Papillon Mystery Sampler

Beacon

April 26, 2010 by Michelle 22 Comments

It was a busy weekend for sure this weekend. Saturday I got up early and went for my usual three mile walk, went to Target and bought a couple of tank tops, had an appointment with my aesthetician, repotted some plants for my kitchen window (so happy with how they turned out in some pretty new pots), gave Romeo a bath, baked some cookies, and then finally sat down to watch some West Wing with Eric. Whew! I decided to work on my Mystery Sampler again. This is a piece by Papillon Creations that was in the Gift of Stitching back in 2006. It was charted for Vikki Clayton silks, which I am using and I’m stitching it on 32 count Silkweaver Sandcastle. I actually started this in March of 2007. Hopefully that answers all the questions you may have had! Anyway, I really love this piece – the colors are vibrant and it has a mix of cross-stitch and specialty stitches. I’m working on part 3 now (there are five parts), and I’ve almost hit the bottom corner. It’s just really a fun stitch.

On Sunday, I did my normal house cleaning and laundry, as well as brushing both cats and clipping their nails. Two of my girlfriends came over for a stitching afternoon, which was thoroughly enjoyable. I of course did more talking than stitching, but I did manage to get the motif with the Q finished.

While they were there, I did a little show and tell of some of my WIPs. There was one piece that they both insisted I get out and work on immediately. So, after dinner, Eric and I sat down to watch more West Wing and I did as they suggested.

Anybody remember this piece? I was surprised, actually, when I got it out that Eric said “wow, I haven’t seen that in awhile”. Most of the time he pays no attention to what I’m stitching, so it was kind of a shocker for him to make that comment. I stitched most of that little lighthouse on the shore last night, but my head started hurting (I’d been wrestling with a migraine all weekend), so I laid my stitching aside after a little while. But, oh, how can I resist stitching this beautiful piece? The silks and the colors are just luscious. I’m glad I was given some not so gentle nudging to get this piece back out. And, I was shocked to see that the fabric I’m using for this is Picture This Plus. I thought my first and only experience with PTP was Earth Sampler. But, no wonder I love this piece so much – it’s on a gorgeous piece of Sterling by PTP.

So, that’s it for my weekend stitching. It will be so nice when I can stitch more than just on the weekends. But, I am enjoying what I’m stitching nonetheless. And thanks to the ~~suggestion~~ insistence that I get out that pretty piece again, I think I’ve fallen in love with an old favorite.

I am grateful for an afternoon with friends.

Snakes on a Plane!

April 19, 2010 by Michelle 24 Comments

It’s Monday again and time for another update. Since the weekends are pretty much the only stitching time I have, it seems to make sense to provide a little weekly update on Mondays. And really, anything to make Mondays better is a good thing. So…look what I did yesterday. Snakes! With spots! Of course it looks like those putti are about to conk them on their little heads with their batons, but still…they are pretty cool. I think I will name them Fred and George (the snakes, that is). And I thought I’d show you a little perspective on how small this is on 40ct by putting my brand spanking new scissors in the photo. Yay for snakes. Next time I will either do a little more on my border or get started on the infamous UFO-inducing cloud. I figure if I can get past that cloud, I will be home-free so to speak. Love this piece. It’s so bright and colorful. I’m stitching with the recommended GAST. Oh, and someone asked on a previous post about how many skeins to buy – in the chart it does tell you which colors you need multiple skeins of and how many. So, when I ordered my thread, I made sure to order the recommended amount of each color (I think there’s only a couple of threads that require multiple skeins). Since I’m stitching on 40ct rather than the recommended 35, I probably won’t need everything I bought, but I wanted to be on the safe side just in case!!

So, what else did I do this weekend? Well, on Friday night I flailed around trying to pick up something I wanted to work on and nothing was really calling to me. I finally decided I would stitch on WMHB again, in an attempt to do some mindless fill-in of the side of the house. I didn’t get very far and finally just gave up and did nothing.

On Saturday, something happened. Suddenly, I was in the mood to stitch and suddenly the book I’m reading for my book club got interesting. It was like the sun came out (which ironically it didn’t, as it started raining Saturday morning). But, for some reason on Saturday it seemed like everything came together for me. So, Saturday night I stitched on my Mystery Sampler a bit more. I finished the M and went to work on the next motif. Eric and I went out Saturday night, so that was all I could get accomplished in the few hours I was home. Love this piece so much.

And Saturday during the day, what was I doing then, you might ask? Well, my guild had a tea to celebrate our tenth anniversary. I’ve posted about the tea over here. Last weekend, I may have mentioned, I was helping to put together the goody bags for the tea. Well, of course, I was pleased as punch to bring home my very own goody bag on Saturday after seeing all the, well, goodies. Each person got a kit for an anniversary tin designed by our own Gloria of Milady’s Needle. We also received a handmade bookmark and the item below in the blue paper tied with a ribbon held tea. Another person made felt Tudor Rose scissor fobs and needlebooks and also included a little bag of Jelly Bellies. There were also some freebie charts that designers had donated.

You may be asking yourself about the chart and the scissors in that photo. Well, designers from all over and local needlework shops donated items for our guild to use as door prizes. I ended up coming home with the Adam & Eve chart and the gorgeous matte black Dovo scissors (which are also in my ATS photo at the top of this post). So generous!

The tea was wonderful and I had a great time. Another full weekend! So, until next time…thanks for stopping by!

I am grateful for my needlework guild and all the members who make it wonderful.

Tesoro

April 13, 2010 by Michelle 23 Comments

Over the weekend I was a bit restless. And with our fourth anniversary on my mind (you can see a post on that here), I decided to pull out an old WIP to work on. This is Tesori d’Italia. Some of you may remember that I started this piece with the intention of giving it to Eric for our second anniversary. Yes, we are now at four and I’m still working on it. I love this piece so much, except for the border. That border I am not overly fond of. It seems so simple and quick, but when you realize that you have to go up and down that small stretch of landscape that you’re working on five times, it doesn’t look so simple anymore. That is probably why I stalled out on it after completing several of the inner blocks rather quickly. The photo above shows what the whole thing looks like after I started working on that corner on Saturday. Each block has accents of gold metallic in it, which you really can’t see in the photo above, but can see a little bit of in this photo.

This is where I left it on Sunday afternoon. You can see I still have a way to go on the border, but it’s getting there. These corners just require a lot of stitching. Thank goodness there are only four! I’d really like to work this back into my regular stitching again, because it is such a stunning piece that deserves to be finished and hanging on the wall. I am stitching this with DMC on white linen.

I wasn’t in the mood for ATS this weekend, and WMHB wasn’t holding my attention either. So, Sunday night when I needed to find something I could stitch in front of you-know-who I decided to pull out another old WIP, the Mystery Sampler by Papillon Creations that was in the Gift of Stitching magazine…a long long time ago.

Excuse my blurry and rather dark photo. This is what the piece looked like when I picked it back up to start stitching. I’ve finished parts one and two and am now moving on to part three. I stitched about fifteen stitches on the M when I put it down. Again, my restlessness set in and I didn’t end up doing anymore stitching. I’m stitching this on Silkweaver Sandcastle with HDF silks. Really a lovely stitch, but I just couldn’t focus.

So, that’s it for me. Hope you’re all having a lovely week.

I am grateful for learning to “dial it down”. Thanks, my friend.

Fat Tuesday

February 24, 2009 by Michelle 18 Comments

Hello all! I had hoped to have a post yesterday, but sometimes Mondays are Mondays. I’ve been making a lot of progress on my stitching and that feels so good! I am trying my hand at not feeling stressed or guilty about my stitching. I have a couple of things nagging at me, but for the most part I am just enjoying myself. One of the things nagging at me is my Mermaid SAL…I really need to get back to that. Anyway, above you can see what I have been stitching on…my Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler. I have been stitching away on part 2, and was able to finish up the last motif on Friday night. The tall flower actually spans across parts 2 and 4, but I wanted to finish it in its entirety (as I did with the potted tree on the left hand side that spans between parts 1 and 3). Here’s how it looked last time, just for comparison.

Next time I pick this up I’ll be moving on to part 3. It feels so good to be making progress on this again. After finishing up part 2 of this, I decided to move onto something else that’s been calling to me…Mystery 9. I started this in January of 2006. This was my first big Chatelaine mystery (although I had completed a Midi Mystery in 2005). I think I moved along just fine on this until about March of 2006 when I moved and then in April 2006 got married. I did work on it off and on, picking it up again February of last year. Here’s what it looked like the last time I stitched on it.

I had started on part 8, the four artichokes. I was leaving the specialty stitches and beading on each artichoke until I finished all four. Well, I picked this back up over the weekend and I even got out my System 4 floorstand that I have never used. I got it set up and started stitching away! Here’s where I left it Sunday night. Please excuse the horrible photo…I took this last night with the piece still on the stand, so just imagine how much prettier it actually looks. Oh, and the fabric this is on is actually a pale pale lavender (Lavender Mist I think). It looks beautiful against that yellow.

So, I’m working both artichokes three and four at the same time, rather than one at a time like I did with one and two. It keeps me from changing thread as often. I’m very happy with my System 4 so far. I had one issue with it, that Eric fixed easily, and then I was back to stitching. Next time I’ll try to get a better photo that actually comes closer to doing the piece justice. Last night I had a board meeting for the guild, so I was home two hours earlier than normal (yippee!), so after doing all the stuff I have to do when I get home at night, I sat down to put some more time in on Mystery 9. It’s been a pleasure working on it these past few days.

Coming up soon, though, I’ll be starting two new pieces. My silks arrived for the Carriage House Samplings Adam & Eve. I already had black fabric left over from the Twilight tags. I’m going to stitch my A&E over one. It will be a challenge, but I think it will turn out a nice size, plus it lets me use the fabric I had on hand.

And I also received my silks for block 1 of Shores of Hawk Run Hollow, as well as my fabric. I will be stitching on 36ct Vintage Autumn Gold. I LOVE the fabric. I know a lot of stitchers are not fond of the recommended fabric for this piece, but I love it. Gorgeous! I decided I would just purchase the silks for block 1 at this time (although any that required more than 1 skein for the piece, I went ahead and got all that are required for dyelot purposes), and then with the remaining blocks I’ll fill in the few threads I need when I need them. Aren’t they stunning though?! I can’t wait to start on this.

Hope you all have a lovely week and enjoy your Mardi Gras!

I am grateful for focusing on my accomplishments rather than my failures.

My Everything

February 17, 2009 by Michelle 26 Comments

My Everything

The Sampler Girl

Tulip Belle Soie on 32ct Cream Linen

Finished 2/11/09 for Eric

As promised, above you can see the finished and framed My Everything. I gave it to Eric on Saturday morning, and he hung it in our bedroom on Sunday. We hung it next to the pewter heart that I bought for him two Valentine’s Days ago. You wouldn’t believe the luck I had with this frame. I went to Joann’s on Thursday night and found this mat and frame that already had “art” in it. It was marked down to $5, and as you can see it is the exact perfect fit for the piece. At the bottom of the piece, you can see my initials and Eric’s initials with a heart in between and then the year. I just love how this turned out and I am so happy I finished it in time to give it to him.

And Eric gave me these gorgeous roses (these are called Freedom), as well as something sparkly. He made a lovely dinner for us Valentine’s evening, and we had some champagne over the weekend too.

After finishing My Everything, I decided to work a little on my Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler (that appeared in the Gift of Stitching in 2006, I think). I started this one in March of 2007. I am stitching it on 32ct Sandcastle by Silkweaver with Vikki Clayton silks. I just love stitching on this piece, but unfortunately some time ago I realized I had made a huge counting error, and I had about six motifs that were in the wrong places. So, I started working on ripping out and restitching. I took the piece to my guild meetings and I would force myself to work on ripping a little each month. Here’s what the piece looked like December of 2007 (only part 2, I had finished part 1 already). The motifs that had to be ripped out and restitched were the D, the windmill, the tree, the rose, the blue diamond and one other motif that I had stitched after this photo was taken.

I picked this back up Thursday night and began doing some more ripping and restitching. I finished up the repair work, and then began moving along to finish up part 2. I have such fun stitching on this piece, and I was just on a roll with it, so I continued stitching along on it over the weekend. Here’s what part 2 is looking like now…

And here’s the whole piece so far. Parts 3 and 4 are the bottom two corners, and then part 5 is the middle, which I think I have three choices for, when I get to it.

I may continue to work on this piece more this week before going back to Dorothy’s Garden. I have a couple new starts on the horizon as well. In the CHS Yahoo group, several of us are going to begin a SAL on March 1st of Adam and Eve. You may remember this chart was part of my New Year’s purchase. I am going to be using the leftover black fabric from the Twilight tag (I will still have enough to make one for me), and I have the NPIs on order.

Also on March 1st, several of us will be beginning a SAL on the Shores of Hawk Run Hollow. I just love this piece, and I’ve been wanting to stitch it for so long. I have had the chart a little while, and I have the fabric on order (I went with 36ct Vintage Autumn Gold) and I am also ordering the NPIs for block 1.

So if you’d like to jump in and join us, please feel free! I hope to get back to my Mermaids this weekend, I missed out on the SAL on Sunday because I was stitching along on my Mystery Sampler. Hope you all have a great week!

I am grateful for enjoying my stitching.

Mishmash

February 12, 2009 by Michelle 16 Comments

Hi, everyone. Thanks for the compliments on the mermaids and Dorothy’s Garden. It is much appreciated. Mr. Eric surprised me with a Valentine’s bouquet delivered to my office on Tuesday. He just knew I’d want to enjoy it as long as possible, as well as I am missing him greatly this week while he is in Chicago for work. It even came with a balloon, which I love. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a balloon before…makes me feel all girly! What a guy!

And speaking of Valentine’s Day, I did a little bit of decorating around the house over the weekend. Of course, the mantel always gets the majority of the attention. You may notice also that I’ve moved our engagement picture from over the mantel and put my framed (by Jill Rensel!) Midi Mystery I here, just for a change. I love looking at this piece, and it inspires me at night while I’m stitching.

I decided to mix it up a little bit and put out some of my stitched pieces (the tin was a gift from Barbie) all in pink for the occasion. Fun, huh? You may remember the “For You” piece I stitched for Eric for last Valentine’s Day.

I also put out my heart tree, like I have the past couple of years on the dining room table. I wish I’d been able to finish my quilt in time to have it out too, but time just got away from me. And speaking of…I finished stitching My Everything last night. Tonight after work I’ll be shopping for a frame for it. I hope I can find something suitable. After finishing it last night I pulled out my Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler from GOS. This is the one that has all the mistakes in it that I am having to pull out and restitch. As I was stitching another motif back in last night, it ocurred to me that I purchased the HDF thread for this back when the piece was in the GOS, and likely the dye lots are severely different now, assuming I could even get the same threads. So, I’m going to take a closer look at it tonight, but I believe I may just leave the other three motifs that are in the wrong places, since I don’t want to run the risk of running out of thread, if at all possible. I am reusing the thread as I pull it out as much as I can, but still… I’ll post a photo if I make any progress that you can actually see on it. It is such a pretty piece, I think if I hadn’t made the big mistakes on it I would be finished with it by now because I love stitching on it. Oh well. Here’s hoping my thread is enough to at least finish the three corner parts. I figure if I run out of thread and have to substitute, I’d rather do it in the center part, so that at least all four corners match. Anyway, I’ll deal with that if it happens. But for now, I think the decision may be to leave the other three mis-placed motifs where they are.

Oh, and I promised you stash photos too. Before I got sick, my friend Sherri and I went to that new to us LNS. Well, I cam home with some great stuff. I purchased the fabric and Belle Soie for My Everything, I also brought home Blue Ribbon’s Pointsettias and Pines (which I’ve been in love with since I saw in on Nicole’s blog), and Quaker Virtues by ByGone Stitches. I had hoped to also get Quaker Christmas, but she didn’t have that one. Also in this photo you can see the two charts I purchased from Tanya (The Sampler Girl) when she was having her Inauguration Day giveaway sale (you got a ltd edition Inauguration Day freebie with a purchase, which is wonderful). You can see I purchased On the Banks of the Potomac as well as Return to the Sea with Jane Austen, which is the companion to At Home with Jane Austen that I just finished. You can see my Gold Santa there from Cathy B., as well as a chart from the Whitby Museum that I received at my guild meeting.

Also, at the LNS outing I picked up two other goodies – these two books…The Goodhart Book and Thank You, Sarah Tobias by BBD. I’ve done my part for the economy!

It was such a fun day, and I always enjoy getting to see Sherri. If you haven’t seen the Goodhart book and had a chance to flip through it, you need to. It’s really a gorgeous book. And speaking of books (don’t you love how this post is all train of thought?! lol), I finished reading Two for the Dough last night too. If you haven’t read these books, you should, they are so funny and well worth a quick read. I picked up Pillars of the Earth to replace that. I’ve given myself a challenge to read 50 books this year, and specifically to read some of the books that I’ve been meaning to get around to for a long time. Pillars of the Earth has been on my GoodReads list forever in the “to read” shelf. So far I’m enjoying it.

And finally, Nancy presented me with a wonderful award. It’s called the Special Friends Award and “Love” Pendant. The description for this award reads “These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these kind writers. When you pass the award along please include these guidelines. I am to choose eight friends to share this with.”.

First let me say that one of the best things about having this blog is how many friendships I have made. It means so much to me that I can come here and write as often or as little as I feel like, that I can talk about stitching or my life or whatever. The support and interest that you all show me is just amazing. I would never be so inspired to push myself in my life and my stitching if it weren’t for all of you. So, I would like to extend this award, and my friendship, to all of you who stop by my blog and visit me here. I love it when comments you leave turn into an email conversation. So, thank you all for being a part of my life and my blog.

I’ll be back next time with a finished and framed photo of My Everything, as well as hopefully some other progress photos. I’ve got a couple new starts planned for March, so I’ll have to let you in on those too…I must be crazy. Have a wonderful rest of the week. I’ll be finishing up my Gossip Girl marathon tonight, and then tomorrow my sweetie comes home.

I am grateful for starting a new book.