Andromeda: Week 7

It's been a while since I've posted Andromeda on here, so I thought I'd share a picture of how she's doing:

It's certainly slow going, but that's ok. As always, I blame the linen and my poor eyesight. I'm very happy though because she's turning out so beautiful! I love the play of colors on the skin, it's very life-like, far more than in the picture. 

It's been very hot here and we've been trying to cool off as best we can, which means some beach time! The sea still isn't very warm, but just the sound and smell of it, and that Mediterranean blue is enough to cheer anyone up :)

Andromeda: Stitching Slow

Do you ever just like to stitch in silence? 

I do. I find it very therapeutic, after a long day of movement and noise and people, to hide myself away in a corner and spend time with my project, alone, in silence. The only sound is the thread as it slides up and down the fabric, slowly creating magic.

I also find that the slower I stitch, the more I enjoy the process. Again, I find it very therapeutic to pay attention as I slide the needle up the fabric and then down, making sure the stitches lie as evenly as possible. I find that my mind empties of any anxiety or worry, everything slows down and, as Allie put it in The Notebook, "the world goes kind of quiet."

It's in this way that I did my last portion of Andromeda, and here she is:

Sometimes when I watch too much FlossTube, I find myself comparing my pace with others'. And it's funny, because I always come to the conclusion that I'm "too slow", whatever that means, and that I "should" go faster. Which is nonsense, of course. So it's good to just slow down and enjoy the process, because otherwise, there really is no point, is there?

A Tribute to my Grandma

I want to tell you a story.

Ten years ago in October, my grandmother passed away, taking with her one of the brightest lights of my life. She was one of the people who has loved me most fiercely and unconditionally in this world, and I will always have a hole in my heart where she used to be. I inherited many things from her, from my main personality traits to my talent with textile crafts. You see, my grandmother was an expert seamstress and lace maker, and she made a living out of it since she was a very young girl. In fact, she fought her way into a seamstress apprenticeship in post Civil War Spain. But that's another story.

My grandma with her first sewing machine

From time to time my grandmother used to commission cross-stitched pieces, and fifteen years ago, when I was just a teenager, I walked into her home to lay my eyes upon my first Mirabilia: the Spring Queen.

I loved it on the spot! I had never seen such an intricate, beautiful cross stitched piece. It blew me away and I couldn't praise it enough. I don't have any recollection that my grandmother ever registered this information. I suppose she smiled in that gentle way of hers and started making plans in her mind, but I never knew.

When she died, she left behind a lot of treasures. That particular Mirabilia now hangs in my grandfather's house, and even though I love it, I don't know to whom it will eventually go. But every time I walk past it, I stare at it and remember my grandmother and all the things that connect me to her, and the happy memories are right there intertwined with the sadness of losing her.

Today my mother called me over, because she had unearthed three bed covers that my grandmother had made, which apparently had Mirabilia designs cross-stitched in the middle of her own lace work. Naturally, I was very excited to see them!

My grandmother had made three different bed covers: one for herself, one for my mother, and the last one that she never got to finish was for me. My mother clarified that the cross stitched design was finished, but that the lace wasn't. She put the folded-up bundle in my hands and let me unwind it myself, and I want to show you what it was:

When I saw this, I think I literally stopped breathing for a moment. I felt like my grandmother was right there in the room with me, like she'd reached out and touched my face with her hand. Like she was speaking to me.

She knew. She remembered. She had wanted to surprise me with a design that she knew I loved. She had even stitched my name on it! 

I was completely overwhelmed. There was a needle still threaded by her own hand somewhere along the top of the bed cover. There was a sample of the beautifully intricate lace that she had made to eventually put on the covers.

And there was more: a folded up note. 

Here, in her shaky hand, my grandmother has written the cover measurements (3.30 by 2.50 meters) and the date she started working on the fringe: the 12th of June, 2009. 

That's when I really teared up, because that was only one month before we found out she had aggressive pancreatic cancer. My grandma never finished this bed cover because she died only four months after starting it. 

I really don't know what to say here. I feel like I have been given an incredible gift that speaks across the years and the time passed. I feel like my grandma is right here with me, and I just feel so lucky to have been loved by her.

I don't know what I will do with this gift, exactly, but I want to do it justice. It is partly stained with age, and I have no skill with lace (and don't think I will pick it up any time soon), so I don't really see myself using this as a bed cover. I wouldn't dare actually, with two playful young cats around the place, I'd be terrified that they would ruin it. If I can bring myself to it, I will cut out the cross-stitched design and frame it somewhere that I can see it every single day, probably in my bedroom, and think of my grandma every time I look at it. Then I can use the evenweave for another project that also reminds me of her, and the lace as a wall hanging. I'm not sure yet. All I know is that I want to do it justice.

That's all for today. I feel like even if this gift was stored away for ten years, I received it at just the right time, when I would most love and appreciate it. 

To my grandma, all I have to say is: Gracias abuela. Te quiero. 

Thank you grandma. I love you.

Andromeda: Week 4

Andromeda's really coming along now! I seem to have fallen into pace with her and we are making excellent progress:

I didn't fix her hand because I just didn't have the heart to frog it and redo it again, so I made it up as I went along and I think it has come out quite well. You might not be able to see it in the picture very clearly, but the width of her palm is a lot narrower than in the pattern. I mean... so she's clasping her robe more tightly than she's supposed to. Big deal, right? That's what I'm telling myself :)

So after that hurdle, I just stitched away at her robe and here we are. I really do think that both Joan Elliott and Mirabilia/Nora Corbett are excellent designers, because they really know what they're doing. I feel like they understand cross stitch, and I totally get in "the zone" when stitching their patterns. It also helps to have documentaries and shows running in the background, of course! Andromeda's robe here will forever remind me of the Tudors and Jane Austen, two documentaries I was watching while I stitched.

I'll leave you some WIP pictures and my two constant companions and fur babies, Quijote and Sancho:

Until next time, thank you as always for your comments, they bring a smile to my face every time I see them :)

Andromeda

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who left a comment on my last entry: it was so encouraging, and I really appreciated it! So thank you.

I thought it was around time that I showed you how Andromeda is doing, so here she is:

What jumps out at me is that she has a face! I mean, how awesome is that? Woop!! I also love, love, love the gradient in her skin. The way that Nora Corbett has designed those subtle color gradients, the play of shadow and light, is absolutely exquisite. I'm mesmerized. 

The only thing that's putting a dampener on my enjoyment of this piece (apart from the linen!!) is that somehow, I've made a mistake on the hand. The count is all wrong, and I'm missing like two squares of space all around the area, all the way down that section... I'm sure I can mask it easily, but right now I just don't understand what the problem is so it's a bit frustrating.

Anyways, more updates to come, happy stitching everyone and thanks for checking in :)

Andromeda's lessons

I just thought I'd do a little update on where Andromeda is so far:

As you can see, I have chosen to stitch her skin 2 over 2, instead of 1 over 1 like some of those beautiful Mirabilia finishes going around the internet, because even though I absolutely admire and applaud the stitchers who can do that, I do not have the patience to do something that intricate.

In fact, Andromeda is teaching me quite a few things. She has taught me that I should be striving for enjoying the stitching process, not the result. She has taught me that even though I love the finished result on linen, I don't particularly enjoy stitching on linen. And she has taught me that even when I feel like my stitches are all twisted and awful (like on her skin! The thread just kept twisting!) it's better for my sanity and the project itself if I relax and keep going. Because at the end of the day, no one is ever going to look at the stitches as closely as I do, or even care.

I also broke down and started using a hoop again. Part of the "enjoy the process" lesson, I guess. Ironically enough, my hand felt very stiff stitching in hand, and switching to my favorite hoop really helped. So I really enjoyed that.

Andromeda: Weeks 1 & 2

It's been a slow (almost) two weeks for Andromeda, but between finishing Stacked Teacups, learning to stitch on linen, learning to bead on fabric, and getting comfortable stitching in hand, it's been a wild ride. Here is where she's at right now:

I'm absolutely in love with how she's turning out. I love the blend of colors in her hair and those curving tendrils in the wind, and just look at those beads!

Simply beautiful. I'll leave with you with some WIP pictures:

And here are my cats being cats... They're used to me stitching in bed and being able to nap on me at any time, so now that I've been sitting at my crafting station or the easy chair, they've been thinking up every way to stop me from stitching and focus on them instead, from sitting on the table to outright blocking my hands:

Happy stitching everyone!

Andromeda: Starting

Hey guys! The other night I decided to go ahead and start on Andromeda, and I am so excited! There's nothing quite that like new project feel, is there?

The first thing to do was organize all the materials, of course. I put all the "special" items in a tin box (Kreinik thread, beads, beading needles), and the regular DMC thread in a plastic ziplock bag:

And the next thing was (gulp!) figuring out the fabric! This took forever. First, I had to measure out the fabric and the pattern and then figure out where I wanted to start Andromeda.

Then I had to figure out just how in the world I was going to stitch in hand with such a huge lump of fabric. For context, this is a 19 x 27 inch piece of linen (32 Count Permin Linen Twilight Blue, if anyone's curious). As it turned out, it's not that hard, but it took me a while to get the hang of it. I basically just rolled the fabric below my starting point like with my previous project, held the fabric with my left hand and stitched with my right.

And then, oh then... I had to learn how to actually stitch on linen, didn't I? Because I've only ever stitched on Aida up until now. So that was fun! Actually I mean it. It was fun to to learn a new skill and feel like I've bumped myself up to the Linen Cross Stitching Ranks, whatever that is. A rite of passage, if you will. Because if you're going to stitch a Mirabilia, you might as well do it right, amiright?

And you guys... it wasn't that hard! I think I had built it up in my head and I was actually terrified going in, but nope! It's easy enough. I was very, very careful of course and went super slowly, but that's part of the fun of learning, isn't it? To just enjoy the process.

So I had tons of fun with that. And also... just look at the design! I'm so in love with these graceful curves! I think I've found my new cross stitch thing. 

Happy Mail!!

YOU GUYS!!! Look what just arrived in the mail!!!!

IT'S FREAKING ANDROMEDA BY MIRABILIA!!!!! Appropriate punctuation be damned I'm so excited!!!! This is a gift from my parents (I suspect Bad Flare Perk) and I could not love it more!!!

I mean look at it! It came packaged so neatly and all the materials are right there complete with actual pre-made bobbins so I don't have to cut my own with painful hands! And beads! And sparkly thread!! I don't even know where to start, I am so over beyond the moon here!!

In fact, it's so absolutely beautiful I haven't touched it yet. I've put it back neatly in the packaging it came with and am now going to finish the pattern I'm working on so I can get started on my first ever Mirabilia! With beads!! And sparkly thread!! I mean!! WOW.

(By the way yes, yes I absolutely want to throw my current WIP aside right now and tear right into this new project, but goodness me I've got principles and if I set aside the Stacked Teacups project now with the current level of frustration I feel towards it I will never pick it up again and it will drive me insane because it will be sitting in a drawer for years and before you ask, I'll know, that's who'll know).

Anyway I'm wasting time here people, it's off to stitch!