piece Spot Motif circa 1640. I started this piece just for Nicola's Scarlet Letter Year. I love it! It is completely tent stitched over one on 40 ct and is very bright and colorful. My goal for 2013 is to finish at least 25% of this one. I plan to outline first, then go back and fill in the colors. I couldn't resist stitching the little caterpillar completely because he is so cute!





I hope to devote more time to my SL stitching after March 1st- I have three SALs (RMT, Window, and Ring in the New) that should be done by then, so Rebecca Cullin is highest on my list then!!

My Daily Strand and Window

The Daily Strand is a concept I picked up on the HDF Board a few years ago. The goal is to pick a project and stitch one strand a day until it is done. I actually finished "Eve" using this strategy and made a ton of progress on And They Sinned. I have decided to try it again this year, but to use it with something monochrome to increase the amount I get done. The Mathilde Duforest SAL is the perfect candidate!! This piece is offered as a freebie on Trois Generations Tricotent blog. I am using a custom color from HDF and 38 ct creme Gander over one. So far I have managed a strand every day, sometimes two.


I have been furiously stitching Window from the Sticklounge group. The deadline is February 12, and I have 6 more parts to go. This piece has given me fits due to all the frogging!! Sometimes due to one mis-stitch that can lead to hours of frogging, or just not being happy with my colors. So far there is still some frogging to remove the center yellow and the brighter purple in the center. I have decided to go with Old Maid of the Vineyard for the petals, Primitive Barn Mauve just inside that, and possibly Examplar Pettyfog for the center... that could change tomorrow.



I also need to focus some attention on my RMT and Ring in the New. RMT is huge and so far I have finished 10/24 parts. I am only on the third piece to Ring in the New out of 12. The deadline is March 1st to receive the final parts to both. As soon as March arrives, I will be be able to really work on my Scarlet Letter Year pieces more fully. Right now I can only devote a few hours here and there, but I hope to work on 1640 Spot Motif for a few hours today in order to have an update photo.

Final 2012 WIPocalypse Check In

I am happy to say I made a lot of great progress this year on most of my WIPocalypse pieces. I even had a few finishes. I will list them all here in one post so everyone can see what I have stitched. I am very happy the world did not end since I have a lot more stitching to complete :)

Purple Garden by Angie Designer
36 ct Cobblestone by Sassy's Fabbys


Heart Note Alley by Kathy Bungard
36/40 Buttercream by HDF


Berlin Wool Sampler by Pelin Tezer
32 ct Inkspot- changed to 38 ct Creme Gander over one:




New Start and finished- A Tribute to Ackworth by Luv2stitch2 Designs


New Start and finished- Many Years Ago by Gudi Kolden


New Start and finished- Flower Power by Kirsten Schmitt


New Start Lavender Blue by Angie Designer (almost finished)



New Start Fleurs et Papillons by Angie Designer (almost finished)


New Start Mustertuch von 1783


Coat of Arms- Stickideen von der Wiehenburg (a little bit accomplished)



RMT by Marie-Francoise




Rebecca Cullin by Scarlet Letter (a little bit done)




Anniversariies of the Heart by Blackbird Designs (a little bit done)




Window by Suthern Stitchin'






Midnight Orchard by Ian Daniels/ HAED Goal finished
25 ct lugana over one using HDF


Arab Tent New Start- HAED Goal finished:


Moonlight Serenade by Laurie Prindle/HAED New Start



La Belle Dame Sans Merci HAED GOAL Finished:
28 ct monaco