Edmonton Stash

Sorry for the lack of update, I've been away for two weeks for work. This time I was in Edmonton and it was FREEZING. I didn't have many opportunities for stitching as I was working long days. I only had time to stitch on the plane. I finally made it to the bottom corner. There will be more opportunities to work on it again as I will be travelling some more in the next two months.

I didn't meet the Edmonton embroidery guild on this trip but I did meet my Japanese embroidery teacher. It was great to see her outside of class and we had fun going around to her favorite shops. We went to a fabric shop called Quiltessential Co. where I bought some pretty fabric, including another bag pattern. I still haven't made the first one...

The other shop she took me to was an hour away from Edmonton and was the highlight of my trip. In Wetaskiwin, there is a shop called the Wild West Gallery. If my teacher hadn't taken me I would never have realized this place was there.

There were so many beautiful beads, I just pilling on stuff. I had to restrain myself at some point but I wish I hadn't. The total was so below what I was expecting to pay, I could have gotten more.

While I was in Edmonton, I wanted to see if the shop I went to in my previous visit in 2012 was still there. I'm happy to say that the Craft Connection is still alive and kicking.

(click on the post to see the video below)

It's mainly a cross stitch shop so there wasn't much to interest me this time around. However, I want to encourage local needlework shops so I bought this Sabrina pattern by Mirabilia that has been on my wishlist for a very long time. I'm a huge Audrey Hepburn fan and that dress is gorgeous. I also got all the beads and special threads. All I'm missing is fabric.

I've hardly been back a week and I'm already set to go to another city. Next Monday I will be driving out to Brampton, Ontario. I haven't done much looking yet but if you know a place you think I would be interested to visit, please let me know.

January TUSAL

This month's ORT is filled with some strange threads than the usual cotton. I had an amigurumi to make for a late Christmas present last month, which is where the thick wool comes from. It's finished, just waiting for pictures to share on here. 

I did make some progress on Elizabeth's skirt. I have one half of the third row done. Really loving the colors in this piece, just sad it doesn't come out in the jar since the threads are so skinny.

One Step Forward, Three Step Back

I finally made it to a Japanese embroidery meeting last weekend. I wasn't able to attend last month's because they had major road closures, which I later found out was cancelled. They had rescheduled it for last Saturday but this time I was smart, I checked to confirm it was still on. It was cancelled AGAIN, which meant I got to go.

I was really eager to attend as I wanted to ask questions about my cherry blossoms. Turns out that although my little petal looks good, I put way too much padding. They needed to go.

I started carefully cutting padding but quickly lost patience. I kept snagging the foundation beneath it. All I wanted to do was rip it all out. I really don't like the color and I really don't like how I stitched the foundation. I've been unhappy with the whole thing since our class in the fall and it's been just festering.

After discussing it with my group and consulting the silk color card I decided the orange needs to go. I've seen pictures of this fan stitch by Japanese stitchers and the cherry blossom cloud was a different color. I tried to pick a color that would go well with white and the shade of red used in this piece. I'll only know if I was successful once I try it out. In the meantime I've started stitching the last paulownia leaf.