Ballet Dancer & Rose Fairy

Here is the latest on Ballet Dancer - she's still looking blobby but now at least she has a foot, a hand, and the beginnings of an arm. There is a lot of flesh in this design!

I spent a lot of time working on Rose Fairy over the weekend and now we have half a rose - makes a nice change from green leaves.


On Friday evening we had a power surge and the bulb in my new lamp blew. Strange - we had other lights on and it was the only one that blew - it had to be the most expensive bulb in the house and only 2 days old! My husband thinks I should ask the suppliers for a replacement, although it can't have been better packaged. I went to Hobbycraft yesterday to buy a replacement - they sell the lamp and had an assortment of daylight bulbs on sale, but, of course, not the particular one I need. On the way out of the shop I spotted some half price Mirabilia and L&L patterns. I have been very restrained at buying charts lately since I have enough to keep me going for nearly 20 years but I could not help myself! Here's a very bad picture of them. The L&L one is 'The Lady of the Thread'. My favourite is the Mirabilia 'Under the Friendship Tree' which is one of the discontinued ones so I'm pleased I got that.



Ann on my last entry asked what the horizontal lines on Fantasy Triptych are for - they are 10 rows apart and correspond with the grid on the chart. As I'm working this part of the design in columns, I'm putting the vertical lines of the grid on as I go along. I find it easier not to keep losing my place with a grid for FT as with most Teresa Wentzler patterns there is no such thing as a row of stitches, the individual symbols are all over the place and having the grid lined out on the fabric is a big help in keeping track of where I am.


Today, tomorrow and Wednesday I will be working on Sleeping Beauty.

Slacking again

I've been slacking again over my updates and comments. Its so hot!! Its very difficult to do anything other than flop back in the chair and stitch!



This is the blue blob that is Moon fairy Spirit. Thanks to those ladies who left comments about the kreinik. I won't actually be on to the bits that use it for a while yet. There is one symbol that seems to be just blending filament on its own - that seems to be a bit strange. There is no indication anywhere on this chart how many strands should be used - I expect it should be 2 which I am using for the DMC but would you stitch with 2 strands of blending filament on its own? I guess I'll find out! Unless anyone has come across this before and can advise me.



I really enjoyed working on Waiting for Neptune this time around. I decided to use the 'parking' method a lot of HAED stitchers use and it really works well - helps me to stitch methodically and stop keep on losing my place! I think I'm not going to stitch one page at a time after all. After I've finished the current block of page 2 I am going to work pages 3 and 4 (it is 4 pages wide) down to where I am on page 2 and then work the whole thing down together, so to speak, if that makes any sense.



Fanstasy Triptcyh - the land of brown and green is getting me down a bit - it goes on forever! But I will keep plugging on.



And finally ... here is my new toy! We decided to go for the Ultimate Daylight lamp in the end. It was the most expensive but so far proving worth it. The bit you can see stuck out front with the white bag on is the maginfying glass. I know I said I didn't want one of those but it is removable, and, working on the tiny scale of Waiting for Neptune this week made me realise maybe I will need it sooner rather than later. I've been short sighted since my teens and most of the time wear contact lenses but in the mornings, and evenings when my eyes have got tired I switch to glasses, which are not quite as strong a prescription as my contacts. One morning this week I discovered that I could actually see Waiting for Neptune better without any glasses or contacts at all. I am short sighted after all and provided I'm holding something almost at the end of my nose I can see it perfectly. Of course I can't see to walk around the room! So maybe I could use the magnifying glass. The actual lamp itself is brilliant, feels like stitching in daylight and the bulb, although a strange one is a simple screw fit and replacements are available from Sew and So so no problems there. My husband likes the tray thing although at the moment it looks very messy as is holding the needle organiser I use for Fantasy Triptych. The most important thing, it holds my scissors which I am constantly losing. All in all a good buy so far!

Today I have promised my son I will take him to Windsor Castle. I am almost looking forward to going back to work tomorrow, only for the air conditioning!

Stitching for the next 2 days will be on Lanarte's Ballet Dancer.

Grrr

I don't have any stitching progress to show today. I have worked on Sleeping Beauty for the past 3 days but almost all of it has got to come out. I went wrong. Boo hoo!

I was good as gold on my diet yesterday but managed to put on 0.6 pounds (I have scales that measure in 0.2 pound increments). I could live with staying the same, but gaining weight when I've been good is not fair!

Its hot. Very hot. The children break up from school tomorrow for the summer holidays and already my son is bored. He won't leave the dog alone. She is a hot dog and all she wants is to be left alone but he just keeps pestering her. I'll take her for a walk in a bit.

After I've finished frogging Sleeping Beauty I will be working on Moon Fairy Spirit for the next two days. I've got 3 days off work next week. Woohoo!

As there's no stitching pic, here's one of the dog.

Ballet Dancer & Rose Fairy

The problem with blog updating more regularly is every WIP looks very similar to the previous one. Rose Fairy is slightly changed - a green blob has appeared above the first leaf. This is the beginnings of the 2nd leaf, but I don't think will look like a leaf until the backstitch is on. When I've finished this leaf I'm going to treat myself and move onto the first flower head, which is pink. I've got a thing about pink flowers at the moment, I like flowers in any other colour, but pink isn't doing it for me. I came home from work a week or so ago and found 2 hanging baskets on the front of my house largely dominated by pink geraniums. My husband was upset I couldn't say I liked them, what's wrong with them? All I could say is, they're too pink. I do still like pink roses though.


I still don't have a bulb in my lamp. I know I'm sounding like a helpless female here but its a funny lamp with a funny bulb and I have no clue which one to buy or how to fit it if I did. I'm tempted to buy one of those really expensive lamps especially designed for cross stitch, although am a little put of by the magnifying glasses they all seem to have on them, I don't need one of those yet! But really, anything so long as it has a bulb I can change myself.

Fantasy Triptych

I've done a tiny bit of work on the land of brown and green. Last night the bulb went on my lamp so I am no longer attacked by moths when trying to stitch in the evenings but I can't see!! Impossible with any cross stitch especially Fantasy Triptych. Hopefully my husband will buy me a new bulb today.

Today and tomorrow I will be working on Ballet Dancer.

Waiting for Neptune

Here's a quick update of Waiting for Neptune after 2 days attention. Slowly and steadily it grows - there's not much more to say!

Today and tomorrow I will be working on Fantasy Triptych.

Sleeping Beauty & Moon fairy Spirit

This is Sleeping Beauty as at Friday evening. The brown and pink bits you see at the left are the beginnings of hair and flesh. Soon she will look human! I never stop enjoying working on SB, she is currently my 'focus piece', which means she gets 3 days attention in the rotation instead of 2. My intention is to finish her by year end, I don't know if I will, there's still a way to go.





Here is my latest new start which is Moon Fairy Spirit by Passione Ricamo. Yeah she's just a blue blob as yet. This project uses many blues, I must have a thing about blue, Ballet Dancer is blue, and I keep buying blue fabric. I have a blue car ..... I could go on. Anyways, not much to show for a weekend's work but there she is and will be my last new start for a while. You can't see the fabric in this picture but it is Silkweaver 'karma' in 32ct lugana. My first time stitching on 'actual' hand dyed fabric (as opposed to the printed fabric of some Lanarte kits). This project will be my first time using kreinik blending filament. I approach that idea with some trepidation, all my stitching dramas seem to surround speciality threads. We shall see .....

Sorry I've not been commenting much on blogs, I'm struggling again with the time management thing ...... so much to do ..... so little time ..... but I am absolutely determined to keep stitching.

Monday and Tuesday I will be working on HAED's Waiting for Neptune.

Rose Fairy

I haven't had much time for stitching over the past couple of days but have almost finished the first leaf on Rose Fairy. There are a few individual stitches to go but I finally gave up last night because the bugs wouldn't leave me alone. We are having a mini heat wave here at the moment and with summer comes bugs - we do have a beaded curtain up at the back door which reduces them but the little ones still get in. Last night there was this tiny moth which had a fascintation for my thread. The only thing I don't like about summer - I am a summer person, I get a bit depressed in winter with the lack of light but I really could do without the bugs! The answer, I know, is to get up early and do my stitching by daylight.
I hope my American friends have been enjoying their independance day holiday. 47 years ago yesterday my parents were married. Its a good way of remembering their wedding annniversary!

Celtic Winter - Finished at Last!!

Here it is at last. Whew what a relief to have finished Celtic Winter. I won't say any more now other than, I really like the beads!



This is Lanarte's Ballet Dancer. It is a kit, the fabric is lovely - its quite thick so holds in the Q-snaps well and has a subtle background print. A lot of this design is single strand - of what you can see here the white is two strands and the blue is one. I thought that was a bit strange at first but gives I think a sort of velvet look. I like working in one strand, less knots and tangles! This is not a huge design. I would really like to have two more finishes before the end of this year and this should be one of them. I just loaded up a picture of the finished article into my side bar - if its not showing up yet you can see it here


Today and tomorrow I will be working on The Rose Fairy.

Fantasy Triptych

Here is my progress on Fantasy Triptych. The area I'm working on at the moment is known on the TW bulletin board as 'the land of brown and green' - it has to be the most hardgoing bit of FT. I'm working on it in columns corresponding to the grid, which is why it looks weird! For me its the best way to get through this bit as the symbols are all over the place, there is no such thing as a row of stitches! It will take a few months, but I'd really like to get through this bit as quickly as possible.


Today and tomorrow I will be working on a project thats been on the go for a couple of months but is as yet unrevealed in this blog - Lanarte's Ballet Dancer. Don't get excited, its just a blob of blue and white at the moment! I also intend finishing off Celtic Winter.


Although I didn't write them in the blog I did set myself goals for June - they were a bit ambitious!
Fantasy Triptych - Finish the backstitch & 2 columns of green. Nearly
Ballet Dancer - Finish the blue & white section above the fold. Yes
Rose Fairy - Start. Yes.
Sleeping Beauty - Finish the dress. Not quite, discovered a bit of dress I hadn't bargained for.
Celtic Winter - Finish. Not quite.
Waiting for Neptune - Finish top 5 blocks. No.

Goals for July
Fantasy Triptych - Finish the green colum I'm working on & 2 more.
Ballet Dancer - Finish the blue & white.
Rose Fairy - Finish this leaf and the next one.
Sleeping Beauty - Finish top of dress and do the face and hair.
Moon Fairy Spirit (Passione Ricamo) - Start.
Waiting for Neptune - Finish page 2.