A big thank you to Chiloe for sharing this project with us. I ordered her from ABC Stitch Therapy and she was here in about a month.
I decided to do her in the colors listed with the chart and on an Aida 18. I am also working on a couple of pieces on linen (because truly, the effect is stunning on linen) but it's amazingly hard on my eyes (even with my light and magnifier). The Aida is MUCH easier and, consequently, much more fun for a relaxing evening. If I'm not pleased when she's finished then I'll do her again later.
(Right after Christmas I also ordered "La Balancoire", also a Nimue chart, and the baby is on the way! As soon as I get the chart, I'll order the fabric.)
I work on "Firefly Fairies" by Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum for as long as I can, then switch to the butterfly fairy. Every few years I go back to Northeastern Kansas to visit family and one of the treats is to see fireflies. As soon as I saw this design I knew I had to do it, but I wanted it to look truly like twilight, when the fireflies first start to shine. I ruined three pieces of fabric trying to dye my own, then ordered one online that wasn't quite right (turned out to be more teal than blue). Eventually I found this one at (again) ABC Stitch Therapy. It's a Sugar Maple fabric dyed expressly for this piece and I'm very happy with it.
But I sure will be thrilled when I finish that blue fairy. The dark blue on dark blue has been a real challenge. Yesterday I finished the areas that I'd had to frog after our last trip to Utah (where I managed to get off just enough to ruin the fall of her skirt in back.)
(I apologize for the poor quality scans. I'm getting used to my new scanner. I tried to scan these still in the q-snaps and now can see I need to made sure the fabric is directly on the screen. Next time!)
I'm thrilled with my new computer. Maybe I'll name her Tinkerbell because what she does is like magic? Nah. I'll give it some more thought. Merryweather, maybe? Actually, when I had my character done at Disney's California Adventure I turned out to be most like Maleficient, but I don't think I want an evil computer.
As I started to say, I'm thrilled with my new computer, but there have been some unfortunate realizations. I ended up having to buy myself a new printer and scanner because neither of my old pieces would work with the new technology and operating system. Now I'm realizing I'm going to have to buy a new copy of my genealogy software because my old software doesn't even make a Vista version. But, it seems that I'm pretty successful at moving over the stuff that I want so I'm happy about that.
We had some bad news the day after Christmas. We own a condo in a small ski resort in northern Utah (where we are trying to build a retirement home). It's at the base of Powder Mountain, where the locals enjoy "snorkel deep" snow. It has never rented well in the five years we've owned it, mostly because it's a "new" ski area. Last year, though, it was listed in three major magazines' (Sunset, Ski and Disney's Family Fun) "best kept ski secrets" articles. This year, so we've heard, the place is hopping. Our condo was reserved for eight days in January with the season picking up. And the snow has been amazing in the last couple of weeks (40" of new powder up at the Powder Mountain resort in the last week alone). We were very hopeful that we would - finally - make a little money on the place this season.
It was not to be. On the day after Christmas the manager of the management company called to tell us that the icemaker in the unit above ours had cracked and the water had poured out. Near as they could tell it had been running for over six hours, right down into our condo. Our upstairs flooded, then it started to drip through the floor and into the basement floor. So far we're looking at at least a month of repairs. They will have to remove and replace wallboard and ceilings (with all the recessed lights, sprinkler lines and smoke detectors) on both levels. This means new carpet, padding and paint as well. The cost of most of it (assuming there's no damage to the furniture) will be covered by the HOA and upstairs owner's homeowner's insurance. The manager said the only "personal item" that was damaged was the master bedspread (the water dripped through the ceiling and pooled on the spread, but did not leak through to the bed itself). We'll see. We have a major investment in top-quality wood furniture in there (this is a "luxury" resort and if you want to be in the rental pool you have to buy the furniture they say.) My parents had a broken water line a few years ago that flooded their downstairs and ruined all their wood, and they got on top of it a lot faster than these folks did.
We're not dwelling on it, though. There was nothing we could have done to prevent it, and there's nothing we can do about it now. We have good friends up there who can kind of keep an eye on things for us and try to shove it along.
Instead, I'm having a fun vacation here. In fact, I had been whining because I had wanted to leave on the 27th and spend the vacation in the condo. Guess it just wasn't meant to be!
But I sure will be thrilled when I finish that blue fairy. The dark blue on dark blue has been a real challenge. Yesterday I finished the areas that I'd had to frog after our last trip to Utah (where I managed to get off just enough to ruin the fall of her skirt in back.)
(I apologize for the poor quality scans. I'm getting used to my new scanner. I tried to scan these still in the q-snaps and now can see I need to made sure the fabric is directly on the screen. Next time!)
I'm thrilled with my new computer. Maybe I'll name her Tinkerbell because what she does is like magic? Nah. I'll give it some more thought. Merryweather, maybe? Actually, when I had my character done at Disney's California Adventure I turned out to be most like Maleficient, but I don't think I want an evil computer.
As I started to say, I'm thrilled with my new computer, but there have been some unfortunate realizations. I ended up having to buy myself a new printer and scanner because neither of my old pieces would work with the new technology and operating system. Now I'm realizing I'm going to have to buy a new copy of my genealogy software because my old software doesn't even make a Vista version. But, it seems that I'm pretty successful at moving over the stuff that I want so I'm happy about that.
We had some bad news the day after Christmas. We own a condo in a small ski resort in northern Utah (where we are trying to build a retirement home). It's at the base of Powder Mountain, where the locals enjoy "snorkel deep" snow. It has never rented well in the five years we've owned it, mostly because it's a "new" ski area. Last year, though, it was listed in three major magazines' (Sunset, Ski and Disney's Family Fun) "best kept ski secrets" articles. This year, so we've heard, the place is hopping. Our condo was reserved for eight days in January with the season picking up. And the snow has been amazing in the last couple of weeks (40" of new powder up at the Powder Mountain resort in the last week alone). We were very hopeful that we would - finally - make a little money on the place this season.
It was not to be. On the day after Christmas the manager of the management company called to tell us that the icemaker in the unit above ours had cracked and the water had poured out. Near as they could tell it had been running for over six hours, right down into our condo. Our upstairs flooded, then it started to drip through the floor and into the basement floor. So far we're looking at at least a month of repairs. They will have to remove and replace wallboard and ceilings (with all the recessed lights, sprinkler lines and smoke detectors) on both levels. This means new carpet, padding and paint as well. The cost of most of it (assuming there's no damage to the furniture) will be covered by the HOA and upstairs owner's homeowner's insurance. The manager said the only "personal item" that was damaged was the master bedspread (the water dripped through the ceiling and pooled on the spread, but did not leak through to the bed itself). We'll see. We have a major investment in top-quality wood furniture in there (this is a "luxury" resort and if you want to be in the rental pool you have to buy the furniture they say.) My parents had a broken water line a few years ago that flooded their downstairs and ruined all their wood, and they got on top of it a lot faster than these folks did.
We're not dwelling on it, though. There was nothing we could have done to prevent it, and there's nothing we can do about it now. We have good friends up there who can kind of keep an eye on things for us and try to shove it along.
Instead, I'm having a fun vacation here. In fact, I had been whining because I had wanted to leave on the 27th and spend the vacation in the condo. Guess it just wasn't meant to be!
3 comments:
I'm sorry to hear about the damage to your condo. Owning property that is far away is always difficult when things go wrong. This summer there was a major fire (hundreds of acres) near our house in Maui. Even with the net it was very difficult to find out exactly what was happening. Even though we had no damage, it was a near thing. We have had the usual small things break (the cable television box, an airconditioner, a toilet), but nothing that couldn't wait. I hope that your damage actually is minimal and that your get your condo back safe and sound.
Meanwhile your stitching is looking lovely. I wonder if you will be able to get the "pout" on the fairy that Chiloe could not.
Holey Moley! Your firefly fairies are absolutely stunning on that fabric. Wowsers!
Sorry to hear about the damage to the condo. I hope that they get it all fixed correctly and in good time. And I hope that the wood furniture didn't have damage. I would probably have heart failure if our furniture got water damage. We don't have much furniture, but what we do have is mostly teak. A couple of rockers are cypress too.
Have a happy and safe New Year!
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Happy new year to your family !!!
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