More Mucha Patterns + Tons of Tiny and D.E.S.I.G.N. for August

Hi crafters!

This month leads me to the most exciting news that Hannah-Alexander has allowed me to create a second set of patterns based on her Mucha fanart: Tinkerbell, Esmerelda, and Mulan. It is very likely that I will be able to do more patterns based on more princesses in the future, as long as all these go well (which I'm very confident that they will). These patterns will be of similar size and difficulty to the first set so that everything matches (wouldn't it just be glorious to have all of them stitched and hanging together on a wall of their own?!). You can buy the current set, and the future set, via my Etsy store. Currently I'm just awaiting the non-watermarked artwork from Hannah to start work. Until then, the full plate I presented to you last month has shrunk just a bit.

Tons of Tiny and D.E.S.I.G.N. for July

Good morning crafters,

I'm getting worse about updating the blog and I do apologize for it. There's a lot of events going on right now and my days just get surprisingly busy despite not much finished work to show for it! My current work pile is as follows, and then below there will be some pictures:
- Butterfly Xstitch with beads for Stitchingpirates's contest
- Apprenticeship work for seamstress training (once a week right now)
- Birds Xstitch (for future sale)
- Star Trek Bead Dress
- Princess Daisy Bead Dress
- Glasmond's Between Day and Night Xstitch (to be mailed to her finished)
- Xstitch Pattern Re-Make for Mattsma
- Xstitch Pattern for Miskumi
- Xstitch [surprise gift] MLP
- Real Person sized robe-dress
- Two Wedding Samplers Xstitch
- One Baby Sampler Xstitch
- Beaded Cake Kit from Katie Dean
- Barbie, Monster High, and Ever After High Bead Dress Prototypes
- Kitchen Xstitch (for future sale)
- HAED Storykeep Xstitch (my first HAED)
As you can see, my plate is full! Even though only two of these events have technical due dates I find myself shuffling between everything rather frequently and the end result is, well, less submissions for large projects. And on top of all of that I still have to thank 1,513 people from April for the big front-page boom that was Hannah Alexander's Mucha Princesses.

February - WIP on Mucha Girls

Hello my ever-so-patient artsy friends,

February has seemed like a slow month for me when I look at the Facebook posts but it's just because there's not a lot of progress to show that'll look very interesting. I felt the same way when I was first posting my beaded dress progress photos - I thought, "nobody is going to understand what's going on here, it's only interesting to me!" but look! You guys love seeing the progress and so I've continued posting them, now even I feel proud of my WIP shots.

Since working on patterns so in-depth is a new thing for me I'm feeling that again. I'm saying, "nobody is going to want to see all these funny symbols and lines of a WIP pattern" especially when it doesn't reflect what the final stitching is going to look like! And along the same thoughts I can't share it too entirely because these are patterns after all and are going to be sold.

New Year 2015

Good afternoon crafty types,

Plenty has happened between now and my previous post, and the delay was a wonderful long-term visit from friends and family alike. Friday (the 9th) was when our last guest left and so I've been able to find the time to get back on the computer to post for you all.

It's That Sparkly Time of Year

Hello celebrators,

As time grows closer to my favorite holiday the glitter around town is becoming more abundant. It pleases me greatly and inspires me to keep working.

First things first: I had a sale this month! It was another faux stained glass piece I did years ago and it'll be shipped out tomorrow. Hooray!

A Busy Week

Hello artsy types,

This week was spent mostly working on the final touches for mysterious mysteries, which means I can't post about them. This is also a post from my iPad so the formatting will be slightly weird until I can fix that. [Fixed 12/13/14]

Not Skipping A Beat

Hello delightful,

This week was a great sign to me that even with the lull in things that I'm able to pick the ball back up and go running as if nothing ever got in the way. I finished a dress and started a second, finished three steps in mysterious mysteries, and created the first in a series of custom spool bead patterns.

Rejection Letter

Hello artists of all natures,

It's no secret I've been in a slump for the past month or so. Before I headed off to California for my magazine photoshoot with my cousin (to send photos off to the editor in England!) I was feeling a bit unmotivated to continue, but as my friends and family assured me I had been working nonstop for so long that it was natural to burn out and have a break. I've spent the time flailing about, staring at my art supplies and feeling almost entirely unwilling to even pick up a needle. Then I did a bit of re-reading in my notes...

Is it art block or something else?

Hello hello,

These past few weeks haven't been the highlight of the year when it comes to creating artwork. It's not that I don't have a ton of ideas or even a ton of projects to do, it's just that I really haven't been feeling it. I find myself making excuses for pretty much any sort of project right now; even rearranging all the furniture in my room sounds more fun than starting the next sewing project. And that's awful seeing as I love to do that.

Onto happier things though, right? Here's what's been going on this past week:

WIP: Mirabilia's Dressmaker's Daughter (Almost Done!)

Hello my crafting friends!

This past week has been very busy behind the scenes and the main focus on art has been beading Mirabilia's. I did a lot, I swear, from sunrise to sunset I've been on the move every day, but as I sit down to type this I'm finding it hard to pin it all down.

Could this week get any happier?!

Hello hello!

This week marks the finishing of my version of Mirabilia's Dressmaker's Daughter, part 1: the stitching. Part 2 started today and is for adding all the beading!

263 hours of extreme relaxation. See the full scan [here].

Uneventful

Hello artsy types,

This week wasn't entirely empty, but it is without a lot of chatter. I've finished the background on Mirabilia's Dressmaker's Daughter: Spring this week and started the actual dress. I also found a page from a magazine instructing how Mirabilia wants beads done!! This is a huge help since nobody else (even Mirabilia) has been able to provide instructions for that to me before.

I am a Self-Loving Creature

Hello my glitter-loving friends,

This week marks the completion of the Sunflower Ballerina so she just needs her final photoshoot now. Her completion marks 26 five-inch-tall dresses finished and 500.5 hours (no typo!) on the final hour marks for them. There's, naturally, plenty of extra uncounted hours involved with planning and pattern-drawing (at the very minimum 100 more hours, in fact). I'm quite proud of my achievement and this isn't a secret. In fact I was so happy about reaching 500 hours that I even allowed a rare photo of myself slip into the mix.

Sleeping All Day Makes for Less Work Done

Hello my sleepy crafters,

My sleep schedule knows no limits and it would seem that I am back in the reverse schedule this week where I doze come sunrise and wake at sunset. I have no excuses or reasons for it, it's just what seems to happen over a period of time and hopefully next week I'll be back on society-acceptable sleeping patterns. As such, the progress on artwork this week has been placed more on planning stages than actual working.

Plans and Currents

Hello there my artsy friends,

This week has been dominated by a distracting amount of Arizona monsoon storms! Every day this week it's rained and while I would love to blame power failure on my lack of WIP photos, the truth is I turn off all the lights intentionally to watch the storms. There's still been plenty of work done in the meantime, with two sales helping me restock supplies and three dress plans coming into fruition. Let's start with the current work and then move onto the upcoming plans!

A Stitchy Week

Hello my quality readers,

This week was spent mostly on cross-stitching with the time split up among three different projects with a fourth looming on the edge. I finished a bead dress at the beginning of the week so, quite naturally, we'll start there.

WIP - Coffee Ballerina Bead Dress

Hello, beaders and friends of!

I've spent this week working on a single new bead dress. I honestly thought it would only take me a couple days to do and then I could move onto the next, but I've run into an extremely unexpected problem that has hindered progress to a slow crawl.

WIP Update: Alicia and Graceful Butterfly

Hello artsy types,

I thought I would have more to update about this week, honestly, I did! What happened was we bought the DLC pack for Pikmin 3 and spent at least two days doing that. That's a third of the week gone! The remaining days were spent on Alicia, the custom bead dress based on GraniteFire's work, and a new xstitch piece, a butterfly with fancy framing.

Much Art Progress: WIP - bead dress and dressmaker's

I don't have a whole lot to say in terms of progress this week (it's the same ol' thing), but I did make significant amount of it!

Mirabilia WIP - Dressmaker's Daughter: Summer

Hey there fellow stitchers,

I was gone for the first half of the week helping my cousin clean up a deep, mysterious closet that she's been shoving random things into for the past several years. We filled three full bags of trash and killed a more-than-my-nightmares-will-enjoy amount of spiders along the way. I did manage to get a peacock Dimensions Gold Collections kit out of the deal, along with a small box of thread, so that's going to be in the mix some day too.

Since I got back I've been working on my modified Mirabilia's Dressmaker's Daughter:

Not the most progressive thing I could be doing with my time in terms of making money, but I am enjoying it fiercely!