First TUSAL of 2012 and some new starts

Although it's only been a month since my last TUSAL post it feels like it's been much longer. We've had a busy start to our new year here but despite that, a few bad weather days have allowed me to make some considerable progress on my new year starts. I thought I that I would have had much more in the way of orts in my jar, but being the floss miser that I am there's not much to show for what I've accomplished so far. The fact that I'm working with silks on one of my big projects makes me even more of a miser. I don't want to waste any of that lovely silk floss. So here's my little jar of orts to start things off with lots of browns in there from my turkey friend Gobble.

Now that Gobble is finished, I've pulled out two new starts. I really wanted to get started on Plum Street Samplers Olga but I was still waiting on some of the floss to arrive so instead I pulled out the bonus chart that came with Blackbird Designs Winter. It's titled Eveline Cunningham and was personalized for the designer's grandmother. The muted colours and the deer in this one were what drew me to it. I'm stitching it on a lovely, soft piece of Silkweaver jazlyn I pulled from my stash. I haven't settled on how I'll personalize mine yet. Naturally, right after I started it, the floss for Olga arrived. Daniel has expressed an interest in Olga and loves the look of the cat so it's quite possible that he will be gifted with this one at a later date.

I put my Paradis Perdu aside due to the colour issue I ran into earlier. I thought I could work around it for now but found I kept running into that pink colour. So what's a girl to do in the meantime? Start something else, of course!
I decided on Prairie Moon The Good Shepherd. This one calls for NPI silks but my silk budget is already maxed out on PP so I went with the DMC alternates.
I found the perfect piece of fabric for it in my stash. It's a linen by the Blended Needle who are no longer in business and the colour is Parchment. I've used some of this on a previous stitch and was so disappointed when I couldn't find any more of it. Then one day I was browsing on Ebay when I spotted an auction for the very same fabric and was lucky enough to get it. I only wish that it was 32ct rather than 28ct. If anyone out there has any of this they want to part with, I'd be more than happy to take it off of your hands!


Sorry, I was too lazy to take this one off of the Q snaps and press it.

I just started this last night and I'm enjoying to so much that I can't wait to put my needle to fabric again this morning. What is it about some stitches that soothe us more than others? In any case, this one is a winner in my books. It's a very cloudy day here today and even though I used a flash, these pictures still seem a little dull. 


We weren't around much on Friday and didn't have a chance to check our P.O. box. Last night on his return from work, my DH emptied it and there was my floss substitution for Paradis. It looks like this shade will work much better than the called for floss which I'm almost certain is a misprint. I sort of ran into the same issue on The Good Shepherd. One of the called for DMC  in the design is 719. There is no 719 out there, at least not that I could find. I know our Michaels doesn't carry the complete line of floss but I couldn't even find this one on DMC's listed colour chart. So instead I browsed online for an alternate conversion for the Needlepoint Silk listed and came up with 938 which is the correct colour but nowhere near the number 719. At least I have something that works!


I want to welcome all my new followers. I hadn't been paying much attention to my numbers lately and suddenly realized that I had passed 150 followers. I've been enjoying all the many comments filling my email and have added several blogs to my reader. I hope you stop by frequently. I love hearing from you!