The Pirate King

I stitched this patch for my other half as he is a big fan of the One Piece manga and anime series. Straw Hat Luffy is his official favourite (I suspect buxom Nami is his real favourite though!)

I used soluble canvas so I could stitch it straight on to felt, it's fairly easy to use but you need to give it plenty of soaking time in hot water to dissolve the canvas afterwards or it ends up very sticky.

 

Yatta!

 

I plan to do a few more characters soon; if not the whole of Luffy's crew; at least Chopper as he's super cute and my personal favourite Nico Robin.

Divine Bathing...Lush Style

So Lush opened a brand new store in Oxford Street, London, a few months ago now; it's huge, has lots of exclusive products and a spa. (insert some kind of awe inducing sound effect here if you like, I am.)

Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to go and see it yet (sadness,) but some of the exclusive products are beginning to come in to other Lush stores now (harumble! - you're only going to get that if you listen to 'Bleak Expectations' on Radio 4 - but never mind, I like it.)

Lots of stuff is still Oxford Street only for the moment so I was very grateful when one of my friends offered to pick me up some bits as she was making a pilgrimage of her own.

It was hard to know what to ask for as there were so many new things; more than I was even aware of to ask for; so I just picked a few of the cool sounding bath bombs and these are they...

 

Yoga Bomb, this is a beautifully warming and relaxing bath bomb that slowly fizzes away, revealing layer upon layer of bright colour and sparkling golden glitter. I used this in my hotel room in Glastonbury after an enjoyable but brisk climb up the Tor and back. I was more than ready for it, it was heaven. It's apparently good after exercise, like yoga, but also allegedly good for hangovers too.(You can get this one in other stores now - thankfully for those of us who don't live in London.)

 

The Sacred Lotus - This is a pretty but fragile bath bomb, designed to float in your bath like a lotus flower on an idyllic and clean pool, the sort you might see in a Bollywood song and dance scene, but rarely in real life. It has a heady floral scent, with a strong jasmine note, reminiscent of the Jasmin and Henna Fluff Eaze Hair Mask. This bath bomb hides a secret - silver glitter -  a lot of silver glitter. It looks very pretty, suspended in the lilac coloured water. The purple petals breaks off and slowly foam on the water while the yellow centre fizzes away, unveiling the sparkles. The overall effect is very calming and relaxing, creating quite a meditative bath.

Divination Reusable Bubble Bar - I haven't used this one yet, because, alas, I no longer have a bath, although I hope to rectify this in the future. I love the concept behind this one though, it's shaped like a pendulum and comes on a string so you can play with it like the real thing. The string is also very handy for holding the bar under running water so that you can get your bubbles. Reusable bubbles usually do at least three baths, often more, depending on how long you keep it under the water and whether you dry it out in between baths. It has a rose, amber and patchouli scent, invoking, appropriately, thoughts of incense and other mysterious magical things. Also, it looks really cool.

 

Finished and Framed (Finally)

After months of on off stitching and lots of pricked fingers along the way, I've finished my Goddess of Prosperity cross stitch kit by maia (anchor).

I fell in love with this kit as soon as I saw it, I'm a big fan of Chinese wuxia films (lush, epic, fantasy drama, usually with lots of death defying martial arts, magic swords and doomed tragic lovers,) and this image really brought those films to mind. In particular, a favourite of mine, I first watched when I was around 13, it's called 'A Chinese Ghost Story,' and the goddess here reminds me of the beautiful heroine, a tragic ghost spirit enslaved by an evil tree demon, seeking redemption (check it out, it's quite silly but very pretty.)

 Here are a few close ups of the work in progress, she's such a big piece that it's easy to loose the details when I try to take a picture of the whole thing. I was filling in the backstitch here, which in many ways is more fiddly than the cross stitches that make up the bulk of the picture.

Here is a close up of some of the lovely floral details which really came to life when I started on the backstitching..



Here she is just before I took her off the stitching frame and went to get her stretched and framed. It was the first time I've ever had something professionally framed, I usually just do it myself but the finished piece was long and thin and I couldn't find a frame that really fitted so I decided to take it to a framers as they could custom make the frame as well as stretch out the work and make sure it was straight etc...

I think with big pieces that take up a lot of time and that you want to last; it is worth the extra expense but I felt pretty nervous leaving her in the shop as the process took about a week and I was anxious about whether I would like the finished frame. Thankfully, I did.

The finished project on the wall...