Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Year!

My stitching really fell off the pace at the end of the year, but I'm hoping I'll pick it back up in 2009. I think I've worked out a good space to stitch in my apartment, so that should help. My goal of working on some old kits didn't really happen, but I'll go ahead and set a goal for 2009 - finish the two relatively large designs I have going (Catherine of Aragon and Halloween Fairy) and try to finish ONE large kit project. We'll see if that happens!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Christmas ornament




I haven't been doing a whole lot of stitching lately, but I did manage to finish this design from the 2007 Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue. I've left the buttons off for now, but I might add them in when I do the finishing.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Halloween Fairy update



Not a whole lot of progress, but she's gotten some backstitching and some beads since the last image I posted.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Geez, a whole month since my last post...

And not much stitching has been going on. With my move and just being really tired at the end of a day, I haven't put a needle through thread in several weeks. Halloween Fairy is out and calling to me so maybe I'll get some work done on her tomorrow, (even though we're past Halloween now). Time to pull out last year's Just Cross Stitch ornament issue and start a small design too!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Latest pumpkin

The pumpkin theme continues... Another design from the Just Cross Stitch Halloween ornament issue:



I stitched it on a scrap of 22-ct fabric, over one, with DMC floss.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Yet another pumpkin

I'm beginning to think there is a 'pumpkin of the week' trend starting here.



This is the "Pumpkin on Gingham" design from the Halloween ornaments in Just Cross Stitch magazine. Obviously I didn't stitch it on gingham, but I did use up another little square from the 2 yards of that natural 28-ct evenweave I bought a while back. I've used it for a lot of designs since it can have a rustic or papyrus look to it, but there is still a lot left! I also haven't added the beads yet, since I need to head to the LNS and get them!

I'm working some more on Halloween Fairy - specifically the backstitching on her head and shoulders and doing some more of the metallics. Not much progress to show though.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Halloween ornament and Fairy progress

First up is the "Spooky Tree" ornament from Just Cross Stitch magazine:

I used DMC floss instead of the over-dyed the original was stitched with.

And here is the first photo of Halloween Fairy:



I'm using a hand-dyed Silkweaver 32-ct linen. I think this is the largest thing I've done on 32-ct linen, and it is going a little slower then my usual 28-ct evenweave projects!

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Pumpkin from last week

This was the little project I worked on last week:



It's from a chart by Pamela Kellogg. There is a small goof in the vines above the pumpkin - I put an extra space in and only discovered it way too late to fix it. Since it didn't really mess up the design (other than making the vine slightly more egg-shaped instead of round), I didn't bother to rip everything out. I also left out the "harvest" lettering since I'm hoping to find a cute charm or button, perhaps of a crow, to put in there.

I started Halloween Fairy yesterday, but I'll wait until I get some more done before I post a picture.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Catching up with recent stitching

I haven't done a whole lot of stitching over the past week or so because I was sick but I did finish up this gingerbread house from the Just Cross Stitch 2007 Ornament issue. I should have used a different fabric so the roof didn't blend in as much, but it isn't quite as bad in reality as it is in the photo. The photo quality isn't too good either since we've actually had clouds and rain here and the light wasn't great. I substituted beads for the ornaments on the tree and for the eyes on the gingerbread man but I wish I had some smaller beads for the gingerbread man because those big black beads almost make him look stoned or something...



I'm almost finished with a pumpkin design and then I'll probably do some of the Halloween ornaments from this past issue of JCS. Halloween Fairy is also calling but I need to lay out the beads, metallics and threads with some of my fabrics and see if I like any of them for the design. I have a hand-dyed light purple linen in my stash that might work, but we'll see.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Summer is finished!

How I wish the actual season of summer was done... but I'll settle for this.



Three of four done!



I worked a little more on Catherine of Aragon's skirt, but I think I'll start something else in addition to working on her. I hear some Halloween designs calling me, but I have to decide which one is screaming the loudest.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Summer update #2



I've made a little more progress on Summer. Now I've got some of the backstitching done, which really brings the picture together nicely. I've also started into the flowers on the left hand side, although I'm saving the large pink ones for last.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

"Summer" update



Here's a status photo of the "Summer" section of the four seasons design that I mentioned in the previous post. Since a lot of it is half cross stitches, it goes pretty quickly.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Latest small, with a big OOOPS!



I kicked this one out quickly a couple of evenings ago, but apparently a little TOO quickly, since there is a big ooops in it. I'm not sure how obvious it is if you aren't familiar with the chart or if it isn't pointed out, but the smile on the Jack o' Lantern is a little lopsided. Somehow I managed to make an extra stitch of the black on the right side! Oh well.

The chart is a freebie from Casey Buonaugurio's website.

In other stitching news, I decided to set Catherine of Aragon aside for a little while (I'm tired of looking at black, brown and yellow) and do the "Summer" design of the four seasons set I've been doing (pictures of fall and winter are here). I finally had an idea about how to finish them once all four are done, as a wall-hanging, maybe in a "stained glass" style with black borders around the designs. Of course, all of this is dependent on me being able to not jump right in and stitch Nora Corbett's "Halloween Fairy" in the newest Cross Stitch and Needlework magazine!

Sunday, July 6, 2008

A little catching up

I don't have an update photo on Catherine, although I have made some progress on her. I also sewed the border on an old quilt top that has been in the making for over a decade, but I didn't take a photo of that either. But, I do have a couple of photos of some of the long weekend's work!

The first photo is probably the last of the old magazine cover kits. I did the quilting on it ages ago, but just now finished the bag up.



And the second is a little ornament from the 2007 Just Cross Stitch Magazine ornament issue. I didn't have a charm for the star, so I stitched it with the DMC gold floss and I stitched it on a scrap of 32 ct evenweave from a grab bag.


Friday, June 13, 2008

Catherine of Aragon update



I haven't done much stitching in the past couple of weeks, but I have managed some progress on Catherine. It goes fast when I do get time to work on it, although I think I might be stitching a little too fast since I've noticed some sloppy stitches in places. Oh well!

Monday, May 26, 2008

Catherine of Aragon - first photo



Here is the first progress photo of Catherine of Aragon originally from New Stitches magazine no. 7. The design can also be purchased at StitchDirect.com

I've stitched a bit more on it during the long weekend and will post another update this week. This one is coming along pretty quickly, especially compared to the Heritage Stitchcraft Dragon!

Monday, May 12, 2008

Heritage Stitchcraft Dragon finished!



Above is with all of the cross stitch finished, but no backstitching and below is the final version with all of the backstitches.



It was nice to work something with all of those bright colors, although I wish now I had done the backstitching as I had gone along because it took quite a while to do it all.

Now I'm on to the first of the Six Wives of Henry VIII designs - Catherine of Aragon, originally from New Stitches magazine no. 7.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Updates

I didn't mean to go so long without posting an update, but Blogger and other things were conspiring against me!

First up is the Heritage Stitchcraft Dragon progress photo from about two weeks ago, after he gained a wing and a head:


And here is a photo of the dragon from a day or two ago, with a lot more filled in:


The flash went off on the second one, so it looks a little washed out. I don't know if I'll have a large amount of stitching time this weekend, but there is a chance I'll get the cross stitching finished. There is a fair amount of backstitching on the design, so that's going to take a little bit of time.



I also did this little cottage design during the past couple of weeks. It's originally from Needlecraft Magazine (Nov. 1996) as part of a set of six. I'm thinking about doing each of them separately on different fabrics and then framing them in little 2.5 inch square frames. The fabric I stitched this on was 30 or 32 ct. and was from a grab bag I bought a few years ago. I used DMC threads for this one, but I've been toying with the idea of doing it again with Anchor threads just to compare them, out of curiosity.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Halloween freebie!



Here it is! I'm still not sure how I'm going to finish it (I'm leaning towards trying my first flat-fold). I stitched it on Silkweaver 32 ct. Opalescent Lugana (color "Glistening Heather") with DMC floss. I left off the "Boo"s and I substituted beads for the French knots for the eyes.

The pattern is available here.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Quick update

I realized that I never got around to posting the latest progress on the Heritage Stitchcraft Dragon, or the first hardanger piece, so here they are!



I haven't stitched on this one in a week or so, since I decided to take a break and work on a Halloween freebie. I'm almost done with the freebie, so I'll post a photo when the stitching is all done.



And here is the first hardanger piece I've ever attempted. The pattern and instructions were from New Stitches magazine (Issue 5, I think... definitely one of the very early ones). I did it with the pearl cotton that I had on hand, so that's why it's done is rust colors instead of the traditional white-on-white. It's not great, and I definitely need some better scissors for doing the cut work (the ones I have are great for some stitching stuff, just not that!), but it was fun to try. I'll be trying some more in the future, that's for sure!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Dragon update

Here, finally, is the Heritage Stitchcraft Dragon after spring break and a little during the week stitching.



Very colorful, isn't it? I've actually finished almost all of the background stuff (one little bit on the right is going to wait until I do the dragon over there) and have started to work in the dragon head. I didn't really plan to end up with a dragon silhouette, that's just the way it worked out!

I might take a break from the dragon to do another small freebie or two for something a little different. Even through we're into spring at the moment, I have a bunch of autumn and Halloween freebies, so I figure I should stitch some now so there is an outside chance that I'll have some of them framed (or finished in some way) by the time that part of the year gets here!

Saturday, March 15, 2008

This week's stitching

I took spring break off of work to relax and, as it turned out, recuperate from yet another cold. The down time gave me a chance to get some stitching done, and here are some of the results:

First is the Hedwig Four Patch freebie from The Sampler Girl. I stitched it on some of my Silkweaver purple sparkly fabric and used DMC variations thread on the border and letters.



The second small that I did was another freebie, this time from Cyberstitchers.com. Since I love penguins and Italian food, I decided that my kitchen needed this:



And finally, an update on the Heritage Stitchcraft dragon. This is actually from last week, so I'll have to post another picture with the progress that I made this week.



I also did my first hardanger piece this week, but I haven't taken a photo of it yet. It's not great, but it was a first attempt after all!

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Dragons, framing and fabric



I actually did this framing over a week ago, so I'm a little behind. This piece has had the stitching finished on it for about 4 and a half years, and now it is finally in its frame. I didn't get the tension exactly right, so there is a slight bump visible, but other than that, I'm pretty happy with it. (And the bump doesn't show up as much as it does in the photo, since there was bright light to the side.) Right now it is sitting on the mantle in the living room since I haven't figured out where I want to hang it.



Next up is a progress photo of the Heritage Stitchcraft dragon, although it's a but out of date. I've actually done the top band now too, but no photo right now.



And last but not least, my first batch of Silkweaver "Fabric of the Month" fabric arrived! I'm on the rotating schedule, since I wanted a variety of counts, colors, types and sizes. I don't have anything in mind for the pink fabric, but I know just the thing for that sparkly light purple fabric! Stay tuned, since I'll probably stitch it up during Spring Break, when I'm planning on taking a lot of time of off work.

Monday, February 18, 2008

New stash!

This actually came in a couple of weeks ago but I'm just now getting around to posting it. I saw on another stitch blog that Designs by Lena Rose were closing up shop and selling off their stitching supplies in a "grab bag" of basically how much stuff could be crammed into a priority mail box. Below are the items they put in my box... all of which I got for a grand total of $22 (including shipping). There were only a couple of things that I probably won't use, so it was a GREAT deal. I was really happy to get some more sizes of pearl cotton so I can play with hardanger embroidery (and I got a huge piece of white 22 ct. fabric for it too!). I also now have my first overdyed Watercolours thread to play with!

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Belated photo of a finish!

I meant to post this ages ago, but I've been very busy and then I had some computer issues (back light went out on my laptop... which makes it pretty useless!). But now everything is back up and running.

So, here is the completed Texas Panorama, although the mounting and framing still needs to be done. I have in mind the kind of frame that I want for it, but I need to write down some measurements and then catch a sale on frames.



I did a little Mill Hill beads snowflake ornament kit last weekend, but I haven't finished it yet (I'm thinking about doing a fabric backing on it), so no photos.

My next big project is a Heritage Stitchcraft kit that I bought a few years ago. It came with 14 ct. Aida, but I've switched it out with a 28 count evenweave (just a generic one from Michael's, I think). I actually started it over Christmas, but I'm going to wait until a bit more is done to post a picture.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Cross stitching finished on Texas Panorama



Now on to the backstitching. I finished most of the backstitching around the "S" last night, but my eyes were burning so I didn't get far. I had a horrible allergy attack late Tuesday/early Wednesday and I'm still recovering. At first I thought it might be a really short cold, but then several people at work were having the same symptoms at the same time and the pollen count was high during this, the notorious "cedar fever" season in Texas. (I put that in quotes because it is actually not cedar and you rarely get a fever from it!) So, I'm finally starting to feel better and the weather is supposed to be nasty for the day off tomorrow for MLK's birthday, so I hope to get a lot of stitching done.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Another Texas Panorama update

Just a quick post with Texas Panorama, now with the T complete... so I guess it's TEXA panorama at the moment. :)



I've started into the S just a little. After that, lots of backstitching to finish! The X in particular has a bunch, so it's going to take a while to get to the point of putting in that final stitch.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Last finishes from 2007 and Texas Panorama update

I made a few ornaments late in 2007 to include with some gifts, but being sick and having a broken computer conspired to keep me from posting pictures at the time. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of one of them before I wrapped it up in its box, but here are the other two. The poinsettia ornament was sort of my trial and error one that I was going to keep for myself. The other was a gift. I was really happy how the stitching came out on the Santa, since I was trying really hard to keep the white stitching clean and even. Both of these designs came from a book of quickies (sorry, I don't have the exact title handy!).



This is another ornament that I finished at the end of the year that I thought I had posted, but I didn't see it. It was originally a little kit that came with a plastic round frame, but I decided to make a little pillow out of it instead. The design also called for French knots as the garland on the tree and I substituted some old leftover red beads instead. I also stitched the yellow accents with some Kreinik gold braid instead (I have several partial spools left over from Celtic Christmas).



And last but not least, here's an update on Texas Panorama, although it's already out of date, since I finished the "T" last night. I'll post that picture later.