Kimono Lantern Mermaid Update

Isn’t she pretty? Once I got started on her eye, there was no turning back, before I knew her entire face was stitched up!  I considered working on her neck and shoulders next but realized that the whole stick and carrot motivation system works well for me. So rather than working on more solid areas I decided to work on her kimono some more. I’ll be working on the bottom half of the peice for a while, starting at the right. Once the confetti starts getting to me again, I’ll return to her neck and put in some time working on easy solid stitching.

 

Before that can happen though, it’s nearly the end of May and I’ve not even started an ornament yet, never mind finish it! I’ve decided to work on Ephinea’s Snowflakes by Beehive Needleworks. It’s a simple single color piece that I should be able to stitch up quickly. I’m working on it in DMC cotton floss in 816, stitching 1 over 1 on some tea dyed 32 count linen I have. This should make for a lovely delicate little piece that will look nice finished into a pillow style ornament, maybe with a bit of matching fabric sewn to the bottom to make it slightly larger. I’ll decide on that once the cross stitch is done. Keep an eye on this spot for an update in a couple of days!

I’m being watched!

 

Now that she has an eye, this lovely lady has been giving me rather reproachful looks every time I pick up the TV remote to watch yet another movie on Netflix rather than spend my time stitching. She keeps reminding me that she’s over a year old now, and she’d like to be completed some time soon. She and I are going to be spending some quality time together from now on, I am sure of it.

Ornament update – one finish and one nearly!

We’re into the second week of March here – this would be the perfect time to do an update on my February Christmas ornament that still isn’t complete wouldn’t it? I’ve been on the road a bit over the last few days, so there wasn’t too much stitchy time. That said, I did manage to get all the cross stitching done on my ornament.

 

I seriously underestimated the amount of time it would take me to stitch this – it looks fairly simple compared to the HAED that I am working on, but there are 30+ colors and several blends in this small piece. That said, I finally got a system figured out to organize my floss and stay on top of it so that should help speed things along from now on.  I’ll share photos of what I’ve figured out later this week.

All that remains on this piece is the backstitching. I say ‘all’ and I have to laugh at myself. There is an insane amount of backstitching on each of these little ornaments. But once it is done, the details really do pop! Hopefully I’ll have a completely stitched ornament photo to share soon!

Speaking of completely stitched, I realized I forgot to share the image of my Lovely Creatures Lovebirds quickie that I stitched last month.

 

I still haven’t figured out what I am going to make with it, so for now it is sitting in a drawer waiting for inspiration to hit. I’ve briefly toyed with the idea of adding lettering to it that says ‘Merry Tweet-mas’ and calling it a Christmas ornament, but I think it looks a bit too lovey and hearty to work for a Christmas ornament.

Stitch From Stash – February Report

Wow, has it been a month already?  I know February is a short month, but that went by fast! I’m here just by the skin of my teeth to get my report for Stitching from Stash in for this month.  Up first is what I spent – a whopping 80 cents! What does one buy when spending 80 cents on stash? You would think floss, right? Not in my case. Here’s my purchase. 

That’s four 1/2 inch 90 degree PVC pipe connectors that I picked up at Home Depot. A bit of an odd purchase I agree, but I had an idea that I want to try out, and this was the only missing item. I’ll post more about that a little later after I’ve played with it.

I did acquire a bit of stash this month however – three new patterns. However they don’t count towards my spending budget because they were a prize. Yes, I won last months giveaway!

Thank you Mel from Epic Stitching! This is the year of the ornament for me, as I am hosting the Ornament a Month Stitch-a-long over at CrossStitchForum.com, so that Santa ornament will get stitched as soon as the set I am working on right now is complete. I especially like needlework pieces that are about needlework themselves, and to think that Santa is a stitcher makes me all kinds of happy!

Speaking of the Ornament a Month Stitch-a-long, here’s mine for February. I am working on a set of 6 ornaments put out by Dimensions called Christmas Village

It doesn’t look very ornament like does it? I seriously under estimated how long it would take me to stitch this and started too late in the month to get it done. No matter, I’ll finish it soon and then start a bit earlier on March’s ornament which will be the second in this series of 6. As it is I finished two ornaments in January, so I’m still on schedule for twelve for the year. The ornament uses all kinds of variations on number of strands of floss as well as full and half cross stitches to give the pattern lovely depth and three dimensionality within a smaller palette of colors. Overall a very enjoyable stitch, if a bit fiddly from time to time!

Little Lovebirds – a WIP

Sometimes I see a pattern that I simply must stitch right away. What I’m going to do with it, I haven’t the first idea. But that was what happened when I saw this lovely little pattern in the February 2014 edition of Cross Stitch Crazy Collection. Sure, I tried to hold off as long as i could, but finally I had to admit defeat and start stitching. I’m sure none of you will blame me, it’s so adorable!

It’s such a quick little stitch that I don’t even feel guilty for starting something new. I’m stitching it on a piece of non-even weave cotton that I bought for a mere $2.97 per yard. The weave of this fabric is decidedly rectangular, so stitching over 2 gives me 20 stitches an inch one way and 15 stitches an inch the other way. But in the case of this pattern, it doesn’t matter one bit, in fact by placing it on the fabric so that the wider stitches ran horzontally, I got even plumper little birds than the original pattern. How can plump little lovebirds possibly be a bad thing?

How would you finish this piece? It’s approximately  4×5 inches in size. Please leave me your ideas in the comments!

Update: Oops! I goofed and originally stated that I got this pattern from Cross Stitch Crazy. Turns out it’s Cross Stitch Collection. To Carolyn and anyone else this confused, I’m really sorry! 

Meet the Mermaid

Since this blog is brand spanking new, I’m going to have to introduce my WIPs to it one at a time as I work on them. Up today is my main focus piece, the one I work on most of the time.

Isn’t she pretty? I’m not normally a fan of fantasy artwork, but something about this image just grabbed me from the minute I saw her. I’d been searching the HAED website for weeks – I knew I wanted to stitch a HAED style pattern for the longest time, but none of the pieces were grabbing my attention in that ‘must have NOW’ type of way until I saw her. I knew I was a goner! So I snagged her, bought the floss and got started.

Now I’m not easily intimidated when it comes to crafting, but I had NO idea what I was in for when I started this. It’s a Quick Stitch pattern I said, how long can it possibly take? Apparently a year at least. I started her in April of 2013, and am  still far from being done!

Here’s where she stands as of today.

The flowers across the top of her kimono are so full of confetti that they’re seriously kicking my rear. I consider it a great day if I can manage to get 200 stitches done in a day. But the end result is so pretty that it is worth every painstaking stitch! I’m hoping to make some serious progress on her over the next few months. I’m not sure if I can manage to finish her by April, but I’d like to try!