Flightless Bird

My wishlist continues to grow ever longer. Today it is the Chatelaine Mandalas that are drawing my eye. I already have the Medieval Town Mandala chart and fabric ready to go (just need to order the threads & beads kit … saving my pennies up for that!).

At any rate, the newest addition to my ever-growing list of charts I want to stitch is the Egypt Garden Mandala – gorgeous! It’s almost enough to put me off MTM as my next big project start! But I know MTM will be gorgeous too, and I already have the chart and fabric, so I had best be good and stick to the plan!

As far as the Fortunate Traveller goes, it’s almost finished – woo!! I’m just finishing up the last corner of the outer border, and then I’ll attach the beads, and it will be DONE! I was actually hoping it would take a little longer (to give me time to save up for MTM ….), but I’m not complaining! I guess all the free time I’ve had lately has had a bit to do with it. I started it on April 26 last year (or thereabouts), so to be looking at a Jan/Feb finish isn’t too shabby at all!

One of these days I will get around to taking some pictures of my progress. I am so slack like that! As far as stitching progress goes, it has been a bit of an up and down few weeks.

My main project has continued to be the Fortunate Traveller, which I continue to be utterly in love with. I’ve done some more work on the border, and the bottom left corner is almost ready for backstitching, which when it’s done will mean the border is roughly 3/4 finished (minus beads) - Yay! I really enjoy the border, because it grows quite quickly and looks fabulous without too much effort, but all the green sometimes wears me down a little, so I mix it up with work on other areas of the chart.

I’ve also almost finished the title. I just need to fill in the second colour in the last three letters, and the title will be all finished. I find it easier to work on that during daylight hours though, as it’s all over one and tiny. So basically I can only work on it during the weekend, given the lack of daylight hours available for stitching during the week. I’m hoping that by the time I’m up to the masses of over one lettering coming up in the story section the days will be long enough for me to work on it in the evenings more.

The next part I started working on was the inner border surrounding the picture. It consists entirely of specialty stitches, so it sort of falls into the same daylight-requiring category as the header, but I’ve worked a few eyelets and it looks lovely so far. I’m sure once it’s finished it will be gorgeous. There’s a long way to go on it though, and I’m not that speedy at working the specialty stitches, so I’m sure it will be a long time getting finished!

Luckily since I’ve got the solid lines enclosing the specialty stitch border pretty much done, I’ve been able to start working on the picture itself, to give myself even more variety. It’s still shades of green at the moment (arrrhhh!), but more blue-greens and dark greens, so quite different shades to those in the main border. I only started working on it yesterday, so I’ve only worked a small area of background forest in the top left corner, but it’s looking gorgeous already, and I’m dying to get to the dragon itself! Impatient much??

As far as other projects go, my main side project has been Mary Wigham, but it’s been very slow going. To the point that although I still think the sampler is simply gorgeous, I’m going to pull the pin on the project. I’m just not enjoying it enough to justify it. It’s a shame, but it’s meant to be fun, and I’m not having fun with it. I’m going to pull it all out and keep the fabric for something else. Maybe one day I’ll look at it again and perhaps revamp the colours, but I doubt it. I think it’s just not for me, and there are way too many other things that I want to stitch more!

Moon and Stars is still finished and waiting to be framed. I’ve been a bit slack, but hopefully I’ll get onto it soon. It’s so gorgeous and I can’t wait to get it on the wall. I love so many of the Little House Needlework patterns. I have another, larger one waiting to be stitched as well. I actually saw it stitched and framed over the weekend, and it’s gorgeous. Definitely need to make it. Hmmm perhaps I’ll use my Mary Wigham fabric for that!

Anyway, now that I’m in the market for a new side project, I think I’m going to look to something on the small side. I just don’t seem to be able to cope with having more than one big project on the go at once. I need to have my one big focus project, and then distract myself with little side projects I think.

So with my new strategy in mind, I’ll be looking to kit up one of the Chatelaine Mini Mandalas, which I’m hoping to stitch as a gift for a family member. At the moment my plan is to substitute the Needlepoint silks with DMC, but use the other specialty silks as charted.
I also popped along to the Craft & Quilt Fair on the weekend at the Exhibition Centre. Whilst a lot of my enjoyment actually came from checking out all the stalls relating to crafts I don’t know much/anything about, I still hit up all the needlework shops, and managed to spend more than I intended. Of course.

Of course I also came home with a new chart, one that I’ve been eyeing off for several months now. Yep, Chatelaine’s Medieval Town Mandala is shaping up to be my next focus project after the Fortunate Traveller. I even bought the fabric to go with it (bad girl!). I’m not going to buy the threads and things until it’s time to start though. I don’t need that kind of temptation sitting in my house! But I have a gorgeous cut of hand dyed Cashel linen, in a beautiful Atlantis colour, which I’m hoping will set off the shades of turquoise in the centre frames nicely. I’ve seen so many
comments from other people that this design has been the most enjoyable one they’ve ever stitched. So now it’s my incentive to keep plugging away on FT.

Photos maybe someday …

A bright spot in a cold & miserable day today. My order arrived from Colours Down Under, containing a beautiful piece of cream 40 count Newcastle linen, on which I intend to stitch Mary Wigham. Eventually. I’m still feeling really motivated to work on Fortunate Traveller, so I don’t want to break the momentum or get distracted by starting something else that’s new and gorgeous! (I really am quite excited about Mary though!)

I am looking forward to using the Newcastle linen though. I’ve never stitched on anything above 32 count, so it will be interesting. I’m planning to stitch it over 2 though, so it shouldn’t be too much of a strain on my eyes, which is good. I’m definitely noticing that it’s quite difficult to work on the over 1 portions of Fortunate Traveller in the evenings when the light is poor.

I also received the last skein of thread I need to complete Moon & Stars. I had major problems with the online store I originally purchased all the threads from for that project, but that said, I don’t really want to name and shame them. My original order of threads was delayed going into the post, even though I had paid for the Express option (excuse: “oh sorry, I didn’t see you’d selected that option”). Then, when the order arrived, one of the colours wasn’t included as it was out of stock. Now that’s fine and I wasn’t too fussed, but a month passed without any word or update on when the out of stock colour would arrive. So I emailed them and was told it was still out of stock and would be sent when it came in. Several weeks later, an envelope arrived, containing a post-it note advising that my outstanding skein was enclosed …

… Unfortunately, they’d forgotten to peel off the ‘peel & seal’ strip from the envelope, so it had gone into the mail unsealed. Needless to say, the skein was no longer in the envelope when it arrived at my house ….

By that stage, I was so over the entire thing I just decided to give up on that store and buy a new skein of that colour when I next placed an order with another online shop. Needless to say, I won’t be using the original store again!

But anyway, the good news is that the colour has now arrived safe and sound, and I can finally finish off my lovely Moon & Stars, which I’ve been wanting to hang up in my bedroom since I bought the pattern at the Stitches & Craft show in March!

I really need to take a picture of my beautiful Traveller, but it’s coming along nicely. I’m still mostly working on the outer border, and I’m probably a little over half the way around (including all cross stitching and back stitching!). I started a couple of letters in the title to break up the monotony of the border a little, and it looks gorgeous already. I’m itching to get onto the inner border, the picture, and of course the fairy tale text itself!

Tonight I’m going to be settling in to watch the State of Origin match with my stitching in hand, so I’m hoping I’ll have a good chance to get some stitches onto it. I’ve found stitching time somewhat scarce lately, and I’ve resorted to grabbing the odd 10 or 15 minutes wherever I can, even before I rush off to work in the mornings! Somehow the weekends never end up being the stitching extravaganzas I hope they will, but with a long weekend coming up this weekend, I’ll continue to live in hope …

Just in case my stitching ‘to do’ list wasn’t already long enough, I just ordered some new fabric on which I intend to stitch the beautiful Mary Wigham sampler. I plan to stitch her on a lovely 40 count cream linen, using the recommended DMC threads. Why, oh why do such beautiful designs have to cross my path??

The design is based on a Quaker sampler stitched by an English schoolgirl attending the Ackworth School in 1790. All donations received in relation to this chart will be used to help preserve the sampler for future generations to enjoy.

I’m not sure when I’ll begin it, but I want to have the fabric and threads ready to go so I can just pick it up as the mood takes me. I just need to wait for the fabric to arrive now …

I’ve finally found the time to create my stitching blog. Since we moved back to Melbourne and I had those three months off work, I suppose you could say that my stitching horizons have really expanded. Previously I stitched only pre-packaged kits on aida, in whatever semi-appealing designs I could find in the limited supplies available in the local craft and Spotlight stores. However, during those three months I was at home during the day, I really started to look into the world of stitching that was out there on the internet. 

I discovered the world of evenweave and linen. Of buying charts that don’t come with the threads pre-packaged. Of a world of patterns and designs that I actually LIKE. That I would actually be proud to frame and put on my walls, because they’re beautiful, not tacky or cutesy, or stitched on unattractive aida fabric.

Since then, the world has felt like my oyster, stitching-wise! I’ve bought a charts from overseas, I’ve downloaded charts, I’ve gone to a craft show and bought beautiful fabrics and yes, even more charts. There’s definitely no going back to where I was before. And I almost can’t believe I wasted so much time before I discovered what was out there! But no matter. At least I got there in the end.

At the moment I’m working on Starry Night, although to be honest it’s been a little while since I put any stitches on it. When I started it I decided to stitch on 18 count aida, because at the time I believed it would be the easiest fabric to stitch on. And I guess, from the point of view of not miscounting (a very easy thing to do on that chart!), it possibly is. The problem is its sheer size. It’s on these enormous scroll bars, and it feels like quite a production to actually work on it. I’m sure it will get its turn again, and it was never intended as a short-term project, but I just hope I can get through it eventually.

My main project at the moment is Teresa Wentzler’s Fortunate Traveller. Every stitch is a delight, nothing about it bores me. I started it on April 26th, and I’m working it on a beautiful natural coloured 32 count linen, which I’m stitching in the hand, and LOVING! I love that I can work on a large project, yet I don’t have to wrestle with enormous scrolls bars or a fiddly hoop. I may never go back to aida again (heaven forbid! I need to get that Starry Night done!!). So far I’m working on the beautiful border. I’ve finished the whole of the border on page 1 (backstitch and all!), and I’m working across the top of page 2 at the moment. 

My other WIP is only a small project, but it’s at a standstill at the moment, unfortunately. It uses some specialty overdyed threads which I ordered online. Unfortunately, when they arrived, one colour was out of stock. They’ve promised to send it on when it comes in, but who knows when that will be. I’ve finished the rest of the design, apart from that colour, so it’s just waiting to be completed. 

As far as other projects go, there’s nothing else on the cards right now, although last night I did order Chatelaine’s Mini Mandala Gardens 2. I’m hoping to stitch one for my mother, one for my mother-in-law, and one for Kev and I. Who knows when I’ll get to that, though …