Deep Blue Sea Progress!

Its not much, but its a good start. The hard part (for me) is done, working that first color through, on all 4 pages. It was tricky at times. I use a magnet board and I was working a row, double checking it, then highlighting it. Sometimes I made one stitch, then colored it in. Lots of double checking. But you see its all the same, all the way round. Every part matched up just right. Whew! I only have 4 of the colors for part one and am going to work in the others if I can, then tomorrow, order the rest of the threads for this part. While I am waiting for them to arrive, I will work on Miss Paris and either the red ninja, or Toucan Falls.

HAED Red Ninja Start

Here she is so far...Faces of Faerie 185. I did almost all of the black on this page and finally got to start filling in some color day before yesterday. I am currently using DMC 3823m a pale yellow on her face. I admit that made go hmmmm but I think once its all filled in it will make sense.

I did put a few stitches on Deep Blue Sea. Literally like, 10, lol. I only have 4 of the colors needed for part 4 and I just wanted to make a small start. I am hoping to order the rest of the part 1 stuff this Friday, then everything else I need about a week or so later. Getting there! I got my fabric, forget me not blue jobelan, its perfect! Just the palest blue color, just what I wanted, maybe this pic will give you an idea:

I am starting to get the itch to work on Miss Paris. I could use a break from the demanding HAED after all. Something easy before I start the Chatelaine project...

Thanks for looking!!

HAED had the best sale...

It was 50% off!! Actually still going, til Midnight tonite. I had been eyeing these 2 cute Ninja girls for a few weeks, so I got them both..for the price of one!

They are both 8x8". I want to hang them together, when I get them done. They are totally doable, if I can stay focused.

The beginning:

I had all but 8 of the 87 colorsneeded. I am starting with the red one. I know I wasn't done with Toucan Falls yet, but after all the work, digging through my thread box, finding and washing fabric I just can't resist starting her right away. Its hard to choose sometimes! But nice to have so many great projects to pick from. :)

More Toucan Falls progress

I filled in more of the toucan, then got inspired to work on the black outline so I could see the rest of her face, especially the eye. I am not even close to being done working on her for this round. She is so pretty!

Miss Paris is here :)

I received a shipping notice on Saturday from ABC Stitch Therapy, that my order would be shipped the next business day. Monday, right? Well, imagine my surprise when this was in the mailbox this afternoon:

Someone must have sent that notice a bit late. :) I am not exactly surprised that the instructions are in French..but I guess I thought there was an English version?? Maybe? Then, the key is funny, not for Anchor or DMC..so guess who gets to pick out her own colors? No problem...I do that often actually. I will set to work on fabric and floss for her asap.

A woman has the right to change her mind, right??

I said I had Poppy on the Q-snaps, but I got this sudden and overwhelming urge to pull out my HAED Hannah Lynn Girls. After some dithering, I decided to work on Toucan Falls:

I am planning to work on her until my fabric arrives for Deep Blue Sea. I am filling in the toucan, working with such bright colors! Its very cheering. She is a pretty little thing, and only about 8"x6", small for a HAED. The other is Bella's Sea Monkeys:

She is HUGE! If I did the whole thing, she would be 16"x20". I have cropped her a bit, but if I change my mind and want to do the whole thing, the fabric is big enough. Not sure when I will work on her again..soon though. :)

Thanks for peeking, and reading!

Latest pic of my Moth Girl

Here is sweet Moth, with almost two whole hands. What I do on this chart is work one side then the other to match..she is divided right down the middle on the chart. There is quite a bit of confetti in this part but it eases off in other places.

I spent 2 evenings working on Old West by Little House Needleworks. Just finished up the section with the wagon and cactus'. Whenever I feel like working on something easy that goes quickly, I get this out.

Now I am really crazy about Nora's new design Red Sugar!! I can't wait to order her, and will be looking for progress pics in the meantime. I know she is an amazing little thing, IRL. They always are! :) The good news here is, there are going to be more of these...a set of 6 I believe. I am anxious to see more of this series.

Deep Blue Sea Update: The fabric is ordered, and everything that I need for part 1 is sitting in my cart at 123 Stitch (minus beads). I can do a little work once I get my fabric, I have a few threads, and this Friday I will order that stuff in my cart. One step at a time. I was working on converting some of the silks to the DMC Variations threads. I was having difficulty with one color especially, so I asked for help from the ladies at 123..when she found out what I was trying to do, she offered to do them all for me! I was so happy, that was above and beyond what she had to do. So, thanks to her I am going to have great threads to work with at a much better price. In some cases it was necessary to use a Threadworx color, I think I ended up with 4 of those. I can't wait to get them, and do the floss toss with the fabric, which is forget me not blue, 28ct jobelan.

I hope my next post will include my start on Deep Blue sea. It will for sure have a pic of Nora's Red Poppy, who is on the q-snaps right now. :)

Have a great weekend!!!

Deep Blue Sea (spoiler pic)

Years ago, I stitched a Chatelaine design called Indian Summer Reflections, which was a complete mystery at the time. I enjoyed it so much, but I stopped doing those because of the expense. Well, last night I requested to join and paid up for Chatelaines Deep Blue Sea! I am sooo excited!!

Of course its not a mystery to me, and probably not to anyone else..who could stand NOT to look, if you have the choice? ;) I can't afford to buy the whole silk kit so will be using 90% DMC and pick out a couple of silks that I especially want to use depending on how and where they are used. I had to get past the silk thing, to be able to do these at all. I have seen complete Chatelaines with the DMC conversions, and you would never know, if they hadn't told you. :) I hope to get started within 2 weeks, and get caught up with the group ASAP. They haven't got to much done yet, so I think it won't be to bad. It will be lots of fun, actually. :) I am planning to stitch it on 28ct forget me not blue jobelan. Right now, I am working on my HAED Moth girl

This is an old pic, I am working on her little hands and shoulders at the moment. Her neck is done..I am anxious to work down to her gorgeous wings, that look like stained glass. She is a sweetie! And I love that there is no background to stitch, just her! She is on 25ct antique white jobelan. I am still waiting on Miss Paris to be shipped, it could take another 2 weeks. She comes from France. That's cool, right? Melissa

Hope by Brooke Nolan DONE! :))

She's done!!! I left off the ribbon thing, I like her better without it. :)

Now, I am getting Nimue's Chippie out and am hoping to finish her. She is very close as well. :)) Melissa

Finished Rainbow Birds, almost done with Hope

I am in a finishing mood. :) I bought the rainbow birds kit a few years ago, with the evenweave. Its a beautiful little kit! Heritage Stitch Craft uses unusual half stitches that work so well. You can really see them on the birds faces, and where used a lot in the grasses as well.

This is Hope, by Brooke Nolan, found in the 2011 Annual Halloween issue from Just Cross Stitch. She is really close to being finished..I really like her, she is gorgeous. Beautiful face, and eyes! She will have beads, and a ribbon embellishment (of my own, not whats called for) when complete. I didn't have any of the kreiniks called for. In some cases, I was able to sub for more or less the same color. In other cases I used a DMC match and added pearl blending filament for the sparkle. In place of the dark brown kreinik, I used a dark copper I had left over from a Chatelaine from a few years ago; it goes well with the 433 color used.

Speaking of Chatelaine, I am planning to soon buy Summer Knot Garden, as a file from European Cross Stitch and stitch it up with mostly DMC. I am going to pick out a few silks to use, where I feel I want them most. I will order the beads, and use 28ct white evenweave. Oooo and that reminds me, I bought Little Miss Paris from ABC Stitch when they had the Online Needlework Show. I CAN"T WAIT to get her!! :)))