WIPocalypse 2015 – July #2

This month's topic: What makes you pick up a long-abandoned UFO rather than beginning a new piece? (this question comes to us via Paula) It all comes down to guilt. It's the only reason Flower Patch was ever finished. That and lack of space. All my stitching stuff is stored in my room and I can't really have multiple projects on different frames in there. Also, I only have one set of frames per size, so if a project is on scroll bars, I have to finish that one before I can put in another one. Saying all that, I'm not very qualified to answer that question since the oldest any of my WIPs have gone was 2 years.

Still nothing on Bramble and the Rose.

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Ink Circles - The Bramble and the Rose

I spent more time on Tree of Hope. I finished stitching the tree...

Mirabilia - Tree of Hope

And then started on the maiden on the right of the tree.

I still haven't touched Tracery Dragons.

	No Update
Teresa Wentzler - Tracery Dragons

I finished the button hole border on Fantasy Lace and started stitching the eyelets, but didn't get very far.

Satin Stitches - Donna's Fantasy Lace

You can't really see it, but here are the eyelets.

Since I finished Pretty Little San Francisco I decided to start another "small" WIP. This is a schwalm piece from Inspiration magazines issue #86 called Eidelweiss.

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Deborah Love - Eidelweiss

Stitchy Bug

It's been a week and four days since my lamp stopped working. I tried stitching with my small craft lamp but it was too dark, so I haven't really stitched on anything in a while. I spent my time reading instead. I asked my dad yesterday and he says he will hopefully have it working by this weekend no guarantees though.

But wait! As if Melanie knew that I was going to lose my stitchy bug, she sent me one of hers. I got it in the mail this week with a lovely Nora Corbett card.

Here is a close of the stitchy bug needle minder. Hopefully it will bring me luck and lots of stitchy time :) Thanks Melanie!

Wishful Thinking

I guess I didn't cross my fingers hard enough. There was no stitching for me last night. I got home and the first thing I did was plug in the new bulb I bought, and... no light. The bulb was making a weird ringing sound, so I figured something was wrong with it. Back to Michaels I went to switch it for another one, tried it again and still no light. My dad is now in the process of dissecting it right now.

I had posted an image of the light bulb on Instagram and got back some interesting remarks from one stitcher. Carolskorner0 was saying that all the replacement light bulbs she ever bought for her Ottlite never worked and she's had to throw away the lamp entirely. Bbrown426 on the other hand loves her Ottlite and has several (five to be exact). Has anyone else experienced this issue with replacement bulbs? The one I have at home right now is the 13w craft organizer.

In the meantime, I will be using my old (much smaller) desk lamp for stitching. But this means Eidelweiss will be on hiatus until my lamp is fixed or I get a new one. My old lamp just doesn't give a strong enough light for white on white stitching.

Weekend Stitching

This weekend was nicely productive. Friday, I sat down and really powered through Eidelweiss. It doesn't look exactly like the one pictured in the magazine, but that is because I'm stitching on a different count. I'm learning to let go :)

Since I did so well, I rewarded myself with some time on Tree of Hope.

I was only planning to work on it Saturday evening and then Sunday I would go back to Eidelweiss. Unfortunately, that's when my OttLite stopped working. I guess it's been almost 10,000 hours since I bought my lamp and it was time for a new bulb.

I passed by the Michaels near my office at lunch time to get a new one. Did you know those things cost $39.99!? Good thing I had a 40% off coupon. Next time, I'll just order it from Amazon (if I remember). They have them listed for $19.99.

Crossing my fingers I get uninterrupted stitching time tonight.

July TUSAL

Nothing much to say for this month's TUSAL, so I'll just leave it with an update on my WIPs.

I still have two petals to go. I was bad and skipped yesterdays (so tired).

When I was good though, and stitched that day's petal, I got to stitch on Tree of Hope. I started on the skin, which is stitched 1 over 1 on the 32 count fabric.

Eidelweiss Part 3 - Update 1

Part 3 will have two updates, because I'm not actually done on this part. I think this flower will take a few days to finish.

Starting with the center. After doing the reverse chain and coral stitch outline, the center was filled with a satin stitch filling. It wasn't very clear in the directions, but I could see in the picture of the finished project that the satin stitch blocks sort of overlapped. In other words, each row is stitched one thread lower so that they are in between two blocks.

Again the petals are outlined. One thing to mention: From classes I've taken, all the instructors agreed that (no matter what type of embroidery technique) you should stitch the items that are in the back first and then do the ones in the front. This pattern doesn't do that. I've been stitching the flowers first and then the stamens and then eventually the stems. What I should have done was stitch the stems first, then the stamens, flower petals and then flower center. Not sure how that affects the final look, but for the petals in this flower, I did follow that rule.

Once I finished the outline, I could start on the filling stitch. This time it's Eyelets. I already mentioned in my previous post that I dislike them. Not because they're hard or anything. They're just really time consuming and boring, like leaves.

To make my eyelets with a nice big open center, I used a few tips I picked up from other stitchers and books.

1. Find your center.
2. Enlarge it by carefully pushing an awl through the center.
3. Start stitching the eyelets in alternating holes, i.e. stitch one stitch skip the next, making sure to pull on the thread to enlarge the hole. What I do is as I'm preparing to go back into the center, I hold the thread tightly away so it doesn't loosen the previous stitch.
4. Do that until you reach the beginning and then go back around filling in the missing stitches

It's better to use a sewing motion, but I found it really awkward with the hoop. I could never get my needle back out where it should. instead I used a stabbing motion, but didn't pull on the thread till my needle was back out of the fabric.

So far I've stitched three petals, I still have four more. I really should just power through them, but I feel my mojo slipping just looking at them. Here's to hoping the next few days are productive.

Tree of Hope: The Tree is Finished!

I still can't believe. This tree felt like it was taking forever. It was going super fast at the beginning, but once I started on the leaves... I think leaves are my cross stitch weakness, those and eyelets (more on that later).

Here it is all done. I can finally unwind the fabric to start a different section. I looked at the pattern and I think I will start on the maiden on the right. Her hand seems closest to the tree.

One thing I have to make sure not to do, is lose myself in this piece and neglect Eidelweiss.