Damn The Torpedoes!

It's full steam ahead for fall and Halloween related stitching. By the calendar date, we have T-minus 10 days and counting until much anticipated first day of September rolls around. This is really my favorite time of year. With fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years' all within three months time. Bring on the cooler temps! Bring on the snow! Bring on the flannel! Pumpkin flavored all the things!

To usher in this season, I did yet another fabric and fiber test. This time, with a part of a design that I want to stitch in its' entirety. As this piece only contains two colors, I will need to pick out a lovely shade of pumpkin for the other color. I think I have two designs from Lisa Roswell of The Primitive Needle that I think would look lovely on this fabric. I need to purchase more, so that I can hand dye it such as this piece. 

Well, at any rate, here is my 'sample' piece that I just finished up. I think it needs to be a bookmark. I think it would be a riot to use it for The Good Huswife's Book of Spells:

Design: Hallow Game Board (partial)

Designer: Lisa Roswell of The Primitive Needle

Fabric Used: 22 count Ariosa linen by Zweigart in Weathered Barn by Fleur De Luce hand dyeds. 

Fibers Used: Rainbow Gallery Splendor 12 ply silk floss in Black (S801).

Stitchers' notes: Design retired and out of print due to Lisa Roswell's death in February 2011. Fabric and fiber test for other designs in my collection. Please note that neither the Hallow Game Board nor the Book of Spells is currently for sale or trade. 

Time for me to be off. I need to clean up my stitching area and get the materials ready for the next project. It's another bonus design from Blackbird Designs. I really do love those bonus designs! :)

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Happy upcoming week! :)

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Respectfully submitted.

C. 

To Boldly Go

where I have never gone before. This latest finish was a combination of designer, floss and fabric that I have never used in my 20+ years of stitching. It was a lovely little experiment and I really enjoyed playing around with things. 

The floss is by Rainbow Gallery and it is a 12 ply silk floss, called Splendor. It was my first time trying it. It seems a bit thinner than my ubiquitous Au Ver À Soie  Soie d'Alger or my Crescent Colours Belle Soie silk. It is as soft as both of these, however, and it is less than $4.00 per card at my LNS. As I have a number of fall related projects that I wish to stitch up, I am looking at cost this time around. 

The also new to me fabric that I used is a 22 count linen called Ariosa. It is by Zweigart and it is a very nice fabric. It a 60% Viscose, 40% Cotton linen in a 22 count. I purchased this particular piece in a white and dyed it myself. I love the way it turned out. It is perfect for the piece that I had chosen to stitch. 

The designer was also new to me. While the chart was a freebie, I had never stitched any of the designs by Teresa Murgida of Primitive Acorns. I have had this particular freebie for quite some time, but never got around to stitching it. It stitched up in less than a day, and probably would have taken less than two hours, had I 'applied' myself. But it was Saturday, so I was not in the mood to 'apply' myself to anything but faffing about. :)


At any rate, here are my efforts from yesterday. 

Design: The King of Autumn (freebie)

Designer: Teresa Murgida of Primitive Acorns

Fabric Used: 22 count Ariosa linen by Zweigart in Weathered Barn by Fleur De Luce hand dyeds. 

Fibers Used: Rainbow Gallery Splendor 12 ply silk floss in Black (S801). Crescent Colours Belle Soie silk Collard Greens, Harvest, Mango, Pumpkin Carriage, Tree Trunk and Tulip. 2 mm silk ribbon in Witchcraft by Vicki Clayton of Hand Dyed Fibers. Kreinik #002C Gold cord. 

Stitchers' notes: Began and finished the stitching on Saturday, August 14, 2016. Fabric, Splendor fibers and designer were firsts. Fabric hand dyed by me. 

Well, I must be off. I need to do some things to get ready for the week. I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

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Respectfully submitted,

C. 

The bell rang twice

Well, it's been a while. I haven't made much progress in the stitching arena, as I picked up extra shifts at work and my schedule's been bouncing up and down like a Chihuahua on crack. This week, however, I begin my full time PERMANENT shift, so things should settle down soon. Yay!


In addition to all the work I've been doing, Teh Hubmeister and I have added two more additions to our kitteh collection, resulting in the 'Furever Home Bell' being rung twice. Mr. Charwee died back in May and things have been a bit lonely in the house for our remaining kitteh, Ozzy. So, after a few weeks of debate, Teh Hubmeister and I went down and adopted two shelter cats. All of our animals have been rescues, and we've never had to give any up (Thank God!).  We adopted a male and a female, although, we went in with the intention of adopting just one. We had settled on the female, but the male just kept playing with me and acting so cute, we took a look at him as well and wound up taking him home too :)! When one of the volunteers put the cat carrier down on a bench to place the male in it, he ran up to it and just jumped right in! Kitty knew with whom he was going and was rarin' to go, haha! :)


At any rate, here are our two newest members of the house:


This is Doro, named after Doro Pesch, a heavy metal/hard rock singer. The female is quite vocal and after calling her after many female rock and rollers names, it was the only one she would answer to! :O

This is Lemmy. So named after Ian Fraser "Lemmy" Kilmister of Motorhead fame. He's kinda quiet for the most part, but I thought he'd be a lovely complement to our Ozzy. 

And last, but certainly not least, is our Ozzy. The Oz Man cometh, and I thought the Oz Man would goeth when we brought home the two new cats, LOL! Here is Ozzy's reaction to the new additions:

The household is settling down from all the hubbub. Even with separation of the cats, there are still some 'pecking order' issues to be settled, but so far, there's been no blood. (Thank God!).

Well, I must bolt for the door. Need to get some things done before work. Hope to have a stitching update soon. Hope everyone is having a great summer weekend and is staying cool! :)

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Respectfully submitted,

C.