The last of the stash has arrived...

I know.  You were worried ;-)

My sterling silver from Silkweaver arrived yesterday.   As for the color variations on it, it is VERY subtle...so much so that when I first saw it, I wasn't sure if it was hand dyed at all LOL    Honestly, it's not that different from the confederate gray I recently got (although twice as expensive).   All in all though it's true to the color sample on Silkweaver's website and I think it will do nicely for the it's intended projects.

As always, I was compelled to do a floss toss, although it's a great neutral fabric that you could put just about anything on and have it look good.  The blue undertones in the grey make it a really nice alternative for mermaids to using a blue.   

Here's Queen Mermaid.   I think it's a better choice than the Amsterdam blue I was originally going to do her on.  My fat quarter of blue has been returned to stash and I'll pair it up with something else another time.  

There's a lot of bling on Queen Mermaid (which I haven't yet gotten) so I chose a cashel (28 count) instead of my usual belfast (32 count) so that it's not such a struggle to get the Mill Hills to sit straight on.   I am also considering switching over to using Delicata beads in the future, which are slightly smaller than Mill Hills and sit better on 32 count over 2 fabrics like my beloved belfast. 

She'll be the next in line for a Mirabilia start...can't wait!   I think she'll actually work up very quickly, as mermaids seem to do.

And here's her companion, Deepest Love.   There's more blues in the coloring than in Queen Mermaid (which has a lot of greens) which is another reason the gray background works well for both of them.   She has some beading but not quite as much as Queen Mermaid;  again, added bling is on the wish list but I haven't gotten it yet.   

I consider a project ready to start when I have pattern, fabric & floss...I can always buy the beads/metallics later.   So if you're keeping count, that's three Mira mermaids I have ready to go now.  Ack! 

The model for Deepest Love is actually on the Amsterdam Blue I nixed for Queen Mermaid, but I think she'll look lovely on the gray.

I'm not sure when I'll fit in doing Deepest Love, but I figured if I wanted to do her on the same fabric as Queen Mermaid, I needed to buy the fabric at the same time, especially as it's a hand-dyed.  

I'm really happy that I decided to do these two as "companion" pieces.   Having the same fabric really pulls them together I think, and eventually (when I hit the lottery and can catch up on my framing) I'll have them framed in the same frame, same size.   I may not ever hang them together but I like having that as an option.

So I performed surgery very carefully and split my fat half of fabric into two fat quarters and have packed away these lovely fish for now. 

I wonder if my mailman knows he's being stalked?

Which is what always happens when I've ordered some cross stitch things and they haven't all quite gotten here yet....

I'm still waiting on my Silkweaver fabric, but that should be here any day now since they said it was shipping last week.    Since that was the "kick off" of my little fabric buying spree and it's the last one to show up, it's inciting some mailman-stalking-behavior on my part LOL.

Meanwhile, I did get some other goodies.

Heidi from Mirabilia Stitchers was doing a little de-stashing and I bought some fat quarters of cashel linen from her for a really good price.   They were colors that I'm very familiar with - confederate grey and waterlilly - and also are very neutral so there's so many things I could use them for.  

Although they won't be used anytime soon, I'm already plotting potential pieces for them.  Size-wise, they're ideal for fairies and mermaids - designs that are just a bit smaller in scope.  

Although I haven't decided yet (and won't for a while), the confederate grey has a few contenders, such as Christmas Flourishes, Lilly of the Woods, Woodland Fairy, and Cottage Garden Fairy.  The waterlillies is perfect for a mermaid - maybe Bluebeard's Princess Mirabila.    Titania would work great on either one of them.  

I got my order in from Picture This Plus yesterday, and have a bit of a dilemma.   I ordered a piece of Mercedes for Enchanted Mermaid, and I think that will be perfect.

There is a particularly dark spot on the fabric and I think if I position it right, I can get her lighter tail to be stitched over that spot, which I think will look really good. 

You'll notice the floss there - Michael's had a 25% off sale on Sunday night only, so I picked up floss for Deepest Love and Enchanted.  I made the mistake of NOT getting floss for Rose Celebration (which was on my list) simply because I had someone waiting for me, and you know how long it takes to both pick out floss and get it rung up....one....skein....at....a....time.

That was a mistake, because now that I got the fabric in for Rose Celebration....I think I might have made a mistake.

It's just SO pink!!!  I knew it was going to be pink but I don't think I realized it was going to be that PINK, you know?  There's also a fair amount of pink in the design.

I have a week to decide if I want to keep it or send the fabric back and exchange it for something that will work better.  I'm going to go ahead and get the floss of her so I can get a better idea of how the colors will work.   If I send the Charm back, I'm leaning towards more beige-y brown backgrounds, like Heritage.

Stash...and then some!

So I opted to have a little (ha!) stash blow out at the end of the year, and some of the backordered goodies just came in.

I just spent a very pleasant hour cutting fabric to size and assigning the various pieces to projects, getting them together with their patterns and threads and beads as I have them. Some of the leftover pieces of fabrics have already been assigned elsewhere.

So here's what I ended up getting:

There's always a few new patterns being brought into the mix. I got Christmas Elegance, Rose Celebration, Venetian Opulence, and Enchanted Mermaid ~ all Mirabilias, of course. I also got a couple new Silver Linings: Scene Stealer (another iris) and two of the Bed of Roses series, The Brilliant and The Royal.

I kitted up the following projects:

*Wood Warblers I and II from Crossed Wing Collection. Both are bellpulls to be done on 28 count (cashel) cream linen, plus all the floss.
*Broadway by Silver Lining. This is a fabulous rose, and will be done on 32 count (belfast) antique white linen, plus all the floss. (got 1/2 yard of fabric so there is leftover for another project)
*My Sweet Rose by Artecy. A reproduction of one of my favorite paintings by Waterhouse - I got 20 count ivory Aida since none of the background shows, and all of the floss. (got 1/2 yard of fabric so there is leftover for another project)
*Garden Verses by Mirabilia, to be done on an 32 count (belfast) apricot linen, and all the floss and beads. (got 1/2 yard of fabric so there is leftover for another project)
*Scarlet Ribands by Long Dog Samplers. I'm trying some silks from Hand Dyed Fibers for this and will work it on 38 count (edinborough) antique white linen. (got 1/2 yard of fabric so there is leftover for another project)

I also picked up some additional beads and metallics for already in-progress projects, plus a bunch of needles and other necessities.

I had a 20% off the entire order coupon from Michael's so I went there for floss. So when you're picking up 400+ skeins of floss AND the cashier has to ring them up individually, you end up spending a LONG time waiting LOL Fortunately I had a chatty cashier with a great attitude, so we had a long discussion about various things, and they opened another register so no one got stuck behind me. Did I mention that the register also has to take 20% off EACH item individually as well with that coupon? Huge receipt, but really, this is the cheapest way to buy floss.

I was going to stop there with stash for a good long time, but I may have to make another floss run (yep, got another 20% off coupon). Since Enchanted Fabrics is closing, I splurged on a piece of Hocus Pocus fabric for Christmas Elegance. Also, there's a leftover piece of the apricot belfast (from Garden Verses) that I think will be perfect for another Mirabilia, The Kiss. Both Christmas Elegance and the Kiss have a wide variety of beads, but beads can definately wait. The leftover piece of antique white belfast is definately for another Silver Lining, but I have 3 possibilities that will fit on it and have not decided which will go there.

Venetian Opulence and Rose Celebration are both gorgeous paterns, and I'd like to start thinking about background fabric choices, etc. I also need to pick out background fabrics for Alhambra Garden and Watergarden, the next two Chatelaines I will be doing.

As far as starting any of these lovely projects soon...well, you've seen my in progress list, right? LOL I will be focusing on completing a couple of projects first I think.

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.

Floss Spree!

I had a little shopping spree at Michael's this week, thanks to a 20% off my order coupon. Since the cashiers have to ring up one skein of floss at a time, they must love me when I buy about 125 or so at once LOL

I got floss for:

Knotgarden - I started getting this kitted up with the floss; I also had a couple of packets of beads in my stash that I'll need. I still need to order more beads and Waterlilies floss. I confess - I also snuck over to the cross stitch store and got a piece of 28 count lugana for her.

Mermaid of Atlantis - I bought the Waterlilies for this the other week, and I'm going to do her on the leftover Fathom lugana from Sleeping Beauty. MoA is very petite for a Mirabilia (although very blinged out and detailed) so she actually fits - just barely - on that fabric AND it works for her. Again, still need beads and Kreinik for this (of which there are a LOT).

Royal Holiday - Yes, another Queen! I have a piece of 32 count cream linen leftover from doing Fairy Idyll earlier in the year, and that will work out nicely for RH. More stuff here to add to that massive specialty thread & bead order that's building.

Materials for Midsummer Night's Fairy by Mirabilia

Yeah, ok, I know. It's another Mirabilia. I think the background color for projects is very important. I still think the best way to find a good fabric is to get your floss together, and just toss the pile on top of the fabric - you'll see fairly quickly what works and what doesn't. This is Misty Blue 32 count belfast linen.

Materials for Sleeping Beauty by Mirabilia
This is a great example of why it's really great when people share pictures of their needlework. Sandy on the Mirbilia yahoo group had a fantastic background color for her version of Sleeping Beauty, and was kind enough to help me find the same fabric. It's a hand dyed 32 count lugana from Picture Plus called Fathom - it has a really pretty pattern (although subtle) to it.