Last Finish For April 2010

Well, May Day is tomorrow, and I managed to put the final stitches in Summer Side in just moments ago. I used buttons in place of some of the stitching, but, I think it looks really good the way it is. I also used beads instead of French knots for the flowers, but then again, French knots are not my forte. :P


Anyhoo, on with the show! :)

Design: Summer Side

Designer: Sandra Dering of SanMan Originals for the SanMan Originals Secret Shop

Fabric: hand dyed by Yours Truly; color Dark Honey Ale

Fibers: DMC B5200, 310, 321, 699, 702, 729, 743, and 796. DMC Satin in S666. DMC Light Effects in E825. Kreinik Very Fine Braid #4 in #001.

Accouterments: Mill Hill frosted glass beads in #60479, Just Another Button Company large bee, small bee, and ladybugs. Converted strawberry button by unknown manufacturer.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! :)


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Respectfully submitted,

C.

Quick Card Finishes and Current WIPs

So far, the only think I've completed are two thank you cards I've made for folks. I've recently started card making and I'm really enjoying it. It won't replace my stitching, but it's fun to dig through stuff and see what I can reuse as part of the card making process and I have quite a collection of doo dads from my stitching, which helps! :)


If you're sensing a theme here, it's not deliberate, I can assure you! :) My card making stash is somewhat limited and I have a strict budget that I adhere to when purchasing card making supplies. I shop the bargain stores and the clearance aisles in crafting mega-marts and scour the house for the odd flotsam and jetsam that seems to accumulate in one's domicile. It's great fun seeing what I can do with what I find and what I can get on the cheap. Although, DH took me to the bookstore last night and I found another a magazine from the UK called Papercraft Inspirations . Sweet Jeebus, I did *NOT* need to see this! ACK!!! It's from Future Publishing, the same folks who make the UK Cross Stitcher, World of Cross Stitching and Cross Stitch Crazy, all of which are on my must have lists. I ADORE this magazine. Yes, it is indeedy 9.99 of our US schekles, however, I could not have asked for a more in depth, comprehensive, and easy to follow magazine. Some of the US ones assume one already is competent in card making, which makes it hard to follow along at times, however, the PCI mag is not like that at all. I was able to follow along quite well, and the instructions were clear, concise, and easy to follow along. It even came with a sheet of clear stamps for the projects inside! YAY!! It even goes over techniques such as overstamping, watercolor work, coordinating your cards, how to make scenes, and masking. Plus a whole lot more! I purchased the April 2010 edition, so run, do not walk to your nearest stockist and see if it's still available. I HIGHLY recommend getting it. It is so worth the money spent!


At any rate, here are the two cards I made. They didn't take that long to put together. I just hope it doesn't look like it! :P













And here are my two current WIPs. I am *hoping* to finish them soon, as I have one more UFO to finish before I tackle DH's map.

WIP #1:


Design: Summer Side

Designer: Sandra Dering of SanMan Originals for the SanMan Originals Secret Shop

Fabric: Dark Honey Ale by Yours Truly :P

Fibers: DMC B5200, 310, 321, 699, 702, 729, 743, and 796










WIP #2:



Design: Season of Growth

Designer: Diane Williams for Little House Needleworks

Fabric: 28 count Charles Craft Carolina Linen in Salt

Fibers: DMC 150, 433, 434, 712, 793, 930, 931, 3032, 3051, 3052, 3688, 3721, 3790










I have to bolt for now. Chores are calling and I have to get organized before I play around in my stash some more. :P Hope everyone is having a great week! :)


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Respectfully submitted,

C.

SMO Four Seasons Fatties SAL Completion

Sandy posted the Winter Fattie yesterday and I got to it late on account of having to make dinner and do chores, but that's life for ya :). I still managed to finish moments ago and I love how it turned out.


I also took some time to take some pictures as to how I make up my mind when I am changing colors on the fly. There's nothing really planned about it, I just grab what I think looks good and even if I pull a bunch of stuff, sometimes I do not even use what I've pulled and change it to something else completely. :)


So, for your viewing pleasure, a walk through of how I chose the colors for the Winter Fattie:



This is the plastic container that I have that holds all of my non DMC fibers. It includes metallics and silks and anything else that I can use to stitch with that isn't DMC ;). As you can see, it is very well organized. (Ahem! :D)









Here is the buttons and beads and what all. Basically, the non-fibers bin:





Hrm...I *thought* I had a carrot nose button in here somewhere!







What I wound up choosing between the two bins:





And here is the completed block! :)






And here it is all completed!





I really, really had a LOT of fun stitching this SAL up and I hate to see it come to an end. For a recap, here is what I used on each part:


Design: Four Seasons Fatties SAL for Message Board Members ONLY

Designer: Sandra Dering of SanMan Originals

Fabric: 28 count white evenweave (possibly Lugana)



Overview notes: Part One Border Fibers:


Fibers: Main border in DMC 310


Spring wording used Crescent Colours Summer Spray, border in Anchor 242

Summer wording used Crescent Colours in Cupid, border in Anchor 246

Fall wording used Anchor 359, border in Crescent Colours Tangerine

Winter wording used Crescent Colours Blue Moon, border in Crescent Colours Grannie Annie.





Part Two Spring Block fibers used:

Bunneh in DMC 938

Inside of Bunneh ears, heart and butterfly under the letter S in one strand of DMC 605 and one strand of Kreinik #092 pink

Flower petals in Anchor #118, center of flower and second butterfly in Anchor #292, stem in Anchor #209, grass in Anchor 244.

Kreinik #001 silver blending filament for butterfly antennae.


Backstitching in DMC 605, one strand






Part Three Summer Block Fibers Used:


DMC 310 for black stripes on bee


Anchor 310 for branches, 244, for leaves, 359 for nest, 295 for yellow stripes on bee, 147 for heart on bee.

Glisten Gloss Metallic in #SP01; silver for bee's wings


Accoutrement: Mill Hill beads in #62031 Old Gold; Just Another Button Company bluebird button






Part Four Autumn Block Fibers Used:



Fibers: DMC numbers 51, 111, 115, 310, and 317. Anchor numbers 295 and 801. Kreinik Very Fine Braid #4 in 150V.



Accouterments: Mill Hill beads in in #00556.





Part Five Winter Block fibers:


Fibers: DMC 3756, Soie d'Alger #1415, Needle Necessities # 110 and 1441, Needle Necessities #8 overdyed braid in #2010, and Glisten Gloss #SP01 in silver.


Accouterments: Mill Hill Treasures #12184 Crescent Moon crystal and #12051 Crystal Blue bird.




Not sure what I am going to turn this into, whether a wall hanging, a no sew cube, pillow or what have you. I will however, post pictures ones the project is completed. :)



Hope everyone is having a wonderful day. I need more coffee and I need to get out the Summer Side project and finish that up, although, the Paris Sampler is calling my name. :P



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Respectfully submitted,


C.

SanMan Sunday 04.18.10

Here is my progress so far on my SMO Summer Side. I need to finish it soon, as summer will be here soon. Well, at least it will be in Las Vegas! Haha! The Mojave Hairdryer will be in full effect soonest, and I really do need to get cracking on this. Ah, well. In due course of time I suppose. :P


Stitchy Notes for Summer Side:


Design: Summer Side


Designer: Sandra Dering for SanMan Originals Secret Shop


Fabric: Dark Honey Ale by Yours Truly :P


Fibers: DMC B5200, 310, 321, 699, 702, 729, 743, and 796






Hope everyone is had a great weekend! :)


Respectfully submitted,


C.

SMO Four Seasons SAL Parts One through Four

First off, big CONGRATS to my beloved Devils on getting a playoff berth for the 2010 Stanley Cup race!! Sixth overall in the league, second in the Eastern Conference and first in the Atlantic Division! Wahooo!!!!! And now the real work begins. As the Penguins proved last year, you can not do so hot and still manage to pull off a Cup win. It's a real tight race this year and it's anybody's game. On Wednesday, the Devils face off against the Flyers, who pulled off one of the most exciting games I've seen in a while yesterday against the Rangers. Neener, neener, neener, Mr. Avery! :P I don't think this best of 7 series against the Flyers will be a gimme either, although, I think that the whole race won't be a gimme. Everyone is pretty much hungry for a Cup win, and it's gonna be a long, hard fought for series. Good times, my friends! :D



Took a real quick pic of the SMO Member Only Four Seasons Fatties SAL Parts 1-4 completed. I love the way this is turning out. I'm changing colors on the fly and I am really, really loving how it's turning out. I have a fairly large plastic container of all of my non DMC threads and fibers. I have been opening it up and just rooting around and picking out colors as I go. It's been a fun process. I haven't ripped anything out, so I've been lucky in that regard! LOL!


I also corrected a minor mistake that fellow board member Nicole M pointed out. In the bottom left hand corner, I had forgotten to finish the stitching the three blocks in the far left corner at the bottom. You can see it here:






OOPS! :D


Took all of two seconds to correct, so I got that finished while I was stitching the crow yesterday for the Autumn block. Here is a pic of all four parts:







All that's needed now is the Winter Block and sadly this SAL will come to an end for me. I loved stitching it. It's been a LOT of fun. I will probably go back and stitch this one again, probably with individual blocks this time and I will also probably change the fabric and fibers I use.


Well, I best be off for now. Got lots of chores to do. Hope everyone has a terrific week! :)



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Respectfully submitted,


C.

SMO Four Seasons Fatties SAL Part 4 Finish

Sandy posted part four today, the Autumn block. Managed to stitch it up in just a few hours. I will be sad when it comes to an end, as I am enjoying stitching this SAL. There is still the SMO Sundays, so there's that to look forward to. :)


Here's my finish and the related stitchy notes:


First a re-cap on the mats so far:


Design: Four Seasons Fatties SAL

Designer: Sandra Dering of SanMan Originals

Fabric: 28 count white evenweave (possibly Lugana)


Fibers: DMC numbers 51, 111, 115, 310, and 317. Anchor numbers 295 and 801. Kreinik Very Fine Braid #4 in 150V.



Accouterments: Mill Hill beads in in #00556.








And here is a quick picture I snapped of Ushi, who was taking a kip on my plastic container that contains all of my non DMC fibers. She acts quite the Queen of the Realm, yea?






Hope everyone had a good weekend!


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Respectfully submitted,


C.

Paris Sampler Update

Here's a pic taken a few moments ago of the Paris Sampler I am stitching. I am really loving this design and I am having a blast stitching it. However, she does not design her charts the way US designers do. When she makes a chart, she doesn't do the grids like we are used to in the US, with the blocks of 10 in each direction marked off. I had to go back and count them out and mark them off on the chart before I started. It's a good thing I did, because the chart is quite large, 108 wide by 113 high. With a 2 inch border for finishing, that translates into a 13 inch by 12 inch piece of fabric on 14/28 count. (For a 16/32, it would be 12 x 11, 11 x 10 for an 18/36 and 10 x 10 for a 20/40.).





Design: Paris

Designer: Stofnest


Fabric: 28 count Jobelan evenweave in Café au Lait hand dyed by me


Fibers: DMC 839, 840, and 841 and a hand dyed floss by me; Heavy Cream









I need to boogie. Got stuff I need to do this afternoon. Hope everyone is having a wonderful day! :)


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Respectfully submitted,

C.

Happy Bunny Day and SanMan Sunday

Happy bunny day to everyone! It's a sunny, if a bit cool here today in the Las Vegas Valley. Been cleaning and organizing some things. I've also been struck down with what I think is yet another mild sinus infection. They are really getting bad this year. :(


As consequence, I have not finished anything since I posted last, however, I am hoping to get some things wrapped up real soon. Here are my latest two WIPs, an SMO Secret Shop chart that Sandy gifted me with and a Stofnest freebie:


WIP #1:


Design: Summer Side


Designer: Sandra Dering for SanMan Originals Secret Shop


Fabric: Dark Honey Ale by Yours Truly :P


Fibers: DMC B5200, 310, 321, 699, 702, 729 and 743







WIP #2:


Design: Paris


Designer: Stofnest


Fabric: 28 count Jobelan evenweave in Café au Lait hand dyed by me


Fibers: DMC 839, 840, and 841 and a hand dyed floss by me; Heavy Cream







Close Up:






Hope everyone is having a beautiful day today! :)


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Respectfully submitted,

C.