Flosstube #47 Show Notes

Episode #47:

FFOs:

• Love Never Fails - Freebie from the Primitive Hare -  22 ct blush pink Hardanger, stitched with variegated Valdani M45 1 over 1. FFO into an ATC for Instagram #crossstitchatcs

• DMC Breast Cancer Cupcake - full kit stitched 2 over 1 with DMC on 14 ct white Aida - modified to have heart shaped sprinkles rather than round-ish ones. FFO into a card for the Facebook Cross Stitch Card and ATC SAL group

WIPs:

• Quotes to Live By SAL - Stitchrovia - 16 count Aida tea dyed by me, stitched 2 over 1 with the called for DMC: 

• My Favorite Time - Lizzie Kate - stitched 2 over 1 on unknown 14 ct sparkly Aida with: 
• Gentle Arts Dungarees
• Gentle Arts Buckeye Scarlet
• Victoria Model Sampler Audubon Medley
• Needle Necessities Madras 602
• DMC 729 and B5200 (probably)

• Chang Er - Pinn - stitched on 18 ct Aida in Zephyrus by Under the Sea Fabrics 2 over 1 in mostly called for colors, except: 
• Rainbow Gallery FyreWorks for DMC 351
• Rainbow Gallery Silk Lame braid for DMC 782
• Three Green Kreiniks for DMCs 904, 905, 906

Haul:

• Fabrics by LJ, 32 count Linen in Teenage Dream. 

Sprinkles:

• Oh Whale from Hands on Design
• IKEA curtain remnants for #YouCanStitchSomethingOnThat
• Star Wars Calendar
• Needleminders from Heather, the Imperfectly Perfect Stitcher

Books:

• The Gunslinger by Stephen King: I gave this book 3.5/5 stars. 
• My Goodreads review: I really enjoyed this. It's full on just the beginning of a bigger work and I can't wait to get on to the rest. I did see the movie before I read the book and I'm definitely picturing Idris Elba for Roland and Matthew McCona-however-you-spell-it for the Man in Black. 

First February Finish!

So, Mademoiselle Rose from jardin Prive was thisclose to being done last night. See yesterday's blog.

It would have been a crime for me to not finish her today! Luckily I don't need any bail money because she's done!

I think she turned out amazingly well. You may or may not notice that I left off the border and the bottom row under her feet. The reason for this was two-fold. 1) I didn't want to stitch them, so I didn't. And, more importantly, 2) I have never "centered" a piece worse on any fabric ever. 

I have easily three inches and change on the top and just over an inch on the bottom. I have no idea what happened. I've been stitching for two decades. Are you laughing? because I am.

Another way that I made this piece mine is my color conversion. There has been a lot of talk on my Flosstube channel regarding using our fancy flosses rather than hoarding them. Here was a perfect opportunity for me! Here's a picture of my fancy floss conversion:

The conversion is as follows: 

• DMC 224 -- Colour & Cotton Chiffon
• DMC 152 -- Gentle Arts Tea Rose
• DMC 223 -- Weeks Dye Works Romanc
• DMC 221 -- Weeks Dye Works Baked Apple
• DMC 3021 -- Ship's Manor Ancient (to match my daughter's hair)
•                    -- Colour & Cotton Hearth (for the shoes)
• DMC 733 -- Gentle Arts Tropical Ocean
• DMC 732 -- Weeks Dye Works Kentucky Bluegrass

I used the called for DMC 3774 for the skin, DMC 754 for the cheeks, and B5200 instead of BLANC for the motifs on the skirt. 

She was a joy to stitch and I'm passing the stash to Leslie Hurley, so go check her Flosstube Channel to see it stitched again!

Last Finish for January!

So, I actually finished this yesterday, but I was holding off to see if I could squeak out a finish of Mademoiselle Rose from Jardin Prive tonight. Alas....

She's super close though. So expect a post tomorrow with a finish for her!

No, the finish I'm talking about is the Lizzie Kate exclusive design that we received at the Acorns & Threads 2018 Acorn Gathering on Sunday, January 28. It was SUCH a great day!! There were 30 women there to stitch, plus all four of the lovely ladies who keep Acorns & Threads running. 

Lizzie Kate designed the piece, Jeanine (the owner of A&T) stitched the model and chose the colors, and JoLyn did the soft finish for the hanger. Here's a few pictures of the progression:

 The colors in this kit are:

• WDW Guacamole
• WDW Bright Leaf
• WDW Molasses
• WDW Sweet Potato
• GA Cinnamon
• GA Pumpkin Pie
• GA Black Crow
• GA Butternut Squash
• GA Burlap
• CC English Ivy
• CC Hayride

Isn't the the perfect autumn pallet?

This is where I ended the day on Sunday. I did all of this stitching during the stitch in at the shop; we were there from 11am until 5pm. After a two hour drive home from Portland, I didn't stitch any more on Sunday. Wimpy; I know.

I thought for sure I would finish this on Monday. However. Life.

Rose and I are taking a Family Clay class and that was tons of fun and took precedence over stitching on Monday night. Still, good progress for one day. 

If you're comparing my piece to the model above, you'll notice that I changed the words...

dramatically.

 I wanted to really celebrate my first Acorn Gathering with a piece that shouted out its origins, so I went through all of my Lizzie Kate (and I do mean all) charts and "harvested" the letters for "acorn gathering 2018". 

Everything about this piece and the Acorn Gathering was a blast!! Next year I'll be in the know and bring my own chair; rookie mistake. 

If you're ever in the greater Portland area, definitely stop in at Acorns & Threads. Everyone is so welcoming and friendly and helpful you won't even notice how many new things you're leaving with!! ;-) 

Cross your fingers for a February 1 finish of Mademoiselle Rose! Until then, keep sprinkling the stitchy kindness. <3

WIPocalypse January Update

How is it time for our first WIPocalypse update already?!? HOW is it the end of January??!! (this is me agonizing over my lack of progress on WIPocalypse pieces...)

And then I remembered what Newt Scamander said in Fantastic Beasts:

And I thought, let's just look and see what I've done. Lo and behold, it was quite a bit!

The first WIPocalypse project that I worked on in January was BeInkspired by Stitchrovia on Etsy. I'm stitching from the 2017 Summer issue of Cross Stitcher Magazine, but this is now available in Emma Congdon's Etsy shop. I worked on this for six days at the beginning of January and made really good progress. I'm stitching it on (what I think is) a 27 count light blue linen that I bought on the bolt at a thrift store. I dyed it with a bit of Navy Rit and I couldn't be happier. I'm hoping to finish this in February. 

My next two WIPocalypse projects were my #torchtwins Sue and Moe. You can't really tell yet, but these are both Lady of the Flag. Sue is the yellow version. I'm stitching her in all of the called for colors on 16 count Aida Preamble fabric (of which I still cannot remember the origin). And Moe (short for Mother of Exiles) is a Statue of Liberty conversion by my girl Diana over at itiskismet_stitches stitched on the called for 32 count French Lace linen from Wichelt. 

I love them both in different ways and I'm STOKED to be on the second color in each. I'm clearly a color completer when I stitch, as you will see. I like the way the chart goes from "what the HECK is THAT" to "ooooh! I see!!" when you color complete. 

The last WIPocalypse piece that I worked on in January was Halloween Luck by Glendon Place. This is stitched on an 18 count Aida that I randomly found on eBay. Pro tip: There are SO MANY amazing fabrics for not so much money on eBay, like here. It's always worth a look. 

Anyhow, I stitched on the Black cat and on the pumpkins. This allowed me to post in Stitch Maynia's Designer of the Month SAL for January: Glendon Place and Stitch Maynia's Halloween Year Round SAL for January: Pumpkins. Gotta love that double dipping! I really enjoy this piece and I hope to get back to it soon.

Otherwise my January was spent on new starts and ATCs (artist trading cards), which are tiny 2.5" by 3.5" works of art that can be created quickly and traded. 

Now for the official WIPocalypse prompts: 

January 28 (I know, I'm late) What SAL’s are you participating in this year? and If you are participating in the Olympic Stitching Challenge, what challenge are you accepting?  What are your goals?

What SALs am I participating in this year? Well, I was going to participate in the Class Schedule SAL by Armada Designs: 

And I even made a start on it: 

But after seeing January, I just wasn't happy with it. And I thought (after a lot of discussion with dear stitchy friends) why am I stitching this if I'm not happy with it? So I gave it up. How cute is that Dobby needleminder though? 

Oh no, you're thinking, are you out of SALs Michelle? Ah. No. 

I still have the By the Bay Needlearts Harbour Haven SAL: 

Have I started this? Nope. Waiting on fabric. But I'm collecting the HECK out of the charts!! Funnily enough, that's my only monthly SAL this year. And it's 650-ish stitches by 84-is stitches, so I think that will be PLENTY.

For the Olympics challenge, we have the option to do a Rotation Relay, where we work on as many projects during the Olympics as possible; an Endurance Race, where we try to stay monogamous during the Olympic games; and the third is Celebrate the Nations, where we stitch in the colors of the Olympic Rings or of our country's flag. 

I'm feeling very monogamous lately, so I'm going to go with the Endurance Race. Which project I'll be working on remains to be seen. ;-) 

Happy WIPocalypse!

Finish: Brooke's Books Alice in Wonderland

It's my first finish of 2018!!! Huzzah!! Finally. Whew. I was feeling the pressure of not having finished anything yet this year. Silly, I know, but there it is.

So, my good friend Angel, @girlwithaneedle on Instagram and Girl With a Needle on Flosstube, asked me to do a birthday start with her for her birthday on January 19. OF COURSE!! We both started Alice in Wonderland by Brooke's Books. Brooke Nolan is a genius, a GENIUS, with color!! 

I stitched Alice from 01-19-18 to 01-23-18 because I did not put her down. She's stitched 1/2 on 32 count Belfast linen in the colorway Flapper by Picture This Plus with the called for DMC. She was an absolute joy to stitch.

Here's my progression:

Next up is the White Rabbit. I need a coordinating but not exactly the same fabric for him, which I'll look for at Acorn & Threads next Sunday. 

Thanks for checking in!

What I do when I can't start YoW pieces.....

You guessed it, I start things!!!

I had my Flosstube live sale on Monday (with TONS of help from my loves, Helga and McKenna) and it was EXCITING! And it was exhausting! But so much fun. So when you're exhausted, what do you do? Start a new thing!

I've been holding on to Mademoiselle Rose by Jardin Prive for longer than I care to assess. It was a gift from the lovely Anne P.

 I've been thinking a lot about using my Fancy Floss rather than hoarding it, so I went ahead and kitted Mme Rose up in mostly all fancy flosses: 

Here are my conversions: 

• DMC 224 = Colour & Cotton Chiffon
• DMC 152 = Gentle Arts Tea Rose
• DMC 223 = Weeks Dye Works Romance
• DMC 221 = Weeks Dye Works Baked Apple
• DMC 3021 = Ship's Manor Ancient (this is the gold on the left, picked to match my Rose's hair)
• DMC 733 = Gentle Arts Tropical Ocean (much more teal than the called for)
• DMC 732 = Weeks Dye Works Kentucky Bluegrass (again, much more teal than the called for)
• DMC 640 = Colour & Cotton Heath (still considering changing this)

I used the called for DMC 3774 for the skin and changed the eyes to DMC 732 because my Rose has hazel eyes. I'm stitching this 1/1 on 32 count natural linen and I'm in LOVE: 

There was some discussion over stitching her shoes in Petite Treasure Braid and calling her McKenna. We shall see.

And today my dear friend Angel is celebrating her birthday! So we HAD to have a start!! We chose Brooke's Books Alice: 

And it's safe to say we were both SHOCKED by the sheer number of flosses in this piece. Here is a partial floss toss: 

To be fair, that is MOST of the flosses, but DANG! Brooke Nolan is a genius when it comes to color so I'm going to trust her, grit my teeth, and change colors often. I mean, Blanc and B5200? Really? 

Since I've gotten rid of two of my Year of WIPs pieces, I'm going to add these ones in to substitute. Mostly because I can actually FINISH them! 

Thanks for coming back y'all! See you again soon. 

Lady of the Flag and Flosstube Live

Hey y'all! I feel like it's been an eternity since my last blog post! That must mean I'm liking this blogging thing, huh?

So what have I been up to? I've been stitching on three major projects this week: Stitchrovia's Be InkSpired, Moe (Mirabilia's Lady of the Flag, Statue of Liberty conversion), and Sue (Mirabilia's Lady of the Flag). I've also put some stitches into a little DMC Roses chart as a car project.

First, BeInkSpired. I made great progress this week and was able to move the q-snap down to the bottom half of the chart. I had intended to stitch all of the outlines first and then color them in but I actually ran out of DMC 310 and had to work on some of the color in the bottom half. Luckily, DMC 310 is readily available all over! So here's where I left off this week:

It's stitched almost all in the called for DMC, except for the sailor girl, whose skin I converted to DMC 436 and 869. And the fabric is a blue linen that I picked up at the thrift store on a bolt for $2.99. That was a win! Then I hit it with a little Navy Rit. Needleminders by Delicious Threads (the lady) and SunSpotCreations (Han). 

Next, I worked on my #TorchTwins, Moe and Sue. I'm stitching Lady of the Flag twice. Let me say that again: I'm stitching Lady of the Flag TWICE. And I'm loving her both ways. When I'm working on Moe (short for Mother Of Exiles), my Statue of Liberty conversion (courtesy of Diana @itiskismet_stitches), I love her the most. And when I work on Sue (named for three symbols on the chart that were next to each other: SUE), I love her the most! I'm keeping Moe for myself and I'm stitching Sue for my Helga. 

That's Moe. She's stitched in the DMC 500 color family on the called for 32 count French Lace linen by Wichelt. Needleminder from Delicious Threads and grime guard from Geeked Out Accessories on Etsy.

And that's Sue. She's stitched on 16 count Preamble fabric that Helga sent me (origin: ??) in all of the called for colors. Needleminder by Delicious Threads. You will begin to notice a trend there. 

My car project is a little DMC Flowers Kit that was a gift from Kaitlyn at Big Apple Stitching on Flosstube. I was able to finish all of the crosses this week and I only have the backstitching left. 

This is going to end up being about 3" by 3". FFO suggestions are most welcome. 

The MOST exciting thing I've done this week is to go through all of my stash to get ready for my GIANT LIVE DESTASH SALE (in my head I was totally shouting) that I'm having on Monday, January 15 at 11am PST. That's 2pm EST and 7pm GMT. All other time zones have to do their own math. It will be on my Flosstube channel, Michelle Garrette Bendy Stitchy.

So today I went through my stash for the first time and pulled out everything I could part with. It's a LOT, but it's less than I'd like. 

I'll go through it all again this weekend. I find that I'm never able to let go of everything I want to let go of on the first time through so I'm hoping to get a lot more out this weekend. It's going to be AMAZING!! See you there? I hope!

If you made it this far, here's a pic of my kid being awesome: 

See you guys Sunday for a Stitch With Me and Monday for the GIANT LIVE DESTASH SALE (yep, still yelling in my head)