Presenting...

Miss Savannah

 

Design: Savannah's Curtsy

Designer: Mirabilia

Fabric: 32 count Colour Cascade Fabrics Fall to Pieces opalescent Belfast linen

Fibres: DMC, Kreinik #4 Braid

Embellishment: Mill Hill Beads

My first happy dance of 2022!

Anyway, what's a happy dance without close-up photos, right?

In my last Savannah update, I mentioned I was gonna swap the "Welcome" metallic threads for beads. Well, that went out the door since I had trouble matching the beads to the threads.

Instead, the only substitution I made was to change the DMC 3722 to Kreinik #4 007L so the entire word is shiny. Ironic, I know because I ended up adding more metallic threads to my stitching.

This design doesn't have many beads, with the highest concentration in Savannah's headpiece.

The rest of the beads are scattered around her dress.

Savannah has taken over five and a half years to finish since starting it in July 2016. What a journey the past five years have been.

I started her to celebrate Hubby and I becoming first homeowners. Between then and now, I've since found a job, we moved out of our apartment and rented another place to be closer to work. We bought a townhouse at the end of 2020. It's still under construction with the completion date delayed. We're all but ready to move again. Savannah will be greeting guests at the entrance of our new home when we finally (hopefully) move in June.

Here's to 2022 being kinder to all of us!

Let It Snow

Stitching snowmen in winter. Feels perfectly apt.

Design: Let It Snow

Designer: Lizzie Kate

Fabric: 32 count Picture This Plus Tarnish Belfast linen

Fibers: Hand Dyed Fibers silk

One last snowman remaining before a major happy dance. 

Looks like I'll be spending most of my time stitching this weekend since Melbourne is once again in lockdown. Our fifth one since the pandemic started :(

Stay safe, everyone!

Snow Fun!

A tiny happy dance but one nonetheless...

Design: Snow Fun!

Designer: Lizzie Kate

Fabric: 32 count Picture This Plus Tarnish Belfast linen

Fibers: Hand Dyed Fibers silk

I've been trying to finish some of my ancient WiPs. Here's my progress thus far on 6 Fat Men series:

On another note, I found out that Vicki Clayton is back, dyeing silks again! Coincidentally, hers are the silks I used for this project.

Unfortunately,  PayPal policies have driven shipping prices prohibitively expensive for overseas buyers this time round :(

10 Years in the Making

Finally, my first happy dance since setting foot in Australia! Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you... drum roll...

Design: Love with A Capital L

Designer: Pappilon Creations 

Fabric: 32 count Zweigart's Vintage Country Mocha (marbled) Belfast Linen

Fibers: Hand Dyed Fibers silk (Flag II, Examplar BlueBerry Soup and Examplar Ox Blood)

Measuring 16"W x 27"H with a stitch count of 260 x 434, this is the largest piece I've stitched to date and looking back at my blog's history, it has taken me ten years to complete. Granted, I took a long hiatus in between but I digress.

So much has changed both in the stitching world and my personal life that it was a rather poignant moment when I put in the final stitch. I remember back then, forums were popular with stitchers and Google Reader was still around. Those were my main stitchy update resources. Nowadays, it's mainly Facebook and the occasional blog.

While we're still reminiscing, I realised that there are quite a few Mirabilia WiPs that I started in 2012 and 2013 that I've yet to show. Ah, that was quite a tumultuous period in my life and haphazardly starting new projects seemed like the best way to keep myself sane.

First, there's Touching the Autumn Sky on Crafty Kitten's Lavender Mist Opalescent Belfast.

This design reminds me of the times my mum took me to the playground when I was a little girl. I love the swings best. This will be a gift to her when completed, whenever that may be.

Then, there's Red on Sparklies' Winter Skies Opalescent Belfast.

Lastly, the first Mirabilia design I fell in love with... Mermaids of the Deep Blue on Crafty Kitten's Aurora Opalescent Cashel.

I believe I started this on 8 December 2013 as a birthday pressie to myself. I have to admit that the amount over over one skin is rather intimidating.
By the way, I'm sure most of you have seen the latest Mirabilia by now? It's been a while since I've been this excited over a new release. I've already ordered her and is impatiently awaiting her arrival. In the meantime, I've been playing with my fabric stash trying to find the perfect backdrop for her. I think I've found it... Miss Cherry Blossom on Polstitches Crocus Opalescent Belfast. What do you think?

Well, this ended up being a rather long post. Till next time, Happy Stitching!

Lady on Fire

After about a week of beading, I finally finished Lady Alexandra yesterday. Coincidentally, I'm currently reading the Hunger Games series so the title is pretty apt ^.^

Here she is, hot off the Q-Snaps.

Design: Lady Alexandra (Red Conversion)

Designer: Mirabilia

Fabric: 28 count Polstitches Taboo opalescent Cashel linen

Fibers: DMC

Embelishment: Mill Hill Beads

Seriously, isn't she pretty?

I know a number of you have been waiting for my conversion and I apologize for the delay. However, before I get to that, I'd like to share with you what I see when I look at her. There are actually very specific reasons I chose to stitch her with the colours I did. So please bear with me and enjoy the close up details :) 

Life doesn't consist purely of black (ribbons) or white (gloves) but many shades of grey in between.

It is also very short. So make the most of it and fill it with colours - the three primary colours - red (dress), blue and yellow (fabric) but above all, fill it with love and passion (red).

Her pose brings to mind of one who dares to follow her heart, in defiance of society's norms...

And her jewelry reminds me to reach for the stars (earring

and ring)

but always stay classy (pearl necklace).

Those are some of the lessons I've learnt in this journey of life, none more sound than just earlier this year... Part of the reason I've been rather quiet.

I gave her brown hair as I aspire to reflect her.

As for the details on her dress, I was aiming for my December birthstone colours -

turquoise (of which the darker version is teal)

and tanzanite,

unwittingly ending up with the vivid jewel tones.

Then there's her pearl and crystal encrusted purse which is probably my most favourite part in the entire design.

How could one not love that? Here, lemme show you another angle. One with a clearer view of her star-shaped ring too.

Anyway, I've made you wait long enough. Here's my long overdue conversion of Lady Alexandra in red. Any floss or beads not listed remains unchanged.

Hair

• DMC 677 - DMC 433
• DMC 680 - DMC 938
• DMC 829 - DMC 3371
• DMC 3371 - DMC 310
• DMC 3822 - DMC 898
• DMC 3823 - DMC 434

Ribbons

• DMC 310 - DMC 310
• DMC 794 - DMC 414
• DMC 3841 - DMC 415
• DMC 3799 - DMC 3799
• DMC Blanc - DMC 762

Dress

• DMC 611 - DMC 816
• DMC 677 - DMC 666
• DMC 834 - DMC 321
• DMC 3787 - DMC 814
• DMC 3799 - DMC 3021
• DMC Blanc - DMC 892

Flowers on Dress

• DMC 156 - DMC 598
• DMC 552 - DMC 333
• DMC 3746 - DMC 3809
• Mill Hill 18826 - Mill Hill 18812

Swirls on Dress

• DMC 552 - DMC 3809
• DMC 3746 - DMC 3809
• Mill Hill 60168 - Toho 11/0 seed beads Ceylon Lt Sea Green Nr. 11-920 Turquoise/Mill Hill 03507*
• Mill Hill 42014 - Mill Hill 42014/Mill Hill 10003 if using Mill Hill 10079*
• Mill Hill 40252 - Toho 15/0 seed beads Silver-Lined Teal Nr. 27BD/Mill Hill 10079*

Sparkles on Dress

• Mill Hill 02017 - Mill Hill 02010

Earring

• Mill Hill 12165

Ring

• Mill Hill 12299

*The first is what I actually used and the later is the substitute option given.

Hope that's clear enough. Feel free to comment or email me if you have additional questions.

Happy Stitching!

Stella

Finally, my July WiPocalypse update. Might as well make it my IHSW update too. I know it's still the weekend but I can no longer wait to share...

Design: The Stargazer

Designer: Mirabilia

Fabric: 32 count Silkweaver Starquest Reflections Belfast linen

Fibers: DMC

Embelishment: Mill Hill Beads

Stella's done. My first Mirabilia. Woohoo! Took me a little over five months. I started her on Valentine's Day. Not too bad considering she wasn't the only project I was working on during that time frame.

Stunning, isn't she? Her skin is stitched one over one. Love the effect.

As usual, this will be a picture heavy post with close up photos so brace yourselves ^.^

Swirls of beads... My absolute favourite part. I made some changes to the huge star, switching the DMC to Kreinik. What can I say? I can't get enough glitter.

My conversion for the star if you're interested:

DMC 3747 - Kreinik #4 9294

DMC 3756 - Kreinik #4 1432

My least favourite part. This particular area gave me a lot of trouble along with a throbbing headache. Not fun but the result sure is though.

More beads. Seriously, this design is so heavily beaded I'll be hard pressed to take a photo without beads.

Which isn't surprising. I estimated over 2000 beads on this baby.

What is surprising is the fact that the swirls on her dress beaded up much quicker than I had anticipated.

Since it's a WiPocalypse and IHSW update post, you don't need to ask what's next. My July TUSAL update too :D I think that should be my trademark from now on.

This month, my ort jar is modeled by the world's cutest bear.

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love the Forever Friends bear. This particular one was a birthday gift from my best friend, Adeline, years ago. Note the cupcake he's holding :)

Friday the 13th, a supposedly unlucky day. That was the day I bought my first floor stand. Turned out to be one of the best decision I've ever made. It arrived five (yes, five! Miracle indeed) days later. May I point out that this was shipped from the UK?

This is the Stitchmaster Floorstand made by Daylight Company. Easy to assembled and perfectly well balanced. The Q-Snap you see on it measures 20" x 17".

Along with the floor stand, I also ordered the Stitchmaster Seat Stand. On this one, I've placed a 6" x 6" Q-Snaps but it can easily hold a 11" x 11" Q-Snaps or any scroll frames along that size.

Can you tell I'm in love? I ordered it from Sew and So. Altogether, it cost me £40.16 (US$62.74) excluding shipping. Shipping was £33.00 from UK to Malaysia. Very reasonable. Excellent customer service too, I must say. So if you, like me, have been looking for a stand that does not require any adjustment of knobs to flip your work or more importantly does not break the bank, I highly recommend these.
Happy Stitching!

The All-in-1 Post

Not a few posts ago, I said I gotta stop doing this. Now I'm doing it again. Since I'm late for everything, this is the mother of all all-in-1 posts.

First up, I spent IHSW two weekends ago and most of last week working on the borders for my first Mirabilia Round Robin. I'm no strangers to round robins but it has been years since I've joined one and certainly not a Mirabilia one before. Took me a while to settle on the Seasonal Queens.

Seeing as how borders are the bane of my existance, it shouldn't come as a surprise that my stitchy update ended up being so long overdued. Now for the fun part. I'll be stitching Spring Queen for my square.

At least I made progress on Monday's 6 Fat Man SAL...

...and ended with a mini happy dance.

Design: Snow House

Designer: Lizzie Kate

Fabric: 32 count Picture This Plus Tarnish Belfast linen

Fibers: Hand Dyed Fibers silk

For WiPocalypse, I also finished two more motifs in my Magic Garden Sampler.

Lynn, however, has nearly completed hers. Sigh! Anyone else wanna SAL this design with me? LOL!

Since I've been on a Mirabilia craze lately, here's my TUSAL orts jar with Seaside Kingdom behind it.

Yes, I managed to get my hands on this hard-to-find, out-of-print chart! All because of Carin.

I found a shop in Netherlands who still has it in stock but the owner refused to send it overseas. Carin agreed to order and ship it to me. I reimbursed her the cost of course but really, if not for her, I'd still be searching high and low for it.

So thank you, once again, Carin, from the deepest bottom of my heart.

I'm convinced that my fellow stitchers are the kindest and most giving souls out there. Here are two more examples why... I've been pretty lucky lately and won a couple of giveaways. Here are some lovely vintage patterns I received from Melissa.

And a lovely piece of Silkweaver fabric from Melanie.

Isn't the colour yummy? It's in my favourite count too!

Thank you, Melissa and Melanie.

I see I've just hit 300 Followers! I'm a little overwhelmed. 300! Never in my wildest dreams. I'm really not that interesting, you know.
In light of all the kindness I've received lately, it's my turn to have a giveaway so stay tuned. I'll set it up as soon as possible. Gotta take care of an exchange and finish my Spring Queen block first.

May you find joy in your stitches!

Happy Week

I haven't stitched much this past week. It wasn't until Friday that I picked up 6 Fat Man for my weekly SAL. Granted, I'm a few days late but at least I could say I put some stitches in.

Snowed In is done. I figured each block deserves an individual happy dance.

Design: Snowed In

Designer: Lizzie Kate

Fabric: 32 count Picture This Plus Tarnish Belfast linen

Fibers: Hand Dyed Fibers silk

So what have I been up to besides stitching? This is what happens when I'm bored.

Mirabilia's Lady of the Mist. Can you spot the difference?

Yes, despite loving her to bits the moment I laid eyes on her, I've never cared for the uncomfortable-looking bunch of roses at her neckline. So I've taken the liberty of recharting it. She now wears only a single rose brooch. I also gave her a necklace. What do you think?

With a fair amount of apprehension, I posted it on Facebook's Mirabilia Group. apologizing to Nora for making the changes. What did ya know, I received positive responses and even Nora Corbett herself replied and I quote "No sorry! I love it! We are all individuals it makes the world more beautiful".

I was ecstatic. Nora Corbett is practically an A-List celebrity in my book and you gotta love a designer who encourages creative changes to her patterns.

Lady of the Mist has now jumped to the top of my to-stitch list. In fact, I'll be starting her the moment Stella is done, if I can wait that long ^.^ I've already ordered the beads. The hunt is now on for the perfect fabric which unfortunately is not in my stash. Oh well, retail therapy is always good, right? :P

I received a package from Anne on Thursday. Inside was this lovely fabric and card.

She had sent me a quarter yard cut of it all because I admired it when she showed it on her blog and had expressed my desire to buy some. Thank you so much, Anne. Words can't express how much I treasure our friendship too.

On other non-stitchy related matter but is too cool not to share, a pair of birds have built their nest right outside our living room window.

The nest is actually built at eye level on rather thin branches. It bobs up and down pretty violently when it's windy. I wonder if birds get motion sickness. LOL!

Mama bird is in her nest right now. Can you spot her? Take a closer look.

Don't worry, I didn't get too close. Both photos have been cropped.

I have no idea what species they are. Sure look like humming birds but they could be the Olive-Backed Sunbird too. I'm not an expert in identifying birds like Beth is.

It's IHSW again. What do you have planned? I'll be concentrating on Stella if I manage to tear myself away from Diablo III.

Happy Stitching!