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

More Sugar Skull

I mentioned previously that I was switching from the "cross stitch then bead" to "cross stitch and bead by color."

And then at some point (but not early enough to make it really fun), I decided to take a picture after each color.

I wish I had gotten a post-green pre-yellow picture, but I didn't.  Oh well.

Yellow is done!

Orange is done!

Magenta (medium) is done!

I think blue is next, but it will be less striking because I did the stitching, while I hadn't finished all of the orange stitching (and none of the yellow)

This make progress fun!

March 2018 WIPocalypse

Not a whole lotta WIPocalypse progress to report.    I was busy either not crafting, or just working on my two Brooke's Books Ornaments.

I did decide to pick up my Mill Hill Sugar Skull.  I've decided to do it a little different than the instructions strictly call for (other than stitching it on evenweave instead of the perforated paper).  I like the support that beads get when they're part of the stitching (vs being added later), so I'm finishing up the stitching with the final two floss colors that are not used for beads (light red and dark magenta) and I will start beading/stitching at the same time.

I'm just going to go down the list of colors and get it over with.   I am in both the "not wanting to wor on this piece" and in the "I want this piece over, so I want to work on it" mode, haha.

Here's where it was:

And here's where it is now:

I anticipate having it done by the next WIPocalypse (*yay*)

TUSAL and IHSW!

This weekend was IHSW - the International Hermit and Stitch weekend hosted by Joysze at her blog and on Facebook.  I worked on a couple of gift pieces while I watched the other half (re)play Last of Us.

These two little pieces were really fun to stitch!

Blessings, by Brooke's Books

Plenty, by Brooke's Books

And I really wanted to work on Boink or DecoSpirits, but I ended up picking up my MillHill Sugar Skull again.  Because of all of the beadwork, I think I'll rush to get this one done next.   I just kind of want it out of the way with all of those beads mingling in bags.

And finally, it's also time for TUSAL, the Totally Useful Stitch A Long hosted by Daffycat (also on Facebook), where we show off our orts.  These are the orts I've collected since the beginning of 2018.

If the rats' nest of threads I still have available from the Mill Hill kit doesn't take a big hit, I'll end up with a whole lotta threads for that container!

I'll have a more detailed post re: the finishes tomorrow; I wanted to get this up this morning, but didn't have time (danged meetings!)...

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).

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