I'd rather be stitching.
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.
The weather was gorgeous today. Perfect for taking a nice long walk. Plus the Fairfax Chocolate Festival was this weekend. And the Stitcher’s Stash in Fairfax was having a sale.
I stayed home and stitched.
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.)
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:
I started on my first HAED - Dragon Fae 1 by Selina Fenech:
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.
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.
After years of mild pressure from Thud, I’m finally giving in and starting a blog. So if you find it boring or inane, please direct all complaints to him.
My main goal is to use this as a stitching blog, though I’m sure I’ll find other topics to write about. I’ve been cross-stitching since college, but in the last year or so, I’ve gotten much more into (obsessive) about it. While before I was usually a one-at-a-timer, I’m now working on multiple projects. Blame the awesome gals, and occassional guy, on the HAED boards for that. They have helped expand my universe of knowledge about designers you can’t find at Michael’s or AC Moore.
Though I have some other WIPs (Works in Progress), my big upcoming project will be my first Chatelaine Mandala. These are probably some of the most beautiful patterns available, from an amazing woman in Germany named Martina Weber. Photos cannot capture the true beauty of her work, which includes varigated colors, metallics, beads, and crystals. I am very excited to try my hand at one of those, though I’m nervous about all the specialty stitches I’ve never tried before.
I will be doing the “Mystery” project with a Celtic theme. A mystery (also popular in quilting circles) is a multi-part project in which the participants are not shown what the final design will look like ahead of time. Each month we are given a section of the pattern to stitch, and we get to see the design build up over the course of a year.
Martina has given us a (spoiler warning!) sneak peak of the final picture. It is much smaller than the previews for her non-mystery projects, and many of the details are blurry. So while we have some idea about what we’re stitching, there will still be many surprises.
I have my fabric, but I’m still working on gathering threads. I can’t afford to buy the lovely silks that the design calls for, so I am converting it all to cottons. Part of this follows the recommended DMC conversion, but I’ll also be using some other brands to get closer to the original colors. I will post a picture of the floss toss when I’m done shopping.
