Category Archive

I finished the trees in part 7 of the Celtic Garden Mandala last night. There is supposed to be a full moon in the middle, but I’m going to wait on that. I want to do the phases of the moon in a different order than they are charted. Instead, this quadrant (North/winter) will have a new moon, East will have a waxing (first half) moon, South will have the full moon that was charted here, and West will have the waning (second half) moon. I’m also going to change the color from dark gold to a very light silvery gold, which I think will look better on my fabric.

I also started working on Blackstone Fantasy Garden from Ink Circles, and I’ve gotten a lot done during my Metro commute to and from work. This is going to be a gift for my Irish dance teacher, so I’ve changed to colors to go with our school dresses. The fabric is black and the main threads are Yonder Sky and Zaffre Cobalt from HDF. I’m using metallics for the blackwork areas.

I wasn’t sure I’d finish part 6 of the Celtic Garden Mandala before the next part was sent out, but I did it! As you can see, it’s quite large now.

I ended up fussing with one of the colors a bit. The DMC conversion lists 370 as a replacement for Silk n Colors 155, so I did the first couple corners that way:

However, after looking at some other people’s WIPs, I wasn’t happy with how the color looked (it’s the dark yellowish brown). I wanted some varigation, plus the color wasn’t quite right.. So I bought some Gentle Arts Sampler Thread in Harvest Basket, which is almost an exact match to the original color. Here is the result, which I’m quite happy with:

But first, a shoe delivery update.  Thursday, my boss told me he would bring them to my job site, but then he got stuck in traffic and never made it.  Friday, he told me he would bring them to my other job site, but then had to cancel (probably so he could do the cancelled weekly deliver to the other site).  There’s a rumor he is coming here today and will bring “THE package”, as he is calling it.  We’ll see!

Yesterday I completed the second part of the Victorian Secret Garden from Chatelaine Designs:

After all my angst over floss choices and hours of looking at diagrams for French Knots, I finally completed part 4 yesterday:

Here is a closeup of the north-east quadrant:

First, a note not related to my stitching.  I wanna hike the Appalachian Trail!  For about 12 years I’ve had the dream of hiking across the country, but I know that would be very expensive and involves huge amounts of pre-trip planning (like caching water in the Nevada Desert).  But the AT takes less time and planning, partly because so many people do the thru-hike every year.  I made the mistake of taking Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods out of the library last week and now I want to drop everything and go.  Unfortunately, the only way I can manage a six-month leave from work and buying all the equipment would be to win the lottery.

 Sigh.  Maybe someday.

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled program.  I started working on part 4 of Chatelaine Mystery XI yesterday.  Tonight’s plan - frog some of last night’s backstitching!

Jan posted pictures of her first quarter, with all her lovely backstitching and French knots.  After seeing how the silks look, I need to rethink some of my floss conversion.

I’m still very happy with the WDW Spring Bouquet as a sub for TG Hydrangea.  The colors are much paler, but the contrast with my fabric seems to work well.  The blue of the silk would be quite boring against my blue fabric.  Spring Bouquet is actually so pale that it’s hard to see the colors in the cross-stitches, but I think they’ll look quite nice in the French knots.  Double Fudge Brownie still works well for the dark brown and Olive Branch is okay as well, though I might mix in some Williamsburg Blue (as originally planned) to mimic the color changes of the WL Winter Wheat.

Here is the big problem - while SSS Berry Smoothie:   is a great sub (better than it appears from the picture) for

TG New England Berries:  

 when it’s used all together, the colors flow very differently.  It’s really just red and green, without much of a bridge between the two.  Used seperately, they just appear to be non-variegated colors.  I started using my NN Mountain Spruce as a sub in one vine, but it’s too dark compared with the light shades of the original silk.  I really don’t want to buy more floss, so I need to pick from my current supply.

I love the two shades of pink on Jan’s French knots, so I’m going to pull out the Prickly Pear floss I bought for Mystery X and use that for the knots.  I’m hoping one of the DMC variations will work for the vine.  If not, I’ll just go ahead and use the green sections of the Berry Smoothie floss.

Of course the other issue is that some of Martina’s flosses are perles and therefore much bulkier than regular floss.  However, I think that trying to use two threads for such tiny backstitches will just look messy, so I’ll have to live with the finer thread.

 I’ll post photos when I finish this first quarter!

Added note: I decided that the lighter sections (pale yellow and green) of DMC 4060 will make a good sub for those vines!

Anther note: I’m going to try taking the darker sections of DMC 4060 (blue and yellow) and use them for the flowers in the hedges.  The more I look at my Spring Bouquet stitching, the blander it looks.  The colors are just too pale for that section.  I’ll still keep that floss for the knots, since the colors should show up better.  Never mind.  I’m sticking with Spring Bouquet, but using 3 strands to make the color show a little more.

The third part of Martina’s Celtic Mystery is BIG and I wasn’t sure I’d get it done before the end of March.  But I did it with a day to spare!

I made one change of floss from my original conversion. After looking at what the trees look like using Acorn Woods from Thread Gatherer, I decided to use Double Fudge Brownie from Carrie’s Thread as my cotton substitute. I’m quite happy with how it worked out. Here is my south tree:

I finished the first part of the Victorian Secret Garden and even made a small start on part 2:

It’s so much more sparkly in person!  I might not do exactly the same substitutions on every part, but for this one, I used Petite Treasure Braid 15 in place of the Canteloupe Bicones, Kreinik 032 for the 052 Delicas, and did a modified rice stitch using  DMC E5200 for the AB crystal cube.

I finished the second part of the Celtic Garden Mandala last night.  Doing the Rhodes stitches on Aida turned out to be very easy.  The hardest part was making sure all the black backstitching the knotwork section was in the right place.

The only floss choice I’m regretting is the dark blue (I’m using DMC 105).  In pictures of other people’s WIPs, the blue appears to be much brighter than mine, with more contrast against the black.

 In case anyone is wondering, the moon in the middle is Mill Hill Glass Treasure 12186.

Mystery X (Victorian Secret Garden) was the Garden Mandala from Chatelaine that first got me interested in Martina Weber’s designs.  So I really have to start working on it, right?  I’ll be using Smoky Haze Aida from Enchanted Fabrics, which I hope will give an antique feel to the piece.  I haven’t ordered the fabric yet, but I spent a few hours at the Scarlet Thread yesterday buying all the flosses.

Once again, I’m converting the silks to cotton floss.  (I should probably put a disclaimer on here - You are welcome to copy my conversion, but remember that it is not endorsed by Martina and will not look the same as her chosen colors.)

• Northern Lights 031 Teal Green - WDW Bayberry
• Gloriana 077 Fall Foliage - DMC 4130 (Chillean Sunset)
• TG Silk ‘n Colors 038 Rusty Amber - WDW Crysthanthemum
• TG SnC 055 Camouflage - WDW Moss
• TG SnC 089 Dark Forest - WDW Blue Spruce
• TG SnC 122 Bleu Sage - WDW Sea Foam
• TG SnC 140 Vintage Violets - Carrie’s Perwinkle a
• TG SnC 9711 Spring Blush - DMC 3779
• TG Perle 018 Terra Cotta - GA Simply Shaker Melon Patch
• TG Perle 059 Gilded Lavender - WDW Basil
• Caron Waterlilies 180 Green Tea - DMC 4065 (Morning Meadow)
• Waterlilies 196 Sable - Carrie’s Rosewood
• Waterlilies 212 Burnished Coin - WDW Thistle
• Waterlilies 228 Honeydew - GAST Celery
• Waterlilies 229 Oasis - WDW Peacock
• Waterlilies 241 Shenandoah - Needlepoint Necessities 179 (April Showers) b
• Dinky Dyes 01 Raspberry Ripple - Crescent Prickly Pear
• DD 05 Mulberry Ice - Crescent Purple Toile
• DD 10 Cloudy Sky - Carrie’s Blue Dreams
• DD 77 Blue Mountains - Crescent Tartain Plaid

Although I love the look of beads and crystals (especially the way Martina uses them), I’m going to sub in metallic floss on this one to save a little money.  Marion on the Chatelaine BB has been doing this with her two pieces and the effect is really lovely.  I’m still working out the colors for these.

a: or DMC 52 - haven’t made up my mind
b: equals Threadworx 1133

I just finished the first part of my first Chatelaine!  (And now it’s updated with the beads and crystals.)

Yes, I’m using Aida. It’s 14 ct. Raindrop Flair from Enchanted Fabrics.

2007 marks a turning point in my cross-stitching.  It’s the year I discovered HAED and Chatelaines, and really became an addict.  I learned about some other wonderful designers, and also the existance of silk threads, overdyes, and hand-dyed fabrics.  My poor bank account doesn’t know what hit it.

Besides Fish City, my big finish of the year was Not Forgotten by Dragon Dreams, which I made for Thud and Elf’s son:

My main resolution for 2008 is to start going to bed earlier.  I keep staying up way too late stitching!

Since I’m a poor librarian, I am going to be doing the Chatelaine Mystery XI all in cottons.  I think I’ve finally figured out the full conversion, so I’m posting it here.  Sorry for all the footnotes, but it seems to easiest way.

On the left is the color that Martina calls for in the pattern.  On the right is my conversion.

• Northern Lights 008 Marine Blue - DMC 103 (Variegated Royal Blue)
• Gloriana 071 Winter Brook - Crescent Colors Lettuce Leaf
• Gloriana 077 Fall Foliage - DMC 4130 (Chilean Sunset)
• Gloriana 117 Elizabethan Green - Weeks Dye Works Collards
• TG Silk ‘n Colors 053 Hydrangea - WDW (Holiday Collection) Spring Bouquet a
• TG SnC 187 Enzian Flower - DMC 4220 (Lavender Fields)
• TG Silk Perle 164 Acorn Woods - blend of DMC 3031 and Dinky Dyes 76 (Ocean Grove)
• TG SP 218 New England Berries - Six Strand Sweets Berry Smoothie
• Caron Waterlilies 107 Spruce - Needlepoint Necessities 139 (Mountain Spruce) b
• Waterlilies 138 Winter Wheat - Crescent Colors Olive Branch / WDW Williamsburg Blue c
• W aterlilies 153 Distant Hills - Gentle Arts Sampler Thread Royal Purple / Carrie’s Green Grass c
• Waterlillies 244 Olive Grove - GAST Limited Edition Kale / WDW Williamsburg Blue c

For any silks not listed, I’m using the DMC conversions suggested by Martina.  I’m using the GAST threads and metallics as called for with one exception - I already have a couple spools of Kreinik #4 braid in Emerald, so I’m using that in place of the Rainbow Gallery thread in Evergreen.

a: This includes some  lavender and pale green in addition to the light blue and yellow, but I hope it will work. If not, I’ll use the solid DMC suggested.

 b: NN has gone out of business, but the store I went to was still selling off their stock.  The Threadworx conversion would be 10611 (Mythical).  DMC 4045 (Forest) would also work nicely.

 c: These include 2 colors, but will not be blended.  Instead, I will alternate 2-3 stitches of one color with 2-3 stitches of the other.

Last Thursday, I finally finished Fish City.  The pattern is by Stoney Creek, adapted from artist Stewart Moskowitz.  I stitched it 2-over-1 on 22 count Aida.  At the suggestion of Beth on the HAED boards, I switched out a few fishies from the original design for other adorable creatures from Noah’s Sub.  That is another pattern from Moskowitz’s art.