October WIPocalypse!

The focus of WIPocalypse remains whittling down my WIPs (down to 6, eventually), and I've made some good progress!

I started with Egyptian Sampler here:

And finished it!  (lots more pictures in this blog post)

I moved onto Fantasy Sampler after that.... and it started here:

And here's what I got done:

Got this done on the Sunday we had no power thanks to Matthew -
at least it was sunny, plenty of light!

All of the vining and long stitching on the right side was done on Saturday!

I finished the vining and long stitching on the left side on Sunday!

And here's where I've moved the Qs... I somehow thought I'd finished all sides of the border, but I guess I was wrong.

I originally intended to go to SOCS in Richmond, but I hurt my shoulder at work and was feeling generally grumpy, so I enjoyed a quiet weekend stitching my little heart out.  I only regret not going a little bit, and I'm happy that I had 5 hours (it would have taken me 2.5h to drive each way) more to stitch.
I notice that it was the third weekend of October, which means I had an accidental IHSW!  woot woot!

I'm hoping to have this one done by the next WIPocalypse, and then I think I'm just going to free-for-all stitch for the rest of the year.   There are a few new pieces that I'd like to stitch up, and I think that getting two TWs out of the WIP pile is quite an accomplishment.

The question/topic for this month's WIPocalypse is:

What online stitching communities do you enjoy?

I joined the TWBB back in '96 or '97 and made it through several iterations.  I used to love the bulletin boards when they were active, but it seems that other social networking (Facebook in particular) might have contributed to the demise.  I like how easy it was to follow different threads and keep things organized.

Currently:  I love my blog roll, and while I'm behind in reading/commenting, I sometimes wish people posted more, or that people I used to follow would pick it up again.

I am a member of several design-specific groups on Facebook and a couple of general stitching groups (Stitch Maynia is my favorite).

I have Instagram and post things there, but I don't use it for following stitching stuff, just friends.  To be honest, after they went to their metric, I just use it to post and don't really look at it much any more.

And I see the current trendy thing to do is FlossTube (Youtube videos/vlogging about stitching), but I don't do videos, so I won't be watching or making.  Just boring ol' blogging and Facebooking for me :)

Egyptian Sampler by Teresa Wentzler!

Egyptian Sampler is finished!

I would have posted this yesterday, but we had no power thanks to Matthew, so I had to just console myself with taking pictures.   I did them with indirect sunlight, my preferred light, that I think gives the truest colors with my camera phone (and I'm entirely too lazy to bother with a real camera).

Notes:
I used 28 ct Vintage linen by Wichelt - I don't think it's sold any more, I started using it when I started doing the Dimples Designs bugs and that's what Terry kitten them up with.  Maybe because of the age or the dying or whatever, it has shrunk down just slightly, and I can fit it in a standard frame - it was supposed to be just over 14x11, but it's now 13+ x 10+.  huzzah!

I stitched from the kit (except for said fabric).   I also have the leaflet and the only difference I see is that the leaflet calls for black beads in the eyes of the falcons, Horus, and Nekhbet and the kit calls for french knots.   To be honest, after looking at some pieces online, I think I like the french knots a lot better.

I added all most of the unused threads from the kit to the ort jar.   I am going to use the 3045 from the kit while working on Fantasy Sampler, because there was a skein's worth left over.

And here, have some close ups :)

These are the two falcons, I really love the way they look

The two motifs are my favorite part of the whole designs.  I love how sharp the lilies look and the papyri are even better than the border ones, imo.

Lily Panel

Papyrus Panel

The scarab - I debated making him sparkly, but there are no other sparkly bits (other than the rays)

Scarab /squee

Center panel gets easier once you find your groove with counting out the background.

Center Panel with Horus, Osiris, and Isis

King

Nekhbet - the missing bead (behind the beak) drives me a little batty, but there's not much to be done about that.

Nekhbet

Queen

What the corner/borders look like up close.   All of that stitching in the color blocks was the most tedious part of the design.

Border & corner - I flove the colors

And there you go.  I've already got Fantasy Sampler in the Qsnaps, so I can't wait to see how far I get with that one this month :)

Ta heck with the bad picture - MOAR PROGRESS!

I finished the metallics and about half of the beads.  Since the weather here is supposed to be bad the next few days (thanks to Matthew, but not any of the actual bad hurricane effects), I anticipate a weekend Happy Dance (I might have finished tonight if I didn't have plans).  I'll hope for a sunny Sunday for lots of pics.

I'll finish off the border beads and then get that band finished.

Bad picture/bad lighting, don't care ;)

WIPWednesday for Egyptian Sampler

More progress!

Next step will be to throw this in bigger qsnaps so that I can bead the whole piece, get the metallic rays of Ra in there and finish off that satin stitch/lazy daisy band.

And I need to figure out where I want to sign it.  I'd prefer to sign it within the piece, not outside of the border.  I'm thinking somewhere in that Osiris/Horus/Isis panel towards the bottom.  Yay!

TUSAL and SoloSeptember (recap) blends into TW October

First off, October 1 was new moon, which means it's time for TUSAL!
Here is my ort jar!

To be honest, it doesn't look like much of a difference from last month, but it's probably because I'm frugal as heck with my stitching and I've been doing a lot of single thread strands.     That's OK, I'm still proud of my progress.

Also, SoloSeptember has come to an end.   I did not finish Egyptian Sampler, like I was hoping, but I'm pretty sure that's my own fault for getting sucked down into the rabbit hole of making gaming inserts.

I have maybe a week left on Egyptian Sampler, if my timing is right.   It really probably would have been done if I hadn't spent a couple of weekends doing other things (*cough*inserts*cough*).

I started SoloSeptember with Egyptian Sampler here:

And I worked on all four corners and got this much done:


So you can see that I finished the first three corners, and the last one just needs a teensy bit of border backstitching and then the Queen's block completed (and the satin stitch band, although I was going to wait until I did the beads/lazy daisies).

So close.

And yet so far.

But that's ok, because I've decided to take part in TW October this year.   I can't remember how/when it started way back on a bulletin board (The Wagon? maybe?  My earliest note about it has me trying to participate in 2007, so it's been around a while).  It's just what it sounds like - for the month of October, stitch on a Teresa Wentzler design, and, well, I'm already  here, right?   And just to add to the progress, I ran out of foamcore for my inserts, and I think the guilt will keep me from purchasing new stuff until Egyptian Sampler is done at least.  I might do a couple of inserts after I finish and before I pick up fantasy Sampler (I'm thinking of two, maybe three games I'd like to get done that don't have plans, and thus take a little longer to work out)

After ES, assuming I don't go off script again, I'll pick up Fantasy Sampler, because it's another old WIP that doesn't require a lot of work to finish off, and it will make me happy.

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And, on top of everything else, my sidekick has put in her notice at work, and I'm already buried trying to take care of both of our jobs (and she was only out two days for a sick kid!).  I've gotten a little burned out (I may have had a cocktail or three too many on Friday), and I've gotten behind on my blog reading, too.  Poo.

Egyptian Sampler/SoloSeptember update

I've been goofing off with other hobbies, but I was out sick one day last week (or half a day, whichever).   And I got another corner finished up on Egyptian Sampler!

Here's the corner!  I did not do the lazy daisys in the satin stitch band - I will do that when I do all of the beading and metallic work (rays of Ra)

Here's a detail of the Pharaoh/King

And here's the Vulture/Nekhbet (my favorite block)

I made a mistake on the bottom band, but no one will ever see it (except someone who has also stitched on it, and in any event, it looks fine).

I'm going to work on this all day on Saturday.   I don't think I'll finish for SoloSeptember, but I've still made TONS more progress than I would have without SS.

In any event, I'm back to borderland.

September WIPocalypse

It's time for WIPocalypse again!  Hosted by Measi.

I have a lot to show off for September, which is awesome!

First off is Egyptian Sampler.  The last time WIPocalypse saw it, it was here:

Overview of the whole thing, minus the little bit in the border that I got done

Just showing the bit of green in the border that I had gotten since the previous "overview"

And now we're here:

And I had ended with Triforce of Badassery here:

Completed two triangles

This is how far I had gotten on the third triangle

And finished it!

And lastly, I have been working on Desert Sunrise II at work occasionally and it was here:

And now it's here:

I went ahead and went all the way across the top.   The top corner left dark thread is a blend of the fiber made for this piece blended with a dmc.  You stitch a certain pattern to get the effect (which I don't think worked out super well on that first section, so I decided to get the just-DMC portion finished in the sky.  I think if I can fill it in, I can make the pattern more apparent.   And I stitched the cactus in the middle just because.  It gives me a nice anchor/break to work around.

I think I've done pretty well for this WIPocalypse.   I need to sincerely thank Justine for her Solo September, because without it, I don't think ES would have gotten so much progress.

The only thing I'm a bit miffed about is that the frame I ordered for Triforce was super late, so I couldn't give it to my friend for his birthday.   But that's OK, I'll get it to him one of these days.  I have everything I need to frame it, so I'll work on it tonight.

I'm hoping by next WIPocalypse I'll have a TW finish and maybe progress on another.  I'll be taking part in TWOctober as an added push to get another WIP out of the pile.

WIPWednesday!

So technically I wrote this on Tuesday but scheduled it so it would be "official."
I'll be at a gaming convention today through Sunday, so no stitching for me, but I'm hoping to pick it back up on Monday night.

Here's where the block stands now!

Please excuse the parked border threads - I just couldn't be arsed to cut them since everything is already stitched on the border (except the eyelets) and I can just pick up and get moving again pretty easily,

I don't have too much longer left on the over one face and I'm ready to backstitch.  I hope I get to start on the backstitching Monday, if not, it'll wait for the weekend.

I'm also excited about having so much WIPocalypse progress!

In lieu of WIPWednesday, how about Marching? Moving? Monday

I will be at a (tabletop) gaming convention Wednesday through Sunday, so I won't be getting any more progress on ES until next Monday,  and I thought I'd go ahead and post an update.

I finished the upper right section!   I love dem lilies.

And I moved the Qs to the bottom left corner:

I actually moved the Qs up a bit so I could get to the papyrus motifs and finish enough of them that I could go back to fitting that whole bottom panel in the face of my 8" Qs.  I hadn't paid attention to how far down I'd done the border on the left side like I did on the right.

I'll follow my "border first" plan and get that knocked out.  Then I'll do the Pharaoh, and maybe the bands, and end with the Nekhbet.  I am really looking forward to finishing that block, it's so striking and I think I'll use her as my reward for finishing that lower left section.

The picture is not 100% current, so I might take time out of my cleaning schedule tonight to take another update photo and maybe unsnap ES to take a full progress photo.  I spent most of last night working on the Pharaoh's over-1 face after finishing up the border first.

September #TUSAL

I'm a little late with my TUSAL update.   I think the late/post-Olympic WIPocalypse threw me off my schedule a bit (I'm so used to giving more time between the two).

Here I am with my TUSAL!

I also have my new TUSAL bottle ready for cutting.  I'm not sure if I'll worry about starting in that one until next year or not.   I think it will depend on ES.  As it's a kit, I will do my usual "dumping of ALL of the threads from the kit," which might overwhelm my poor wine bottle.

Tired of Egyptian Sampler yet?   Well, as it is Wednesday, and I have another update (I really should have gone to bed early last night, but...).  I finished all of the regular stitching in the border, and I'm now working on the backstitching.  I just have the last color (420) to get in there and backstitch and I'll move onto the lily panel.  I probably won't get to it til this weekend, and I'm happy I got as far as I did.

Labor day's labors

I had Monday off, so I quite literally just sat around binge watching TV and stitching.

I really should have gone outside, it was gorgeous, but I am making so much progress on this I couldn't put it down.

Breaking up the backstitching and stitching on the border seems to have helped me get into a better groove with it.

Solo September update - Movin' the Qs!

Progress!

I initially struggled with the backstitch papyrus motif but then adjusted my attack.  I got into a good groove and now I can do those things without checking the pattern.

The center panel was SO FAST after the border.  So pleased.

But now I'm back to borderland.  /wah

#WIPWednesday and Solo September!

ES update:

(I was here)

This border.  
I'm calling it the Demoralizing Border of Doom.
I notice I perked back up when it was done, but I'll have to get back to it at some point.  As someone who has stitched a lot of TW borders, I feel qualified to say that.  I just can't get a good rhythm with it.   But that corner is done, which is awesome.   I'm glad I did not plan to do just the border first or wait to do it all at the end (like I normally do).

True story, I sing
"This is the border that never ends
it just goes on and on my friends..."
when stitching on it.

I managed to get the papyrus panel & eye of Ra stitched and backstitched on one night, though, yay!

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I'm going to join in Justine's Solo September, because I want some added motivation.
Justine says -
"The idea is that rather than flitting from project to project, you pledge to stitch on just one project (or two if you finish your original choice!) for the whole of the month.  It's a great way to see progress particularly on larger projects or those that you keep putting to one side for whatever reason."

I decided to join in for two reasons:
1.  Why not?
2.  I'm start to lose a little motivation on Egyptian Sampler thanks to that border and lie to myself with "oh hey, I can do this other thing and get back to ES afterwards."  I'm both so close and so far from the end of this one, and I think this will give me that little push to keep on with it.  

This photo is a great "start" picture, because it's the last day of the month and I don't stitch on Wednesdays (usually) because I hang out with coworkers most Wednesday evenings.

I will still update with WIPWednesdays, although Solo September might motivate me to share more milestones/finished motifs/sections.

In the unlikely event that I finish it in September (lots of social things this month!), I will continue with Fantasy Sampler instead of going on to the Mixed Berry Cheesecake small I was going to reward myself with.

FunFact!  ES is my current second oldest WIP (started in 2001).  FS is my oldest WIP (1999).  If I get FS done, all of my WIPs will have been born in the 21st century. .

August WIPocalypse!

I think I'm one of the few WIPocalypsers that didn't Olympic stitch, but I still got a lot done... just not as much on my WIPocalypse pieces (Darn you, Tapestry and Barbarian Pooh!)

I have been working a bit on Triforce of Badassery at work.  My September "free time work" project will be genealogy, so I'm hoping to get this finished quickly and work a bit on Desert Sunset before the Labor Day weekend.

I was here:

And now I'm here, finished the first two triangles, working on the third, all in PTB 01:

I made progress on my EPIC RoundRobin.  I finished up the last two bands that I needed to do, now the only thing I have is to do a band on my own RR and it will be done (I'm so tempted not to and declare it "finished," of course).

Belinda's

Melanie's

And I finally got Egyptian Sampler in the Qs.  I'm always amazed at how freakin' slow TWs are, and this border is fussy as all get out on this one (I can't quite get into a good groove with it).

I started here:

And now I'm here (after several evenings of stitching):

It's like TW is taunting me.  Not only do I pick up a TW after forever, but I'm literally stitching almost nothing but quarter stitches with blended threads.   "Did you miss me?" taunts my TW piece.  "No, did you misssssss me? Muahahaha!!"

The progress is also a little skewed.  This was part of a UFO-RoundRobin at some point, and whoever did the left side papyri was one thread off at the top, so I had to frog them all and start over.  I noticed it when I went to start the fourth papyrus motif and saw that it didn't match up (on linens I always try to use two points of reference since the slubs and general variety of thickness sometimes throw me off).   I traced the mistake up all the way to the top.  Oops.

I'm one color away from being done with those 5+6 papyrus motifs so I can start with the eyelets and then I'll backstitch all of it.   I'm actually starting to look forward to the backstitch at this point.   I'll do the Papyrus panel next.    I'm hoping to post on WIPWednesdays for this one, because I feel like if I keep seeing progress, I'll be happier.  I think once the backstitch starts getting in there and makes it look more polished, that will definitely help.

I've stitched TWs before, I'd just forgotten how much slower they are.  I'll get over it, but I might go straight to Fantasy Sampler after I finish this one, though, instead of stitching something easy between them, just so I don't spoil myself again.

Question for the month: Have you ever read any fictional books that involve embroidery? If so, give us some recommendations?
I'm sure I have, but I don't really remember any all that well.   I do keep all of my reviews on Goodreads, but embroidery isn't a category I've ever used (I kinda wish I had, now).

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And for some non-WIPpy fun, I had a piece of evenweave left over from the Barbarian Pooh piece that will be the exact size I'll need for Not Today.  Only it was white, which is not what I want to stitch this piece on, but I had left over coffee, soooooo...

I spritzed it with some foaming bleach cleaner, let it dry in the sun, rinsed the heck out of it and I am so happy with the result!

I'll only have a little over half an inch on each side of the design, but I'm going to finish it into a bellpull anyway, so I don't really need the extra.  I serged it so the pieces won't ravel any further.  I can't wait to stitch and finish that piece over the holidays.