Saturday, September 29, 2012

Completed Project Add: Cross Stitch - Paladin

Here's the finished project add I was referring to in the last post:  A very simple piece, but I think he's striking and wonderful.  Such a proud looking dragon.


Pattern: Paladin
Pattern by: Fire Wing Designs
Started Stitching: June 23, 2010
Finished Stitching: June 25, 2010
Fabric: 28ct. Lava Cashel Linen
Floss: Hand-Dyed Silk 2 over 2

Story about getting this framed:
My sister and I went to the Michael's near her place and went through all the fun of framing this.  When it was ready to pick up we went back, and for some reason our mother was in town and went with us.  Anyway, my sister went to grab something while our mother and I stayed at the counter.  They unwrap it and I'm looking at it thinking, okay, that's the right frame and mats and... hrm... something's not quite right.  I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's basically correct.

My sister gets back, takes a look at it and instantly says, "Isn't that backwards?"  I look again and, sure enough, he's facing the left!  That's what was so odd, then I look closer and I realize I'm looking at the back of the piece.  They framed it with the back out!  I'm not sure to be beaming with pride that they thought the back of my piece looked so good that it could be mistaken for the front or be annoyed.  I went with the former and shrugged it off.

The framing manager couldn't believe it and was going to give the framer a good talking to.  They fixed it at no charge, of course, and it is how we see it today.  Now I really wish I had taken a picture of it backwards, I would have posted that here as well.

Moving on:
While I was gathering information for this post I went to the website for Fire Wing Designs and found this was part of a whole series of goodies, the Signet Series.  The artist had created ten other patterns in the same style... what can I say, it was love at first sight.

I ended up buying all but two of the ten remaining patterns in the Signet Collection.  One pattern of the eight I purchased is actually 4 different patterns of small 3.5" x 6" pieces that, I think, I could finish each one in a night.  I might end up getting one of the other patterns, but the eleventh is a snake and I'm more into dragons, so I, more than likely, won't purchase that one.

My favorite out of the remaining dragons is Samurai.  He's going to be my next project for me out of the eight I just bought.  Hopefully he'll only take three days like Paladin did.

New project add for this year:
When we were growing up, my sister and I had a black and white bathroom.  So first we started decorating it with black and white things, orcas and the like.  We finally got a pair of black and white comedy and tragedy masks, and after that we started decorating the bathroom with masks.  When our parents moved closer to us my mother kept her "Mask Bathroom".  So I decided to make the two Signet Masks, one with a black background and light thread and one with a light background and dark thread.  Hopefully it will look as good in real life as it does in my head.

And the thread arrived in the mail on Friday so I've already started on it.  I will post progress pictures soon.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Transcendence: Fifth Post - Pages 19 & 20

Finally!  After days of procrastination, which was odd because I really wanted to finish these two pages, 19 & 20 are complete.  This means I've completed a total of 3 pages. Yay!  And a 2012 goal has been completed!

I had a little bit of "fun" and made a little chart of what pages I've done, or aren't stitched, compared to those that still need to be stitched.  By the way, if you're reading this through a reader it looks much cooler on my blogger page.  Okay, much cooler might be overstating it a bit.
Project Stats:
Pattern: Transcendence
Original Artist: Adele Sessler
Pattern by: Heaven and Earth Designs
Started Stitching: March 7, 2012
Fabric: 20ct. Black Lugana Evenweave
Floss: DMC 2 over 1
Percentage: 10.06% complete
Pages Stitched: 3 of 36 complete
Stitches: 14,452 out of 143,296 complete
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30
31 32 33 34 35 36
37 38 39 40 41 42

So, away he goes. :(  I'm waiting on some thread for a Christmas present for my mother.  I already have the fabric which I hand-dyed, first time I've ever tried doing that, so no laughing when I post it.  The patterns should be easy to stitch, and, since she doesn't know how to check this blog, I will post my progress on those.  Obviously since they're easy they're not HAEDs.  I think I'll try working on Friends Forever until I get the thread.

I'll be posting a completed project that will be a tie in to the project for my mother in about a week's time.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Transcendence: Fourth Post - Pages 19 & 20

Over Labor Day weekend I was trying to get another project finished.  However, when I did the math, I found out it would be pretty much impossible to complete it in the amount of time I had to complete it.  So, I went back to Transcendence.

I was hoping to be done with both pages by now, but life and other things got in the way.  But I really wanted to share where I'm at so here we go:


The picture's a little fuzzy, but I'm sure you get the gist.  I've completed all the blues and purples.  Which means you can see the butterflies in all their glory.  All I have left now are the browns and greens.  After this picture was taken I completed one green and am halfway through another.  There are 34 different greens and browns, so lots of changing of colors, I think that's why these pages are taking so long.

With this much done I'm almost positive that the black will not be stitched, so I've changed the project stats a little.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Transcendence
Original Artist: Adele Sessler
Pattern by: Heaven and Earth Designs
Started Stitching: March 7, 2012
Fabric: 20ct. Black Lugana Evenweave
Floss: DMC 2 over 1
Percentage: 8.39% complete
Pages Stitched: 1 of 36 complete
Stitches: 12,054 out of 143,296 complete