Stitching to share!

First, yes, I have been playing with the new blogger templates, which also means a new background. I'm not quite satisfied, so there will be more tinkering. But, I've reached my limit for today. :-) I can only play with technology for so long before I hit overload.

And there has been stitching! Pics of my June rotation on Nativity Story Table Runner:

Close up of what I stitched this month (The Holy Family):


As always, my photographic skills are lacking. The second pic shows the fabric color more closely, but the floss is more accurate in the first pic. Oh well. I figure I'm past the halfway point with stitching on this. Really, the Holy Family is the most intense stitching. Definitely on track to finish by year end.

Picked up Medieval Town Mandala for a while. Started on the 6 o'clock town. Again, full shot and close up views:



Colors on the full view are really off. I couldn't fix it no matter how I played around. I really am lacking in the photo editing abilities. These towns take an eternity to stitch. Really, if I can push through the last two, the end would really be in sight. But I do seem to get bogged down by them. Will continue with MTM this week.

Oh, and I received my Chatelaine Smalls Exchange for 2010 from Val!



It's the pincushion from Nantucket Violets Basket finished as a biscornu. The fabric is Silkweavers Parkside opalescent belfast linen. Val did a wonderful job with the finishing! I really love it - particularly because it is from a Chatelaine Design I do not currently own. And the colors are so perfect for my office/hobby room which is painted a medium violet shade! The SNC is Vintage Violets, a color used in several Chatelaine Designs. I don't have a local source for SNC, so I am really happy to receive it! Thank you, again, Val!

No word from my recipient yet, but that's as expected. My exchange has a bit far to travel....

I have started the finishing for Snow Queen's Slipper. As soon as I get this posted, I plan to make a bit more progress on it, so maybe there will be photos soon-ish (don't hold your breath, though).

Walk Like an Egyptian...

Yeah, that's kinda lame, I know. But I was a teenager in the early 80's. That's my excuse.

I finished the duckie layer/border on Egypt Garden. I thought it was going to be a quick rotation to stitch. And, well, the stitching part was fairly quick. But, apparently, I completely forgot (or maybe blocked) how much beading is involved in this particular part, and how much fudging has to be done to fit those beads on 32ct fabric. More brain power than I anticipated. For those playing at home, this is my SECOND time to stitch Egypt following the Very Sad Demise (tm) of my first completed Egypt. Anyway, you are much more interested in photographic evidence, so here it is:



And so you can see some of the sparklies:


I do love beading. It's the fudging and planning for the fudging that wear me out. I think that's the last place on this project that fudging must occur. So it's all good.

And, what have I started now? Why Snow Queen's Slipper (by Carolina House), of course. I've gridded the fabric and started backstitching the outlines. Just have one more heart shape and the sole of the slipper to outline yet. Here's a pic:



The linen is actually white. But it was laying on my dark brown table, and as it is a Permin linen (generally thought by me to be evil stuff) which means loose weave, the table color shows through. Fortunately, it seems the silk floss blooms nicely. My feelings about Permin linen have to do with how crappy my tension usually is on it and the stiffness of the fabric. Because of the loose weave, if the fabric wasn't stiff (i.e. if you wash out the sizing) it would be really limp and nearly impossible to stitch on. I know this for fact. But, as I stitch largely in-hand, the feel of the fabric matters to me. I just don't like really stiff fabric. And then there is the issue of my tension. The loose weave and my tension just generally don't get along well, so I typically do not like how my stitching looks on Permin linen. I once threw out a project that was two-thirds complete because I hated how it looked on the Permin linen so much. I knew I could never stand to look at it if I completed it, so why bother to finish. Anyway, I decided since this was the fabric that came with the project kit, I would give it a try. My thought being that the stiff linen might actually work to the advantage of the finishing of the slipper and accessories. So far, I don't want to throw it out the window, so we'll consider that an initial victory. More photos as progress happens.