On vacation!

Yes, I know - I have been quiet this month. I'm away until later this week, spending a little time with the boyfriend, who lives in another state.

I'll have some new pictures up towards the end of the week. My mom had Crystal Symphony framed, and that came out quite nice - we went with a single grey mat and a pewter-ish frame. I've also been making progress on Sleeping Beauty, and she's starting to look good. She's a large project and just going to take some time.

I'm also trying to plan vacation for later in July - we're still not sure where we're going, but we know that it'll be about a 5 day road trip. So far, Vermont or Virginia are the primary contenders.

New Mirabilia: Mediterranean Mermaid


http://www.mirabilia.com/crossStitchFrames/md102.html

I really like her - I'll probably get the pattern to add to the collection, but I don't think I'll be doing her anytime soon since I have so many projects started or kitted up (including a mermaid).

So, I'm done stalking the mailman!



My latest stash order came in. I got two more Chatelaine Mandala Gardens: Watergarden and Alhambra Garden. I want to do those along with Knotgarden as my next set. There's a few more gardens in this particular set, but I don't know if I want to do all of them. I'm doing them on antique white 28 count lugana. I switched to 28 count because of the beaded areas - I think that the beads sit better on 28 count than my usual 32, and I chose antique white lugana because with such complex designs, I prefer a simpler background.

I also got the beads and metallics that I needed to finish kitting up Knotgarden and Mermaid of Atlantis. Obviously, I've been working on Knotgarden already. MoA is now ready to go; I may work on her when I go on vacation later this summer because it's a smaller piece and easier to tote around. MoA will be worked on the end piece of the fat half of PtP Fathom lugana that I'm working Sleeping Beauty on.

Project Updates

More progress on Knotgarden - this is the upper left corner.

To keep straight which end is up, I've done a hemstitch across the top of the fabric in green thread, and the rest of the hemstitching is in white. Since the fabric is a 28 count lugana, the hemstitching also prevents fraying - I find lugana is particularly prone to this.

I'm leaning more and more towards using DMC floss instead of buying the varigated silks for some of the specialty stitches. I may buy the ones to use in the borders, but some of them are very sparingly used. If I subsitute, I'll use floss colors that are already within the pattern.



Sleeping Beauty is back in rotation. I'm just working my way down some of the lavender bedding. I'm debating about doing the hands and face over 1 - I like the look of it, but the actual stitching (especially on a darker background) can be a bit frustrating.

Sleeping Beauty has a bit of a history with me. I first attempted to do her back in the mid-90's, but I had never done a Mirabilia nor had I ever worked on linen (or any over 2) before. I saw the pattern at a LNS and just loved it, and splurged on the materials. Not long after I started, I gave it up - I kept making mistakes and having to frog, and all those frustrating things you do when you really do not know what you're doing. I don't know what happened to what I'd worked on - probably ditched it. About a year later, I was determined that I was going to learn to stitch on linen, did some research to learn some of the ins and outs, and ended up doing a much smaller project - a teacup that I still have - and I've never looked back.

I still love Sleeping Beauty, and am very happy to be back working on her now. Such a gorgeous piece! Thanks to Sandy on the Mirabilia yahoo group for helping me out with the fabric choice.

There are so many Mirabilias that I've fallen in love with over the years - that I still love them 10+ years later is very gratifying, and inspiring me to work through some of those favorites. The Queens, Fairy Idyll, now Sleeping Beauty and Midsummer Night's Fairy. It's really become kind of a bucket list. Rose of Sharon is another classic that I'll need (yes - need) to do, but I'm going to change the dress colors as I'm not overly fond of the yellow/blue she's wearing. I'm leaning towards a lavender/cream combination instead. I don't have a lot of embroideries where lavender is featured, so that'll make a nice change. I think that color combo on a cream background will give sort of a faded/antiqued overall finish which is appropriate for the piece.

There's some other future plans under the "Wish List" section to the left of the blog - just for fun.

I'm stalking my mailman for an order I placed with Nordic Needle...not that I need it anytime soon, but you know how that goes :-)