Back from the stitching grave! And PUPs! and TW! And WIPWednesday!

Long time, no see!

Of course long time, no stitch, as well.

This past weekend I went to visit some friends and have a stitchy get together.  I'll blog all about that later (tomorrow?  Friday?  I dunno!)   I'll even blog WIPocalypse soon, because I have an actual update (yippee!)  But for now, let's talk about PUPs

PUPs is something my friend Terri said she does with her quilt guild (I could be wrong, don't thwap me if I am).   Their group has Poor Unfinished Projects, and people bring a few to the guild meeting and they have to focus on finishing it over the next timespan.

My stitching group decided to adopt PUPs and (some of us, the deadline isn't for a couple of weeks) put some PUPs up to vote on finishing by next year.    I chose Fantasy Sampler, BoInk, and Freshwater Pearls.    I had intended to finish them up this year, but then house stuff and health stuff and puppers got in the way (I'm not sad about the pupper, because she's great, I am a little miffed about the house issue, because it had to do with someone else not doing their job and I will never hire that handyman again... I digress).   Oh, and Diablo.  I've been playing a couple of the seasons, I SWEAR I'll get to Level 70 Greater Rifts someday!  In the meantime, I'm just having fun being a Necromancer ;)

Back to PUPs...
Here is where the three of them currently stand:

What totally surprised me is that (so far), BoInk is off to a VERY strong lead (5-1), so it looks like BoInk will most likely be my 2018 PUP.    I think that because it was a mystery broken into smaller blocks, I can break it down into nice segments; but I'm super happy I have a reason to focus on it.   To be perfectly honest, I thought that Fantasy Sampler would be the one.

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Which brings me to another topic:  Teresa Wentzler.

The topic was brought up in the TW group on FB that she had taken down all of her dragon patterns from PatternsOnline.   Someone asked her about it in the comments of a recent blog post and she mentioned that she'd taken them down and would not care to discuss it, but used language that pretty much screams "religious reasons."      I'm not gonna lie - I'm super bummed about it.   I do not have a lot of love of religions, particularly not more strict or extreme ones.   I also remember how much she would enjoy talking about her dragon designs and she expressed a great fondness for dragons at various stitching shows where I met her.  I think it sucks.   I had also sold a few charts because I thought "oh well, I can always get them on POL" only... maybe not so much any more.   I did keep the most "important" charts (those I think I have a real shot at doing), but I suppose I'll have to stop drawing on my originals. 

I remember being heart broken when she announced her retirement.    We had a glimmer of hope when she posted a small shot of Illuminata way back when, but I know she's stopped stitching because of her arthritis and she likes to stitch her own pieces (not just design them on a computer), so we'll never see that piece. 

I think when I work on TW pieces, it'll be with a little stab of sadness that she doesn't take the pride she should in some amazing designs.

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And because it's Wednesday, let's end on a positive note with a WIP Wednesday!

Zenia by Mirabilia!
I won't be stitching the "frame" or whatever that was around her.  I just want the witch in a beautiful red dress with a cocktail in her hand.   She's being stitched on Storm by PTP, and I'm liking it so much that I'm thinking I might use it for Red when I get around to stitching her.

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.

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 :)

WIPWednesday onto a new TW October "victim"

So I've started Fantasy Sampler.

Here's where it was:

Here's where it is:

Yippee!

I did most of the Lion on Sunday when we had no power (Thanks, Matthew).

Getting my (missing) kreiniks in on Friday, supposedly, so I'm hoping to stitch a bit Sunday.
Saturday I will be at the Spirit of Cross Stitch in Richmond - huzzah!  I haven't been to a show since the very last CATS in Hershey!

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.