UFOs

There's nothing like a move to force you to confront the ridiculous amount of unfinished projects you've accumulated. Beadboy2's Minecraft quilt and a couple of projects I want to finish soon take priority, but I did find the time to finish two small, long-neglected embroideries.

This was a commercial kit I bought ages ago. I like the pattern quite a bit, but found the fabric to be too coarse for such delicate stitches; it gave the embroidery an angular look.

This was a Mollie Makes kit. The intention behind it was to lightly embroider over the heavy lines to mimic the casual look of modern coloring pages, but that struck me as kind of pointless -- stitching is already coloring with thread -- so I opted for chunky embroidery.

I've got a ton of little floral designs; I think someday I'll sew them all together into a wall-hanging.

Look What I Finished!

The Victoria Sampler's "L is for Librarian:"

L is also for Lawyer, too, so I eliminated an upper and lowercase L under the librarian's desk, and added a set of scales:

Lilacs are my favorite, and the lamb and ladybugs are super cute:

Once I get the necessary bellpull hardware, I think I'll hang it at work.

I have no plans to do the whole alphabet, but I will be stitching W is for Witch (probably not this year, though).

Bless This ...

A new house requires a new sampler:

This was a fun design that worked up quickly. I love that for the buildings, the designer copied actual buildings (so to speak) from Mos Eisley.

The Last Minecraft Blocks

I can't believe how quickly these came together!

A ghast and an Ender dragon:

An Elder Guardian and a Drowned:

The Drowned is apparently a new mob, a watery version of a zombie, so I designed it myself from game images. 

Next step is the sashing. Beadboy2 wants silver (i.e. grey) fabric. To add a little interest and to avoid the need for yardage, I'll break up the sashing with scrappy squares at all the corners, using the leftover fabric. I also plan to use the leftovers for a scrappy border.


Dare I hope this will be done by Christmas?

Book Round-Up

A College of Magics by Caroline Stevermer: It's rare that I don't finish a book I start, even if only by skimming, but I just couldn't get into this novel,despite the interesting characters and the bones of a good story. I think that was the problem -- the basics were there, but the plot elements, world building, and magical system weren't fleshed out sufficiently. I stopped about halfway through and just read the final couple of chapters. My copy comes with the sequel, but the idea of trying to read it exhausts me.

Love Lies Bleeding by Edmund Crispin: Another classic mystery, this one caught my interest because Shakespeare's purportedly lost play Love Labour's Won plays a minor role. I would have preferred more on Shakespeare, but it was an enjoyable book.

Girls Are Weird by Pamela Ribon: A novel of young woman experiencing a "quarter-life crisis" just as blogging was becoming prominent. My twenties were filled with different concerns, but it was fun to read about a life going (mildly) off the rails before getting a happily-ever-after resolution.

The Fortune Teller by Gwendolyn Womack: The central character is an appraiser specializing in manuscripts who discovers a long-lost work that purports to explain the ancient Egyptian origin of tarot cards (really a medieval creation), so of course I was intrigued. The heroine was a rather frustrating character because of her tendency to avoid her problems (which caused more problems, of course), but the book was otherwise a fun read.

A Gift for A Sister

I had a lovely needlepoint pattern with grapes that would make a good thank-you for one of my sisters, who has a home on Martha's Vineyard (that's good!). But somewhere along the way I lost the actual chart (that's bad).  So I improvised my own design based on the fuzzy cover image (that's good!). But I ran out of Waterlilies thread in evergreen with only one corner Jessica stitch left (that's bad). But the thread pack from a Victoria Sampler leaflet had a strand of evergreen Waterlilies (that's good!). Unfortunately, it was from a different dye lot and too pale to use (that's bad). But an Au ver a Soie thread from the same pack was the right shade of green, albeit unvariegated (can I go now?).

Join the Resistance!

After making a bunch of bracelets, I'm now on a cross-stitching kick. I made this little hoop for a dear friend:

There are a number of similar patterns out there, but I wanted something smaller (that's a four-inch hoop) and easier to stitch, so I designed my own. Which is now on sale in my etsy store, should you wish to defy the First Order and join the Resistance.

For myself I made a Resistance pop culture badge, and one for Night Vale for good measure:

All hail the Glow Cloud!

I'm also stitching the awesome Bless This House -- Mos Eisley Edition sampler:

Feels good to be crafting again!