Michelle Bendy: March 2019

Saturday, March 30, 2019

Flosstube #103 Show Notes

Happy Saturday again!! It's the STRUGGLE BUS episode!!

Best New Thing:

Threads Entwined. The store is open, the website is up and running. Go make your wishlist to be eligible for giveaways from Trish every month AND send me an email with a link to your wishlist and I'll send one viewer a surprise gift every month too!!

Make sure you choose to make your wishlist PUBLIC, or else neither Trish nor I will be able to send you the things.

FFO (SO MANY!!)

This one is FINALLY an FFO! It's Fraktur Bird by Shakespeare's Peddler and it's now fully in its trivet and I love it.

I love to keep my finishes simple, so I just went with a paper flower on the side of the frame. Someone will LOVE her at Stitchnanigans. I hope.

Next I finished my Friends Gather piece from Acorn Gathering this year. I've had this thrift store frame hanging around FOREVER because I could NOT leave it behind when I saw it and I finally found a piece that fit in it:

How PERFECT is that frame?!?! I had to add some ribbon at the bottom to finish it off, but I love it.

Last but not least I finally laced Argyria!!

She's in another thrift store frame, and I'm obsessed. I painted it three or four times but it came out JUST right!!

Finishes:

None this week. But I'm hoping for two next week!

WIPs (Works in Progress):

First up, of course, my evening project, Contessa with Squid from Heaven and Earth Designs:

Or, as I affectionately call them, Josephine and Humphrey. Here is where I was last week:

And this week, I managed a LOT of stitching!!

You can tell from the feathering which diagonal rows I managed to finish this week. Page finish this month? Not likely. But DEFINITELY in early April!

Next, I worked on Alice in Wonderland from XStitchEu on Etsy:

Here is where she was last time:

And here is where she is now:

I put in a TON more work on her because I'm still able to use her for most of the School of Magical Stitches and Literature homework assignments. This week I used her for 500 stitches on the "something Scary" assignment.

My travel project this week has been Fate, by Colour & Cotton, which came in Angela's Halloween Box:

Here is where she was last time, barely started in Startpocalypse 2018:

And here she is now:

Of course I made a few changes. For some reason, this chart had me REALLY thinking about New Orleans and Voodoo, so I made the witch into Marie Laveau. Kinda. I didn't do her hair wrap, just changed her color. I used this for the Magical Stitches Extra Credit: stitch on something that makes you think of a crystal ball AND for some of the extra credit: stitch on borders. I'll have to use another project to finish the borders.

Then School of Magical Stitches threw a bonus assignment at us and I pulled out Deer Joy, aka Deer Roy, by Barbara Ana Designs:

Here is where he was last time:

And here he is now:

I put in about 450 stitches out of the 600 that are asked for in the Christmas Break challenge for Magical Stitches. I'm using him for Christmas Break because he's very "wintered up" (I said that in my video.... those exact words....) I'm going to finish those 600 stitches and then use him to finish the frame assignment.

Thrifting:

Just a couple of goodies, a pretty trivet and a great simple frame:

Purchases: Just a few....

Threads Entwined Haul, SO MANY overdyed flosses!!

They're all GORGEOUS and I cannot wait to start The Peacock Keeper next year. The other two are current WIPs that needed more floss, so EXCELLENT!!

I also got my Wooly Wonka Celtic Year Club goodies for Imbolc:

Those yarns are fantastically beautiful and I can't wait to find someone who can knit me that shawl, lolol.

I'd like to talk about:

Megan, Wide Eyed Stitcher:

You may already know her as @wideeyedstitchingchild on Instagram. Megan is AWESOME. She's stitching on a beautiful Goode Huswife chart along with a bunch of other creepy old prim charts. and she LIVES BY A GRAVEYARD!!!

Trish G, Windy Hill Urban Cottage:

Trish is so much fun, so low key and relaxing. How did I not know about her? She talks about her trip to France and having some of her cousin's artwork charted. She also *gasp* expresses OPINIONS!! I love it.

Bex, BexBox Stitcher:

She's in the UK and she's a GENIUS. Bex stitched Prairie Schooler Hocus Pocus and incorporated her Wifi password and hangs it over her modem at home. GENIUS!!!!

Books:

I finished listening to My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent. Wow.

This book is a LOT. Lots of triggers, lots of feelings, lots of reading with your hand over your mouth in disbelief and disgust. But I loved this book, absolutely loved it. Five big, BRIGHT stars!

Instagram Auction Items!!

Auction will take place soon through Saturday, March 9 at 6am PST on @michellebendy on Instagram. Here's an amazing diagram describing how to bid:

Under the picture of the item that you'd like to purchase, you put your bid in $1 increments AND you tag the person who bid above you. Only the person who bid DIRECTLY above you!

There are more detailed pictures on my Instagram, but for now, here's a peek at this week's items:

That's right! Another Monopoly chart!! They're out there people!!

Then we have three AMAZING needleminders by Ava of TrulyWickedCrafts. They're beaded, Peyote? and they're AWESOME.
You might recognize this fabulous WIP of Mirabilia's Stargazer from a previous auction. Dorie won it and decided that the beading is not for her, so she donated it back!!

I put together a chart pack of Quaker designs from a BIG selection of charts that the wonderful Ellen Chester of with my Needle donated:

And last but not least, a lovely Flosstube watcher donated a NEW and UNOPENED kit of Mother Earth by Dimensions!!! WHAT!!

Outside Links:

Threads Entwined
Stephanie, Lindy Stitches Flosstube
Lindy Stitches on Etsy
School of Magical Stitches & Literature on Facebook
Full Coverage Fanatics on Facebook
XStitchEu on Etsy (use code BENDY10 for a 10% discount)
Acorns & Threads
@HouseofMeng on Instagram (for needleminders)
Gulf Coast Stitches
BagzPlus by Corina
Love You More Studio Co for book/project sleeves (use code BENDY10 for 10% off)
1884 Stitchery
Trisha, Three Owl Threads on Etsy

Saturday, March 23, 2019

Flosstube #102 Show Notes

Happy Saturday again!! And welcome to the NEW blog, from the NEW Flosstube. It's all NEW!! And it's all exactly the same. ;-)

Best New Thing:

I FORGOT to come up with a Best New Thing today!!! So do me a favor and send me a comment with YOUR best new thing!

FFO (SO MANY!!)

My own little design is FFO'd!!! And I love it. The frame is from Home Sense by way of the thrift store and it's crooked but I couldn't be happier!!

You can find this in the newest issue of XStitch Magazine, it's only a digital subscription so it won' take up any space! Here is what the cover of the current issue looks like: You can click on it to subscribe. ;-)

This one is ALMOST an FFO! It's Fraktur Bird by Shakespeare's Peddler and it will be a trivet finish once I cover the back and get it all settled into place.

I love to keep my finishes simple, so I may put the twine around the outside of the stitching and I may not. We shall see.

Last but not least, I have a JoLyn FFO!!! When you need Quotes to Live By from Stitchrovia finished into something INCREDIBLE, you just give it to JoLyn and TRUST. And your trust will be rewarded. As was mine:

Finishes:

Rose Weasley, aka, I Give You My Heart by Barbara Ana Designs, is DONE!!! She's amazing and I could NOT be happier with her!!

I made three color changes: her skin is DMC 436 rather than DMC 712; her dress is Gentle Arts Highland Heather rather than DMC 3779 (which I didn't have!); and her hair is Victorian Motto Headless Horseman rather than DMC 301 to make it REEEEEDDD!!!

WIPs (Works in Progress):

Next, of course, my evening project, Contessa with Squid from Heaven and Earth Designs:

Or, as I affectionately call them, Josephine and Humphrey. Here is where I was last week:

And this week, I managed a LOT of stitching!!

I've put in 1710/2400 stitches for the last Full Coverage Fanatics Challenge of the month. Goal is a page finish of course.

And secondly, I worked on Alice in Wonderland from XStitchEu on Etsy:

Here is where she was last time:

And here is where she is now:

I put in a TON of work on her because I was able to use her for three homework assignments for a total of 600 stitches this week. The homework was to stitch on things for our 3rd year Hogwarts classes and I was able to use Alice for Muggle Studies, Care of Magical Creatures, and Arithmancy this week. Woohoo!

Thrifting: SO much goodness!

Purchases: Just a few....

From eBay, I found a new chart I NEED from my designer obsession right now, the Workbasket. This one is the Aqua Sampler:

From Drew's destash on Instagram: Stitch Night at the Crypt Club by Prairie Moon:

I can't wait to stitch this!!

And then I went to Acorns & Threads....

I bought the rest of Jeannette Douglas' Letters from Mum series. This was not a Market Purchase

I grabbed March through August, the last six months that I needed. Now I'm ready to stitch the entire thing.

Next up, from Rovaris, Skeleton:

Then, of COURSE!!, some Jeannine McGowan The Blue Flower goodness: I picked up Quilting Bee, Winter Squirrel, and Spring Squirrel.

Call Acorns & Threads, 503-292-4457, and ask for Auto Squirrel. ;-)

Are these two the sleepers of Market?! This is Innocence 1840 by Cross Stitch Antiques and I LOVE IT!!

I also picked up a piece of 40 ct Vintage Meadow Rue to stitch this on. And it's going to be INCREDIBLE.

I didn't see this one ANYWHERE on Flosstube, but Gigi R and Needlework Press hit it out of the park with their Deventer Duo:

They're just a little bit scribbly and wonky and I LOVE THEM!!! I also grabbed a piece of 46 ct Lakeside Linens Maritime White that is SPECTACULAR and perfection.

Flosstube Shoutouts:

Valerie, Stitching in the Barn:

She's smart and hilarious and shows fantastic stitching!