let's dance....

First of let me start by saying Happy Canada Day!!! Happy 146th birthday to the wonderful country I call home!

I hope everyone is out celebrating and enjoying the long weekend. 


Next up I have a happy dance to share, and a very big happy dance at that!  I am finished.....


The Last Supper!!!!!!  I AM DONE!!!! I AM HAPPY DANCING!!!!

Yes I am shouting from the roof tops, as this has been my longest WIP... I started it around 2000 (I can't even remember as it was so long ago) stitched on it, and then I had a 10 year break and didn't even touch it... from 2002 - 2012... I finally had a strong urge to pull it out and work on it last year, and since then I've been working on it off and on and as of June 29th, just before midnight I put the final stitches in, including signing my name...

Here it is in it's entirety and a few close ups of the side I was working on to finish it up...

 

 

Please excuse the wrinkles, these pictures were taken literally hot off the qsnaps... I still need to give it a bath, and then eventually frame it.

I'm now off to enjoy the rest of the weekend, and until next time... happy stitching!

stitching and such...

Where to start.... let's start with my newest aquistion... a new glass container for my scissors... I had a much smaller one and they were pretty crowded in there...  Here is my new one, and they all fit nicely in three rows...

Not all of my scissors are pictured, there are about 3-4 missing as they are with various wips at the moment...  As well not all my scissors have fobs, though I am quite close, I believe only 2 are missing fobs right now... my candy cane ones and a silver pair not pictured.

Next up, my Sunday SAL with Barbi... Humbolt Coast... I am happy to report another page has bit the dust!  Here is my wave so far...

I've also making lots of head way with my Last Supper... it helps that I'm in the mood to work on it and have also found a rhythm in stitching it with all that back stitching and colour changes! 

I will continue to work on the Last Supper this week, and we will see how far I get...  I'm not quite there yet but the end is in sight... it is getting closer and closer with each stitch...

Also keep watch as I will be putting up a giveaway in the next day or two...

Till next time... happy stitching!

plugging along...

Well yesterday was our Sunday SAL day with Barbi, and I made great progress on my Humbolt Coast... I didn't want to put it down... to the point that I didn't go to bed till fairly late... much to my detriment today!

Here she is... not sure why but to me, my wave is a girl... go figure!

Did you know that this pattern is part of a lovely trilogy by Silver Lining?? The three seascapes in the "series" are Humbolt Coast, Jonathon and Seascape... each one more lovely than the next... I'm already planning my next start, once this is done of Seascape... I think it will make a great pair for Humbolt.  Not sure if I'll stitch Jonathon, but definitely the other one once Humbolt is done!

This past week I also picked up my long standing WIP - The Last Supper... and here is my progress so far on that one...

I managed to get the food on the table in front of Jesus and the apostle next to him done, as well as their feet... I also did the back stitching on the part under the table as well.... you can see where I left off, as my thread is still hanging there...

This week, continues with the Last Supper as I have found my groove with it and we will see how far it takes me!

Till next time .... happy stitching!

where did time fly...

Wow, another week has flown by and I only blogged last Monday... where did the days go???

Time sure did fly by that's forsure!  I have two stitching pictures to share... one is my last supper wip, which is coming along swimmingly... I've had the urge to work on it so I've just kept going with it.  I will keep with it until either I lose the urge to continue on it or I finish which ever comes first.  So right now my other project(s) are on the back burner... sort of...

Here is where I am now, and I'll explain the sort of in a bit...

As you can see, I'm nearing the halfway point.  I have 6 apostles complete, Jesus and the other six to go... there is still lots to do on this one...but it will be done this year. I've put off finishing it long enough... this wip is roughly 13 years old... I did have a stretch of 10 years or so where I didn't touch it at all... but like I said, it's been long enough in the making. Time to finish it up and get it framed and up on the wall.

Yesterday was also our Sunday SAL with Barbi, so it was time to pull out Humbolt Coast by Silver Lining... though all I'm stitching is a big blueish grey/green blob... I'm still enjoying it and am sad to put it down for another week.... but here is my progress...

You can click on both pictures to get a bigger and better view.

Now on to the sort of part of my comment above... this week I am taking a short break from the Last Supper becuase I am very very very behind in my rak's from 2011... where you get 5 people to sign up and you send them something handmade within a year... welll my year ended on Dec 31, 2012.. so yes I'm behind... I'm the queen of procrastination, and as you can see it has come to bite me you know where...

So I will be concentrating on those this week. I have known what I want to make for the longest time, I've just been putting it off, thinking "oh I still have lots of time" and look where it got me! Late as ususal...

So there you have it.... till next time happy stitching!

ihsw report

This weekend was the IHSW - international hermit and stitch weekend, as well as our regular Sunday SAL with Barbi. I managed to get quite a bit done on my last supper as the progress pictures show. However we also had a busy weekend, especially Sunday so no progress on Humbolt Coast.

 

we have winners!!

I have a couple of stitchy things to update you with, but before we get to that, let me announce the winners of my giveaways.

For the snowmen package, there were 14 names which I took from the comments:

1. Beaj
2. Social Sue
3.Kiri
4. Linda (bengalcatlover10@yahoo.com)
5.Shebafudge
6. Donna
7. Linda (lindafr@tx.rr.com)
8. Sally
9. McKenna
10. Terry
11. Dawn
12. Carolyn
13. Kathy
14. Penny

I used the random number generator and it picked number 3 - Kiri as the winner. I will email you to get your mailing information.

For the magazines, there were 10 names in the comments:

1. Beaj
2.Virpi
3. Dragonlair
4. Kim Reid
5. McKenna
6. Dawn
7. Nancy
8. Carolyn
9. Kathy
10. Annie

Here the random number generator picked number 10 - Annie as the winner. I will email you also for your mailing information.

Congratulations to the winners!!!  Keep watching as I will be having more giveaways soon.

Now on to stitching stuff... yesterday was our Sunday SAL with Barbi, and though I didn't get too much time to stitch, I did get a little progress in.

I am enjoying stitching this, and really wanted to continue on today, but alas... that is against the "rules". Excuse the bad photo, I just couldn't get a good one, since I normally take my photos with my phone, but even if I use the camera, I tend to do it at night when I am stitching... so always in terrible light...

I was working on my Last Supper wip last week, and will continue with that again this week. Here is my progress as of Saturday, and the whole thing to date.

Hubby took these pictures, and he is also better at playing with the photos on the computer to make them look good. In the first picture, that bottom left corner, from the green wrap on the end apostle's waist, down to the second apostle's foot is completely done, including the table cloth (not the top of the table where the end apostle's hand is) back stitching and all... today so far I've added some more back stitch as well as some more of the wine and food on the table.  It's coming along, but very slowly and there is still so much to do!

Anyways, till next time happy stitching, and again congratulations to the winners!!

ihsw...

Well it was IHSW this weekend, and I did manage to stitch... not as much as I would have liked, but I'm happy with my progress. I worked on two projects - the last supper by leisure arts and fairy moon by mirabilia.  Here are there before and after pictures...

 

 

 

 

I will be continuing to work on Fairy Moon this week, or as long as she keeps my attention.

 

Till tomorrow... happy stitching!



catch up post 3... for Nov 17

I managed to do a little stitching, and was able to finish up the part I wanted to for the last supper... I have been wanting to change projects but really wanted to get up to a certain part done first...

Here is where I stand as of tonight, as well as a not very good picture of the whole thing... it's fairly late and I just took the photos with my phone...

Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to get a good stitching session in as well, and I will either be starting a new project or pulling out Fairy Moon by Mirabilia...

I'll leave you to keep guessing which one I actually will do!

Till next time happy stitching!

going nowhere...

I had a good stitching session tonight, or so I thought... I felt like I stitched most the of the evening, but if you look at what I did, it feels like I made no progress whatsoever!  I was still working on the last supper, and all I managed to add was two hands... silly fractional stitches and colour changes...but the effect is worth it in the end...

Also as I was surfing the net, I found a picture of this freebie... I know its a Val's Stuff design, but I can't seem to find the actual freebie anywhere... does anyone have this or know how to contact the designer??? Are they still designing?? I couldn't even find a website for them... Anyways, any help would be greatly appreciated... that snowman is just too cute not to want to stitch him!

Also don't forget, this weekend coming up is the ihsw, so get ready to hermit and sign up!  You can click on the picture on my sidebar for more information!  I'm actually going to sign up for it this weekend, its been a few months now that I have been able to, so let's hope my best laid plans stay that way and I get to stitch lots!

drive by post...

Just a quick drive by post tonight, as it's late and tomorrow is a work day! It is going to be tough going back to work after a nice long weekend.

Anyways, I did a little stitching, and thought I would show a progress picture of how the last supper is coming along...

I'm getting to the point where all the fun bits are going to be done, and all I will have left is lots and lots of skin, and of course all the stuff on the table... not mention what looks like miles and miles of back stitch!  but the good thing even with all of that, is it is getting closer and closer to being finished!  As it stands it is my longest standing WIP  - it has to be at least 12-13 years old...I don't even remember when I started it, it was definitely long before I started blogging, and sadly I don't have any record of it. But that is okay... I will definitely have a record of it being done! As strange as it sounds, even with all the fractional stitches I'm quiet enjoying working on it right now, so even though I planned to switch projects tomorrow, I think I may keep plugging along with this and see how far I get before I feel like switching.

Also today, we went and did a little shopping... we went to Ikea and bought a new storage type dresser thingy for my stash by my stitching spot. Till now we just had a wood and glass coffee table next to me, and I had all my stuff piled up on top of it as well as under it and below it.... now I have this lovely new dresser thing with 6 drawers and plenty of space to put everything away! looks much neater and defintley cleaner!

There is a view from straight on, as well as one from a bit above so you can see the drawers... they are difficult to see since it's black. I know the drawers are not that deep, but I still managed to fit what I need in it, and have room for more. It is perfect for what I need it for.

Till next time... happy stitching!

stitchy kitty...

Just a quick post today, as I couldn't think of what to chat about...

My kitty was super cute sitting on the corner of the craft table, that I just had to take her picture... she is after all my stitchy kitty!  Okay I know its not exactly stitchy stash behind her but hubby's sewing machine but she's cute none the less!

Also for another stitching picture, here is my progress on the last supper... those darn fractionals are a pain in the you know where... I had to frog a bit today but not too much.  It is coming along slowly... soon all I will have left is the stuff on the table, skin and feet! Not to mention endless miles of backstitching!

Don't forget to enter the giveaway in my previous post! Let your friends know, the more the merrier!!  All you need to do is comment!

Till tomorrow... happy stitching!

stitchy weekend...

 

Just a quickie post to show off my stitchy progress from this weekend... I think I did pretty good, even with all the silly fractional stitches that I so dislike!

Hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend!

small stitching update

Just a quick update today... I pulled out The Last Supper to work on and here is my progress from tonight...

Please excuse the quality of the photo, I took it with my phone, and it is definitely more yellow than it should be, but you get the idea of how much I've done from my last photo in my Oct. 31 post.

I also found a very cute pumpkin freebie from the Freebie Gallery blog... if you click here it will take you to the pattern!

Enjoy!

and we're off...

Well I did it... I started a new project on Sunday. I pulled the threads and fabric and started Sabrina. I know I said I was going to wait until today to start but I just couldn't resist!

Here is what she will look like once finished...

and here is how far I got yesterday...

I'm stitching her on 28ct lavender swirl jobelan by Silkweaver with the recommended threads. Not much, but so far so good! She is quite big - the stitch count is 198 wide by 260 tall... I'm going to keep working on her this week and see how far I get.

Last week was my week for working on The Last Supper here is a close up of my progress as well as picture of the whole thing so far...

As you can see the table cloth is done... well okay not quite, but the major part of filling it in is... now to just work on the top of the table with all those fractionals and colour changes!

sunday sal, tusal, and ihsw...

Wow, everything seems to have come together for this weekend and Monday update, that I don't even know where to start!

Let's start with last week's progress on The Last Supper... I worked on that last week and did pretty good considering I didn't get to stitch every night like I normally do. I didn't bother taking them out of the q-snaps as it will be coming up for more stitching time soon enough.

The blue robe on the very left, where I ended, is actually part of the last apostle standing at the table, so I'm getting close to finsihing off all the good bits, after all that stitching is done, I'm left with all the fiddly bits - the skin with all its colour changes and fractionals, all the stuff on the table - more fractionals, and of course the ton and a half of backstitching! So much still to do, but I know it will be worth it in the end.

Next up... the start of the IHSW - international hermit and stitch weekend. Edith and I had a stitchy date on Saturday (sadly Barbi couldn't make it - hopefully next time) and I started a new project - the Birds of a Feather mystery SAL in three parts by With Thy Needle & Thread. Its not so much a mystery anymore as the SAL has been over for a while and I have all three parts of the pattern, but I have been wanting to stitch it since it came out. I finally sat down to start.

Here is my progress from Saturday's stitching session with Edith and some more that evening...

As I mentioned, since I have all three parts, I started in the middle instead of working it part by part, which works much better for me, as I have a hard time starting on projects from one of the corners...

I'm stitching it on 28ct natural peal linen, with the recommended threads. I'm a little weary as the thread pack that came with it is for 35ct, so I'm hoping I'll have enough thread...

I normally don't like stitching on linen, and I know you have all heard me say that many times before, but this fabric is one exception... it is more like an evenweave than a linen in that there really are no slubs in it and I love that about it! Plus the stitches lay so nicely on this fabric! I just have to get over the fact that its sort of itchy feeling... Anyways, this one is up to continue to work on this week.

Next progress picture... tusal... today is the new moon, and I thought I would try something different this year... here is my progress for this past month - from Dec. 24 till last night. I have to admit I've got quite a lot of stitching done in that time, including starting and finishing Mirabilia's Holly pixie, so my jar is quite full...

As you can see, I've have two jars pictured. My regular small one that I usually just keep squishing the threads down in, and a new bigger one... I thought this year I would keep my regular ort jar for the monthly progress pictures and the larger one would hold the whole year's progress of orts... we'll see how it works out...

Here is a picture of the two jars again, but this time I've already dumped this month's progress into the large jar...

Last but not least, it was our Sunday SAL with Barbi yesterday, so that meant Mary Margaret time...

Here she is after last night's stitching session...

I think I did pretty good. I've started the border, as well as filling in the bottom grass/dirt. I did make one change to the pattern, in that I changed the colour of the outline of the raccoon... The colour that the patten called for in its DMC conversion was DMC 730 which is a dark avocado green... I didn't want my raccoon being green, so I switched it out for black instead. Anyways, she is coming into the home stretch, and I'm pretty excited!

That's it for now, I didn't realize my post would be this long, so until next time happy stitching!

last supper update

Well as I mentioned in my previous post, I had this sudden and unexplainable urge to dig out my oldest wip and start working on it - The Last Supper by Leisure Arts.

Here is my before picture, in case anyone missed in my very long winded previous post!

And here is my progress as of last night... 4 stitching sessions later. Not too bad if I do say so myself. I will say though I now remember another reason why its taken me so long to pick it up again... all those fractional stitches and colour changes... just the skin alone has 4 different colours... frustrating to say the least... I won't even mention the amount of backstitching there is on this piece! But its for my hubby so it will be worth it in the end.

Oh well, the journey has begun, and the gauntlet for the challenge dropped. Now to just see how long it really will take me to finish this thing!

Btw its not stitched crooked, I just can never put my fabric in straight in my qsnaps, so when I pull the tension tight it always looks a bit wonky...

Today is Sunday so that means our SAL with Barbi, so I will definitely be working on Mary Margaret today, but first we have to take our Christmas tree down. Not looking forward to that, as I really enjoy having it up especially all light up. But the poor thing is starting to look weary and is starting to droop or at least the very bottom branches...

Tomorrow I'll get back to Holly as she is calling pretty loudly right now too, as are a few new starts but I'll try and keep them at bay for now...

a little more Holly...and a bit of a confession...

So here she is as of last night's stitching session. Her skirt is all done, and she has legs! I put her aside for a few days for now. I'll get back to her sometime next week, to work on the top part of the design. The missing spots in her skirt are where the beads are supposed to go.

I was lucky enough to get a very generous gift certificate to Traditional Stitches as a Christmas gift this year, from one of my best friends, and I have to say it didn't take me long to spend it! I managed to actually go over the amount of the gift certificate, but not by too much, more the shipping and tax... then again, as I mentioned in my other post I am a true stashaoholic!

I got all the beads (14 packs of beads + 2 treasures) and specialty threads (kreiniks and caron waterlillies) for 3 different mirabilia's - Holly, Fairy Moon, and Sabrina, as well as the newest issue of JCS magazine, and two charts by With Thy Needle & Thread/ Coutnry Stitches - Boughs of Holly and Feather in Your Nest.

I also have a couple of things that are/were backordered from before, so hopefully those will be arriving as well with this order... the crown needle minder by Kelmscott Designs. Gosh these things are almost as addictive to collect as scissors are! (I also got a very beautiful pair of scissors as well with my gift certificate) As well as the Winter Loose Feather's design by Blackbird Designs. I'm on their automatic for those, so as soon as it arrives, it will be making its way here to me! I definitley plan on stitching all three of these together on one piece of fabric.

So you are probably wondering what I actually picked up to stitch, now that Holly has been put aside for a little bit... well you will be surprised... I know I was myself! I actually picked up my Last Supper wip. It is the one major project that my husband has asked me to stitch for him. It has definitely been a wip-in-waiting so to speak... It is my oldest wip to date...This is how it looks from when I last stitched on it...

This poor piece hasn't seen the light of day in almost 10 years, with the exception of last year at this time to take a quick photo for last year's stitching plan blog post. I was quite surprised myself when suddenly earlier today I had an urge to find it and pull it out and get everything orgainzed for it. There is/was a lot of emotional baggage that comes along with this piece and the main part the reason why I didn't want to stitch it...

You see the last time I worked on it, almost exactly 10 years ago... roughly around March of 2002, I stitched on it while hanging out with my Mom... I happened to be living in Budapest at that time, but came home for a visit, for a good month or so - I came back to look into a job opportunity that didn't pan out, but I at least got to spend time with my Mom. I went back to Budapest sometime around the end of March, beginning of April to be home to celebrate my hubby's 40th birthday, and then at the end of May, May 26th to be exact, I got the call at just before midnight Budapest time, that my Mom had passed away. I still get all teary eyed even now almost 10 years later just writing this down...

However, something changed, I don't dread working on this anymore, I actually wanted to stitch on it today. Other than being teary eyed now and a little earlier today when my Dad was looking at the pattern - he thought I already finished it, and we talked about the last time I worked on this, I'm actually doing fine. I've already got myself organized, most of the floss was already set up and bobbinated, I finished putting the remainder of the floss on bobbins, as well as double checked the floss list to make sure I wasn't missing anything, and had hubby iron it and I then put it on the qsnaps, where its all ready to go. I have actually already put a few stitches in it, and will continue to do so after dinner...

Hubby and I have a running joke/promise with this piece... that I have until his 60th birthday or Christmas that year (so until 2022) to finish this piece. I have a secret desire - as of this morning.... to try and finish it off for his 50th birthday which is at the end of this April... but if I don't make that, I do want to have it for his Christmas gift this year... that I know I can do if I put my mind to it! I also want to have it framed by Jill Rensel if possible and I know that will take time, so I'm guessing Christmas is the more realistic deadline!

The only thing holding me back now really, is the fabric, becuase I just can't stand linen... and this is done on 28ct cashel linen... but I've got too much done already to scrap it and start brand new, so I'll plow though it somehow! I mean if I can get though the emotional baggage with this piece, I'm sure I can manage the problem of the fabric!

Wish me luck!!!