Tag Archives: Mirabilia Round Robin

WIP Wednesday

Posted in Christmas, cross stitch, Mirabilia, round robin, Uncategorized by

Hump day again! Well, technically, I reached the hump when I left yesterday, as I have Friday off to spend with Mase on his school trip to Bethells Lagoon. Can’t wait!

Last night I finished a small ornie for my twitter-based NZ Secret Santa. She doesn’t follow me here or on Twitter so it’s safe to share:

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Very simple finish, blanket stitched felt on the back, used some sparklie thread to create the loop and added the star button to hide the threads.

I’m also working on Lenna’s mermaid tail still: Laguna will have a change in the flowers, so they match the ones used by Lenna in the centre of the whole piece. I’m on the third colour thread, and it’s working up reasonably quickly.

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I do like her fabric choice! It works with a wide range of tail colours.

November WIPocalypse

Posted in cross stitch, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, round robin, stitching patterns, Teresa Wentzler, WIPocalypse by

November 25 – Topic:  Which designer has inspired you to stitch the greatest number of designs and why do you think that is? (via Hazel, who I follow on Instagram!)

There’s a few designers that I collect/hoard/stash. I have a lot of Theresa Wentzler’s, altho I only have two finishes and two WIPs & one more kitted up; I went thru an Alma Lynne phase and I have one finish but another 10-15 charts; obviously a Winnie-the-Pooh phase when Lou was younger (those three finishes are currently hanging in Mase’s bedroom, and will likely move along to first grandchild). I have probably 20 BHG Christmas magazines that I pick stuff out of, & some Ink Circles gifted to me by Lynne, and 8 Lavender & Lace (MLI was Nora’s mum) but in the last year my stitching revival is mostly Nora Corbett. I would have 40+ charts stashed away and four current WIPs:

  • Persephone
  • Arezzo (over one)
  • Roses of Provence (I’m re-thinking my decision to frog the current fabric, it might be easier now I have a portable stand)
  • Reindeer Parade (my mish-mash with Rudolph complete except for beads, and Blitzen partially done)

I have quite a few finishes for only 20 months too:

  • Stargazer
  • Mediterranean Mermaid
  • Santa’s Sleigh
  • Shimmering Mermaid’s compass (I don’t like this mermaid, but I had to do the compass)
  • Audubon St Yellow Figbird
  • Audubon St Scarlet Tanager
  • Audubon St Blue Monarch Flycatcher
  • Fairy Letter L (click on the Conversion tab for deets)
  • Fairy Letter C (again, click on Conversion for details)

And I’ve stitched on 5 of the seven Mira Round Robins too  which has been fun!

I’m trying not to hoard too much. I have far more than I will ever stitch in my lifetime and while Z and M have fleeting phases of wanting to stitch it isn’t the norm by any means! However I think I will encourage it over the heat of the summer months. With seven weeks away from school there is only so much TV and Wii a boy can deal with!

Here’s last night’s bit of stitching. I played with the stand & while Lenna’s Mermaid Tails RR is far too big to fit on any scroll, my little bookmark fitted perfectly on the smallest set:

Isn’t he cute? I re-worked the CloudsFactory design as I wanted a slightly round but not as round as their characters Poirot. This morning I sat down for 30 mins and I have the beginnings of Mr Darcy (Jenna’s bookmark). He should work up nice and fast!

WIP Wednesday

Posted in cross stitch, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, round robin by

I’ve managed to complete a little more of Persephone. Much of it while Z was surfing sport channels; it was too hot much of the weekend to spend time outside from 11-3 & I’d rather they didn’t risk sunburn so it’s easy to say yes to TV, board games and so on. I’ve gotten up and worked on her a little each morning (around 20-25 min) and I’m up to the second “jellyfish” as Mase calls them.

She’s going to come off the stand for a few weeks as Lenna’s piece arrived yesterday. She’s big and beautiful! I need to take a decent photo. My options are Siren’s Song, Undine or Moonlight Laguna. I’m not sure which one I’ll choose!

October Goals Revised aka I really might be an adult!

Posted in Christmas, cross stitch, goals by

Just to recap, the October goals were:

  • Print out the last 10 days before Christmas & journal to complete my December Daily for 2014 NOPE
  • Complete my portion on Keely’s RR (Christmas Angels) – this is the one that Z didn’t even open FINISHED & POSTED
  • Complete my portion on Lisa’s RR (Tattie Teddy) FINISHED & POSTED
  • Complete my portion on April’s RR (Mira – my pick of one that speaks to me, & I’m thinking a reverse Provence Roses will fit well) FINISHED & POSTED
  • Complete my portion on Kathryn’s RR (flower LOVE letters) FINISHED & POSTED
  • And if all that’s done, make a start to Raven Queen NOPE

I did make a new start with Roses of Provence, but I hated the uneven weave of the linen. So I’m frogging that and will sell/swap the fabric & get something else. November’s goals are:

  • Complete my portion on Lenna’s RR (which hasn’t even arrived as yet)
  • Stitch the Austen bookmark for Jenna
  • Stitch the Mysteries bookmark for KerryCan (I hope you like Sherlock, as I thought the Cloudsfactory type was cute)
  • Finish the arms of Persephone and back-stitch from the face down
  • Stitch a couple of Christmas ornaments including a “do not open” for my office door
  • Make Mase a couple of pairs of boxers for summer jammie pants
  • Send off the overseas Christmas cards – already addressed most so just have to write notes!
Christmas card circa 1886. Hmm, snow?

Christmas card circa 1886. Hmm, snow?

If you want to be on my Christmas card list, send me an email with your physical addy to paulainauckland(AT)gmail(DOT)com before mid-November & I’ll do my best.

WIP Wednesday, WIPocalypse with Winners

Posted in cross stitch, Mirabilia, WIPocalypse by

Hmmm – how was that for alliteration?!

Let’s start at the top. WIP Wednesday is post day this week- April’s piece is done and will be off in the post to Crafty Rahenna today. I chose Christmas Elegance and went thru HEAPS of beads.

April's piece - only Rahenna & Lenna to go and it looks gorgeous.

April’s piece – only Rahenna & Lenna to go and it looks gorgeous.

Christmas Elegance

Christmas Elegance

I’m not sure what I will pick up next – I have decided to frog Roses of Provence as I simply can’t cope with the uneveness of linen & so I’ll sell or swap that fabric. So there’s Persephone in progress or I have some 25ct Lugana for some Christmas ornaments & the bookmarks. That should give my eyes a rest – I was in hospital on Saturday hooked up to the good drugs for the migraine & while the optometrist says my prescription hasn’t changed enough to warrant a change of glasses I think I’ll get that double checked.

Then we’re up to WIPocalypse. This month’s question was around special threads and being scared to use. Mine would be Whisper – I hear it’s awful to stitch with. I haven’t even brought any, and chose to stitch the reindeer tails in B5200! Eventually I’ll get some and test but I can buy two packs of beads, six skeins of DMC or 1.5 rolls of Kreinik or a skein of Waterlillies for the same price, so right now I don’t think it’s all that important.

20151027_194535Last night I stopped at the top of Metcalfe and took the shot. Sorry this is with my cell but the moon was gorgeous. Mase said it looked like a cheese wheel, Z was slightly more poetic and said it looked like paper on fire.

And now we have winners! Thank you for the feedback. I am grateful.

Snippets:

1 Fawn https://stitchtherapyblog.wordpress.com/
2 eadouglas http://douglust.com/
3 Ginny https://mytimestitching.wordpress.com/

Yes – three winners! Fawn & Douglust will be sent the snippets, and Ginny, I hope you’ll love Travelling Bunny. He got returned to me recently after some time in the ether but I’ll send him on complete with some goodies and the rules. I think you’ll love him. I posted about him HERE

and for the bookmark? I’ll be making TWO. Congrats to

1 Jenna Austens
2 KerryCan Mysteries

please email me at paulainauckland(AT)gmail(DOT)com with your postal details!

WIP Wednesday & Smalls SAL

Posted in conversion details, Mirabilia, round robin, stitching patterns by

Yay, Wednesday already! Work finished the fiscal month (oddly) early, rather than rolling it over into a 5 week month, so I’m like the duck – serene on top, paddling furiously underneath. It makes for a long, long eight hours! Luckily the children are just as tired so last night, they took themselves off for reading time just after seven. Bliss! A quiet house!

sunday's progress. primrose urn

sunday’s progress. primrose urn

WIP-wise I have put a few more threads into Persephone but mostly I’m forcing myself to work on the next NZXS RR. It’s just not my cup of java at all, from the aida cloth to the flower urns – I am reminding myself that THIS is why I said I’d organise a round robin or two! Once I had added the leaves (all the yellow and green was done last night, the urn on Sunday) I did like it more. It’s a very quick little piece. I do like the bird.

tuesday's progress

tuesday’s progress

I also finished Summer Queen, my contribution to Rachel’s RR. I converted some beads and of course the metallic DMC, as I loathe that stuff. Kreinik all the way! Look Zeb! I’m using my birthday notebook!

Summer Queen

Summer Queen

paula's summer queen bead conversion

paula’s summer queen bead conversion

14/08 Hi Five for Friday!

Posted in grateful, High Five For Friday by

High Five

LISTENING: to the No Such Thing As A Fish podcasts. Funny & factual. I actually prefer this to the parent show which is QI. You can get the podcasts thru iTunes or at http://qi.com/podcast/

NSTAAF

READING: absolute crap. I need a recommend!

PINNING: Eh yeah – playing on Instagram too much instead!

CRAFTING: Small, small start to the next Mira RR. I need to get my head around stitching the “wrong” way for me, which is / then \. I’m stitching Spring Queen in the space above Winter. I must admit my OCD is itching as the person owning this piece said to plop the Queens in any order!

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DOING: Banging my head on the desk. How many ways can you tell a vendor that if they didn’t charge you for an unordered product (which we didn’t add to the order, we had them collect it) then we can’t generate a credit claim?!

WIP Wednesday

Posted in me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, round robin, stitching patterns, Teresa Wentzler by

I’m getting back on track! I’ve stitched every night from Sunday thru to Tuesday and feel like I’ve achieved a level of nirvana.

TC has gone away again. There is just so much exciting stuff on the telly that I found I was constantly frogging as I want paying attention. However I did get over 1000 stitches in a very short space of time. Roll on summer and the cricket!

While I’m waiting on the next Mira RR piece to arrive, I’m working on Persephone. This is where I started again on Monday:

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And this is last night:

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Lots of counting and recounting (waterlillies are so expensive here) but I can stitch and watch New Zealand beat Australia AND Jamaica at the netball with minimal frogging!

I’m also now on instagram. Follow @paulainauckland if you want to see daily updates or those little bits of my life! X

It’s been 14 days since my last entry…

Posted in Smalls SAL, Teresa Wentzler, WIPocalypse, You Can Quote ME by

PeedoInstead of being all busy and achieving heaps while Si was away I was knee deep in cleaning as all three boys went down with this tummy bug. I copped it twice and was absolutely wiped out by Wednesday, when he came home. We had a very quiet birthday for Mase (he was six on Sunday) & have plans for his school friends party in a fortnight.

In this time I’ve missed a couple of WIP Wednesday’s (wouldn’t have mattered, I didn’t have the energy to read, let alone stitch), YCQM, a Smalls check-in and a WIPocalypse. It was my question this time around too!

So here we go:

SMALLS: I worked on the Reindeer Parade (Blitzen is coming along but I can’t find a decent photo) & a NZFB RR piece. This is Angela’s selection:

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WIPocalypse: Topic: What makes you pick up a long-abandoned UFO rather than beginning a new piece? I’m genuinely interested in catching up with the answers on the blogs this month. I tossed up on Saturday about what I should do now, in that gap between finishing Angela’s RR piece and receiving the next of the Mira RR, and I ended up picking up my second oldest WIP, the Teresa Wentzler Tapestry Cat. Poor old TC was my Christmas present to myself way back in 2005 or 2006 and I’m telling myself that I must finish this before she finishes charting Illuminata (race is on!) because otherwise how will I justify purchasing a new chart?!

I am trying to find a new leaf outline thread – the ones on the right in the image are as charted, the top one is the current thought. I just want them to be more defined – what do you think?

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YCQM: I’ve managed to be more Serene than not while Si was away, with the exception being the Screaming Teen’s night time antics. He just won’t stay in bed! I can’t tell you how many times he woke me by watching TV in the lounge which really, really wound me up. Now I’m back at work I am enjoying waking him up for a change.  And isn’t this the truth?

work minion