Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Another giveaway

And this one isn't mine, lol. You can enter Nicola's giveaway here. She has some lovely items in it, but I don't know that I'll use most of it, so I'm passing. More chances for you, right??? So go enter. Nicola is celebrating forty followers, and her blog is great. So stop on by, and leave a comment to enter!

2 comments:

♥ Nia said...: thank you for sharing! ;); August 2, 2011 at 7:16 AM
mdgtjulie said...: She only has one entrant (or she did last I looked) so I tried to help her out! Thanks for looking Nia!!; August 2, 2011 at 10:48 AM

My Chats

My Chatelaines that I want to buy and stitch someday. They are in order by preference, with Serengeti being the most wanted. If I've done the HTML right, the pics are links to the page where you can buy the design. Because I'm an enabler, of course.

First up is Serengeti Mandala. It seems I have a thing for her desert Mandalas, lol. Here she is in all her glory. I love the silhouettes in the center. I think they’re gorgeous.

Next is the lovely Holland Mandala. I love the pinks and blues in this one. The tulips just blow me away. They’re above the medallions, and in the corners too. Gorgeous!!!

My next fave is Evening in the Park. I love the blues in this one. And the swans are wonderful. I’ve loved ducks and geese for as long as I can remember, but I didn’t see a swan till I was older. Of course, I fell in love with them too. They’re beautiful!!!

Second last is A Fairy Flower Garden. I will definitely NOT be doing it on the yellow. I was thinking purples and pinks and blues for it, but I can’t find a fabby. I may ask Lauren of Sassy’s Fabbbys to dye me something for it. She will probably do it for me, as I know she did a couple of custom dyes for Randi last year.

Last but certainly not least is Japanese Garden. It’s my least fave of them all, but I still love it. The beautiful trees with all the blossoms on them, and the lovely arch in the center are gorgeous. I love the blues in this one too. And the water under the bridges. Beautiful!!!

WIPs, SALs, and UFOs

This is the list of my WIPs (Works in Progress), SALs (Stitch A Longs), and UFOs (UnFinished Objects).

WIP Frost Moon (HAED, Nene Thomas)
WIP Story Keeper (HAED, Selina Fenech)
WIP Desert Landscapes Mandala (Chatelaine)
WIP Impossible Love (HAED, Selina Fenech)
WIP Country Bloomers (Jeremiah Junction)
WIP Rosa (India Grace Designs)
WIP Frederick the Literate (Dimensions, Charles Wysocki)
WIP Shore Patrol (JCA)
WIP Dad's Memorial (Rosa Winter)
WIP Midnight Hunting (Dracolair Creations)
UFO In Her Garden (Dimensions)
UFO Calendar Partwork (India Grace Designs)
UFO Queen of Peace (Miribilia)
UFO Celtic Summer (Lavender and Lace)
UFO Astral Lion (DMC)
UFO Bubbles (HAED, Selina Fenech)
UFO Achoo (Dimensions)
UFO Marguerite (India Grace Designs)
UFO Lust (HAED, Marta Dahlig)
UFO Monopoly (Hasbro)
SAL Beach Romance (Janlynn)
SAL Time To Go (Witch Stitch'n'Bits)
SAL Various Christmas Ornaments (Various)
SAL Noah's Sub (Stoney Creek)

All of these items are in the order I work on them in. Rotation pieces (WIPs) are in the order I work on them. UFOs are in the order they'll be added to the rotation. SALs are in the order I work on them based on their day of the week.

My rotaion

The following pics are of my rotation projects, in the order that I'll work on them. All of them are in some form of progress (i.e. kitted or actually started). When I finish a project, I will decide if I should go on to the next, or start something new to fill the space. Since I have so much on the go, at first I will just drop that space from my rotation when I finish something. After I get it down to ten or eight or so, I will probably start adding projects. I've taken out some projects, and rearranged things, so if you notice the difference, that's what it is. If you click on the pic, it will take you to the Multiply album for that piece, showing you my current progress. If there are no progress pics, I have it kitted up, but not started yet!

Here is Frost Moon. It's my fave of the HAEDs I now have in progress. It's also the largest. It is (are you ready for this), 525 by 787. 413,175 stitches. But she's so gorgeous already... I love her. Nene Thomas is one of my fave artists. And here's her progress...

1600 / 413175
(0.39%)

As you can see, I've not finished much on her. Less than a percent. (I'm looking forward to getting to one percent, lol.)

Next up is my next fave chart, Story Keeper. She's my SAL with Julie, although we haven't picked a day for her. She was my fave until Frost Moon came out. Selina Fenech is one of my other fave artists. She has a LOT Of charts I like, and I own about six of her works. And then, there's the progress bar on her. (I had to estimate, cause I wasn't gonna count all those little stitches.)

2500 / 129900
(1.92%)

As you can see, I have slightly more done on her than on Frost Moon, but not much. All of my HAEDs are still on the first page. One is completed (Bubbles) and the rest are not. Boy, do I have a long way to go. It's why I can't die anytime soon, lol.

Next up is the Chat I've allowed myself. It's called Desert Landscapes Mandala, and it's gorgeous. As I said in my Chat comments, I seem to have a thing for her desert mandalas. Here she is (and isn't she gorgeous)!! I've really come a long way on her. She's one of my biggest projects, and I'm about sixty percent done. Here's her progress marker...

59535 / 99225
(60%)

Now, there aren't really 99,225 stitches in her. I just estimated (I figured it out by size. I know finished design size is gonna be twenty two and a half by twenty two and a half on twenty eight count, mostly over two. So I figured number of stitches as if it was fully stitched. As you can see, there are lots of white spaces, so it really isn't that big. So it's just estimates on this one. I figured that the border is about forty percent (ten percent on each side), so I figured up sixty percent done, and put that number in the calculator. It worked, as you can see. (I do have SOME math skills, lol.))

Next up is another Selina Fenech, Impossible Love. I had, for whatever reason, a hard time getting into her last time. Eventually, I did, but the first day was hard. The colors I'm working with atm are beautiful!!! Corals and pinks and oranges for the sunrise sky. They're wonderful!! Here she is: I just love this design. The colors I'm gonna be using in the water, ahhhhhh... Gorgeous. And her tail, too. I love them. And it seems to me like this speaks to my experience. I've loved (but never wisely), and I just feel like no matter how much I loved, I wasn't loved back. So this piece speaks to me both personally and artistically. Here's her progress bar.

2200 / 176400
(1.25%)

As you can see, I'm not very far on her either. But I'm moving right along. I got almost eight hundred stitches done on my last rotation of her, which was a week. So she's moving, lol. (I need to update some of my progress bars too. I haven't yet.)

Next is a gift, from Chris. I love it. She saw Kay and I talking about my desire to NOT see Kay's knickers. Since she knows that knickers are the Brit word for bloomers, she got me a chart. Country Bloomers by Jeremiah Junction. It's super fast moving. Here she is.

15147 / 32928
(46%)

This is another one where I estimated that I have a third done, and made the numbers match that. Of course, I have more done now, and I need to change the widget. I'll get around to it eventually!!

Next up is another project that's near and dear to my heart, Rosa. It was my nemesis for a while, lol. Originally, it was published in the UK mag, Stitch. And they actually changed the pattern. Vicki and I were looking at it, and she supposed it was to make it easier to see. But it threw me off so badly... It was awful!!! I have the center square too small, so the middle square didn't fit. It should have been evenly spaced on all sides, and it wasn't. I just couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. Finally I emailed Vicki, and she sent me her version of the chart. I haven't had a problem since. Stupid mag. (No, I didn't throw it out. I still have it, just in case I need it.) Regardless, Rosa is beautiful. I'm making two of them, one for me, and one for Rosa (whom the chart is named after). She's very excited about it. I'm more nervous than anything. Mine is the "practice one" and hers is the "real one". So far, mine has sucked cause I couldn't get the forms right before. Now that I have them right, it's going better. And Rosa's has been a dream. I haven't had to frog a single stitch on hers. Oh, I haven't shown you the piccy yet. Here she is. And I don't have a progress bar for her, because all the stitches are not cross stitches, and I can't figure out how to weight the different stitches based on how much time they take. Also, it's layered, so it's hard to figure out how much is done and how much isn't. It's not like you're putting down one layer, and you can figure by the amount of white space how far along you are.

Up next is my current rotation piece. Dani is also working on it, so I have (of course) suggested a loose SAL. It just happened to make it in my rotation when I randomized things, so I was happy cause I knew Dani had it in progress and needed the cheers. (Go Dani!!) She's further along than I am, so I think that makes her feel better. I haven't worked on it yet, but I'm going to in a little while. It's Frederick the Literate, a Dimensions kit designed by Charles Wysocki. I have several kits that are his designs: Maggie the Messmaker, Max in the Adirondacks, and Too Pooped. All are lovely. Here he is. He's just barely started as well. (I had about eight new starts when I started my rotation, so a lot of things aren't very far.) He's pretty cute, don't you think? I'm hoping to get his tail done this rotation, and then start on the rest of him. Here's his progress bar.

1800 / 25872
(6.96%)

Not far, but he will be later, lol.

Next up is another of those loose SALs. It's Shore Patrol, which I'm working on with Evalina from Blogspot. (And she's a lovely lady. Hers is more advanced than mine, I think. But she's fine with that, and doesn't criticize.) I love the design, and have had it for years. (It's big though. It something like ten by twenty four, or something like that. BIG, lol. Of course, would I do anything that isn't...) Here they are. I love wildlife scenes, and this one really called to me. I started it way back when (oh five, maybe), and then it got put aside. So now I have it back out, and am doing well on it. Here's the progress bar.

900 / 47040
(1.91%)

Again, small amount done of the total. I think I may have misestimated though, cause I think that's more than one percent. We'll see.

Next is something that rosa designed for me. It's a memorial to my dad. She put a pic of Vin (or as close as we could get) and a pic of the tomatoes he always grew. We couldn't fit too much on them, as they're going on dish towels. I wanted to DO something with my gift I would have given him the year he died, and that seemed like a good idea. The pic isn't great. It's a screenshot of what it will look like when finished. I'm doing three towels. One for me, one for Cathy, and one for David. Here's the pic. And the progress bar on this one is estimated too. I'm sure it's not only one percent done, but I was just guessing, soooooo...

410 / 50400
(0.81%)

Lastly is one of my fave projects, Midnight Hunting. It's from Dracolair Creations, and they're well known for using a horrendous number of fractional stitches. And not half stitches, either. No, they three quarter and quarter stitches. I love it. It challenges me, and I love to be challenged. The whole border is fractional stitches, almost. And there are lots of fractional stitches in the dragon. Many places, you're doing the two quarter stitches on the left with one color, and the fractional stitches on the right with another. So your X is composed of four quarter stitches that meet in the middle. Difficult to say the least. He's beautiful though. Wonderous!! You can see for yourselves, here. And here is his progress bar. As you can see, I have quite a bit done on him.

6200 / 38805 stitches
(15.98%)

I can hardly wait for him to come around again. I think this time, I'll finish off the first page. Whoo hoo!!

My UFOs

These are my UFOs, in the order they'll be added into my rotation (above) as things get finished. Some things in my rotation will be replaced with a new start (I think) as they are items in a series. I.E. Frost Moon would be replaced with Fire Moon, which would be replaced with Indigo Moon and so on. The other projects (non series projects) will be replaced with the next WIP in line. So Country Bloomers would be replaced with In Her Garden and so on and so forth.

Okay, I have ten UFOs and the first one up is In Her Garden.She's a lovely piece I got from Meg on my Intricate XS group. She was gifted it by a new stitcher who thought it was just TOO MUCH for a newbie. (I can see why. It's a Dimensions Gold Collection. Yikes!!) She's very pretty though. She's first in my list to come back in rotation, which is good, cause she's calling me lately.

Next up is the lovely Calendar Partwork from Vicki over at India Grace Designs. As of this writing, I'm about halfway through May. Slowly but surely, lol. I'm loving the specialty stitches in this. They're wonderful!!! Here she is finished (it's Vicki's, and I'm sure it looks much better than mine, lol). You can only see the first half of the year on Vicki's, but aren't they all pretty! (Except the yellow one, lol.) It's really taught me a lot about hardanger. I can do a lot of the stitches now. Thanks Vicki!!

And near and dear to my heart is Queen of Peace. I just love the way she radiates a feeling of peace and equality. It's soothing to me. Here she is. The green in this doesn't hurt either as it's one of my fave colors. Beautiful!!!

Next up is Celtic Summer. She's my only UFO that's not really a UFO. (Shhhhh... Don't tell!!!) I haven't started her yet. I emailed Lauren of Sassy's Fabbys to ask if the fabby was ready or not, but she didn't get it. So I skipped over her in my rotation and went on to the next piece. So here she is. I just love the colors in her. Is's all tealy and such. Wonderful, and she's the first in the series of the Celtic ladies. There are Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Christmas as well. I have all the charts, and fabby for all but one.

And then we have my Astral Lion by DMC. It's the closest to finished of all my UFOs. I have five and a half pages done of eight. Well, six and two partials. They're not all full pages either. I cut them into sections cause the chart was one big page. At the time, I didn't know I could make a working copy, so I didn't. He's very, VERY yellow, but I didn't used to care so much. And I love lions, so... Anyways, here he is. If you follow the link, you can see that it was a UFO, then went back into rotation, and now is a UFO again. I'll get him done someday!! (Unless I die first, lol.)

And now my first HAED. Bubbles by Selina Fenech. I have a full page done on her (yes, only one, lol) and she's my furthest HAED at the time I write this. I'm sure Frost Moon, Story Keeper, and Impossible Love will overcome this soon. But for now... Anyways, here she is. I have a long way to go on her. But I was glad to see her wingtip on page one. I feel like I've got a start on her, and not just all background.

Getting closer and closer to the end. Next up is Achoo, which was a gift from one of the Patties, but I don't know which one. She's craftyPatty on Multiply, but I can't find her website anymore. She and her daughter Savvy gave it to me cause they saw where I said I liked someone else's. He's such a cute puppy!! Adorable!! Here he is, having sneezed off some of his spots. (And he looks disgruntled about it too, lol.) So far, I have a good portion of him done. I'd say I'm at about a third or so finished. I have his chest and two front legs done. And little bits of his one back foot, but there's so little there, I hardly count it.

Next is another hardanger design by Vicki of India Grace Designs. It's called Marguerite, and I'm doing her on a lovely purple fabby with forest floss from Carrie's Creations. (I had a whole hank dyed for Whit and Gwen, and then I didn't even use half of it. So I'm looking for other things to use it on. It was a contrasting color in Julie, and it's the main color in Mar. I may add another color, for highlights, but I doubt it.) You can see her here.I love the way she looks, so symmetrical. And she has some design elements that I really wanted to do again. Mostly the twisted strands. She has lots of those, and I love them. I got to do them on both Febs that I did (one for my calendar, and again as a stand alone for Vicky to use for her book). I was all excited to see them. You can see them in the zig zag between the two corner squares and the rest of the piece. They look like pairs of threads, twisted in the centers. Very cool.

Second to last, we have one of my fave HAEDs. Lust by Marta Dahlig. She's gorgeous. I love the colors, the water behind her, everything about this is gorgeous to me. She's just wonderful. And the lust element isn't out there (she's not half naked or anything), but it's subtle. She's obviously hot, but not overtly. See?And the flowers are so pretty too. I love them. She's done all seven of the deadly sins, and I have them all. I'm going to do them in this order.

Lust
Envy
Vanity
Wrath
Sloth
Gluttony
Avarice

Of course, they're all gorgeous. Red, green, purple, maroon, blue, pink, and yellow. (Even the yellow one is gorgeous.)

And last but certainly not least is Monopoly. I love the idea of playing on a stitched board. I'm about a quarter done too. I have one full side, and about three squares of another side, so I made good progress on it so far. I took her to England with me. The chart was produced by Hasbro, but I don't have a piccy of the finished thing to show you. However, should you want to see my progress, you can go here. And that's all my UFOs that I have. I have two others, a bookmark for my cousin and a bookmark for me, but I'm not sure where in my stitchy stuff they are. Maybe someday, I'll add pics of them. Who knows, lol.

Julie's and Yes Dear's Ravings

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Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Another giveaway

2 comments: