Wednesday, July 29, 2009

successes, failures & new starts

I suppose I'll start with the successes since it'll make me seem
more, uh, successful. To begin with, I managed to finish my dragon, who will now take up residence in my "finished but unfinished" drawer (which is kinda full) until October when he will be framed for my friend's birthday.





And since every finish deserves (at least) one start, I dug into my recently acquired stash pile for this goodie by one of my new
favorite designers, Stacy Nash. Despite my somewhat limited sewing skills I am going to attempt a scissors pouch with this one, picture to be posted later if everyone promises not to laugh. I need to improve my finish skills since I signed up for the LHN exchange which Kathy K. mentioned on her blog.



Of course, since this was a quick stitch, I had to start something
else (I can justify ignoring my WIPs since these are small pieces and don't really count). This is Sibley Hall by The Goode Huswife, another one of my favorites. I went on a Goode Huswife buying spree a few years ago so I figured I might as well actually stitch some of the charts (I know, novel concept...).




Last but not least, here is a picture of the adorable ornie I received in an exchange for the ILCS Yahoo group, done by Debbie B. It is much cuter than my lousy picture shows.








On to the failures. Here is the first, the Brooke Nolan angel from
Just Cross Stitch. I took this along with me to work on in the car while waiting to pick up the kiddies from school, but forgot the pattern, and decided to trim around her for something to do...well, I overtrimmed. No room now for her little hand on the one side. I am sure there is a solution for this problem but I don't know what it is right now, so she's going in the WAL (worry about later) drawer.


And this is my final failure (at least in the cross-stitch realm) of the week
--my first attempt at a homemade fabric dye. I'm not sure if the picture shows how neon-y yellow it is. I found a recipe on the web for a turmeric dye, which did NOT mention how very bright the yellow would be; I tried to tone it down a bit with tea, then coffee, and ended up throwing in a little bit of just about everything in the kitchen. Quite a witches' brew and a lovely smell too, believe me. I guess it might be usable for a Halloween piece, or I might develop a taste for neon colors, who knows.


I guess that's it for a while. Thanks all for the lovely comments.

15 comments:

staci said...

I hardly think you (of all people) have limited sewing abilites! I'm sure your sewing pouch will be perfect in every way.

Try overdyeing your fabric with some Tan RIT~~it really works wonders for toning down some of those "too bright" colors and making them a little more earthy :)

Jan said...

Lots of beautiful projects and I agree with Staci on trying the Tan RIT to subdue that neon yellow!!

Meari said...

Congrats on your successes, and sorry about your not-so-successes. ;) The yellow fabric would be good for a summery design.

Kathy said...

Interesting color on that fabric. :)
And I love your new wip. I have recently taken a liking to Goode Huswife.
Thanks for the credit in joining the LHN exchange. it should be fun.

Rene la Frog said...

Nice stitching as always. For a fix to your boo boo why not just stitch the hand and they attach it to the end of the sleeve after you cut it out. Won't be perfect but no one will know if you don't tell.

Carissa said...

Everything looks wonderful Marjorie! I like Rene's idea for your stitching boo-boo.

As for the yellow fabric, what about trying some orangey dye and then it would be perfect for an autumn/halloween project. But in the end, it's still something YOU made and I'm sure you can find something to stitch on it. ;)

Linda said...

Hi Majorie, wonderful finishes...the dragon is gorgeous, what a lucky friend, she is sure to love it. The SN stitch is going to make a sweet scissor pouch..I've got to try my hand at making some accessories. hugs, Linda

Carolyn NC said...

Lovely stitching!

Sandy In Montana said...

Beautiful Finishes!!, Marjorie

Shelley - ILCS said...

Great finishes!! Dragon is beautiful. Sorry about your stitching world mishaps. Maybe next week will be a better adventure for you. There has got to be a way to fix your Brooke Nolan angel. I plan on stitching this one next year.

Nancy M said...

Some great pieces you've done and I love the *finished but unfinished* and WAL things! You should be able to stitch the the hand on another piece of paper and attach it, no one will be the wiser! Bright yellow would be good for a summery or halloweeny piece. Do a floss toss, you'll be amazed!

5 Foot Runt said...

I really like that Stacy Nash pattern, I would love to see how it's finished. Sorry to hear about your fabric and the nolan angel. It looked really pretty. Have you tried food dyes? I know you have to watch it with them so they won't stain your clothes.

Heidi said...

Your stitching is going ahead at steam speed. The dragon is going to be really nice and what a gift. Wow.

I am an utter failure at the HarmAn Day. It was also dangerous as I want to stitch up another quick design instead of getting back to my 10 Virgins. Not good...lol.

Hugs ~
Heidi

Katie P. said...

Someone alerted me to your blog, we have very similar blog titles.
Welcome to blogging, we have a lot in common!
~Vonna

Jennifer Ann Fox said...

Great blog! I found it through Vonna's. Happy Stitching!

Jennifer
North Georgia
http://www.feathersinthenest.blogspot.com