WIPocalypse 2019 Kickoff post !

WIPocalypse 2019 Kickoff Post ! 

Hi ! I hope you had a very satisfying year 2018 not only in your Embroidery/cross stitch life but in every aspect of it. And I wish your year 2019 will be better <3

Long time no Wipocalypse ! My last post was in April, almost one year ago :) I did not post a lot because school kept me very busy. Now that things may calm down a little bit for the next weeks - courses are over and I am writing my thesis-  i may have more time to stitch and to post on the blog!

For those who are not familiar with the WIPocalypse concept, Melissa from Measi's Musings hosts a SAL where we are encourage to work on our embroidery WIP like it's the end of the world soon, and report our progress at the end of each month. We also have to answer some questions about ourselves, our work etc. You can read about it in the WIPocalypse 2019 Info Page

Topic of the month

January 6 – Introduce yourself, your projects, and any goals you have for the year!

I've been posting under the name of Merlynn for a while. I needed a name on instagram and it came like this (because friends of mine used to call me Merlyn like the mage when I was younger). Fun fact is I learned at 18 years old in my second year of college that the usual name i had was not my real legal name. It was not the first time i was aware of it, but my mom always told me it was a mistake on my birth certificate. But at 18 years old, governement issued all my cards passport, driving license, etc to my new name. I was confused, but my teachers and friends were more ! Imagine the friend/student you knew for some time has now a new name. Weird !

Someday I may post under my real name.. who knows ? I consider Merlynn is perfect for the moment xD

I am a 28 years old grad student in Population Studies in Montréal (Canada) and I live with my boyfriend from the past 8 years ( before you ask, we mostly marry after children in Canada, not before xD ). I know that he reeeaallly loves me because he bought me a secret stash that fits with our couch to plank all my embroidery things that where blooming everywhere in our apartment since the last 5 years.

(Very Non-Suspicious Furniture)

Tadaa !

(Yes, I post memes everywhere. Be aware)

I also work part time as a statistical assistant in a Governement Agency . I use my (almost non existent) spare time to do embroidery, mostly Cross Stitch and Japanese Embroidery. But as i wrote earlier, now that my courses, exams, etc are done, i should have more time to stitch (but we all know it's a lie).

I discovered embroidery when i was young, in 4th grade, a girl form my class was doing a Snow White embroidery in a homemade hoop, and i asked my mom if i could do the same. My mother, who didn't had any knowledge of embroidery at all - not like that girl who had been taught by her grandmother - bought me a very small cross stitch kit from a magazine. It was a porcelain cup, first of four kits of a China Set. I will always remember how much i was disappointed because i wanted a Snow White embroidery too xD I tried it anyway.... and i loved it! I did around 10 or 12 small projects from the kits i was receiving every month. (Maybe I should post about it !! )

Then, teenage hit me, and i left all the embroidery to concentrate my time on chatting on the phone about boys with my friends.
Fast forward ~ 10 years later, late 2013, my mom sent me a lot of stuff including my old cross stitch staff. And then here i am in 2019, still doing embroidery !! I really love it ... when I have the time !


About my projects... well I have a lot!

First, about cross stitch

# 1  Villa Mirabilia from Nora Corbett Mirabilia

My main goal in 2019 is to work on this.

My last picture from this project is the same as last time

Same picture as last time. The main problem with this piece is - there is always a problem !! - that I wanted to have 32ct linen to work on, but the lady at the small boutique i went only had 28ct in that colour. I got pressured into buying it to not displease the lady, but i realize years later that it wasn't a good idea. I hate to to work on 28, as i never liked 14ct Aida. I don't know if i will ever finish it, but try to do some work there and there on it. I put on some stitches this automn and during the Holidays, but don't have picture right now. Maybe in the next WIPocalypse !!

#2 Charlotte, from Nora Corbett Mirabilia

Oh my sweet baby Charlotte.

I still cry my lost of the pattern. It was my first Mirabilia i bought and I fell in love with the colours immediately.

If I ever find or buy another pattern, I will surely finish her.

#3 ????

Finally, I have a lot off UFO lying in my secret stash. If you read some older posts on my blog, you can see all of them. At first, I don't plan to stitch them but maybe I'll pick one to work on this year, we never know what can happen !!

_______

Second, about Japanese Embroidery

In 2017, i had my first class in Japanese Embroidery, and it was love at first sight (almost). I now have to pieces in progress that i will absolutely work on this year !

#1 Sensu, Phase 2-3 of JEC

In April, I will follow my second class of Japanese Embroidery, with a Teacher from Edmonton that will come to Montreal. I chose to work on Sensu for this piece

© JEC/Dima Santina

Before class, we have to do some homework : filling foundation in the 3 clouds. I worked on this in the last two weeks

Light is bad, sorry !!

This represents 5.25 hours of work, and I haven't filled the half of it !!! Japanese Embroidery is very time consuming !

Since I have to finish everything before April, and realizing the crazy amount of time i will have to put on this, this is my very main goal in the next months. I can't wait to see this piece finished !

My friend Dima is working on the other project from the same phase, Hiogi. You can follow her process here on her blog D1-D2 . She also does a lot of exquisite other types of embroidery !!


#2 Bouquet from the Heart of Japan, Phase 1 of JEC

© JEC/Andrée Domeyne

My first project of Japanese Embroidery ! I had to put it on the side to concentrate on my phase 2.
Here is what it looks like as today

© JEC/Merlynn

I don't know when I will work on it. Maybe when I will get tired of twisting threads !

********

So that's it for this long post about me and me embroidery projects for WIPocalypse 2019 ! Thanks for visiting, i hope you will enjoy my blog that i try to resurrect from time to time. I hope I can write more  about interesting thing hat I come across and related to embroidery, my challenges but also my small victories.

We will see ! Trying to post every month for WIPocalypse will be a small victory in itself !
You can also follow me on instagram with the @merlynn.stitch

Japanese Embroidery Class Phase 1 - Day 3

Day 3 of the class was one of the worst. After praises from the teacher about my beginner-skills-okay-for-the-nuido (I never made embroidery before !! ), I hit a wall that day. A massive one, and my inexperience gave me a lot of troubles.

First of all : Japanese knots.
I had troubles earlier in my life with french knots on cross stitch. Well, Japanese knots are also not the friendly type.

So while other stitcher were doing somme beautiful flowers with the french knots, all I did was...

Those. Horribles. Tentatives. Of. Straight. From. Hell. Things. 

On the top left, there three almost correct knots. The rest were... yuck. «Practice», yeah. Not a single knot was stitched on the piece that day ( nor 6 months later). My problem is about not pulling the good loop so it creates this kind of tail on the top f the knot. 

For info: I got a crash course of Japanese knot last month, they look better know but still haven't put any on the fabric.

Second struggle of the day : Bush clover. There are 34 of those little devilish things in the piece. We suppose the mad/genius creator of this piece made sure we would know how to stitch them properly at the end of the phase 1. Slow clap for him, they are very hard to do. In fact, they look like being easy. You start on one side, move and turn and shorten the stitches next to the top then turn and do longer and.... 

The teacher said it was not that bad.... but she made me redo the right part two times.

I was almost crying. 

( There is a small difference between the two pictures, I don't know if you will notice it)

On the afternoon, it was a litte bit more relax. We made a special thread, supertwisted thread that we had to put in water and made to dry before stitching. It is used for the stem of flowers. It looks super shiny and i love it texture. We couch it with little regular twisted thread of the same colour (green).

The little seeds ont the side if the green stems is where i should have put my (not on point) knots. 

Finally, we had to couche the outline of the paperbag, because on day 4 we would be working on it. 

So this is what the progress of that horrible day looked like : One leaf, 3 cm of stems and half outlining. And 30 ugly knots on the side.

Doing this blog post 6 months later, i remember the mixed feelings of that day. I was very naive about the Japanese embroidery.. like i knew it would be difficult be living those difficulties for real is not the same. After almost 3 years of waiting for this class, i never thought i would be that hard. Seeing the other stitchers doing there knots almost perfectly (because embroidering for years), I felt a little bit left behind. Moreover not able to distinguish angles and where the needle should land to have te perfect stitch, have to redo 2 times a single side of a leaf... Aouch. 

But the most important is... i'm not a quitter. It was not the first fail i had in my life, and certainly not the last. When life knocks you down, the only thing you can do is stand up. So I stood up, had a great night of sleep, ready for my fourth and last day.

Welcome back

Hi everyone ! Long time no see !!

Last post was almost 3 years ago. Lot of things happened !!  

Since I had to put lots of efforts on school i had to stop blogging, i was taking me a lot of time. I was also giving myself irrealisable deadlines for my stitching. While working, going to school, life, I was not able to put all the time i wanted in stitching and felt ashamed, since i value myself mainly on performance. Now, i let myself the right to not have time to do some embroidery, and i feel great about it. (Ok, I'm lying, i always want to stitch, even if i don't have time!) I'm now in Graduate Program in university, so i still have so much work to do and no time for what i want.

Not only master is a great news, i have another one, very important : 

I finally got my Japanese Embroidery lessons! 

The one i was waiting for so long. At first i has prepared myself to go to Atlanta on September 2016, but got a last minute impediment... I was so sad, but began to prepare another trip for the year after.

Luckily, a teacher of JE came in Montreal in October 2017. I had the chance to meet a group of japanese embroidery in my city. We now have a monthly meeting for a full day of stitching at the house of one of the ladies. I feel so blessed to have meet those ladies, and that wouldn't have happened if i went to my class in 2016. 

Have confidence in life, she knows what's best :) 

I plan to post pictures and progression of my Bouquet From the Heart of Japan, the Phase I of the Japanese Embroidery Center. Instagram is nice to post picture, but it's hard to tell a story about my struggles and achievements. 

If possible, i want to document my journey like the two blogs i've been following for so long : Susan Elliott from Plays with needles and Carol-Anne Conway from Threads Across the Web, even if it's been long time they didn't post anything. They were a great inspiration for me, and i think it's the best way to do a tribute for them by posting my own journey on a blog. I hope they'll make a comeback someday !

JEC ©

___

I did a lot of cross stitching, and posted it on Instagram since 2015. You can follow me on @marilym.stitch if you want. I have some pictures of progression on a lot of things. I will still post pictures of cross stitch if by some reason i do work on my WIP, but mainly most of my time is on JE now.

WIPocalypse January

Oupsi ! Sorry for the late post for the WIPocalypse ! School just began this week and I had a lot of things to do because i'm on the Conseil Executif ( Don't know how to translate :/ ) of my Program Association.

So here I am, my name is Marilyn. I live in Mont-Royal, neighborhood in Montreal, province of Quebec ( In Canada, but since i'm not feeling as much Canadian, Quebec is enough ^__^ ). I am 24 years old and I'm studying in Demography and Statistics (But it's easier for people to understand when I tell them Population Studies and Mathematics). I hope to receive my diplome in June 2016, and then continue to the Graduate Program in Demography or in Biostatistics ( But for the last one, I will need a killer GPA... that's why i'm working so hard and don't have a lot of time for cross stitch ) 
I live with my boyfriend since 2012, the one BF who loves me for everything I am, even when I return home after buying everything in sight at the cross stitch boutique. (Yeah the rolling eyes he makes is love demonstration :)  )

I started cross stitch last year, after more than 10 years of break. I found my old box full of threads and patterns.. with some UFO inside ! The BF will tell you he had not signed for this, but it's ok (I think) 

Exactly one year later, here I am with a blog and 1 000 000 000 000 new projects in mine ( But not as much in my bank account )

Here is a list of what I want to work on this year :
(The link send you on the page of the label associated to the project progression. If you only want the lastest picture,  I invite you to go to the WIP page ^_^(To be done soon.. I hope))

Completion Goal

• Elegance of the Orient
• Jazz Cafe 
• Kimono Pagoda view

Progression Goal

• The Mad Hatter

Starting Goal

• Charlotte
• Kimono Sunset
• (Insert New Project here ! )

On the side Goal

• Mini's from the World of Cross Stitch Magazine

And.... That's it ! I will surely modify this list trough the year, but this is a good start. 

I will put link for the missing pictures (i've made a lot of progress during Christmas vacation) on the next article. 

I wish you a lot of time to stitch, hope you will enjoy this year !

Have a nice WIPocalypse :D

3, 2, 1 .. Stitch !

Hello and welcome to my new blog !

Doing cross stitching when i was a teenager, i recently open my old embroidery box to find a UFO started and abandoned in 2005... 
Well, time to «retrousser ses manches» as we say in french ! (whehehe sorry, Im French Canadian  ) 

As there were a LOT of mistakes, i have been watching cross stitching videos to learn a second time how to cross stitch  and realize i was doing it all wrong at 14 y-o !!

After 3 months of angers and cries, i finished this little project. And then, i discovered that there were à lot of young people like me who where crazy fans of cross stitch, who posted pictures and videos of their projects. Why not me ?

As my first post here, I will put pictures of my WIP, and those that are finished !

(I take my picture with my phone that is NOT Iphone, sorry for the bad quality )

Soo here are my few projects !



WIP :

#1

This one is called Elegance of the Orient, from Dimensions. I fell in love with this beauty the first time i saw it on Deviantart. As my first project was finished, the one thing i've done after was to order this kit ! I've been working on it since April 25 (the day i received it hehe). It is the first time i work on Aida 18ct and it is harder than expected after ben working for 4 months on Aida 14.

This project, i'm trying to do it with the Perfect Back technique. I will post pictures another time, and tips if you want to do the same !



#2

(Is there someone who knows how to «turn» pictures on this blog? )
This one don't have any name, only a number. It is from Permin of Compenhagen. It is a kind of little kit, really simple to do. This is what my mother bought me when i was very young. I have a lot of them in my embroidery box ! 
I put only 2 hours of works to do it a this point. I wish to give it to my little sister who is waiting for a baby !


Finished :

#1

When they tell you : choose something you really like because at one point, ou will be thinking of throwing it in the fire.. hell yeah this is true ! 
This is called Hummingbirds & Fuchsia from Dimensions, made on Aida 14. It is this one that I found unfinished ( and I remembered why ! ) If it was not of my boyfriend cheering me up, and telling me me that UFOing is bad, i would have throw this one in the garbage. My aunt gave me this 10 years ago and I never really liked it ! But since it is finished, it's okay i feel better ^^

As you notice, there are French Knot in this piece ! They are not perfect, since it was the first time i attempted to do this. Thanks to youtube ^^

#2

This is another Permin of Copenhagen kit with no name, received from my mom when I was very young. Made on Aida 14, it took me only one week to finish ( knowing I was in the end of the semester and studying/exams all over the head).
This one i really love to do it. The colours where wonderful( I looooove pink ! ) and it will match perfectly with the baby room for my little sister ! 

And this is it for now, maybe I will find other treasuries to show you !


And before saying goodbye, a little bit about me !
My name is Marilyn and I am 24 years old. French is my first language and i have some difficulties with English, but i try very hard on this side. I'm living in Montreal, where i do an Undergraduate in Statistics and Population Studies, in University of Montreal ( Even tough i come from Saguenay, which is 6 hours in the north. Yeah, North of Canada \o/ )  I'm working part-time in a restaurant, and studying in the same time ( Yes, i have a summer session -___- ) 
I don't have a lot of time for cross stitching, i wish i had more. But eh ! I want good grades, and i want money... so stitching comes last ! I also love playing Playstation. For the moment i enjoy Oblivion (since my ex coloc «stole» my Skyrim game ). I do RPG too with a group of friend. If you don't know what is Dungeons and Dragons, it will be a pleasure to explain it to you ! 
And this is it !

Well hope you will enjoy my blog, as I enjoy reading about other people !

Have a nice week!

The Crazy Thread Lady 
(No, i don't have any cats, but i have thread. And I'm crazy too.）