Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends. I hope your day is full of friends, family, moist turkey, and piles of blessings.
We are about a third of the way through October, and I am working hard on my ornament for this month’s Ornament SAL. The next check in day is October 30th, and while I was hoping to stitching a Halloween ornament in addition to my monthly Dragon Dreams ornament, I’m not sure I’m going to be able to. We shall see, though.
Ornament Peek
That is just a sneak peek at what I’m stitching. I’m making a few changes, just to add a bit more sparkle to it. Hopefully you will all think it looks pretty.
Another peek
So, how is your ornament stitching going? What holiday are you stitching for this month?
I thought I would share another Creativ Festival canvaswork design today. This one is Creative Persausion by Carolyn Mitchell.
Creative Persuasion, designed by Carolyn Mitchell (wip, showing part of one quarter)
To be honest, this design really is working up quickly. I’m just not spending any time on it. I think it is lovely, and I enjoy the fibres and stitches, but I really hate working with a frame. I stitch everything in hand, and I find working with a frame really awkward.
Close-up of some stitches
Sadly, Carolyn Mitchell isn’t going to be at the Creativ Festival this year. I really enjoyed my classes with her last year, and would take another one with her given the chance. (Actually, my LNS has a weekend class with her in November, but I’m not able to make it. I’m very disappointed.) Her designs are lovely, and she definitely knows what she is doing when it comes to stitching.
The Creativ Festival is getting closer and closer, and I’m a bit disappointed that I haven’t made much progress on last year’s class pieces. My focus right now is to finish up Dragon Dream’s Canvaswork Dragon so I can take it to the show to show Jennifer.
Canvaswork Dragon, designed by Jennifer Aikman-Smith of Dragon Dreams (wip)
I’m getting there! All that is left is the border, two and a bit corners and the dragon’s eyebrow. I would also like to find some beads to add in the corners of the corners.
Close-up of wings and border
I’m a bit unsure about the interior of the wings. I think the fibre I used (DMC perle cotton 5) is a bit thick. It actually sticks up above the edge of thw wing, which wouldn’t happen with a “real” dragon. However, when you look at the piece at a distance, it doesn’t look bad at all. I guess I will just stare at it some more.
Close-up of dragon’s face
I’ve got about two more weeks to finish this up, so I should be able to manage. I can’t wait to share it when it is all done.
Two Octobers ago I stitched a case for my iPhone 4. Since then, Apple has released a few different iterations of the phone, but I’ve never upgraded. I’ve stuck with my iPhone 4, and my lovely dragon case. But, my poor phone has started to lose its mind a little (the GPS is often wrong among other issues), and my poor dragon has started to fray. So, just as you buy a new car when the ashtray is full*, it is time for me to get a new phone.
Sadly, my new phone is on back-order and I have no idea when it will arrive. Apparently the gold phones are very popular, which actually surprised me. But, thankfully, my new cross stitch case is here and I can get my phone’s home started.
I’ve been stressing out so much about what to stitch. I keep thinking that I have to make just the right choice since I will be living with this phone for a while. But, my husband took pity on me and remind me that these cases are actually pretty cheap compared to many other cases, so if I don’t like what I stitched, it will actually be okay to buy another one, or even get a regular case instead.
iPhone case and lotus
So, after look through my (far too big) collection of charts, magazines and books, I settled on waterlilies designed by Joan Elliot, and found in the magazine/book The Ultimate Joan Elliot Cross Stitch Collection.
Hopefully I’ll have the stitching all done by the time my phone arrives.
* An old family joke, but from when I was a kid, people smoked in cars, and my parents smoked like chimneys. Cleaning out the car’s ashtray always grossed out my mom. Do cars even have ashtrays anymore?
I knew my streak of posting TUSAL pictures on time couldn’t last. The proper day was Friday, but I was wrapped up in working on this and that. So, I’m behind, but my little ORT jar is pretty full.
TUSAL – my little ort collector
There is DMC satin floss from my canvaswork project, lots of floss from ornament stitching (How’s your October ornament doing?), and lost and different bits from the Passione Ricamo mystery SAL.
My big ort jar
Here’s my jar so far for the year. I think I’m doing pretty good. I look like I’ve been pretty productive, even if I don’t feel that way.
If you are interested in learning more about the Totall Useless Stitch-Along (TUSAL), check out this post on It’s DaffyCat. Happy stitching!
We are still deep in a very mild autumn, but I’m not trying to kid myself. I know that the cold weather will make an appearance soon. If I’m not wishing for the heat to be on my Thanksgiving (October 14th), I’ll eat my hat! And, of course, cold weather means that I will need more hand-knit socks!
Skip to My Lou, designed by Rae Jean
The pattern for this pair is called Skip to my Lou, designed by Rae Jean for the Summer 2013 edition of Interweave’s emagazine Sockupied. I used my favourite sock yarn, Crystal Palace’s Panda Cotton, in colourway Baby Blues.
Toe, instep and sole
I really, really love the texture in these socks. They are very squishy thanks both to the lace rib stitch and to the garter stitch on the heels and toes. I’m just hoping that the wind won’t go whistling though the mesh! Still, they are super cute.
I’ve already cast on my next pair. Surprise! I’m going to try my hand a colourwork again. Hopefully I don’t have as many issues as last time.
Needleworker, Knitter, Crocheter, Sewist, Paper Crafter, and more!
Also known as Silverlotus & Stitchinglotus
Located just outside of Toronto, Canada.
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