A Very Merry Belated TUSAL to You!

It's been, shall we say, insanity at work the last month or so.  Too many projects, not near enough people.  I think I missed last months's TUSAL completely, so today's picture is 2 month's worth of orts.

 

All that black is from my latest start: Ink Circle's BoINK.  I started with the black outlines and I've used up most of a brand new skene already and I'm only through the top third of the pattern.  You can also see some sparkly #4 braid from the latest step of Shenandoah Spring.

Kinda Sad Today

Yesterday I went to my LNS, only to discover that it was their last day.  :(  The owner was closing down and wouldn't sell for some reason.  (That's what I heard from other customers, so take that with a pinch or two of salt)

I really liked that shop, and not only because it was the closest one to me that I know of.  The ladies in the shop were always so helpful and friendly.  They also, and this is very important, knew me by name.  As in, I would be greeted with "Hi Amie!" when I came in the door.  I'm going to miss all of them.

They were having a massive sale, so I bought what I could remember I wanted/needed that was still in stock.  And here's a bonus for being a known loyal customer: after the regular discounts were applied (10% frequent customer club-thingy and 60% store closing discount) I got an extra 10% because the lady ringing me up knew me as an actual regular and not someone who heard they were closing and decended like a vulture to pick over the remains.

*ahem*  Sorry, got a little off tangent there.

I made out like a bandit, and I'm feeling a little bit conflicted by that at the moment.  On the one hand, score! and on the other, wah-my-store-is-gone!  But I guess mostly I'm going to miss them.

Quick TUSAL Post Today!



I can't beleive it's already TUSAL time again! Where do the days go?  I'm having to work a lot of extra time right now*, so I've only got the photo of my Oorts today.  When things calm down later next week I'll post the projects that contributed to the jar.



Le Pile d'Oorts added to Jar

 

Le Pile d'Oorts

 

*Which is probably where the days are going.

288 Squares of 604



Shenandoah Spring DebBee's Designs

I am so over DMC 604.  Seriously.  Our time together was special, but now we must both accept that it is time to move on. 

Well, hello there, Kreinik #4 Braid.  Come here often?

C'est fini!

Just in time to bring up to work for March, I have finished Lizzie*Kate's Spring Alphabet.  Yay!

Spring Alphabet by Lizzie*Kate
2 over 1 on 16 18 ct Oatmeal Aida
Finished 2012-02-26

That's a standard 8x10 frame to give you an idea of size.

I made a few tweaks here and there per my own personal preference--but nothing radical.  It's stitched using the DMC colors called for except for a different light green.  I thought the one on the list was too close to the dark green and didn't look enough like the overdyed used in the model.

I really like this series.  They are easy to stitch (no fractionals, specials, or back stitching) and you don't have to invest in a bunch of specialty threads to get almost the same look as the model.  Although it does help to not start too far down on your fabric.  *eyeroll*  I think I will be diving right in to the next one (Summer) and keep these as my Friday night Ghost Adventures stitch.

ETA:  Oopsie!  That's 18 ct Oatmeal Aida.  Sorry about that!

Lots and none at all

O hai!  It's TUSAL Time!  Here's where we stand as of last night:


Cat Inserted For Scale

That sad little pile is all I've collected in the past month.  The thing is, I've actually done quite a lot of stitching.  I just seem to have ends long enough to continue stitching with most of the time so they get wound back on the bobbins.
The projects contributing to that sad little pile:



Shenandoah Spring - DebBee's Designs

Where the squares stop is where my skein of DMC604 ran out.  The brand new, just for this project and no other skein.  Since these stitches used 3 plies, that means there's 16+ yards of pink in those squares.  I won't lie--I eagerly anticipate the end of the DMC604 squares.

Spring Alphabet - Lizzie*Kate

This one is coming along nicely.  I'm still loving the bright colors!  I was mistaken last time in that I have changed one of the colors.  I am stitching this in the DMC substitutions and the two greens were too close for my liking.  So I changed the lighter one to another color that looked (to me) more like the one in the picture.



Cross Stitch Clock - The World of Cross Stitching #177

Blue!  That blue circle is where the clock bits go when this is finished.



Alphabet Blocks - Carriage House Samplings
1 over 1 on 28 ct Tan Linen

Yep, you read that right--1 over 1 on 28 ct.  This is the smallest count I can stitch without magnification.  Still need a hella bright light to do it.  I'm stitching it in the DMC colors, but I'm totally copying the cover model and using WDW Whiskey for the backgrounds of the words.

I'm still dithering over whether or not to restart America Land That I Love.  I did purchase a new piece of fabric for it.  But I haven't taken the old one off the scroll rods yet.  So...I dunno.

It's helpul when my brain works

I figured out today that the DFWCG Steampunk Tea is actually after All-Con, as opposed to the previously held belief that it is before.

That sound you hear?  That's the grinding of costuming gears as they make the abrupt and slightly painful change from Tea to Apocalypse.  I now have to get serious about Minerva's new outfit and accoutrecrap.

To Do:
- Order pattern for outfit
- Acquire fabric for outfit
- Make outfit
- Draft pattern for yardstick/ruler/quiver thingy
- Find pattern for pencil/bracer thingy (I think it's in storage)
- Make thingies
- Find and/or acquire doohickeys to live in/on the thingies

And then I have to figure out what I'm wearing the rest of the con.

TUSAL and WIP Report

It's the first TUSAL report of 2012!  Not a lot so far, but I've not been stitching much. 

TUSAL - January 2012

Mostly reds and pinks from my Needlepoint project.

And now for the WIPs which contributed to the ORT jar:


Shenandoah Spring by DebBee's Designs - Red Colorway

I confess, when I first saw this pattern in the blue/green colorway I did not care for it (and I am so very much a blue/green person).  I think maybe because with the teal-ish canvas I couldn't see the stitches very well--it all kind of blended together.  But when I saw the red colorway at my LNS I was all over it.  The contrasting canvas makes the stitches pop (at least to my eyes).  This is my first "real" needlework project and I was a bit intimidated by it at first.  Her instructions are really easy to follow, though.  I'm enjoying it immensely despite the monotony of the current stitch.  There are 4 rows of that pink stitch all the way around the center square.  I will be a Laying Queen by the time I'm finished with it.  :)



Cross Stitch Clock - The World of Cross Stitching #177
2 over 2 on white 28ct evenweave

I started this one last year, got a little way in and then put it down.  I'm not sure why because it's a really pretty design--bright and happy!  I guess I was waiting for the dreary days to return or something.  Now I'm really digging it again.  Because it's bright and happy!



Spring Alphabet - Lizzie*Kate
2 over 1 on 16ct oatmeal Aida

After the fiasco with the Winter Alphabet, I decided to move on to the next season.  Again, bright and happy, yay!  I don't think I've made any color changes this time.  This is my Ghost Adventures stitch project.  The Friday night marathon is long enough that I can get 3-4 letters done. 




 And here is my first finish of the year.  This is from a British cross stitch magazine, but I forgot to write down which one and which issue (and it's at home).  Sometime this week I need to put it in it's frame so I can bring it up to work for February.

I'm not sure if I need talking down or not

One of my long-term WIPs is 'America Land That I Love' by Jean Farish (I got it when it was a free project on her no-longer-in-existence web site).  I've been working on it off and on for almost a decade.  I just recently finished Michigan. 

'America Land That I Love' - Jean Farish
2-over-1 on antique white 16 ct aida

It looks nice and all, but I'd be lying if I said I was completely happy with it.  When I started this I was limited to Hobby Lobby, Michael's, and JoAnns for supplies.  The antique white 16 ct was, like, soooo kewl! from the viewpoint of only-ever-used-white-14-ct younger me.

Lately I've been seriously considering starting over.  That's right--I'm thinking of chucking ten years' worth of work.  I think it could be so much nicer on better fabric (like 32 or 36 ct hand-dyed evenweave).  And some of those squares could use a tweaking of the design.  Not much tweaking, mind you.  Mostly some color changes.

Am I crazy to even be considering this?  I do want to finish it because it is a great pattern; but it's getting really difficult to make myself work on it.  And I do have to force myself--it never gets picked up otherwise.  Isn't that at least as big a cross stitching sin as starting over?