Time for a Taj Mahal update plus February 2015 IHSW report

Can't believe it has been just over a month since my last blog post.  Time flying again, we are almost 2 months gone this year already!

I've spent the last month blissfully progressing on  my Chatelaine Taj Mahal Mandala, I'm now well past the half way point.

Last time I updated Taj back in November my progress looked like this.

My progress from 23rd January to the 4th February.  I really started to make progress on the middle section. 

Then on the 15th February it looked like this. I didn't realise my needles had been smoking until I saw the before and after shots and how much of the middle I had got done in 11 days lol. 

I took another photo at the start the weekend of IHSW so I could see my progress before and after the weekend. My main focus was finishing the middle and getting some progress on the right hand Taj. 

February IHSW ended up being a very good stitchy weekend. In fact stitching was about the only thing I could do Friday night and Saturday day. We had two cyclones up north. One in the Northern Territory which had no real impact on us and the second was Cyclone Marcia due to hit up north Friday night or Saturday morning. Brisbane received heaps of rain.

Friday it rained all day so once I got home from work it was time to settle in for the long haul. It was predicted to rain all day Saturday and possibly Sunday too. I even made sure to have batteries for my little clip on LED lights and my rechargeable light charged in case of power loss. It was IHSW after all. Nothing was going to stop me lol.  My goal of finishing the middle section - cross stitches achieved and a good start on the right hand Taj. I so love this design. This is where I leave Taj's progress as of 22nd of February as it is time to catch up on the PR Mystery Sal before the next part comes out but firstly I'm off to check out everyone else's IHSW efforts.  

Happy Stitching everyone, 

Deb

Under the moonlight - Part 7 finished! And a Happy Dance!

In my last post I mentioned how hot and sticky the weather had been in Brisbane recently.

Well thankfully after a week of horrid sleepless nights because it was just too too hot to sleep, the weather changed and cooled down to a much more comfortable stitching temperature from about Wednesday.
In fact it's been raining here all day today, rather pleasant after the sticky heat of last weekend. Perfect stitching weather in fact!

Last night I finished part 7 of the PR Mystery Sal - Under the Moonlight and here it is..

We are starting to see a few more features other than then border. Part 8 comes out next week and is worked under where part 7 was just stitched, so hopefully more features of our mystery subject will be revealed. I'm looking forward to trying to keep up with the Sal as the parts get bigger without neglecting my other WIP"s... gotta love a juggling act lol.

Now this week I also happen to have had a bit of a happy dance. Not the finishing a project happy dance but a happy one none the less. 

Anyone that loves Nora Corbett/Mirabilia designs,  knows how hard it is to get their hands on  the OOP  Tigerlily chart from Nora's Pixie Couture Collection.

 I have been looking with no success for a while.  I am a member of a facebook group for Australian stitchers to unload stash,  and I decided on a whim to ask if anyone who had her was willing to part with her. 

I wasn't expecting much success mind you. So you can imagine my delight when not only did someone have her but they were willing to sell her and for a very reasonable price too!!  It just goes to show you don't know until you ask.  She arrived in the mail yesterday. 

It is a holiday weekend here in Australia as Monday is Australia Day. I am hoping for a cooler weekend than we had last weekend and to spend some time with family and also hopefully get back into working on Taj Mahal Mandala. Maybe  I might also try and work out what fabric I will stitch Tigerlily on and when I am going to find time to squeeze her into my rotation. 

Happy Stitching everyone, 

Deb

January 2015 IHSW

Ack I am late with  my IHSW update.  Work sure does get in the way of blogging and stitches  some days :)

No photos this time around they are coming in my next post. I spent the weekend working on the PR Mystery Sal when I could.
 It was so hot and sticky here over the weekend that I found I couldn't sit and stitch for more than half hour at a time.
I got way too hot under my stitching lamp and trying to stitch with sweat rolling down your face is just wrong.   I was hoping to get part 7 finished but keeping cool was more of a priority. The minute you went out of fan zone you were dripping wet.

I hope everyone else managed to get more stitching done for the weekend than I did. I will be off to check out everyone's blogs later this evening.

Happy Stitching everyone,
Deb

A month with the Firefly's

Wow time flies when you are having fun.  A month ago I was wishing you all happy holidays and new years and here we are 14 days into the year.
I certainly hope everyone is healthy and well as the new year strides along.

I have kept busy over the last month.  We have quite a few birthdays in December and January so that along with Christmas makes it very festive.  As per normal I ate way too much yummy food and now resolve to get some what into shape.... round is a shape right? :)

After I put the PR Mystery Sal away I picked up Lavender & Lace's Firefly Fairies.  I have always loved this design and kind of started it a few years ago.  I braved the bleaching of the sunburst, which wasn't really has hard as I thought it would be. More so worried about destroying a perfectly good piece of fabric I guess. Then I had stitched the first star and candle-shine at the top of the design and that is where I left it. I'm not sure what year it was but 2003 for some reason keeps popping into my head! The fabric is 32 ct which suggests it was around then as these days due to my aging eye sight I find I prefer 28ct most of the time.

I had everything I needed but the beads, and they were on their way, hopefully they would turn up before Christmas while I was on my two weeks vacation.   So on the 14th of December I set about restarting. I left the original first star but unpicked the candle-shine as I wasn't happy with it and restitched it.

10 days later on Christmas Eve this is where I was up to. By this time my beads had arrived and I was starting to add some beads in too.

Then on New Year's this was my progress... 

So amazing how much stitching you can get done when work doesn't interfere with your time lol.

Nearly a month after my restart they are looking like this. almost half way done.

This is where I will leave the "girls" at the moment. Part 7 of the PR Mystery Sal is now out so I will be working on that and then Taj Mahal Mandala is calling my  name for some attention. 

Happy Stitching, everyone

Deb

Under the Moonlight - Parts 3 - 6

Hot off the scroll frame, parts 3-6 of the PR Mystery Sal.

Progress as of 13th December 2014

I'm all caught up again until January.  I spent the last few days stitching when possible due to being in hospital for minor surgery on Wednesday. So made the most of my time off  from work and stitched stitched stitched!

I'm still a bit worried about the long row of beads, trying to keep them straight. They seem to go wonky every now and then and I know I am not the only one with concerns regarding this.  A few of the ladies are actually replacing the long straight rows of beads with DMC Rayon in white and it looks rather good.

I am persevering with the beading at the moment but I do worry that it will go wonky just prior to framing and being a tad OCD it will drive me mad if any are wonky once framed.

Well we have around 11 days to go before Christmas and I'm not sure if I will manage another update before then so I will take the time to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays,  and a Safe and happy new year no matter where you are in the world. May you get to spend some time with the ones you love.

Happy Stitching everyone,
Deb

Twisted band sampler update

I have just realised I had forgotten to share my recent update on my Twisted Band Sampler.

Since August it had been neglected as I was working on Taj Mahal Mandala Garden so much. So I decided to spend some time on it last month after starting the PR Mystery Sal.  I love stitching this design the silks from Threadpickerz are so lovely to work with and colours so bright. The bands stitch up fairly quickly  but I must admit those Norwich stitches in band 6 are evil, especially when stitched on 32ct black!  They really had me testing my patience and I did pick up one or two that I have made a mistake in but if anyone can spot the mistakes they are doing really well :)

This was my progress before last month.

And my progress as of 30th November - 5 bands done almost finished the 6th. As you can see I have reached across the top to both sides now and have started working on multiple bands where I can to avoid moving the hoop so much. 

Happy Stitching everyone,

Deb

Under the Moonlight Parts 1 & 2

The new Passione Ricamo Mystery started back on November 3rd, you can read a little bit about it here in my previous entry on the subject.

So far I have stitched parts 1 and 2 of the sal, I ended up delaying my start as I changed my fabric choice. I personally felt my original choice was too light for the theme of this design. It was a lovely lighter blue more so that of an afternoon sky rather than a night sky and as the name of the design is under the Moonlight the design does call for something darker.

I ended up getting a fat half of Cosmos hand dyed 28 count Jobelan from Stitches and Spice. This is everything all assembled ready for the start on the 15th November.

And on the afternoon of the 16th, parts 1 and 2 were stitched. 

As Christmas is often a very busy time of year we have parts 3-6 to work on over the holidays, so hopefully we can all find some time to stitch the next 4 stages which is mostly more of the border stitching and beading.  I am hoping to at least get parts 3 and 4 by this weekend and then parts 5-6 over Christmas. I have vacation time over Christmas for two weeks so I have plenty to keep me busy :)

Happy Stitching everyone,
Deb