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.

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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.

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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.

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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

SAL Dentelles Part 9 & Finale

The SAL Dentelles concluded last week with the release of part 9. The last part was a nice scallop border. I decided to make a little change by incorporating the perle cotton in certain parts, this time in the form of Rhode circles and tiny Eyelets. It was a little hard getting them just right, but once the first one was stitched the rest were easy.

I had to put the piece on the q-snaps in order to get a decent wrinkle free picture. There is a huge folding line going down the middle that I wasn't able to get rid of, so any advice would be welcome :)

And here is a picture of the back :) I love a neat back.

WIPocalypse 2015 – March

This month's topic: If money – and time – were not limiters, what projects would be on your stitching bucket list? I like this question. I think the first order of business would be to sign up as a JEC student and start Phase I of learning Japanese Embroidery. Ambitious I know, but I've always admired the technique and one day I WILL learn it :)

As far as projects, maybe finally buy a Chatelaine kit and find out what the fuss is all about lol. Every year I have a debate with myself on whether I should buy one and then never end up doing so. Or a Thea Gouverneur kit, Istanbul would be my pick. Although I really wish I could just buy the pattern (not really interested in buying a kit when I have all the DMC thread right at home). Then again if I could, it wouldn't be on this list ;)

There are also plenty of other kits for different types of embroidery (crewel, gold work,...) that I would love to get to try out.

So onto this month's update. Again, there are projects that weren't touched at all. Like Bramble and the Rose hasn't been touched and I don't think I plan on working on it next month either.

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Ink Cirlces - The Bramble and the Rose

I finished stitching all the DMC thread for the tree in Tree of Hope. I've started stitching the Caron Waterlilies, which are AMAZING as you all know. One thing is that I find it much more tiring to work with than regular cotton. I don't like seeing linear streaks of color, so there is more thinking involved when stitching with the dyed thread.

Mirabilia - Tree of Hope

Dragon Tracery is in the same boat as Bramble and the Rose. I think it will have to wait until I either finish Tree of Hope or get bored with it. Which doesn't seem likely at this point.

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Teresa Wentzler - Tracery Dragons

Donna's Fantasy Lace is my movie night project, so it's been getting a lot of stitching time. Although it doesn't look like much since I've been stitching nothing but cable stitches for a month. I'm at the last row now, so I'll be able to move on to a different section very soon.

Satin Stitches - Donna's Fantasy Lace

SAL Dentelles I think got the most work done. I currently have 8 parts stitched. I honestly could have finished it in time for WIPocalypse (part 9 came out Monday), but I didn't really feel like working on it. It will get done in the next few days.

Brodeuse Bressane - SAL Dentelles

Here is what I worked on instead. All my fan filling stitches are done. I'm hoping to have this done for the next WIPocalypse post. No guarantee it will be finished as an ornament though.

Gingerbread Girl - Gelati al Cioccolato

No work done on the Miniature Carpet. Maybe after Gelati al Cioccolato is done?

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Karen Dudzinski - Pulled Thread Miniature Ornate Carpet

SAL Dentelles Part 8

This week I finished the section early. I even managed to make it in time to be in Esther's post.

It started out badly on Thursday, I barely started and had to frog it three times. So I decided instead of cross stitching the top row of flowers (no idea what they are), I replaced them with eyelets (they look like daisies to me). I also decided to leave out the back-stitches that go inside the boxes. I liked the simplicity of it.

Here it is overall. It doesn't look like much in the picture, it looks better in sunlight.

I received the last part this morning. I would like to say I'll work on it tonight, but I probably won't. Instead I want to work on Gelati al Cioccolato by Kathryn Drummond.

I worked on it back in December, but was having trouble understanding the instructions for the fan filling. Kathryn was kind enough to make a great video on punto antico fan filling. And so I was able to make my first one this weekend. Check out the video if you are interested and subscribe to her channel. She says she plans to make more videos like these.

SAL Dentelles Part 7

Last week's section for SAL Dentelles was much bigger. It is very frilly and "vintage" with two borders of flowers covered by lace.

The first border I covered with a woven lattice stitch. An idea I borrowed from Mrs Milkybar Kid (click on the link to see her version). For the bottom border I decided to stitch all the vertical stitches first. I almost stopped at this point because it looks pretty on it's own, but I went ahead and covered it with the filet lace. I did this by passing the thread beneath the vertical stitches instead of into the fabric.

 

We're nearing the end of the SAL, with 2 parts left to go. This means that very soon I'll be able to stitch more on my other WIPs :)

SAL Dentelles Part 6

Nothing much to say on this update.

I do have to admit one thing: I bought more stash (tsk, tsk). Virtual Stitches (the EAC chapter I belong to) was having a stash sale where members put up things for sale that they didn't want anymore. I wasn't going to buy, honest! But I saw an Estense Embroidery kit that I just had to have. I already own the book and I figure this is a good way to start this type of embroidery.

SAL Dentelles Part 5

I'm sensing a trend for this SAL. I didn't start part 5 until Friday (I was too happy stitching Tree of Hope) and rushed to finish it Saturday night.

I think this can be considered the center of the piece, since there are 4 bands left. Part 5 was smaller than the previous one and only contained cross stitches, but I decided that I wanted to include some perle cotton. So I looked online for specialty stitches that looked like hearts to replace the cross stitched one. I remembered seeing something on a blog that would work. Luckily, there were some diagrams online that I was able to use (I still had to redo it three times before I got the count right).

In the empty space on either side of the heart I decided to backstitch my initials and I whipped stitched them to give them a curve. I learned this technique at the Creative Festival last year and was happy to have it in my stitching arsenal :)

WIPocalypse 2015 – February

This month's topic: How do you overcome that feeling that you’re in a rut with a particular project? So far, I've been coping with it by always having multiple WIPs and I try to have them be as different from each other as possible. That way if I'm bored of one or am unable to stitch on it, I can switch to a different one. I also have projects that can be only stitched at my desk and others that can be stitched anywhere. Sometimes a change in stitching location also helps with getting over feeling "in a rut".

I think I picked too many WIPs for WIPocalypse, because I only worked on three of the projects.

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Ink Cirlces - The Bramble and the Rose

Mirabilia - Tree of Hope

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Teresa Wentzler - Tracery Dragons

Satin Stitches - Donna's Fantasy Lace

Brodeuse Bressane - SAL Dentelles

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Gingerbread Girl - Gelati al Cioccolato

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Karen Dudzinski - Pulled Thread Miniature Ornate Carpet

Now I wish I can say that next WIPocalypse I will have worked on my other WIPs, but I'm not sure that's going to happen. I'm having too much fun stitching on Tree of Hope and Donna's Fantasy Lace, and SAL Dentelles is almost done so I can't stop now.