At the cost of eyes and hands...

Well my Celtic motif letter B is finally finished! It turned out so beautifully that I'm half-tempted to keep it for myself. I'd say "Perhaps I'll make the M for myself..." but that would be suicide.

This project, while rewarding, was possibly not the best choice for my first piece on even weave. My hands feel like they'll detach from my body if I pick up another needle (and I really need to start the sample piece for one of my pattern designs today) and my eyes seem to ache more every day. Little did I imagine as a young girl that someday I'd suffer from the same aches and pains as the garment workers of old. Next perhaps I'll get the consumption (le sigh, le swooon).

In any case, first I present a picture of this piece prior to the black outlining being added. I kept telling people how different it would look once it was outlined but I don't think they entirely believed me. Hence the before and after pictures. If you're halfway through a similar project, starting to doubt whether it will look at all decent, just remember these pictures. Those black stitches change everything.

I already have an appropriate frame for the piece here with me so it will actually be totally finished by this evening! Thank the honk. I will eventually do a similarly styled letter G, which I admit I am not looking forward to even a tiny bit.

So close!

I am so close to being finished with the Celtic motif B! I've done all the colorwork except for the big purple spiral which shouldn't take any time at all. Then some white outline and then the larger task of outlining every bloody inch of it in black, which will take quite some time.

Still, I'll be very happy when it's done and I get to show it off. It may not be as impressive as my Roman mosaic but oh well.

I finished making two patterns of mine completely ready to post on Etsy. Also got the Dalek piece framed and photographed so it's ready to be listed. I need to do a few more photographs of four of my small 5"x7" pieces but then I'll have four framed things to sell, plus the two patterns. I finished touching up the outlines for my other animal face patterns so once I stitch them I can get those typed up and ready to list. In other words, getting close to opening shop!

Working the productivity...

I've been sitting around watching QI, working on the Celtic letter cross-stitch, and dreading trying to color Frida's background. I'm starting to think it would be safer just to do a thick border of vines around her.

Come to think of it, I could do a border of vines and flowers and then paint only up to that point so there was less risk of color seeping into the figure area. That seems like it could work, right? Right?! Seriously, the thought of damaging Frida, who turned out perfectly, is driving me to distraction. I wanted to work on her at the beach and I think I can work on the vine border and have that done by the end of the week.

The Celtic E is looking very beautiful and almost seems worth the immense amount of work that's going into it. I'll be doing the next ones on even weave linen which would make for a much easier time. I'm also starting to get a good picture of the sampler I'd like to make for my sister and her growing family. I have a super pretty tree pattern that would look nice at the bottom and a ton of nice animal and plant motifs.

Sadly I will miss most of the blooms on my lemon tree as I'll be at the beach next week. On the plus side, I bought this thick letter stickers that include some punctuation including brackets. I basically only bought it so I could wear the bracket as a moustache and it looks so awesome. I would wear this all the time.

Fancy Script and Fireworks

So many projects so little time! This week I've apparently decided to overwork myself, despite the need to rest up since next week is beach week. My mom and I go to a time share in Atlantic Beach North Carolina. This will be our fourth year there. It's a lovely area and my favorite thing is going to Beaufort, NC, where the Beaufort Grocery Company restaurant is. They have divine food. There are also some islands with some fat "wild" ponies. Someone left their ponies there in the 30s or some relatively recent time like that and they became a sort of wandering herd. Quite, quite fat ponies.

In any case, it's one of my favorite times. The time share has a nice indoor pool and is right on the ocean. We take chairs out to the beach and have drinks in the evening, even if it's quite chilly. We bum around and look at the scenery and eat she-crab soup and have a generally relaxed, lovely time. The beach is best in late winter or early spring when there are no tourists.

I've started working on two fancy Celtic letter pieces. A 'B' for my nephew Benjamin and an E for my soon-to-be-born niece. Oh. Only her full name doesn't start with 'E'. My brain is so full of holes anymore. Sigh. Well, hopefully I can stick it into my Etsy store and sell it. Speaking of, I'm hoping to open the store within a few works. I'm working on making nice, detailed pattern files and getting frames and mats and all.

The other piece I'm working on has an electric border which will be filled with a single word quote from Futurama. It's random and silly but it struck me as quite humorous.

My first blossom on the lemon tree has popped open, finally! It smells very similar to honeysuckle, which is my favorite flower scent. My lemon tree is just sprouting growth every which way. What's interesting is that the blossoms are strictly on one side of the place (and all over that side). I'm still shocked there are so many blossoms and that they're so large.