Riding With Witches

You may recall that I was working on When Witches Go Riding by PS, and I've done some here and there between exchanges and my monthly HalloSAL. Today, I decided to take a progress pic, and I was shocked by how much I'd actually gotten done since last time just by doggedly sewing in black, black, and more black.

Before:

And Now:

This one does the best job of showing the colours on this grey day.



But this one is clearer, and un-cropped. You can see where a I had to take out some black border at the corner due to a knot-loop. Sigh. If you're looking for the "ruffle" at the bottom of the frame as charted, never fear. I am quite in love with it, yet contemplating inserting some sort of signature-date-etc at the bottom in a box before that fancy trim. I actually have--somewhere--about a million thumbnails sketched for personal logos that would be, in my recollection at least, very suitable for adaptation to the medium of needle and thread. Now all I have to do is stop stitching (or rather starting) new projects long enough to find it and knuckle down to the conversion!! This is what's preventing me from showing a finish on about 3 projects, Beneath the Sunlit Sky included!

Have a great one everybody--stay warm for this last push of winter.

Friday the 13th: One Week Later

Hello, Everyone! Let's see if I can keep my windbag act, well, in the bag this morning (don't hold your breath; 3 hours sleep again as Dear Marc pulled an all-nighter for work.)

This week's progress on PS 148 When Witches Go Riding:



I'm not too happy with my progress on this for a number of reasons. (Still waiting on more fibers; just how slow can one woman stitch; should have finished the very last bit on Sunlit Sky instead, but followed alt. specialty stitch plan made for me at LNS for roof and it was not centered in the end!! But, when I see it in the hosting album alongside the previous pic I can't help being favorably impressed.)



The first of my Birthday Stash arrived yesterday. From Right: Birds of a Feather Meadowlark 36ct (it even shows in a stamp at the binding) and Birds of a Feather Sparrow 32ct. That other triangle is a corner of When Witches (Which is R&R Pilgrim Brown) I tossed in to show how positively pale it looks alongside the other two I *thought* it was brown but now see it as somewhere in the neighborhood of "off white": These BoF linens have GUTS. In last night's artificial light the Sparrow almost seemed to do a red n' green clash with itself, but thankfully sunlight shows it to better advantage. I've been seeing these for a while over at Edgar's, and so am really happy to finally have some samples. I had hoped to use the Meadowlark for an upcoming exchange, but now see that it doesn't suit my fibers: one of 'em 'll have to go--this qsnap ain't big enough for the both of 'em. :P Well, in any case, I have other plots, too. I think this stuff just can't be topped for prim and Hallowe'en stitching. My head might explode trying to calculate what to do first! I could go for the finishing combo: a Prim Halloween design--Be still my heart!



Here's a Birthday present from Marc of one of my favorite perfumes. While I do think the bottle is just as pretty as the fragrance contained within, the point of this pic...



...would be the thread drops I up-cycled the paper box into! Now, my "production" skills are rusty in recent years, but I still feel pleased with the result after allowing them some quality time with a bone burnisher. Now, I can "enjoy" the charming box instead of just hoarding it as more clutter. (At least 2 verifiable generations of those hoarders in my family; the jury's still out on exactly how debilitating it'll be to my funcitoning...:P)

Well, I'm off to (sleep) rip the specialty roof out of Sunlit Sky; but with best wishes for your pre-holiday stitchy weekend I remain

Yours in Stitching,
Berit

Edit: Erynne is having a super Giveaway to celebrate her 2nd Blogging anniversary: a $75 USD shopping spree at Anita's Little Stitches to one lucky entrant!

October Happy Dance

Hello, Everyone! It's beyond time for an update on what I've been up to in stitchy land! Here follows the floss toss (which I meant to post a while ago) for the piece I've been working on:



I just fell right in love with this piece after seeing it on Nicole's blog around Memorial Day, so off I went looking and looking for it on the 'net. Now, at this time I didn't know a BBD from a pair of BVDs, and so of course had No Idea that it was a Loose Feathers Design and also OOP. OOps! Well, in the end I was really blessed because kind Nicole agreed to lend it to me! So, it arrived mid-July, and then the battle to acquire fibers and fabric began. It was long and arduous battle with many setbacks--the less said the better! Note: This fabric is Silkweaver's Purely Primitive (28ct. Cashel), which is the same colour if not count as the one Nicole used.

And Now, progress as of this Morning:



I realized after taking this that the floss is entirely in the dark.
All I can say is...
a.) lol
b.) Good thing I uploaded that floss toss!
c.) Photograpy is not one of the visual arts in which I excel. :P



The Heron-Crane (can never remember which the leaflet identifies it as. Can you tell I'm a naturalist :P) I've really been hauling to get this thing done, but it totally doesn't show! I STILL do love this design, though I must say I'm itching to stitch for Hallowe'en, and will likely do so all of November!! As for this piece, I would love to finish it, though I am all but out of GAST Parchment (off-white), yet not halfway through the charted stitching of it. Gargh!!



And here, because my love is fickle and has many objects of devotion, is a closer shot of these darling scissors. To see them is to love them (IMO), and I finally got my paws on a pair thanks to intel from Staci's blog on ebay seller rosa0537 (I had no luck at all in wading through her 700+ items to get to these darlings until I searched the french "ciseaux"; "scissors" returned exactly zero results.) I want to post more in-depth about these beauties in future!

Also needing mention is the fatally charming floss tag lurking in the above shots, which was an exchange I received from dear Ann, which came along with some darling accessories and is therefore part of a Sewing Set. (I capitalize it so that you will know that its wonderfulness is such that it has attained Proper Noun status--lol!!) This is yet another item in need of its own blog entry!
...
Now, I'd like to make a brief "Seasonal Landscape" intermission.
I present to you a stunning photographic landscape the likes of which would compel even Ansel Adams to gnash his teeth in envy:


(Just look at the pretty crimson tree.) :)

And, here is "My Tree" which is a tree (in point of fact, this tree) as seen by me as I gaze upon it as I enter and exit my little apartment. It's rather concrete-y in the corridors of our place, but this little peek is my natural oasis:


My tree dressed in Autumn.

With such weather as this, is it any wonder that I am Expiring With Desire to stitch:



Now, this is another piece whose acquiring was fraught with frustration--and I still have yet to put needle to fabric. It's a conversion which is not mine (yet I don't care to identify the source now; I'll see about that if there is any interest) from DMC to cotton overdyeds (Mostly Crescent Colours, but one WDW thrown in for good measure.) I am actually Still WAITING for one of the fibers, the black calls for two skeins. Le Sigh. The fabric is 28ct Pilgrim Brown from R&R. A week or so after I saw this one all stitched up at the LNS (Oh, how Glorious it was--I even dreamed about it after leaving the shop!), Vonna decided to unleash her own version on the Unsuspecting Public! I was able to prevent my own Deaty by Envy only by admonishing myself repeatedly that I "really do like the conversion/fabby I'm waiting on better." I will however admit that I only now closed the browser tab containing the link you can see by clicking "her own version". :P

As a reward for enduring to the end:



Charty stash: PS "Autumn Leaves" and JCS Jan/Feb 2009 (Yes, it's the issue featuring "This is the Day", to which Edgar turned me on.)

To round things off (since I haven't a cat and so can't pleasurably pad out the post with charming pictures of him) here is a vintage card:



If I don't post before the day, Happy Hallowe'en to you and yours...

In Stitching,
Berit