I hope everyone has had a good month! I had a very busy month with a big birthday, an awesome new stand and 2 finishes for Solo September. Thank you again for hosting a great OAAT project month Justine! I finished Rejoice Tree last week and I'm still in love with it. I forgot to mention I used that invisible thread for the beads and it was a bit of a pain, but I love the effect.
Then I was debating about what to start, and I realized that with a few days of work I'd have LK's Ho Ho Ho complete. I was on the Fuzzy Stuff section for the beard, and it was much easier to work it while seated indoors than my while a passenger in the car.
The finish with similar to charted threads, and Fuzzy Stuff instead of Wisper for the beard
Close-up of the Fuzzy Stuff and PTB for the lettering
Tried to get a closer view of the fuzzy look of the beard
I'm not 100% sure how I'm going to finish this one or if I'll keep it for myself. I like it a lot, and DH does too, but inspiration hasn't struck yet. Maybe this could be my first cube finish? It's maybe 5x7 ish in size.
I've changed out my passenger project to Collect Moments by LK and it looked like this back in January:
I have a few more pink letters on it now, but I neglected to take a photo last time I worked on it. It shouldn't take too long to finish. I'm also thinking about what to work on for the rest of the year and what I may start for next year. I succumbed to the latest HAED sale, thanks for the tip Kate :)
My current idea is to try and stitch a page on a BAP once a month to try and move some of these along. There are others I'd like to stitch as well, so I'm going to see if having a set schedule might help me move along to finishing some of my 50+ WIPs.
First I'll need to try and finish a few for this year, so I'll try and sort out my ideas over the weekend and post about it so I have a record of it. I always appreciate any advice too, so please feel free to chime in with any of your ideas for 2017 or thoughts.
I delayed my IHSW post a day so I could show you another finish! Check out our wonderful host Joyce's blog for more info on IHSW and to cheer the other hermitters along. I managed to finish all the beading on Rejoice Tree so instead of just a little bit of progress here:
I can show you a finish!
Again, I stitched this 3 over 1 on 14 count Silkweaver's aida with Waterlilies Nefertiti. The trunk is DMC 938 since I ran out of the Waterlilies thread. The beads are Mill Hill gold petites and I love the effect. I made a star with beads instead of buying a star charm. So happy to have another finish! Another WIP bites the dust, dun, dun, dun, another WIP bites the dust! And Another WIP gone and another WIP gone, another WIP bites the dust! Hey, gonna finish you too! Another WIP bites the dust! In case you don't know the reference:
Also, if you noticed the unusual look of the first photo, I have a new stand! It was my family's birthday gift to me. It's the Artisan Design Ergo and I'm so happy it works well with my couch. Thank you again Suz for the recommendation! Here's a few more photos for you:
the artsy photo :)
in place beside my stitching spot
Max is crazy...I don't understand how this is comfortable
Now that I've completed my Solo September piece, and I cannot say how awesome it was to bead with that new stand compared to beading while holding my Qsnaps, I put Spider Banner into the scroll frame attached to the stand. I had intended to pick up Princess and the Dragon, and I might still and try the stand with my Qsnaps like Suz mentioned.
Starting September 17 U.K. time, everyone that signed up to be part of Jo's Big Birthday Blog Hop was supposed to have a post up! So everyone could enjoy it. I sincerely apologize to all of you and especially Jo that I am so ridiculously late getting this post up. Best laid plans, yadda yadda.. my sincere apologies! Jo gave me the year of 1991 and her story goes like this:
1991 - Jo was 25. Concert going continues to dominate Jo's life as her career continues on a steady upward trajectory. Highlights of this year were the long awaited Guns 'n' Roses concerts at Wembley Stadium and a trip to Paris to see Alice Cooper one day and the Scorpions the next night. While wandering around the streets of Paris soaking up the atmosphere Jo's friend spotted a familiar figure - "that guy looks just like Klaus Meine from the Scorpions". It was! He was quite taken aback to have four English rock fans stop to say Hello but very graciously posed for photos and then they let him continue shopping in peace.
The following year Jo was lucky enough to get tickets to the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium. Her friend lived only a few miles from Wembley and as soon as the show was announced she jumped in her car and drove straight to the box office (this was pre-internet days remember!). Another mind-blowing and unforgettable concert.
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My life in 1991 was a little bit different. I was still in high school and 1991 was the year I met Kory, who was to become my best friend for the rest of high school and still continues to be a great friend. She lives in the UK now, although her family and mine mostly still live near the small town in Ontario where we grew up. We were in different towns, but went to the same high school.
I met Kory when we were seated next to each other in grade 10 science class. I will never forget how well she could dissect our frog. It was like an instruction manual. Kory and I shared a love of The Princess Bride that continues through today of course, because how could it not? And I think I currently own 2 copies of the movie, having given my 3rd copy to my brother, who didn't have one. They're all different editions, so it's normal. :)
We also bonded over Pirates of Penzance, which no one else seemed to have heard of, and one memorable night when a grade 11 biology project was due, at 3am we decided we would test our teacher and see if she actually read our project. In the middle of the essay we wrote "Hello, my name is Joe, I have a wife and a job and family". It was never marked out... it was never read. We got a B+ I think? That night we also decided that instead of getting 2 hours of sleep before school we'd watch the Princess Bride again. :D
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The next part of Jo's Blog Hop is to describe what happened to me at 25 years old. I had yet to graduate from optometry school, and I had a major life event. My Grandpa, who all of the grandchildren were pretty close to, became very ill and eventually died that year. This was the first major loss I had experienced. Other distant relatives that I didn't see often had passed over the years, but this was the first person that I saw on a weekly or more basis that I would not see again.
I also started clinic rotations that year and started seeing patients. If you can imagine, an exam by an optometry student takes about 2 hours. By the end of the semester it was maybe closer to 90 minutes, but still, a long time. There are a few patients I remember from then, it was an excellent learning experience.
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Lastly, we're to post some stitching Jo might like. I don't believe I've posted this on my blog before, and Jo, I hope you like it, and again, I am so sorry to be late.
12 Days of Christmas table runner - stitched for Xmas 2012 and given to my parents:
It's taken me a lot longer than intended to get my Solo September progress up. This one-at-a-time month is hosted by Justine and lots of us joined in this month. We're halfway through and I had intended to be finished by now, but lots of visitors and a big birthday celebration over the weekend slowed things down a little. It was really great to see everyone and everyone seemed to have a great time.
Rejoice Tree was here last week:
And now almost all the cross stitch is done!
I'm fairly certain I don't have enough thread to do all the curlicues on the R's, so I will likely leave the left one identical to how the right is now. Otherwise I'll be playing thread chicken stitching a little bit here and there. On to Gifted Gorgeousness hosted by the jovial Jo of Serendipitous Stitching. This is where we share anything remotely related to gift-giving or receiving. The sign-up link is there if you want to join in this month! Rejoice Tree - above, for my Grandma Letters from Nora - S - for DD
I didn't get as much done on this as I hoped, I was having some trouble getting into this one. Maybe next time. Rainbow Butterfly by Climbing Goat Designs for victims of the Orlando massacre
A Kiss for a Snowman - DD
Linus and Snoopy - stunt stitching and mailed off!
Next month let's hope for at least one more finish and if I'm lucky there will be more finishes to add to Rejoice Tree. Happy Stitching! Tiffstitch
Thank you everyone for your nice comments about my Grandma. She seems to be doing well and has had an x-ray now and there hasn't been any bad news, so hopefully she will continue to recover. We had a busy Labour Day weekend, but since September 1st, there has definitely been progress on the Rejoice Tree. I had left it here:
And now it's all the way to the 'O' on one side and the 'I' on the other:
The upper photo has a better photo of the fabric. I forgot to mention in my last post that this is stitched 3 over 1 on 14 count aida. It has a nice blue/white mottled pattern. The thread is Waterlilies Nefertiti.
My parents are coming tonight and staying for a few days since I have a big birthday coming up this weekend. I'm not sure how much more I will get done. Maybe expecting to finish this in September was optimistic?
I hope everyone else is doing well with their September projects and stitching in general.
