June Wrap-Up

Jumanji June was excellent until the 15th, and then I stopped. But this happened so it's all good.

July is Jolly July dedicated to Christmas stuff. I actually finished off my Christmas pieces back in April, so I'm somewhat undecided on what to do...

Goals for June:
1. Finish The Great Escape. Yes!
2. Start Tulip Praise. Yes.
3. Work on Legends of Dragons. Yes.
Pipe dream: Finish the "Wisdom" Dragon. Yes. I'm actually almost done "Majesty" as well.

Unexpectedly This Month:
1. Finished No Late Knight Snacking.

Goals for July:
1. Keep up with Tulip Praise.
2. Finish Legends of Dragons.
3. Finish all the cross stitching on Palm.
Pipe dream: Finish Japanese Octagon Box.

Summer Blahs

I'm blaming the hot thunderstormy weather for my severe case of ennui. Here's another piece that's getting somewhat close to the end. And I still haven't picked up that Kreinik for Legends, which I need for this as well.

Japanese Octagon Box Panel
32ct white lugana

No Biting

No Late Knight Snacking by Dragon Dreams is done. It's a bit ironic that I stitched this because I'm a major midnight snacker. Pretty much every night there's a cookie, a piece of cake or a handful of chips on the schedule.

Before the backstitch: After the backstitch: And my favourite part:

Title	No Late Knight Snacking
Designer	Dragon Dreams
Start date	April 23, 2012
Finish date	June 20, 2012
Total time	16.75 hours
Fabric	18 ct white aida
Floss	As charted

June TUSAL

I can't believe that we're already at the 6th new moon of the year.
That's Out For Coffee by sodastitch in the background.

Brightly Coloured

This week was pretty good since I finished the first part of a new SAL. This is Tulip Praise by Kathy Bungard of Gracewood Stitches. I'm stitching this with the Sticklounge group and it'll be one part every 15th for 10(?) months.
Tulip Praise
25ct antique white lugana
This is very much not my usual style but I thought it would be a nice change. I've also decided not to join the new StitchSpecialist SAL since I've decided I'm incapable/uninterested in finishing hardanger, however enthusiastic I am when starting.

I'm going for a bright almost primary coloured piece. It's half crosses on 25 count so that interesting effect you get when there are noncontact slashes should show up. The colours are all DMC and except for 310 and 444 I can't remember what they are (too lazy to go look). But this is definitely the palette I'll be sticking with.

I had a "I guess my mum was right with all that keep your room clean and put stuff back where you got it" moment. It was horrifying. (j/k I love my mum, but my idea of a "clean house" in no way meets hers). I went looking for a Dimensions WIP since I felt like working on it. I found the chart, the working copy, the WIP, but not the threads. I have no idea where they are. They're not in the threads drawer, they're not mysteriously on the floor in a bag. Presumably they'll show up, but for about five seconds I could just hear my mother's "I told you so".

In more cheerful news, I'm close to finishing No Late Knight Snacking. Legends is still waiting for me to get to the LNS.

Closer to the End

Jumaji June was excellent. Legends of Dragons went from this: To this:
But then I ran out of one of the Kreiniks, so it's on pause until I get to the LNS sometime next week.

Seeing Wisdom

This one's a blast from the past. My last post about Legends of Dragons is from back in 2010(!)
And now:

I was in the mood for a billion-and-one blends. I just zoomed through this and has a blast finishing it off.

Google Reader has been acting very strange lately. It doesn't load posts as they are posted. Instead at the end of a day I get all the posts from the previous day. It's very strange and I'm pretty sure that some blogs just don't show up on it any more...

Grab The Confetti!

Because we're celebrating a finish this

The Great Escape by Bee's Needleworks is almost entirely composed of specialty stitches, some of which were great fun and others were mind-numbingly boring.
The next project is a Hardanger-A-Long. I'm still debating whether to sign up or not. I've had zero luck finishing any of the HALs I join.

Title	The Great Escape
Designer	Bee's Needleworks
Start date	September 21, 2011
Finish date	June 4, 2012
Total time	18.5 hours
Fabric	28 ct white jubilee
Floss	DMC 317, 318, 413, 414, 415

Second Try

I decided to restart Blue Moon because I found that I don't like the look of half crosses in two strands. The stitches aren't uniformly flat; some stitches look more sunken than others. Also I'd started it on linen, and over-one on linen is a pain.

SK Blue Moon
25ct Antique White Lugana, full cross in 1 strand
So I picked up some 25 count lugana and started over. I've already put in more hours on this than I did on the original. Since it's full crosses it's taking more time to see progress, but I'm a lot happier with this and therefore more likely to stick with it.

I initially started gridding with a water soluble marker but I just didn't like it. So I switched to thread. I have a question for people that use water soluble markers: will the marks wash out after an ironing? Or should I avoid the iron until the very end?

May Wrap-Up

May Memories was a complete failure since I didn't even touch Ganesha.

For June Jumanji, which is when you work on something animal themed, I plan on tackling Legends of Dragons. An oldie that hasn't seen a needle for about two years..

Goals for April May:
1. Work on Japanese Octagon Box. Yes, but then I reached the point where I can't look at it anymore.
2. Work on Ganesha. No.
3. Finish No Late Knight Snacking. No. I ran out of one colour and never got back to it.
Pipe dream: Finish Japanese Octagon Box. No.

Unexpectedly This Month:
1. Finished Adriana.
2. Re-started Blue Moon.

Goals for June:
1. Finish The Great Escape.
2. Start Tulip Praise.
3. Work on Legends of Dragons.
Pipe dream: Finish the "Wisdom" Dragon.

Edited: Those were May goals! Ah the woes of copy-and-paste.