Mermaid Revealed

I can finally post my finish of Mediterranean Mermaid, as she will find her way to her new owner tomorrow!

 

This is a gift/commission for the ever talented Sara Lamp, who's creative choices in framing my pieces I trust more than my own.

 

I absolutely hated the hair, I mean loathed it with all that blue. So after days of stewing and not stitching, I pulled and frogged and added gold kreinik. Sometimes, a girl just needs kreinik. Now her hair is one of my favorite elements!

A note on conversions: I changed the Kreinik comprising her crown to 201C and the beads in her hair only to Mill Hill 02011.

 

I had to include this photo, the flash made me feel like I had snapped her in motion!

The Maiden

IHSW and Market!

The owners of my LNS, Stitchers Paradise, just returned from market! Preview day at the store is always exciting, so I wanted to share my finds! First is this great embroidery kit, which I will be substituting with butterflies from Chatelaine's Butterfly Mandala ( Joyce inspired this one).

Next are these cute pin keeps, I could not decided on a color so I bought both!

A few new patterns...
And finally progress on Mediterranean Mermaid!

Even though I forgot it was IHSW (Gasp!) I did manage to squeeze in some stitching. The future owner of MM wanted dirty blonde hair for her, which has been quite the challenge!!! I only had 2 symbols to work with, so I needed a dirty and a blonde (he he).

The Maiden.

Headless Mermaid!

I think I may be getting into the Halloween Spirit with my Headless Mediterranean Mermaid!

The Crone and I went to St. George yesterday for a much needed escape and had our best trip yet!

As always we stopped for lunch and cupcakes at Twentyfive Main Cake Parlor...

And visited quilt shops, where I found more Gastlies Fabric (my secret obsession)!

Sadly there is no cross stitch store, it closed last year. I keep trying to convince the crone that we should open one there! The Maiden.

IHSW in June

Another 3rd weekend well spent! I worked on Mediterranean Mermaid which will be a gift...

And Tall Seasons, which was in danger of becoming my first ever UFO (UnFinished Object). I meant to get further, but I need to stitch in such an awkward position my wrists could not take it (sniffle, sadly I have heard The Mother is having problems with her wrists too now!)

Hopefully I will post again soon, I have started a new Mystery Halloween piece... The Maiden

IHSW: latey latey little lady

Well, I had the best intentions for IHWS, but then a large oil panting fell on my wrist as I was trying to hang it and that put an end to my stitching. I have not stitched in weeks (boo!), but with the move and 2 jobs there was just no time or energy left for my poor mermie. I was able to get in one day of quality stitching and hope to return to her soon (that fin must be done, it hung me up the last time as well!).

Cannot wait to see all of your photo's hermitters! The Maiden

IHSW

I know what you are thinking... "Hasn't she done this mermaid before?" and the answer is" yes!" While my Mediterranean Mermaid is hanging in my bathroom this one is for my friend at The Framing Studio in Las Vegas. Out of all the Mermaids, she wanted this one and I was happy to oblige! I have forgotten how much krenick was in this and how the beads really do make a difference. I am very excited to see how it will turn out, especially since the fabric is so different from the pale green I choose.

Stats: began on Saturday March 17, 2012. 32 ct overdyed linen 2 strands DMC over 2. A very sucessful hermit! The Maiden

Mermaid Madness

Stitched on 32ct Belfast linen. Color is Vintage Antique Green. Total stitch time: 4 weeks

Mediterranean Mermaid is the second mermaid in my collection, but it will not be my last! This project was a really easy stitch and progressed rapidly. The beading took an entire week, and true to my nature was one of the changes I made to this piece. I omitted some of the beads, mainly the clear ones, to prevent the piece from looking too Gaudy. I was also disappointed in her hair color, a more mousy brown. So I stitched it in black silk instead, blending the richer brown with the black in areas around the blue.

The Maiden

Sidetracked

Stitching for hours on end for the Spring Queen and not seeing any real progress or light at the end of the tunnel can be daunting. Normally I would jump to another project, but which one? With my recent completion of 2 I was left with 11 projects all in their infancy. So on a Saturday morning 2 weeks ago I awoke with the sudden urge to stitch a mermaid. Maybe some Krenic would cheer me up, but which Mermaid should I choose? Currently there are 3 started and one waiting that the Crone gave me for Christmas. So driven by something I could not explain I chose the one that was the least completed, Mediterranean Mermaid. When I picked her up I had only the green tip of her tail completed and now as I hope to finish her hair today I eagerly rushed to the cross stitch store to buy the multitude of beads it will take to complete her. I never thought my desire to have a break form the Queen would result in finishing a project!

Note: Unknown to me the Crone had also picked this project up the same day. This is the only project we are both doing, and she wanted to surprise me by catching up and finishing the green portion of the tail. Eerily this project has sat untouched by us both since August.