perfert weekend

I've had a great week of stitching.  I stitched on the train and even some at home at night.  That's the habit I want most to get back into - stitching at night rather than just rotting in front of the tv.  Talk about a waste of time.  I don't feel nearly as bad when I have something in my lap that I'm working on.  :-) 

I made good progress on my IsaV Marquior.  Here is the close up of the nine blocks of part five completed. 

This photo is pretty close to what the color looks like in real life.  In this photo, only six blocks to go.  But I really only have four to go to got so much finished over the past week.  :-)  I didn't take an updated photo after the weekend of stitching.  I might actually finish this puppy in July!  Yeah!

 

I also worked on my Floral Glove for a couple of hours yesterday.  I'm officially finished with Lesson One and almost have Lesson Two complete.  I can see improvement in my stitching from when I first started this piece.  My outline stitching (which you can't see) is much more even and I'm loving how my long and short stitching turned out.  I only have to finish up the silk flower in the middle of the piece.  Then it's onto the medal threads.  That will be an adventure. 

 

I'm having a hard time loving my current setup with my Needlepoint System 3 stand with my stitching.  No matter what I do I just can't get comfortable and end up hunched up all over the piece I'm working on.  I really think I need a different stand.  Ugh. 

 

And in true Margie fashion I went into the rabbit hole in the past week.  Several years ago I made a pirate costume for a trip to Disney World that I took with my family.  We all wanted to dress up as Disney characters for the Trick or Treat night in the Magic Kingdom.  I ended up dressing as Elizabeth Swan from Pirates of the Caribbean.  I love how it turned out and was planning on wearing it again this Halloween when we all go on a Disney cruise for that Trick or Treat night.  I'm also going to the local Renaissance Faire in a couple of weeks with friends and we are all planning on dressing up for that.  So I found all the pieces in storage and got them out so I can wash and iron them.  Now I have gained a few pounds (apparently more than a few) because when I tried it all on, nothing fit.  Not even close.  :-(  So I needed to make new stuff.  I always wanted a "real" Renaissance style dress so I thought this would be a good time to start working on a couple of pieces for it.  And here is what I did over the weekend.  It's a Renaissance style corset.  It's boned with medal stays and even has a wooden busk down the front.  I sure hope this fits ok.  I'm rather busty and you won't be able to really get a good feel for the fit until all the stays are in and that means it will be almost totally complete by then.  I can't even add up in the head all the $$ I've sunk into it but I'm having a blast putting it all together.  I already bought a new white shift from eBay for much less money than I could have made it and I found a beautiful gold silk for the overskirt in the discount rack at Joanne Fabrics.  So it looks like I'm making a wench costume that can double as a pirate costume for Disney.  If this corset doesn't work ok I'll still have time to make a much more conventional one.