A fishy finish

Here's a little happy dance I had last night. This little guy is so beautiful, with beads and shiny to add some glow to those colourful scales.

The pattern was a real pain though. I think it might have been hand made on a computer using Wingdings? There were lots of unusual (and fiddly) symbols like scissor and glasses that where challenging to read at a glance.

Yellow Faced Angelfish - Top of the Range Designs
Stitched with DMC, Rainbow Gallery Petite Treasure Braid (PH01) and glass beads on a lovely fabric
I really should've remembered the name of! I think it's called 'Atmosphere' but the creator and count completely escape me.

This fishy is the last of three that I bought many years ago. I'm looking forward to finishing them up as a little quilt hanging. 

Northwind Owl... finished!

Here it is!

I'm not sure I like the framing, with the large patch of white up the top, but I'm leaving it like this and seeing if I come to like it. This was a fantastic pattern to work on, lots of variety in stitching and the couching at the end was definitely a challenge.

Now I just have to find a place on my wall... :)

Anyone else had some finishes lately?

Hello!

Well... things have been crazy. At the end of March my girlfriend got ridiculously sick and I spent two weeks looking after her. We were quite worried, because the first week in April we were booked to go on a trip to New Zealand, which we'd had to cancel last October because I got ridiculously sick and needed surgery the week before we were due to leave.

But thankfully she got well enough to be cleared to fly, and we left for a lovely stress-free holiday, right? WRONG.

Driving through the beautiful, winding Rai Valley we witnessed a car drive into a logging truck. The driver was terrified and in a lot of pain. Being the first ones there my girlfriend and I did what we could to help, with our little first aid kit. There was a rescue chopper there within fifteen minutes through, and we learnt from the news that the driver was stable and expected to make a good recovery.

Then two days later we ended up in the trail of Cyclone Ita, driving into an area (unbeknown to us) with no power or running water and debris everywhere. We spent a rather terrifying night amid the wind and noise at Cape Foulwind (quite aptly named, it seems) before moving on to find somewhere safer to stay. We had some luck for a time, with power being restored and road re-opening just as we were moving south towards Glacier Country. We thought we'd be okay. We'd booked a $~1000 guided helicopter scenic flight and glacier hike months in advance and were so thrilled we'd be able to make it. But, literally five minutes before we were due to get on the helicopter the tour is cancelled due to weather. ... Sigh.

But I'm home now, and drafting up some posts to show you all what I've been up to craft wise. I hope everyone had a lovely Easter. :)

Northwind Owl

I've been working exclusively on Northwind Owl, gunning for a happy dance. It hasn't happened yet and I seem to not make much progress. The couching is really time consuming, and I keep forgetting that I have yet to finish the stitching! My fault though, for racing ahead. I just want a finish, damnit!

Hopefully I have this done and dusted before I leave for New Zealand. I think I'll stitch a few smalls after this, give me some reprieve from this big projects. :)

Stitch from Stash March

It's almost the end of March! Not that exciting in itself, but in early April I'm heading off to New Zealand for three weeks and I can't wait. I was supposed to go to NZ last October, but I had to cancel with a week to go because I needed surgery. Not. fun. times.

But this holiday is going to be even better than the trip I planned in October. I'm so excited.

Now, down to business. This month I spent $4.99 on a cross stitch ezine. A new publication, called New Age Cross Stitch.

I don't really like the charts on the front (I was kinda hoping they'd be more inside, but alas...) but I really like the idea of this style of magazine and I wanted to support it. :) You can buy it from Colour Cascade Fabrics.

So I spent $5 out of $25 allowed for this month, bringing me to $7 for the year so far.

No new starts, no finishes. But I do have a nice juicy happy dance brewing. :P

WIPocalypse March

Oops, I had a draft post ready to go a few days ago and completely forgot about it! I'm still plugging away on Snowy Owl (who's correct and more imperial sounding name is Northwind Owl). I've just started the couching.

 Ergh, couching.

Still, it really does make this design.

Some of those weirdly shaped gaps in the stitching make sense now. 

This month I also made it to 75% on The Lookout.

Their vacant little eyes look a bit creepy to me... 

So I'd say it's been quite a productive month! This month's WIPocalypse question is show us your favorite places to stitch.

Sadly, my favourite stitching place is not set up at the moment. My craft room is quite a variable beast, with a folding table, beanbag and bookcases lining the walls. I tend to shift stuff around as I need to, and at the moment my sewing machine is set up, and my stitching setup with beanbag and lamp is not. When I don't need my setup (which I really only require for over one stuff) I stitch on my couch, or in bed.

Snowy Owl

I've been working away on a Dimensions kit recently, Snowy Owl. 

I think it's a stunning design, but it's not the most relaxing thing to stitch. Most of the background involves dragging five strands of floss through stiff, starched Aida. You can really feel it in your hands and shoulders after an hour of stitching. So I'm looking forward to finishing this off soon!