I assume by now everyone has seen the latest Mirabilia, Roses of Provence.  I think this is the nicest Mira that has been released in quite a while.  I couldn't wait to start and spent my last bunch of days off doing nothing but stitching - bugger the ironing! LOL. It gave me a huge start on her, although I'm still stitching she's slowed down quite a bit now due to some long shifts at work finishing at 11pm etc. From Thursday I've got another four days off so I should be able to get cracking on her again. She's kind of hard to put down, and I find I'm thinking about stitching her even when I'm at work...if thinking about it was the same as stitching on it I'd be finished by now!

 

My current obsession with ROP aside, it hasn't stopped me kitting up more projects. I've bought a bunch of Crescent Colours, GAST, WDW etc for some of my vast pile of LHN charts. This is my current favourite - Inn At Fox River Mill - and is now ready to start once I finish ROP...

 

Better go - I've just spotted a spider as big as my hand on the ceiling and I foresee a can of Mortein in my immediate future...

Once again I've been a bad blogger...but I have been white hot on the stitching front, so fair warning - picture heavy post ahead!!

 

First up, I finished my September Sapphire Fairy. She was a joy from start to finish...

 

 

Then I decided to knuckle down and finish up an old WIP - Morning Glory. I started her a long time ago and she was my travel project, but she was a work in verrrry slow progress. Once I actually got stuck in she finished up quickly. She's on an old SMF piece - Violets In The Shade.

 

So then I had another new start - Lady Alexandra. She's on PTP Crystal Yule. This one dragged a bit if I'm honest, although I suspect that was at least partly down to the fabric. I find 32 count opal hard to see the holes, especially on darker colours. Oh, and I changed the hair colour because as charted just looked awful on this fabric.

 

Then I dragged out my old Cinders WIP. This one has been kicking around for a loooong time. I made a dent in it, as you can see from these before and after shots...

And then another old WIP saw light of day once more (must be something in the air!) Here's my before and after pics of Venetian Opulence. She's on SW Jamaica Sparkle...

 And then another new start. I actually pulled this out to be my new travel project, but I got carried away with the start and stitched more than intended. She is Janlynn's Cigar Box Art which I was given as a gift a couple of Christmases ago. The flower and hair are still minus the backstitch at the moment. I swapped out the aida in the kit for an old SW piece - Attic Treasures (I think this is a long-since discontinued colour).

This one will be new start in the New Year. I've joined a SAL on a Facebook group, so I'll be starting Gypsy Firefly. It's a HAED design (as you can tell from the watermark!) Isn't it purdy?

After my big finish on Enchanted Fairy, I needed a new start. So this is what I went with - September Sapphire Fairy by Mirabilia. She's a pretty quick stitch, although with heaps of evening shifts swallowing up my stitching time (I never seem to get much done during the day, stitching wise, I don't know why) and a really horrible cold knocking me sideways, I haven't got as much done on her as I might have. Still, she's coming along nicely...

She's stitched on (old) Silkweavers Starquest lugana.

Today is a very good day. Today is a Happy Dancing day, and this year those have been a bit thin on the ground. But my mojo is back, baby! I stayed up till after 3am trying to get the beading finished but alas, I had to stop and go to bed. It only took about an hour to finish them off this afternoon *cough cough*...morning, and here she is....huge, sparkly and bloody gorgeous. It feels sooo good to have a happy dance again!

Now to decide what to stitch next. I'm in the mood for a Mira, which is also a really good thing as I haven't really felt like stitching one in a long time. So I've been a bit naughty and splashed out on some I wanted but didn't have (although I just noticed I forgot to include August Peridot Fairy in the photo)...

Do I stitch the new August Peridot Fairy, September Sapphire Fairy, Lady Alexandra, Peony Garden, or...? Decisions, decisions...

I'm still plugging away on Enchanted Fairy, in between some very long shifts at work (I worked 11 hours on Friday until 11pm and then back at work Saturday morning for another 10 hour shift!). She's a big girl this one...although I read the dimensions before I started it didn't really register how big she is until I was well into stitching her. I'm going to leave the wand off...I decided that from the start because it will be a little too close to the fabric edge for my liking, and also I think it juts out at kind of an odd angle. The train on her skirt is absolutely enormous and seems to go on for ever. I'm using HDF Teacups and Roses instead of the Waterlilies, because it is such a pretty colour and I happened to have quite a bit of it. It's hard to tell in the photo, but it's very, very delicate pinks, creams and tans, and looks wonderful against the other colours in the design. I've more or less decided to go back to being a one-at-a-timer. I've been finding that, once I put a design down to work on something else, I rarely go back to it, and so I'm not getting a lot of finishes. And then I end up feeling overwhelmed by all my wips. I've worked on Enchanted and nothing else for the last few weeks and lo and behold, I'll be having a finish before too much longer. Now I'm pondering what to stitch next. Mirabilia Peony Garden is current favourite. I didn't think much of it when it was released, but then I saw someone's finish of it online, on a pretty fabric, and it changed my mind.

I've been pushing on with Enchanted Fairy, whenever I get the time anyway. In between work (which has been kind of stressful lately) and garden work (the previous owner of our house liked to plant things. But she didn't know when to stop. The back garden is huge and jungle like...seriously, this woman even planted in next door's garden and the reserve at the back! And of course now it's all overgrown. Cutting it all back is a huge, huge job.) Aaaanyway, in between these two leviathan time-sucks, I've been working on the fairy. This pic is a better representation of the fabric colour because it was taken in natural light instead of taking my pics at midnight like I usually end up doing!

Also! Stash in the mail! Which is always fun, but I haven't done it much lately. I was browsing through wips and happy dances online, and came across a bunch of Passione Ricamos. I've always quite liked them, and I've stitched a couple, but seeing these designs stitched up blew me away...they are sooo much nicer in real life than on the chart pics! So sparkly and pretty! So I caved and ordered some, and started Enchanted in the meantime because I already had the chart for her. I might get a couple more when I get paid.

Here's a bit more on Enchanted Fairy. I've been stitching on her pretty solidly - it's been a while since I've been this enthused about a piece so I'm making the most of it. Those wings are VERY sparkly, being about 90% Petite Treasure Braid!