Memorial Day: A Day to Remember

Happy Memorial Day to all of the men and women who serve our country and to all of the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice to serve.  I personally believe that any person who puts their life on the line to protect their country deserves every ounce of respect that they can be given.  To the spouses and children who stand behind our heroes, thank you as well.

To all of our fallen heroes, we salute you, we miss you, and we will never forget you.

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 is Finished!

Hello Everyone!!  I'm doing a huge Happy Booty Dance today as late last night I finished my Mermaid of the Pearls!  So glad to be done with her!  I feel like she's been a mini-obsession for the last four months.  She was started on December 25th, 2011 and completed on April 27th, 2012.  The color conversion is posted as a separate page on the right side of this blog. 

And of course I have some close-ups!  She has over 3400 beads, 4 Swarovski crystals, 3 Mill Hill treasures and 31 fresh-water pearls. 

First, a close up of the beading on her body:

And here is a close-up of her face:

This is a close up of the cascade of beads and pearls.  I subbed petite seed beads for all of the kreinik in the cascade and fresh-water pearls for the Mill Hill pebble beads.

I chose to substitute the Mill Hill heart treasure for a Swarovski Crystal Shell.  Here is a close up of that shell

And the last picture I want to share is of the frame I bought and plan to frame her in.  I think it suits her really well.

Thanks for all of the support and encouragement while I worked on her!

Also, I'm leaving the giveaway contest open until Saturday night at midnight CST.  If you'd like to enter, please comment on the previous post.

TTFN!

Another Giveaway!

Hello Everyone!  I cannot thank you all enough for following me in my cross stitch journey!  But I'm going to try!  I said when I reached 50 followers, I would give away a stitcher's eighth of hand-dyed fabric!  Any type, any count as long as my LNS has it. :)  Please leave a comment on this post with type and color you'd like and I'll print out the comments and pull one out of a hat.  I thought that would be the most fair way to do it.  So please let me know what color fabric you'd like and I'll have fun dyeing it for you!

I also wanted to acknowledge two special ladies and their blogs.  They gave me more Liebster Awards and I'd love to share their blogs with you.  First is Jocelyn and her blog Stitchy Minds Think Alike.  She is currently working on two Mirabilias and a Mirabilia Round Robin.  The second is Amanda and her blog A Stitch Menagerie.  She's almost done with Mirabilia's Summer Queen and she's a great person to contact to order Mirabilias, beads and other fun stitchy stuff.

Sorry this post has no updates or pictures.  My camera and I are in an argument right now and it is winning.  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!