finish – Page 8 – On Beads and Needles

Yet Another Monday Update

So, here it is, Monday again. How disappointing 🙂 I tell ya, those weekends just get quicker and quicker… We did actually get through a weekend with NO RAIN, unlike points north and east of here – Mother Nature is clearly pissed. I blame China. I guess we also had another “super” moon, though with the cloud cover, this one didn’t keep me awake like the last one did. AND I didn’t bother taking pictures of it, because, meh, whatever…

Gardenia - trust me, you WISH you had Smell-O-Vision! — Gardenia – trust me, you WISH you had Smell-O-Vision!

I do, however, have pictures of my FINISH!!! Yes, I finished Amethyst Snowflake! I was 5 minutes from being ready to bead when PINS ended on Saturday at 4:00, so as soon as I got home (after a stop for dog food – they actually EXPECT it!) and got dinner plans worked out (pizza – no cooking for me!), I sat down, finished the stitching, and then started on the BEADS! TA-DA:

Amethyst Snowflake, completed 6/23/13 - Just Nan, 32ct lilac linen, DMC & JN beads. — Amethyst Snowflake, completed 6/23/13 – Just Nan, 32ct lilac linen, DMC & JN beads.

I have to say, it looks a LOT better all ironed up and out of the QSnap – until I got that done, I quite honestly wasn’t too impressed by it, shiny or not. The dark green hex beads – why bother making them hex, or green, for that matter? They are so small, you can’t see either the color or the shape. A pretty green metallic or silver-lined bead would have had better effect. But whatever, it’s done now, and it’s overall a cool piece. And when I do get around to finishing it, it will NOT be in the ridiculous frame the model is photographed in – I’m actually kind of surprised that I saw it well enough to like it…

Yep, another one you really do wish you could smell... — Yep, another one you really do wish you could smell…

BTW – all gardenia photos contained herein were taken next door (since MY gardenia blooms are, oh, about 4″ off the ground at the moment, and the neighbors’ are at eye level), at the same s%*#%@ neighbor who yelled at me for taking pictures of the dogwood. Pfffttthhhh.

I also have COLOR in my 2nd Ink Circles RYO piece, the one I started for my MIL:

Ink CIrcles Roll Your Own SAL - One Lonely Family on el cheapo 32ct silver Charles Craft "linen". — Ink Circles Roll Your Own SAL – One Lonely Family on el cheapo 32ct silver Charles Craft “linen”.

There are 2 sections in each corner of the design that contain 4 colors – so if you are only using 3 colors, you either need to combine 2 sets of symbols into one really big area, or do blends 🙂 I, of course, chose blends – one is the dark & medium, the other area is medium & light. Even though I really don’t like pink, I really like the way this is going together 🙂

Dew drop on a canna leaf... — Dew drop on a canna leaf…

So, this week, I have one of the By The Bay Seasonal Cove pieces ready to go in the travel bag – no idea which one I will start first, I have all 4 in there 🙂 Hopefully they’ll be pretty quick 🙂 I think I will work on this RYO a bit more – I have several things yelling at me, LOUDLY, but since I can’t decide what’s yelling loudest, I may just continue to ignore them until one makes its voice heard over the rest. And then put RYO away, for a bit. It would be great if I had a huge chunk of the border of it done, so then I just need to fill in – it would be an okay travel project, once I had the border down (to define some of the slubby areas under good light). We’ll see in a week what actually happens, huh?

Happy Stitching this week to everyone!

Twofer Thursday

I wasn’t going to post anything until Monday, since I was gone for several days and hadn’t touched a needle in 5 days. But, since I have tons of pictures and not one, but TWO, finishes, I thought, what the hey! Too much for just one Monday update 🙂

Our trip to Florida was good – the weather was wonderful, mid-80s and not disgusting humidity yet. We did a lot of running around, taking Grandma to get some things done, and lots of eating. On Monday, the Kid and I went to the Universal Studios parks, where, of course, we headed immediately to the Harry Potter part, and actually ate lunch at the Three Broomsticks 🙂

So when we left Saturday morning, I had one motif and one set of initials left on Mary Wigham. By the time we got home Wednesday, after driving for 10 hours, 7 of that in rain, I was just too tired to even think about it. But, after I got laundry started and other things going yesterday, I was ready to clean off the DVR and get it DONE! So I did – and at 3:30, put in the final stitch, FINALLY!

Mary Wigham, completed 4-4-13. Over-1 on 32ct Country French, using my own conversion of HDF silks.

I took it with me to IHOP for the Thursday night gathering, where I worked on Desert Star. I just so happened to put the last stitch into that, too, at exactly 10:00 – I was too close to finishing to stop, even though our IHOP closes at 10, and since I didn’t have to get up today (or at least not until dogs made me), I stayed to get it done 🙂

Desert Star, by From Nancy's Needle, done on 4-4-13, on 18ct mono canvas, using the charted Caron, DMC, and RG threads. For the record, Cresta d'Oro is NO FUN. — Desert Star, by From Nancy’s Needle, done on 4-4-13, on 18ct mono canvas, using the charted Caron, DMC, and RG threads. For the record, Cresta d’Oro is NO FUN.

Well, I can honestly say that I have never finished TWO big pieces on the same day. I don’t recall of having ever finished two small pieces in one day – did I finish two of those Dragon Dreams ornies on the same day? I don’t think so. Anyway, kind of a banner day – clearly the 5 day break was a good thing; the tendonitis is mostly gone from my left elbow, so what better than to get that aggravated again ASAP? Which will be helped along by starting Beaded Dragonfly Tile TODAY 🙂 I was going to be good & work on some other WIPs, but I had my arm slightly twisted by Lisa, who is starting it, too, this weekend. Because I ordinarily require a lot of arm-twisting to start something new, you know 🙂 Besides, I gotta have something to update on Monday, huh?

Okay, off to find a place to set up the sewing machine so I can zigzag my black jobelan 🙂

Well, Monday, We Meet Again – an Update

Anyone else watching Ripper Street on BBC? Great show, if you haven’t seen it and have access to it 🙂 Though, Mr Macfadyen will always be my Mr Darcy (yes, I like that version of P&P better than the Colin Firth one, though I do need to watch the CF one again sometime, IF I ever happen to stumble across it). I am liking this so much better than Copper, which started out good, but I don’t know, I just couldn’t stay with it. And I can’t watch Sherlock, that Benedict Cumberbatch, besides having a ridiculously cumbersome name (see what I did there?), just gives me the willies- his eyes are too close together or something, yoiks – and yeah, HATED his character in Atonement, which of course, you should…. AND – wow, Downton Abbey! I can’t believe it’s over for another season ALREADY, and I can’t believe the WAY it ended 🙁 I won’t post any spoilers, but wow, hmmmm, wonder what happens next season? I hope they didn’t set the bar too high, too early…

And then, there’s the Oscars last night, with the 50th anniversary of Bond, James Bond, none of which I saw, because, ummm, Walking Dead was on 🙂 BUT I did watch Skyfall over the weekend, which was really good. I am glad Adele won for her song for that, I really do enjoy her voice – everything Amy Winehouse could have been… And of course, it’s also the 50th anniversary of Dr Who this year, too, though I have to admit, watching the original few seasons of that is a lot harder than watching the first Bond films 🙂

All of this is to say, man, what a busy week last week, about all I managed to do is give the DVR a workout! I won’t even mention the CSIs and NCISs and all that that I managed to fit in here & there. I didn’t sit down one night last week before 8, with getting new furniture into place and trying to find places for all of the old junk 🙁 And man do we need to paint! Hopefully I can start looking at colors for that soon, though who knows if it will get done before summer or not?

When I was able to stitch, the only thing I had time for was Knock! Knock! – L&U wasn’t even close to getting any work done that late in the day. And it took all week, but I did FINISH Knock! Knock!

PS Knock! Knock!, completed 2-22-13, on 32ct Lambswool jobelan, using DMC. Next up: Whoo's There? — PS Knock! Knock!, completed 2-22-13, on 32ct Lambswool jobelan, using DMC. Next up: Whoo’s There?

And, because I finished this late on Friday, and had the February PINS on Saturday, I decided to start that Desert Sands Sampler, which ought to go relatively quickly. And is, since I have completed 7 of the 17 bands already, just on the weekend 🙂

Desert Sand Sampler, on 32ct Dirty linen, using Caron & Threadworx fibers; not shown - MH Frosted beads, which I plan to increase from the original design because, hey, it just needs more :) And NO, these are NOT my normal colors.... — Earth Threads Desert Sand Sampler, on 32ct Dirty linen, using Caron & Threadworx fibers; not shown – MH Frosted beads, which I plan to increase from the original design because, hey, it just needs more 🙂 And NO, these are NOT my normal colors….

Now – the plan for this week is… I have no idea. I need to work on L&U some more before I put it up again, but am just not feeling it. I think I really am ready to get cracking on Mary Wigham, I’m ready to get her DONE. Tonight, I have band stuff to do, so if I stitch any at all, it’ll probably be the next quickie band on Desert Sand, by the time we get home and I get people fed. Tomorrow, my baby turns 16, but his big brother is taking him to the mall after school, so we’ll celebrate the day when they get home. Wednesday is open at the moment, so maybe I’ll get something out then to work on 🙂 IF I can find all of my WIPs, since some are upstairs, some are downstairs 🙁 The organization process goes on, and on, and … Happy Stitching this week to everyone!