Stitching A.D.D

Hello all!  I've been in a mood since finishing Buttercup a couple of weeks ago.  I want to stitch but can't decide what to stitch on!  I've promised myself no new starts (except for a couple of exchange ornies) until I finish at least one more project.  Two would be better.  I've been working a bit each night on all of these projects, even if it is only a stitch or two.

I actually have 5 or 6 more wips than this but I decided if I concentrated on a few select ones, I'd get more done.

I've been working on The Husband's Pirate Map the most.  Mainly because it's for him and he's here to bug me about it.

I'm getting close to being done with all of the green in the center of the chart and will be able to move into the large areas of light blue.  This is stitched on a random Jewel by Under the Sea Fabrics.

Now, Merchant Mermaid by Mirabilia.

I'vve gotten some progress done on her skin and tail.  I truly HATE this fabric.  It is Ale by PTP and the weave is extremely loose and the color isn't as rich as I wanted.  It also pills quite a bit.  I want her to have a stained, aged look so I plan to distress her by dipping her in a brownish bronze dye when I've finished the stitching.  I'm not beading as I go with her because of the dye plan and it's a little odd to get used to.

Deep Blue Sea

I really love this piece.  The fabric (Witching Hour Opal Belfast by Under the Sea Fabrics) is perfect and the silks are so vibrant.

I've decided to try to get the borders done before I do anymore filling in.  Here is a close up of the one I'm working on.

I really love this piece and I'm so glad I pulled it back out to work on.

And Lastly, Earth Dancer by Butternut Road.

I'm stitching her on Midnight Mermaid Opal Cashel by Under the Sea Fabrics and I just love her.  It's like she pops off of the fabric!

The fabric is supposed to be water fading up into a midnight blue sky.  But I think with the way I've positioned her, she will look like the Aurora Borealis is behind her in the sky.  I'm leaving off the trees and adjusting the colors of the dream catcher to go with the fabric.  You know I can't leave well enough alone!

TTFN!
~Leslie

Whew! It's Getting Hot Out There!

Hello Everyone!  I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted but I have a good excuse and her name is Tulip.  I've only stitched one Nora Corbett pixie completely, mainly because I prefer her mermaids, but I fell in love with Tulip's color scheme and sassy dress, hair and pose.  I've been stitching on her non-stop for several days and she's been an absolute joy!

You can see I'm almost done with her dress.  Isn't the orange and magenta amazing together?  I dyed the fabric for her myself because I just couldn't find anything I really loved.  It's a very light orange and pink mix that I wanted to look a little like sherbet.  I'm hoping to finish her before next weekend.  Fingers crossed!

I finished Part Five of Deep Blue Sea on May 30th. 

Sorry the pic is kind of blurry.  My camera and I have been at odds lately.  I've printed out part six but I've put it away for awhile.  Not only because I've been obsessed with Tulip, but also because I'm hoping to get some serious work done on Merchant Mermaid after I finish Tulip.  If I can finish her by the end of August, I might be able to get her framed in time for Fair season.  

I've gotten some requests for some of my recipes.  Over the next few weeks, I'm going to create a page with some of them.  I'm still working out the format for them.  If there's any of my recipes you'd like me to share, let me know!  TTFN!

Countdown to Summer... 6 More Days!

Hello Everyone!  It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks for my family and I'm so glad to be home!  We spent a week on the east coast attending my brother's wedding and visiting family!  I was only able to get a little bit of stitching done last week and mainly on my Merchant Mermaid.  I worked on her a lot on the plane because the fabric is light and easy to see.  I've finished the anchor motif on the bottom and I'm excited to finally get to her tail!

I've gotten a bit done on Deep Blue Sea this week.  I've managed to finish all of the border, sea weed, waves and squishies from Part 5.  All I have left is to finish a bit of the pink coral and the fishies.

And a close up of the Squishies!  I love them!  They're so cute!

I took a class last month called The Finer Points of Finishing with Jane Timmers.  Jane designs and finished amazing ornaments (she has one published in the JCS Ornament issue every year) and her finishing techniques are invaluable.  If you ever have the chance to take her class, it is well worth the expense.  I stitched a tiny snowflake freebie I found online and I just beaded the whole thing.  Here is my finished product from the class:

And lastly, here is a pic of The Husband and I at the wedding last week!  We had a lot of fun!







Thanks for reading!  TTFN!

Whirlwind!

Hello Everyone!  It has been a busy couple of weeks for this girl!  Last weekend I took a finishing class with the lovely Jane Timmers and this weekend we had a massive Cinco de Mayo party.  I've gotten a little stitching done, but not too much.  I started my Merchant Mermaid a few days after I finished Mermaid of the Pearls.  So far, I've only stitched about 1/3 of the anchor motif at the bottom.

I'm changing the "MH" in the anchor to "SS".  The "SS" stands for "Siren's Song" which is what is replacing the "Mill Hill" at the top.  Amanda has helped me by recharting the words to say "Siren's Song Pub and Inn".  I wanted her to look like an old British tavern sign.  She's being stitched on 28 ct. Ale linen by Picture This Plus.

The reason I've only done a little bit of Merchant Mermaid is because Part 5 of Deep Blue Sea has come out and it's a doozy!  It includes a large section at the top.  I'm working on seaweed and border tonight.

I apologize for the pictures.  I managed to screw up the settings on my camera and I'm still trying to figure out how to get them back to normal!  Also, I want to announce Karen as the winner of my giveaway!  I'll be emailing you soon!  I have some dental work this week and a wedding to attend next week so I will probably not post for a couple of weeks.  Hoping by then to have most if not all of Part 5 to show you!  TTFN!

Persephone's Pearls!

Hello All!  I hope everyone who is reading this is in good health and good spirits!  I've made a lot of progress recently and I can't wait to show it off!

I finished Part 4 of Deep Blue Sea rather quickly.  It didn't have a whole lot to it but I'm betting the next 8 parts have a lot! 

I did not backstitch the oyster shells yet.  I think I want to backstitch them in long stitched with two strands and I don't think those will hold up well under the q-snap clamps.

I also finally finished all of the stitching on Persephone and started beading.  I'm thinking it will take several weeks to sew all of the beads, pearls and crystals on her.

She doesn't photograph well at all.  I tried a flash and natural light but this is still the best I could get.  Here is a close up of the fresh-water pearls in her hair.









I love the mauve pearls!  They sync so well with the colors!

I saw today I have officially 54 followers!  Now I get to offer as a prize a Stitcher's Eighth of hand-dyed fabric!  I'm still not sure how I will run the contest quite yet but I will let yal know in my next post.  TTFN!

Happy Easter!

Hello Everyone!  Happy Easter!  Or, as my brother-in-law puts it, Happy Jesus Zombie Day!  I hope everyone is having a wonderful day with family and friends.  I've spent a lot of time this weekend stitching and it has been wonderful!  In fact, I'm planning to get back to it as soon as I get off the computer. 

I actually have a lot of progress to show this week!  First, I finished the bottom of Persephone's tail.  The next step is to frog all of the blue kreinik as I plan to replace it with petite seed beads.

I'm also undecided about which color family of pink to make the bubbles.  Since I want her to look like she's in a pink ocean, I think the bubbles should be pink as well.  Once I'm finished with Part 4 of Deep Blue Sea, I'll pull the different pinks I'm considering and try to choose a family that will compliment the pinks already in her tail.  I'm really anxious to get back to her since I found the perfect frame for her on clearance at Joann's Fabrics.

I'm half-way done with Part 4 of Deep Blue Sea.  I want to finish Part 4 before I work on Persephone again and so I'm stitching as quickly as I can! 

 The designer calls for a pearl to be in the center of Deep Blue Sea and I thought that would make the center look bulky but she suggests using pearls inside of the oyster shells instead of dense rhodes stitches.  I think I'll probably do that as I think the pearls in the shells will even out the balance with the pearl in the center.  Here is a close-up of the oyster shell on the right with the pearl.  I still need to backstitch them but since a lot of the backstitching is long stitches, I'll probably wait until the end to backstitch them.

\Hopefully by next weekend I'll have Part 4 done!  TTFN!

Part Three is Done! Yay!

As of 4:45 PM CST, I am 1/4 of the way done with Deep Blue Sea!  All four Coral Motifs from Part Three are done!  And of course, I have pics of each one!

Top Coral Motif:

Right Coral Motif:

Bottom Coral Motif:

Left Coral Motif:

Here is a pic of the whole piece as of right now:

I'm hoping to be able to give Persephone some love right now.  Maybe I can get the bottom half of her tail done!  I've gotten the fabrics in that I've chosen for Merchant Mermaid, Enchanted Mermaid, and Villia Mirabilia.  I'll post some floss tosses when I get close to finishing Persephone and maybe yal can help me pick my next Mira!  Also, I'm just 3 followers away from 50!  I will hand-dye an fat eighth of fabric for one of my followers when I reach 50!  Any color/ fabric/ count you want!  When I make it to 100, I'll do a fat quarter!  Thank you for following me in my stitching journey!  TTFN!



First Day of Spring!

Well, it's officially the first day of spring!  Spring came roaring into San Antonio on the heels of some frightening thunder storms and tornados.  Today was beautiful but it is supposed to storm again tonight.  I spent the last week in Lousinana getting almost no stitching done.  I did a lot of drinking and eating though! 

I used the afternoon sun to finally get some progress pics!  I'm making some decent progress on Persephone but I'll be putting her away for a couple of weeks so I can get part three of Deep Blue Sea done. 

I messed up somewhere in the bottom of the tail.  I'm still not sure if I want to fudge it or fix it.  And Here is Deep Blue Sea as of this afternoon. 

I'm hoping to finish the Coral motif on the right side tonight.  Here is a close-up of the top motif.

These motifs are fun to stitch so far.  They have a variety of specialty stitches and threads.  I'm having a lot of fun with them right now.  Til next time... TTFN!





In Like a Lamb...

Happy first day of March!  It is an absolutely beautiful day here in South Texas.  A pretty (but cloudy) 80 degrees!  Windows are open and fresh air in coming in!  I have had very little time for stitching the last few days but I do have some progress to show!  First, Persephone. 

I'm very close to being completely done with my color conversion and I will publish it here as soon as I get it all figured out. 

And here is Deep Blue Sea:

All I have left on Part one is backstitching so I am doing a little work on part three, more backstitching, then back to part three.  I had to break it up a little!

Now that I've shown you what I'm working on, let me show you all of my new fabrics I've received recently.  They are really wonderful!  This first one is a Sparklie's Solitaire Opalescent linen in 32 count.  I'm going to put Nora Corbett's Trick or Treat Fairy from the September 2008 issue of Cross-Stitch and Needlwork on this one.

This next one is a Silkweavers 28 ct opalescent called Mystical Seas and I absolutely love it!  Can not wait to see Nora's next mermaid because she will probably go on this!

And this last piece was hand-dyed by my friend, Jenetta and I LOVE it.  It is 28 ct jobelan.

I'm leaning towards Mermaid of Atlantis for this one but I may change my mind.  Thanks for reading and TTFN!



Happy President's Day!

Hello Everyone!  For those in U.S. Government jobs, I hope you're enjoying your day off.  The husband is taking me to lunch in a little while. :)  I have to admit, I have not stitched on Persephone hardly at all this week.  I've finished all of part two of Deep Blue Sea, minus the Jessica Shells with Topiary Princess perle.  I'm also trying to get caught up with Part one now that all of my Glorianas are in.  Here is Part Two completed as of Saturday morning:

I really love the fabric!  The more I use it the more I like it!  Here is a picture as of this morning:



While I really love the Blue Grass and Blue Hawaii, I don't really like the Deep Blue Sea Gloriana.  According to the chart supply list and a couple of other websites, Deep Blue Sea is supposed to be a dark teal similar to DMC 3806.  Mine is exactly DMC 500.  I could have saved myself $7.50 on a skien of silk because it is exactly the same color as the DMC 500 with little to no variation.  I think I'm going to take a trip to the LNS this afternoon after lunch to find something a little more teal.  I just don't love the green and I don't care for working with Glorianas in general so switching the thread would be better all around. 

In other happy news, tomorrow I'm going to pick up my Shimmering Mermaid from the framer!  Super excited to get her done and on the wall!  I choose a thin gold frame similar to one of the kreiniks and I thought it looked great for her.  yay!

I'm close to 50 followers!  Yay!  When I reach 50, I'm going to give away a stitcher's eighth of my hand-dyed fabric to one of my followers.  Not sure what color yet.  I've been experimenting and I have several wonderful colors.
TTFN!

Updates and Ideas

Hello Everyone!  I made a lot of progress on Persephone this week.  I've finished the top half of her tail.  I'm almost done with the plastic surgery and the color conversion.  When she's closer to being done, I'll post it for anyone who wants it.

I really love how she's coming out.  I'll probably put her aside this week to work on a small project and play catch up on Deep Blue Sea.  Speaking of Deep Blue Sea, here it is:

Only 4 more tiny starfish to go!  And my Blue Hawaii Gloriana came in this week so I'm going to start filling it in.
This week, I found a beautiful hand-painted teacup from Thailand at Good Will.  Some of the treasures that end up there make me sad.  I'm planning to turn it into a pin cushion using a small design from Joan Elliott.  I dyed a scrap of linen to match the teacup and I think I got pretty close.

I wish the pics were better this week It is a dreary and cold day here in San Antonio and I didn't have very good light.  Well, TTFN!

A UFO Invasion!

Hello everyone!  Hope everyone had a lovely week!  I got a little stitching done on Persephone but mostly worked on Deep Blue Sea.  I spent two nights in the Urgent Care with sick little boys so I got a lot of stitching done in the waiting rooms.  I'm still chugging away at Persephone.  She's slowly getting the rest of her tail.  I think once I'm past this part I'm cutting out, it will be faster because I can follow the chart instead of improvising as I go.

I got a quarter of the way through part two of Deep Blue Sea.  It's slow going because there is a lot of over one stitching in this part and I'm stitching on a 32 dark colored opalescent. 

Thanks to Deborah, I now have the petite silk lame so I'm filling in the gray curlyques.  They are VERY sparkly and the picture just doesn't do them justice.  And here's a close-up of my tiny over one starfish. 

Aren't they cute?  And only 12 more left to stitch!

My friend Jule is making me pull out a UFO and stitch on it once a month.  It is Shores of Hawk Run Hollow by Carriage House Samplings and I'm stitching it one over two on 40 ct linen.  She's just started this one so a group of us are going to meet once a month to work on this one or other UFOs. 

The fabric is not as yellow as it seems in the picture, I just had terrible lighting today.  It's hard to tell from the picture, but I substituted all of the NPI silks for overdyed cottons.  I really like the way it is coming out, but it is rather boring to stitch.  TTFN!

Wow! It's Been Awhile...

... since I posted!  Over a week!  I'll try not to do that again.  I've spent the last week trying to finish up a commissioned piece so I could get back to Persephone and Deep Blue Sea.  Also, my favorite LNS closed its doors for the last time Friday night and I was spending a lot of time there this week.  But, I have some pretty great updates for you!

First, Persephone.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE the fucshias I've converted her tail to.  I think I've officially decided I don't want to include the back fin or all of the ruffled streamers so stitching her is slow-going because I'm slowly working out how to exclude them. 

While that picture shows the overall affect, I also wanted to include a picture that shows the different fucshia and wine toned threads.

It's kind of blurry near the bottom, but you can really see the different colors a lot better.

I've also made progress on Deep Blue Sea.  There is only a little bit more I can finish without my backordered silks on Part One.  I plan to finish that tonight and start on Part Two tomorrow.

I really love the way this fabric came out when I dyed it.  Such a pretty blue.  And speaking of dying fabric, I dyed two really pretty pieces this week.  First, I took a long quarter of Blue Dynasty 32 ct. by Zweigart and I added some darker blues, pinks, and purples.  Then I soaked it in some hot water so the colors would blur.  I think the effect was cotton candy.  The fabric really looks just like cotton candy. 



I think I'm going to use the fabric for Venetian Opulence by Mirabilia.  When I did a partial floss toss, the colors really popped on this fabric.  I also dyed a very pretty piece of purple linen.  It is a 28 ct. fat quarter. 

I think I will end up using this one for Joan Elliott's Sea Goddess.  I'm not sure yet.  I really love the way it came out though!

Until next time.... TTFN!

Persephone and Deep Blue Sea Updates and Some Questions about Floss Storage

Hello Everyone!  I finally got to the tail on Persephone!  The more pinks and reds I put into it, the happier I am with the conversion.  And I've mostly put in pinks.  Hoping to get more reds into her this weekend.

I really love the fucshia Kreinik!  I can't wait to get more of it stitched in.

Now that my fabric is dyed and dried, I've started on Deep Blue Sea again.  I have to be honest, right now some of the colors blend.  But they are surrounded by brighter colors that won't blend as much.  I still have four Glorianas, 2 Waterlilies and 2 Dinky Dyes on backorder so it's kind of a waiting game on the brighter colors.

Finally, I'm constantly trying to figure out how I want to store my threads.  At the moment, all of my floss is in plastic baggies that is filed in plastic shoe boxes.  When I take them out for a project, I put the baggies in a big plastic bag and root in it for the thread I need.  I hate this system.  Since I realized I was going to need a binder to hold all of my charts and directions for Deep Blue Sea, I've been brainstorming a way to keep my threads in the binder with it.  I've decided to try out business card binder inserts.  So far, I'm liking it but I'm only 18 hours in.

If this works well for me, I'm thinking about changing all of my threads into binders like this.  So, my question to all of you is: How do you store your floss?  Is there any perfect system?  I'd really love to hear how other people store all of their floss so I can get some other ideas for mine.  Thanks!