I've Been Naughty

Yes, I have been. Remember back when I said I'd like to concentrate on some WiPs? All that is out the window now. I started not just one but two new projects! First one is a SAL you might have seen popping up on many blogs.

Romantique Sampler designed by Angie Designer. Here's my progress so far.

I'm using HDF Examplar FleckStone in place of DMC 3046 listed by the designer. I absolutely love the subtle color variations.

I finished Part 1 before the Chinese New Year holidays.

The lacey effect from the backstitches are awesome.

Part 2 is still in progress mainly because I misordered my silks. I had to reorder and am waiting for them to arrive.

Instead of the mauve recommended by the designer, I'm gonna stitch it in shades of HDF Velvet Midnight. Once again, if you have yet to stitch with HDF silk, I highly recommend it.

One other thing I'd like to bring to your attention, every single time I ordered from Vikki, she always includes extras in my order. This time was no different. She took into consideration that the silk I had ordered might have been too similar in shades from what I wanted so she included two extra micros of a darker shade in my order AT NO EXTRA COST! In case you didn't know, that's 300 yards of free single stranded silk! On top of that, she switched my order from minis to micros.

I had ordered four different shades of Velvet Midnight. Five minis of each color. Let's do the math...

5 minis = 261 yards (52.2 yards each)

2 micros = 300 yards (150 yards each)

That's about 40 yards extra silk for each color. If that's not great customer service, I don't know what is.

Moving on, I have wonderful news. My best friend, Adeline, is pregnant and I've been told that 90% it's a boy! It's her first child and this is something she's been waiting for a long time. Now what's a stitcher to do but start stitching a birth sampler for her son? ^.^

Many birth samplers I've seen out there are too girlish or babyish. I know, I know, it is after all meant for a baby but I wanted something that could last. Yet, I didn't want something too grown up. So I searched and searched and searched and had nearly given up when I came across this Stoney Creek design.

New Birth of Spring by Stoney Creek

Technically, it's not a birth sampler but I think it's perfect, especially since he will be born in the rabbit year. I plan to change the words to "A Beautiful Miracle". This is my progress so far:

The similar colors and color changes are driving me crazy but I will persevere. LOL! Let's hope I can finish it around June for the boy will be a June baby.

One last thing, have you seen Martina of Chatelaine's newest design?

I think I'm in trouble! I've never owned or stitched a Chatelaine before even though Alpine Garden is on my wish list mainly because even though I find them lovely, I can't see myself stitching four identical corners over and over again. I know some designs have different corners but they just don't capture me as much. Now this... This Chinese Garden Mandala completely blows me away. Maybe I'm bias since I'm Chinese but I think most would agree with me that it's gorgeous. Definitely gonna sign up for the Chinese Garden Mandala Yahoo Group soon.

Wish me luck that I'll be able to handle all the specialty stitches this design is sure to contain.

In the meantime, happy stitching and if you celebrate Chinese New Year, Gong Xi Fa Chai!

Winter Time

Living in a tropical country, it's so hot and humid here that even with the frequent heavy downpours (which don't help once they stop), one would gladly welcome any relief from the weather. Even when it comes in the form of stitching. Maybe that's why I've been so partial to winter theme designs lately, especially when it comes to round robins. Remember the Winter Cat square I stitched just recently for Renée? Well, here are two more:

Design: Winter Lady

Designer: Passione Ricamo

Fabric: 28 count Polstitches Hand Dyed Evenweave

Fibers: DMC

The recipient of this Passione Ricamo RR is a secret. Let's just say she's a wonderful lady that more than deserves this RR which 9 stitchers from all over the world will be stitching for her. Since I'm 99.9% sure that she doesn't read my blog, I don't mind revealing my square here. As I'm the first to stitch on it, there's really no point showing the whole piece with 8 other empty squares.

Then there's Dawn's Seasonal Snowmen RR.

Design: Winter Snowman

Designer: Stoney Creek

Fabric: 28 count White Evenweave

Fibers: DMC

The whole piece is adorable, isn't it?

Dawn's Seasonal Snowmen RR

Stitching this cheerful snowman does indeed help in fighting the supressing heat. Quick and easy design that I totally enjoy.

It has taken me a while after joining the Let's Stitch blog host by Becky SC to face what I've been ignoring all this time... my ever growing pile of stash and WiPs. Finally, I managed to summon up the courage to compile my WiPs and To-Do Lists. Like I mention in that post, if you happen to see a particular project in my lists that you're stitching or will be stitching, please let me know. I'd love to do an actual SAL with you.

To take it a step further, I've also joined in the Friday Stitch-A-Thon on 3rd October. I chose to stitch my neglected Queen of the Needle. I know, I know. I have older WiPs that are screaming for my attention but as QotN is already on my Q-Snaps, I predicted that would save me time and I could get more stitching done. Here's my progress during the 6 hour Stitch-A-Thon:

I managed to finish stitching Band 10 and I've got bunnies now in my kingdom. How cute are they? Finally, I'm done with the most challenging back stitch words I've ever encountered in my life!

As usual, I couldn't resist adding my own touches to a design. I love the effect of the silk chenille sheep so much that I ended up using it on the bunnies' tails too.

I think I'll stick with QotN for this week's challenge which is to *direct quote* 'stitch on any "sampler" type design you may have as a WIP'. Thus, you can count on more updates on it again soon.

*Edited to add* Chiloe, Dawn's RR is a Stoney creek design taken from Book 381. Hope that helps.