Lots has been going on since my last entry. Let's see...where to start...
Castle Garden is framed and delivered to the intended gift recipients, however it isn't hung up yet. They are agonizing over where to put it and making sure that it will be perfectly centered on the wall and all that good stuff. Here's the most recent pic of it - it's still in it's plastic wrap:
I couldn't be happier with the results! If any of you live near Indianapolis, you should check out The Frame Shop. Don does excellent framing of needlework. Very well worth the price.
So, next up - I got Around the World in 80 Stitches done. It's currently being framed and is intended as a gift for my Mom.
AtWi80S was so darn fun! I'm definitely going to stitch her again someday, next time without the cutwork, just for giggles. I really went outside my comfort zone when I picked out the frame for it. My initial thought was to go with a green frame, but the shades just weren't right. Then Chuck laid out a couple of orangey frames and there was one that my eye just kept getting drawn to. So I decided to go with it. It will be either really awesome or really horrible lol
So, that brings me up to my latest WIP - which is a gift for my "niece". I affectionately refer to it as Pink Fairy Vomit. You see, fairies are not my cup of tea, unless they are the ones from the Dresden Files series of books. Those fairies will give you nightmares. And they hate being called fairies. And I really don't care for pink.
Anyway, it's called QS Butterfly Fae, original artwork by Nadia Tate, charted by Heaven and Earth Designs. I got her started on September 28. She's being stitched on 36 ct Crystal Monet from Picture this Plus, 2 over 2. I'm not stitching the background on it, so the fabric takes it's place. The background butterflies are stitched in tent stitch with 2 strands, to make them look fainter than the foreground elements. And I'm adding blending filament (Kreinik 032) to the fairy's wings to give them shimmer. My progress as of last night:
Three of the butterflies are done, but they are rolled over the bars of the scroll frame. To be revealed at a later date!
After she's done, I will be working on Happy Bat by AAN. It will be stitched on PTP Haunted - to be gifted to K, my housemate. After that will be Mini Purple Iris (another HAED) stitched on PTP Lunar (removing the background of the design) and gifted to my "step" niece. After that, I should be getting back to my rotation. Which is really funny. Because I was supposed to get back to rotation after Happy Bat.
The 'mates and I did an epic vacation in September. We departed on Sept. 11 and flew to Boston where we toured the USS Constitution (AMAZING!!) and then wandered around for a while. The following morning we boarded our cruise ship, Dawn (Norwegian Cruise Line), and embarked on our sail to Quebec. We had ports of call in Portland, Maine, Halifax, Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island, Gaspe and Saguenay then we disembarked in Quebec City and spent 3 days there. Then took the train to Montreal and spent a couple days there before going home. I didn't want to come home, and I've decided that my summer residence will be in Quebec City and my winter residence will be in Vancouver. It's good to dream, right? I'm still going through all my vacation photos - digital cameras do not encourage one to be careful taking good photos. So I ended up with well over 6000 pics to weed through. Eventually I will have them culled and posted and then I will share.
Ok - enough naval gazing on my part! Hope all is well with you - keep stitching!
