Mandrake update

It's been too hot lately to stitch.  Now it's wet and miserable, what better way to lift the spirit than with needle and thread.

All the surface stitching is complete.  Now some backstitch and French knots should bring this little fella to life. 

Sunny day

Parasol up, glass of something chilled.

Stitching in the garden. 

Wit without measure...

...is man's greatest treasure. 

Stitched 1 over 1 on Lugana, Ravenclaw is one of the four houses of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

One of the original founders of the school was Rowena Ravenclaw.  The ghost of Ravenclaw is her daughter, Helena aka the Grey Lady. Professor Filius Flitwick is the head of Ravenclaw house.

Sorted into Ravenclaw is also my younger son and I stitched this for his 16th birthday, which is why I couldn't share my progress on it.  He's thrilled of course. I just need to frame it.

Mandrake update

Gnarly 

A little bit of magic

Between working full time, piano lessons, proofreading a historic novel and gardening, there's been less time to stitch lately.  One project has been completed but I cannot reveal it just yet so keep your eyes peeled in the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime, I've been working on this wee fella.

He's a mandrake from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

The young mandrakes are repotted during a Herbology class with Professor Sprout.  When pulled from their pots they emit a shrill scream, rendering Neville Longbottom unconscious due to "neglecting his earmuffs"

The screams from mature specimens can be fatal.

The Mandrake is a magical plant with powerful restorative properties that form an essential element of many antidotes, including the draft used after the petrification of Mrs Norris, Colin Creevey, Justin Finch-Fletchley and the ghost of Nearly Headless Nick, Penelope Clearwater and Hermione Granger (and 50 years earlier, Moaning Myrtle who died).

Not so Silent Thoughts!

If there's one thing I dislike it's admitting defeat...in anything.

Another thing I dislike is kits.  They either come with aida (eugh) or not enough threads.  Or worse, a pile of threads to sort out yourself (for those who know me and mine, while I am not actually colour-blind like my dad and both my sons, I do struggle with some shades).

Sadly Silent Thoughts has me beat.  Last month had me trawling the net looking for a particular metallic thread as there wasn't enough in the kit and I couldn't source it locally.  Eventually I found some and cracked on with the project.

Last night I ran out of another thread, a thread made by the company who created the kit.  Easy peasy, I can write and complain...right?

I refuse I spend any more time on it, especially since the company is no longer trading!  Sure I could unpick all the motifs using that colour and re-stitch but I really can't be arsed.

So unless someone, somewhere in the stitching universe has a good length of Pearsall's Cream White 087, it's going in the UFO drawer!

Silent Thoughts

Now I've returned to my stitching, I can update this hardanger design. 

It's not a terribly easy project as I've come across a couple of motifs that are not quite as they appear on the main chart, which has caused some frogs to visit.  However, I really like the muted shades and the design overall is interesting to stitch.

It'll certainly keep me busy for a while.