Committed Stitcher

Crazy #16 - Candy Cane Snow

2012-01-28T23:23:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure which is worse: stitching something prefinished or stitching and then finishing. This start came with everything prefinished, including a pillow. At least I'll be completely done when I'm done stitching.

Adding in the Flourishes

2012-01-28T23:21:00.000-08:00

The extra filling in the middle, with the thicker thread, is coming along pretty well. I'm thinking three to four more stitching sessions, and I'm done. It'll strike one of last year's starts off the list.

Over the Hafway Mark

2012-01-28T11:21:00.000-08:00

Done with the twelfth and on to the thirteenth.

Crazy #15 - Blues in the Night

2012-01-28T11:20:00.000-08:00

This is the beginning of a petite project from the Embroiderers' Guild of America. It's a fairly complex needlepoint piece, and, of course, I'm not doing it in any of the original colors or threads.

TAST Week 3 - Feather Stitch

2012-01-27T01:30:00.000-08:00

Some of the samples in Sharon's post for the feather stitch reminded me of the grape vines surrounding this city. So, I made some! Feather stitch and French knots.

Crazy #14- Tu Es Unique

2012-01-27T01:28:00.000-08:00

This has been sitting in my stash since my last trip to France. Time to get it started, especially since it's a pretty small design!

Difference in Speed

2012-01-27T01:26:00.000-08:00

It looks like part six is going much faster than the second half of part five. I'm thinking I should probably work more on five and less on six at this point....

All The Way Across

2012-01-26T07:40:00.000-08:00

I managed to get all the way across the width of the sampler. Now to go back and fill in the bottoms of the swags.

Crazy #13- Mystery Brocante

2012-01-26T07:37:00.000-08:00

I had meant to start this piece earlier. It was a stitchalong offered by European Cross Stitch, but they didn't send the threads until the second shipment of the stitchalong due to backorders.... and it didn't arrive at all. The mail ate it. So I ordered a second set of threads and asked them to mail me the pattern piece I'd never gotten, and then Turkish Air decided that mail delivery to Chisinau wasn't going to happen. This sneaked in on one of their infrequent small shipments toward the middle of January and I finally got to start stitching. I like the colors with the fabric I picked, but I need to finish another large project before this one goes into the rotation.

2012-01-26T07:32:00.002-08:00

Six Squares Done

2012-01-26T07:32:00.000-08:00

Another set of squares looks done. This means I'm at least 2/3 of the way down the fabric and on the slide toward the finish. I'm beginning to be at the point of wanting this to be -done-, so don't be surprised if I make a big push for just that in the next few weeks.

Line After Line

2012-01-25T04:04:00.000-08:00

Row after row of DMC 817. At least it's pretty easy to do.

Crazy #12 - Tulip Welcome

2012-01-25T03:27:00.002-08:00

So many of these pieces are boring at the start - a bit of outer border or background. I think it makes it easier to take them back up later when some of the boring stuff is done.

Green or Black Thumb

2012-01-25T03:27:00.000-08:00

We finally got some flowers for inside the house. They're orchids, and we made the investment because one of the wives of Andreas' local employees grows them - so the orchid will have a good home when we leave. This one is from the local Metro and is beautiful. It wasn't -that- expensive, either, for an orchid. Now to see if I can make it bloom a couple more times before I give it away.

Just the Blues

2012-01-24T04:51:00.000-08:00

More shades of light blue this time. Just about done with the sky. It's done now on the left now.

White and Green

2012-01-24T04:48:00.000-08:00

Just a bit more on the leaves done this time.

Crazy #11 - Earth Dragon

2012-01-24T04:45:00.000-08:00

I have only a tiny bit of a pretty huge dragon done. This is his beak. On the other hand, it's farther along than it was before I started it!

Needing Variety

2012-01-22T23:47:00.000-08:00

I'm happy I'm going to get some variety in this soon. There's a tree to the right that is beginning to get stitched. It'll be good to have more than the peach and the windows!

Last Cracker

2012-01-22T23:42:00.001-08:00

Finally, my last Christmas cracker was delivered on the one day we got mail two weeks ago. It wasn't the sender's fault that it took so long, but Turkish Air's. Isn't it beautifully stuffed with stuff? I can't wait to use it!

Crazy Start #10 Asian Palm

2012-01-22T23:41:00.001-08:00

This is an old kit I had bought on clearance. Looks like it's finally going to be stitched.

Speared

2012-01-22T23:39:00.000-08:00

Although I'm not done with all the middle filling, I'm getting closer to having this done. The middle has another layer in a thicker thread to add. Once that's done, there's the rest of the left and then outlining the whole thing. It's getting so close to being done! Did you know that the fleur-de-lis is based on the shape of the head of an ancient weapon?

Crazy #9 - Let's Get Fancy Biscornu

2012-01-22T01:52:00.000-08:00

This is my crazy start number nine. Since it's also for an exchange, you'll see it for at least a couple of weeks more.

Nearly Twelve

2012-01-22T01:49:00.000-08:00

It looks so nicely squared up in this picture. Halfway done, too!

TAST Week #2 - Buttonhole Millipede

2012-01-22T01:45:00.000-08:00

It looks like a millipede to me, at least. The center is a row of chain stitches, with outward facing buttonhole stitches lining it.

All Covered Up

2012-01-21T01:23:00.000-08:00

I finished my cover. Still don't have anything to put in it, but it's done! The Stitch'n''Zip kit had plenty of floss, but I still wish they'd do something about the extra canvas on the back side.

Temari's Done

2012-01-21T01:10:00.000-08:00

This is the temari-in-progress I showed you last week. It's done now!

Crazy Start #8 - Sweet Flowers

2012-01-21T01:08:00.000-08:00

This is a huge stitchalong sampler from a designer in Argentina. She's starting the stitchalong from the bottom up, something Sticklounge does often, too. It's just about my least favorite place to begin. I decided to change up the colors, using hand dyed linen and Florimell silks.

Crazy # 7 Patriotic Angel

2012-01-19T23:53:00.000-08:00

Bits of blue on black don't look very interesting at the moment, but they're going to have bits of the Declaration of Independence backstitched across them later. For now, it's a crazy start and will get into my rotation eventually.

In the Doldrums

2012-01-19T23:47:00.000-08:00

I know I'm making a lot of progress on this every week. I just don't feel like it. The piece has only the three bottom squares that already have stitching in them to be finished. I need to push on.

Work Around

2012-01-18T23:22:00.000-08:00

I told you about the one stitch over problem in a previous post. Here's my workaround: I've stitched the top part of the Chinese character so I can make sure something's in the right place. Now I can just ad the reds in around it. There's not going to be a real difference in looks if they're a stitch off.

Blue and More Blue

2012-01-18T23:19:00.000-08:00

I am back to feeling like all I'm doing is sky on this. It -should- end in a few more lines, as the sky is almost done.

Crazy #6 - Renoir

2012-01-18T01:06:00.000-08:00

This is one of a series of octagons I previously purchased from Fireside Stitchery. I finally got around to starting it as part of my Crazy January. The full outline is done, so you can see that when I get back to this, it'll be a fairly quick and easy stitch.

Founded

2012-01-18T01:04:00.000-08:00

I have the foundation of the central building done in the bottom now, and some backstitching on the side. Another part is definitely taking shape.

Crazy #5- European Fountain

2012-01-17T04:34:00.000-08:00

This was a small kit I bought while in France a few years ago. I pulled it out and stitched it in a few days for the Crazy January Challenge. It was great to get one done!

Getting Things DONE

2012-01-16T21:43:00.000-08:00

Just after the beginning of the year, I looked at the stuff in my stitch closet and saw a huge pile of things that were stitched but not finished. I decided it was time to buckle down and get things done. This is the first I picked - Jubilation. It's now an ornament.

Back to Leaves

2012-01-15T23:51:00.000-08:00

Time to get working on the leaves again. I ended up frogging some on the left due to a counting error, and added a spine to the right leaf.

Crazy Start #3

2012-01-15T23:44:00.000-08:00

I started my Take a Stitch Tuesday sampler on the third. The first stitch was fly stitches, so I made these little square fly stitch motifs. Each Tuesday Sharon Boggon adds a new stitch to experiment with. It's informal, so there's always an opportunity to jump in!

Lauguishing

2012-01-15T23:41:00.000-08:00

I feel like I'm going so slowly on this project! I know that when I took it back up, I hadn't even started the door, and I've done at least three inches across since then. It's still really dragging to me.

Crazy January #2

2012-01-15T00:27:00.000-08:00

I am subscribed to a Faberge egg series from The Needle House in Houston. It started in November, and, because of the mail situation, this is the only one I've received so far. The stitch guide and materials seem very complete. I hope to finish this one before the end of the year.

Lunch at Bier Platz

2012-01-15T00:22:00.000-08:00

I ordered steak (costita) and ended up with a pork steak at this place. It didn't say "du porc"! Anyway, the atmosphere in this place is very Octoberfest. It's even underground and is two huge wooden halls. Of course, they have a lot of beer. When we were there in mid-afternoon, 90% of the customers were just there for beer.

Down the Spearpoint

2012-01-15T00:12:00.000-08:00

I have three of five parts at least partially filled on this piece. I say partially because I need to go back through with floche and add in another motif in the big part.

Baby Boom

2012-01-15T00:08:00.000-08:00

There is currently a baby boom at the embassy, both among the locals and the Americans. Threee American spouses are pregnant, out of perhaps twenty-five. Within the past six months, I know of three babies born among the local staff. The latest was born last Wednesday, in Andreas' section. I made this afghan for her.

Dinner at Mykonos

2012-01-14T00:38:00.000-08:00

Mykonos is the Greek restaurant in the mall. It's not great, but it's not bad, and it's not really overpriced. As usual, I started with soup and Andreas started with Greek salad. We had some taziki and our main courses, too. This was a dinner out with several others. They went bowling; we went to see Christmas lights!

Ten Done

2012-01-14T00:33:00.000-08:00

Ten motifs done, and started on the eleventh. I like some of them better than others. It's easy to feel progress with this project, though.

Next Time

2012-01-14T00:30:00.000-08:00

I've gotten farther along the road to getting this done. Next time, I will probably work to just get this done. It's been pretty easy to do.

Broke Down

2012-01-13T01:24:00.000-08:00

After months of being on a yarn diet and only using what I have around the house, I broke down and bought two skeins of Alize. It was the colors that made me do it! Besides, this is my absolute favorite yarn to work with.

Serial Finish

2012-01-13T01:20:00.000-08:00

Wow, posting about two needlepoint finishes in a row! This is one of the XOctagon series I've subscribed to from Fireside Stitchery - the first one, in fact, and only one I've received. All our mail has been being held in Istanbul since oh... the middle of December? Occasionally, the embassy gets in a few bags, but Turkish Air claims there's no delivery deadline from the US post office, so they can take as long as they please to deliver it. The problem is, they're not delivering it at all. So this is the only one in the series I have. I really like it, though, and will be making it up into a small ornament. The instructions were great, and the materials were plentiful in the kit.

Now to get the mail moving, so I can have more things to work on! And get in my Christmas exchanges.

Texas, My Texas

2012-01-13T01:13:00.000-08:00

Texas is all stitched up! I like the way it looks and will be checking to frame it here soon. The design was a kit from The French Knot in Fort Worth. I found the instructions to be very sparse, referencing book pages without saying the book they were referencing. The threads were poorly labeled, too. I ended up substituting my own threads in several places and doing my own stitch choices. Also, there was not enough ribbon floss to complete the background on the Texas. It's done, though, and I love it!

Mall Concert

2012-01-12T11:42:00.000-08:00

We had dinner at the mall the Friday before Christmas, and a concert broke out! They had the Moldovan Youth Orchestra and a choir doing parts of Handel. Then, later, some guys dressed as Santas were playing carols on their horns around the food court.

Temari in Progress

2012-01-12T04:47:00.000-08:00

I don't often have a temari in progress during regular photo time, but I did last week. This will give you a little bit of an idea of stitching order on one.

A Simple Gift

2012-01-12T04:08:00.000-08:00

This simple ball was made for my maid as a Christmas gift. We gave her some other things, too, but this one is the only crafty bit not previously photographed.

It Got There!

2012-01-11T06:24:00.000-08:00

It took nearly a month, but this temari finally made it from Moldova to Cyprus. It was delayed in the holiday mail, evidently. This was made for the New Year GITS on TalkTemari, and Linda (the recipient) says she likes it, which is the important thing. It's an S-12 with two interlocking three point renzoku designs.

Went Shopping

2012-01-11T05:21:00.000-08:00

I went shopping the week between Christmas and New Year's and came home with this stuff! Some of it will get into the Crazy January Challenge.

Next to Last Roses

2012-01-11T05:19:00.000-08:00

This is my next to last rose block to work on. It's Ruby's, and you can see there's not much space left. I knew I had to leave some for Rita to do, so I worked mainly on seams and small stuff. I did one BIG lace seam and a few more small things. I hope Rita thinks she has enough space!

More of the Remarkable Place

2012-01-10T01:56:00.000-08:00

I think these pictures will give you an idea of the "rustic plush" I talked about in my last post about this restaurant. The bread cloth is obviously hand stitched and starched so stiff it barely bends to cover the bread. It's also beautiful. Taxidermy is a big part of the decor, as are tanned skins on the benches to keep your butt warm in sheepskin. Beautiful murals and even some authentic hand-stitched costumes decorate the walls. A very plush, rustic place.

Crazy January #1 - Peacock

2012-01-10T01:47:00.000-08:00

This is the peacock piece from Art Goblen that I showed you before. I changed out the fabric, since I wanted more background color and hate Aida, and started stitching on the first. Doesn't look like much yet, but it will be coming into my rotation as soon as I finish something else.

Getting to the Bottom

2012-01-10T01:29:00.000-08:00

I've got some stems reaching toward the bottom of the piece. It covers nine full squares and spills over a bit. The third level is breached!

A Remarkable Place

2012-01-09T03:35:00.000-08:00

I am not at all sure of the name of this place, but it's remarkable and weird. The food's good, and the service is excellent. It seems to be a place the local elite bring their families, and is decked out in plush rustic (told you it was weird). There are three stories, all restaurant. Andreas had rabbit, I had veal, and our friend had stroganoff. We all had some other dishes, too. Food was excellent. There will be a second post with more pictures of this place, including some local embroidery and art.

Figuring Out

2012-01-09T00:54:00.000-08:00

Last week I told you my problem with the big red splotch. I think I've figured a way around it. I'm going to stitch in the top of the black character below and then just scootch everything around it to make the rest fit. In this kind of randomish red background, being off a stitch isn't going to matter, and the character will be in the right place. Next picture of this will show what I mean to do.

Coming Together

2012-01-09T00:51:00.000-08:00

It is beginning to look like a real picture now. I'm still only about a quarter of the way done, though.

Still Christmas...

2012-01-08T01:46:00.000-08:00

It's still the Christmas season here. Yesterday was orthodox Christmas, so tomorrow finally starts being non-holiday attitude. These pictures are from one of the upper stories of MallDova, looking down. They did a very good job of lighting things up.

Three on Top

2012-01-08T01:42:00.000-08:00

The three little flowers on top are done. I think I made the right choice in changing them to blue instead of more yellow. The piece needs a little splash of something.

Filling Up Quickly

2012-01-08T01:35:00.000-08:00

The fleur-de-lis is filling up quickly now that I have the scale right and everything else. I'll have it done soon!

Mattiepocalypse

2012-01-07T01:29:00.000-08:00

This is how our floors look on a rainy or otherwise muddy day. Mattie refuses to allow us to wipe her paws.

Just Out of Town

2012-01-07T01:27:00.000-08:00

On a Saturday in December, we took a ride with Mattie, looking for somewhere to take her for a walk. We found this area just outside of town on the other side of a village devoted to viniculture. Unfortunately, the area was full of burrs. On the other hand, we noted that water wells seem to be everywhere.

One Shutter Done

2012-01-07T01:22:00.000-08:00

One side of the shutters on the current set of windows is done. Progress, yes?

All Caught Up

2012-01-06T00:39:00.000-08:00

The next part of this doesn't come out until the 16th, so I've got a bit of time to just relax and do something else. Wonderful feeling! Part eight is done and I am awaiting part nine. The designer of this wonderful piece is Pelin Tezer Zir, by the way.

Amigurumi Gift

2012-01-06T00:35:00.000-08:00

My gardener's wife crocheted these for us for Christmas. Aren't they cute? I've never had any amigurumi before.

Dinner at the Beer House

2012-01-05T01:02:00.000-08:00

A microbrewery in Chisinau! The beer's pretty good, too. The food is different from usual here. Fried cheese, for example - minus the ranch dressing. The main courses are good, and the ambiance is smoke free. It's the only restaurant we've been to with a complete smoke free room. The place is decked out in old-medieval, and the servers are pleasant and try their best to please you.

Working on an Angel

2012-01-05T00:46:00.000-08:00

The backstitching on the wings for this ninth motif was tedious to do. It's done now, though, and I'm almost done with this motif overall.

Winter Bazaar Ambiance

2012-01-04T01:06:00.000-08:00

A few pictures of the annual Winter Bazaar here for the International Women's Club. The fruits were carved by the Italians, and I thought were just a bit ostentatious for the place. The stage had occasional performances, but mainly was used to pull raffle tickets for a bunch (like 100) of different things donated by local businesses. The last picture is of the crowd. It was packed! Next year, I'll know what I'm getting into.

Beginning to Wonder...

2012-01-04T00:56:00.000-08:00

It will probably be a couple of weeks more before I do it, but I'm beginning to wonder if I should just buckle down and finish this in one more session. The big middle band is almost done, and all that's left is the small floral circle at the bottom. Of course, I don't have a Nook or Kindle to put in it...

All Bordered Up

2012-01-04T00:52:00.000-08:00

Time to fill all the shapes in. It's been an easy project when I've kept my counts straight so far.

Another Dinner at Seasons in MallDOVA

2012-01-03T09:24:00.000-08:00

Late in November we ate dinner at Seasons Bistro again. This time Andreas wasn't already feeling sick. I had soup and salad; we shared bruschetta before that. Andreas had a pasta cooked in a bag for his main course. The pasta was pretty bland, but everything else was pretty good.

Little Bits

2012-01-02T21:55:00.000-08:00

When a piece is this big, it's hard to tell where progress is made from week to week. The whole top outline is done on the top left now, and I'm beginning to go down the side. On the bottom left, there's still a bit of the top row to do, but a lot of skeleton bits are done.

Bringing Down the Sky

2012-01-02T21:37:00.000-08:00

Halfway through the background. I'm almost done!

Simple Triwing

2012-01-02T02:09:00.000-08:00

Our language teacher's favorite colors are brown, red, and green, so I made her this temari for Christmas.

Thank you!

2012-01-02T02:06:00.000-08:00

Thank you to Betsy for the Christmas gift! I've already used some of the Silk n Ivory on a quilt block and will be using more soon. I like all the colors. I'm also eyeing those bigger skeins for temari.....

Over Easy

2012-01-02T02:00:00.000-08:00

Now to framing this, since it came with a frame. I'm happy to have gotten something else done!

Sometimes You Just Have to Wonder...

2012-01-01T10:32:00.000-08:00

Supposedly "real" Native Americans selling pan pipes, dancing to Mayan music in front of the UNIC in downtown Chisinau. They looked awfully Roma to me.... Anyway, it was definitely weird.

One Flower Done

2012-01-01T10:19:00.001-08:00

I've gotten one flower done of the two. Does that make it truly halfway?

Still in the Red

2012-01-01T10:16:00.000-08:00

Not only is everything still red, I have some major problems to fix: that big blob of red on the bottom right is one stitch off to left. I'm not doing it over because it won't really make a difference in the long run. I just need to make sure that when I put the black in again, I remember the problem!

More Colors!

2011-12-31T12:37:00.001-08:00

It feels good when I add more and more colors to a piece!

Potable Presents

2011-12-31T12:34:00.001-08:00

All the liquors we received as gifts this Christmas. So far. We now live in a country where there are two Christmases.

2011-12-31T12:32:00.000-08:00

It's not looking bad. I have most of the top done, and truly, much more than at the beginning of the year.

Cracker from New York

2011-12-31T10:39:00.000-08:00

Neither of the crackers I received so far this year had any indication of who they were from! All I know about this one is that it had a return address in upstate New York. It was packed with stuff! These two pictures show it all. Thank you!

One more is on the way, but it's not the sender's fault it's not here. Evidently Turkish Air has decided not to move mail for pretty much all of December into January... I have no idea when I'm going to get my mail.

End of Year Totals

2011-12-30T06:45:00.000-08:00

I added up my finished projects this year, and here is what I ended up with:

22 cross stitch projects
21 crazy quilting projects
44 temari
5 needlepoint
1 crewel

The temari were mainly for presents and donations; few of them stretched my abilities due to time pressures. I'm hoping to get a better handle on that next year. I'm also hoping to get more needlepoint and crewel done.

Early Evening in Downtown Chisinau

2011-12-30T00:51:00.000-08:00

Christmas lights and the cathedral lit up at the main square downtown. Although it was only between eight and nine in the evening, people were already packing up and going home. Chisinau has -no- nightlife. The city does do itself up proud for Christmas, though, and since there are two Christmases here, the lights won't come down until some time after January 8th.

Restart

2011-12-30T00:43:00.000-08:00

This was one of my Crazy January 15. I had started it with floche only, and it was a different color of blue. After picking out the original stitching, I started over. This time I used a bright electric blue color based ThreadWorx variegated floss and have a hank of floche in the same bright color. It's going a lot better this time.

Cracker from North Carolina

2011-12-30T00:15:00.000-08:00

I don't know who sent me this cracker, but the return address was North Carolina. It was full of some neat stuff! I've already used some on a round robin quilt block. Thank you!

More Shutters

2011-12-29T23:57:00.000-08:00

This week, it was all about green - in the shutters and the bush under the second window.

All Parts Received!

2011-12-29T04:04:00.000-08:00

I am a third of the way done now, and have all the motifs in my hands to finish the rest. Thank you, designers and the Susannes for making this possible!

Christmas Flowers

2011-12-29T04:02:00.000-08:00

Andreas got me a very pretty floral centerpiece just before Christmas. It was delivered, so he wasn't able to see the actual one I got until he got home. It's beautiful, but especially the roses and the mums were rather old in it. I still love it, though, and we've learned the lesson to pick up in person!

Going Green

2011-12-29T03:57:00.000-08:00

The green stripes are filling up fast. Definitely over halfway done!

An Accidental Start

2011-12-28T00:54:00.000-08:00

I got this in the mail a couple of weeks ago, and it was sitting on the endtable when I sat down, so... it's started. Its the first in the XOctagon series from Fireside Stitchery.

Bowlful

2011-12-28T00:51:00.001-08:00

The bowl of temari before they were all given out.

Backgrounding in Blue

2011-12-28T00:50:00.000-08:00

All that's left is a lot of scotch stitches....

Going Down

2011-12-27T07:47:00.000-08:00

Time to go downward on both part six (top) and part five (bottom). It means I've got some progress.

Party Gifts

2011-12-27T07:39:00.000-08:00

These gifts were given us at the party we threw last Saturday week. The chocolates and brandy are both local specialties!

One Bloom

2011-12-27T07:23:00.000-08:00

I have one bloom and two plus fruits done. The halfway point is near!