A New Start - Finally!

This week I finally got around to starting Hortus V.  Normally I leave the beading to the end - but as this is a small, I can still scroll my frame without damaging the sparklies!  It is stitched on Sky Blue Cashel - which is hard to tell from the photo!  I must admit that Belfast is my preference - these crosses look huge to me especially after spending the majority of this month stitching on a piece on 36ct!  However, the perfect size piece of linen was in my stash, so less money on fabby means more money for silks!  Here is Part 1, stitched using all the recommended threads and fibres:

Glad To Be Here!!

Just wanted to introduce myself to the group.....    My name is Claire and I've been stitching for more than 40 years.....    I discovered Martina's beautiful Chatelaine designs about 12 years ago and fell in love!!

I live in north Florida about midway between Tallahassee and Jacksonville.....    we moved here -- my husband, Chip and me -- in 2002 to get away from the cold and snow of upstate New York -- near Syracuse....

I'm looking forward to get to know you all and enjoy seeing your beautiful work.....    and to share my work with you.....

Most of my pictures are in Flicker....     here is a link to my Flicker albums.....   take a look if you get a chance......

Just finished 'Serengeti' last week and will be taking it to the framer tomorrow.....    I think this is the largest Chatelaine I've tackled.....    it took 5 months and 677 hours.....

 

Now I've picked up my 'White Nights in St. Petersburg' -- one of my many wips.....     haven't touched it since 2010.....    Pitiful!!    will keep you posted!!

 

Till the next time....    Have a great day!!

 





Noob

Hi.  I'm Rebecca from the UK.  I've been drooling over the beautiful stitching on the blog from afar for a looooooong time, and the Stitching Bandits challenge has arrived at exactly the right time to give me a kick up the bum with my own Chatelaine stitching, so thanks to Joysze for letting me join in the fun! 

I'm picking up Greek Mandala after about 18 months



I've still got a long way to go! 

I've got Tuscany Town all done bar the border. 



This would actually be a much quicker finish...  If only I wasn't so easily distracted! 

I have the Stitching Leporello all stitched but not yet made up. 

And - here's the best bit - my DH made the mistake this week of saying "I can't help it if my hobby (photography) is more expensive than yours...".  Is it just me or does that sound like a dare?  I'm looking to my future and can see full kits for White Nights, Persian Iris, Moss Garden.... all silks, hand dyed fabbys, no subbing.... this could be fun!

Looking forward to watching all your lovely stitches grow.

Secret Victorian Garden

While it was beautiful outside this weekend, the allergies pretty much kept me inside. Fortunately, Secret Victorian Garden came up in the rotation so I had spring colors inside:

Stitched on 32-count Carol's Meadow from Silkweaver Fabrics with fibers and beads as called for

 



Gardens of London and Roses of Paris

I thought I would share my progress on Gardens of London and Roses of Paris for the Challenge.  I have discovered that I love working with silk more than I could ever have imagined and that I really enjoy queen stitches too.  Both are gorgeous designs to work on.

Roses of Paris
Chatelaine Designs
stitched on 28ct jobelan with called for threads

Gardens of London
Chatelaine Designs
stitched on 28ct jobelan with called for threads

Close up of the queen stitches

Introduction and a first time start

Hello!

I'm Adrienne and am finally joining in on the Stitching Bandits Chatelaine Challenge. I've just started my very first Chatelaine - Evening in the Park. I love, love, love this design.

I've had this project kitted up for over a year now but life kept getting in the way and I just didn't get around to starting it. I've been having a serious stitching mojo problem lately, so a dear friend suggested stating my Chatelaine might just be what I need to get my mojo back in full swing.

So far, it seems to be working. :) Here's my start:

It took a while but I found the perfect fabric for it from Under the Sea Fabrics. I'm stitching on Ice Princess 32 ct opalescent lugana. There's a lot of metallics in this part (which I don't love stitching so much), but the silks have been lovely to work with. (FYI - I am a silk addict. I adore silks!)

For the first time I'm using a magnifier while I stitch, because the hand-dyed fabric has tiny holes and the opalescent nature of the fabric splits the threads and makes it doubly difficult to see the proper holes. The stitches look pretty big under the magnifier, but when I look at it without, I can't believe how tiny the stitches are!

This piece is going to take a very long time. Yay!

Viv in the UK - introduction

Hi, and thanks for adding me to the group - I think I was a member here some time ago, but I haven't been giving my Chatelaines the attention that they deserve. I have just picked up my Deep Blue Sea after a year off (shame face). I have also subscribed to Gardens of London (we are about fifteen miles from the centre of London, so I had to), and Seaside Mystery.  I have also changed to using an iPad and a new laptop with Windows 8, so posting to blogs etc is taking me an age!! Hopefully, here is my Deep Blue Sea as it is today :).  It should give a bigger image if you click on it. Love seeing everybody else's work too! I am Viv, mum to five children and many WIPs!

Just another introduction

Hi, my name is Elizabeth and I live in the pacific northwest of the US.  Long time stitcher but this is my first Chatelaine. Jan convinced me to take the plunge with her Persian Iris Mandala postings over here.

I chose the Chinese Garden because I really couldn't see stitching everything four times as much as I like the look of the finished project.  I figure this gives me some of the same feel of her true mandalas but there is some variation.  I started on Friday and this what I was able to get done over the weekend.  I did change the fabric to a slightly more creamy linen rather than the antique white which I thought was too stark.

Chinese Garden ~ 13 April 2014

Cattleya Orchid is popular!

Hi, I'm Rahenna and I'm finally posting as part of the challenge. :)  I have a few Chatelaine WIPs at the moment - oh wait, it's just two since I just finished one!

My finish is of the currently popular Cattleya Orchid. :)  My other WIPs are Spring Knotgarden and Sparkling Dragonfly Tile, and my only other Chat finish so far is Octopus Treasure Cave.

Here's my orchid!  This was a tough stitch for me because I was dealing with a lot of stress... my cat has been back and forth at the emergency vet for the last two months and his problems started right around the time I started stitching Orchid.  This poor thing has all my frustration, worry, and anger stitched into it.  Honestly, before I started beading, I seriously considered just tossing it because of all the trouble it had given me.

It turned out pretty nice in the end so I'm glad I didn't. :p

This is stitched on PTP Aerial Belfast with all the silk threads converted to stuff I had in my stash.  I mean, I used the recommended threads if I had them, of course, but I subbed a few. :)

There are some mistakes that I didn't correct but if you don't know... you don't see them. ;)

Next time I'll post pictures of my WIPs!  Just so happy (and relieved) to have this one finished!

Cattleya update

I've been working on Flower Panels - Cattleya this month again.  I have almost finished the dome on top.

I am going to slowly finish the blackwork over the next few days but I thought that I would share anyway.  I love how this is turning out!

Seaside Mystery as of 04.04.14

Pleased with my progress this week - not happy with the shells but I think they will probably be unpicked and redone before I finish.

Alhambra Garden Mandala

Moss garden update

I finished the bottom half of this beauty.