Finished (and FINISHED!) Not Today by Crown Street Cottage

I did it - I finished and finished Not Today (for reasons, before the sugar skull)

It's a Game of Thrones black/red work pattern I purchased from Crown Street Cottage on Etsy.  This is a link directly to the item for purchase.

I stitched it on a piece of white evenweave I had left over from another project that I decided to coffee dye.  Long and skinny, just like this banner.   I was originally going to get a generic sword shaped letter opener, but discovered that the Game of Thrones (officially licensed, yo), Ice (Ned Stark's sword, which is the same one in the banner as far as I can tell) was only a couple of bucks more.  So worth it.  It was also one of the few that was long enough for the width of the fabric.

What really cracked me up was that I had gotten some light weight command hook picture frame hangers for the kitchen.  They don't adhere to the travertine tile so well, but they're not only fine on the door, they are the exact width of the blade of my letter opener.
So now it is hanging in the entrance to the LadyLair (aka Lady Cave 2.0)


I was originally going to finish the back with a red fabric, but I found a black and white fabric I really liked - it reminded me of the House of Black and White, which is perfect for the design (if you don't GoT, just trust me).

Started 2/15/2017; Finished 7/23/2017

Nifty Ice letter opener and perfectly sized command hooks for hanging

Top section:
For someone who does. not. like, blackwork/backstitching, I sure did a lot of it.

Middle Section:  Pretty sure that's also Ice (and more backstitching)

Bottom - probably the hardest/most fiddly section; mostly quarter stitching and BS
That tassel was.... challenging to sew into the bellpull.

The backing - I really, really like it.

So here I am, letting my geek flag (banner) fly (hang).

#WIPWednesday What is the one thing we say to death?

Not that I'm not still working on my skull, but I really wanted to share a piece I had started and (also) not blogged about.

It's a Game of Thrones black/red work pattern I purchased from Crown Street Cottage on Etsy.  This is a link directly to the item for purchase.

I am stitching it on a piece of white evenweave I had left over from another project that I decided to coffee dye.  Long and skinny, just like this banner!   The banner is longer than I was expecting (thinking the number in my head and handling it are routinely wildly different for me), but I am loving it!  I think when I'm done, I will get one of those sword-letter-openers to hang it off of (dulled, of course).

Here are the first few bits.  I'm on the last section now, and it's a doozy! (you'll see when it's done!)

As of February 18

As of February 19

As of February 22

As of February 25

I had planned to finish this bell pull while I was living at my new city (there was a 2 1/2 week overlap where I started work, but before we closed on the new place), since I would be alone in an AirBnB or a hotel, but I ended up watching Netflix on my laptop or just playing some Starcraft instead ;)

When I'm done playing with my sugar skulls, I'll probably get this done so I can hang it on my LadyLair door.

Throwba... Oh wait, I have a "finish!"

I've been neglecting this blog again, but then again, I've been neglecting a lot.  I blame it on the nice weather.  There are so many things that can get done outside right now.

But I finally(!) finished the next installment of the RR I'm working on.   I've said before that I'm one of the stalled spots, but it looks like I will un-jam, soon!

I already have charted out my next bit for the next RR (I was actually halfway done with it when I realized how much I hated the colors - oops!).

In the meantime, I finished Lynne's RR - she included books with blackwork and Assissi designs to choose from if we were "stuck", and I found something PERFECT, but the shop owner/designer was "on vacation" (on Etsy), and as long as I procrastinated, they still haven't come back, so I went back to the googling-board and found and adorable Blackwork Wine Bottle piece by Cotton Season on Etsy.

The cobalt blue is ThreadGatherer's SNC Texas BlueBonnet... because Texas, and it's the color of the local meadery's bottles (I tend to mead it up much more in the winter, when I warm up their Spiced Apple and chase away the chills from me bones).

The green is Bejeweled from Crescent Colours, and has a lot of variation to it.  It reminds me of the prettier green bottles that some of the red wines (my usual go to) come in.

The red is Vikki Clayton Dragon's Blood, so that it actually looks like the red wine that lives in that green bottle.

And the aqua is DMC (3766? Gah, it's written somewhere) because I didn't have an overdye/silk/whatever that was the right color to represent Vinho Verde, which is the bulk of the white wines I drink.

Because the pattern was a little tall, I chopped off the stem of the glass and everything at that level.  I actually was super happy with that idea, because I use stemless wineglasses at home, so it continues to be more "me."  I added another row just to keep the relative dimensions right.    I shortened the necks of the bottles (except the Vinho's) to also help keep the proportions straight.

Blackwork Design by CottonSeason Finished 08-26-2015

I have a hard time with blackwork, for some reason, and I spent a lot of time frogging.  Once I could figure out a good pattern (like working the green in vertical rows, or working the circles in rows in the blue bottle), I did a lot better, but it did take me a bit to get rolling.  I'm very happy with the outcome, though :)

And of course, when I went looking for this pattern in Etsy, I run across an adorable Blackwork pattern of wine glasses I think I need.  Hah!

And just for fun, I'm throwing some pictures in of what I'm really working on right now - the Murphy bed I want to put in my lady cave.   Essentially, I will be building the bed & the cabinet as separate pieces, taking them back apart (well, some of it anyway) and staining it, putting the components back together, and then assembling the two pieces together in place.   So far I'm *almost* done with the bed.  I have to put the panels on the bottom of the bedframe (the panels will face you when the bed is closed) and then start staining that.   While those are staining/drying/whatevering, I'll assemble the cabinet (The part that the bedframe folds into) so I can stain that.   With the limited space of a one car garage, I'm trying to do this in serial so that I'm not bumping into myself constantly.

This is my set up before I really get started.
I cheated and had the lumber place cut my wood for me ;)

My requisite "I work better when lubricated with alcohol"
Though, really, I was too hot and busy to actually drink anything.

The frame all done.  It just needs the plywood/veneer face panels put on.

And Mona being ladylike... just because.

Throwback Thursday - Blackwork dragon

This week's Throwback Thursday is brought to you courtesy of Jennifer Aikman-Smith and DragonDreams designs.   I've had the privilege to meet Jennifer a couple of times and I can confirm that she's pretty freakin' awesome.

If I recall correctly (and I probably don't), this was the first of the blackwork pieces that she designed.  There were three four in all - a dragon, a unicorn, a princess, and apparently a knight I missed ;).   I had never stitched a large blackwork piece, and I really wanted to try it out.    I also decided to use a darker, more jeweltoned variegated thread for it - a Caron Wildflowers called plum.   It was stitched on a 28 antique white linen (I'm starting to think a majority of my pieces were stitched on an antique white linen) and it took me one month.   I started on December 1, 2002, and finished on December 31, 2002.  Woot!

I really would like to get this one framed, but it's a bit lower in the priority from some of my other pieces.  It was great to learn to work blackwork and I really enjoyed this piece quite a bit.

DragonDreams is still in existence and available wholesale (or at least a good number of the designs are), so getting some of the designs is still possible, though no new big designs have been released in some while.      JAS does offer freebies on FB, so it's still possible to get my hands on cute little ones that she's still designing.