#lilli violette

[kezihimzes]

Big Finishes Weekend

As I did not have too much else to do I managed to finish two (!) of my WIPs this weekend. 

One of them is A Winter Border Sampler by modernfolkembroidery (on Etsy); this one started purely for an experiment: I wanted to try out a weird linen that I found somewhere. The horizontal/vertical weaving of this fabric is not even: your x-s are almost twice as tall (or wide, depending on which orientation you choose) as it is wide. So not every pattern is suitable for this kind of distortion. I thought the Winter Border might be OK as it is long and skinny anyway. And I liked it so much that this few stitch experiment evolved into a full fledged project very quickly. It took me a long time to finish as it had never been a priority, but in February I decided it was time to wrap it up and worked on it quite a lot.

The other one I finished is Jour d’hiver by Lilli Violette. This is the one I started in January because I just had enough of winter and wanted to have some fun, color and happiness in my stitching. I stitched it on 22 count hand dyed Aida in sun yellow (my dying) with partially Sajou, partially DMC, partially hand dyed threads. Turned out super cute (but not cutesy!), and I can’t wait for finding the right frame for it.

As for books, I did finish 19 books this year, which is not bad. I am reading 4 at the moment and other than the Harry Potter (3rd volume) I am enjoying them all. Have to admit, I am not a big HP fan, and this is the first time I read the novels (or rather: listen to them - they are audiobooks). A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab started out very slowly (not boringly at all, just much slower than I expected) but now it is becoming so exciting that I can hardly put it down. I got a book through NetGalley too that I need to finish in a reasonable time, and it is an OK read, but not fantastic (The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova). The fourth one, Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is breathtakingly good, but it has gotten so dense and straining for me that I needed to take a little break.

[kezihimzes]

Kind of a Boring Stitching Week

...but it was a great reading week!

So, I was chugging along with my two focus pieces last week; unfortunately I have taken photos of only one. I *think* (please! please! please!) that I will be able to finish A Winter Border Sampler by modernfolkembroidery in February, in spite of the fact that there is quite a lot missing still. And the same goes to Jour d’hiver by Lilli Violette: I am almost done with the alphabet sampler part in the centre, and then only the top branches will be left to stitch.

On the other hand, I am immensely enjoying my current readings. I finished 3 books this week, 2 audiobooks that I have been listening to for a while and one ebook. (I hardly read “real” books any more as for some reason books on my iPad don’t hurt my eyes as much as real, physical volumes. Don’t ask me why - I know, it should be just the opposite.)

I read/listened to all of them in Hungarian. 

[kezihimzes]

The Great FFF Project

Well, I am not sure I can write about a lot of stitching this time. I am in and out of the “too many WIPs” roller coaster game... In the past week I happened to be in, meaning I had to do something to at least try to diminish their number. So I installed the FFF action - Focus For Finishing, Act I. I even wrote a mini-list for each month, on which WIPs I would like to focus in that particular time period and finish them. In February they are Jour d’hiver by Lilli Violette (because I am enjoying it very much), and Winter Border Sampler by modernfolkembroidery (which I enjoy much, much less; in other words, I am dreading it and it needs a lot - a lot! - of self-coercion to convince myself to pick it up daily; but it has almost the most chance to be able to be finished in a reasonable time). 

I did not stitch too much in the weekend anyway, or better to say, I have some serious diversions.

One of them is a new embroidery piece. It is not a cross stitch, and I have been planning to dive into other kinds of embroidery for a long while, but with me, it is with teeny-tiny baby steps. By Friday I got to the point when I was ready to poke my embroidery needle into the fabric first time, and boy, I enjoyed it enormously. (No photos yet, but will be soon.) That took away quite a lot of spare time of mine. 

And there is my present reading craze. It comes and goes (as a lot of things with me), and because I am reading two extremely fantastic books that I just love, love, I did spend some valuable time on one of them (Captain Pantoja and the Special Service by Mario Vargas Llosa; the other one is The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie).

[kezihimzes]

Another Restless Week in Stitching

I am not sure what is going on; usually I do feel the urge to start one or two projects but now the urge is everyday and somewhat hysteric. Anyhow, the good news is, that I have been working on my older WIPs as well. 

This week was mostly dedicated to The Plymouth Sampler by The Sampler Company and I did some stitching on Castles in the Air by Long Dog Samplers as well. 

As for Castles..., this is its true color; it is not photographing well with my limited photography skills, so I used PS to bring out the original color of the floss; it is variegated greenish gray color. 

But last night I was absolutely crazy to start something... French-like. You know, those detailed. almost Rococo-like, cute (but not cutesy) patterns. Going through my relevant stash nothing called my name particularly, until... Until I got to an Italian (!) designer who actually creates more French-like designs than the French themselves. She is Lilli Violette and I absolutely love her work. Some day, when I have money for it, I will buy her whole month series (the wreath ones, the newer designs), but at this point I had to choose what I already have in my collection. As it is still snowy and cold and miserable, I decided on her Jour d’Hiver wreath sampler; it is bright it is cute, it has all the elements I was after for, and it suggested to stitch it on a yellow fabric, which I absolutely liked.

So here it is how far I got last night and a bit this morning:

I am using some of the wonderful Sajou cotton threads that I got from one of my stitcher friends. I was not sure about the very pale pink (that is called for originally), but now that I can see it in natural light I am completely happy about the result. I am also using a few of the flosses I dyed myself a while ago. It is stitched on 22 count Aida.