Mirabilia madness

Nora Corbett has a hold on me. Her designs are amazing and I just cannot stay away from them.

So she released Persephone some weeks (months?) ago, and I just had to order the chart immediately. I had a bit of extra money so I got the embellishment pack as well. I already picked a wonderful hand dyed fabric by Stephanie and bought the DMC floss required. No hand dyed floss yet, as the fabric I chose looks very different from the original. Therefore I will stitch the lady before I decide what colours I should use for the background pattern. Long story short, I have her kitted up and she is patiently waiting her turn.










 Then they released Red, which not only looks amazing, but she also reminds me of Ruby from the TV series Once Upon A Time. I love that series and Ruby is one of my favourite characters.

(SPOILERS!)

You may already know that I have a thing for werewolves. So for me Red has an extra special meaning. I don't even have the chart yet, but I bought a piece of 32ct grey marble linen and most of the floss. That is how nuts I am for this chart.

It was then that I realized that as much as I like finishes and try to make myself stitch smaller designs, my true calling is Mirabilia, as these designs give me the most joy, and I feel happier working on them then I feel finishing anything else. So, after years of futile efforts of not making more WIPs but concentrating on finishes, I finally embraced my nuts-for-Miras side and started working on Villa Mirabilia. It is my absolute favourite design and had it kitted up for years. I didn't start on it because its size scared me and I kind of assumed it will become a UFO. But now I had enough of waiting. I work on VM and every single stitch makes me happy. And, at the end of the day, that is all that matters.

2013: The Year of the Frog, apparently

So, as we have previously promised to each other on a drunken night of cross stitch admiring, on the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, some friends and I have all started to stitch a new Mirabilia project, as we agreed. And although I have only been working on it for three days, I already had to frog at least five times, which is annoying, but it will not put me off! I am stitching Stargazer on Stephanie's beautiful opal fabric called Midnight Tryst and this scan was taken after the first day. I promise to finish this one before the year ends.

October in November

It's time for the October edition of the WIPocalypse report. Do not adjust your clocks and calendars.

Kit by Vervaco

Progress and S.E.X.

I've been stitching a lot lately, obviously I cannot show you the secret project, but I can inform you that it is growing steadily and I even started another minor secret project I am about to finish and reveal. Here are my progress pictures and a photo of my recent purchases. Yes, I've been a bad girl and increased my stash yet again.

The thrill of a new start

I was gonna start working on Tree of Stitches by Abi Gurden this week, but fate had other plans. :) Just as I was finishing my previous blog post, I hear a knock on the door. It was the mailman with Stephanie's wonderful fabrics! I spread my favourite piece on the bed, spent half a day marvelling at its beauty, and realized I won't be able to go to sleep before I put my needle to it. So I took a deep breath and a last look at my conversion table, and started my purple version of Mirabilia's Rose of Sharon.

This is my progress after the first day.

This is my progress after three days. I'm going slow as I have changed methods. I cross every x one by one to make sure my stitches are more even. A friend of mine suggested trying this and I like the result so far. I spent some time today trying to figure out what her ribbon should be like. On the original yellow dress it is blue. On my version... it will be... green. Not sure if it would work, but I fell in love with the colours! I will keep you posted and you can tell me what you think.

Tree of Stitches, and all the lovely hand dyed floss I chose for it, will have to wait a little longer. ;)

New beginning

I think you will be happy to hear that while I struggle to deliver finishes, I have absolutely no problems when it comes to starting new projects. :) Only last week I started on a Michael Powell kit. It comes with some cute buttons. This one is called Doves. The scan shows how far I have come with it in five days. It is beautiful, I love the colours and every stitch reminds me why I love Michael Powell. I guess when the crosses are done and the backstitching begins, I will remember why I also hate him. :)