2009 ~ A productive year indeed!

I wanted to sort through what I've been working on in the last year, and it's been a very productive year to be sure! So let's start with the finishes, most of which were started prior to 2009.

2009 Finishes

Mirabilia's Fairy Idyll:

Finished in February 2009. Fairy Idyll was a long time favorite pattern from Mirabilia, and was a joy to work on. I love all the details like the bed canopy and the bunny statue. She is definately a "boudoir" piece!

Mirabilia's Summer Queen:

Finished in May 2009. This is the last of the Seasonal Queens series for me to finish; I started with Spring Queen in 1999, so yes, that's 10 years to finish. Ack! Here's all the Queens together:

One day I'll get them framed all to match LOL Have to save my pennies.

Mirabilia's Crystal Symphony:

Finished in May 2009 as well (good month!). I gave her to my mother as a gift, so she had her framed rather quickly (usually it takes me a year or more to get pieces framed).

And finally: Silver Lining's Edith Wharton:

Finished in December 2009. I was doing really well rotating projects, but stuck with this one so I could get another 2009 finish.

All Four Queens - Together At Last

All the "Snooty Ladies" hanging out together - finally!

All Four Queens - Together at Last

Spring Queen Mirabilia #34, released 1998. Started and completed in 1999.

This is where it all started. When I started Spring Queen in 1999, Autumn Queen had not yet been released. From the very beginning, I always intended on completing the whole series of seasonal Queens. Although I completed her 10 years ago, I never had her framed because I wanted to wait for all of the Queens to be completed so they could be framed to match. She is done on an antique white 32 count linen.


Autumn Queen, Mirabilia #45, released 1999. Started in 1999 and completed in 2008.

Ah, Autumn Queen...my albatross. I started her in late 1999, and worked on her until she was nearly complete. I put her aside (probably to work on another project, although I couldn't tell you what that project was), and ended up not long after going into a fairly dry spell for cross stitch. I did two or three projects (no Miras) during that time, but wasn't consistent with it until early 2008 and I started working on Miras again. I completed Mermaids of the Deep Blue in September, and decided to start working on Winter Queen, because I still wanted to complete the series. In October, I took a break on Winter Queen, and decided I really needed to finish Autumn. Fortunately, I'd bagged her up along with all of her threads and beads, so after 8 years, I was able to pick up where I'd left off. She was so far along it only took me two weeks (!!!) to complete her. I dislike using Wisper threads, so I just used white DMC for her cloak. Autumn Queen is done on 32 count linen - the fabric is slightly darker than the others, so I would say it's either cream or an antique off white.

Winter Queen, Mirabilia #13, released 1995. Started and completed in 2008.

I started Winter Queen in September of 2008. I already had the pattern and jumbo piece of linen that I'd bought to finish both Winter and Summer on ages ago, so it was easy to get her going. Overall, she was an easy stitching project. She went very smoothly and I managed to finish her just 2 or 3 days before Christmas. I replaced the Wisper thread that is part of her cloak for a combination of a white DMC metallic floss and regular white DMC floss. It gives her cloak a little extra sparkle. Winter Queen is completed on a 32 count antique white linen.


Summer Queen, Mirabilia #22, released 1996. Started in 2008 and completed in 2009.

And last but not least, Summer Queen. I started her in 2008 while I was still working on Winter Queen. I was getting a bit fed up with all of the blue and white and I just needed to stitch in other colors, so I spent about two weeks working on Summer's teal skirt. I took a Queen break after Winter, and played around with a couple other projects. In early March, I decided I really needed to get Summer (and thus the whole series) completed, and started working on her in earnest. I just finished all the beading yesterday. Yes, I omitted some of the rose petals that were falling around her - I like the cleaner look without them. I also omitted the short strand of beads that is next to the two longer drapes of beads. Summer Queen is stitched on 32 count antique white linen.

Framing

I've always wanted them to be framed to match - same style frame, same size. The mats will coordinate with the colors on the individual Queen, but will all be the same material so they go together. Framing will have to wait for a little while though - that's going to be a hefty bill!

At Last....

Not only is Summer Queen finished, but I have FINALLY finished the entire seasonal Mirabilia Queens set. Only took me 10 years to do it!

More tomorrow...I'm exhausted.

Getting a Head

Neither Summer Queen nor Midsummer Night's Fairy are headless anymore.

I'm back focusing on getting Summer Queen finished. I'm also looming on the end of the semester at school, so I'm not sure how long it will be until she's finished. I have some stitching to finish (STILL filling in all that white!, plus finishing her hair), and then the beads and backstitching, so probably two weeks or more.

Midi has a face and hair now, and I've started on some of the metallics. All of the wings (a large part of the overall design) is Kreinik metallics, either alone or blended with floss. I finally got around to trying Thread Heaven to keep the metallics from being a total nightmare - what a difference!! Thread Heaven is basically a wax-consistency product that you run the thread through and it keeps them from fraying and otherwise driving the stitcher nuts. I'm actually annoyed at myself that I didn't try it sooner, but for sure, I won't be stitching metallics without it again. Midi has been placed on hiatus for a little while so I can finish up Summer Queen and probably spend some time working on other projects I have going.

This Week's Summer Queen

I had a good week on her, but I'm actually getting kind of burned out and a little bored. I'm going to put her away for a week or two, and work on something else for a bit :-)

Disembodied Summer Queen Arms

...but at least she's starting to look more human than just teal swirls. She should have a head in a week or two with any luck.

This is getting exciting for me - it's been 10 years (10 years!!!) since I started Spring Queen, and it'll be nice to finally be finished the series.

Assorted Stuff

If you're a Mystic Stitch fan, there's a really great sale at their website right now - 4 patterns for $34; they're usually $15 each. Their addy is http://www.mysticstitch.com/; click on special offers.

I'm up in PA visiting my boyfriend this week (spring break at school), and am continuing my quest to check out local cross stitch stores. I visited Just Cross Stitch in Limerick, PA this week. It's a small store, with primarily sampler/country/small stuff type patterns in stock. They did have a nice selection of Mill Hills and threads, and some hand dyed fabrics. Unfortunately they don't carry much of the style of cross stitch that I do, so I ended up leaving without a purchase.




Still plugging away at Summer Queen. Mind you, most of what I've been doing is filling in the grey shading, as well as getting some of the white filled in on the teal skirt. Whew, there's a lot of white on this one!! For now, getting Summer finished is my priority as far as stiching goes - no new projects until she's finished (hahaha).

Update on Summer Queen

More of her skirt done, and some of the grey shading. All of the "white" spots on the dress still need to be filled in, but I try to leave the white for the last of the floss stitching.

WIP Updates





I've mostly been working on Fairy Idyll (yes, another Mirabilia) lately. I was visiting my boyfriend for a couple of weeks (he lives in another state), so while he worked, I got to spend some serious time stitching. I've always really loved this pattern, so it's been on my "to do" list for a long time. She's being worked on 32 count cream Belfast linen. A lot of the colors are quite subtle, so the cream really blends in nicely with them. I will probably do some additional backstitching around the yellow dress to give it a little more definition against the background. I really like how the topiaries are coming out - I still need to add the Waterlilies threads to finish that section.





I've also been doing a little of Summer Queen, the "official" last one of the 4 seasonal Queens by Mirabilia. (I may also do Royal Holiday aka Christmas Queen) SQ is being worked on 32 count antique white linen. I definately would like to get her done soon mostly just to be done with the series - since I started in 1999 - but realistically, it'll be a year or two before I can afford to get them all framed at once.