At The Met and Letters from Mermaids:K

I am just going to go ahead and pretend it hasn't been three years since I made a blog entry.  I am sad that I let it go for this long without updating things.The truth is that I still get inquries about things I posted a long while ago. It is nice to see that people do still come upon my blog.  So thanks to anyone that is still out there reading.

So what have I been up to for the last three years? Life is a lot of the same goodness. I live in Moncton, New Brunswick on the East Coast of Canada.  My two kids and 2 step kids are growing like crazy. I have two kitties; Bella and Zoey.  I just celebrated five amazing years with John.  Life is beautiful.

I think I am going to share some of my older work and try to work my way up to current day.  I will try to remember as many details as possible.

Let's start with a piece I showed as a WIP (work in progress)....

Mirabilia's At The Met

At the Met, or Maddy as I call her is such a gorgeous and elegant piece.  I stitched her on 32 count murano on Hint of Autumn by Crafty Kitten. I called her Maddy because she had a touch of regality that reminded me of my Great Aunt Maddy. Aunt Maddy was always the aunt that bought us our fancy dresses for school concerts and such. To this day a fancy little dress is an "Aunt Maddy" dress.

I did make a few minor changes to this pattern.  I mostly added more beads.  Again, having access to Bead FX once or twice a year in Toronto has really changed my stitching game. Every project is an opportunity to add embellishments. I know I added a few to her head dress and extra crystals to the beads draped over her arms but the main change was that I did not stitch the tassels.  I used an interesting flat glass bead. Oddly, when I saw this bead I knew it was perfect for this project.

This design is just dripping in oppulence and I do really love her.  She is the first piece I have ever had someone offer to buy from me... for A LOT of money, but I honestly couldn't part with her and I know I wouldn't be able to restitch her. For me each piece is such a snap shot in time and trying to recreate just wouldn't work for me.  

Letters From Mermaids: K

Letters from Mermaids is a series designed by Nora Corbett of Mirabilia fame. I decided to stitch this design for my daughter Kailee.  The Mermaid series was released after the Letters from Nora fairy series (of which I stitched the C for Chelsea). When I stitch a piece for my daughters I allow them to choose the fabric. Wow - Kailee certainly chose a perfect piece! 

This is Glacial Ice on 32 count opal linen, by...you guessed it... Crafty Kitten.  This design fits nicely on a fat eighth or a 13x18" piece.  As per usual I changed a few things.  I added the sea horse and the pink Swavorski in the shell.  I changed the hair colour to match closer to my daughter's hair. I also chose to stitch the skin over one. I like this because it gives the piece a lot of demension.

These letter patterns are not only gorgeous - they are fun to stitch.  The make great gifts for anyone.