Stitching Saturday

After finishing off the Mermaid last weekend, I was very good and instead of starting a new project, picked up my old Paradise Island project which I started three years ago and stitched on it. I had to find the odd couple of threads that have been borrowed out of the thread pouch over the years, but most of them were still present and correct.

I've been diligently stitching on it all week in the evenings and today, I can proudly post an update pic as I've finished yet another quadrant of the chart. The design is now three-quarters finished. Here is my Webshots Album which shows all my previous WIP shots of the project.

I think the last time I actually worked on this project was sitting by the pool this summer when I was in Lanzarote. This project does have an unfortunate history with pools due to an accident with a paddling pool once, here's the entry on my first stitching blog (August 23 2003, now archived on Geocites) which will tell you all about it if you've not read it already. It wasn't funny at the time but I had such a good laugh about the accident afterwards, as in the end there was no real harm done, apart from it getting a bit wet! Maybe this can be a Future Stitching Blogger's Question: What is the biggest mishap you've had with your stitching?

This design appeared in an The World of Cross Stitching's July 2002 edition and was also printed in Jill Gordon's Cross Stitch Pictures book, which I also have. The book says that this island is actually a real atoll somewhere in the Indian Ocean, I've always wondered if it were one of the Maldives?

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As I've sort of put Above The Clouds to one side at the moment, I started this Mirabilia Holiday Cherub (2000) design as my new purse project. I've not stitched much, this is what I did during my lunch hour on Thursday dinner time.


The completed design will look like this when complete:

The design is a freebie and you can download your own copy of this chart here.

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Below is the progress I did make on Above the Clouds so far.

Which Flower are You?

You are an Iris:

You are logical, analytical, dignified, and wise.
You are studious by nature and may prefer books
to people. You tend to be a serious person but
are capable of making others laugh with your
dry sense of humor. Friends always benefit from
your advice.

Symbolism: Over the centuries the iris has come to
symbolize faith, wisdom, hope, and promise in
love.


Which Flower are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

South Park Vash

I found this link on Carol's blog, but just about everyone seems to be doing themselves as a South Park Character on their blogs, so here goes me:



Here's where you can play too: http://spstudio.elena.hosting-friends.de/spstudio.html

Coming Through the Floor....!

A small earthquake hit Penzance today. It wasn't a seizmic movement however, it was my boss the twat skipping in his office at the encouragement of his personal trainer who he's employed to get him into shape to win a bet but honestly, skipping in your office? My desk is based two floors below his office, but it still sounded like a herd of elephants were stampeding past. The twat didn't keep it up long however, after about 15-20 jumps he came down the stairs to get a cup of water from the cooler, he was knackered already! No wonder he needs that blonde, petite, lady trainer to keep his enthusiasm up.

And now for the Stitching Blogger's Question:

Do you always sign your projects? If not, why? If so, do you use your first name, initials or what?

I only usually sign work if I am giving it away or taking part in a round robin. I always sign "Vash" rather than my real name, but as everyone knows me as Vash anyway I can't see that it matters. I will also put my Country, or location, i.e. UK or Cornwall. On the Cattitudes RR we even stitched our country flags. I sometimes put the year too.

Strange Cravings

Jade made a big fuss of me when I came home this evening, I was trying to figure out what he wanted. I opened a bottle of cream soda, and it fizzed up a bit at first dribbling out the top of the bottle and down the side. The next thing I know, Jade is licking the bottle, so I poured him a glass of his own. Yes dear readers, my cat was drinking CREAM SODA!!! lol

Mermaid Queen on the Ocean

She's finished!!!!

I've spent the entire day completing the beading, the odd missing stitch - I had to laugh at myself when I'd forgoten to stitch one of her hands, here I was facing a handless mermaid, lol. - and finally completed all the backstitch about an hour ago.

She's probably the largest and most advanced piece that I've ever attempted, and she's my second Mirabilia design. According to this blog, I started working on her on April 10th. The mermaid is stitched on Silkweaver Reflection's 32 count Ocean.

I wasn't happy after I'd attached the jewels though. The chart just left the area under the jewels blank, but there wasn't complete coverage by the gems and you could see the "holes" in the pattern under the jewels and the blank fabric behind so today I've lifted up the gems and stitched in the background colour. I felt much happier about her when I'd done that. I think the best bit of the design was completing the final gold braiding in her hair. It really brought her into focus for me.

Now... what should I stitch on next? I really want to finish "Above the Clouds" now, but as it was intended for a friend who now is not speaking to me, it probably won't be appreciated at all [in fact, even if I do finish it off and give it to him as a peace offering in the hope of renewing our friendship, I can quite easily see it being binned it in disgust], so I don't know if I have the heart to finish it off now, which is a shame because I was enjoying working on it.

So maybe another Teresa Wenzler instead? I've got her Egyptian Sampler that I've always wanted to work on and also Tapestry Cat. Speaking of Cats, and Egypt I've got a design called "Pharoah's Pet" that I've always wanted to do as it's of an Egyptian Serval. I'll have to have a look though my stash, or should I do the sensible thing and finish off another WIP or UFO?

What Kind of Love are You in?

Tragic Love
There is a lot of pain here. A lot of bitter and
bruised feelings. You love this person, but
it's hurting you. Sure, the good times can be
really good, but the bad times crop up more
frequently. Are you sure that it's worth it?

What Kind of Love are You in? (Beautiful Romantic Pics!)
brought to you by Quizilla

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week: Frogging Mistakes?

How do you feel about staying totally true to a pattern? Do you feel that you have to rip out stitches to fix a mistake or do you feel it's acceptable to incorporate a mistake into the design?

The answer to that is how much work is going to be involved to frog the Mistake?

If I know I've made an error I generally go back and take it out maybe undoing a few hours stitching in the process, but if I don't notice the error until much later than that I will try to adapt around it.

I actually get a secret thrill about stitching a piece and knowing that I've done it stitch perfect and not made a mistake at all. But once I know there's an error there anyway I have less incentive to go back and fix another one, I tend to sort of leave it. I can remember pieces that I've balls up early on, didn't fix, and then got very creative when it came to finishing them off!

What Advanced Degree Should You Get?

You Should Get a PhD in Science (like chemistry, math, or engineering)

You're both smart and innovative when it comes to ideas. Maybe you'll find a cure for cancer - or develop the latest underground drug.

What Advanced Degree Should You Get?

Skating Santa : Before and After

One of my goals this month was to stitch on my Aunt's old unfinished Skating Santa project.

This is how it looked prior to me working on it:



Today I finished him off:



It's kinda sad in a way now that he is finished because now I only have one of my Aunt's WIPs to go (an Owl) and when that is done it's as if a part of her will be gone forever. It brought back memories of her just by opening the project wallet because the fabric still contained a hint of her cigarette smoke. I remember she started working on this project this time about two years ago, just before she fell ill with cancer. I can remember he frustration at trying to stitch the white of his beard on white glittering fabric and that's why she put him to one side.

In fact I only got around to finishing today because I've had a couple of days off work to cope with the stress and hastle of this and last weekend. Stitching is a wonderfly therapeutic tool in that respect.

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week:Large or Small Finishes?

When comparing large projects versus small projects, which do you get more excited about finishing?

Without a doubt, stitching that last couple of per cent of a large project is one of the most addictive things in stitching.

Who's the Chicken?

Do you cluck or do you roar?
this quiz was made by Empty Dot

My weekend was like this chicken. I took on Psycho Bitches, Ex-Wives, Obese Children and still managed to go to an all night rave on Saturday evening which managed to escape being busted by the cops.

Back at work today, I feel pretty drained and of course: my boss the twat has now got me ringing around cleaning companies to clean up the aftermath of the rave......

Monthly Stitching Goals - an Update

My October Stitching Goals were as follows:

• Complete Solo the Cat on KiwiJo's Fabric for the Stitching Blogger's Round Robin ready for the mailing date of the end of the month. (I've nearly done with this, just a few missed stitches and the backstitching to go. One stitching session max.)

I completed Solo on 5th October.

• Start beading the Mermaid Queen. I bought a crafter's box from Lakeland in Truro on Saturday, it has about 9 lockable compartments, the perfect thing to organise those pesky and fiddly beads.

I've started doing this, I think I'm about a third of the way there. I don't like the way the Crystal Treasures are going on though, even though I'm stitching on 32count instead of the recommended 28 they still don't cover the holes in the pattern very well.

• Complete the Cat Scissor Fob. (Again)

Didn't touch this one at all.

• Do more work on Carnivorous Cat. On my last stitching session I discovered I'd made a boo boo and one side of the cat doesn't match up with the other. So I'm unpicking as I go now, probably a good reason why I've not stitched on it for weeks.

Or this one.

• Stitch the Dragon's head on Above the Clouds. This is tending to be my focus piece at the moment, - I stitched soley on it this past weekend. Mainly because it's my current purse project and I wasn't at home for much of the time this past weekend.

I'm enjoying stitching on this, the blends are looking really good, just very time consuming sorting out all the colours every time. Must get around to untangling the mess that the colour card is becomming before it gets any worse.

• Await the arrival of the next Cattitudes RR material. (I'm not sure who's sending to me this round - I need to check the board, but Ellene has already posted that she's received Nicole's fabric that I sent her so at last things are finally starting to move again.)

This still hasn't turned up......?

November Stitching Goals

• Complete Beading on the Mermaid Queen
• Start working on the Miralibila 2000 Holiday Cherub. Karen and I agreed to do this as a stitch-a-long last year when we ended up both stitching on the Mirabilia Angel Cherub at the same time last year.
• Do more work on "Above the Clouds". He's not a priority, but at the moment I seem to be spending most of my stitching time working on him.
• That Darn Cat Scissor Fob
• Carnivorous Cat - I really must work on this as it is intended as a present for my l/lady.
• Find out what is happening with the Cattitudes RR.
• And finally, dig out a WIP that my Aunt Started of a Skating Father Christmas to get in the mood for the forthcoming season. She'd nearly finished him, I think it's only his face and beard to go so shouldn't take long.

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week: Colour by Number?

If you have stitched for a while, can you usually pick out the DMC colors you need from memory when you go to your LNS? (For example, you know that 610 is a brown.)

Some colours always seem to stick in your head, like 326 Christmas Red, sky blue 799 and 907 lime green. If I only need one or two threads I can usually remember what colours I need and their numbers. If I need more than a couple I usually take a list to the LNS if I need them in a hurry or order them online more cheaply.

I remember when I lived back in Gillingham, there was a little local needlework and wool store, "Singer's Sewing Centre" it was called. They used to mainly service Singer Sewing Machines and sell wool to little old ladies, but they had a wall section set aside with a full DMC collection. This was my only source of DMC within walking distance so I used to go there a lot. There used to be a little old man who ran the place, despite his age, if you wanted any threads you would give him a list and he'd get up on a chair and fetch them all down for you. He was usually very efficient at doing this and could find the threads a lot faster than you as he knew where they all were on the pegs. Sadly, "Mr Singer" as I used to call him (I never knew his real name) sold the business to some Asian women as his wife was sick.

When the Asians took over the shop, the stitching section was being run into the ground and it was turning into "Saris R US". I remember having an arguement with the women in there one day when she claimed that DMC 3799 a dark grey thread didn't exist and I was making it up!