Happy Easter!!

 May you all have lots of Easter joy this year :)

thingsz of late

My apologies for having been a bad blogger of late! Things have been more nuts than usual and Ive been trying to keep up with the facebook groups as well, but I've been slipping! The main reason for the absence is not having any time to even stitch so unfortunately I dont have any progress pics of my own to share. I have been painting though, lots of mermaids, mermen, pirates, geisha, hippocampus, and a Swan Princess done in oils. Her story is I love that legend and anything to do with it, but I only have the Chatelaine of it as far as any tangible items. And Ive been saving a huge gilt frame for a special painting- none of Hub's cowboy paintings look right in it lol per his opinion- so I made her for it. Where she'll live is undetermined yet, cuz she's huge and the frame even more so, but it will be a majical haunting focal so Im excited to see her finished, but she isnt yet and only has 7 hours done. Lots of shading left to do.
And then the Chatelaine one will be near her too, 100 years from now when it's done ;). Spring is supposed to come- but it's snowing hard now- so there's the added pressure that my artsy time is running out in favor of the farm & garden work that's coming up soon. Not that that is bad, it just means I better take advantage of any painting time I get now cuz it's typically a winter thing. In stitching the WIPs of the month are my Ireland conversion and Rose of Sharon conversion. Ireland saw a teeny bit of progress and RoS still awaits. This week will be extra crazy but Im hoping to drag a needle out by the weekend! wish me luck! :) Thanks for stoppin by

ROMANCE of Sharon lol

Well Ladies & Gents, as Ive said before there simply aren't enuf guys in stitching, but it seem Rose of Sharon has found one ;) . This is the character for her big changes I was talking about. The arches will be modified too, and Im thinking to skip the whole top part and hang a moon instead and Im including beads on her outfit. As I was stitching the guy's face I got to thinking, wouldnt this make an epic wedding scene for a wedding of today- the dress is much more in style of gowns now than the MLI brides, nothing against those but they are more 80's style or victorian. So I plan to make a version of my wedding too lol, and just add the info in a pretty font. Her dress ruffles will be my colors and the roses will be the ones I had. So I cant wait to launch that but I need fabric lol! In the meantime, I better get back to some Romance (lol!)

conversions...

I for one am happy to see how many other people are changing colors and adding thier own personal touches to thier stitching. It seems to have exploded on facebook like a fireworks show, conversions are popping up everywhere and its awesome. I have yet to ever leave a pattern "as is," I always change things up a bit, or alot, to make it perfect for me. And I love seeing other people doing the same because those little changes are what makes the hobby so cool, enabling someone who may not have previously liked a pattern at all because they didnt like the color scheme to suddenly "Hey I like that instead so I'll stitch it now". Money spent on charts previously ignored! If I was designer I would love this, if I ever do become a designer I would encourage it. I compare it to houses or rooms- If you have 10 people with 10 houses nobody is gonna paint thiers all the same, nor use the same brand of paint, there wont be 10 blue bathrooms and 10 yellow kitchens. nor is there any such rule that it should be so. Color is the ultimate expression of humans, even the same exact color is handled differently cuz people are just naturally different. So bring on the color!! :) There is even a fb group dedicated to conversions and I get to play there so here is the link and we'd love to have some company.... http://www.facebook.com/groups/428323480562439/   

Snow day!!

Which is greatly appreciated when it's this snowy out there! So far we've gotten 8" of it and this afternoon the wind picked up so it's blowing round. Wonder what tomorrow will bring...

 

But anyway, I spent some time on AA (lol that looks so funny but it's actually Arwen & Aragorn) and reached 30hours total progress- so a pic was needed. And then I dug out "Arwen Evenstar," again a conversion of MLI Celtic Summer, only Ive given her a dress from the LOTR movie, elf ears, the dark hair, and her horse. I chose the dress from her pivotal point in the movie when Arwen turns back to Rivendell to stay for Aragorn, and the I redesigned the sleeve to look more authentic. I do love her elf ears lol. Stitched on 28ct Stormy Gray jobelan from Wilchelt. Im hoping to make some serious progress on her now as well, cuz I love stitching purples. Thanks for stopping by, stay warm & safe out there!

Trip and ISHW progress

Sorry this is so late, it's been so crazy round here! The trip was a whirlwind, I think we spent more time in the car than anywhere else. But I finally got to see the Rockies and even saw tumbleweeds once we got into Colorado, so to me that was a big deal. So much inspiration to be had! The Stock Show was crazy but our friends did very well and we had fun just being there to see it all unfold. I will say that I hate big city driving so it was nice to get away from that too. Now it's home again to get caught up on being gone and Ive started some new oil paintings to capture the trip's inspiration.

As for stitching progress, I got a little done- very little- cause we took turns driving and sleeping lol. But I did get some beads added in, which was actually easier in the car than the stitching was, strange. Im hoping now that we're home that stitching will resume as normal. For the record, before we left I packed all of it up and shut it all in the bedroom so Jasmin the cat would not take revenge. She's still holding a grudge that we even left and her only company was Deisel, whom she considers an idiot, and part time slaves isnt good enuf, since the kids came every day to check and feed everyone. So Im sure she is plotting lol, the purrs arent fooling anyone... she even has the look....

IHSW is coming!

Howdy y'all!
First ever IHSW is coming, yayuh! But it just happens to land on the Denver Stock show weekend as well. Never fear, the bags are packed and so is the stitching, I hope to get lots done on a 12 hour ride there! So my progress report will be a little late next week but I have everything in place to make some good progress, and look forward to seeing how everyone stitched up thier weekend. It's just too bad I probably wont have a chance to see any lns's out West...
 but there'll be lots of cowgirl bling that needs a new home lol....!