Tag Archives: fairy idyll

June WIPocalypse

Posted in cross stitch, embroidery, goals, grateful, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, stitch from stash, stitching patterns, Teresa Wentzler, WIPocalypse by

Hello everyone! WIPocalypse is the monthly check-in SAL hosted by Measi on her blog, and via the Facebook group – we welcome all enablers! Click on the icon to the right to learn more.  If you’re a crafter, please join up either on your blog or via the Facebook group – we welcome all enablers!

I had no real goals for June. I am still floating around, with little purpose. Work is work; there was Mum’s service; family discord with post service disappointments; more work & then I became very sick (as in covid tests, delays and now antibiotics & working from home when I should be resting). I’m not a happy camper overall. I would like to rewind 2020 and have a do-over, please.

I did a bit of shopping therapy and one chart has turned into a finish – I have amended some of the colours in Pohutukawa and changed the shore to fit the circle of the hoop finish that I intend to complete soon. I also brought Mirabilia Summer Queen as I have long regretted selling this one and Autumn on when I did. I’m waiting on two charts from 123Stitch – When Life is Done by Silver Creek Samplers, which I will do as a memorial piece for Mum and the HOD Stitching by the Sea. I’ve counted them in my June spend as they are charged & shipped, altho I may not get until July. I ended up finishing the half year in credit, $19.70, so that’s looking good.

My other finish was an Emma Congdon quote from the Pride & Prejudice movie. I know it’s not “canon” but I couldn’t get the brain space to re-chart it. This one is available on the Stitchrovia Etsy store.

June’s question is the Half-year recap:  How are you doing with your goals so far this year? Hmm. This is not going too well!

  • Complete all panels of Jim Shore’s 12 Days stopped in March
  • Complete Fairy Idyll (I bead as I go with this one) haven’t touched for at least 2 months
  • Complete Mermaid of Atlantis (which honestly is just the beading to go) YEAH
  • Complete the stitching on Shakespeare’s Fairies YEAH
  • Complete Tapestry Cat (my oldest WIP). Haven’t touched.

This week I start a course about Maori tikanga, or customs. That will take out a chunk of stitching time but I can listen to some of it while driving. I’m a little bit nervous about returning to semi-formal study (it is run by a tertiary institution and counts towards national standards) but I need to get over that. So for July I’d like to finish beading Shakespeare’s Fairies, put a little into Fairy Idyll and start When Life is Done. That’s it. Pretty simple!

All the best to you all. Stay safe, stay well, stay patient. God bless.

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” 

– Leo Buscaglia

February WIPocalypse

Posted in Christmas, cross stitch, embroidery, goals, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL, stash cache app, stitch from stash, stitching patterns by

Hello everyone! WIPocalypse is the monthly check-in SAL hosted by Measi on her blog, and via the Facebook group – we welcome all enablers! Click on the icon to the right to learn more. If you’re a crafter, please join up either on your blog or via the Facebook group – we welcome all enablers!

February Goals were:

  • Finish the second panel in 12 Days – just scraped in
  • Finish the second panel in Celtic Sampler – done & moved well past
  • 200 over one in Fairy Idyll – nope, maybe I should rename her Fairly Idyll 🙂
  • Walk every day I don’t bootcamp – mmm, most days I hit goal. Just the one rest day each week, and I am noticing a lot of changes.

I also completed another of the Cloudsfactory Disney minis that I am doing for Aurora’s Christmas present – Belle is done now too. So that’s Ursula, Rapunzel, Lady T, Eric, Oscar, Belle, and half a Dopey and a bit of Mulan.

Celtic was my work (yay, aircon) and travel project. It got a bit of time in hospital, doctor’s surgery, waiting for dawn etc as it’s much, much smaller than 12 Days (and a different fabric too).

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It was sooo hot (most days it was well over 27/28/29 degrees Celsius, and a muggy hot too, and I didn’t want a lap quilt worth of floba anywhere near me! Some days I barely managed one thread length on the 12 Days, other days were a little better.

March Goals:

  • Finish the third panel in 12 Days
  • Start a Chatelaine – see below.
  • Late Edit: add March is the first one-a-day SAL, I’ll be working on the beading of Atlantis. Copying Measi & getting the wheel to decide how many beads.

In honour of “Leap Year,” tell the story of a time you had to make some sort of a “leap” in stitching – taking the chance on a new style of stitching, attending a meet up or class, etc. I’m not very good at leaping – hence the growing collection of Chatelaines in my basket! I’ve made it a goal for this month to at least start one of the banners (I have three of the Mini Mystery Castle range) and master some of those embroidery stitches. After all, I’ve attended a class or two AND I’m not that stupid. I will be using mostly DMC rather than the original silks tho. My budget simply won’t stretch that far! And due to the expected intensity of this project, I’m not committing to much this month. I have looked into joining the local chapter of the Embroidery Guild, thanks to Anne’s advice & experience, and I’m attending my first meet up next week.

Stitch From Stash: I ended up finishing January in the red, mostly due to a fabric purchase. I’ve pulled that back in Feb, as I sold the spare Lady Mirabilia chart/bead pack that I had (broke even too) and had a couple of small finishes. However I’ve ordered the Duchess of Rouen (companion piece to The Baker’s Wife, both by Nora Corbett/Mirabilia) and the Hands on Design Nashville release, Well Rounded (expecting both in late March, early April). I also brought a kit by Tis The Season, a new-to-me business that I found in Whitianga, a coastal resort town here in New Zealand.

January WIPocalypse Wrap

Posted in Christmas, cross stitch, embroidery, goals, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL, stash cache app, stitch from stash, stitching patterns, WIPocalypse by

Hello everyone! It’s a hot & muggy Auckland Anniversary Day here in NZ, and I celebrated the day off by running myself into the ground, lol! Bootcamp, a hospital visit to the MIL, finished loading the trailer then a dump run, dropped a dresser off & finally sat down. My arms hurt, my butt hurts & I really want a nap!

Anyway, let’s get into the Wipocalypse wrap. You can find our group in FB & in wordpress. Click the icon over on the right to be taken to Measi’s site.

My January Goals:

  • Complete the first panel of Jim Shore’s 12 Days (new start)
  • Complete 500 stitches in Fairy Idyll
  • Christmas Ornament FO
  • Disney Cloudsfactory item for Aurora FO

I got EVERYTHING knocked out this month. I’ve stitched every day (although one day was only 39) & made huge progress in big parts of Fairy Idyll. I did avoid any over one, so that helped, but I can’t ignore that forever.I also started Antique Celtic Sampler on a piece of 28ct lugana that I dyed myself. I was going to do it on cream, but this is the fabric MIL chose.

February Goals:

  • Finish the second panel in 12 Days
  • Finish the second panel in Celtic
  • Another 200 over one stitches in Fairy Idyll
  • Walk every day that I don’t bootcamp.

  • The question of the month is about what SALs we are participating in and the current answer is – a big fat NOTHING. Hooray for gap year!

    • SFS is still going for the month, so I’ll update that later. Right now, healthy as.

    October 2019 WIPocalypse

    Posted in Christmas, cross stitch, embroidery, family, goals, lavender & lace, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL, stitch from stash, stitching patterns, WIPocalypse by

    Hello everyone! I hope you’re well. WIPocalypse is the monthly check-in SAL hosted by Measi on her blog, and via the Facebook group – we welcome all enablers! Click on the icon to the right to learn more.

    I didn’t set any real goals for October – just to keep up with the weekly prompts in #magicalstitches and try to stay sane. Achieved the first, will debate on the second!

    I managed an increase in stitching with 7841 stitches overall. 1520 in Fairy Tales, 1242 in Fairy Idyll and an FO in the Marauder’s Map (985 to finish) which is now framed and ready to go in Baby Bailey’s nursery. Three of my Saturday’s were spent with Mum, as she can’t be left alone, and as she naps more and more there’s more time to kill.

    SFS – despite having four FO’s I spent well more than I earned, and I’m now $76.72 in the red. If I get a couple of finishes in – or maybe 6 of the Clouds Factory people I’m doing for Aurora – I’ll finish the year in the black, even if I don’t finish the six months. I look at 2017 & 2018 and I can see the same pattern. I think as home and work pressures build, I go off and spend, altho this year I’ve been a lot cleaner than others. Or I was tighter earlier in the year, or Nora didn’t release Mira’s that I really liked earlier in the year. It’s probably a combination of all those things.

    November Goals:

    • Keep up with weekly #magicalstitches homework
    • Finish some CF or Mill Hill pieces

    October Question – Do you prefer to stitch on a rotation or one project at a time? Well, until this year and #magicalstitches I thought I was more a one project girl. But I quite like the rotation thing, so while I’m not going to re-join the group for 2020, I thought I would do a slower rotation (weekly rather than almost daily) and get some FO’s done. I am still toying with Stuart’s clever CYOA version of the Harry Potter books and might also start that.

    WIP Wednesday #260

    Posted in Christmas, cross stitch, family, goals, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL, stitch from stash, stitching patterns, Teresa Wentzler by

    Hello everyone! This last week has been a bit quieter; the work fiscal month cycles down a notch (plus my boss is away, so there’s less interruption or change to my day). At home Mum has also cycled down a notch, and is now pretty much confined to the hospital bed or the electric Laz-y-boy I brought her last year. I am hoping we will be able to celebrate Christmas together, but expecting that we won’t. Mase decided not to play cricket this summer, and we were too late for summer soccer registration, so he’s doing golf lessons. So cute to watch him carefully line himself up!

    Last week’s #magicalstitches homework was a bit savage – ended up being 1400 stitches required, which is a huge leap from month 1 (which was only 300 stitches in some weeks). I am evaluating what I want to do next year, and as I don’t particularly like the books this group is moving onto, I think I will mute for 2020 and do my own thing, getting my WIP count down to something manageable. I set up a project table, thinking that week one of every month would be a Mira, week two a small, week three a Teresa Wentzler and week four/five free choice. I have 26 WIPs right now. Some are terribly small, like a plastic canvas Clouds Factory Rapunzel (15*24 stitches) and some are massive, like Fairy Idyll (247*309 stitches). 26! Huge shock.

    Anyways. Each of the prompts related to the Pensive and memories, and required 200 stitches. There was a bonus for a photo relating to prompt 5, collections. Mine of course was my Mira wall that hubs is carefully curating.

    1. Purple – I had nothing to hand, so I started two CF plastic ornaments for the gift box I plan to give Aurora – Rapunzel and Ursula
    2. My Best piece – Shakespeare’s Fairies
    3. A project with a house – new start again, the original Home of a Needleworker.
    4. A project with some food item I could give – this one could be controversial – I chose Prancer!
    5. Something I collect – Shakespeare’s Fairies again
    6. Something cursed – I chose Fairy Idyll, as that over one skin has been awful!
    7. Something I don’t want to end – Shakespeare’s Fairies. I love this design.

    Anyway, take care & have a lovely week.

    August & September WIPocalypse

    Posted in cross stitch, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL, stash cache app, stitch from stash, Teresa Wentzler, WIPocalypse by

    Hello everyone! I hope you’re well. WIPocalypse is the monthly check-in SAL hosted by Measi on her blog, and via the Facebook group – we welcome all enablers! Click on the icon to the right to learn more.

    August Goals:

    • Complete the Year 5 Extra Credit homework (4/11 to go) LEFT ONE TASK INCOMPLETE
    • Complete Mermaid of Atlantis stitching (seriously possible if the weekly homework goes my way) NOT QUITE – BUT USED WHERE POSSIBLE
    • No Spend! NOPE – SPENT $10.40

    September Goals:

    • Complete four EC NOPE, just two
    • Complete Mermaid of Atlantis (lined up for a few of the monthly Extra Credit) NOPE
    • Bead & FFO some Mill Hill ornies NOPE

    All up, in August I didn’t stitch as much as in July. We finished the car & I spent a lot of time walking & listening to audio books rather than on my butt. Still happy with what I got done tho.

    • Fairy Idyll 231
    • Mermaid of Atlantis 435
    • Shakespeare’s Fairies 1957
    • Tapestry Cat 202
    • Stitchrovia Austen Quote 404
    • Coffee Quaker 1024
    • Jeanette Douglas 2012 Peace 417
    • Four Seasons in NZ 247
    • The Guardian 565
    • Erica Tui (new start) 506
    • MH Santa’s Sleighs 500
    • Un Ricarmo Per Rinascere 509
    • Reindeer Parade 213

    That’s over 7410 stitches for the month.

    In September I slowed right down (lots of reading & more time with Mum) and got in just over 6000 stitches.

    • Fairy Idyll 1353
    • Mermaid of Atlantis 868 (just beading to go now)
    • Fairy Tales, a new start 3141
    • Un Ricarmo Per Rinascere 321
    • Sampler House, a new start from Blackbird Designs 607

    SFS: In August, I didn’t manage a no spend month (again) but it was just a few DMC & two charts at the Hospice shop. Turned out the person I picked them up for already had them, so if you’re into Paula Vaughan they are up on my @pauladestash IG account. I have ordered the new Mirabilia, Garden Prelude, but the bill hasn’t arrived yet so I can’t count it. With the ornie finish, I’m 30.85 in the black.

    And then September turned to custard! I was given some money so went wild – $110.10 in 20 minutes at Ribbon Rose. Oops. Luckily I also sold Lady of the Flag for a reasonable (not eBay enormous) amount to a fellow stitcher, so that kept me in the black, at 26.92.

    August Question: What do you have on your stitching bucket list? (for example, specific projects, designers, fibers, etc) I have two Chatelaine designs in my stash – but with a few large Mira’s on my WIP list either is a way away from starting.

    September Question: What finishing style have you never tried but would love to do? More hand-finishing – Mase wants this Blackbird Designs stocking ASAP – so that’s on the list to knock off. Plus I’d like to take a framing course next year.

    See you next week (hopefully!) or at the least, for the October WIPoclaypse.

    WIP Wednesday #258

    Posted in cross stitch, goals, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL, stitch from stash, Teresa Wentzler by

    Hello everyone! Sorry for not posting last week – Wednesday got away from me.

    The last calendar week of August had two sets of Magical Stitches homework – 6 days completed Year Five, and we’ve started Year Six, the Half Blood Prince. There were three potential parts of Y5W9 – we had to post 5 WIPs before the Sunday; then from the Monday stitch 500 on whichever was picked (for Gryffindor it was WIP 4, which for me was Un Ricarmo per Rinascere). The last part was bonus; do 200 on each of the other four WIPs to get a total of 13 points. I managed them all – chose all Nora/Mirabilia so that I’d be fully engaged.

    Y6 day1 was simple – 100 stitches for 1 point on our latest start. Unfortunately I didn’t pick up a needle during that 24 hour period (it has to start at midnight CST time, which is 5pm my time). Too much going on getting the house ready for the week ahead.

    Y6W1 had three parts: 400 stitches in something we’ve made a Vow or promise about (for me, this was Mermaid of Atlantis as I wanted to finish her this year); 300 stitches in a design that starts with a letter in DURSLEY (I did 321 stitches in Un Ricarmo Per Rinascere) & lastly 300 stitches in something that gives us FOMO (the fear of missing out) to note Professor Slughorn’s return to teaching (I did 310 stitches in Fairy Idyll, a design I was so determined to have).

    I’m now at the bead stage with MoA!

    We’re now in Y6W2, and have to choose which path we will take – Light or Dark? We have to write an explanation, do 600 stitches in our chosen path and 400 in the other. There’s a bonus of 200 stitches in our most blingiest project (which for me would be Mermaid of Atlantis, with her Kreinik & beads) but as we are travelling this weekend, I’m going to use my new start & focus on the week tasks and some monthly EC tasks.

    WIP Wednesday #253

    Posted in cross stitch, goals, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL, stitch from stash, stitching patterns, Teresa Wentzler by

    Hey everyone! Hope you’ve had a good week.

    Last week’s #magicalstitches revolved around Professor Umbridge. If you could match the options, it was 1000 stitches total or if you chose penalty stitches, 2000. Eep. But 200 stitches a night is usually achievable for me so I tried to match.

    1. The colour Pink – Fairy Idyll’s bedlinens
    2. Tea or Teacups – I found an Emma Congdon/Stitchrovia series of smalls. Originally in Cross Stitch Crazy, they’re now available on her Etsy store.
    3. Kittens – which had to be domestic cats, so Tapestry Cat came back into play.
    4. A pattern name that starts with one of the letters R.U.L.E.S – I chose Shakespeare’s Fairies
    5. A designers’ name that starts with one of the letters S.T.R.I.C.T – here I had a couple of options with Teresa Wentztler (TC or Guardian) or one of the Sandra Cozzolino designed Mill Hill Santas.

    Halfway thru the week, it was confirmed that you could use the designer name or the company it was released with, and it suddenly dawned on me that hello, it’s Nora CORBETT and C is in strict. Insert facepalm mode. So as Fairy Idyll was in front of me at the time, I knocked out another block there.

    Family wise it’s a bit odd. Out of mum’s day-to-day loop, so it was a shock to find out she’d been so ill she’d been prescribed antibiotics. We had the same conversation three times on Monday night when I took up her morphine allocation. Plus with the SIL constantly going on about money. Its super hard not to bite back, but that would achieve nothing. Our focus has always been to give Mum a good life, to show our gratitude physically as well as verbally e.g. the ramps we built so she could ignore steps & use her Zimmer, altering the height of her ensuite basin so she didn’t have to bend, organise car servicing etc…I couldn’t tell you how much money or time we’ve spent, but hello, it’s Mum.

    Sorry for the downer end.

    WIP Wednesday #245

    Posted in cross stitch, family, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, stitch from stash, stitching patterns by

    Morning! Has it really been only a week? It feels sooo much longer, but that is what being sick does to you. I have a cold, so can’t go around mum for a few days. Plodding along at work. Seriously disappointed in this last season of Thrones. Really enjoyed binge watching the ITV series, The Bay, with Louise. Cleaning thru 40+ years of stuff the MIL has kept (business records from 1984, anyone?). Telling Mase what is happening with Grandma, then having a stroppy child as his aunt told him I’m exaggerating. What? Not helpful. And this is why she’s not the testamentary guardian, Lou is.

    Last week’s #magicalstitches challenge was completed on Sunday, my time. It was hard to get thru Raven Queen, much easier on Fairy Idyll (32ct linen vs 28ct Lugana), & then I used Fairy Idyll for the pop-up challenge, so there’s 400 stitches in her, not 350.

    This week’s challenge has gone in my “too hard” basket so I am stitching the penalty – 400 stitches on a WIP of my choice. I’ve gone super-simple, and chosen my friend Jenny (home*stitch*ness on Etsy, FB, IG and featured in multiple World of Cross Stitching magazines) & her Four Seasons in New Zealand. There are companion pieces for the UK, Australia, Canada & the States. Super cute. Progress shots next week!

    WIP Wednesday #241

    Posted in cross stitch, goals, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL, stitch from stash, stitching patterns by

    Hello everyone! My resolve for May is to be not as inwardly focussed, so you should see a bit more of me. These last few months have been emotionally heavy, and with the MIL now having a hospice referral, it’s going to get a lot worse before healing starts. I still haven’t quite worked out how to present my WIP Wednesday, as my stitchy focus is #magicalstitches which runs Monday to Sunday, but we’ll see what happens.

    My “one a day” piece for April has been Coffee Quaker. Five motifs are now complete and I could be as much as 1/6th thru. No rush on this one anyway. Plus it’s over one.

    20190420_123721.jpgLast week there were two challenges in #magicalstitches. One was “select a part” & for myself, rather than visit ten stores in Hogsmeade and do 100 stitches/short story on what I “brought”, I chose to visit one shop. I’m focusing on the huge boring-ish blocks of colour in Shakespeare’s Fairies, as it’s harder to go off track while life distracts me. I made up some story that I was poor, as my Muggle parents were intimidated at Gringots and asked for 10 knuts instead of galleons, and put in 1022 stitches in at Gladrags Wizardwear.

    20190419_195233.jpgThere was also a Full Moon pop-up (for Remus Lupin). 30 stitches on dark (side of the moon), 30 on light (the side we see) and 30 on animal. I ended up doing 143 overall (instead of leaving threads hanging) on the Cloudsfactory We’re All Mad Here biscornu. That cat is creepy.

    This week I’m stitching the nominated option, no penalty stitches. 300 on a tree/plant for the Whomping Willow, and 300 on a building for the Secret Room. I’m done already there with a start to the conifer in Fairy Idyll, and working on the column/balustrade for Raven Queen.

    One thing to be said for this – it’s quite creative in the themes fitting into the book, I’m definitely varying what I am working on and I think that right now, there’s just the one WIP I haven’t pulled out to fit a challenge. I’m not beating myself up for that, and if I don’t get to a challenge target, that’s OK to. I’m enjoying what I am working on!