More Framing, Pt 1

I thought I'd share some more framing (not all, I think I forgot to take pictures of Ferret Knot and Celtic Christmas, though I'll get there, too), because I have a lot of pictures, I'll break it up into a couple of posts...

First up is Tapestry by Ink Circles.   Nick actually framed it using two frames - the inner is like a mat, which is pretty cool!

Next up is Immaculate Heart by Ink Circles, which is probably one of my very favorite pieces of all time.   Because it feels so medieval to me, I wanted a really heavy frame, which is what I got!  It has that hand-scraped, irregular feel to it, which is absolutely perfect.

This first pic is a little washed out - it was hard taking pictures because it was pretty late/dark.

Next is a Commemorative Needleroll by Chatelaine Designs.
Martina came to visit Houston in 2005, and it was really interesting meeting her at Jo's (formerly of Dinky Dyes) house.   I finished this in 2005, but I redid the initials in 2014.   Right now it's my only finished Chatelaine, but I love it.

December WIPocalypse

Time for the December (and a bit of November) WIPocalypse!

Huh.  Wow.  It's been a while!

I haven't really stitched much (at all?) for the past couple of months, so it's not like anyone has missed anything.

I went to my professional National Meeting at the end of October/beginning of November and it's been a crazy ride since then.

November also had a weeklong trip to Puerto Rico (San Juan and Culebra with a side trip to Culebrita), and then an interview with a fantastic institution more than a thousand miles away.  Then a lot of weekends and craziness at work.   I have a new trainee, so I'm trying to get her up and running because I've had even more interviews (here in NC, and other states).  It's been nuts.

Here, have a picture of one of the favorite beaches in Culebrita

And then just so busy with the holidays and everything else.

I took my stitching with me to the National Meeting, fully intending to finish Fantasy Sampler this year, and kind of dropped that, so I'll just push it to finish next year.  I think one big TW was enough this year anyway.    I have a bunch of other stitching I had put on the list, intending to stitch and never got around to those either, and I'm OK with that.  It's supposed to be fun, right?

I've started working on a pink pussy hat project for the women's march on Washington (or whatever they're calling it now).

And in the meantime, Mona had a birthday! (this past weekend, actually) :)

I almost picked up some stitching the other day, and then I threaten to quilt and then I just end up buried under the covers playing a video game.  Rough life :)

So I'll start off by answering the November question

What pattern (or designer) is on your must-try-to-stitch bucket list?

Coincidentally, I set up a "Bucket List" page on my blog a couple of months ago, so there's plenty there.

My biggest lemming was the Joan Thomasson Russian Fairy Tales needlework piece, so if I have to pick one, that's it.   So beautiful!

The real fun is this month's question, which is the recap.   I love recaps!  Also, I had a pretty damned good year, if I do say so, myself.

Recap your accomplishments for the year! (Your finishes, your final before/after photos, etc).

I started with 18 WIPs and I'm down to 11.
I was hoping to get down to 9 by the end of the year (or at least the final WIPocalypse for this year) and I'm sure I only missed it because I stopped stitching for a bit.   That's cool, because I still feel super accomplished!

First I finished Thanksgiving Fairy

Started here!

Finished Feb 14

Then I finished Celtic Knotwork Ferret

Started here!  Kinda... All of the black outlining had been complted.

Finished February 17

Next came WWCKD?

Started here (where I left it in late December)

Finished March 25!

And then it was Cloudsfactory's 2015 Mystery, the Through the Stars Zodiac Sampler

I had stalled out after March here...

But then I knocked it out of the park! I intended to pick up the one/month pace but rushed it :)

Triforce of Badassery, a gift I intended to give in 2014 (oops!) was next :)

Started here! There's a miscount in there that drove me nuts!

Finished August 27 In time for the birthday!

And the last of my WIPocalypse finishes was Egyptian Sampler, a TW!

Started here after a UFORR...

Finished October 7!

I also decided to "let go" of Phoenix by DracoLair.   I had bad feelings associated with it, and to be honest, just went ahead and gave up.  Very little had been done on it (one weekend's worth), so I just picked out the stitches and figured I can use the fabric for something else.
My Epic RR is almost done!  I've finished all of the bands/work for everyone else's RR and now I just need to finish my band and it will be complete (this will be a high priority for 2017)

Desert Sunsets has seen some progress (not as much as I'd like, but hey!)

Started here... I think I started it because I was sick and wanted something easy and it was within reach

I actually have more finished than this, but I knew that if I waited until I remembered to update the photo....

and Fantasy Sampler made some good progress.

Started here

I feel like there was more than that! haha.

I have everything else I finished in 2016 listed as well, my personal rules for the WIPocalypse dictate that only pieces that were already in progress at the end of the prior year "qualify" for my WIPocalypse.  That means awesome stuff like Tapestry that I managed to pull off in a year (whut!) don't really count in my mind.

I fully intend to participate in next year's WIPocalypse as well and I've joined the FB group :)

So that's all for now, hopefully I'll have something new and interesting soon or an update or something.  I'll be going to the not-inlaws for Christmas, so I might be hiding in the corner working on something if I'm lucky.    There's usually a lot of hockey watching at the mom's house and movie watching at the dad's, so hopefully I can keep myself out of the way and entertained.

Triforce of Badassery (SpriteStitch)

May I present:

Triforce of Badassery from SpriteStitch.  
Started 12.24.2014
Finished 8.27.2016
Done all in PTB 01 on 28ct black lugana

For some reason, my phone does not like this gold.   Sorry about the various colors, I gave up trying to color correct everything, because I was just making things worse.

The PTB wasn't bad to work with at all - I used 2 strands for everything.  I didn't loop, I had my needle in the middle of the thread so I could use it down to it's last bit and it seemed to keep the metallic thread under better control.     It doesn't lay so flat or pretty, but the sparkle is worth it (and it's a gift to a non-crafter, so I'm not too worried about being harshly judged).

I think I'm just going to frame it in a plain black frame with no mat, because it should look good like that (no glass, either, I generally prefer glass, but I think too much of the texture/sparkle will get lost).

This is my 5th WIP down from the beginning of the year, so I'm feeling pretty good about what I've done this year, and now I'll get back to Egyptian Sampler (I was so close to being done, I brought this home to finish it off over the weekend).

Pooh the Barbarian

First off - I know, I know.
This piece involves some questionable legalalities, and please don't sue me, Disney.

But I did a thing!  I was super excited and had so much fun with this.

And just so you know how this happened:

At some point in the past week, somewhere, in one of the general FB cross stitch groups, someone posted a finished Winnie the Pooh thing based on this illustration:

Someone else asked where they got the pattern, and the stitcher mentioned it was a freebie, but she didn't remember where she found it.   This got my little wheels turning, because it's a Winnie the Pooh, and that IP belongs to Disney, who isn't so much up with "free."

Sure enough, I used my GoogleFu to find the blog where someone did, indeed, chart out this saying (for a swap).    She actually has a download link to the PDF of the pattern she made.   Now, I'm not going to link to it, because, again with the questionable legalities, but it's not hard to find with Google and the correct phrasing.   I mean, we're individual bloggers, parody, personal use, etc. etc., but I just don't want to have that fight.

Anyway, the hamster wheels kept spinning in my head and I really, really liked that chart and had an idea.

I have occasional giggle fits whenever I see the different quotes that people overlay on Winnie the Pooh illustrations, and this one is probably my favorite:

The innocence and sweetness of the Pooh juxtaposed with the brutality of Conan is just too much for me.

So I did what any overactive mind does and I used Patternmaker to make the mostly same chart as the other blogger and then I did the lettering for the Conan quote.  I did, briefly, consider changing "lamentations" to "bothers" in true Pooh fashion, which also makes me giggle, but ultimately, that lamentations word is so crucial to the quote that I wanted to keep it.

The obvious thing I changed in the design was adding the iconic red shirt to Pooh.   I think, by virtue of my age, I'm much more familiar with Pooh in his red shirt (actually, now that I think of it, I think 99% of my Winnie the Pooh memories/familiarity are thanks to the Kingdom of Hearts videogames). I am more familiar with Piglet in his darker pink/purple jumper, which is how other blogger designed it, but I like the version with the green the better and went that direction.

I didn't pay attention to the colors the original designer used, and chose what I thought would look good from the floss I have on hand (which would be all DMC).

I decided to backstitch the woods with 2 strands instead of 1 (which is how I backstitched everything else) to give it a bit more solidity/depth.   I also only used one strand when I half stitched the sky and shadows because I wanted them to have a lighter effect.

In any event, I love the heck out of this piece and I had so much fun stitching it.

Winnie the Pooh (and characters) are © Disney, the Conan quote is probably © Universal (the studio that made Conan the Barbarian), but even that quote is derivative of something that Genghis Kahn supposedly said.

Tapestry! by Ink Circles

I did a thing! It's an awesome thing!  It's Tapestry!

Tapestry by Ink Circles; finished 7 Aug 2016

I finally finished Tapestry on Sunday night.   I really thought I wouldn't get it done until this coming weekend, but I hit it with a determination I rarely muster for non-death situations ;)  I couldn't take any decent pictures because I finished so late on Sunday, Monday was way dark because of thunderstorms, and couldn't get outside until last night.  /phew

There are only two other large pieces I've stitched straight through, and the other two were because of "races" that I was taking part in as a stitcher (Storyteller, which was a brutal 6 weeks, and Moonlight Dragon).

I was completely out of Pine (the grass/dark green overdye) and I was down to my last length of Cider, and I had an entire skein of Aztec Gold left, which I just find baffling.  I still had a length of the first skein, so that was odd.   I just want to mention that, because these overdyes vary so much with lots that I'd hate for someone to run out of something.   I don't know why I would have run out of Pine, I am pretty floss conservative and didn't even use full crosses unless I was in an area where the color was changing on the thread.   Weird.

And it was stitched on my very favorite fabric in the known universe - Platinum 30ct Murano.

This piece isn't just really pretty, it is deeply, deeply personal to me:  I took part of an SAL with friends and (most of us) started when we were all together in Phoenix this year for a get together.  The fabric was gifted to my by a friend (who has/had a whole bolt of that Murano!!!) and I even had to borrow someone else's Dark Chocolate because I forgot to bring it with me.   I really enjoyed it, and I will always think of my very good friends when I see it.    I think I've even come up with a brilliant! scheme to get it framed this year so it can go on my wall of awesome women.

And sadly, no bling for those really hot, hot close ups, but I took some anyway.

Flip Flops by Mill Hill

This is the little Mill Hill kit I "won" at the get together I went to last month.    It only took a little car time and a day to finish (stitch and get all finished).  It's done on perforated paper and has a magnet glued to the back.  So bright and cute!

Finished 31 July 2016

Hearts of America - Texas

Another finish!   This is an old (2002) kit from the Victoria Sampler.  They sell these bunch together in charts now, which is good, because I think I want to do more.  This is Hearts of America, #28 - Texas, featuring the Ribbon Stitch

Hearts of America - Texas by Victoria Sampler, Finished 7-22-2016

I really liked this cute little heart.   I decided to stitch this kit on the bus in the afternoon/evenings, because I get super motion sick trying to read on the bus, only that didn't work, I still had motion sickness problems.  So I've just kept it in my work bag and worked on it at lunches.   It was utterly filthy by the time I finished, it, but since it's all DMC, I went ahead and washed it with some dawn without worrying about it.  Much better now!

This kit featured the ribbon stitch (that band on top of the armadillo).   I do like how a specialty stitch is featured in individual kits by VS.   I have an old piece where I tried to teach myself bullion stitches.  That didn't work out so well, though.

I really like having this, and I keep thinking that I want to purchase the charts, so I can stitch all of the states I've lived in.   I go back and forth between stitching them as one big bell pull (on a solid piece of fabric), or finishing each state and adding them on as I go, so I can have a running tally of all the places I've lived?   If I want to talk about places I've "seriously" lived (more than a year), I'd need California, Arizona, and North Carolina... and there is a very high chance of me moving in the future, so it could be fun, and by individually finishing them I could just keep adding on and not worry about keeping extra material "just in case" (plus, this little guy wouldn't go to waste, not that re-stitching it would be difficult or time consuming).

Decisions.

HappyDance Through the Stars!

I finally finished Through the Stars this weekend!  Which means I only finished it about 6 months late.  I consider that a huge win.  For those along playing along at home, one might remember that life blew up in my face in mid-March and I stopped stitching for a very long time.  For having only picked this back up in March of this year, I think I knocked it out fairly well.  Especially considering how much frogging I had to do with it!

The only alteration I made was stitching the gold in regular DMC 3820.  The kit had satin 3820 in it, but I was not about to work with satin floss again.  I briefly considered using a matching silk, but ultimately I don't think it really mattered much.  It's an adorable piece, not some sort of artisan museum thing where I had to make it as swanky as possible (or I would have made the stars glass beads).   Speaking of the kit:  It was more than generous, I had what looked like an entire skein of some colors left over.   As part of my Happy Dance Tradition, I always trash all of the regular floss from a kit (even though it is DMC), though I did save the WDW and put it in my organizer (you never know!).

So here's the whole thing!
Started 1 January 2015;
Finished 24 June 2016;
Stitched on 32 ct Gothic Belfast linen from Picture This Plus
Using DMC and Weeks Dye Works floss:

Aries is still the cutest.

And I was feeling lazy about detail shots, so here's just a whole bunch of the monthly shots as I finished them through the year & a half (dates might be off by a couple of days):

Initial frame: 18 February 2015

Capricorn: 21 Feb 2015

Aquarius 21 Feb 2015

Pisces 14 Mar 2016

Planets and frame symbols: 26 Mar 2016

Aries:  12 May 2016

Taurus: 15 May 2106

Sagittarius: 28 May 2016

Gemini: 16 June 2016

Scorpio: 18 June 2016

Libra: 18 June 2016

Virgo: 19 June 2016

Cancer: 24 June 2016

Leo: 24 June 2016

One of the things I discovered was that if the gold circle framing was all done, it took me about 4-5 hours to stitch each sign, which is nice.   It meant that when I was cruising along and SO CLOSE to being done with this piece on the plane, I knew I had about 2 hours left to stitch.

Leo was done after Cancer only because I had realized that I missed the two little stars near his right haunch there.   It's funny, though, because I thought if I did a couple/few extra signs, that would just mean I'd finish this piece in October instead of December or something - I did not anticipate zooming through this like I did!

I do appreciate the ability to stitch parts in discrete pieces.  I think that's part of my frustration with huge pieces sometimes - finding the times when I feel like I have accomplished something without actually having finished the whole thing.

And even more fun - I can tell you what TV show I was binging for each of the signs that I completed in 2016.  It's funny how that stuff sticks with you.

Now I've moved onto Tapestry, as a StitchALong with friends, so we'll see how far I get with that one before I get bored or move on to something else.