Roses, roses

And you know I love my roses.

I haven't worked on Sleeping Beauty for quite a while so here's a "before" picture as a reminder.

I have quite a ways to go on this project yet, but she's been a joy to stitch.  

And here's where I got to her this week.   The skirt pattern (with the swirls) is actually a bit difficult to do, as you need to leave a lot of space blank for beading (those will come later) and there's a lot of subtle color changes going on.  I opted to do that area by completing each 10x10 block at a time, which actually sped things along quite a bit.  

The Land of Not-Quite-Finished-Projects Part 7: Celtic

So once upon a time in my early-ish 20's, I was involved in the SCA and enthralled with all things Celtic and vaguely medieval.   Got into costuming to some degree, went to a couple Pennsics, and generally had a good time.  

I had a bunch of totes and bags and such that I would do small pieces of embroidery like these and use them to decorate.  Most of those bags are long gone at this point - I've gone through stages where I had a good clearing out and they ended up on the hit list.

I think I got these all out of the same book, one of those Dover pattern books that just had black and white Celtic patterns.  Some I left monocromatic (obviously) and others I played around with the colors, like this one:

So I think that's about it for this series :-)   But never fear, there are tons of ongoing projects and old goodies to share in the future.

Paging Dottie K....

I still need you to contact me with an address so I can send your pattern to you!

:-)

The center of the rose

I made good progress on Broadway this week - although there's a lot of confetti stitching, it's also balanced out with fairly consistent runs of the same color, so it works up more quickly than you might think.   I'm about halfway through the page I showed in a previous post.  Other pages in the pattern have a lot more empty space that this page does (it's the center area of the large rose). 

So here it is:  

I love the colors, which is often what draws me to specific Silver Lining projects.  You can see the center of the rose forming here.  

It's always interesting how many colors are actually in a project - you look at the overall picture and think "oh it's a yellow and red rose" but when you work on it, there are so many shades of yellows and oranges and pinks and reds....

And so Broadway will get put aside for now so I can work on another project for the upcoming week.

And the winners are.....

Christy has won Mermaid of Atlantis!

Dottie K has won Midsummer Night's Fairy!


Congratulations ladies!   

Drop me an email at HerBoudoir@aol.com and I'll get your patterns & bling off to you!

A New Start

A finish always seems to be license for a new start, doesn't it?  To be fair, I have been without a Silver Lining project to work on for several months, which won't do at all since there are so many I'd like to do and they are so lovely.  (That's my story and I'm sticking to it)

So here is my new Silver Lining project, Broadway.  Like many of the Silver Lining patterns, I've been drooling over this one for quite a while.   I really love the colors - gorgeous!  I think a very simple antique white background works best for Silver Lining designs, so I've chosen a belfast linen to work on.

We had company over the weekend so I didn't have a lot of time to work on it, but here's what I got started:

It's part of the large rose's center, although it obviously doesn't look like much so far.   Lots of shades of red, orange, and yellow.   I'm working block by block (more or less) unless it makes sense to continue colors out of the blocks.

Here's what the pattern looks like:

This gives you an idea of the complexity of the pattern, which is why I work SL's block by block.  I cross off the blocks as I complete them, which helps me keep my place.  SL prints their patterns on individual sheets, so I'll just finish it a sheet at a time. 

Since none of my other projects are more than halfway done, I'm going to try to go back into a rotation, working on a project for a week, then switching to something else so that they all get some attention.

To Clarify....

I mentioned that Midsummer is my 10th Mirabilia finish, and someone emailed and asked if that is what the "10" that's embroidered on her is for.   That's actually for "2010" as I always "sign" finished pieces with my initials (SMW) and the last 2 numbers of the year so I can keep track of when I stitched it. 

Same email asked what the other Miras were, so in order, they are:

1.  1999 - The Dreamer
2.  1999 - Spring Queen
3.  2008 - Mermaids of the Deep Blue
4.  2008 - Autumn Queen
5.  2008 - Winter Queen
6.  2009 - Fairy Idyll
7.  2009 - Crystal Symphony
8.  2009 - Summer Queen
9.  2010 - Mermaid of Atlantis
10.  2010 - Midsummer Night's Fairy

#11 and #12 should be Sleeping Beauty and Royal Holiday, as both of those are in progress.   The ones after that should be Garden Verses, The Kiss, Christmas Elegance, and Queen Mermaid, but not sure in what order ~ they are all in some stage of being kitted up.

Incidentally, after I get married in October, my initials will still be "SMW" so that's VERY convenient.

Giving Away Good Stuff!

In an effort to curtail my overflowing pattern collection, I am GIVING AWAY the patterns for my two latest finishes, Midsummer Night's Fairy AND Mermaid of Atlantis.  You've seen them, you've admired them, now you can own them :-)  Both patterns are only VERY gently used and in great condition.

And not ONLY will these lovely patterns being given away but I'm also included all the extra beads and specialty threads leftover with these projects in with the pattern.   There aren't enough goodies to completely do the whole project, but they'll get you started and save you from having to buy some of the bling.  How cool is that?

To enter for the give-away:  

1.  You must be a follower of this blog (yes, you can sign up now)
2.  Leave a comment on this post!  Indicate which pattern you'd like to win, Mermaid of Atlantis OR Midsummer Night's Fairy OR Either.   All entries must be received by 8 am EST, Wednesday, April 21st.
3.  The winners will be posted on this blog on Wednesday, April 21th.  Make sure to check the blog and if you won, drop me an email at HerBoudoir@aol.com with your address, and I'll get your pattern & goodies out to you.  

The winners will be picked by a fairly scientific process:  I'll write names on scraps of paper, toss them into a bowl, and pick them at random. 

The Not-So-Fine-Print:

1. You must live in the continental US (sorry - my postage budget doesn't stretch further than that)
2. Obvious but true: if you win you'll need to email me your address.
3. Winners will have a week to contact me with their address.  If I don't hear from you, the patterns will be given to someone else at my discretion.

Note:  Support your favorite cross stitch designers by buying patterns new whenever possible - buying used patterns does not financially support them!   If they can't make a reasonable profit designing the cross stitch patterns we love so much, they will no longer be able to design for us.  I am giving away these two patterns because for some reason, I have two copies of both.  I bought one for you AND one for me apparently LOL.