One month later...

I'm soooo completely overjoyed at finishing the centrepiece. It took a couple of weeks to finish, and between cross stitch, pulled backstitches and eyelets was around 25,000 stitches. OMG!!

I was going to continue on with this piece until I finished it, but to be honest, I need a break. I'm suffering from burnout!! I could have finished what I have a lot sooner, but I'm not one to work solidly on something for such long stretches, so my concentration level has not been great this last week or so. So I figure I'll take a "mini-vacation" from model stitching for a week. I'm way ahead of schedule so it's okay, right?

Now to decide what to work on. I thought about starting the next flower model but I'm torn between doing Rose, Marigold or Iris. So I put that thought away for now. I also thought about starting the alternate model for My Mother's Garden II in the sampler colours, but I need to order thread for that first because I'm not certain that one skein of each will be enough, and I don't want multiple dye lots. So I forgot about that too. Then I thought about starting Growth Rings (I'll be stitching it twice, once for my brother as a Christmas gift and once for me because I must have it for myself too!!). Bro picked out colours he liked for it, I just have to pick the fabric. He likes Gloriana's Antique Black and Holly Berry - so I'll do the majority in the black with the red as the interior. I'm thinking a light tan fabric for it - and I'm sure I have something in my stash that will suffice but I haven't gotten that far yet. And again, I need 2 skeins of the black and only have one on hand and would rather have matching dye lots... so that'll have to wait too. And Rosewood Manor's Past and Present has been constantly niggling me since I bought it, but I'd like to convert that one to NPI and will likely have to order some colours for it. So it too shall wait.

Of course I have multiple WIPs I could work on too. I'm leaning towards Strawberry Sampler but Alpine Garden is yelling at me. Might end up a close my eyes and pick one situation.

I finally decided on colours for the long version of Antique Lace, with the help of bro and mom. Fabric will be either Silkweaver Heritage or Lakeside Vintage Pearled Barley. I decided this time I'd like a softly mottled linen. I love both of these, but I have both in 40ct and I know 36ct tends to dye darker so I'm not sure which I'll like better when I order those in. For floss I'm going simple with Gloriana Ecru. Much more tone on tone this time. A Sassy's colour or two may yet sneak in there before it's time to order too - if her 36ct order arrives before then. I really want to go 36ct this time. I like 32 for Mirabilias but I really do prefer higher counts. Heck I'd use my 40ct but then the pearls won't fit. I've spent way too much time obsessing over this one I think.

I think it's time to do some stitching now. :)

Lots of little tidbits...

But no pictures today, I have lots of stitching to do before I update again!

Yesterday was floss tossing day. And I'm still very undecided. Instinct tells me that light floss on light fabric is the way to go because it's traditional and classic and elegant and very much in the spirit of antique lace.... however, the adventurer in me tells me that it's my design and I can go with the classic or I can be adventurous. And honestly, there are merits to whichever I choose to do.

Classic and Elegant - read cream on cream, white on white or natural on natural - It's beautiful. It's a chance to really show off the different textures in the threads. I looks very cool. The two drawbacks for me are that I don't want to do white again - I know I'll be bored of it and thus will likely not be motivated to stitch it quickly. And second, it's very hard to photograph. Up close and personal, the textures and designs are very apparent and look wonderful but showing this off in a photograph is difficult.

Midway between - I could stay close to the classic, choose a pastel colour and still use a neutral fabric. A beige pink for instance, or a silvery blue. It's still light enough not to be over the top bold, but the hint of colour adds some fun and depth to the piece and makes it much easier to photograph.

Fun and Bold - In this instance I'm thinking of reversing the original colourway and going red on natural or a deep rose on natural. It would be lots of fun to stitch, and it would look lovely. However, it's about as far from lace as one can get! But it would photograph well.

Currently, I'm leaning towards the classic because it's the safe option and thinking that I'll just have to come up with more new designs so I can stitch one in red. ;)

In other news, it's May, so the new issue of The Gift of Stitching is here! This issue features some absolutely lovely smalls, and of course, part four of My Mother's Garden 2. Kirsten has also put together kits for the design, which are available from her shop.

And some shameless self promotion, but I'm excited so you'll have to excuse me - the talented Tracy Horner of Ink Circles has featured my Cirque des Triangles on her blog! I'm honoured and touched at what she had to say. :) I'm also honoured that next month, I get to share a magazine with her, as she has a wonderful new design that will be June's feature in The Gift of Stitching! I can't wait!

And finally, I want to say a big thank you to everyone for your lovely comments. I do so appreciate them even if I don't always get time to answer them. Believe me, they are an incredible inspiration when it comes to getting things stitched and designed! So Thank YOU!

2 weeks in...

...and nearing the halfway point already. My hand is officially aching from pulling stitches all day. This section is going much more quickly than I'd hoped!

I've pretty much decided that I'm going to stitch the second version as well - though I might take a few weeks off in between the two. So I've been trying to figure out a colour scheme for that one. I've narrowed it down to raw linen with white floss, chocolate brown linen with cream floss, or possibly cream linen with a pale colour of floss (not sure what pale colour though). I'd love to hear any suggestions!!

While I'm moving the q-snaps

I figured since I had to move the q-snaps I'd post an updated picture of Antique Lace. I finished this section up last night - okay officially today, since it was about 3am... I'm really pleased with how it's coming along, this is six pages completed, or about 1/3 of the way through. :) The middle section will probably take much longer as it's more densely stitched, but who knows, that might go quickly too? I hope so!!