Stitchin' and Cruisin'!

Hello All!  I'm home from the beautiful Bermuda Triangle where we visited Freeport and Nassau Bahamas and also spent a few days at Universal Studios Florida.  It was a fun trip but it is indeed nice to be home... (even though we came home to freezing temperatures and snow! Ack!)

Here are a few pics from the trip:

Lots of Bahamas pics!  Look how blue the water is!  And the sand was so white!

And here are a few from Universal Studios.  I loved every minute at Hogwarts and Diagon Alley!  I'm such a Harry Potter Fan!

It was so cool to see all the places I'd read about!  And the rides were fun too.  I even got a few pins to make into Needleminders for my collection...

Speaking of collection, I was given some super lovely Birthday Gifts from some wonderful friends!

Handmade Scarf and Soap from Sindy:

Mermaid Envelope (the mermaid was stitched by Julie and the envelope constructed by Karen) with my FAVORITE chocolate ever from Quebec.

Awesome needleminder and gifts from my local Secret Stitcher:

The perfect Card and gift card from Sherry:

My friends truly spoiled me for my birthday!  And now, a WIP pic.  I'm slowly working on Sunflower Fairy.  All I have left is her flower petals which are proving a little tedious.

The second pic is a slightly better picture of the fabric which is really warm and beautiful!
Well, TTFN!

Mermaid Undine is Finished!

Well, it took a month longer than I'd planned but I finished Mermaid Undine by Mirabilia Designs.

She is stitched on Lilypad Opal Cashel from Under the Sea Fabrics.  As you can see, I brightened the colors a little and substituted Swarovski Crystals for the larger Mill Hill Beads.  I wish I had taken more pics but The Husband kinda rushed me near the end.  I'll take some better pics this weekend.

I also made a few scissor fobs for the Under the Sea Fabrics cruise next month.

I think they came out really cute!  TTFN!

FINISHED Finishes and a Few WIP Pics.

Hello All!

I feel like I've been stitching up a storm!  I have THREE active WIPs!  I blame my friends Kenny and Andrea.  I also got two pieces back from the finisher!  Yay!

Here is Buttercup AKA Enchanted Mermaid back from Jill Rensel.  LOVE how she came out and I have her hanging in a spot so I can see her from my stitchy spot.  Thank you again to all of my friends who contributed!

And here is Elphaba AKA Ana back from my finisher.  She is finished into a stand alone cube and I love her!  You can email me at the profile email if you'd like the name and email of my finisher, Diana.

And onto the WIPs!  I couldn't very well stitch Elphaba the Wicked and not stitch Glenda the Good.  So here's my modest start on her.  Karen helped me again with the crown and I'll post the chart and color conversion when she's finished.

This is Sunflower Fairy from the September 2009 issue of Cross Stitch and Needlework.  She's so cute and tiny!

This is the most recent pic I've taken of Mermaid Undine but I'm quite a bit further.  She could be done in a week or two if I wasn't distracted by Glenda and Sunflower Fairy.

Well, that's it for now!  TTFN!

An Absolutely Wicked Finish!

So, I've made no secret of the fact that I'm a SLOOOOOOOOOW stitcher.  So when this beauty stitched up so quickly I was rather proud of myself.  I think it definitely re-ignited my mojo.  You can tell my mojo has been dimishing because it's been nearly two months since I posted.  This is a color conversion of Nora Corbett's Bewitching Pixie Ana. So here she is, my Elphaba:

She's stitched on Hurricane 28 ct Opalescent Lugana from Under the Sea Fabrics.  The colors in her dress were converted from Olive Green to red and her skin was changed to witchy greens.  My Sister from another Mister, Karen, helped me out A LOT by charting the Flying Monkey and Ruby Slippers for me.

And a few close ups:

The Ruby Red Slippers (Stitched in Kreinik for extra sparkle)

The Swarovski Crystal Skull (In my little world, Dorothy never made it out of Oz!):

And here Flying Monkey Companion (I named him Kenny because Kenny enabled me to stitch her and because I finished her on his Birthday!)

Of course, the conversion details and the charts for the flying monkey and the slippers are available in a tab at the top of this page.

Many thanks to Kenny, Julie, Melinda and Karen for enabling me to start and finish her!
TTFN!

A Cute Little Finish :)

Last week, Nora's Mermaid Letter L came out.  And like I've said for the last two months, I dropped everything like a bad habit to stitch it!

But there's more to the story.  I found a really neat port hole frame at Joann's last month and I needed to leave the L off in order for her to fit.  Since I love the original colors AND the L, I decided to change her to fit in the port hole.  Then I can stitch her again with the L in the original colors later one.

So here she is.  Reversed and converted to Aqua blue and pink and blonde.

Isn't she cute?  I LOVE the port hole frame I found for her.  She's currently at the LNS being fitted into her porthole.  I will totally be stitching her again in the original colors with the L.

Here is her conversion The left color is the Classic Colorworks called for in the design and the right size is what I used instead.

Aunt Marie's Violet --> Petite Silk Lame SP80

Cerise --> Gloriana Tropical Sea

Cobbled Peach --> Splendor 923 or DMC 754

Fresh Brew--> Gloriana Gold (in the hair only)

Hydrangea--> Silk 'N Colors Maid of the Mist

Jelly Roll--> Petite Treasure Braid PB22

Just Rust--> Gloriana Baby Corn 

Rainy Day--> Gloriana Blue Hawaii

Smoke--> Petite Silk Lame SP49

Mill Hill 00252--> Delicas DB172

Mill Hill 02077--> Delicas DB1764

Mill Hill 02078--> Delicas DB1576

Mill Hill 02082--> Delicas DB427

Mill Hill 13004--> Swarovski 5040 Padparadscha AB 6 mm Briolettes

Mill Hill13054--> Swarovski 5500 Rose AB 9 mm Teardrop

Mill Hill13063-->Swarovski 5328 Padparadascha AB 4 mm Bicones.

I've been working a bit on Earthdancer.  Since I was taking her off the Snaps to put letter L on, I ironed her and took a progress picture.

I'd guestimate she's about halfway done.  I've just started a gift project and as soon as it's received I'll post a pic.

TTFN!
~ Leslie