Seaside - The Tide's Out

Took a break from the Xmas stocking to finish a gift. It will be framed by a lovely mahogany box and the motif is seaside. This is the stitched piece before the last beads and back stitching are done.

This project was different than the way most pieces are stitched. The beads are added while stitching instead of after all the cross stitching is done.

Now the back stitching is done and all the beads are in place. The date has been added, which is my signature.

It looks very different now, more focused. I like it. This is by The Sweetheart Tree and called "A Day At The Beach," which is perfect for the person getting this one. The kit was purchased from my favorite craft store: 123Stitch.com.  How about a closer look?

 

Crab, fish, castles, shells, and waves lapping the fabric shore. 

All that is left to do is frame it in the box, wrap, and send it out. 

Happy stitching. 

Slowly and surely

I began the odious task of back stitching, which I often call outlining. It's the same thing. Back stitching is the type of stitch used to outline features in cross stitch. As you can see, the cardinals look much more there, even without their French knot eyes.

I began my back stitching with the church, mostly because I wanted to know how it looked with the fence and railings and if it would be more there. The church and surrounding landscape is composed of half cross stitches and it does indeed look very much there.

As I began on the sled, I noticed that the lines would not be straight if I used shorter stitches and the longer stitches would be easier to snag, hence I decided to use long stitches and tack them down in a sort of hybrid couched/back stitched method. There are some unfinished pine branches on the right side of the sled and they look much less defined as the branches on the center of the sled. I'll do the ribbon last as that requires couching of the gold wire. Best to put the other stitches in first. (Click on the pictures to get a closer view.)

In the end -- and it's still a bit away from now since I don't have a lot of time to work on the stocking -- it's all about doing the best job possible. I think this is turning out to be quite pretty. I'm please with it -- so far.

That is all. Disperse.