Final New Stash of the Year!

Hello one and all!

I intend to join in with Stitch From Stash next year, so as I still have some birthday money left over (and I know my mum wants to buy me some stash for Christmas) I decided to have a final splurge on charts before being tied down to a budget. Also I have a stinking cold and feel awful so the retail therapy has been good medicine for my recovery!!!

I naughtily bought:

Rabnann (ebay)

Elephant Herd

Stitch count 248 wide by 174 high

theworldinstitches (etsy)

The Four Harry Potter Houses

Stitch counts 95-97 wide by 117-118 high

UAHomeMadeStudio (etsy)

Winter Owl

Stitch count 88 wide by 87 high

UnconventionalX (etsy)

OMG Tigger is Out

Stitch count 162 wide by 200 hig

This is the most expensive single chart I have ever bought. I just love the realistic-looking raindrops and the sadness of the cat so it had to be MINE! It is definitely going to be started once I have completed my latest stint on Dolphin Ruins and it already has a WIP progress bar waiting to be filled!

Gloria and Pat

Young'uns

Stitch counts 71-149 wide by 73-124 high

How cute are these?! They are not as small as I thought they would be, measuring about 100 x 100 but I don't care. I love and want to stitch them all!

Love Thy Thread
Lyx
Stitch count 170 wide by 170 high

So that's it! I certainly don't NEED any more charts. I just have to force myself not to look ever ever ever ever ever ever again!

I hope all of your Christmas preparations are going well. We've still got the tree and a few more decorations to put up but there's plenty of time yet. We tend to do a little bit each day rather than all at once as it gives the children something to look forward to when they come home from school.

Until next time.....

All the best and

Happy stitching :)

Rachel x

Dolphin Ruins - 40 hours

Hello all!

First of all a big thank you (I think!) to everybody who left comments about stitching on linen. I'm more confused than ever now as apparently linen is best stitched by hand, in a hoop, in q-snaps or on the Millennium frame! Looks like it'll just have to be trial and error to see which is best suited to me. Whatever the case, Sherlock will be started very soon.

In the meantime, I'm continuing to plod along on Dolphin Ruins, trying to fill in some of the gaps and complete the top of the arch.

After 30 hours

After 40 hours

I'm going to continue for another 10 hours and then put it away for a while as I desperately need a change from 10 different shades of blue!

Stitching-wise I've got lots of things planned for the New Year which will be revealed shortly - although the more eagle-eyed among you may have already noticed a new page tab at the top of my blog.....

I'll be back soon with more news.

All the best and
Happy stitching :)
Rachel x

Autumnal Abstract - winner!

Hello bloggers!

Just a short post (which I was supposed to do yesterday - sorry!) to announce that the winner of my precious Autumnal Abstract chart is.....

Miamina!

Congratulations Miamina and commiserations to Linda and Cinzia who I know both desperately wanted the chart. Perhaps if you are lucky, it may get passed on to you afterwards.....

So, Miamina, if you would like to email me with an address to post it to I shall send it off forthwith.

All the best and
Happy stitching :)
Rachel x

Project Restart - help and advice please!

Hello all!

WARNING: V-E-R-Y  L-O-N-G post alert!

A few months ago I mentioned that I would be restarting one of my current WIPs when the time was right. Well, that time is now and the project is..... *drum roll please* .....Sherlock aka Scarlet Macaw Preening.

You may recall that I was not happy with the hand-dyed fabric and after 20 hours of stitching I was hating it more and more. The fabric had also obviously stretched during the dyeing process and was measuring 15ct making the project even bigger than I had anticipated and the thread coverage poorer! So I put dear old Sherlock away and started searching for an alternative fabric, regardless of expense.

I had a successful find at The Crafty Kitten. Dawn was SO helpful and obliging that I can't thank her enough! She sent sample pictures of how various fabrics would take the dyes and cut the piece of fabric to my specified size. So, thank you, thank you, thank you Dawn! You're a star!

As a reminder, here's Sherlock on the original fabric:

 16ct (15ct!) hand dyed Buttered Almond by Silkweaver Fabrics (boring, dull and hardly mottled)

And this is him alongside his new fabric:

32ct hand-dyed Autumn Woodland Belfast Linen by The Crafty Kitten (mottled and colourful)

The fabric pictured is the full size 30" x 40" so that's exactly how Sherlock will transfer to the finished piece (I'm not stitching the background). The blue is slightly more subtle than in the photo and the whole fabric has more of a khaki feel but even with colour adjusting the photograph this was the best match I could get. What do you think? In my mind there's just no comparison and I am absolutely over the moon with my replacement choice. It's definitely going to give the project that forest-type feeling I was looking for.

But.....

In order to get the colour I wanted there had to be not one but TWO HUGE compromises. Not only did I have to resort to evenweave to get the desired dye effect, but to linen too! Throughout my whole stitching life I have never ever stitched on anything but Aida! Ulp!

Although I'm definitely jumping out of the proverbial frying pan and into the raging fire I'll hopefully grow to love the linen and not feel too daunted or frustrated about this rather large and unique task I have set myself. At the moment I'm quite excited as I feel I'm giving Sherlock the background he deserves. And I also know that if I want a really good result I'm going to have to put in the effort of 700+ hours!

However, this is where I need your help and advice please.

The linen is very soft so I cannot get good tension on the millennium frame without the fear of stretching it. Nor does the weave lie fully straight (although it's not actually that far off). So, should I resort to using a large hoop to get even and straight tension? or perhaps Q-snaps? or just try to get the linen as straight as possible on a looser tension?

I'm not a fan of hoops or Q-snaps as I'm very frightened of damaging the stitches and/or fabric and worried about the mass of excess fabric picking up dirt.

If I do use the millennium frame will I be able to manipulate the linen to straighten the stitches as much as possible as I go along and/or once the whole piece is completed? I know with Aida adjusting the stitching is virtually impossible to correct, but as this linen is so soft, might it be possible? I just don't know!

I realize that stitching preferences are very personal but would appreciate any insight you can give me. I've already trawled through various Google searches but haven't really found any helpful answers. Can my virtual blogosphere friends help? I hope so!!!

I'm confused and really just don't know what to do.

In the words of The Beatles - Can you please, please help me, help me, help me...ooooh!!!

All the best and
Happy stitching :)
Rachel x

Dolphin Ruins - 30 hours

Good evening one and all!

Another 10 hours bites the dust so the next progress picture is due:

After 20 hours

After 30 hours

Not having specific little sections, like Autumnal Abstract, I didn't realize how much I'd stitched until I compared photos. This project is really relaxing to work on, even though the majority so far has been black and umpteen shades of dark blue!

My next post will be asking for luck and advice - I've set myself a daunting challenge and need opinions from those who have had experience in such matters. I'll say no more now!!

All the best and
Happy stitching :)
Rachel x

Dolphin Ruins - 20 hours

Hello all!

First of all a massive THANK YOU to everyone who left such kind comments regarding my choice of frame and mounts for Autumnal Abstract. I'm overwhelmed by your kindness. You are such a fantastic bunch of virtual friends and I'm glad you enjoyed my updates and finished piece. I will get around to replying to you all but in the meantime, thank you again!

Dolphin Ruins is growing quite quickly at the moment due to it still being mostly black and dark blue. I've never been one for stitching methodically so keep jumping around the top row of four pages as the mood takes me.

Here's where I'm up to:

After 10 hours

After 20 hours

You can just make out the tops of the columns on the left and right and the roof arches above them.

I hate confetti stitching and really have to be in the mood for it so am leaving any colours where less than 10 stitches are required, hence the gaps. I get much more satisfaction out of stitching the big blocks of colours first!

My hoped-for champagne dinner over the weekend did not go quite according to plan. Instead hubby treated me to a Burger King whilst we were Christmas shopping in Basingstoke. Nice to know what I'm worth to him - I'll bear the value of the meal in mind when buying his present!!

Take care everyone.

All the best and
Happy stitching :)
Rachel x

PS As much as you liked watching my progress there are only two followers who wish to win the chart of Autumnal Abstract. There's still a week left if you want to enter the draw. See 19th November posting for details.

Autumnal Abstract - framed!

Me again fellow bloggers!

I was so excited yesterday - the frame arrived from the wonderfully efficient ezeframe.co.uk. It was hastily unpacked and drooled over before being set aside until I could assemble it all after dinner,

So, here's what you've been waiting for. Drum roll please.....

As usual, the photo doesn't quite do the finished piece justice, but you get the general idea.

And here's a close-up of the stunning frame:

The frame is 26mm Gold Leaf with a 40mm Damascus Green top mount, a 7mm Omar Brown bottom mount and anti-reflective acrylic glazing. The opening is 36cm x 26cm with the full framed piece measuring 46cm x 36cm. The total cost was £31 (bargain!) plus £6 for postage (boo!)

The mounts were quite easy to choose with the wide brown drawing the eye into the project whilst balancing the ornate frame, and the green complimenting the colours in the design.

The frame itself was a very bold decision. It was the first one I chose, although I did try out other more sensible ones for comparison. Hubby said this one looked like something you would buy at a car boot sale or find hanging in a tacky pub but my instinct told me from the start that this was the right one, despite his "support"!

I absolutely love it, but what do you think?

I appreciate that some of you will not like it and I will not take offence if you tell me so. Framing, like choosing a project to stitch, is a very personal decision and I would certainly appreciate your honesty.

The only thing I didn't do was sign and date the piece before it was framed, although I'm not sure I could have put that information anywhere that would have looked right, so I'm not that bothered really.

This weekend the children are away with their Scout Troop again so hopefully hubby and I will get some Christmas shopping done. We may even go out for a champagne dinner (a girl can wish...) Just a thought - has anyone out there tried stitching whilst squiffy? Maybe I'll do a test piece to see what it's like!!!

All the best and

Happy stitching :)
Rachel x

PS there's still time to enter if you want to win the chart. See my 19th November posting for the rules. And sorry, Linda, you can enter as many times as you like but your name will actually only be entered once - cheeky!