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

Still plodding along with Taj Mahal Mandala

Hello my lovely stitchy friends :)  I hope those of you that are in the US are keeping warm in the very very cold weather you are experiencing and are hopefully safe and not snowed in too much.
Looks like you are all in for another super cold winter this year.  The perfect weather to stay in side and stitch! Unlike here as we enter  our summer we have just experienced a weekend of  very high temps of around 40oC or 104oF, makes for very sticky stitching weather.

I've been plodding along nicely on Taj since my last update and have made a heap of progress. slowly working my way through the middle section.
The detail in this design is simply  magnificent. I can see why many stitchers become hooked on Chatelaine's they are a challenge but a magical feast for the eyes as they develop.

My progress as of  14th November 2014

As you can see I have almost stitched a quarter of the middle square plus the left hand Taj Mahal is taking shape. The colours are simply glorious and I have really enjoyed learning some of the specialty stitches that I have never done before.  I worked some of the woven scotch stitch in the lattice type border around the middle square recently. While it  took me a little while to get my head around it, eventually with a little help from google and some tips online  I got there in the end :) I hopefully will get some close up shots next time I take some photos. 

Happy Stitching everyone, 

Deb

Passione Ricamo Mystery SAL 04

Has anyone else signed up for the Passione Ricamo Mystery SAL?  Titled Under the Moonlight.
Yep I've been naughty.. added another WIP to the pile!  Well when it is started in November.

Oh where am I going to find the time? It is not like I dont already  have a gazillion charts I want to stitch. Oh well at least I'm having fun and staying out of trouble haha.. just spending more on stash than I should. Good job I didn't do this years sewing from stash challenge :)

Ok Enabling alert going out here... you have been warned.  For those that do not know about the new PR Mystery Sal you can find details here.  http://www.passionericamo.eu/page2ingl.htm and the PR facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/487004097986116/


It starts very soon on November 3rd so you still have time to sign up if you give in to temptation like I did.

I'm currently awaiting my fabric from http://www.colourcascadefabrics.com.au/ plus my beads and metallics are on their way too.  I've never done a mystery Sal before so this is a new experience for me.

Happy Stitching everyone,
Deb

Taj Mahal Mandala Garden - 6 parts done 6 to go.

I can't believe it has been well over a month since my last update.  Since my recent finishes I have been steadily working on Taj again. I've completed 6 parts of my 12 part chart and slowly moving into the middle section.

I say slowly as I have taken to wasting more time playing computer games than stitching some nights.  While the will to stitch is strong.. getting butt of chair is not so I end up spending more time than I intend on the computer each night.  

This was where I was up to before

And this was my progress as of the 14th October.

I thought I would share this with you all. I saw this in my emails this morning.. sums up cross -stitching perfectly lol

Happy Stitching everyone, 

Deb