we were both doing "filling in" tonight. And having a nice chat, my BFF even got to fit words in the right way and not just sideways.
I was mentioning that adding some stitches to the sky in addition to those on the pattern had crossed my mind but I was holding firm on not Deborahizing (aka adding things on and making things more difficult than they need to be) and my BFF noted she had been thinking in the opposite direction of leaving off the whisp of light blue cloud and the backstitch seagulls. We have therefore decided that leaving elements off without replacing them with something else will henceforth be called doing a Roni. After all our word for complicating things is a lengthening of my name, so a word for simplifying is a contraction of hers.
I finished all of the cross and half stitches this evening. Roni's eyes did not feel as cooperative as mine tonight so she did not quite get there. She has off screen time dispensation to get to the point of Backstitching and we will both be doing that next time. I say next time and not next week as we will have a two week gap due to other commitments of a Wednesday evening.
I have taken this weeks update snap in the frame that came with the kit, partly to see how the sky looks and if my shortened rocks gives too much sky that might need more cloud to balance it.
CLICK HERE to pop on over to my BFF's blog and her updated.
I suppose I could also link this post to the gifted gorgeousness as the pattern was a gift, but as it is currently my Sunday Stitching project it gets a post all of its own.
I started with a touch of blue, which let me back into the shades of brown in the edge of the eyes and then whilst that thread was in the needle then I kept going with that. It feels like it filled out quite a bit in the time frame.
For an explanation of this link up (if you did not get here from Serendipitous Stitching) CLICK HERE and if you are a crafting blogger perhaps you might like to join in.
This delightful gift for my mother arrived quite serendipitously today, on the 15th of the month and the day of the link up so it certainly had to be shared.
This was made by a lady I work with, but have never seen. We mostly communicate via Teams or e-mail.
At one point and I can't recall when our crafting was discussed and she does that magic with wool and a hook that I never have got the hang of. A later mention that my mother liked owls and this was the result.
He came with a little card with pansies, which just happen to be a favourite of hers. I took a quick picture, you can see a previous project on the left, which just shows I am still using them, and behind and to the right my current quilting project.
I told my mother she should have her picture taken with her Howlett, this is as much as she was willing to feature in a picture.
my brain offered up that phrase, yes in the German (where have all the Flowers gone) whilst I was stitching the pink in the section most impacted by the miscount of the grey. Which has resulted in there being less flowers on my piece than on the patten.
And why that and in the German? Once upon a time in addition to French (which I struggled with) my school decided some of us would "do" German. So for a year I tried to do both languages. Not particularly successfully, and the teacher though that learning songs might help. So we did, Where have all the Flowers gone, which to be honest I thought was originally in German and translated to English and not as is the case the other way around. And an odd song that also circles back on itself about an egg stealing dog. Now in my memory that is
Ein Mops kam in die Küche,
Und stahl dem Koch ein Ei. Da nahm der Koch den Löffel*, Und schlug den Mops entzwei. Da kamen alle Mops, Und gruben ihm ein Grab, Und setzten ihm einen Grabstein, worauf geschrieben stand:
"Ein Mops kam in die Küche..."
Now I had to look up Mops tonight as I wondered if my memory was off as that is not German for Dog, but apparently it is for a Pug dog. So I guess the version we were taught was with pugs (ok I had to look up the everything past the first line ). Neither are what you would call jolly, and as a final song, well the teacher presented Elvis singing I don't have a wooden heart and noted his accent was perfect!
The year of German had a detrimental impact on my French and neither language continued after that experiment year.
I find it very amusing that knowing I struggle with spelling in English (hooray for the spell checker, although I do occasionally stump it with what word I may have been trying to spell) and the sad state of my attempts at European languages, I am now trying to learn Korean!
So this evening sewing generated trip down memory lane for languages and a for song lyrics randomly generated by my brain. Sometimes my BFF and I have conversations that devolve into song lyrics, part of our same but different and also different but the same vibe CLICK HERE to see her progress and also see what I mean in the title of her blog.
Next session I have blue to sew and the backstitching if I get that far.
Oh and that reason for trying Korean, and a link to their most recent original song
Mind my language teacher may have been onto something about singing and languages, but perhaps not in the way she approached it. People who sing, hear the nuances in sounds and in hearing the differences perhaps they find it easier to then make the relevant sound. After all in English we say someone has an ear for languages not a mouth!
So on that thought a double video link , this one to a solo performance. Although I don't think he "speaks" all those languages he certainly sings them well.
and I thought I would do more of the cat, some of the shades around the white, to make those stitches more visible. However, when I pulled it out that is not what my eyes felt like doing.
My eyes wanted colour, and it is not wise to argue with your eyes.
So a little more of the mid pink and a new shade were the order of the day.
At least it has stopped looking as if the cat is wearing a fez.
Well, it transpires that last week I could not count. This week I can and have therefore discovered last weeks deficiency in my numerical competence.
At first I though it was just in the rocky foreground and I could work around that as I did not feel like unpicking it. So I then did the rocky background, in relation to the dark section initial sewn.
However, as I moved on the the next shade of grey it was to realise there was an error from the start.
At this point it stopping for the evening became the best option. Well after taking out that grey bit and the dark section on the right that I thought was the error but nope it was not alone! It is going to need a hard look and then a decision on which option is going to take more effort, unpicking to correct or the mental effort of making adjustments to "fudge" the errors.
My BFF happily was having a much better relationship with the counting and sewing this week.
She had not posted as yet, there is a link to her post on the right side of the blog..I will add a direct link later once there is one.
My current issues with counting and concentration level is making us rethink the potential SAL 18 as perhaps a bit more complicated than we want to take on just at the moment.
I think I am more inclined to the ease of quilting along predawn lines at the moment. No counting required,
We both started in the middle and with the same colour, and then both moved onto the same second colour!
The same yet the same! How weird, but worry not by the third colour we had each headed off in our own direction so the same but different vibe was restored.
We were both enjoying that and it felt odd after weeks of RAL that we would not be doing any off camera stitching.
The pattern estimates a stitching time of 8 hours, so approximately 4 weeks of SAL sessions.
However, at the moment with an initial speedy start we think that we might be done quicker than that, it might be deceptive we shall wait and see.
We also have a plan for SAL 18 and trying something we have not done before in a SAL. Indeed it will be something I have never tried before. Could be interesting. Just need to lay my hands onto the right size and type of material. I am fairly sure I have some in my stash.
CLICK HERE to pop over to my BFF's blog and see the bits that are the same and different.
apparently in Korea this is a day for the ladies to gift the gentlemen in their lives , it is the gentlemen's turn in March.
Given it is rather chilly still here at the moment and scarf and mitts are a good idea this felt like a good time to share this chap.
I have a red heart shaped hand warmer, so this makes me think of a warm heart.
Hope you all have a happy day being with or thinking about the ones you love..
Oh and a Forestella link I have just the one..
Ok never a favourite song for me and I have never watched the film which is why I chose the link to the concert performance and not the version over the video of the film.
However, with some Forestella Magic vocals I could grow to like it.
I have had this piece of material for some time, so long I am not totally sure where it came from. It feels like it is a sample snatch but from where or why illudes me now.
It has been waiting for something just the right size and style and I think I have found it.
Of course there will be some colour tweaks but that is what I tend to do with something small, dip into the random threads.
So in out on camera session I managed the three shades of red, the darkest is a substitution the lighter two as per the pattern.
I am working one over two , I am not sure what the thread count is here, I will measure it for next time.
I am using a large eyed pointed needle as that works better on a smaller count for me.
I was rather enjoying this so as it is RAL (random along) and not SAL (stitch along) off camera sewing is allowed I kept going after my BFF and I had said farewell for the evening.
The next three shades are all a deviation from the original pattern. White swapped for a very light silver blue, lilac for a lighter pinker shade and the blue is also shades lighter than the original. All three have a slight sheen to them which I like.
I think that the pattern on the material shows up better in this picture.
The three shades added , not so much.
Hopefully they will show better once the full stitch plus backstitch is completed.
Whilst empty space is not usually my thing there is not a lot left to cross stitch here so it may well be finished before next week, but maybe not finally finished as I have not decided what it will be just yet.
Pop over to my BFFs blog by CLICKING HERE to see her stitching finish which is raising its own questions about the next step based on what it might finally become.
And if we are still RAL next time or SAL all depends on the postman.
And for the Forestella link , well I have been enjoying one of their original songs from the last concert of all four together. And as the fandom is hoping to get a million views by mid May well I will do my little bit to help it along.
If you have read this far , it is a bit like staying till after the credits at the pictures...a little bonus addition.
Finished the rest of the stitching the next day and it came out like this. The blue top was too light, I keep forgetting once it is at one strand pastel colours become even lighter. I can see the three shades but they are not showing in the photo. I thought that the character on her own and the leaf print on the fabric would be enough. However, she is quite small in the space and it feels like it needs a something. I shall press it, and block it a bit and contemplate it for awhile and see what comes to me. Suggestions would be appreciated, they help me focus on what I want.
The original has a nose and mouth in addition to the eyes, but it was not working, the single strand of black still made for too thick a line here. So nose and mouth left off for now.
Maybe later I might try my usual go to for very fine backstitch, well if I can find a strand dark enough, they are less prevalent recently.
