"Workplace Bathroom" (and workplace gift) finish

I went home early yesterday because I wasn't feeling well and went ahead and finished my work-gift project.

It's on a mystery piece of opalescent fabric.  Blue/white mottled (quite pretty), and I thought it was 28 count, but it's bigger than the finished piece should have been, so I guess maybe 25 ct?

I'll be buying a hoop to frame it in, I got a 5" hoop, but it's a bit too small with the slightly larger size. 

The link to the etsy shop (La Hoopla) is here :)

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!

Sugar Skull by Mill Hill - Fini!

Unfortunately, the Partner and I ran amok of a little norovirus this past weekend.
The upside was a lot of audiobook listening and a bit of stitching while I was burning the house down washing a whole lot of loads of laundry to make sure it didn't come back.  Luckily we have a three day norovirus policy at work, so at least I didn't use my PTO for it.

But I finished the Mill Hill Skull!   I would have finished it three days earlier if I'd found the posy button sooner.  It went missing in one of my bags and it took me a bit to find.  I was actually trying to order a new one when I finally ran across it (in my Freshwater Pearls project bag).

I stitched it on 28ct white lugana rather than the perforated paper that came in the kit.  I love the effect with all of the beads, I enjoyed doing it a lot less (haha).

Sugar Skull by Mill Hill, Finished 9 Apr 2018

There was definitely more than enough beads and threads for this kit.  I'll have to give it away because I don't want to waste (not enough to do it entirely a second time, but probably enough where it won't cost too much).

I started working on Deco Spirits, hopefully the Air block will be my next mini-finish before I move onto something else... or maybe onto the next block.  :D

Plenty and Blessings by Brooke's Books

Today I have too many pictures of my Brooke's Books finishes - Plenty (fruit basket) and Blessings (fish).   These are both part of the Bride's Tree series.  I know Brooke's Books mostly from the 'dress up' series that are really pretty dresses from the Disney princesses.

Both of these were fun to stitch, Plenty was way faster/more fun than I thought it would be!

This is Plenty, this first picture is the best color-correct photo I managed.  The close ups seem to pull warmer, but that's OK.  I really, really like the addition of the champagne beads, they're fantastic.

The pattern calls for an overdye, but I did it with the equivalent DMC (which is listed in the pattern)

Wine! Pickles!   Plenty, by Brookes Books, finished 3-18-2018

And then there was Blessings.
I saw this finished as a sample in Stitcher's Paradise (in Las Vegas).  It is such a pretty fish, and I just loved stitching on it.

I couldn't find a place where I liked my signature, so I ended ups signing in the dirt (as it were).

So those are the ornaments - I think they're super adorable.   Hopefully I'll have more progress for WIPocalypse (since I skipped last month), now that I'm stitching again.

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! 

Fruit Cocktail by Glendon Place (and Dinky Dyes)

I related my Mixed Berry Cheesecake story already.  At the same LNS this year, I was once again digging through the depths of Stitcher's Paradise's back room, actually looking to see if there was another Mixed Berry for a friend, and I ran across this one.  Since it was small and relatively easy, I went ahead and purchased it, too.  Honestly, I'm not a fan of oranges/yellows, so I'm not sure what I was thinking, but hey, why not.

This kit also came with the Dinky Dye fibers and a 5 color sequence, specially dyed silk like Mixed Berry.  It did not come with fabric, though, but only called for white (I think?  Anyway, I got white).  I went ahead and grabbed a scrap piece they had for sale so I could start it soon.   I also kind of decided to stitch this one first as a practice for the second one.  And it's a damn good thing I did.

I noticed mine did not look like the model, my colors were in the wrong sequence.  While I don't hate the outcome, I think the sequence is far less obvious and I prefer the model.  Oh well.  To be honest, since I'm not sure I want to frame this or keep it, even, it's not the worst.   I have a beloved cousin who really liked this, I might finish it into a wall hanging or something for her.

The other issue I had with the kit was the same one I had with the Mixed Berry, in that the silks are skimpy as heck.   In fact, I ran out of the regular peach/orange, and I had to pull from my personal supply.  I blended it with the original so that the minor lot difference wasn't as noticeable.    Because of the issues with both kits, I would not recommend purchasing it unless you really like the design or just need to have the entire Glendon Place dessert series.

I started this well ahead of Mixed Berry but did not finish it first because when I finished all of the stitching, I realized that the kit did not come with the mill hill beads required.  I went through both kits/patterns and my personal bead supply and then ordered what I needed.

I started 1/14/2017 and finished 9/25/2017.   Stitched on 28ct white lugana.

Whole thing!  whoohoo!  Ok, so maybe I like it better when I look at it from a distance (still probably not going to frame it though ;) )

I still question the red beads, but whevs :)

I took pictures of this one in the setting sun like I did Mixed Berry, and I gotta say, I do love how the firey colored beads light up in that setting

And just for funsies, here is a side by side.   You can mainly see the sequence difference in the large motifs around the center/outside of the mandala.  I like the green in the middle of the motif more than I do at the bottom, where mine is on that motif; I also like the increased variation of colors on the diagonal motifs radiating out of the center, it's too blendy in mine for my tastes.   The upside is that I made sure to get the Mixed Berry sequence correct, since I was so bent out of shape about it on this piece.

Mixed Berry Cheesecake

There's a small story behind this one.

I saw someone post Mixed Berry Cheesecake (once upon a time), somewhere (couldn't tell ya where, sorry!) by Glendon Place and I fell in love with it.  Unfortunately, it was a limited edition piece and had been out for a while.  With the popularity of the Glendon Place desserts, of course it was sold out everywhere.   There were even a couple of stores that had it listed online, and yet when I ordered, they returned my money, because of course it was sold out.   I'd kind of given up (and I'm not one to engage in any illegal copying/sites).

I was in Las Vegas during my annual sojourn for MLK weekend, and I was at Stitcher's Paradise.   They have a crazy awesome, well stocked store.  More importantly are their two side rooms - one is full of fabric and is a great place to do floss tosses, and the other is full of old stock organized in those magazine holders by designer.

I've found lots of really good stuff in there and I love hanging out in there while everyone else is floss-tossing and doing other stuff.   Lo'!  And Behold!  They had one last Mixed Berry Cheesecake!

The cool part about these limited edition kits is that they have a specially dyed silk that is five of their regular colors and they tell you what the sequence is supposed to be and where to start/finish the particular portion of the design.  I think it's pretty cool.

I did not start it right away because I didn't like the fabric that came in the kit, Bashful by PTP, because it was way too pink.   So I spent a lot of time looking for a slightly pink, but not pink fabric.  I bought a lot of fabric that was pinker than the Bashful, and just sucked it up and used it.  Turns out it wasn't so pink!  Haha.   My only real complaint with the kit is that there was barely enough fiber to finish the design.   If I had made any mistake, I couldn't have finished it - and I tend to be fairly frugal with threads.  I think for a less thread-frugal person or someone who makes a mistake, they would be screwed.  It wouldn't have been much to add an extra length of each (especially the 5 color sequence that you can't buy extra of).  I have a full set of Dinkys, so I could have made up the difference for the solids - not everyone does, and of course there's the lot difference.

So here we are, my first finished Glendon Place Dessert, even if it is a mini.  I took pictures of it in different lighting to try to catch the pinkish (but not too pink) of the fabric.  My camera phone always goes bonkers with pinks/purples/blues, making them over saturated, but I'm still pretty pleased that you can tell what's going on in the design.

Started 9/10/2017 and finished 9/24/2017

Picture in the shade, the colors of the silks are pretty saturated here. 
I do love the beading throughout the piece as well.

In more direct light, the background is so pale it looks white against the berry colors, the silks are more true here, though the purples look a little grey.

Direct/setting sunlight, it shows off how much of the beading is throughout with the shadows.

These colors were so much fun to stitch.  So pretty and easy

Very true colors in this shot.

The middle is bead heavy.  I'm thinking of a triple mat using the pink/blue/purple (if I can get the framer to agree ;) )

I almost forgot to stitch the "natural" (not quite white) bits.

More of the corner beading.

I just added this photo because I accidentally put it through a filter and I loved it when it popped up.
So glad to have gotten this one finished!! :)