Midi Mysteries and a Birthday Surprise

Here’s Midi Mystery I (Chatelaine Designs) in all her glory. Please excuse the fact that Eric did not take these photos – I did. I took the photo at two angles, so hopefully you get the teeniest sense of how stunningly gorgeous this is in person. Jill Rensel (Jill Rensel Studio) framed this for me. She did a fabulous job. This was a six-month mystery and the first in a series of pieces Martina Weber is designing with specific time periods in mind. This is a Medieval garden.

As I may have mentioned previously, this is only the second piece I have ever had framed for myself. I love that you can see all the sparklies and dimensionality of the stitches even under the glass. Can you tell I am so in love with this…and to think I stitched it!!

So, having been thus inspired, I started on Midi Mystery II, which is a Baroque theme. I have to say that I don’t have the best of luck when starting on Martina’s designs. I don’t know what it is about me, but I always seem to make a big error at the beginning. On Midi 1, I had been stitching some over 1 pieces, and so I stitched a significant portion of the outer border with one thread over two instead of two over two. Needless to say, I had to rip that out. On Midi 2, I stitched the entire black border (177 stitches by 168 stitches) and counted and double-counted. When I started the brickwork, I realized my border was one stitch too big. So, last night I sat down and ripped the whole right side out. I’ve re-stitched most of it, but that was pretty disheartening.

I think this piece is going to be so beautiful, and will be such a beautiful companion piece to Midi 1. The kit for Midi 2 was my birthday gift to myself, so I felt it only appropriate that I started it this weekend. And speaking of birthday, Carol sent me a beautiful Just Nan chart, but Blogger won’t let me load a pic of it. I’ve sent Carol a thank you email, but I will have to post it appropriately when I can post a photo too.

I am grateful for the creativity and artistic talents of Jill Rensel.

20 thoughts on “Midi Mysteries and a Birthday Surprise”

  1. The framing is gorgeous, and you should be extremely proud of your stitching as well! I’ve run into the fatal error thing too–not on Martina’s designs, because I haven’t worked on any of hers, but always on something big and momentous. I’m already frogging a large portion of my first panel on Aesop’s Fables, and I’m so annoyed and sick about it that I can’t even take it out of the basket. Disheartening is the perfect word. I’m looking forward to seeing you do Midi 2.

  2. wow, it’s beautiful! I love Jill Rensel’s framing and mats and they certainly accentuate your beautiful stitching.

  3. What a wonderful framing job! Your midi came out great! I am so anxious to get my Jill Rensel mat for Harvest Moon, but six weeks later and no news on it 🙁 In the meantime, I will admire yours!

  4. This is so beautiful, great framing!
    I know how annoying it is having to frog large areas – but I’m sure when finished both pieces will look fantastic together. 🙂

  5. Beautiful framing! and I love your stitching 🙂 Chatelaines are an addiction of mine, so I most defintitely will be back to see how your Baroque Midi is coming along 🙂

  6. Oooohhhhh Michelle, Midi I is gorgeous. I have quite a few of Martina’s designs but I had to stop myself a couple of years ago. LOL The framing is just perfect.

  7. Oooh Jill does some amazing framing jobs I wish I had access to her!

    Good start on Midi 2 I did Midi one and am pretty burnt out on Chatelaine designs at the moment!

  8. MM1 is gorgeous and I love the framing job too. I can’t wait to see the progress of MM2, it looks cool too. I have done that many times too, had to rip out at the beginnig and it is disheartening. Michelle, when was your birthday? Ann.

  9. I think we’ve all run into the major counting error at some point or other. I think the key is to frog it and restitch as quickly as possible so that you don’t throw the piece down in disgust and not pick it up for ages afterwards.

    Jill did a beautiful job with the mats and frame for your Midi I. I’ve heard that she’s reasonably priced, as well. I wonder if I should consider sending special pieces to her?

  10. What a wonderful, gorgeous unique framing! I never saw anything so gorgeous. It complements your own stunning work perfectly.

  11. It’s absolutely gorgeous! The framing sets it off just beautifully. Jill does outstanding work! I can’t wait to see your progress on your new one!

  12. Oh my, the framing is GORGEOUS! That has to be among the most beautiful framing I’ve ever seen. I’m looking forward to seeing your progress on Midi II. I’ve put off buying this until I see a little more of what Martina has come up with. 🙂

  13. This is absolutely amazingly fabulous. What a great job of stitching you did. However did you get to Jill Rensel to frame it for you? I am so jealous I just can’t tell you makes me want to take mine out and stitch it but I have promised myself to finish my UFOs before I start anthing new – this is hard I have to admit. Well done.

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