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Wednesday 27 January 2021

WOYWW 608 - and January comes to a close...

Good morning my fellow lovely WOYWWers!  Welcome back to the Mad Ramblings blog, and to another Wednesday's post.  For all the details head over to The Stamping Ground here where our lovely Julia will have all the deets....


So!  This week, progress on many fronts.

If you remember from a couple of weeks back, I mentioned Rudolph Day.  Well, that was two days ago and...ta-dah!  Two Christmas cards.


Second one is a more modern style...



Might not seem like much, but it's kind of a big deal here. Now to keep it going.

So, the desk itself is showing signs of a creativity aftermath - or craftermath as I've seen it referred to elsewhere.  LOL



Stitching wise, we have a lot of progress.  The spoon has gone home to the memorial maker.  Finished off the rose, added a few twisty vines and some freehand embroidery to look like handwriting at the bottom.


(If you're really interested, I have a Flosstube here where you can watch me being an idiot on YouTube)

Christmas Moose has moved on a little....



And we have started a Mill Hill charmed ornament, Dracula.   Hehehehehe.



The big movement is on the HAED (Heaven and Earth Designs) project, Siren's Lament.


I really disliked how untidy it looked, doing full cross stitches on such tiny fabric.  So, I swapped out to doing just tent stitch (half crosses) and am much happier with the result.  And as you can see, major progress.  I should get it completed in double time as well!

So the next couple of weeks will be about getting down to stitching and other creativity, see if I can't shift some of the lurking projects that are around.

Oh - and Morti Jr sent me a photo of her in her jumper, for me to share with you ladies...



Happy Hopping!

Wednesday 13 January 2021

WOYWW 606 - another Wednesday

Good morning my fellow lovely WOYWWers!  Welcome back to my blog and to another Wednesday's post.  For all the details head over to The Stamping Ground here where our lovely Julia will tell all....

So, first things first, a correction from last week.  As per Julia's comment, the movie canvas was indeed made up of the average colour from each scene, not each movie.  That was me being an idiot with a typo.  I've corrected the post now but thanks for pointing it out, Julia - much appreciated.

Therefore, without further ado, the movie was....


Drumroll please.....



BLADERUNNER


There weren't many guesses but Caro suggested Star Wars which was probably closest!

Yes, Mr Morti's favourite film is Bladerunner.  I'm not sure if he's amused or irked by the fact that it's the film most likely to send me to sleep watching it.  I've assured him that it's not because the film is boring, but Vangelis' music is so soothing... zzzzz

A fairly quick post from me this week as there's not actually much to share, same as last week - a little bit of movement on the stitching front and nothing else.

The desk is not looking any different - the cards have been split front from back, and the back recycled.  I've cut a couple of bits out, but am thinking about breaking out the die cutter and using proper shapes.


The HAED has had a further 100 stitches added.  I've worked out that if I managed 100 stitches every evening - and I mean EVERY evening - it will take me 5.5 years to complete.  Oh dear.  A 10-year project it is, then.  :(



The moose has also moved on with a further 200 stitches...



The numbers, by the way, are to do with Myth & Magic Stitch Wars, where we count our stitches and "buy" ingredients to make spells and attacks.

The most movement has been on the "wooden spoon".  I've started stitching bullion knots in the centre to make a rose but I'm not happy with the placement of the first two leaves, so may have to change it.



and that is that, for this week.  Back to normality, such as it is!


Keep well and happy hopping!

Wednesday 6 January 2021

WOYWW 605 - Twelfth Night

Good morning and welcome back to the blog, and another week of WOYWW.  All the details can be found on the glamorous Ms Dunnit's blog here.  Do go and check it out if you're new here, and join in if you can!

This week has been a quiet one.  The decorations came down on Sunday, and whilst the house looks bare, we seem to have much more room again!  LOL.


For Christmas I bought Mr Morti a canvas from Frome - these are made using a piece of software that plays the film and takes the average colour from each movie (correction, scene), and puts a line of colour on a canvas to make a picture.  Can you guess which film this is?



In return, Mr Morti bought me an all singing, all dancing record player.  He has some notion that he can connect it to our old cinema surround sound system, so has bought an amp and we'll see how that goes!

 


The saga of our dodgy builders continues.  We had discovered that our new guttering was leaking, and we needed to fix it ASAP so prevent a repeat of the problem in the bedroom, where years of water pouring down the wall had destroyed the plaster indoors.  So, outside, he climbed up the ladder and took a look at the offending join. He discovered that not only had they cut the guttering an inch too short, the seal at that joint was missing.  A quick trip to B&Q and £2 later, a new joining piece was purchased to enable the seal to be taken out and put into the section.  The picture below also shows how wonky they put up the downspout!



The desk has seen no action other than to have all the Christmas cards we received dumped on it.  The bog standard printed ones will be turned into gift tags for next year, the handmade ones put into a box to be stroked at a later date, or used for inspiration, and the personal family ones kept.  



I always keep the ones we've sent each other, out of sentimentality.  Also, with my memorial jewellery making I am all too aware of one day it being the last card we receive from certain people, and having an example of their handwriting may come in useful.  The necklaces I showcased on last week's blog are a case in point - the Nannie in question went from fit and relatively healthy on a Monday, to no longer with the family by the Friday of the same week, one of the earliest Coronavirus victims. Not only could the family not see her, nor visit, nor be with her when she passed, they were unable to obtain a fingerprint impression which meant I had to be sent her handwriting from greetings cards in order to make the pendants.  Having known the lady since I was 11, it hit home rather hard, and I must confess to them being some of the emotionally hardest pieces I've had to make.

Anyway, onto lighter news.

The 2020 SAL was finally finished! Here it is in all its glory...



The fabric for the 2021 SAL finally showed up yesterday, and it's rather stiff and unyielding so will need a wash and press before it goes on the frame.


The moose hasn't moved on at all, but with good reason.  I have at long last framed up the fabric for my giant Heaven & Earth Design (HAED from now on), Siren's Lament by Anne Stokes.  This piece is being worked on 25 count (the number of holes per inch) evenweave fabric, and the grey gridwork on it identifies it as what is called "easy count".  (Finger in picture for scale!)   


I'm working full crosses in two strands over one thread (we'd say 2 x 1)  - so that will be 24 stitches per inch, or about 9 per cm.  I have made a start on the stitching for it, and at the moment I'm not overly happy with the way it's coming out as the stitching is looking a little bumpy and uneven.



However, I've taken some advice from my fellow Vampire clan members and they've said that I need to increase my tension and it will sort itself out.  So, I'm sticking with it.  It'll be interesting to see how long it takes me to do as this is two evening's work - although I hasten to add that I don't work on it for more than a couple of hours at a time, I'd go blind!  

I've also decided what I'm going to do with my Medicine Spoon Memorial piece, but I really need to get onto that!


That's it for the moment.  I'm also trying to figure out my YouTube channel.  We Geminis are mercurial butterflies who like to try all sorts of things, and have so many interests, and my channel kind of reflects that.  It's (going to be) a mixture of home renovation, hobbies, travel and being a Goth, which I know isn't a recipe for success (you should really do a consistent single thing) but it's me all over....

Speaking of YouTube channels, if you fancy a bit of escapism I can really recommend watching NickiPositano - her vlogs are about life as an expat living in Positano and are actually really rather good. A gentle, simple life with amazing scenery and some fabulous characters.  She's been vlogging for the last 10 years, but has really ramped up her vlogs and posting over the last year and is now looking incredibly professional.  I can see big things in this lady's future - she'd make an excellent travel TV presenter.


So on with the hop!  I'm terrible at getting round to everyone but I will endeavour to make more of an effort in the future.... so much to do, so little time.


Happy hopping!


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