joan elliott – On Beads and Needles

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun!

Wow, I skipped a whole month again! How did I ever have time to update weekly back in the old days? That must mean I am much busier now than I was then, though it’s hard to imagine, considering I had two soccer players on the road every weekend 11 months a year back when I had an update every week. Of course, I am a lot more tired, so maybe I am that much busier 🙂 At any rate, it’s time to get caught up, since Spring is more than half over already!

I forgot to post my 2nd Chatelaine mini bellpull finish, Mini Mystery J, which I finished back in January. It’s on the same linen banding the MMI was on:

Chatelaine Mini Mystery J, on 28ct linen banding, using DMC, silks, and RG PTB, with Sawrovski crystals and delica beads.

Okay, that’s taken care of… Now, when I left last time, I had just gotten the blackwork jellyfish out. I think I worked on it a bit over a week, and got a lot of the bell fill pattern in, as well as some bubbles:

Jellyfish by Ajisai Press. on 28ct Mystic from PTP. Using DMC Variations & Metallics – beads & sequins to come 🙂

When I put that away, I got out GP Plum Pudding; I worked on it for a couple of days, but it really wasn’t grabbing me. Fortunately, I was saved by an impulse start – Joan Elliott posted an Easter bunny freebie on her FB page, and I was compelled to start it instead of pretending to work on PP. Here’s a pic of the finished top – 28ct Silkweaver Dreamin’:

Bunny Biscornu by Joan Elliott. DMS & delicas on 28ct lugana.

I did not get a picture of the bottom side, since it only took me a couple of hours to stitch it, then I started assembling it. And just as a reminder to myself, I really don’t enjoy putting biscornus together – I always have a pucker of extra fabric left at the last corner (strategically hidden in this photo):

Biscornu done. Currently hiding on the craft table until a certain dog who thinks all toys are for her forgets it’s here…

And since Plum Pudding really wasn’t calling to me still, and because I got my Market Order:

Spring Market – Ink Circles releases, along with a piece of purple fabric and a new Milli Hill Laurel Burch kit.

I had yet another impulse start on that Saturday afternoon after returning from the March PINS with the Ink Circles charts above. I had just gotten a couple of cool greens from Thread Gatherer, so went stash diving, found 2 greens and a Gloriana orange that went together really well, and an opal Silkweaver called Spring Garden (which does not show up in the photo at all – it’s very Rainbow Sherbet colored, green & orange), and made this:

Green Damsel by Tracy Horner of Ink Circles. Thread Gatherer Tapestry Green & Irish Moor, Gloriana Bright Orange, on Spring Garden opal from Silkweaver.

I actually ran out of Tapestry Green before I finished the last corner dragonfly & corner motif; fortunately, I had just gotten it a month or so before I started this, so when I ordered another, the dye lot was a match. IF this fabric had been 32ct, I probably would have had enough.

At the March & April PINS, I worked on Stoney Creek Life is a Journey, and finished Block 4, and started the border on the fifth:

Stoney Creek pattern series Life is a Journey. On 28ct linen, using DMC, Gloriana, HDF, VMS and Glisson Gloss threads.

And then finally, Plum Pudding actually wanted to be worked on. I will continue on through tomorrow, probably, but am happy that I will be about 1/3 done when I put it up again:

Plum Pudding by Glendon Place. On 28ct Sprite from PTP, using my conversion to Carries Silks & delica beads.

I will probably get a Chat out next – Hummingbird has been screaming, though I may need a break from purple for a week or two, so IC Anatolia might actually come out first. We’ll see. I could finish Celtic Banner with another rotation, and my travel piece Field of Sunflowers would be a quick finish, too, I think, so maybe one of those will come out instead….

The INDIGO BUNTING* came back 🙂 The rufous-sided towhee did too, but I haven’t gotten a picture of him yet. Yes, this is a weird angle – hard to hang out the bathroom window and not scare off the bunting….

In other news, the Younger Sailor has graduated his school and is now at his first permanent station in Virginia, not too far from DC. The Older Sailor still has a few months of school, but hopefully we’ll know his first assignment before too long. We miss our boys! But we don’t miss all the vehicles all over the place, since DH talked me into getting a Jeep for our weekend car; we have to get the Miata and the VW out of here! Too many cars, too much shuffling out in the driveway!

Until next time, Happy Stitching!

* EDITED to note that my blue grosbeak – at least what I have seen this year – is definitely an Indigo Bunting instead. I am sure I have also had a blue grosbeak (it has brown spots in the blue & black on its sides), as well, but the blue bird pictured here ain’t it.

March? Oops – I Guess I missed February

Yeah, well, in my defense, I have been working my ass off since I got back from medical leave – which probably is not what the doctor ordered, but it’s my life, so…. And my Baby Sailor turned 20 in February – his first birthday away from home 🙁 It was weird trying to figure out how to get birthday food to him – I ended up sending Cheryl’s Cookies, which I was told he ate 🙂 The Big Sailor turns 24 next week. Time flies….

We’ve been having spring here since the first of the year, for the most part; a lot of the blooms have already fallen off the trees to be replaced by leaves, and daffodils have been out for weeks. So of course, winter shows up this week; there’s snow north of us, and we are supposed to get down to the 20s the next couple of nights. I have to figure out how to cover my Dutch iris – the bed is huge and next to the road, so if I do manage to cover it, all the cars blowing the speed limit will blow my cover off. so – do I bother? We’ll see. In the meantime, we have all kinds of avian activity going on in the backyard, including this pair of red-tailed hawks:

Last time I posted, I had worked on From Nancy’s Needle’s Field of Sunflowers a bit, and I worked on it once more, at the January PINS get together – finally broke into the blue:

Field of Sunflowers, by From Nancy’s Needle. On deluxe mono canvas, using all called-for threads.

I haven’t been going to the IHOP on Thursdays for the last several weeks – trying to eat a cancer- and heart-friendly diet, which IHOP is NOT – so haven’t had much progress in the travel bag aside from PINS monthly meetings. But I did also make a bit of progress on my Stoney Creek Life’s a Journey series, starting the 4th block and completing the moon potion; I should finish this block at the March PINS:

Stoney Creek’s Life’s a Journey, on 28ct Clay linen, using DMC and a few converted colors, as well as GG Blending Filament.

I worked on Deep Blue Sea for 3 weeks, and managed to complete 3 parts in that time! This is probably the smallest “Big” Chatelaine I have, actually – each of the next 8 parts look pretty simple to complete in a single rotation (unlike Tuscany, which one I get to 11 & 12, will take FOREVER). And Part 4 of DBS included the oysters, which will contain actual pearls when done:

Chatelaine Deep Blue Sea, parts 1-4 done, 8 to go. On 28ct jobelan in Surf, from Sunny Dyes, using DMC, silks (some converted to HDF), RG and lots of beads 🙂

And when I put DBS away, JE Autumn Fairy really yelled at me, even though there were things that didn’t get touched last year, and I was going to keep working from the Project Randomizer. She yelled at me so much, I finished her! What a great project, though I was surprised to see she is MUCH taller than Iris Fairy; I was hoping to order some basic metal frames in a few colors for the Seasons and Flowers series, but I guess I need to wait to get more done; the Elemental Goddesses will probably need to have one started next, so I’ve got one of each series done 🙂 Here she is – on 28ct jobelan in Melody from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie, using DMC, miles of Kreinik, and icky Mill Hill beads:

Joan Elliott’s Autumn Fairy – done 3-12-17.

I haven’t decided what to work on next, so while I decide, I’ve pulled out the Jellyfish again, since he’s not “officially” part of the rotation. Yet. Since I have 3 new Ink Circles charts coming my way, thanks to the new market releases – Green Damsel, Dragons of Sumatra and Dark Shards – Anatolia & Growth Rings are both hollering at me 🙂 If you need stash, too, check out my local online shop, Cross Stitch Felicity – good sales, frequently, and if you don’t see it and it can be had, it can be added to the website 🙂 Sign up for the newsletter to be informed of all the sales – the newsletter comes out every Monday like clockwork.

A new window-mounted bird feeder – so far, just one chickadee and this LBJ (little brown jobbie) have discovered it way up high. Guaranteed to be squirrel-proof that far off the ground 🙂

That’s the news. I am hoping spring comes back later this week and sticks around until summer (and equally hoping, since we didn’t have winter, that that doesn’t mean we have 6 months of summer!). Until next time, Happy Stitching!

Playing Catch-Up, Again

No update last week, I just didn’t get to it. Working late, busy as soon as I got home, etc. So once again, I’ll jam two weeks into one update – it will be photo-heavy 🙂

The Blue & White Dutch iris are popping out; the purple & gold one are already done, but I don't think I got any pictures... Ignore the weeds - they are growing GREAT! — The Blue & White Dutch iris are popping out; the purple & gold ones are already done, but I don’t think I got any pictures… Ignore the weeds – they are growing GREAT!

When I finished with Desert Mandala a couple of weeks ago, I got out Samplar 4 Saisons, which is on my To Finish list for this year. I have the bottom 6 pages to go – which sounds like a lot, but it’s not that much, really, now that I’ve got the majority of the tree done; the motifs go pretty quickly, once I figure out how to work them. I’ve worked on it sporadically over the last couple of weeks, and have almost a whole page of Winter done, as well as more tree trunk – I’m trying to work a couple of threads of tree for every few of a season that I do, so I’m working different spots on different pages in the same sitting. Here is where it was last night:

Anagram Diffusion's Samplar 4 Saisons - HDF Ex. Wattle N Daub (tree & border), Ex. Lily Tutters (Autumn, lower right), Ex. Flannel Dark (Winter, lower left). Not shown in this shot: Ex. Mud Brick (Spring, top left), Ex. Milligrubs (Summer, top right). On HDF linen - 36 or 40ct. — Anagram Diffusion’s Samplar 4 Saisons – HDF Ex. Wattle N Daub (tree & border), Ex. Lily Tutters (Autumn, lower right), Ex. Flannel Dark (Winter, lower left). Not shown in this shot: Ex. Mud Brick (Spring, top left), Ex. Milligrubs (Summer, top right). On HDF linen – 36 or 40ct.

I’m going to have to think about how to hide the path of thread on the backside from one snowflake to another, when I get around to framing this…

New to the bird collection - a Blue Grosbeak, who was on the ground under the feeders all weekend. — New to the bird collection – a Blue Grosbeak, who was on the ground under the feeders all weekend.

I have a FINISH to show you – Magical Butterfly got its very last bead on Friday night (5/16); it took me a couple days longer than I had planned on; there are more beads on this than I thought, I guess, especially since it’s not that big a design (about 8″ square?). Putting the 15/0s on in place of the Kreinik French knots was a so-so decision; they don’t really show up very well, especially as they sit at intersections of stitches. There’s no way Kreinik knots would have fir, though, IMO, even if I could have done them well & consistently, not to mention, I would have needed another spool of the 085 for sure, and maybe another of the Purple Mambo color – I love that name. I did end up getting a 2nd spool of the Vatican gold – even without the knots, I still needed 1 1/2; JE is usually very good about having the qty required down, but these were off. SO if you plan to do this, AND do the knots in Kreinik instead of beads, buy 2 of each.

Joan Elliott's Magical Butterfly, on 28ct Masquerade from PTP. — Joan Elliott’s Magical Butterfly, on 28ct Masquerade from PTP.

Since Butterfly was stuck on the floor stand while I was at IHOP on Wednesday, I had a new start in the travel bag 🙂 Ever since Donna at By The Bay started releasing her Funky Flowers series, I’ve had in mind to do a set of 4 – two landscape, two portrait. Of course, I plan to do both Irises, and then a purple one and a red one to make the 4. After finally deciding on fabric (Waterlily jobelan), I got the border designs Donna released for free for her Flower Gardeners, and got a start on the first Iris, Caroline:

BtB Funky Flowers - Caroline. — BtB Funky Flowers – Caroline.

That’s the stitching news for the last two weeks. This week, I am continuing on with 4 Saisons, though I don’t know how much stitching I’ll actually get in the first part of the week; this is the last week of school, and the Band Kid has a concert tonight with his Symphonic band, and then again tomorrow night, the Trombone Choir is playing pieces throughout the Wind Symphony concert. He only has a few finals to take this week, and doesn’t need to be there when he’s not testing, so this is his break before he starts work with his dad over summer break next Tuesday. I already told him he’s spending his first check on clothes – tired of seeing the same 2 shirts and shorts.

Hard to believe Memorial Day is a week away; we had to turn the heat on again this weekend because it was chilly and worse, damp, since we had a pretty constant drizzle all day yesterday. I tell you, it looks a lot like summer on the North Sea around here – everything’s green & wet. But we are due to be back to hot & steamy by the weekend; hopefully the last couple of days of rain & cool will help with the rain deficit we supposedly have. I just know I have stuff coming out of the ground all over – the lilies along the driveway have stems up now, and my Asiatic lilies are about to bloom; the cannas are coming up, so hopefully I got those split up & back into the ground soon enough to get them grown this year. Peppers are coming this weekend; I also need to find a spot for cucumbers. And for Mother’s Day, my 21yo bought me a blue Hydrangea, which is now planted out by the rocks:

That’s the news – Happy Stitching this week!