Dance of the Butterflies – 1st Project Update

23. January 2012 · 2 comments · Categories: Cross-Stitch

Over the past several weeks I have been experiencing the urge to cross-stitch again.  This past weekend, I finally acted on it.  Of course I did not choose the logical route and pick back up some of my multitude of Works in Progress — oh now– that’s too boring.

Instead, I decided to go to Barnes & Noble, browse their cross-stitch magazines, and see if anything appealed to me.  Leave it up to my favorite stitching magazine, Cross Stitch Gold, to delight.  It was the first magazine I picked up and lo and behold, what was on the cover?  A geisha!

In case you didn’t know, I love geishas.  This design is called Dance of the Butterflies and is created by Lesley Teare.  The stitch count is 140w x 166h and the finished design size will be 10 x 12 inches.  I was originally going for something smaller, but I could not pass this up.  Too much geisha love in my heart. :-)

So.. after working it over the weekend, here is my 1st progress picture.

Instead of black fabric, I elected to do mine on Tea colored fabric. I am not a fan of stitching on black and I wanted something other than white.  The Monaco is one of my 2nd-favorite fabric to stitch on (Lugana is first choice) , but it was all Hobby Lobby had in stock.

I’ll try to remember to post another update in a month. The plan is to work on this only for awhile, at least until I feel I am back in the swing of it. Of course, I’ll have to fit it in between my genealogy time, but this is such a great pasttime when watching television. Show of choice this weekend was the BBC Poirot series. I am a fan of the Hercule Poirot stories and have never seen them.  Season 1 is free on-demand for Amazon Prime members and I took full advantage of that!

 

 

Stitching Update

30. May 2008 · 4 comments · Categories: Cross-Stitch

You won’t believe this — I am about to actually post a stitching update! Okay, well, maybe I haven’t done any stitching, but here is a stitching picture :-)

All the work i’ve done this week for the Cross Stitch Magazine Database & Blog has made me really nostalgic for stitching. I have not stitched in a long time, but I am feeling like it may happen again soon. As part of my self-motivation, I decided to take a picture of my WIP that I’ve been working on off an on for two years now. It is a design by Julie Hasler. It appears in her book, Native American Cross-Stitch, as well as in the 2nd issue of Cross Stitch Gold from 2001.

Since the last time I took a picture, I can see that I’ve made considerable progress. There was a good month last summer where i was working on it pretty much everyday, so that had an impact. This weekend I plan to go through my floss that I have for it and fill in some gaps; I know the last couple of times I did pick it up there were certain colors that I did not have, so had to jump around a lot. I don’t like doing that in principle if I can help it. I’ll share an update when I actually start working on it again.

Memorial Day Activities

27. May 2008 · 1 comment · Categories: Cross-Stitch, Kaleya

Could the weekend have been any better?

Happy Memorial Day to everyone out there. I am posting this just a tad bit late, but I had a great weekend and have to share. My weekend started with some house cleaning – I rearranged our bedroom and cleaned up the rest of the house as well. Managed to get the whole apartment except for the kitchen. Then, after resting, turned my attention towards doing some genealogy.

On Saturday afternoon, we took Kaleya to see her friend’s dance recital that was put on the by Nashville Dance Company. Can you imagine anything cuter than a group of 4-year old’s on stage? The costumes were so cute! Of course, there were older girls too, but the little ones steal the show.

Sunday afternoon was spent in the sun; we took Kaleya over to a friend’s place to enjoy the pool. Kaleya wore herself out accordingly and had so much fun in the pool. It’s been almost a year since she’s been in the water, so I’d love to start getting her more acquainted. Maybe next year we’ll do swimming lessons. From yesterday, I think she particularly enjoyed trying to get used to the lounge chairs. :-)

My Sunday evening, and all day Monday was consumed by my Cross Stitch Magazine Database. I’ve been wanting to revamp the site for some time, and while I still have plans to do some cool Web 2.0 stuff, I figure it is better to go in steps, so I made some changes and reduced the level of complexity of the back-end and redid the site. Right now it’s really a test of the application I’ve chosen, but I think it may work out. The URL for the site is http://www.xsmagdb.com. With my new streamline processes in place, it makes it much easier to accept contributions for others. Look out for a future post about that.

But alas, all good things must come to an end right? It’s back to work tomorrow. I love what I do, but when I get opportunities like I’ve had this weekend to really focus on the things that truly relax me, it can be hard to let go!

Cross Stitch Magazine Database Will Be Back

10. February 2008 · Write a comment · Categories: Cross-Stitch

If you’re looking for the Cross Stitch Magazine Database, don’t worry! It will be back! I think the emails I usually receive to let me know the domain is about to expire may have gone to spam, so I did not realize the site was down until a few minutes ago. So, I have renewed it and just await for it to come back online. Thanks for bearing with me!

However, this is a good time to give an update on the redesign. That is still coming along. The backend is finished and the user side is being worked on now. I can’t yet give a definite launch date, but please stay tuned…

Mirabilia/LL/TIAG Gallery Removed

02. February 2008 · 1 comment · Categories: Cross-Stitch, School

The Mirabilia/LL/TIAG Gallery is no more.

After about two years overdue, I have finally taken down the Mirabilia/LL/TIAG Stitchers’ Gallery. It was an online website I created about five years ago I think? that would let you see finished and works in progress of stitchers working on designs from Mirabilia and those of Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum. Since having Kaleya, the time I devoted to the site has been practically nil, and though I enlisted help, it just wasn’t working out. So, I’ve taken it down and will continue to redirect my efforts more towards revamping the cross-stitch magazine database site I have.

And, in personal news, I took and survived the GRE; and a couple of days ago, I had a round of interviews/meetings for the graduate program. Now, I have a computer science test on Wednesday to study for. Wow.. i feel like a student again already.

Lots of Movement

01. August 2007 · Write a comment · Categories: Cross-Stitch, Trips

Since my last post, we have come back from out of town and left and come back again :-)

The family reunion was wonderful! It was a lot of fun and I got to connect with more members of my stepmother’s family. It also spawned more work to do on her family tree! I’ve been blogging about that over on my Genealogy Blog.

Then, this past weekend, we went to take three of the boys back home. We have the youngest one still for the next 10 days or so. Then, Kalonji is being sent off to Florida to play soldier (he’s in the reserves) for 5 days. Then, after he gets back, we’ll celebrate his birthday (b/c he’ll be in the field during his birthday).

In stitching news – I continue to stitch! I don’t think I’ve done enough to warrant a new picture, but I am getting my time in.

Update on Indian Princess

14. July 2007 · 2 comments · Categories: Cross-Stitch

Finally… my cross-stitch picture! I was able to stitch on her quite a bit last weekend. I think I may be able to get in several more hours tomorrow. This is the only project I’ve stitched on in like a year, but it had been about six months I think since I last touched it.

Pondering

06. July 2007 · Write a comment · Categories: Cross-Stitch

To my stitching buddies…

I am stitching again! I stitched some last night and plan to do more this weekend. Will upload a picture later.

But, I also have an idea. Since Kaleya was born, I’ve mulled over what to do about the gallery site and xsmagdb.com. I’ve left them up as is for those that still use them, but they are no longer scalable for me. So, I’m drumming up an idea for a way to rework them but make them more manageable. Stay tuned. No promises yet, but I’m thinking of options…

YMCA

01. April 2007 · 1 comment · Categories: Cross-Stitch, General Ramblings

I just put away half of my winter clothes. I hope that I never have to wear them again. This is my declaration.

We joined the YMCA today and if I’m going to pay $90/month for a membership, I’d better get my act together and start exercising. Losing weight is of course a lifestyle change and since I’ve had Kaleya, I’ve never quite really regained my motivation to lose weight. I was doing so good right before I got pregnant! So, here I am – I’m going to try again. If I manage to be successful and stick to a good regimen over the next two months, then, I may start myself another weight loss blog. We’ll see :-)

In stitching news, I continue to work on Madonna of the Garden. I have about five more hours of stitching time today, so I THINK I may be able to do it. Keep your fingers crossed.

Madonna of the Garden Progress Update

31. March 2007 · 2 comments · Categories: Cross-Stitch

That nasty headache that I had kept me out of work on Monday, but it finally went away. A co-worker of mine asked me if perhaps it could be sinus problems, but I’ve never had sinus problems that I know of. However, I realized on Tuesday morning as I went to my car that the pollen count had gone way up (car was practically yellow), so perhaps that did have something to do with it. Who knows. In any case, I’ll stay attuned to the possibility.

Guess what? Today, I actually have stitching news! In 2004, I started Mirabilia’s Madonna of the Garden. This was my last WIP pic.


Since this picture, I have done a bit more. I stitched her face and the baby’s face as well. Notice the date on the WIP pic – 10/11/04. I went into the hospital to have Kaleya four days later. I started stitching this for the daughter-in-law (she had a baby boy) of a coworker of mine who has been absolutely GREAT to me. But, I never finished it. Three days ago, my coworker gave me an invite for the baby shower for the second baby and the shower is on Friday! So, I took this out of the attic today so that I can finish it. I really don’t have much to do – add some beads and finish the top arch and do some leaf stems. Look out for a finished picture hopefully tomorrow.

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