Well I Wasn’t Supposed To Be Gone This Long

 Hello fellow kindreds.  First off, an apology for taking so long to update my blog, almost a year!  

The curse of 2020 hit me like a Mack truck and in spring I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  So surgeries and then treatment has consumed my life this year.  Ladies, I can’t stress enough the importance of mammograms. Mine was caught on a routine mammogram. It was caught early, which is good, but even in the early stage the cancer was an aggressive type.  So I continue to slog through treatment and hope for the best. I’m currently undergoing chemo and in the new year I will undergo radiation.  I will be on medication for the next 5 years and I hope fervently that this is just a bump in the road and not a carousel ride. 

My stitching was affected, naturally, but I do have a finish to share with you.  

This lovely is called Harp Angel and she is for my grand niece.  I chose her because of her red hair, something she has in common with the little girl who will own her.  This pattern had the worst confetti out of any pattern I’d ever done.  I ended up stitching on the diagonal, something I’d never done before, and parking, but going row by row, which is also something I’d never done (the row by row, not the parking). As a result, the progress was sloooow.  I would try to average 200 stitches a sitting, but even that was hard sometimes. To say I am glad that I am done this project is an understatement.  My hat is off to all of you working on a Josephine Wall pattern.  This one gave me a run for my money. 

I’m back to working on my old friend, Wind Moon. I want to get at least a row done on her before I start a new project, which I haven’t yet decided on. 

This may be my only post for 2020, but I will post an update of Wind Moon when I get to the end of the row.  I’m currently averaging about 1000 stitches a day. 

Well that’s all I’ve got to report at this point.  I hope it won’t be too long before you hear from me again.  

I hope you are all staying well and avoiding Covid.  I feel like our hobby has prepared us for long nights in, watching TV and stitching.  We’ve got this, kindreds!  We’ve got this!

QS Bubbles and A Few Other Things

Hello my kindreds, it’s been quite a while since my last post.

So what’s new in my stitching world?  Well I finished my 16th HaED page with 5689 stitches, my 17th HaED page with 5467 stitches and my 18th HaED page finish 2698 stitches, which means that QS Bubbles, stitched 2 over 1 on 20 count Lugana is done.

I just love this unhappy little fish.  He’s going to adorn my bathroom.

I also entered Generations into my local fair and guess what happened?

I also made a little bib for a new coworker who has gone off on maternity.  

I wish I’d had longer to make her something a little more fancy, but she did love it. Bibs always make a nice little baby gift.

And last but not least I finished the final stocking in a trio of stockings I made for my friend who so graciously hosted us when we were in England.

I tried to keep the theme the same as the stockings for her siblings, so I used the same snowball edging and polka dot tulle.  I hope they like the stocking. I will be mailing it on Monday.

So now you can see why it’s been so long since my last post, I’ve been stitching like mad. And now I’m finally back to my long neglected Wind Moon.  I plan on stitching her exclusively until the new year, but it might be a while since you see me again because becaus I will post an update on her once I have a row finish, which is 7 pages from now.  But I hope she is worth the wait.


Until then, happy stitching everyone.

Generations (mini) is complete

4 pages to this finish. One full page and 3 partials.  This is my 9th page finish of the year. (Partials included)

I had planned on getting back toWind Moon, but I currently have my house for sale and I packed it away, not anticipating I would complete Generations so quickly.  So I am going to start a little “quick stitch” to tie me over until after the move.  So my little interm project is going to  be...

 ,

QS Bubble by Linda Ravenscroft.  It’s 6 full pages and 3 partials.  Since I am currently participating in a Stitching Olympics where we are only allowed to have one project at a time, I will have to push this in front of Wind Moon.  But this should be fast and I should be back on to Wind Moon by early summer (I hope) and then she will have my full attention.  

I love this little Bubbles pattern. I also have the companion piece, with little sea horses and I hope to hang them in my main bathroom when I’m done. 

Well that’s all the news I have.  I will have to get to a desktop to add the new project to my list on the side, as I can’t seem to do it from an iPad.

Hopefully see you all soon with my first page finish of Bubbles. 

Back from the Framers

I bet you think I've fallen off the face of the earth, haven't you? But I've actually been busy stitching like mad.

First off, I FINALLY got around to framing Meeting on the Turret Stairs.  This was surprisingly hard to frame, because how I envisioned it in my head just didn't seem to work.  I was planning on using a mottled matting in browns to compliment the castle walls, but it just didn't work.  So in the end I chose a very, very dark plum, almost black. I felt it brought the shadows to the foreground and showcased the piece in the best light. 

I had to take the photo on an angle, because of the reflection, but this was the best shot out of all of them.  I'm really happy at the end result and I will hang her on my wall tonight. 

I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I'm going to England and Scotland in September. I'm so beyond excited for this trip.  We are staying with a couple of friends in England and I'm making Christmas stockings for their two children, they aren't quite finished yet, but I hope to have something to show you by the end of the month.  And the couple that we are staying with in Scotland are friends who we met on our first cruise and have stayed friends with.  They visited us here in Canada and now it's our turn to visit them.  They got married back in May, so I when I saw someone stitching this pattern, I knew it would make a perfect gift.  Thanks to Amazon.com and their 24 hour delivery, I got it.  I changed up the fabric to an 18 count Aida with a sparkle running through it, and stitched this up in one month.  For the matting I chose an emerald green. 

This is Friends Welcome (In Gaelic)  I think it will make a perfect wedding present for them and I can't wait to give it to them.

The sparkle in the fabric doesn't really show, but trust me, it makes a delightful little addition to the piece.

Because I've been busy making this and the stockings, I've had no time to work on my HaED's, although I did get about three pages of Wind Moon completed and I'll post a photo when I have a row completed. I've finished stitching her beautiful face and it does not disappoint. I'll be back to working on my HaED's after my trip and will hopefully have something to show off in October sometime. Until then, this blog might be a bit quiet. 

I'll, of course, post photos of the stockings when they are complete. 

I hope you are all having a lovely summer and I hope to touch base with you all soon!

Meeting on the Turret Stairs (mini) is Complete

Completed on March 17th. Note, it had just come off the Q-snaps when I took this photo, so this is why you see a slight wave in the piece.  This was my first mini and I was a bit dubious as to how much detail would be lost on one, but when it came down to it, the only place I really noticed was on the hand that grasped in the knights embrace.  Other than that I was really happy with the detail.  I remember seeing a photo of a mini Adrift and I really couldn't tell the difference between them.

I'll be taking her to get framed in a few weeks and will post a photo of her ready to be hung on my wall.

A while back I decided to take the time to label where in my cabinet my DMC threat sits. This was an arduous procedure, as I, being to darn fussy for my own good, decided that I needed to cut each label down to size and put a border on it.  The reason why I did this was I noticed when it came to changing floss for projects, and as I usually have 2 projects going at the same time, that it was hard to determine where my floss went, without putting all of floss back from both projects and then pulling them again for the old project and the new.  This was time consuming and a big fat PITA, so I took the time to label my spaces.  What a difference it made! I was able to pop all of my threats from Turret Stairs back within minutes and pull the threads I need for my new project.

New project, you ask?   Why yes, I do have one lined up.  My next project will be another mini. Generations, by Laura Prindle.  I plan on hanging this one in my office at work,  when I'm done.
I think it's stunning and the polar opposite of Wind Moon, both in colour and size. 

So there you have it.  That's all my news I have for you at this time.

Happy stitching, kindred's.

Meeting on the Turret Stairs Page 4 is Complete (and A Little Something More)

I am love, love, loving this project.  I'm especially loving how fast it's stitching up.  I now have 36% of the project completed.  I'm telling you, mini's are the way to go!  I kind of wish I had Wind Moon and my other Nene Thomas patterns as mini's, but there you go. I've already lined up my next two projects to stitch against Wind Moon, and now that I have an excellent and affordable framer, I can get these projects framed as soon as they are complete.

Speaking of excellent and affordable framers, just look at what my talented framer did with Adrift!

It's not the best photo because there was so much reflection in the glass, but it gives you the idea of the matting and frame.  I think he did a beautiful, beautiful job.  My one conundrum is where to hang her, though. She's really big and finding a wall that is appropriate is more difficult than I imagined it would be.  I obviously want her to be in the public area and not my bedroom, but I'm having trouble deciding where.  I think I just need to hold my breath, pick and spot and commit to it.

I also have Winter Hat Owl in getting framed.  I should have him back in a week or two.  I chose the reddest metal frame that I could find and it really pops the pattern.  I can't wait to see it.  I will, of course, share with you as soon as I get it back.

I'm off to work on Wind Moon and should have a row finish  for you in a couple of weeks.

It's Red Wine Time, because Adrift is Complete!

This is page 33, 34 and 35.  I got to the end of 33 and I was in such a groove that I thought I should just blaze ahead and finish her.  So I did.  I think the end result is stunning.  Maybe this is me being partial, because she's mine, but I just think she is so pretty. 

I think I may also be the first one to complete this pattern.  At least I haven't seen any completed pieces in the Facebook communities.  So for anyone considering stitching her, I can attest that she stitches up beautifully. 

It was a little dicey, though.  I ran out of 3371 last night after the craft store closed, so I had to send out an emergency SOS to my friend, Rika, who lives nearby. Luckily she had one on that that I could have.  (whew, thanks, Riks).  And even then, I finished this with the tiniest amount of thread left.

So now I'm drinking a big glass of red wine in celebration. (Although maybe it should be white, so I can rest my fingers against the chill of the glass - my fingers are aching!)  But I do have to say, I felt a little sad putting in the last stitch.  Journey's ends are always a little bittersweet.

This is the biggest project I've ever done.  She came in at a whopping 229,600 stitches. 

I will get her all washed and ironed and then she is off to the framers.  I will, of course, post a photo when she is framed and hung.  


So I have moved her status bar to black and listed her as complete.  Back to Meeting on the Turret Stairs, and I will unveil my next project with my next update. I don't want to take any attention away from Adrift. 

Thanks for everyone's lovely words of encouragement with her. She was a long, long labour of love, started in January 2014 and finished tonight. 

Enjoy!

Snow Stocking is Complete!

So, because my Lowry had not yet arrived, I thought I'd just keep going on Snow.  I finished the last 2 pages over the weekend, the first of the two being 2782 stitches, and the second page being 997 stitches. 

She is done! Now all I need to do is purchase some fabric and get her sewn, which I will ask my friend to do, as she did such a beautiful job when she sewed the Treasure Dragon stocking, AND the Yule Fairy stocking.  I plan on finding a grey satin fabric for her back, and if I can find piping with some silver in it, perfect, but I think I may have to be happy with plain old white.  I'll be sure to post photo's when she is all sewn..

This was a pretty fast stitch. I started her in March, 2016, and finished today, January 2017.

And now for the big announcement for my next project - although you may have guessed, as I've already got a photo and a status bar up, but the next project will be Meeting on the Turret Stairs (Mini) by Fredrick William Burton.

I have a real thing for Medieval things, and if given the chance to do my life over, I probably would have moved to England to become a historian, with my specialty being the War of the Roses. As soon as I saw this pattern, my pupils dilated, I'm sure of it.

I've never done a mini before, so I'm interested to see what, if any, detail is lost.  If it turns out well, then the goal is to do a mini and a regular size and toggle between the two.  (Just wait and see what I have on deck for the replacement of Adrift. She's everso pretty!)

Oh, and my Lowry came! Oh my god, I love that stand!  It's brilliant!  A little easier to maneuver than the K's Creation and I find I don't need to tighten as hard to get the Q-snap to stay.  This company was brilliant and the stand came on Thursday last week.  So super quick shipping too!

Well, that's it. I'm officially announcemented out.  I hope to have Adrift finished some time in February.

I'll see you all after my cruise. 

And Now Time for Something Different

I know I promised an update of Adrift, however, I found out that a lady I work with is pregnant with twins.  I was thinking of ideas for a gift, when I happened upon an old Dr. Seuss book, The Cat in the Hat. Everybody remember Thing 1 and Thing 2? 

So, I scoured the internet for pictures and found this:

Then I found a free app called CreatePattern for cross stitch and I converted these into a pattern.  It took a little bit of fussing to get the size exactly right, but this is the result!

I used 310 black and 666 red for the colours.  I'm so beyond happy with the results, I think it's beyond adorable!   Even more so, because she is hoping to keep the sex of the babies a secret. 

Anyway, I just wanted to share with you my little side project.   As of tonight I am back working on Adrift. 

Winter Hat Owl is Complete!!

Page 15 and 16 started Feb 23 and finished March 13, and pages 17 and 18 started March 13 and finished March 24.  A total of 14586 stitches.

And here he is!

 He looks a little washed out, for some reason.  But trust me, he is vibrant and lovely!
So I now get to label this under Completed!  

I'm surprised I got through the final 4 pages so fast, with my work schedule. I wasn't expecting this to be finished until mid April at the earliest, so this is a pleasant surprise.  But I have to say, I marathon stitches last, night, completing the last 1800 stitches.  Don't try that at home! 

So, this little guy will be off to the framers soon, what project is waiting to take his place, you ask? 
Well, I try to make a stocking for my friends as they have babies, so the next project is an overdue stocking for a friend, whose girl is now a year old.  Her brother got the Treasure Dragon stocking, so I felt I needed to stitch something complimentary and special. 

So, I found a pattern I really liked and special ordered a stocking version of it from HaED.
Voila!  I give you Snow by Maxine Gadd.

I'll probably start her tonight, and do a page of Snow before going back to poor, neglected Adrift, who, honestly, I needed a bit of a break from before I jump back in for the final push of pages.  I will be stitching her on 18 ct Magic Guide, 2x2. 

And that's pretty much all that I have for news on my end.  

Thank you all who have followed my journey with this little owl.   Once I get him framed, I will post a final photo of him.  

~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

First Finish of 2014!

May I present to you the Rose of Sharon in periwinkle with yellow roses.

Although this isn't the first conversion that I have done, this is my favorite by a long shot!

I changed the roses from pink to yellow, her hair form blonde to brunet and changed her dress to periwinkle with a yellow sash.

The changes were as follows:

670 to 156

680 to 155

729 to 340

745 to 341

746 to 3747

931 to 729 + 680

932 to 676

3752 to 745

3756 to 746

223 to 725

3721 to 3852

819 to 3078

224 to 744

This is Rose in her original colors:

 

She is my first finish of 2014, and quite possibly my only finish, as I am about to embark upon a 32 page Heaven and Earth "Adrift".  

I hope to post updates per completed page.  But sadly there won't be much to see until I have about 7 pages finished.

Rose of Sharon will be traveling to L.A. to adorn the wall of a much loved cousin who has just bought a house.  Her name is Sharon.  Appropriate, no?

~Rai Rai

An Old Project FINALLY Finished

This stocking is for my dear friend, Jude.   I had finished it a year ago August, and then given it to a lady who had offered to sew it.  Well, schedule/health/family issues came into play and a year later it still hadn't been sewn, so with much insistence and reminding on my part, I finally got it back today.

I whisked it off to my friend, Arwen's (she is the one I had made the Yule Fairy for) and she managed it sew it together in about 45 minutes. 

I don't know about you, but when I finish a project, I want to complete it immediately. I hate having projects sitting around, nearly finished, but just not quite.  It, to me, feels like an itch I just can't reach and it sits festering in the back of my mind.

But I have it back and it is done!  Done, I tell you, DONE!

So tomorrow two stockings go in the mail!  

I am feeling so darn accomplished, I'm going to celebrate with a glass of wine!

~Rai Rai

For Your Viewing Pleasure: The Completed Treasure Dragon Stocking

Ta Da!!!

Sewn beautifully by Paige!   I originally was planning on choosing a deep red silk material, however when I compared fabrics side by side, the burnt orange really looked fantastic. And after canvassing complete strangers at the fabric store, I'm happy to say, 9 out of 10 agreed.

I will be taking her to show off at my Stitch'n'Bitch this Sunday, (hopefully everybody comes) and then first thing Monday, this will be packed up and mailed.

Hopefully little Heinrik Roar likes his little dragon, and pulls many, many gifts out of it.

~Rai Rai

Another One Bites the Dust!

It's Saturday night at midnight and I just finished it!  I had to share immediately!

Come next weekend, I will go to the fabric store and pick out the loveliest dark red backing and a soft linen lining and take it to the talented Ms. Paige to be sewn into a stocking. I am absolutely over the moon that the recipient of this will have it for Christmas!  It was a fun/frustrating/challenging/time consuming ride, and I loved almost every minute of it!

Henrik Roar, I hope you like this and one day hand it down to your own son.

My magic cloth for my next project hasn't arrived yet, so I may do a Mirabilia in the mean time.  Rose of Sharon.  I'm thinking of doing her in red, although I might play with some colors and see if I can do her in purples, deep purples with red roses.   I'm going to the stitch'n'bitch tomorrow, so it will be a perfect time to play with colors.

Anyway, dear kindreds, I will post a final photo of this piece as soon as it is done.   Thanks for keeping me company while I created this work of art!

~Rai Rai   

 

The Happy Endng to My Baby Afghan

Unfortunately attempting to take a photo with my iPad resulted in this crapstacular photo below:

It looks a little washed out, and it was being held up by Mr. Rai-Rai.  The wrinkles are courtesy of having it folded to fit into a bag the size of my change purse.  Time was running out and I neither had the time or the energy to iron again, so this is the result.   BUT, it looks fantastic, and that's the main thing.

I had a very talented girl sew a lining onto the back for me, so baby won't get his pudgy little fingers caught in loose threads. 

She did a beautiful job!  Now this is ready to work as a quilt or a wall hanging.   I also chose not to fray the outside as the pattern call for, because if baby is going to use it as a blanket, I don't want little threads finding their way into his mouth to choke him.

My friend bought baby over today and I finally got to meet the chubby little delight, but I got to spend some quality time laughing with my bff.  Oh how I miss her!  She caught the ferry over and we spent a total of about 2.5 hours together before she had to catch the ferry home.   It was a short visit, but so worth it.

Val and bub enjoying the blanket.

Close up of Val and bub. He was fascinated by how even my stitching was, and the sheer detail in my work!   (Just kidding, he was more interested in the cat).  And I must remind myself, before taking photos for my blog - remove the folded laundry in the background. (Queue a Homer Simpson D'oh right about here.)

So, that's it, dear readers! This is where my journey with this little baby afghan ends. 

Thanks for hanging out with me during my moments of frustration and wibbling over this project.  The end result was worth every moment!

Now, back to my Dragon stocking.  I should have an update in about a month or so.

~Rai Rai

IT'S DONE!! DONE, I SAY!

Ok, so I'm not the best picture taker. This was taken while it was still in the Q-Snap, so it looks a bit uneven, but it's finished!

The little blue dots in the background that aren't showing up very well at all are 4 beads. THIS is what took me about 4 days to complete.

I love the writing. It was done one over one, so the characters came out really sharp!

I'm really happy with this.  It took about 4 months to complete.  I started it in the first week of August.

Now I'm on to a Heaven and Earth Christmas stocking, which will be interrupted by a Stony Creek afghan that is on order, and that I have a very short amount of time to complete, because my best friend is ready to pop in about 2 weeks!

Boy, I've just gotta say, there is nothing more satisfying than completing a project!  Jes saying.

~Rai Rai

I found a few more pictures of completed projects that I thought I'd share with you.

My husband's grandmother wanted an angel.  It was my first time stitching on a multi-colored linen, but I really enjoyed stitching this.  I think I completed her in just over a month.

I love, love LOVE making Christmas stockings.  When we moved into the house, I found this kit tucked away on the top shelf of the walk-in closet.  Bonus!  The only thing I don't like about kits, is I find the thread is a bit thinner and tends to snap easier.

This is my stocking.  It is many, many years old now. There are a few stains on it that don't seem to want to come out. This was my first stocking, and I loved every minute of it.

I have a real thing for doors.  I did this one around 1988.  I wish I knew who the pattern was by, but I've long since lost the pattern.

Here is the companion piece to the Victorian door. They are really pretty in real life.  I framed these myself...badly.  I fear there is no replacing the frame as the entire piece will disintegrate.  Chalk that up to a learning process kind of thing on what not to do when framing!

This one is kind of hard to see. But it's a Beatrix Potter growth chart that I made for my step-sisters daughter.

Tom Kitten

Flopsy Bunny

Jemima Puddle Duck (which I sometimes call my parrot)

Peter Rabbit

Tiggy Winkle

J. Fischer

and last but not least, Benjamin Bunny.

As you can see, the gang is all here!  This was absolutely adorable when completed.

And last, but certainly not least, is the last cross-stitch I completed. It's based on art by Sue Coleman. I sent this to an uncle in New Zealand who is mad for First Nations art.   Again, I don't think the photo really does this justice.

I am about 2 days (hopefully) away from finishing my latest project. It's Teresa Wentzler's Celestial Dragon.  OMG the beading...  so much beading...  It's times like this that I am glad I MAKE myself finish a project before I start a new one, because this beading is really testing my patience.  More than once I've wanted to fling it across the room and scream "I DON'T CARE ANYMORE" at it in a petulant whinge, before descending into a full-blown wobbler.  But I just put it down and walk away.  I don't mind the occasional beading, but this is going on 3 days and hours upon hours of solid beading, and that's just the background.  You'll see when I'm done and it's posted.

For me, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Wentzler's designs. I love them when they are done, and I even love working on them, but there comes a time in each of them when I seriously question my sanity for even attempting her patterns.  I'm at that stage right now.

But I'm hoping 2 days... maybe 3 and it will be finished.  I just have to keep telling myself "just one more bead...."

~Rai Rai