Wow. I can't believe it's been a month since I've posted anything in this. Things have been busy as usual.
One person who has also been busy is my friend Diane. She has been busy enabling. Enabling me to stitch. As I've told her, I don't know whether to kiss her or slap her! She understands though. I was really in my own little world of doing some knitting (which she again, had a hand in as far as getting me started back with that) and I was working on small projects. My life lately hasn't really let me stitch all that much. Well, we had lunch one day and she brought a design she was working on and also one that she had done previously. Both were Chatelaine Designs - Hawaiian Mandala and St. Petersburg. She knew that I collect these patterns and also some of the supplies for these. By the end of the lunch, I was ruthlessly enabled (yeah, Di, I'll blame it all on you - LOL) and I started one of these monsters - Provence Mandala. I don't really have a picture of the finished work because these are on-line charts that come out each month for a year. Probably the best place to see these beautiful designs would be to look at the Chatelaine Board on Yuku. There are mock-ups of the design. A true picture won't be available until the model stitcher or someone else actually stitches the design. That is one thing that is so incredible about these designs - Martina Weber (the designer) will design the chart and release it, but she has absolutely no idea how it will look until someone stitches it. It's truly amazing because these designs are showstoppers when finished. The link to the board is below:
These designs are incredible. These are also massive, but when you have finished one of these, you know that you have accomplished something. Her designs are filled with overdyed threads, silks, Delica beads, and crystals of all kinds. They also take a lot of time, but are definitely worth it.
So, Di - I think I'll reserve the slap and give you the hug. And I owe you a drink. What are friends for but to enable each other relentlessly! I love working on this.
