Finishing a notorious legend.... Red Lady Pirate

Taking a clip from Wikipedia, the Red Lady Pirate (Veronica) circa 1500-1534 was one of the most cunning pirates of the sixteenth century who never revealed her identity. She commonly disguised herself as a singer or an entertainer to be brought on ships and once the crew ever advance on her or leave her by herself she would take her disguise off having a top, pants and her weapons underneath. She would then immediately kill all aboard the ship and sail to sea.

There is something about Nora Corbett's "The Red Lady Pirate" that captivated me from the start.  I just always loved her.  I bought a piece of Sunny Dyes Pacific Sunset fabric a full year ago knowing that it was the perfect fabric for her.  But I never really got her in line for my to do list.  I was given the choice to kit any pattern from Hawkins Hobbies, and I chose Red Lady - but I still didn't put her in my rotation.  After awhile I knew I wanted to stitch her - but I had to finish this, that and the other.  Finally with encouragement from Facebook friends I decided to start her.

I enjoyed every minute of stitching this project.  I can say that about very few. There was no "crappy spots" or screw ups.  She just flowed.

The Red Lady Pirate is a goddess of the sea.  She is dripping in jewels and beads. She is lavishly cool, cunning and beautiful.  I would say, my favorite stitch to date.  Her skin is stitched 2 threads over 1.  The water and mountains are variegated silk called Waterlilies. She is covered in treasures and beads. A pure masterpiece.

Many of my projects will take residence in my closet unframed. I was so inspired to get her framed that two days after my finish I went to Michaels and found an amazing frame.  I did frame this myself. At the same time I got frames for Bliss Fairy and Christmas Flourishes. I framed those too. Happy New Year to me!

 

I really should watermark these photos.  I have had pictures from this blogged stolen before - cute right? Someone goes on Facebook and uses my stitched piece as their profile picture and claims it as their own.  Little did they know that pattern had a pretty obvious screw up so I know it was mine.  I ousted her - for all the good that did.  But for now - I leave my photos as they are and hopefully they will inspire someone to someday stitch these Nora beauties too!

Back on the blogging train

Bad blogger, bad, bad... I haven't posted in over a month.

Truth be told I have been settling into my new life out West.  I have made a few little hikes out into the mountains and it is so beautiful here.

I have been stitching and I did get some things done.  Let's just say pictures after Christmas shall we?

I did finish a stunning round robin - but I wanted to save the picture of the finished product for the owner. I will show you what I stitched though. I got to stitch Garden Beauty:

The good news about this being the last round in the Round Robin means that mine is coming home soon! I am super excited to get it back! I have signed up for another Mirabilia Round Robin for 2013 and it is going to be 4 patterns of 5000 stitch blocks - the one from this year was 8 patterns in 2500 stitch blocks.  Here is the outline that I chose.

The fabric is called Spring Breeze and is by Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie. I had some help in the layout of the design from a dear friend - and amazing cross stitch artist Tracy J. She has a great blog: Elegant Jewels of the Needle. The bee is from Mirabilia's Tree of Hope. The patterns I have chosen for this RR is Villa Mirabilia, Lady Hera, Crystal Symphony and Athena. 

I finally have started what is probably one of my favorite Mirabilia's ever. The very first piece of hand dyed fabric I ever bought (which was actually only January 2012) was for this pattern...and I just never started it until now. That pattern is Red Lady Pirate.  I love her. I have named her Charlotte (not to be confused with the pattern named Charlotte).  She is vicious and beautiful and very strong.  I started her around mid-Nov took a break to finish other things and here she sits today on Pacific Sunset from Sunny Dyes fabric. 

As you can see I have a fair bit done.  I love the Waterlilies silk - the water and the mountains. So amazing to work with and the effect is WOW.  I am doing her skin two threads over 1 in a tent stitch - which I'm just going to refer to as 1 over 1 or petite point from now on.  This is stunning. I don't know that I will ever do skin 2 over 2 again.  

I found out today that I won a prize! I have to brag - blogging is so much fun. I got to choose one of Nancy Turner's Christmas designs from below.  Her blog and store is called Victorian Motto Shoppe.  I have just discovered her not too long ago through her blog and I love the primitive stuff. I am completely in love with her coffee and spice bag kits.  Out of these I chose the Jolly Reindeer. Thank you Nancy! 

Well I better get back to stitching now... Thank you for being patient with me in putting up new posts....I really must do so more often! xoxo

Hawkins Hobbies: 5 Star Service

As you may know I am a Canadian - born, bred and raised.  So it may seem odd that I keep endorsing companies that are based in the UK for cross stitch supplies and fabrics.  But the truth is we live in a global economy - the internet has opened the boarders and lets us choose the best of the best in the whole world.

Recently, I have had the privileged of getting to know and work with a fantastic UK company called - Hawkins Hobbies.  Zarina Hawkins, the owner approached me a while back via Facebook at the suggestion of Kate - the owner of Sparklies (another fantastic UK company).  Kate suggested that I may be a good help in choosing fabric for Mirabila patterns.  

Zarina shop is turnkey - total package - super easy.  You pick what you want to stitch - they send you EVERYTHING - even the needles.  But many stitchers are moving away from the suggested fabrics and choosing a variety of hand dyed options. Zarina wanted to offer her customers the option of choosing alternative fabrics featured by three UK fabric companies - Sparklies, Crafty Kitten and Polstitches.  All three of these companies are of the highest quality. It makes total sense for Zarina to help her customer's think outside the box from the suggested fabric. 

This is where I come in.  It has been suggested I have a good eye for fabric colour when it comes to matching it up with patterns.  I do have a bit of pride in this.  Firstly, never would it be possible without the help of the Design and Fabric Viewer.  This allows me to overlay patterns over different fabric colours.  I have been choosing 2 fabric colours from each of the three companies to give Zarina suggestions to put on her website.

As a reward, which was unexpected by me, Zarina did the kindest thing. She let me choose a pattern as a gift.  I chose Red Lady Pirate.  I have been wanting this one forever.  I adore her. I can’t wait to work on her. 

NOTHING, nothing was as exciting and thrilling as getting my package from Hawkins Hobbies in the mail (and trust me when I say this – I get a good portion of stash in the mail).  The pattern, fibers, specialty threads, beads, treasures, fabric and yes – needles. All there. You can open and stitch immediately. 

I love entrepreneurs – small business owners are the key to the global economy.  Support them whenever you can.  They are smart, they are customer service oriented – passionate... I want to give Hawkins Hobbies a shout out because it has been a pleasure to work with Zarina and again I am still so blown away by the level of service and awesomeness of getting a fully kitted pattern in this way!  I encourage you to take a look at her website and support her and other small businesses all over the world!