Texas! (again :) ) and some other progress

Welp, I started off with a wild and crazy Friday night.

I broke out my new vacuum sealer and spent the night inventorying the freezer, properly sealing things, and processing veggies for the freezer.    Wooooo.   Young me would be soooo envious of old me's Friday night partying ;)

I actually wanted another model of a FoodSaver (I've had one in the past), but it was more than twice the price of this little unit and I wanted to make sure I'd actually use it a bunch before I spent the money on the fancy one.   To be honest, this little sucker is running like a champ and has most of the features I could ever use, so I don't even know if I'll need the more expensive one, now.

But by the end of the night, my kitchen was totally trashed, but hey!   No more veggies on the counter top! (until Saturday when I harvested again, any way).

I decided the weekend (after my Friday night 'party') would be all about no-chores.   Which was awesome, but I'm sure I'll regret later.   A huge cold front moved through the area on Friday night and there was a high of 78 on Saturday.  I'm sure when I get around to finishing some of the yard-work I've been stalling out on, I'll regret not doing it in less sweaty weather when I get the chance :)

So I decided to go ahead and knock out Texas:

And here it is sew into the wall hanging.    When I get back to the machine, I'll get the binding on all of the pieces so I can get them up.

And then I started a piece for my boss.   Her birthday is this week and since she started here earlier this year they've buried her in a crap tonne of administrative work, so it seemed apropos (even if strictly not work apropos ;) )    I bought the hoop above (used for the Texas piece) to display this, but I think it's going to be too big, so I'll have to get a bigger one.   I don't generally use hoops, so I was a little frustrated it's too large, though it's turned out to be helpful for the tiny things I can't put in my qsnaps.

This piece is on a mystery piece from my stash.    I ended up with a bunch of fabric from a friend who no longer stitches, and I'm pretty sure this is from her because it's opalescent, and I generally don't like that style of fabric - I think it'll work great for this piece.   It's gotta be done by Wed!

More Framing, Pt 2

Finishing up what I started yesterday, here are (most) of the rest of my current framing adventures...

First up is Glendon Place's Mixed Berry Cheesecake.  I still flove it to death, and although the picture makes it look greenish, the frame is actually silver with plummy accents:

Next is my beloved Dracula.  It's hanging in the bedroom (I had a perfect spot for it).  It has the same 'double frame' style that Tapestry does, with the black frame with red scrollwork acting as a mat to the regular black frame around it.

And finally, Regal Peacocks by Teresa Wentzler.  I started this in 2000 and finished in 2001.   I really liked the same inner frame we used with Tapestry for this one;  people who have seen it in person really like the piece overall, which also makes me feel good about it.

I remember, once upon a time, that a friend came to visit my place with her son.  She was someone I met on the TWBB, and because I had nothing on the walls remotely resembling stitching, the son remarked "I thought she was a stitcher?" or something along those lines to her.   I'm happy to say that if anyone came to visit my place now, they would definitely know that a stitcher lives there, and that makes me happy.

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.

Desert Sunrise, Sunrise II, and Sunset (a kind of TBT)

I didn't get a chance to show off my finished Desert Sunrise, because I finished it and handed it off for framing at Nick's.  I did get her back, and the sister pieces!

I bought the three Desert pieces from Fireside Originals at Ginger's Needlework in Austin when I lived there in the late 90s.   I finished the first one in 2001 on the recommended Feather Blue(?) 18 ct aida.  Years later I decided I wanted to do them on evenweave because I don't like the look of aida when it shows in the piece.   The problem is that I couldn't find a perfect match with the Feather Blue aida, and because I don't have an LNS, I ended up having a lot of different 36ct blueish greys - I stick to the 36ct because I really wanted all three pieces to be the same size. 

Nick is (of course) a genius and came up with this stunning framing combo.  I didn't even realize that mat cores came in some of these colors.  All of the black mats have different colored cores, and he matched as well as he could, and I think they came out great.  The rough country wood look to the frame is just perfect.  Even the OtherHalf really liked them.

I can't wait to figure out a place to hang all three of these beauties.   Arizona is one of the places I'd be happy to move back to.

This is Desert Sunrise, by Fireside Originals; Finished in 2001

Desert Sunrise II; Finished 2017

And my very favorite, finished this year; and part of the Year of WIPs :)
Desert Sunset; Finished 2018

So those are my three beauties.  I think I know where I'm going to hang them, but I'm still cogitating on whether I think it's a prominent enough spot, because I'm super proud of these.

Lavender Bouquet Biscornu

Finished!

I finished Lavender Bouquet Biscornu by Rainburst Embroidery (on etsy) this weekend.   I stitched the top on 28 cameo peach jobelan, and the back is antique white evenweave (of some flavor) from my stash.    I chose this biscornu for my 2016 orts because the partner and I went to the San Juan Islands for a vacation (and Seattle) and while we were there we went to Pelindaba Lavender.  It was a great vacation and I hope to go back sometime.

So I did the front:

I did the back (adding 2016 in the lavender colors):

And I finished her off:

Entertainingly enough, 2016 was a pretty prolific year in terms of stitching for me, and two of the finished pieces were from kits, which really jumped up the amount of orts (I put the leftover kit threads in there).   So I only used about half the orts to stuff the biscornu.  Sucker is as dense as a hockey puck, so I couldn't add more.  I'm thinking of working on my Vino block party sometime this year and using extra orts from 2016 and any others I can't quite fit (and maybe bits from the quilting/sewing I've been doing as well).  This is also the largest biscornu in the collection, so I know I didn't make her too small! 

Royal Capri by Mill Hill

A while back on the Book of Faces, I posted a new ring I had bought... or was going to buy... I can't quite remember.   But anyway, Holly of Holly's Stitching and Stuff mentioned that she had a Star Trek emblem pin she thought to send me, and she sent a little Mill Hill kit along as well!

In her very kind note, she mentioned that she thought the kit would go well with my periwinkle laundry room.

Here's my paint!  I don't have a good picture of the room, really.

I finished it this weekend!  or I thought I had.

Play the "Where is the Missing Bead!" game here.

I forgot one stinkin' bead, which I hadn't noticed until I decided to take pictures.  Oops.

So then I (eventually) got that one little bead in.   I did the entire project while watching my new tv-show crack (which is 1) unfortunately only on Netflix until Sept 30 and 2) unfortunately only covering two seasons when they have more somewhere, bah!)



I had a bit of a time with the back and stitching it together, but I'm ultimately happy (hearing that others had the same kind of issue made me feel a little better about myself, too).

I seem to be working through small projects right now.  I'm trying to get myself back geared up to work on the Fantasy Sampler piece I was so determined to finish last fall.  We'll see if I get there.

I didn't post a WIPocalypse update, because I didn't have much to update.  But hey, I'm enjoying my newly fenced back yard!

Oh, and I did do this one thing while the back  yard was fenced! I painted an old end table.  I'm attached to it (it belonged to grandparent-figures of mine, who are thankfully safe outside of Houston, my entire family seems to have made it out relatively unscathed, boat rescue not-withstanding).

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).

Triforce of Badassery, Framed

I finally got around to framing Triforce.

It was a gift for a friend's birthday, so it seemed a little inadequate to just hand it over.

I special ordered the frame to fit, I wanted a plain black frame, no mat, because I really like how simple the design is.

I decided to not glass it, as I think it would take away from the metallic.

And, of course, I used a black foamcore so that it stayed as dark as possible.

Since it was a fairly easy piece to frame, I went ahead and did it myself.  It's properly pinned and laced (to keep the extra fabric behaving).

I threw it up on my entryway wall to take a quick picture. I'm happy with it.  

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

#TBT (way back) - Leopards

Once upon a time, a very long time ago, I had never cross stitched.

Now, when I was little, my mother had taught me how to needlepoint, because that's what she did.  I could do a decent tent stitch.  But what I really loved was french knots.    My mother would needlepoint these Charles Wysocki kits, and there would be these trees that needed flowers, which were french knots, and I learned them and to this day they're still my favorite stitch.

I digress.

My whole family is crafty.  I was taught to needlepoint as a kid, I was even taught how to crochet and do a basic knit stitch (by my father, actually, because while my mother was the super crafter, she was left handed and I couldn't figure out how to do it the way she did it, as I'm right handed).

In high school my family was big into plastic canvas.  And over Spring Break of my sophomore year, while I was staying with my aunt & uncle, I needed some thicker metallic cord and we stopped by Harbour Stitchery in League City.

And I saw Teresa Wentzler's Castle Sampler, and I used all of the money I had to buy everything I needed right there on the spot (well, everything but the floss, that would come later in the day).  The Lugana, the pattern, any embellishments... and oh yeah, my gold cord.

I started stitching the border.   I realized I was a little bit out of my depth and wanted to try something else so that Castle Sampler would be *perfect* when I did stitch it.

So I went to Michaels with my Grandma (I was living with my grandparents) and I got a kit (I'm pretty sure my grandma bought it for me).  Leopards sitting on a tree branch.  There were blended threads, confetti stitching, and all of the leaves were lazy daisies, so it wasn't very basic.  I taught myself how to stitch with that kit, and I think it's the one time I used a hoop?  I even stitched on it during class in high school (the teachers didn't mind, because hey, I was paying attention, engaged and staying relatively quiet - I was a straight A honors student anyway, so there was no reason to fuss).   The very beginning (the left side of the tree branch) has stitches that aren't all facing the same way - the only piece that has "mistakes" like that.

This is my very first finished cross stitch piece.

Finished 1994ish?

I eventually finished it after high school and I framed it, using the sticky mat and all of the other stuff I could find at craft stores - this was the mid 90s, there wasn't the huge internet full of information on the "proper" way to frame needlework or the supplies at hand, and I certainly couldn't afford to have it done professionally.

I can't remember the actual name of the piece, exactly what company produced it, or the date when I finished it, but it will always be one of my favorite memories.

Future's Vision - framed! And a tale of framers.

So first off, I got Future's Vision framed.  It's one of my favorite pieces and it's already up on the wall in the lady cave.   I decided to test out a new framer (more about that later), but here it is...

I totally forgot the non-glare glass, so I had to go with extreme angles because there's a nice big window with a lot of light that was reflecting all over the place.  The mats are the colors from the sky and the star, and the frame has a lot of red which brings out the colors in the bricks.

I definitely loved this frame for this piece.

When we were trying out the colors of the mats, I told the framer that I wanted it over the edge of the design, up to the backstitched outline to the whole frame of the piece.  He said he didn't recommend it, and we looked at mats with more space around the piece, and then he framed it up to the edge anyway.  Which.  Ok, I think the yellow should have been a little brighter then, but whatever, I'm still OK with the color.

I'm mostly happy with it.
And this guy advertised on his website that he frames needlework, and when I was chatting with him, apparently it had been his proverbial bread and butter through the 80s and 90s, tapering off in the last 10 years or so.  So he obviously must know what he's doing right?

Which is why it kinda caught me by surprise to find out that he did most of the pieces dry-mounted.

Wait.  What?  I even asked him about lacing/pinning, etc.  No, he dry-mounts small pieces and tapes larger ones.

So I'll never be back there.

Since Nick (the guy that I had frame my other pieces last year) is retiring/has retired, I figured I'd look into local framers.   This guy, well, he was someone I found while googling, specifically looking for needlework framers, and when a Groupon showed up for his shop, I figured it would be a good time to go ahead and try him out.   So at least I got it at a "discount", but I still think he was pricey for what I got.

I have used two other framers in the area, but not for my needlework.  I have plenty of smaller pieces to try out, and they did a great job with some of my other stuff, but now I'll have to put them to the cross-stitch test.

I've heard several stitchers (online) use one of the local framers.  They're a small chain (SC, NC, VA, I think?) and I've liked the several things of mine they've framed.   They've done two small prints and the photo of my grandparents' wedding.  They were even nice enough to use the original mat that the photo came with:

The other framer is a guy that owns a franchise?  He's really nice, and he's actually an artist, so he's really good with color while letting me express my own ideas if I have something I really want.   He's done two prints (one of them several feet long), and my other grandparents' wedding photo (the original tinted). 

He is REALLY good at preservation work (old letters, photos - he's shown me the stuff he's done), so I kinda want to take my stitching to him, wholesale, but I have to test run him.  I'm sure he'd be more amenable to actually learning the correct way to frame needlework since he's an actual artist.  But, the downside is that he's expensive.  

So, yay for getting something framed.   Boo for having something not framed well (boo to myself for not asking better questions first).  I'm not going to take it apart, it's not like it was the best piece in the world and I doubt it's going to become any sort of heirloom anyway.  I'm happy enough with it for me (I still have a couple of early things framed on sticky mat).

Soon I'll have something test run at the Expensive-but-I-love-him framer.  Maybe even my Immaculate Hart.

Too bad the French Knot is out of business, I really liked the framing they did for me.  They closed before I had a chance to take any needlework to them...

framed by The French Knot