Friday, May 29, 2015

negative progress is still progress!

Or something. But for some reason, the top section of the angel's robe was incredibly loose and the tension was terrible... and checking my blog archives, it looks like I stitched that part! I was surprised because a lot of the stitching was vertical instead of horizontal, and I pretty much never stitch vertically, even if it's a tall column of Xs that's only one stitch wide.

To be fair, I did the stitching *sigh* two years ago, so that could account for it. Also, I think that area was under the qsnaps for a while and it got loosened up from all my fussing with it. I need to be extra careful about the part that's covered right now, then...


I look at it this way... this project has been about 20 years in the making, so what's another day or two spent restitching? This way I'll actually be happy with the way it looks!

Oh, and I'm removing the random confetti stitches on this robe... there's spots of gold and pink that my wife says is supposed to look like brocade or something. It looks like measles to me. Reminds me a lot of the spotty dresses some of the Lavender and Lace angels/ladies have, and I hate that look. And since the stitching on top was so loose, going back to fill in with the shades of cream would have been an ordeal.

So it all works out for the best this way.

Now back to work...

Thursday, May 28, 2015

angel #3 is appearing!

Just wanted to prove that I DO stitch and not just stash. :p


I was hoping to have more done in the week since my last update, but I'm not going to complain about any amount of progress on a complex design like this! I should wrap up this angel over the weekend and skip over to finish the first one, on the far right. Not pictured here. :p

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Stitch from Stash - May report!

Month: May
Spent: $96.25
Earned: $12

May finishes:
- Mirabilia round robin section (40x60 stitches = $4)
- Just Nan Floral Fifteen (100x100 stitches = $8)

The math:
$2.66 (last month) + $25 (this month) + $12 (finishes) - $96.25 (spent) = $56.59 over

Ahhhhhhh so I have become a SfS dropout! Though I will make a valiant attempt to earn my way back into the black, I'm 99% sure that my stitching habits (large pieces, hardly ever smalls) will not make that a reality.

So you're probably wondering what on earth I bought! Just one thing. The somewhat legendary magazine, De Fil en Aiguille issue HS28, with the flower studies by Veronique Enginger.

I've wanted this magazine for YEARS and I've never seen it for sale despite checking eBay France on a regular basis... until TWO copies showed up at the end of April, both at the same price. I contacted the seller with the most/best feedback and asked if they'd ship to the US, and they agreed!

Now, I realize that a 90 Euro magazine seems ridiculous, but consider that it includes 16 designs, and I intend to stitch every single one. And only about 3-4 of these are available outside of the magazine, and they are 31 Euro each for the chart and 28ct linen. And I won't even use 28ct linen!


I've already stitched Wisteria, but all the rest are new to me and I look forward to digging in once I clear out a WIP or two!

You can see Wisteria here:
http://rahenna.blogspot.com/search/label/wisteria

I'm not going to beat myself up too badly about this purchase. It will be treasured! I've loved the classic and elegant look of these designs since I first saw them, and I know they will be put to good use. They stitch up quickly because there are so few colors (I think Wisteria only had EIGHT colors of DMC!) but the detail is incredible.

I will just have to do better in the second half of SfS for the year. I spent some time yesterday looking through my folders of freebie designs... I really do NOT need anything else. Ever!

If you need me, I'll be in the naughty corner with our fearless SfS leader. :p

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Angel Procession is almost... a procession :p

Okay, the speed of my progress here is kind of scary, but here's another completed angel!


That makes three angels complete, one that's about a third of the way done, one without wings, and one that pretty much doesn't exist at all. I'll probably frog that random blob of pink... I'm not sure how that got there because I know for sure I didn't put it there! But I don't think anyone from the RR would have counted out that far either. Hmm.


And the whole thing so far. Kind of concerned about how the border has been distorted on the left side, probably from being pulled in the qsnaps. I'm hoping a good wash and blocking will take care of it, but that will have to wait until the end, of course.


Wow, I really can't believe that this is way more than half finished now! There are so many horrible mistakes and lazy things on that rightmost angel, though. I used to KNOT the thread to start it. Yes, really. I don't know if it's worth trying to redo part of it since it's been that way so long and it doesn't seem to be hurting anything... except my pride. :p

Hey, cut me from ~20 years ago some slack, okay?

And the colors are just beautiful... it really is as vibrant as it looks in these pictures...

I really need to work on my Mira RR now though. For real.

Monday, May 18, 2015

almost an angel!

I had a great weekend of stitching, with just a few interruptions for errands, lunch out, and cooking/chores throughout the two days. We spent most of our time relaxing, and for me that meant stitching on Angel Procession. I made a huge amount of progress!


I just have a bit of regular stitching, the over-one hands and face, the blending filament in the wings, and backstitching left to finish.

Okay, that does sound like a lot, but it doesn't FEEL like it. This is truly a pleasure to stitch. I'm completely in the groove here and even the quarter-stitch mess of the French horn was fun!

Friday, May 15, 2015

endless backstitching...

Actually, it's not that bad, but it did take a couple of days. But this angel is all done, or at least, as done as it can be for now. I can't finish the backstitching on the right side because another angel's wing is touching, so once I get the wing done, I'll complete the missing stitches.


Here's the progression over the past couple of weeks, if you're curious!


And finally, a rough shot of the entire project so far. There's a lot done, but still so much more to go. I'd say about 2 to 2.5 angels worth of stitching to go!

Well, maybe 3 once you account for all parts of everyone... :p


This has honestly been incredibly fun to stitch and I'm looking forward to making progress on the next angel. I might bounce over and work on my Mira RR first, though, for a change of pace. My eyes could use a break from over-one, backstitching, and blending filament...

Sunday, May 03, 2015

why was I hesitating?

Angel Procession is going SO FAST now that I'm actually working on it. Why on earth was I hesitating to pick it up again? Maybe I was remembering how intimidating it seemed *cough* 20 years ago *cough* but now it feels like a cakewalk. I guess the past five or so years of stitching really have made a difference in my skill level.

This is just three days of work, and I haven't been stitching a lot every day:

before... and after!


Getting my threads organized has made a HUGE difference in how fast I can stitch. Of course, this means my coffee table has been conquered by thread, but that's how it has to be for a while. Here's my VERY simple setup:


All the threads, in order, in some of the empty drawers from my "DMC cabinet" aka really cheap hardware store drawer units. I keep unused and barely used skeins in there. Once they get used enough, whatever enough is that day of the week, they get bobbined and put in a plastic storage box.

Anyway, back to the point...

And then there's a bag of all the blends. I put a length of each color on the bobbin, write the two color numbers AND the symbol on the bobbin, and treat it like a single color. No fumbling for two bobbins and getting just one strand off each every time. This is the #1 speed tip for Wentzlers, I bet.

We'll see how smug I am when I get to the wings. I hear those are nasty. (I haven't actually stitched any of the wings on this piece... thank you RR partners!) But honestly, they don't look any more scary than the rest, except for the addition of blending filament on top... :)