Tireless Tree Skirt

I've been recuperating from my nasty fall and have only recently been able to work on the tree skirt. I have managed some progress.

It continues to amaze me just how big this thing actually is. Working on each section hasn't given me any real idea of its size, but I'm sure how big it is now since I unrolled it and tried to take a picture. I think next time I'll hang it on the wall to get the fullest view. For now, here is where I am. 

This is the lower part of the tree skirt with the addition.

Here is what I've managed so far. From about the last quarter of the bow in the center to the right is all new. I'm almost done with the latest section.

This is more than a yard of fabric (45 x 45) and the finished piece will be 40" x 40", so it is a considerably large tree skirt that will require at least a 6-foot tree. Better start saving now so I can afford it, although finding a place to put it will be yet another challenge. Maybe I can get rid of the furniture and place it in the center of the living room. Too early to say.

Happy stitching.

February Update

This has been a bad couple of weeks for me, so I'm making myself feel better by sharing what I'd accomplished before all the disaster hit my house -- and me.

I finished the last section on the left side of the tree skirt and began work on the right half. I didn't get very far, but it's a beginning. I also finished one smaller piece from Sweetheart Tree and go down to the crunch without the beads on another Sweetheart Tree piece. I'd say Sweetheart Tree is my favorite designer of smaller pieces -- so far.

Now for the tree skirt unveiling. Click on the pictures to make them bigger and see the slide show.

This is everything up to now, without the back stitching and beads. It is beginning to look like something at last. Stitched on 14-count white Aida with provided thread, silver braid, iridescent blue blending filament, and blue, white, and lavender beads.

Close-up of last part of left half of design. The tips of the ribbon got cut off when I cut the section, but they are there. I guarantee that . . . and they're also visible in the above photo.

The little bit I managed before the disaster. Like I said before, it's a beginning and that is where everything starts.

I have a thing for dragonflies so I decided on Dragonfly Dreams by Sweetheart Tree. I have trouble with the Algerian stitch that goes on the inside border. I couldn't seem to get it even or make it look quite right, so I'd been practicing just a line of Algerians on a scrap of cloth, working on them until they look good enough to put into the actual piece. There are beads, beads, beads to add, but I'll get to them eventually.

Stitched on 28 count Platinum Belfast Linen using #SV-CP375 Lavender Cats-Eye Luminescent Bead (included), DMC floss and Mill Hill Antique Seed Beads. Stitch count 56wx56h.

The last one from Sweetheart Tree is Spring Fantasy. I love the delicate colors and the hint of spring that this evokes. It too should have a line of Algerian stitches around the inside border, but (as you can see by the holes that will disappear with washing and ironing) I couldn't get them to look right so I finished the beading and back stitching. I imagine that once I get the stitch down, I will revisit this and add the Algerians. Otherwise, this is as finished as it gets before framing. Can't decide on a card or a box for treasures for this one. That remains to be seen.

Stitched on 28 Ct. Confederate Gray linen with DMC floss, Mill Hill beads, 2.5mm White pearls and a pink cat's eye heart treasure. 47H x 47W

Oh, the disaster. Well, I took a nasty fall that left me with a fractured ankle, 2 broken toes (still black and beginning to look reddish-purple in a couple spots, but mostly black), and a badly sprained wrist. It has taken me quite a while to get this all down since I can only type one-handed with the slow assist of a couple fingers on the right hand. Yes, you read that right. My right hand is in a brace and I'm off work and can't stitch and can't find my Kindle. I know it's around here somewhere, and I will find it, but until I do, there are still lots of books to prop up on a pillow on my lap and read. Good thing I use my left hand for turning pages.

Happy stitching.

Winner

Drum roll, please.

The winner of the $25 gift certificate to 123Stitch is Rebecca. Please contact me with your information so I can send your winnings.

I do apologize for taking so long to post the winner. I took a bit of a tumble and am working with a few hurdles, like a badly sprained wrist. Makes typing one-handed a bit difficult and cross stitching is out of the question. Good thing I like to read.

In the meantime, happy stitching.

February Giveaways

The blog at Wisdom with Needle & Thread is giving away some lovely pieces.

A painted Limoges butterfly box here
A Valentine box complete with Cupids here.
A purple beaded scissors fob here. If you have trouble finding your scissors when you need them, this is a lovely way to make them easier to find.

All the above were created by Kim.

By the Bay Needleart is giving away a chart to make a lovely winter holiday sampler here. I'm not much for samplers, but I know people who love them, so if I win I'll stitch it as a gift for them. Hurry on this one because the drawing is tomorrow, February 8.

At Stitchin' with my Furbabies, Linda is offering a $20 gift certificate to my favorite cross stitch place on the Internet - 123stitch.com. I wouldn't mind winning that one. Contest ends Feb. 15 so get busy and sign up.

SoCal Debbie is also offering a $20 gift certificate to 123stitch.com. With two gift certificates, I could buy more floss and fabric and, oh, lots of things. Wish me luck. In the meantime, I'll join in the spirit of fun and offer a $25 gift certificate to 123stitch as a way to celebrate my birthday on Feb 17th. In order to win, you can enter three ways:

• Join this blog
• Comment
• Link to this post

Good luck and happy stitching. 

Finishes: Big and Small

I didn't plan on posting any more pictures of the Japanese Maiden until she was all stitched, but I couldn't resist. After a couple weekends of stitching, I finally have the maiden finished. Well, except for 2 stitches in her ring. I discovered she is a Japanese bride. She is quite lovely and I'm proud of her. All that is left is the outside border and most of the back stitching and then off to the framers. I did wonder about leaving off the outside border and having her framed as a round, but that didn't occur to me until after I had stitched the left side of the border. Too late and I'm not about to rip it all out either.

A few more stitches to go.

She's all there now, and so is some of the right hand border. She is quite beautiful and I'm proud of myself. She's getting there.

It always seems such a surprise when I get to the point where a project is nearly done. I remember the blank canvas and the first few stitches and how long a road it looks from that point, but I always get there. She is quite simply a marvel and I stitched it all.

Happy stitching. From small beginnings come big finishes -- and the biggest finish is yet to come.

Don't forget to click on the pictures to make them bigger.

Brittercup Stockings with a twist

I finished my granddaughter's stocking yesterday. I haven't had a chance to work on it since last Saturday, so it is nice to have the stitching all done. Since I had more time, I decided to begin her sister's stocking, but changed some of the colors. Now I think I should have gone with a darker background to make the white cat visible, but it is visible when seen in person. I used Rainbow Gallery white Wisper thread which is an angora blend and the ornaments are in shades of pink, my other granddaughter's favorite color.  Lots to go yet but it will be finished by next weekend.

This is where I got to a week ago Friday. Not bad for a night of insomnia and needing something to do with my hands.

The finish as of yesterday afternoon while watching Damnation Alley.

That ghostly cat figure at the top of the tree is a cat done in Rainbow Gallery white Wisper thread. It looks much better and much fuzzier in person.

Not too bad for a few days of work and I'll have the last stocking done by next weekend for certain. I may even add a bit of metallic blending filament to some of the pink ornaments for a bit of sparkle and dash.

Happy stitching.

Xmas stockings Part Deux

I know. Pretentious that Part Deux, but it works for movies.

On to the next offering in the Xmas stockings, finished and unfinished.

I thought the next pattern was cute, but not as cute as one I remembered from years ago, a white kitten playing with a red or blue glass ornament from a tree. Since I couldn't find that one and had recently spaced on how to find it (the way I found the sunflower pattern for Jillie's afghan), I chose a pattern that had kittens, ribbons, ornaments, and Xmas tree limbs. It was a choice and it turned out so much better than I thought it would.

 Sorry about the angle. It was late. I was tired. I'm not a great photographer. Pick one excuse and run with it.


At any rate, this one is for Ariyanna. The stocking doesn't have the sparkle of the Winter White stockings or the difficulty factor of some of the others, but it is cute. Very cute.

As it emerged from the blob of stitches and showed more personality and nuance, I was happy with my choice. 


I did find the white kitten playing with the red ornament under the tree, but I have no more grandchildren to make stockings for, although I might consider stockings for relatives or friends or someone who would like one for their favorite kid for Xmas.


A closeup view of the cats shows a better view of their eyes, which are gorgeous, and some of the details not visible on this view.

It's not flashy, but it is adorable and I think it will stand the test of time. I hope Nonny, Ariyanna's nickname and a name that fit on the upper section of the stocking, will think so.

This is the ornament that goes with the stocking. It will be cut out in a circle, hence the circular pattern to the stitching, and will be ribboned and added to a few little trinkets inside the stockings for Xmas giving.

Winter White stockings have ornaments that go with the stocking, and a ribbon was included, a green ribbon.  You can almost see it in the shadow of my arm and the camera. What you cannot easily see, thanks to my ham-handed photography, is the iridescent blue snowflake among the background pattern surrounding one of the magnolia blossoms similar to the snowflakes on the body of the stocking.

Since not all the stockings had ornaments, I've decided to do an ornament for Sierra's stocking and not one for the boys, Connor because he's gone and Jordan is much too mature and old for an ornament. He'll get something else in his stocking.

Sierra's stocking appealed to me because of its design of snow woman and birds, but also because of the artistry, which always translates into difficulty.

The shading is achieved with half cross stitches, called satin stitches in Europe (something I discovered on another project).

The coloring is beautiful and I love the birds, but they are somewhat difficult to back stitch. I had even forgot I wasn't finished back stitching this one. Back stitching is not my favorite part of the x-stitch process; I prefer patterns that do not need to be back stitched.

There is a sunflower on the snow lady's hat, some seeds in the divot in the center of the hat, and lots of birds. I do love the birds.

This cardinal is partially back stitched and I do like the suet and seed bell hanging from the tree branch. It reminds me of the ones my grandmother hung on her trees throughout the winter.

The last little bird and he isn't back stitched at all.  I obviously have a little more work to do on this and will finish it once the wedding afghan is done.

I didn't even mind all the changes in the thread colors necessary for some of the birds, but I did decide to leave out the continuation of the branches and trees in the background above the name.

I haven't decided whether to use a bird for the ornament or do the suet-seed bell instead. Maybe a combination of both: bird head and a bit of wing eating from the bell. That might just do it.

The last stocking is Jordan's and it is way more challenging than I realized. Lots of color changes and shifts from half cross to cross stitches, but this one has fine gold wire as part of the design and gold beads for the wreath in the center of the sled that is the focal point and the main theme of the stocking. It's a bit hard to tell just from what I have already done, but it will be beautiful -- if I can stop making mistakes and having to tear out sections to get it right.

Getting off even one stitch on the count is disastrous in a project like this. You can fudge it but it won't look right in the end, which is why I have spent much more time on this one than I usually need to. My x-stitching skills are a bit rusty, but coming along.


In the end, it is all about enjoying the process of x-stitching, even when you want to crumple it up and throw it to the birds and mice to rip apart instead of tearing out a section again and beginning over. For me, it is also about making something that will last for years and may be handed down or even used, a legacy of love in colored thread and even weave fabric that won't end up in a jumble of toys in the toy box or laid out for a garage sale. Personal gifts made with x-stitch and love last forever, not only in the lives of the recipient, but in the memory of the stitcher -- mistakes and all.

First stitches

Since I've decided to get back into cross stitch and found a lot of interesting cross stitch blogs, and since I'm a writer as well as a cross stitcher, I decided to give it a shot.

The background image is of two pieces I did about 20 years ago, King Tut's Death Mask and the bust of Nefertiti, both done on 28-count navy Lugana fabric with Kreinik blending filaments. I did adjust Nefertiti's pattern to match the colors in King Tut's death mask, which I did first, but they do go together.

They went so well together my mother, upon seeing them framed for the first time, snatched them up and ran out of the family room to hide them. I did get them back but she threatened to break into my apartment and steal them. She didn't have to; I gave them to her for Xmas, but she did have to wait more than six months to get them. That's another story for another time.

I recently got back into cross stitch because I wanted to make Xmas stockings for six of my grandchildren, in cross stitch, and in time for the holidays. I have four finished completely, one nearing completion, and the sixth is partially done. It is a more complicated pattern and I needed a break. I also needed to do something a little different and saw the ABC afghan and figured it was a good piece to take a break on. I thought it would be a perfect heirloom gift for a friend's niece, Baby Mac, otherwise known on her birth certificate as McKenna. She is an adorable blue-eyed angel and I wanted something special.

When I received the kit I was somewhat disappointed. Not in the materials, they were top quality, but in the pattern. Cross stitching an afghan with one strand of floss was called for but that provides no stability or durability, so I changed things around a bit. I decided to double the thread count, using 2 and 4 strands of floss for the 1 and 2 called for and I changed the pattern slightly (mostly on the fly as I was stitching) to make use of material since I was stitching over 2 threads. The results aren't too bad but I would've liked more time to properly adjust the pattern so the animals look more fluid and less blocky, maybe even streamlining the letters as well.

As you can see the letters are laid out in a positive-negative design. That is, the letters are positive (cross stitched) and negative (denoted by the empty space within a block of cross stitch). I would suggest contacting Wilton and asking for the conversion from their colors to DMC (my favorite) or Anchor and buy enough floss (about 2 skeins per color) to convert from the 1/2 to 2/4 strands of floss. The floss for back stitching is sufficient in the kit, so no need to buy more.

The afghan did turn out fairly well, although wrinkled from its journey from Colorado to Georgia, and I hope Baby Mac will enjoy it and one day pass it down to her children, something she would not be able to do using the original counts of 1 and 2 strands of floss. Enough of my grumbling and on to two more pictures of the finished afghan.

I'm mostly pleased with the design and may give it another shot, although I'm leaning more towards making afghans for the grandkids next year and have chosen some wonderful patterns and kits from 1-2-3 Stitch. I recommend them highly. They have been a great source of kits and materials and they deliver quickly.

In the meantime, I have another afghan to finish. This one is for my cousin Jillian who is getting married on Aug. 11, 2012 to Cyrus, her long time boyfriend. I do hope she likes sunflowers.