#TBT - Shroomhilde

Shroomhilde is a design by Terrence "Terry" Nolan of Dimples Designs fame.   While I adore his WeeBeasties (which I should probably get around to posting), he also had a few other small series.    This one was part of the Shrooms, of which I think there were four (Magic of Mother's Love, Mushroom Tabernacle Choir and The Bride and the Shroom).   I thought they were all adorable, but Shroomhilde was the only one that spoke to me enough to stitch.

And if I recall correctly, I really did enjoy stitching her.    There are a lot of silks involved, and more than a few beads, and it was just fun.

A lot of the time I was stitching her, I had Kill the Wabbit running through my head, keeping myself pretty entertained.

The border was stitched in Waterlilies, if I recall correctly, with kreinik back stitching, and was very pleasant to stitch on that 32ct Platinum Linen (not the kreiniks... never the kreiniks!).

The Valkyrie horns on her shoom cap kept cracking me up.  I loved the spear and the shield.  I love the gill ruffles around her neck.  Seriously, the detail on this is just too fun.

A close up of some of the silks and backstitched kreinik.  I do remember not being very enthused about all of that backstitching with metallics.   But it was too pretty to not incorporate.

Confession:  I did not realize that she was wearing armor/a breastplate at first.   To be honest, at first glance I thought her bosom was actually paws.   I had a few people laugh at me pretty well over that, but I still don't feel all that embarrassed about it.

The beads!  So cute. I liked how the beads accented this piece, but did not overwhelm it.  Sometimes they can do that, but this was just right - from the ridges in her stalk to the swirl in the background.   It does go very well with the piece overall.

Hrm.  I think I know what piece I'd like to have framed next now.

She was finished on June 21, 2002.  I know I picked her up at a stitching show, though I can't remember which one. I know I didn't stitch on her there, but in my favorite apartment where I lived in Houston.  She was pretty quick, lots of fun, and I still adore her.

10 years of dancin'! Wee Beasties RR Happy Dance!

Huzzah!  My Wee Beastie Round Robin is done!
This round robin started in 2004, and took place through the TWRR.   I knew most of the stitchers involved in my rotation group pretty well, so I remember being really excited about this one.

It's stitched on a 32 count PTP fabric, but I'm not sure which one.   I had done half of the Thyridia at the top and had basted out the pattern.   I was hoping for four large bugs and four small bugs, but hey, RR.

I had also basted the center lines in the boxes to make it easier to center.    I managed to not center my own box correctly, which left a big space at the top.   Then I decided to go ahead and make a cute title for the round-robin to compensate.

Error?  What error? ;)

Here's the completed piece:

I grabbed some close up shots of all of the boxes.

Thyridia by me.   It was a freebie that Terry had given away  (later there was an over-one Thyridia print and the butterfly is in blues instead of greens!)  Thyridias are really pretty and include the glass-wings you can see in the tropics.  Love them!

Next is probably my next favorite bug on the piece - the Ailanthus Silkmoth stitched by Dani from Wee Beasties, Part 2:

There's a NineSpotted Ladybug by Jen
It's from the Wee Beasties, Part 3

Jeweled Scarabs from Wee Beasties Part 10, by Charlie and Nicole (father daughter, stitching duo!)

Queen of the Bumblebees by Ann:

Twenty-two spot Ladybug by Annette, from Wee Beasties Part 8!

Blue orchid bee by Charlie!

And last, but not least, one of my other favorites - the Green Orchid Bee by Sherrin!

This was one of my favorite RRs to take part in, because I love Wee Beasties so much.   This was a super easy and fun RR.    I have to admit that I am super happy to have the WIP all wrapped up and done after 10 years!

State of the WIPs - 2014

I decided to do a "baseline" post about where the WIPs are at, as I'm starting out.

I've got the new Deco Spirits and Halloween Fairy updates already up, but what about everything else that's been languishing?

Well - here's a rundown, some dates are approximate - I had a lot of WIP pics on Webshots, but that photo hosting site got rid of personal accounts a while ago :)

Framing - Part 2 - For Amelia!

This is my second framed piece, and I don't have as many detail shots... I am hoping to add them in later.   Due to what was probably a minor miscommunication, I didn't get the spacers I had hoped (see, hoped, not asked!) for, so I will take care of that with a local framer..

For Amelia was a class that Terry offered years ago at CATS (2001?  I can't remember!).   A friend of mine signed up for the class but didn't want to stitch the piece, so she was kind enough to sell me her kit!

The piece was stitched on Lt Pansy linen by Glenshee Linens, and I learned an important lesson in hand dyed linens (this was my first).   It is all silks and delicas, definitely worth the premium price that I paid.

These are probably so similar I don't need to upload both images, but I am rather proud of her.
There is glass on the piece, I was trying to reduce the glare (it's regular glass). 
I'm not super thrilled with the piece ONLY because there is a lot of purple going on, and I'm not sure how I feel about that, though I love the actual frame.   I'm sure once I find her proper place in the house, I'll calm down... I think my penchant for "conservative" fabrics is playing into my less than utter love ;)

Unfortunately, the designer is no longer designing (heck, no one seems to know where he is), and luckily I have pretty much all of the charts of his that I want (rather, I have all of the charts for pieces I have not done - all of my completed charts I have given away).

I did find an interesting blog post that lists everything he's done, which is really helpful/awesome.  And as far as I can tell, For Amelia is still available as a chart pack at a few online shops.