Traveling WIPs – 7

Tags

Freebies

This was taken in June 2011, at a remote farm in the Westfjords of Iceland.  Beautiful summer day and not a soul in sight except for us – I could not have asked for more!  The photo was taken by our friend and guide in Iceland, Börkur Hrólfsson.  I have long since finished this piece (see here) and gifted it to my friend, who now lives in Japan.

Traveling WIPs – 6

Tags

Freebies

This is a small travel project I started a little while ago.  It’s small, simple, and uses only one color, which makes it convenient to stitch on the road.  This was near the Bare Mountains, outside Beatty, Nevada, a small desert town on the outskirts of Death Valley.  It was just a few seconds after sunset, as you can see from the disappearing golden glow on the tips of the mountains.

Pattern: Petits Alphabets (free pattern available at PCB Dijon)
Designer: Sylvaine Lenoir
Fabric: 40ct Dauphin (scrap)
Threads: HDF pre-dyed silk
Started: March 25, 2013

Sweet Surprises

A few days ago, I returned home late in the evening, tired from yet another flight. There was a package waiting for me – it was from Vikki Clayton with my most recent order of silks, and an old box with a electric travel mug.  At least, that’s what the box must have originally contained ‘coz it said so on the box.  Inside, however, was a carefully wrapped roll containing these lovely things.  I was thoroughly puzzled because I know Vikki is too busy with her business to make these things.  But then I recognized the huswife because I had seen photos on a fellow-HDF stitcher, Anke’s blog.  Anke had posted photos of her WIPs and finished pieces a while back.  This was truly a surprise (most of the time, I am too tired or cranky to be surprised) because I did not “know” Anke personally.  I have always admired her remarkable finishing skills and wished I had some of that talent.  I had never imagined that I would actually get to hold and touch these treasures!

Huswife with matching needlebook, and a bigger needlebook, and fob:

Huswife opened up, with matching mini needlebook and thread winders:

Inside the larger needlebook:

Beautiful hand-crafted pins:

Thank you, Anke! These will sit by my side as I am stitching, reminding me of your graciousness.

Quaker Sampler

Tags

Freebies, gazette94, Quaker

This was a travel piece that I started when was traveling last month, but I kept stitching on it even after I returned. It’s a very enjoyable stitch, and the lovely fabric and floss enhanced the whole process. For those planning to stitch this, note that the borders of the tree motifs at the top are charted differently on the left and right motifs. I am sure this was a charting error because the other two motifs below are mirror images of each other. I caught the error only after I had finished the piece, but it was an easy fix.

Here is a closeup. The fabric, with its pink undertones, was perfect for this floss.

Pattern:  Quaker 2010 (free)

Designer:  gazette94

Fabric: HDF 36ct mystery linen

Floss: HDF Rum Scullion 4343/Fagales 4465/Kodiak 5139 (Limited edition recreation of Weeks Swiss Chocolate; and White 5201 (#12 Perle)

Started: February 24, 2013

Finished: April 21, 2013

Color! – 6

Tags

Freebies

Here is another color that I dreamt up and Vikki Clayton dyed to perfection. I was at the factory when she dyed it, so here are pictures to show how different a color looks in its various avatars.

Hank freshly dyed and dried:

Wound around a cone:

Spooled into minis:

Stitched!

Pattern: S. Valentino (freebie)
Designer: Luli
Fabric: HDF 36 x 40 uneven linen
Floss: HDF Tart’s Knickers 25 and Venus Mirror 11 (custom twist)
Started: 15 February 2013
Finished: 20 February 2013

Color! – 5

Tags

Freebies, gazette94, Quaker

A couple of months ago, there was a frenzy of new colors on the HDF forums, all re-creations of certain Weeks Dye Works variegated colors in HDF.  All of them turned out really gorgeous, but my favorite (so far) is Swiss Chocolate.

I loved it the minute I held the spool in my hands and could not wait to stitch something with it.  It was around the  time I was preparing for my annual trip to India and I needed a travel piece.  So I decided to stitch a gazette94 freebie pattern with this color.  I was feeling slightly guilty about starting a new piece when I had such large WIPs sitting around but I went ahead anyway because stitching a gazette94 pattern is on my goals list this year  I am back from India now and unable to put this down until I finish it.

Pattern:  Quaker 2010 (free)

Designer:  gazette94

Fabric: HDF 36ct mystery linen

Floss:  HDF recreation of Weeks Swiss Chocolate

Started: February 24, 2013

Traveling WIPs – 5

Tags

Iceland, Ink Circles, Quaker Floral Puzzle

The Quaker Puzzle went all over Iceland with me in June 2012. I love shooting photos of my WIPs in outdoor settings especially in beautiful Iceland. Sometimes it’s quite a challenge to get both the scenery and the stitching in one frame. Another issue is ensuring that your piece does not get dirty.  Fortunately in Iceland, due to the extreme cold and remoteness of the places we visit, cleanliness is almost always guaranteed. I just have to keep the fabric from getting wet in the snow or dew.

This was taken at Hrafntinnusker in South Iceland. There was still some ash from the 2010 volcanic eruption of Eyjafjallajökull lingering on the snowcaps of these mountains.

This is at Loðmundarfjörður in the Eastfjords of Iceland. We drove into the highlands one bitterly cold morning. Along the way, we came across this tiny valley bursting with colorful wildflowers.

This third photo is in Bakkaflói, East Iceland, where we came across an abandoned farmhouse during one of drives in the area. There was something rather haunting about this little house:

Since this design is now finished, it won’t be traveling with me anymore; so these photos are the last ones of the Quaker Puzzle.

2013 Goals

Tags

Stitching Goals

It’s only February and I am struggling to remember the stitching goals I had set for myself in that tiresome, yet recurring new-year fever that we all suffer in January.  Fortunately, I had blathered about them over email to some of my stitching buddies and I dug them out today.  Here they are, for my own easy reference:

1. Finish Ann Dale.  I started this eagerly in January 2012, and then it languished as several charting errors were discovered.  I have fixed most of the errors now and want to finish this piece in 2013.
2. Keep up with Marquoir Elise, which is scheduled to run until July 2013.  So far I have managed to stay current on the 8 parts that have been released.
3. Knock off one of my UFOs (WIPs that have been laying around neglected for more than a year) – Odds and Ends 4 which I had started in the Sticklounge group but never finished.  Luckily the pattern was made available for sale.
4. Stitch a couple of patterns from the stack that I have purchased over the last 3 years – maybe one Carriage House Samplings or Blackbird Designs, one from Jean Louis Grandsire, one from Mango Practique’s Agenda 2012.
5. Stitch at least one pattern from the growing pile of freebies that I have collected over the years.   Completed gazette94′s Quaker 2010 Sampler and luli’s St. Valentine.

I am hoping this list will prevent me from jumping into impulsive starts through the year.

Marquoir Elise – 1 to 8

Tags

Marquoir Elise, SAL, Tresors de Boites a Couture

I had fallen behind on this project because I was focusing on Ann Dale.  Part 8 was released this past week, and with this part, the design had completed the second row, so I decided to use the weekend to get caught up.  I realized I had made a small error in the letter F, so all the subsequent alphabets were off by one stitch, but I decided not to frog anything.  Actually, the error helped things a bit in the next row, because the letters V through Z were charted one stitch shorter than all the others, so I added one stitch to them.  It all worked out in the end.

Pattern: Marquoir Elise

Designer:  Marie-Françoise

Fabric: 48ct Gander in Antique White

Floss:  Vikki Clayton’s HDF (converted from DMC)

• 168 = Nisse Grey 25
• 924 = Jewelweed (mystery from dbag; looks like Jewelweed 65)
• 3364 = Willow Withies 21
• 225 = Quince 03
• 778 = Winterberry 19
• 3861 = Orchid Smoke 11
• 453 = Rockpile 01
• 834 = Umbrage 61
• 832 = Umbrage 65
• 840 = Jackalope 65
• 931 = Magpie Tears 47

Started:  October 14, 2012

Traveling WIPs – 4

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Royal Swan

We went to Death Valley for a few days over the Christmas break, returning home after Christmas. Driving back, we spent a night at Ridgecrest, CA (which is about 2.5 hours from Death Valley) so that we could watch the sunset and moonrise at the Trona Pinnacles. It was a beautiful evening, very silent and still, not another soul in sight. Here is the Royal Swan under early moonlight at Trona Pinnacles.

I wish had a better image of the Pinnacles with the WIP but it was tough to photograph with no elevated spot to park my WIP. I had to make do with a leafless bush (couldn’t go near the leafy bushes for fear of rattlesnakes). Here is a slightly wider photo.