Siux a little bit more

Siux - May 11th

I haven't been doing much crafting this month and you can really tell by how much Siux has changed since the 11th of the month.

Work has taken quite a bit of my time so haven't been able to craft as much as I would have liked.  I am also working on a gift so cannot post about it until it is finished and the person has received it.  I hope to have the gift finished by early June and then I should be able to get back to cross-stitching a little bit more.

 On the second picture you can't see that her wings are actually now getting some sparkle added to them.  I wanted to give the wings a bit of a difference so have been adding blending filament to the wings.  It is going to take a bit of time to get the wings done but I think it will look really nice once they are completed.

Siux - May 27th

Besides work, I have also started another course and it looks like it is going to take quite a bit of my time through the middle of August.  I have been trying to figure out a schedule for getting all the assignments done as I have 7 assignments and 4 or 5 blog entries that must be posted for school.  No the blog entries I write here don't count for school.  The good news about the course is once I have finished it I will have my Fundraising Certificate.  The certificate has been a lot of work but I have really been enjoying doing it as it has given me a chance to look at a charity differently than normal.

Well it is now time for me to get to work so that I can get things done today and then maybe see if I can at least find a little bit of crafting time tonight.

Fireworks

Yesterday was Victoria here in Canada and a day for families to set off fireworks in the neighbourhoods. OK, there are places where you are not allowed due to by-laws to set off fireworks but a lot of parks and attractions do set off fireworks on the Monday evening.

After last night I know why some communities don't allow fireworks to be set off by anyone without a permit. I live in an area with lots of apartments with limited green space so firing off fireworks are difficult at the best of times. There is one park which is ideal because it doesn't have lots of trees in it because it is also a baseball field.

The setting off of fireworks started in my neighbourhood on Thursday afternoon. Yes, in the afternoon when you can't really see the actual fireworks you just get to hear the noise. This continued through the rest of the week and into the weekend. Yesterday, fireworks started just around noon and continued until after midnight.

Now, as I said I live in an area with lots of apartment buildings and limited green space. The fireworks at one point where being set off the 17^th floor of an apartment building from a balcony. The fireworks were actually being hand held to set them off and point them in various directions. An injury waiting to happen. Another group were firing off the fireworks off the sidewalk by laying the fireworks down and letting them go in whatever direction the fireworks went. This means into the grass, onto the road and into the sides of cars.

Fireworks are to be sold to anyone over the age of 18 but the kids that I saw setting off a lot of there fireworks sure didn't look 18 to me. I understand that older family can be buying them but if that is the care the older family member should also be supervising the setting off of the fireworks in the correct manner.

Fireworks are nice to see when they are set off in a safe way and for a limited length of time. The fireworks going off for five days and at various times of the day and night are not fun.

I understand why some communities doesn't allow fireworks. Maybe my area needs to consider this but the biggest challenge would be the enforcing of it.

Siux is appearing

Siux - April 21st

So what have I been up to lately? 

I have been busy with work which has meant I haven't been able to spend a lot of time working on my blog but I have been able to find bits of time to work on my cross-stitch design which is making me happy.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been able to find bits of time to sit and stitch on this project and make little bits of progress.  The progress on the wings was really slow as they needed quite a bit of editing while I was stitching.  The pattern when I designed it just had too many colours so have been working on removing and editing colour selection.  The other issue was I just couldn't get into working on more purple for a while.

 

Siux - May 11th

So this weekend I decided that it was time to sit down again and focus on making a bit of progress.  The first thing I needed to do was to put the final stitches on her wings and then I could get into other areas.  After completing the wings on Friday I just wanted to stitch to see how much I could get done this weekend.  So Friday and Saturday I worked on her and finally I am seeing some good results.

I didn't work on her at all yesterday as it was Mother's Day.  Hopefully this week I will be able to make some more progress on her as I want to get this piece finished soon.  The other big part of this project is going to be adding some glitter to her wings because I think they need a bit of something.  That might be what I work on part of this week so that I can see how it looks.

So besides working on this piece I have also been crocheting a little bit as well as working on a couple more cross-stitch designs.  Yes my designing is ahead of my stitching right now so need to focus on stitching for a little bit.

Today is another day and I am hoping that I can continue to see Siux come to life.  Time now to work a bit and then sit and stitch this evening.

Weekend Progress

Siux - Thursday event

This weekend I did spend some of it sitting and working on my cross-stitch Siux.  It felt very good just being able to focus on one project for a while without too many distractions and wanting to work on something else.  

With this being a three day weekend it meant that I could easily spend at least one day working on a project and that is what I did.  Friday was my day to sit and stitch and not worry about the emails or anything else that needed to be done.

Siux - Sunday evening

I am happy with the amount of stitching I was able to do because normally I would be doing other things and the stitching would be left for another day.  As you can see on the Sunday photo I am getting to the areas of the wing that I will need to make colour decisions on.  These decisions are going to be done on a nice sunny day when I can sit and look at the floss colours and make the decisions.

I am going to continue working on this project because I would like to get completed quickly so that I can show the artist the completed cross-stitch when I see him next.  Yes I know I am a little crazy but I have to admit having a deadline also helps me get something completed instead of putting it down and starting another project.

Besides working on this project on the weekend I went out and picked up the missing floss for some of the other projects that I have designed.  I am going to get all the floss for these projects ready so that once I finish this piece I can start the next one.  I have already chosen which project is next as it is another piece of artwork but by a different artist.

Time to now head off and get some work completed so that I can once again spend my evening stitching.

Stitching continues

Siux as Tinkerbell by Gerry Vail

Here is what I have been working on this week.  It is a pattern that I did from a sketch that Gerry Vail did for me.  The picture is one of his characters dressed up as Tinkerbell because he knows how much I love Tinkerbell.

This is the pattern that I did at the beginning of April but it won't be able to be published because of course this picture looks too much like Tinkerbell and she is a licensed character.  At least what I am doing is getting my own copy which means a lot.  It is showing me that I can take a picture with permission from an artist and do patterns from them.  The biggest thing is that the sketch or picture have to be originals because of license and copyright issues.

This picture was taken Thursday evening before I was able spend most of yesterday working on it.  I hope to post a picture of this piece at the end of the weekend to show much much more I have been able to get done on her.  It does take a bit longer when you are using your own pattern because you are the one that is making all the decisions on if a stitch should be a certain colour or something else.  As I make all of these decisions I have been modifying the pattern so that I will have a record of what the actual piece is.

Yes this is one of the patterns that I am currently working on besides Scarlett and Cirque des Cercles so do have a lot on the go.  I also have a couple more patterns ready to be stitched and one of them is from another artist and it is an original drawing so will see how that goes.

Now it is time for me to turn off the computer and do a few other things before I pick up my needle and do some more stitching tonight.  Siux is coming to life so I need to continue making her more than just a wing and part of a face.

Another cross-stitch start

Scarlett - John Clayton Elegance Cross-stitch

Scarlett - John Clayton Elegance Cross-stitch

So this week besides doing everything else that I know I should be doing I had another cross-stitch start.  This was is special because my DH bought the pattern for me as a birthday present.

This one is called Scarlett by John Clayton.  I saw this pattern earlier this year and immediately fell in lover with it.  I don't normally do people so it is going to be something a little different for me to do.

The first picture was taken Wednesday afternoon as that is what I was able to get done at the beginning of the week.  The second picture was just taken this morning and that is how much I have been able to get done during a rather busy week for me.

I know it doesn't look like much right now but I think if I am able to spend some time on it over the next week I should be able to see some changes.  The biggest thing was just getting a section done as a base so that now I can work on getting some other colours added and that will help as well. 

On Wednesday I received another cross-stitch pattern as a birthday gift that it was Red by Mirabilia.  This was given to me by another cross-stitcher and a good friend - Leftover Chocolate Stitches and I think I am going to be stitching on that pattern for a very long time because there is lots of detail in it but I have liked this pattern as well since before Christmas and just hadn't picked it up.

I guess I better walk away from the computer for a while and see if I can put a few more stitches in Scarlett.  I do have a lot of patterns that are currently calling out to me to stitch so I better get one completed before another one wants the attention.

Shawl progress

Belted wrap

This week I have been working on my belted wrap and am happy with the progress that I have made so far.  I didn't take another picture because it looks basically the same.

I was able to finish the belt very quickly so now it's just work on knitting the 66 inches of the wrap.  I am not sure how far I am right now but I do know I haven't reached the half way point so will see how things go this weekend.

I am also working on another project but I don't have a picture of it yet.  This project is a collaboration piece with an artist.  I am hoping that he will be happy when he sees what I have done.  I don't want to say too much about it until the two of us make some discussions. 

I hope this weekend to make a bit of progress on my wrap because I would like to be able to wear it before the weather gets too warm.  I figure if I can continue making the progress I have been doings I should have it done in a couple of weeks.  What I did figure out was I need 192 holes up the wrap before it's complete and right now I am at 46 holes.  Yes still a ways to go but I think I can make a bit of progress on it this weekend.

The joy of seeing something progress is making me very happy.  I haven't knit a lot lately other than the other shawl for myself so it is nice to see how quickly something can start to look like what you want it to look like.  The other good thing about this wrap is it uses up yarn at a good wrap.  I have already used two 100 gram balls of yarn on it and the tie so will see how much yarn I end up using on this wrap. 

Time to now go and do a bit of work and then see what crafting I do over the weekend.