WIPocalypse 2015 – May

My post is very late as I was waiting for the question of the month, which is: I would like to know if you look for LNS’s when you travel. What is the favorite shop you've ever found? The answer for that is a definitive yes. I'm from Montreal, Quebec and there are not a lot of LNS available near me, so I do most of my shopping online. When I know I'm going to be travelling out of Montreal, I look for shops in the area and make the time to visit. So far I've been to:

• San Francisco's Needle in a Haystack I was there for work and took a taxi to get there. I have a co-worker who goes ever year and I make sure to place an order for pick up (link).
• Cochrane's The Stitching Corner and Edmonton's The Craft Connection, both excellent shops if you're in the area (link to what I bought).
• Toronto's Gitta's, I went there for the first time last year and bought lots of stash. I actually went a day early to ensure I'd be able to go there.
• Sweden, I didn't really find any cross stitch stores near where I was staying, but I did visit knitting stores. See, I don't only look for needlework stores. I make sure to look for crochet and knitting stores as sometimes they have a small needlework section.
• South Korea (x2), when my sister went I sent her on a mission to bring me back stash :) and when I got the chance to go I did the same (link).

I don't have a favorite shop, all the ones I've listed above were amazing and the ladies who worked there were very patient with me as I spent hours deciding what I wanted. As far as I'm concerned, walking into any needlework shop is like entering heaven. I do try to prepare a list before going so that I don't overspend, but I like to make one impulsive buy at each one.

Now onto the update pics.

Still nothing on Bramble and the Rose.

	No Update
Ink Circles - The Bramble and the Rose

I didn't stitch a lot on Tree of Hope. Just a few leaves.

Mirabilia - Tree of Hope

The dragons have still not made an appearance.

	No Update
Teresa Wentzler - Tracery Dragons

I did a lot of stitching on Fantasy Lace. This isn't a really nice picture, but you can see the border of Kloster's is done. There is one more border to stitch around it, this time buttonholes. I'll get to that once I finish all the cable stitching and satin stitches that goes inside this layer.

Satin Stitches - Donna's Fantasy Lace

Gelati al Cioccolato has been "finished" finished. It's now hanging off my bed's headboard until I figure out a nicer way to display my finishes.

Gingerbread Girl - Gelati al Cioccolato

I did end up pulling out my pulled thread Miniature Ornate Carpet kit. I not only worked on it, but I also finished it. You can find more details in my previous post here.

Karen Dudzinski - Pulled Thread Miniature Ornate Carpet

I worked a little on Pretty Little San Francisco when I had my cold, but not much since.

Satsuma Street - Pretty Little San Francisco

My First Giveaway Win

As you can guess from the title I won my first ever blog giveaway. I feel really guilty about not posting this sooner. I won this at the end of March, but between Cuba and deciding what to get and then waiting for the order...

Leonore of Needle, Pen & Sword had a birthday in March and she decided to host a giveaway for her birthday and for her blog reaching 10k pageviews. I decided to put my name in just for fun, never expecting to see my blog name mentioned as the winner. Leonore, if you're reading this, the best thing about winning your giveaway was the fact it was my birthday as well that week :) So it was like getting an early birthday present. Also, sorry for taking so long to post this.

Now for what I won, a 25$ gift certificate for the shop of my choice. I decided to go with 123stitch. It seemed like the post popular choice and I've never ordered from them. I had such a hard time choosing and not overspending.

Here is what I ended up getting.

I knew I wanted to get a kit, but I still wanted some challenge. This Dimensions kit is a blend of cross stitch and ribbon embroidery and it didn't cost as much as what I really wanted. What I really wanted was Thea-Gouverneur's Istanbul or Glendon Place's Red Velvet Cake, but sadly both were waaaaaay above the limit I set for myself.

I've been needing a new Q-snap. I already have the 6", 11" and 17". All I was missing was the 8". I wish I had it when I was stitching miniature ornate carpet, because my 6" was too small and the 11" was too big. So now I have the full set.

I've also been wanting to try Bohin needles. The stitchers at the Creative Festival kept mentioning how good they were. Unfortunately, there wasn't a single booth carrying them at the festival and no one here has them (or I haven't found them at least). I got an assorted pack for applique work and packs of #24 & 26, which is the needle size I use most often.

As for 123Stitch, they're great. I mentioned in the comment that I was looking for the Nimue Le Clef kit and got an email right after asking if I wanted them to order the pattern. But the very best thing: I didn't get charged import fees. Which means I will most probably order from them again.

Miniature Ornate Carpet

A week ago I pulled out the pulled thread kit Miniature Ornate Carpet to work on. This pattern is by Karen Dudzinski of Textured Treasures.

The first thing I had to do was remove the DMC light effects threads and replace it with the Kreinik #4 braid I bought. If you've ever stitched with DMC light effects you understand why I did that. If you've never used DMC light effects...DON'T.

Once that was done, I stitched out the border that would contain the pulled thread. Technically, you're supposed to do that first, but Karen (the teacher) wanted us to try out the pulled thread first to make sure we understood how to stitch it.

I did one major mistake while stitching this: I stitched the pulled thread with the fabric in hand. It was the most comfortable way for me to stitch it and it helped me really pull on the fabric. However, this warped my rectangle. So note to self, use a frame next time.

The rectangle was then surrounded by satin stitches, with a side of Herringbone stitches. That part was fun to stitch :)

This next part was not lol. The final border is made of alternating Scotch stitches. The stitch was easy, but because the threads provided in the kit were too short. It meant a lot of stop and go stitching, which I hate.

I had the same issue with the next part. The thread was cut too short. Luckily, I had some #5 in the same color and was able to stitch this part much faster. These look like klosters, that you then bind to make butterflies. You can see below the before and after look.

The butterflies were fun, but really awkward to stitch. I kept piercing the thread on my way up.

On the side you had these flowers(?) which are a mix of metallic thread and DMC.

And at the bottom these triangles, with the DMC anchored with gold thread. The entire thing is surround with a border of stem stitch in gold.

Here are extra pictures I took once it was finished.

A picture of the back, because I like to take them :)

Back of the piece

Front of the piece

I really enjoyed stitching this design. The colors are gorgeous and go very well together. I'm especially glad I switched out the metallic threads. The gold Kreinik I picked is much more vibrant, I love how it looks with the ivory butterflies. As for the warping, I'm going to have to frame it. Hopefully it will go away once it's been stretched.

What's next? I need to go back to my other WIPs, especially Tree of Hope which I have been neglecting. I have to get as much cross stitching done now, because I won't have time later. More on that in another post.

My First Ornament

I've always looked at other stitchers' finishes with envy. They all look so pretty with the nice fabrics and trims, those cute little buttons and beads that give it that special touch. It made me want to do my own.

So with Gelati al Cioccolato I finally got my chance to try it out. I actually had no reason not to seeing as it came fully kitted with everything I'd need to do the finishing. It didn't stop me from procrastinating A LOT. So I did things in increments, a day at a time until it was all done.

For a first try it came out good, a little off center but I'm not complaining. Note to self: don't put so much glue for the batting, the batting lost it's fluff and the board slightly curved because of it.

Will I do more finishing? Maybe, probably not ornaments. This one is hanging in my room right now, but we don't celebrate Christmas, so there isn't a lot of use for them around the house.

Since I finished this class kit, I've pulled out the next one, Karen Dudzinski's Pulled Thread Miniature Ornate Carpet.

Update 2015/04/29: Elfie of Elfin Stitches suggested using acid-free double-sided tape instead of glue for the batting, so that it won't distort it. Thank you for the suggestion Elfie :)

One Lovely Blog Award

I've been writing this blog for about 3 years now and I still get a jolt to the heart every time I see my blog name mentioned online lol. This time I was nominated for a blog award by Shelly from http://shelly-anarizonastitcher.blogspot.ca/. Do check her blog out! She mainly cross stitches samplers and her finishing skills are beautiful.

This is copied from Shelly's blog post:

The purpose of this award is for bloggers to nominate fellow, mostly newer, bloggers that they wish to recognize. The goal is to bring attention to blogs that we think are "lovely" and enjoy reading. We hope others will enjoy reading these blogs also. In order to accept the award, the nominated blogger must follow these rules:

     *Thank the person who nominated you and link back to then in your post

     *Share seven facts about yourself

     *Nominate 10 other bloggers for the award

 So here goes nothing:

1. So my blog name is D1-D2 and the reason for that is there was supposed to be two D's using this blog: Me (Dima) and my sister (Dina). I'm the eldest (of four) by the way. It was originally going to be about the two of us recording our projects, my embroidery and her artwork. That didn't happen in the end, but I kept the name.
2. I am a voracious reader since high school. I was the girl that carried a book (sometimes two) everywhere she went. I still do, but that's been replaced by a tablet/e-reader. So if I'm MIA for a while you know why. I'm probably off on a series marathon because there was a new release.
3. My favorite part about my hobby is that it allows me to combine it with something else I love: Movie/Season marathons (yes, it doesn't stop at books). I can never watch the Mummy and stop there, I have to watch the Mummy Returns right after :)
4. I love listening to K-pop. How did that happen? Well it started with Manga (Japanese comic books), which in turn brought me to Manhwa (Korean comic books), then to a Korean drama adapting one of those Manhwa's, ending in listening to the music. I have a few favorite singers/groups (IU you'll always be my favorite), one of which is Akdong Musician.
5. The smell of bananas make me nauseous. I can smell one from across the room. If you've eaten one, please keep your distance.
6. When I was younger, we lived in Sudan. I even did first and second grade there.
7. I have an Engineering Degree, Software Engineering to be exact. Which explains why everything I do has to be researched and planned. The structure I learned in Engineering fits my personality, but it also means I have a hard time lettings things flow naturally. I'm hoping needlework will help me with that.

Enough about me! Let's hear from other bloggers:

http://mrsmilkybarkidstitches.blogspot.com/

http://hokkaidokudasai.blogspot.ca/

http://kerrykatiecakes2.blogspot.ca/

http://prupertgirl.blogspot.ca/

http://moviemuse.blogspot.ca/

http://mrsxstitch.blogspot.ca/

April TUSAL

This month's TUSAL is obscured by scraps from my first ever ornament finishing. It's not actually finished, I only did one side of it. I just haven't been feeling up to it. I caught a cold last week (stupid airplanes) and just haven't had the energy to do much except re-watch Wives & Daughters.

WIPocalypse 2015 – April

I think I've re-written this post at least three times. I was planning on publishing it early, then I was going to schedule it for April fourth. None of that happened obviously as this post is now a week late. The reason for that is because I was away in CUBA! It was my first trip down south and I had a lot of packing and organization to do. A friend of mine was getting married and decided to have her wedding there. The wedding was AMAZING. They had it on the beach and the pictures look gorgeous. I was actually worried that I wouldn't enjoy it as I was going alone and I don't like sitting all day doing nothing, but I really enjoyed it. I was never alone and everyone was really nice. I met a lot of people I hope to stay in contact with :)

So onto WIPocalypse. This month's topic: Which specialty stitches do you love doing on projects? Which do you dread? I think my favorite would be the Satin stitch, I love how it looks and feels. Which stitch do I dread: French knots. Although I am getting better at them, so I don't dislike them THAT much. What I do dread are stand alone specialty stitches. You know the kind, where there is nothing around it to anchor and hide the thread. I'm OCD about the back of my fabric. If I can't figure out how to stitch something neatly I start fretting and procrastinating. It's one of the reasons Castle in the Air took so long to finish (and why the beading still hasn't been started).

No update on Bramble and the Rose. This is normally my travelling project, but I decided not to take it with me to a humid climate. Especially the dyed thread and fabric.

	No Update
Ink Circles - The Bramble and the Rose

I did more stitching with the Caron Waterlilies. I'm now stitching with the paler green thread.

Mirabilia - Tree of Hope

The dragons have still not made an appearance.

	No Update
Teresa Wentzler - Tracery Dragons

I got more work done on Donna's Fantasy Lace. I've finished the four corners and will be starting the outer border soon.

Satin Stitches - Donna's Fantasy Lace

SAL Dentelles is done and officially off my rotation.

Brodeuse Bressane - SAL Dentelles

All the stitching on Gelati al Cioccolato is also complete. I was going to try to do the finishing before I left, but after looking at the instructions... I  wasn't up to it. I'll see if I can do it this week.

Gingerbread Girl - Gelati al Cioccolato

Unless I break down and start my Ricamo Estense kit, this will be my next small to be worked on. But for now there is nothing new on it.

	No Update
Karen Dudzinski - Pulled Thread Miniature Ornate Carpet

I also added a new WIP. Satsuma Street's Pretty Little San Francisco. This is the project I took with me to Cuba. I didn't stitch a lot, I was only adding a few stitches every day. Too busy playing at the beach :)

Satsuma Street - Pretty Little San Francisco