WIPocalypse February 2019

Good morning:)
Welcome to the (always late) WIPocalypse post of January February 2019!
To participate, here is the Info Page :)

Since i missed the January deadline, i'm gonna put the two month together !

This was 2 very big months for me. I attended a University conference in Miami in the beginning of January (One week of vacation in the sun !! ), and was chosen to be lecturer (assistant professor) for an undergrad class in quantitative analysis. Lots of hours of preparation every week, but i am delighted to have this teaching opportunity, since it was my favorite class when i was an undergrad student. Also, i have to take more hours on my part time job to accommodate a colleague, while being in a lot of committees at University !! I feel very tired but i would be bored if i wasn't that much implicated in my community.

Even if I didn’t have a lot of time to stitch, I managed to find some ! I am very happy to report progress on my wips!! Canadian weather helped a lot, with the coldest winter storm in January in Montreal since 1920. We were freezing like crazy !! Also, we received another 40cm of snow in mid-february. Nothing better than stay home and stitch all day long! The sad part of this stormy winter is that my Japanese Embroidery group meeting for February was canceled. Good news : we will have 2 meetings in March ( and i hope no snow storm this time !)

Two big news this months :
1. A friend gifted me the long lost Charlotte pattern. I almost cried I was so happy ! I think it was lost in my last moving because i never found it in my new apartment. I will be able to continue my favorite Mirabilia !! But now that i have a new pattern, i predict that i will find the old one in two months. Just because (you know.. ) I did some work on this piece but forgot to take pictures.

2. I ordered a OTTlamp and just got its this morning ! (Thanks to Dima and her sister for bringing it to me !) I have very bad lighting in my apartment, and the only lamp i can work with is yellow and not bright enough. Since sun is setting very early in winter and that i never come back home before 6 pm on weekdays, i mostly work in this environment. I hope it will improve my pictures too !



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Japanese Embroidery

#1 Phase 2-3 Sensu 

My Sensu Project got some hours on it , i am glad the blue shippo cloud foundation is done, and the red cloud is coming well . I did a little bit (almost half) of the purple sayagata cloud too.

At this point, I have done around 22 hours of work.

Normally, the right part is not brownish but more mauve lilas . I try to remove some of the yellow taint from the light with instagram picture tools, but i can't do anything for absence of light xD Now that i received my OTTlamp, everything should go better :)

Unfortunately, no time for the bouquet this month! All my time on JE is devoted to finish my preparation for the April class. I am behind in my progress on this blog, i will maybe post new pictures while i am working on Sensu. If i have time.

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Cross stitch

#1 Villa Mirabilia

I did a lot of work on this project (If we compare to the amont of crosstitching i did in the last year) ! My frame is small and easy to carry so i bring it when i leave home for a few days. Now that airports have less severe rules these days, i can bring everything it in my cabin luggage. Some years ago, airport security threw away my scissors... hemmmm do i look like i will attack the pilots with my smol embroidery scissors in a bag full of cross stitch threads ? I was so frustrated!

So here are pictures before and after :

I don't know if i will continue this piece. Lastly it was a distraction from the fact that i lost my Charlotte pattern. I dont really like working on 28 counts : coverage is not the same as 32 and i won't use 3 strands for a big piece like that.
Only time will tell!

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Question of the month

Each month, we have to answer a question.

For January :

What SAL’s are you participating in this year?

This year, i participate in two SAL : WIPocalypse and Stitch from Stash (if this is a SAL xD ) . Having to do a regular SAL is giving me a lot of anxiety because i already have a lot of deadlines in my professional life. Having to set deadlines in my personnal/hobbies life would be killing me, because i see cross stitch and embroidery as a pleasure and distraction from my stressful daily life as graduate student and part time worker in a government agency. There are times in the year when i don't get much sleep  (grant submissions, exams, etc), and embroidery helps me a lot in those hard times. It feels like meditation, a moment for me alone where i can put all my problems aside and concentrate one something i love and which i have no obligations.

This is why those 2 SAL are perfect for me. The WIPocalypse wants us to post when we have time, and skip one month or two.. or a complete year if needed ! There is no pressure from the community and i love it.
Stitch from Stash is a community who encourage people to finish their already started WIP instead of buying and accumulating new projects, and putting the old ones in the UFO basket. When you are done with a project, you can reward yourself with buying new stuff. I really love this idea that we already have enough projects for a whole lifetime and we don't need to buy more to be happy !! I try to apply this with my own cross stitch, and also with Japanese Embroidery. Even if I would love to buy all the projects, i have to be reasonable and stick with what i have. With my two projects on the go, i have for 2-3 years worth of stitching.

For Feburary :

What do you listen to while stitching?

The answer is : it depends what i am doing !! When i'm working on cross stitch, i love to listen to Netflix or an Anime Manga. Doing small x's doesn't require a lot of concentration so it's a good time to catch up on tv shows. 

When i am doing Japanese Embroidery, i have to concentrate very hard on my work. No TV at the same time ! But i enjoy listening to music. I heard or read somewhere that we should not listen to music while doing embroidery, only hear the sounds of nature. But living in downtown of a big city, my apartment is noisy all day, and it's small ! I'm living with another person and i can't impose total silence while i am doing embroidery xD So music in my ears, and i am good for hours of stitching ! 

So, this is it for February, i enjoy in advance to read about your own progress this month !!

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 !!

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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 !

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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

WIPocalypse - April 2018

Hi everyone.

(Late) WIPocalypse time, hosted by Measi's Musings

This month's WIPocalypse is more GradSchool-ocalypse. End of April is not the end of the world for the common student but the end of the semester (I'm lying, it feels like the end of the world).

Between all my projects I had to submit, my exams, papers, grading exams (Teaching assistant job) and everything related to my Master but not the courses, I found some times there and there to stitch procrastinate. Productive procrastination. Mostly Japanese Embroidery.

So my project from last WIPocalypse was there

And now it looks like this

-Paperbag foundation is done, i will add some decoration on top after my group meeting in May.

-Blue iris is done.

-Chrysanthemum is almost done. It needs knots and layers in the middle. I hate knots so much, so it will wait until the end, when i will have no choice but to do them.

-Worked on Yellow Valerian for my monthly groupe meeting. I also had a blue flat silk thread that I didn't want to throw away, i stitch it on the chrysanthemum I'll be doing later ( I need to do the left one before, because it's on foreground)

My goal for May will be finish the yellow, and maybe pinks if I have time.

But maybe it won't happen :  I have a new full time session with courses and more Teaching Assistant and Research Assistant contract beginning in May. I just received a very big scholarship for my grades, so all this hard work of stiching studying pays off :) ... so i will find time to stitch probably. Surely. I always find time. Even if i should be writing.

So far I have put more than 25 hours in this. Including the removing. I began to track my time in February, so it excludes Class time and everything before February ( But I really had no time to stitch before that, so maybe a 5 or 6 hours max ? It won't make a big difference in the end I suppose). It's really time consuming but also very rewarding. I feel like I do not only put a needle in a fabric endlessly without reason, I am learning more each time the thread plunge into the fabric. 

And I am also very slow stitcher, contemplating my piece everytime I have to take the decision where i should put my stitch. I hate doing mistakes. I really hope i will finish this piece before next year.

For the question of the month :

April 29 – Talk to us about your longest-running WIP or UFO

Eeeeeeee. Well. My longest WIP/UFO/WIP (working on and off) is Elegance of the Orient, from Dimensions Gold.

It was my first very big project, I laid my first stitches on it in May 2014 (Almost 4 years !!).  Why did it became a UFO ? I think it's because of Aida 18 ct fabric. When i first stitched on linen 32 ct, I knew i would never come back to Aida. This why lady was sometimes put on the side while i was working on other projects. Also, after summer 2016, i didn't stitch for more than 1 year due to illness. I gradually came back to embroidery last automn.

Last picture i was there

Maybe I should seek to finish it this year, or 2019. I don't know. I do not feel the urge to work on it. I don't like to set unrealistic goals I deeply know I wont respect. I prefer listening to my innerself about it what I really want to accomplish, and this piece is not on my main to-do list. I have other priorities for the moment. (sorry !) So... maybe someday. 

This girl i've been following for long time had just finished it recently. It looks wonderful, you should have a look at it.

Elegance of the Orient - Pull the Other Thread

I hope you had a better month of stitching than me, and that I get more time in May. 

Happy stitching :)

WIPocalypse - March 2018

Hi everyone,

here is my monthly progress as March 25 31 WIPocalypse (almost on time !) . I've been talking a lot about Japanese Embroidery, but i still work sometime on my cross stitch. I've done a lot since my last monthly report, had some new starts on the way ( but no finishes ^_^ )

WIPocalypse rules are here on Measi Blog

So here is the question of the month : 

March 25 – What newer designers and product creators (fabric or floss dyeing, etc) out there have you discovered and recommend?
This year, I discover more of Japanese embroidery. I love de Japanese Embroidery Center designs, and also Midori Matsushima's ones. I love the silk thread, you can do so much with it, it's a pleasure to stitch because of its delicacy and beauty. 

Here are my progress !!  

Warning : VERY LONG POST. TOO MUCH PICTURES. (Joke, never enough pictures)

Japanese Embroidery

#1 Bouquet from the Heart of Japan

I won't lie, March was kinda hard for me. I've made a lot of work in February, but had to remove A LOT (like 6 or 7 hours of work, maybe more) because some things were not quite right.

So it all began here. 

Now it looks like this.  
Well... almost. I was too lazy to take another picture with paperbag done ;)

(It looks so empty without pinks !!! )

#2 Colours of Spring

This piece is a small kit from Midori Matsuchima. I did a little but of work on it, but it was before i has my Japanese Embroidery Class... si it's VERY FAR from perfect. Since i'am working mostly on my bouquet, i don't know when I will comme back on it. Maybe i will remove everything now that i had a complete formation. So here is what i looked like on the last time.

It's a little bit sad. I should really remove everything.

Cross stitch

Most of my time is on Japanese embroidery.... but i still do cross stitch ! Usually when i am too tired to do anything but repetitive movement and counting while watching movie. There is something very relaxing about cross stitching, almost contemplating.

In those 3 years (Ishhh.. ) of not blogging, i did a lot of work. I will try to recall every WIP and new beginnings i made ( And no finishes at all lol). I will try to have NO OTHER BEGINNINGS this year ... easier said than done. 

It all came to this : 

ok so let's go back to my UFO's... WIP's to see what was improved.


#1 Elegance of the Orient

Yesss ! A lot of work done ! 

 

Tadaa ! Lighting is not that good, maybe i will take another one someday.

#2 Jazz café

... and yess ! Improved ! 

Still a lot to do, but coming good !

#3 Mad Hatter

Well.. no. nothing.

Sorry

#4 Pagoda View

  Yes ! A little bit. Not easy to spot on this pictures. I will have another one someday.

 

 Bad lighting and bad phone kills art.

#5 Mini Hogg

Yay ! Moredone. But still unfinished. 

New Starts

This is where it hurts. When you should work on your things and you literally procrastinate cross stitch by cross stitching something else !!!

#1 Charlotte

From Mirabilia, my favorite. But I lost the pattern on my last moving :(

#2 Villa Mirabilia

This lady is so gigantic !!! I did almost nothing 

#3 Mini Birthday mouse.

Okay, I lied earlier when saying i finished nothing. I began AND finished this little cutie.

Ready to put in a card !!

#4 Kimono Sunset 

Annnnd thats it. For my defense, two of them were on a Eventually-To-Do-List. And i finished another one. 

So i think that's it... 

I feel so guilty for having all those WIP. Not blogging made me lose track of what i was working on, and how much of them i had !!!

As we say in french : Admitted offence is half forgiven.

Ok, this was long post. It's the punishment for not blogging for so long. Thanks for having made through it !!