Winter Hat Owl Page 7 Complete

Started March 17th, and finished April 18th.  7315 stitches in total.

I'm not going to lie, I found the grey area of the hat to be arduous, finicky and endless confetti.  It seems like such a small amount, but man, did it ever slow me down.  I originally started cross country, but had to resort to doing a line at a time.  I'm glad this page is over!  The next page is all blue, so it will be a fast stitch.

But first, back to Adrift and her beautiful tail. 

I don't know if I've ever mentioned this before, but I like to color what I've done - especially HaED's. It keeps things organized and helps me see at a glance what I have stitched and where I am.  I used to use pencil, then I graduated to Frixion highlighters, which are erasable, for those times we make a little mistake here and there.  Well, thanks to Ebay, I've managed to get my hands on a set of their pens.   Frixion .07.

To say these pens are awesome, is an understatement!  And so many pretty colors.  These should do me for years.    (Or until the end of Adrift - whichever comes first! ha ha)

In any case, I thought I'd through a shout out to these. I highly recommend them!

That's about all that's new in my little corner of the blogging world.  Hopefully I've have an update within a month. 

~Rai Rai

Adrift, Page 15 Complete

Finally, the tail!   And what a tail it's going to be.  The colors are so vibrant and pretty.

I started this page on Feb 18 and finished Mar 17.

It's almost hard for me to put this away in favor of Winter Hat Owl. The urge to continue with her tail is so strong, but take a break I must.  I find, for me personally, it's better to stay a little hungry for a pattern, and to always look forward to working on it, than to be bored of it.   Plus, the rich, loud colors of the Owl are calling me to come and play. 

On a personal note, I got the change to meet a lady whose blog I follow.  The lovely Evalina.  (If you haven't checked out her blog, you must )  I invited her to our weekly stitch-n-bitch at our local store, the Stitchers Muse, and she was kind enough to join us.  It was a real treat meeting her. I hope she becomes a regular face at our table!

For anyone wondering about my stand that I posted in my last update, I've since found out it's a K's Creation stand.  From  what I can tell, they are very like a Lowry stand.   I love it and I find it hard to believe that I stitched for as many years without it. 

Well, that's about it for this update.  Hopefully it won't be a full month before I have an update for you. 

Happy stitching!

~Rai Rai

Winter Hat Owl Page 6

 Page started Feb 6 and finished Feb 18th.

I finally got to the owl, or his hat, anyway.  Oh my gosh, so much confetti in the hat! I literally had to go line by line and park my threads.  It seemed so slow and arduous!  I actually timed myself and I was averaging a row every 40 minutes.  To say if felt like I wasn't getting anything done was an understatement!   But I persevered, and I finished it last night. 

The colors are so rich and beautiful and I'm loving the dark blues and the rich reds.  

But now it's time to put this little man down and pick up Adrift once again.

I have a date with her tail, and boy, I can hardly wait!

~Rai Rai

Adrift, Page 14 Completed!

Page 14 is done, done, done!   My next page, I get to start the tail!!!  I'm so excited! (But judging from the confetti in the pattern, I may yet live to regret that excitement.)

Finishing this page, I got to learn first hand the TRUE meaning of frustration.  I was probably within 100 stitches of a page finish with no work scheduled for a week, and then I got called in.  (I work 12 hour shifts, so when I'm working, my life consists of working, eating and sleeping, and no stitching time whatsoever).   So I got called in to work a shift.. then another... and another. Being so close to a page finish and having to wait 4 days before I could pick it up again!   TORTURE! 

Anybody following this blog work with stands?  I got a little bit of money for Christmas, and bought one, that I don't know the name of.   It's not like the standard Hearthside stands that we usually see. This one looks more industrial, with a metal base (which is what I needed above all, because I have a wood loving Cockatoo, who would have made short work of my new expensive stand) 

It's hard to describe, so here is a photo of it.  I prefer to work with Q-Snaps, so this fits perfectly into the frame, and holds nice and snug while I learn how to stitch with both hands (omg, so much faster)
It took me a few days to get used to it, and at first I thought I'd made a huge mistake and that it was more awkward and uncomfortable, but then I spent some time adjusting to my comfort level and really giving it a chance, and now I'm convinced it was the best purchase I've ever made.

It's not the prettiest stand, but it's perfect for me!  And being that it's small (as far as stands go) I can fit my light AND my magnifier beside it.  I now have an extremely busy little stitching corner, but it's mine all mine and I love it!

Hopefully I should have a nice page of Winter Hat Owl to show off in a few weeks, this time with Owl! 

Happy stitching, everyone!

~Rai Rai

Winter Hat Owl Progress, aka Blue, Blue and Blue

I just finished page 5 of Winter Hat Owl a couple of days ago, and I thought you might like to see the progress.   The next page I actually get to start the hat.  But until then, MOAR BLUE!

That being said, I'm already 32% done this project.   I'm surprised by the amount of confetti in the actual owl.  I guess I never really looked at the pattern that closely.   Oh well, at least it's beautiful, vibrant bright colors - the antithesis of Adrift. 

Enjoy. I'm already well into my next page of Adrift, and I should have an update for you in a few weeks time.

~Rai Rai

Adrift, Page 13 is Complete

First page finish of the year! 

I'm getting so close to being able to start working on her tail, I'm so excited.  I thought it would make an appearance in the next page, but I think I have to wait one more page before it makes it's first peek-a-boo appearance.

I'm off to work on a page of the Winter Hat Owl.   Only one more page of nothing but background and I start to work on the actual owl itself.  

So excited! 

Rai Rai

A Little Holiday Break

So, I've got another friend who is having a baby, due February, so due to the season, I had lots of patterns to choose from when it came to making their customary stocking.

I started about 3 weeks ago and VOILA!

Mom and dad to-be are keeping a tight secret as to Jr's name, so I will have to add the name at a later time, and send it for sewing.  But I thought I'd share it here.

I choose this pattern, because the dad, who is from England, traveled through the States and Canada in his gap year, which is when we met.  We worked together and became lifelong friends.  So I chose a Canadian-esque theme for his first son.

I hope he likes it.  I'll, of course, post a photo when it's all completed, washed and sewed.

It was a nice little break, but I'm ready to get back to Adrift. 

Happy Holiday to all of my kindreds, whatever it is you choose to celebrate, I hope it's happy and festive.

See you in the new year!

~Rai Rai