dragon – On Beads and Needles

Sprinter – an Update

No, not an insane person who runs fast for no reason; when Winter just can’t quite let go and give way to Spring – Sprinter. We had spring a couple of weeks ago, but it must not have been ready, because it bailed. It really wants to come back, I can feel it, and see it in all the things that are now green. Heck, most of the trees’ blooms are already gone. So maybe Spring will be back soon…

Going back to work after my recuperation was as much fun as I thought it was going to be; that first week was rough – not physically, but mentally. Some things just never change, sad to say. Oh well, it is what it is, all I can do is strive to make it a better situation, if only for myself, since clearly no one else is going to step up. So be it. Fortunately, I only have to spend 10 hours a day there….

In stitching news, I did a good piece on Tuscany Town Mandala, finishing the Duomo, and breaking out Part 11 to do the border over it and begin an inner corner. I knew the buildings were going to be quick:

Chatelaine Tuscany Town Mandala - DMC, silks, and RG PTB on 28ct jobelan, along with delicas. Lots of Swarovski to come... — Chatelaine Tuscany Town Mandala – DMC, silks, and RG PTB on 28ct jobelan, along with delicas. Lots of Swarovski to come…

TTM_3-28-16_TopLeftInner

After I completed 2 weeks’ worth on TTM, the next draw from the Randomizer was:

RandomizerDraw5

I managed to do a good bit on this over 2 weeks, as well, including my first DRAGON! And I decided that I wanted to add a bit of sparkle to my dragons, and after discovering Glisson Gloss Blending Filament in that Stoney Creek Life’s a Journey series of patterns that are in my travel bag, I decided to order an assortment of those in purples and blues, and will use them to add a splash of sparkle to the dragons – because I do that sometimes. Here’s where I stopped on Quaker today, with Page 1 completed, Page 2 about 1/2 done, and Page 5 almost done, too:

Wihenberg's Dragon Quaker, using Threadworx colors, 1/2, on 36ct Sterling from PTP. — Wihenberg’s Dragon Quaker, using Threadworx colors, 1/2, on 36ct Sterling from PTP.

And a close-up of the dragon, in which can’t really see the very subtle shimmer from the white pearl BF that I added to this lighter thread:

Dragon1

The only other thing I’ve worked on lately is the ever agonizing 12 colors of beige that is my Mill Hill Winter Woods – though I AM happy to say that I am VERY close to having it done – finally! Since this has such a minimum amount of beads on it, it really is almost solidly stitched, which is odd for a Mill Hill 🙂 Anyway, the cardinal button is not far off now:

Mill Hill Bead & Button kit, Winter Woods. On perforated paper.

Hopefully the next time I post an update, this will be DONE! I’ve got a zillion other things hollering at me for the travel bag, including Blackwork Journey: Save the Stitches and any of my canvaswork pieces. The next piece I will be working on is:

RandomizerDraw6

In other news, DH has been inspired to take up BMX racing again, which he did professionally almost 30 years ago; got the first touch of sun for the season at the track in Peachtree City, on one of our rare no-rain weekends:

That’s the news – I will assume it will be fully spring the next time I post – or, at the rate I’ve been going lately, it very well may be early summer 🙂 Until then, Happy Stitching!

We have at least 2 pairs of Goldfinches, to go with out bluebirds, Cardinals, and Jays. Am hoping the blue grobeaks come back this year, too... — We have at least 2 pairs of Goldfinches, to go with out bluebirds, Cardinals, and Jays. Am hoping the blue grosbeaks come back this year, too…

Saturation – an Update

Since I last posted, we’ve had the remains of Hurricane Patricia blow through here and dump rain, and then, just more rain. The sun has not shown for 9 days, and then, it was only out for an afternoon after days & days of rain and overcast. We’ve got minor flooding in creeks in the area, though nothing too major that I have seen. All I know is, I NEED to see the SUN , soon. It seems like it has done nothing but rain this year (outside of July, with it’s record heat), thanks to another el nino cycle, but according to averages, it’s about where we ought to be: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ffc/?n=rainfall_scorecard I think we’ve just had a lot more overcast skies without actually producing much precip – which is kinda why I wanted to get out of Ohio 21+ years ago 🙂 I am, after all, a delicate flower – I need sunlight!

In stitching news, I think when I last posted, I had just pulled out Dragon Quaker, and was getting going on that. I did two weeks on it, and made a good bit of progress, ONCE I got past the tree with the bird in it, which took a whole week, for some unknown reason (I was really tired after work every day, so I will assume that factored into it). But once I got past that motif, I motored on, going over to Page 2 for a good bit, and then down on the lower row of pages, too. I was going to do one of the dragons, but I am still deciding if I want them to be metallic or not, or just the big one in the middle. I have some Glisson Gloss bf coming that I will audition for inclusion, though, as I’ve put it up already, it’ll be the next time it comes out before I really make a decision. Here’s where it stands for now:

Dragon Quaker on 36ct Stirling from PTP, using my own conversion to Threadworx.

I also made some decent progress on my BtB Summer Cove – I am to the water, hill,s and houses. And you know what that means – SHEEP are imminent! I cannot believe how deceiving this series is – those trees don’t look that big, until you get in there and start adding leaves and whatnot, though Autumn’s tree had 5 colors of silk in it, so a little more variation than Summer’s using. But it’s getting there, and as it may be my only finish for the year…:

After I put Dragon Quaker away, it was time to choose from the Randomizer – as there were only 3 things left, and I KNOW I want to save Sparkly Hummingbird for time off over the holidays, it was really just a choice between two:

ProjectRandomizer_pic16

And this means, the next one will be Monet’s Waterlilies again, and then Hummingbird – I will have officially touched ALL of my WIPs this year! Too bad nothing but Summer Cove are going to get DONE, but hey, that’s the price you pay for startapalooza-ing, I guess.

Anywho, I’ve gotten a week in on Autumn Fairy so far, and she is really coming along well, though I admit I’ve avoided the Kreinik #4 French knots 🙂 REALLLYYYY love this fabric from Steph’s Fabby’s – 28ct jobelon in Melody. Such subtle colors, each one reflected in the a DMC in the stitching; I couldn’t have asked for a better fabric (and as this was like the 3rd-4th one I had in the kit, believe me, I tried a lot). I really enjoy working on Joan Elliott charts – such great results without a lot of hassle 🙂 Unlike some of my other WIPs who shall remain nameless {L&U}. Here she is after a week:

Autumn Fairy on 28ct jobelan in Melody from Steph's Fabbies. — Autumn Fairy on 28ct jobelan in Melody from Steph’s Fabbies.

This coming week, I will start on her wings – they will be the most time-consuming part, and if I get to all of the Kreinik bs, probably the hardest part. The bottom of her will be a breeze, next time – and then BEADS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So that’s the plan for the next little while. I’ll be working on Waterlilies over the Thanksgiving holiday, so hopefully I will see some significant progress there, too. This will be our last Thanksgiving all together before our boys are out in the world – one leaves for the Navy in December, the other next June. That came quick; I remember shipping them off to their first days of school, middle school, high school… Be Thankful, and Happy Stitching!

A Break in the Heat – an Update

Well, the swelter finally broke this past weekend, after a couple of weeks of temps in the high 90s and 8000% humidity; this past Sunday was wonderful, mid-80s and low humidity and blue sky forever. We have had more rain this week, with more in the forecast this week, but after the storms that tore through here last week, meh, what’s a little rain at this point? I got to play tourist a week ago and go to the Georgia Aquarium; it wasn’t worth $40 to be around a bunch of rude-ass inner city people, but it was still good to finally go see it. I could have stayed in the Ocean exhibit all day:

My company Christmas party will be at the aquarium in December; we might actually go this year, just for that alone.

In stitching news, I did a bit on Vickery Dragonflies one night at IHOP, and then at our June PINS get together; I am now DONE with the pink! I just gotta put 87 miles of backstitch in 🙁

Vickery Dragonflies, on 32ct Jazlyn Silkweaver solo.

I also did a good bit on Patricia Allison’s Autumn Dragon, but as a lot of the progress was filling in holes with 4-6 stitch leaves, it doesn’t look like that much work. I DID get the top two stone dragons done – they were just as much a PITA as they were when I did the two bottom ones on Jackie’s “Donkey” – but they ARE done now, and the next set will hopefully go a bit smoother, just because I’ve been there twice already 🙂

Patricia Allison's Autumn Dragon, on 32ct Light Natural god-awful Wichelt linen, using all charted DMSc & Kreiniks. — Patricia Allison’s Autumn Dragon, on 32ct Light Natural god-awful Wichelt linen, using all charted DMSc & Kreiniks.

I was very happy to finally get over to the tree trunk – more than 6 stitches in the same color! And there is also a LOT of backstitching in there – and lots more to go – every single leaf has it 🙁 Some days, I really just have to wonder why I do this to myself. Repeatedly.

So, to the Project Randomizer we go for the next item in our WIP list {insert drumroll here}:

ProjectRandomizer_pick8

Again – why do I do this to myself? Anywho, that’s what will see activity for the next 2 weeks, though, as I have a 4-day weekend coming up, I may sit down and crank out the rest of the AAN Christmas Tree; I’ve got the magnifier out either way, so…. Until next time, Happy Stitching!

The guys on TANKED! just put one of these in a tank for Wilmer Valderrama :) — The guys on TANKED! just put one of these in a tank for Wilmer Valderrama 🙂

Not shown – Sea otters. Strangely enough, they just will not be still for one second, so while I took 50 pics of them – you can’t SEE them, it’s just a big brown blur. And oh yeah – rude ass people AIMING for the woman with the camera – what’s up with that? They didn’t recognize it as a camera since it doesn’t also make phone calls? REALLY?