Mirabilia RR and New Little Start

I helped out Kaye a little bit and finished up her section on the Mirabilia RR. Her's is the one on top and it's from Shakespeare's Fairies. I'll be starting my section today probably.

While I was in talks with Deb, the owner of the above Round Robin, about what I was going to stitch in my section, I decided to start a little something new. It's the Santa Ice Cream cone ornament from the new Gift of Stitching magazine. I didn't have mint green fabric so I'm using Silkweaver's Spring.

Some New Starts

Here's my tiny little start on Glendon Place's Give Thanks

Thanks to Kaye...I bought Blackbird Design's book Joyeux Noel. It's typically not my style. I started that cardinal design. You can do the verse in french or english. Since I live in South Louisiana I'll be doing it in French. I started it Friday night and got this much done.



And don't forget everyone Missy has a few more days left on her Halloween give away!!

Wow

It's been like 3 months. That's pretty sad. I've been in a bit of a slump. I'll do better...maybe :)

Later I'll post some pictures of some new stuff I got framed, but for now I wanted to pass on that Missy is having a fun give away for Halloween.

Blackbird Design Freebie

Look at me. Another freebie finish in a week! I finished it last night. It's stitched on 28 ct. Blush linen from Silkweaver. That's one of their really old colors. I doubt they still make it. The thread is Grape Juice Belle Soie from Crescent Colors. As a warning...it will dye your fingernails blue. WAIT...hold the phone LOL I didn't finish...look at that little motif that's not finished. What's wrong with me? LOL

Hmmmm

At times I kinda like it. It makes me think of something old and coppery green...like I'm making an instant antique. It makes me think of New Orleans for some odd reason. I don't know why exactly. Maybe because the fabic is the color of mold maybe LOL I don't know what other color fabric I'd use with that thread though. I think white would be too light. I think it needs a dark color fabric.

Freebie Finish

Freebie link is in the post below. Again stitched on Parkland linen and stitched with CC Steamed Broccoli thread. I finished it last night stitching at my LNS. I had a nice time.

I found this thread and it does match with this fabric despite the pictures. I was having a hard time getting an accurate representation on the colors. The purple in the thread is not as nearly as pronounced as it look in the picture. I'm just wondering if there's enough contrast between the thread and the fabric. I'm thinking about using it for that Ink Circles pattern in Gift of Stitching...that Rose and Brambles or whatever it's called.

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Been Awhile

Sorry bout that. I've actually been working for a change. Sorta LOL I finished up Kaye's Mirabilia RR. I've been working on this little freebie. I'm stitching it on 28 ct. Parkland linen from Silkweaver with Crescent Colors Steamed Broccoli. I'll post a picture when I'm done.

Monday Thursday Whatever

I said I'd post a WIP pic of Circle of Friends on Monday, but here I am doing it on Thursday. How rude is that? LOL Here's what I have so far. This is a piece of Shadowbrook from Silkweaver. I asked them to make it a little darker than normal. I thought COF needed a foresty sort of look. I keep going back and forth on the blue dress. The peach dress colors and the yellow dress colors look really good with the fabric. I'm kind of iffy about the blue dress colors. I guess it'll work out in the end. The picture makes it look like the fabric kinda has an aqua undertone to it, but its definitely not, it's forest green and brown.

Weekend Stitching

I have a thyroid problem and for a long time its been under control, but for the last 6 months or so it hasn't been and I've been really tired and my stitching has been kind of suffering a bit. Finally started new medication this week and I'm slowly starting to feel better. I got some quiet time Saturday and managed to not sleep it away LOL I got a good start on Kaye's RR. It will eventually be Mermaid of Atlantis.

And I worked a little more on Maria's M. I finally finished those evil wings. Now I just need to do all the backstitchy stuff and the beading. However, I just wasn't in the mood for that.

What I really wanted to do after all that was to start one of my (way too) many peacock patterns but I couldn't find fabric that was working with the patterns. So, I started Mirabilia's Circle of Friends. I'll post a picture of that tomorrow or so. I want to get several of the colors on the fabric before I get opinions on how the fabric is looking.

A Request

I need some Espresso Waterlilies fairly quickly. Either about a 18" length would be great or I could trade a skein of silk or something. Any help would be appreciated!

Woux Houx

Omigosh...I couldn't handle anymore. I think I can finally sleep tonight LOL

Proof

I've been stitching a little bit here and there. It's a really sucky picture, but it's good enough for ransom purposes I suppose lol

The fabric is actually Silkweaver's Mountain Rose. Maria picked it out herself. She wanted it on pink fabric...so pink fabric she got. This is the 3rd Letter Fairy I've stitched and I have to say I really hate the wings on these things. I don't know what it is about them, but I just really don't like them.

Hungover

I haven't been intentionally neglecting my blog. Summer + 3 kids = BUSY. Softball is FINALLY finally finally over. I couldn't handle anymore tournaments. Last week they had Cheerleading camp. Friday we had a birthday party then a cheerleading show. Then Saturday hubby took the girls swimming so I could clean the house...then just as I finished there was a huge plumbing crisis in the kitchen...water was everywhere. Ladies, I handled it all by myself without the aid of a plumber or a man LOL Go me! Sunday, church, lunch, another birthday party. That one ended up lasting 6 hours. Sitting in the sun...in South Louisiana...it was what 95 degrees yesterday? I rarely drink but when the daiquiris came out I indulged. I'm a little hungover today. But I got to know my neighbors better, got caught up on the gossip and got invited to the friday night parties that my husband always spies on LOL So, I guess it was worth it.

I have been stitching a little bit. I've been working on Mirabilia's M. I just have the wings and the beads to do and I'll be finished. And I have Kaye's Mirabilia RR now.

I'm Here

I'm sooo busy. Last week we went on vacation to Orange Beach, Alabama. This week is playing catch up. I'll try to post for real when I have some time.

Vindication!

That's extreme, but I got a flower! I decided a couple of months ago that I was going to grow some stuff from seeds. Everyone told me that it was difficult to do around here for every reason under the sun and just buy plants....blah blah blah. Well, they were right but I am too stubborn to listen or admit defeat. So, my first attempt was a mess. I used those little seed starter thingies and those are just stupid. The seeds washed out and sprouted everywhere but where they were supposed and died quickly. I managed to save a few. A couple of morning glories and about 4 tomato plants which are still growing...I'm curious to see if they'll produce eventually. This morning I woke up to this.

I did buy a few plants for the girls. I let them pick out their own pots and their own flowers. Poor Eva's isn't doing all that great, it needs to be repotted. Lauren and Maria's are doing well though.

And I got myself some calla lilies, but I couldn't decide where I wanted to put them in the yard and one wasn't doing well in the pot it came in so I repotted them until I decide what to do with them. These Velvet Clover were just too interesting to pass up too. They're doing well in the flower bed. I took the picture in the morning so they weren't blooming but they have cute little white flowers in the afternoons.

And proof that "Try, try again" is always the best policy and that I AM stubborn (and do always get my way eventually lol) These are various flowers and herbs...and you will notice that they ARE sprouting....IN the pots, regular pots in regular dirt LOL

And for a bonus...if someone can tell me the name of this flower...it grows in abundance down here, but I don't know what it's called. We have a huge clump of it in our yard and it's blooming like crazy right now. I'm really proud of it...not that I did anything to make it look good, but I'll take credit anyway.

Mirabilia RR Start

I finally got finished with my Mirabilia Round Robin. Not finished....got it ready to be started. I finished the frames and my section last night. I chose Fairy Treasures. She has a lot of shininess to her and she's rarely stitched, so I felt bad she's left out so often. She's charted with her eyes closed and that wasn't going to work. Since she has sort of that Egyptian feel and I recently watched Cleopatra I went with that sort of eye look, I'm not entirely happy with it, but I think it'll probably grow on me. And I switched out the gold beads for purple because gold and silver just doesn't work for me. My camera batteries died, so here's a pic taken with my cellphone which isn't great, but you get the idea.

Jill Rensel Framing

I sent some stuff to Jill Rensel for framing and she emailed me pics of the finished pieces.

What Happens When You Take a Day Off

I took yesterday off because it was kindergarten registration day and I seemed to recall it took a long time to register Eva so I figured it would take twice as long to register 2 kids. That wasn't really true, but it was still a good reason to take a day off work.



I had pulled out my Mirabilia charts to decide what pattern I wanted to do for my round robin and decided since she was so treasure intensive I should do Blossom Harvest, but as I started pondering the chart I decided that perhaps I needed to rethink restarting it. I had started it in the past but didn't like how it was coming out. It was on 28 ct natural linen (this was in the dark days before hand dyed linen) and with all that white thread it wasn't looking good.



So I woke up yesterday with a bad case of startitis and a whole day off, minus the registration time. I pulled out Blossom Harvest and damn it all to hell I didn't have any fabric that was working! It was 8 am. I decided Marjean should be up at that time of the morning but she didn't answer her phone. Then I called Kaye told her to get her ass out of bed because I needed fabric! Isn't it great to have stitchy friends so close by? And Kaye came through. She had a lovely piece of Sugar Maple Fabric Abracadabra. We had a lovely afternoon of stitching and I got a good start on Blossom Harvest.

Rant

The exclamation is "Voila!". It's French. It's not Walla or Wal-la or Wall-a or whatever other bastardization I've seen over the years. It's a V people!

HAED Attempt

As for what I'm stitching now, I started Butterfly Keeper from HAED. I've never done one before and thought it was time to take up the challenge. I was doing pretty well. Until I found a section that was off. DAMN! And it was black thread on white fabric. DOUBLE DAMN! I was not a happy camper. I had to put it away for a couple of days. I finally snipped it out last night.

In the meantime I was working on the frames for the next Mirabilia RR. Yes, another one. I'm a sucker for punishment. LOL This one will go well. Missy has commanded it. Plus, I think we're all pretty sensitive to what happened last time. I have a beeeeautiful Silkweaver solo. I've been stitching them out and figuring out how to make it "shimmer induced" without making it too terribly tacky.

Venetian Opulence Finished!!

After about 3 1/2 months VO is finished. I'm having issues with the pictures. I used my dad's camera and I'm not too skilled with it, it's one of those uber professional things and I'm used to like a throw away kind. I did actually iron it, but I took the pictures outside on a towel and the towel wouldn't lay flat. It's stitched on 32 ct. Rock Quarry opalescent linen from Silkweaver which is unfortunately kind of washed out in these pictures.

I found that I needed approximately 4 skeins of 3771...like 3 1/2 at least. 2 skeins 869 and 680. I also used exactly a full skein of 814 so if you're a floss waster or stitching on 28 ct. fabric you might need two of those. I got away with one pack of the 3037 beads but there were exactly 2 beads leftover. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Now I need to get it framed!

Birthday

Well the girls have wrapped up birthday week. They had a blast and were spoiled rotten by everyone. I loved this pic and thought it pretty much summed up everything

I know it's been awhile...

I've been stitching and stitching and stitching LOL Actually, most of my time was taken up by the fact that everyone in the family took turns being sick this month so that someone was pretty much sick for the entire month of March. Eva started softball this month as well. Stitching at the park didn't go so well, it'll be better when it's not so windy.

To make everyone who has known me since the twins were born feel old....their birthday is tomorrow....and they'll be 5 years old! I really didn't think I'd last that long with 3 kids. Early on I was pretty sure I was going to be committed.

My goal was to finish VO by today, but I didn't make that goal. If I'm persistent, hopefully only a few more days.

And if you're still reading...there's some discussion on getting another Mirabilia RR started over on the Round Robin board.

VO Update

Russian Peacock....again!

Remember that Russian Peacock I did awhile back? Well I managed to get the manufacturer. It's Riolis. Check out their site, they have some nice patterns/kits. However, I don't see any distributers listed. I contacted the ebay seller to order another kit for me...and she said she would...so yay! That makes me happy.

Need Some Wisdom

A thread in my fabric (on Venetian Opulence) got cut some how. It's just one thread, but it's in a spot where it's not going to be covered with stitching and it's not going to be covered by the mat. It's too close to the actual stitching. So far it's not doing anything. Just sitting there behaving. Is there any kind of glue or something that I could apply to the back to keep the threads in place? I was considering some acid free tape, just a little piece. I don't know, any ideas?

Lauren's L

I started this Wednesday or Thursday and finished up this afternoon. Stitched on 32 ct. Lemon Zest Lugana from Silkweaver. I made some modifications to the pattern. And I'll pass along the pattern to the first person to email me saying they want it. ***it's spoken for****

True Blue Heart

I have a used chart of Just Nan's True Blue Heart that I'm willing to send to whoever wants to give it a good home. I've used the little flower and heart charms that came with it, but there are a few left over clear beads that I'll send along. Just shoot me an email at autumn.crochet@gmail.com and it'll be first come first serve.

Round Robin Goodness

I finally got my act together and finished Kaye's Mirabilia RR.

Here's a pic of her entire RR

And here's Shannon's Band Sampler RR so far...

And another VO update

Jeans Rant

Why is buying jeans soooo difficult? And why is there no consistency is sizing. Like size A might fit fine in one pair, be waaaay too big in another and too small in another. So frustrating. I'm 5'6". Petite jeans are way too short. Average length used to be just fine. Now I find they're way too long. And it seems like the only choices are like the skinny jeans (which would look utterly ridiculous on me) and bootcut or flare leg. Whatever happened to just plain ole straightish leg? I've been wearing Gloria Vanderbilt jeans and I'm down to one pair. After trying to find something else I went back to GV. Since I bought the old pairs I've gained like 20 lbs, yuck, but anyway...I ended up having to buy a size smaller and they're still a little TOO big. Vanity sizing has gotten a little out of hand I think. And well, I felt like I needed to indulge a bit in some more trendy type jeans and bought some Silver brand jeans. I had forgotten how nice designer jeans can feel. Like buttah.

Nashville Market

I was bad. I ordered a lot. Most of the Just Nans...most of the Sweetheart Trees...and some other things LOL "Some other things" encompasses more than I wish to divulge. In short, I should have a large stash delivery sometime soon hopefully.

More VO

I got tired of stitching all that brown arch area so I rewarded myself with some below the fold stitching. I think the bottom half of the dress will probably take forever.

And check out my finger. I woke up with it like that yesterday. It looks a lot worse in person LOL I suspect it's fractured, but I don't know what I did to it. I've fractured and/or broken multiple fingers multiple times. But it's straight and I can bend it at the knuckle and it really doesn't hurt unless I touch it so I'll just watch it for now.

More Mardi Gras Ball Pics

There's some of me in this one. Please over look my flat hair and the fact that I might have been a wee bit tipsy by the time those pictures were taken.

Mardi Gras Ball

I went to my first Mardi Gras Ball Saturday night for the Krewe of Excalibur. It was SO much fun. There's only one picture of me in this set of pictures and that was before I was dressed up (2nd pic). My mom was one of the Maids this year so she had tables to decorate and that's what I'm doing in those pictures. Here's a couple of her in the costume she wore for the Ball and this is what she will be wearing in the Parade. The feathers and all of that are all part of the costure, it's not a back drop. She keeps it all except the feather part which goes to a museum or something.

As a bit of FYI, they are the Krewe of Excalibur and their theme this year was Camelot. Each of the maids represented a song from the movie Camelot. Their costumes are reflective of the song they represent. My mom's was Remember Me or something like that LOL I'm a terrible daughter for not remembering. I'm pretty sure I'm going to join the Krewe for next year's parade. I've really enjoyed all the events I've gone to and the people I've met. It's expensive to join, but I'll figure all that out later LOL

Oh and here's my dad. The sight of him dressed up like that was really shocking LOL That's what he will wear in the parade plus a mask and hat.

VO Update

Isn't she so pretty?? I'm going to have to redo the backstitching on her hand...looks a little freaky. So far I haven't made any changes other than I gave her an eyeball, it was just charted flesh color and that would have looked really freaky...and I plumped up her eyelashes. I've really enjoyed stitching on this. It's really gotten me back into stitching finally!

Venetian Opulence

Well, I was feeling pretty good about my progress until I started taking some pictures. Now I'm depressed LOL I started Wednesday evening and this is my progress as of this morning. It's stitched on 32 ct. Silkweaver Rock Quarry opalescent linen.

Christmas was good, New Years was good. That's about all there is to say about that. I've been stitching somewhat obsessively on Venetian Opulence since Wednesday. Hope to post a pic soon...