An All-In-One Post (it's a biggie!)

 

This is becoming a bit of a habit. I've been a less than reliable blogger. Sorry.

In my defense, we had another death in the family in February. We suddenly and unexpectedly lost my uncle. We had family come in from out of state, for whom we were entertaining for a couple of days. In that same time frame I got terribly sick. (again!!)

I apologize for whining. It was just a tough month.

So here I am with a huge post. I will cover not only my February WIPocalypse update; not only my end-of-month Theme-a-Licious wrap up; but, I've also remembered that it is Friday, and you are overdue for your hunk.

Let's see...Where to start?

WIPocalypse
The themes for Feb. were Little House Needleworks, Love/Family, and white and red colors.

I found and started a new project that would fit all the categories of the theme. (Don't expect that to happen often!) I started stitching LHN's Baked Goods. I love baking pies for my family at the holidays. This reminds me of that. It does have the colors of white and red in it. The red that was called for was GAST Mulberry. The skein of Mulberry that I got, though, was very brown and has almost no red in it. The next time I'm at my LNS, I will pick a different color that I like better.

In January I started my Joan Elliott Diary SAL. This is how far I got on the January piece.

And this is how far I got on my February piece.....

[  ]

Yes, it is supposed to be blank. I never got to start Feb., so on to March I go.


I allowed myself another new start. (So naughty!) I did the first bottle of Ink Circles' "99." This piece is for my dear hubby. He really has been supportive with my stitching, even though I tend to make him sound grumpy. He even turns a blind eye to my stashing addiction. (mostly) I wanted him to see me start on something just for him. I changed the shelf color from the charted solid mauve to a pretty wood-colored overydyed cotton. There will be more to the shelves than just one row of stitches. That's all I got to before starting the Blue Moon beer bottle.

I have been working really hard on Laura's band sampler round robin piece. It is sucking the life out of me! The problem is that the sections ended up side-by-side (long story) and quite wide. Each section seemed to get larger and larger as each stitcher got more adventurous in the Celtic theme. Dear, sweet Catherine, who did the section to the right, was so inspired that she created an absolutely enormous section. Normally that wouldn't affect me at all, but since I had to stitch across from her, and because I am the last stitcher, I felt that my section needs to be the same size as hers to keep it symmetrical. Gaaaaaaa! This thing is eating my mojo.

How about some entries for Theme-a-Licious?

The theme this month was:
Figural February: Who are the people in your neighborhood...your WIP neighborhood, that is? Give your people-populated projects some face time this month.


Firstly, I posted last month that I finally received my Mira round robin back, with Lavender started in the wrong spot. I ripped out the offending stitches and re-stitched her in the correct position. I will send this on to Julie to work on Sweet Pea shortly. When I get it back from her, I will bead everything and call this one done!

I had wanted to get at least another 300 stitches done on Bellydancer No. 1. I didn't get quite that far. Almost 200 done in a couple of hours, but it doesn't look like much.

Before

After

 

 

 

I had intended to stitch a step or two of my exceedingly neglected Passione Ricamo SAL. I didn't get to it at all. I blame Catherine of the uber-large band. :-b (If you're reading this, Cat, I'm just teasing.)

The theme for March is:
March Madness: Work on something different every day...it's madness...of the funnest possible kind.


Honestly, that's not going to happen. I have too many obligation stitches to finish. Once I get through those, though, I might jump around a bit to some WIPs that have been neglected. I may even make a new start or two, just because I'm nuts that way.

Now, what you've all been waiting for...HUNKY FRIDAY!

Again, I'm sharing some special requests. Today I have John Cena for your entertainment. I much prefer Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson over this guy, but to each her/his own, right? ;-)

Oops. How did that get in here?

If you got all the way to the end of this everything-but-the-kitchen-sink post, thanks for sticking it out!

Until next time...
*hugs and stitches*

~Karen

September WIPocalypse - Epic Fail

I have no idea what happened. I just couldn't get any darned stitching done. I must've had a lot more available stitching time this summer than I realized because once school started, I got nothing done.

This is it. Two round robin pieces, and I only just finished the Joan Elliott one today, so it doesn't even really count as September.

Catherine's RR - Scent of Old Roses

Additional flower section on Catherine's RR

 

 

Jo's Joan Elliott RR - Lily

I'm just glad it's over. I hope I can make a better showing of it next month. (I'm not holding my breath, though.)

Tardy WIPs and Hunks

I know, I know. I'm tardy again. Being on time has never been one of my strong points. (blush)

I've been busy stitching away this month. Here are my WIPs/Finishes:

Let's start with my RAK project. You've already seen this, and I haven't added anything else, but it counts as a WIP for this month, right?? ;-)

Next, we have my RR portion of Kathy's Mirabilia piece. You saw a sneaky pic of it last time, but now it's done. I loved this one! (except for the #8 Kreinik. Blech!)

 

I finished my section of Debbie's Joan Elliott RR. This is Water Goddess. This piece is absolutely fantastic!

Next up is Linda's Band Sampler RR. She is doing an Indigo Rose-themed piece. Really stunning.

 

I finished Part 2 of the Passione Ricamo Mystery SAL, just in time to receive Part 3!

 

I added another 300+ stitches to the Bellydancer from Yiota's . 

 

I started some of the shells and coral that are going in the center of my Mirabilia large-stitch RR.

Lastly, I did a bit of work on TOT from Nora. Most of you out there know what I mean, but I'm being purposely vague. This is a birthday present for a dear friend that might, possibly be reading this blog. I don't know if I'm going to get it done in time, but I'm sure gonna try.

 

Now, for the hunks.

I've been feeling really down this week, so I think I need some extra hunkage today. One of my very favorite hunky movies is King Arthur, starring Clive Owen. There were LOTS of hunky, manly men in this movie. Here are my favorites.

Clive Owen as King Arthur

Ioan Gryffudd as Lancelot

Mads Mikkelsen as Tristan

Ray Stevenson as Dagonet

Joel Edgerton as Gawain

Hugh Dancy as Galahad

I hope you found one that you like. I found six of them!

See you next time.

August WIPocalypse and stashing

All through July I kept thinking that I wasn't getting as much stitching time as I wanted to over the summer. However, when I started taking pix for this post I said, "Oh. I guess I had a bit more time than I thought.."

 I finished Steph's little fairy for the Joan Elliott RR.

I did a Sweetheart Tree Heart for Kathy's Band Sampler RR. This one is Morning Glory Heart.

 I stitched Part 1 of the Passione Ricamo Mystery Fairy SAL. (I just received Part 2, and will stitch it after the next couple RR finishes.)

 I don't usually like to show full pix of partial RRs, but I haven't done enough on this one to worry about it. Besides, Debbie already knows that I'm stitching Water Goddess for her Joan Elliott RR.

I put in about another 400 stitches on my Bellydancer for Yiota. Not much, but I'm trying to get at least some done every month. The colors are quite pretty in person.

While the pic gives away more than I'd like, I'm very excited to be almost done with my portion of Kathy's Mira RR. Her theme is Christmas. Do you know what this is?

Lastly, I haven't stitched on her in months, and I have lots of higher priority stitching to do, but I got some kind of bug up my keister and had to pick up Mediterranean Mermaid. Her hair is almost done. She needs some more blue highlights. Speaking of which, I changed the main color of her hair to 310, because the only hair I know of that has blue highlights is jet black. (Besides, when I saw the original pic of her, that's what I thought it was. Not brown.)

I said lastly, but what I meant was the last WIP pic. I did not, however, share a picture of the results of my naughtiness. My postie was very good to me this week. *blush*

 

I ordered two extra Polstitches fabrics to go along with my FOTM. There are also two Joan Elliott charts (Goddess of the Sea and Woodland Goddess), and a whole bunch of beads. Some are the purple ones that I will put on the PR Fairy, and the orange/yellow ones are for JE's Fire Goddess. I'll post about that another time. BTW, the fabrics are left-to-right, Toffee Popsicle opal lugana, Abyss opal Cashel, and Bali Sunset L/E jobelan.

I will try soon to scan my whole collection of fabbies and put them on a separate page here.

For those of you wondering about Hunky Friday, I'm exhausted after camp. I'll post tomorrow.

Hugs!

~ Karen

p.s. Tomorrow is the deadline for entries into my giveaway!

4th of July WIPocalypse

Well, here we are. Another month has gone by. Have I gotten any stitching done? Yes, but not enough.

I finished Cat's Band Sampler RR. Boy, was that one a doozy!

Cat's Band Sampler RR

I finished Linda's Mirabilia RR. Garden Beauty. I gave her a little nose job. She had quite a beak on her.

Linda's Mirabilia RR

I'm around halfway through Stephanie's Joan Elliott Garden Fairies RR. I don't usually like to show partial pix of RR squares, but I tried being clever keeping my section unfocused in the back. (A trick I got from Laura of Passione Ricamo, revealing unfocused teaser pieces.)

Stephanie's JE Garden Fairies RR

Speaking of Passione Ricamo...I have the supplies to start the Mistery SAL (except a few PTBs), but I haven't had time to start it yet.

But, speaking of new starts...I figured I needed to start a wee bit on the Bellydancer kit that I am reviewing for Yiota's . I managed to quickly do the first two 10 x 10 blocks yesterday.

Bellydancer No 1 from Yiota's

"What else have you done, Karen?" you ask. Well, I decided that I'm not happy with my DMC StitchBows, so I'm going back to Ye Olde Floss Bobbins. I've been winding, and winding, and winding...and I haven't even scratched the surface. The Girl-child seems to enjoy watching me wind, though.

By the next WIPocalypse check-in I will need to have worked on and/or finished: Steph's JE RR, Kathy's Sweetheart Tree Band Sampler RR, Kathy's Mirabilia RR, and Debbie's JE RR. Not to mention putting a dent in the Bellydancer, completing Section 1 of the PR SAL, and starting Section 2. I'm exhausted just thinking about it, but in a good way.

That about sums up this month. See you in August!