Getting Along Swimmingly

I finished "M is for Mermaid"!  And I love how it came out.

This little design is by Heartstring Samplery, and I stitched it on 40-ct. so it would fit this (perfect!) frame I found at JoAnn Fabric.  The frame opening was only 5 inches, and the pattern, if stitched as charted on 32-ct., fit a 6 inch opening.  I also made some floss substitutions, a few DMC - included with the chart, thankfully- and a few other hand-dyed flosses that I thought worked well.  I love it!

I've also made some progress on Marbek's "Seaside Angel" (or Maiden, in this case, since I plan to omit the wings and halo). 

I didn't realize from the picture just how much metallic there was in this one - all around the dark purple flowers there are "leaves" stitched in #4 Kreinik braid, and one of green swirly segments is actually turquoise blending filament (used alone, 2-ply).  And the sleeve cuff - in the second picture - is sky blue blending filament.  When I stitched the cuff, I actually stripped the polyester carrying thread from the blending filament - it made it MUCH more sparkly and (IMHO) easier to stitch with.  Not that stitching with blending filament is every truly easy....  I left the carrier thread in the turquoise section that I stitched, because I discovered that it was a faint green tint and gave the thread a true turquoise color that was visibly different from the sky blue cuffs.

This one is going to be a long-term project, for sure.  And for now I've tucked it away, since I'm feeling like I want to get back to Modern Folk Embroidery's "Secret Sky" for a bit.  Plus, you never know when a small or 2 might sneak in there!

New Year Planning

So I'm a little behind with my new year's greeting - I hope everyone is off to a good start in 2018!  It has been brutally cold here, and I head back to work tomorrow.  In the meantime, I've done a bit of thinking about my stitching and crafting goals, and I think this is as good a time as any to share.

1) I've enjoyed the Smalls SAL for the past 3 years, and see no reason not to continue participating.  I like the small finishes, and I've found great inspiration for ornaments and other non-traditional finishing ideas!
2) I think it might be time to join the WIPocalypse again.  I did it years ago, and then completely fell off the wagon...  I've been slowly collecting projects from various nooks and crannies, and will document them in detail at the first check-in next week.
3) I've been on Facebook for years now, but have finally jumped onto the Instagram craze as well.  You can find me there under the username ekfrenchknots.  I must admit, it is fun to quickly upload a picture there and browse everyone else's things!
4) I did cave and make one new start for the year - Marbek/Serendipity's "Seaside Angel."  Here she is, on 32-ct. "Sky, Sea, Sand" fabric from Sunny Dyes.

I always start at the middle, so this little green blob is the bit of gown under/to the right of her left hand.  No telling how long progress on this one will take.

As I always enjoy saying, may your year be floss-filled and frog-free!

Finished Star Angel

Here she is, in all her bling-y glory.

 "Star Angel", by Marbek/Serendipity Designs, stitched on 28-ct. Cobblestone linen with DMC floss.   I used some of the gold filament that was in the kit, but also substituted some beads (I used beads in place of all the turquoise filament).  I also stitched the skin over-one, although I still feel like her hands aren't terribly...hand-like....

A New Year's Plan??

I rarely plan ahead for the New Year, but lately I've been itching to start another big "something," and my rediscovered fascination with MarBek/Serendipity Designs seemed like the perfect opportunity to jump in.  So....

This is the Seaside Angel, and I plan on leaving off the halo and wings.  The fabric is Sunny*Dyes "sky, sea & sand" in 32-ct. lugana.  I love it!!!  I'm not always a fan of the custom-dyed/painted fabrics, but I think this is just perfect.  Once I finish the little Star Angel, this will be tough to resist.

Getting Into the Spirit

I've been plugging away on the Star Angel - probably ought to think about getting out a Christmas ornament or 2, but I just like her so much...

I've added some beads to her skirts, and made some progress on her...wings, I guess that purple on her back is supposed to be?  (My daughter and I both agree that while lovely, she doesn't come off as typically "angelic."  Angels have white feathery wings, not purple ones!)

Over the weekend, my husband agreed to be Santa for a small town holiday festival.  As a part of that, he got to ride a firetruck through downtown, and our daughter wanted in on the action!  So we made her into an elf of sorts, and here she is posing with Dad.

I hope she enjoyed watching her dad make magic for other kids - and I think it really hit home when a little boy came up to her outside the photo area (she was drinking cocoa off to the side) and said, "Hi, elf!"  He proceeded to try to engage her in conversation about elf life....her improv skills aren't quite ready for that, so Dad/Santa came to her rescue and said that elves are notoriously shy.  LOL  Later she said to me, "Mom.....he BELIEVED I was an elf!!"  LOL

Silly Colors

I've been chugging along on that angel...the colors confuse and intrigue me.  LOL

They are much more....1970s?....than the model picture would seem.  And yet they fascinate me....  Even that gold, which is the horrid Kreinik filament (I stripped the carrier thread, and I'm not sure if that made it better or worse).  I'm going to add gold and turquoise glass beads around the purple and green "diamonds" in her gown (the pattern already called for metallic, and I'm tired of metallic!), and I also decided to do the hands and face over-one.

Weekend Plans

A bout of indecisiveness made it impossible for me to start my jaunty triangular Santa - green fabric?  Which one?  I don't have a lot of greens....should I poke about for a new piece?  LNS?  Online?  Ahhhhhhhhhh!

So I started something else.  And once again, it is a design I've never seen anyone else stitch, although I'm sure it is out there in the world somewhere; it is from a 1977 kit, after all.

I started Marbek/Serendipity Designs' "Star Angel."  Now, I don't typically like angels, but to me she doesn't LOOK like your typical angel.

(That is the model picture.)  I'm stitching her on a piece of cobblestone linen instead of the boring old ivory Aida that was in the kit, but I'm keeping the floss colors the same.  Oooo!  But I COULD swap in some beads in her gown....or in parts of that star she's holding.  The kit came with Kreinik, but the more bling, the better, I always say...