A Mother's Pride: First Post

This is one of my Dimensions Gold Collection kits.  I lost the chart a while back so I couldn't stitch it.  I finally decided to buy a new kit to get the chart, and I found the chart a few days after I got the new kit.  Oh well, now I have two and I can lose one again.

Here's where it was sitting at while the pattern was lost:

I had decided to focus on the background because I found it the most annoying.  I don't know why but it took me a while to convince myself to work on it.  There was just something about the background that made me not want to stitch it.

Finally, I've overcome whatever obstacles my brain was creating and have taken a pretty decent stab at the background, so this is what it looks like now:

I now have technically two colors left, but four symbols.  Half are regular cross stitches and the other half are half cross stitches.  I was hoping to get it done by the end of the week, but I'm not sure if I'll actually be able to, I still have over 40% of the project to stitch.  But that doesn't mean I won't still try.

Project Stats:

Pattern: A Mother's Pride

Pattern by: Dimensions

Started Stitching: June 15, 2010

Fabric: 18ct. Ivory Aida

Percentage: 59.74% complete

Stitches: 6773 out of 11,338 complete

Completed Project Add: Cross Stitch - Pink and Purple Flowers

Okay, so last year my parents moved nearby and as they go through boxes they keep giving me back the stuff I had left at their house when I left home for college and never returned.  Much of it I'm throwing away, but I found this little gem:

Can you believe this?  1990!  I actually remember making this piece.  I already knew how to cross stitch by this time, but a friend was over, she saw my mother working on a larger cross stitch piece and she wanted to learn.  So my mother had tons of books with these little patterns to stitch, lots of Aida floating around and cases and cases of DMC thread.  We each picked a pattern and some thread.  She learned to stitch as I happily stitched away on my own.  This was definitely during my "purple" phase.

Hope you enjoyed going way back in time with me on this one.  Sometimes it's fun to take a look back.

I have a Dimensions project that I'm working on that I've added to the stuff I want to complete before our next framing run.  That might be my next post.

Messy... but MINE!: Second Post - Complete

Can you believe it?  Two finishes in two days!  It's very exciting.

Okay, I have a ton of pics... well 6.  I just took pictures and continued on.  It took less time to stitch the remainder of the project than I thought.

First picture.  This is the original coloring of the bear:

I showed it to my family, my mother's response was noncommittal  however my sister flat out said he was the wrong color.  Honestly it was bugging me too, but I convinced myself that it was okay.  But with her response I pulled out everything and tried again.  When completed I sent her the following picture to ask for her opinion:

Yes, that is Whitey.  I originally wasn't going to post this pic, but I think it turned out cute so I decided to.  Of course my sister's response was he needed eyes and a nose.  Sigh.  I don't know how most people stitch, but I try to do all back stitching at the very end.  So he will remain featureless for the time being.

I then went on to put in all the color that didn't have the Kreinick filament or braid, nor had any back stitching:

And finally the GOLD, and silver...

Finally the wording that makes it make sense:

And finally the black!

Project Stats:
Pattern: Messy... But MINE!
Pattern by: Dragon Dreams
Started Stitching: November 8, 2012
Finished Stitching: November 20, 2012
Fabric: 28ct. DMC Linen
Floss: DMC 2 over 2, or 1 over 2 Kreinick #4 Braid

Right before I started working on this post I texted the finished picture to my mother and sister.  My sister's response made me giggle, "I think if your room was messy with piles of gold we'd all let it slide."  I wish!

So now I'm not sure what I'm going to do.  I have a few projects I want to finish before we go on a framing run which will probably be early next year.  I want to do the piece that's similar to this one No Late Knight Snacking, as well as SK Magical Arrival, a bead weaving project, Colombina, Lost Dragon Sampler, and Tales of Wonder.  I highly doubt I'll be able to get all of these done.  But it will be fun finding out which ones I do get done.

Anthera: Third Post - Complete

Success!  Anthera is done, I finished it up last night.  Now... I did have to be a little creative on the last three stitches, I almost ran out of thread.

I did the left half first:

Then I completed the right side:

Project Stats:

Pattern: Anthera

Pattern by: Fire Wing Designs

Started Stitching: November 13, 2012

Finished Stitching: November 19, 2012

Fabric: 28ct. hand-dyed Evenweave

Floss: Caron Waterlilies 2 over 2, or 3 over 2 with black filament

Percentage: 100% complete
Stitches: 3,580 out of 3,580 complete

Now all I have to do is wait for the thread to arrive for Colombina then take a few moments to finish it up.  The tread should arrive by the end of the month, or early part of December.

Messy... but MINE!: First Post

I really need to stop jumping from blog to blog.  I find so much fun stuff to stitch!  I found a bunch of free Dragons to stitch over at Dragon Dreams.  They're great!  I'm definitely going to have to stitch them.  I might have also bought of few of their charts as well.  I guess when you're a fantasy freak and you come across a place called Dragon Dreams you're doomed.

Here's my first Dragon Dreams x-stitch.  I've never been the neatest person in the world, so Messy...But MINE! is the perfect project for me.  I have decided to make a minor change or two.  Grasped in the dragon's claws is a brown teddy bear.  I have my own teddy bear.  I've had him since I was 5 years old.  His name is Whitey (don't laugh at his name, I was five!), so I'm guessing you probably figured out that he's not a brown bear.  I'm going to change the pattern to look like him, and since Whitey will be 28 years old this Christmas he's not really white anymore.  Instead, he's going to be a combination of grays and beiges.

I've also decided that, despite my distaste for it, I'm going to add some gold blending filament to all the yellow that's supposed to be gold.  I think it'll add a nice little kick that will be worth the little extra time it'll take to stitch.

Last change is I've decided to stitch it on some 28ct DMC Linen that I bought back when I worked at Michaels.  I think it will add a little extra medievalness to it.  So I've gotten pretty far on it, ready for the ton of progress pictures I took?

First Color
Added one more green
And yet another green
Two more... GREENS!

And here's the final pic of the post (and possibly blurriest):

The dragon is done except for the black of his pupils and nostrils.  I will do those right before I start playing with all the backstitching.  He looks a little demonic without the black, but know it won't be long before that black is added.  Well, I'm off to play with a little treasure!

Project Stats:
Pattern: Messy... But MINE!
Pattern by: Dragon Dreams
Started Stitching: November 8, 2012
Fabric: 28ct. DMC Linen
Floss: DMC 2 over 2, or 1 over 2 Kreinick #4 Braid
Percentage: 73.79% complete
Stitches: 1,886 out of 2,556 complete

Anthera: Second Post

Well, the eyes did take me as long as I thought they would.  All day Wednesday in fact.  Well, part of that was due to the fact that I had to take out about 90% of the left eye, I hate it when I make a stupid counting mistake.  Here it is all fixed and done:

Yay, no more of the black filament, which doesn't look as cool as the silver, but oh well, I am not undoing it again.

So I started to work on the top curls, but I guess my body decided it hadn't been sick for a while and Thursday was the perfect day.  So, I didn't get much stitching done, and I think I slept for about 3/4 of the day.  So now it's Friday, I'm still feeling a little weak from my illness, but it doesn't take too much energy to stitch, right?  At least this picture isn't as crooked.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Anthera
Pattern by: Fire Wing Designs
Started Stitching: November 13, 2012
Fabric: 28ct. hand-dyed Evenweave
Floss: Caron Waterlilies 2 over 2, or 3 over 2 with black filament
Percentage: 77.26% complete
Stitches: 2,766 out of 3,580 complete

I'm going to have to take a break until Monday on Anthera.  My grandfather is going to be in town so I'll be spending a bit of time at my parents' place visiting, and I can't very well work on my mother's gift while she's in the same room.

Anthera: First Post

Well, after the disappointment of not being able to finish Colombina, and further disappointment of the thread being out of stock where I normally order it from, I've done quite a bit on Anthera in just one day.  Almost 34% of the total!  I'm feeling much better about being able to finish both of these in time for the holidays.  I pretty much have no doubt that I will get them done in time.  To the right is a reminder of what it looks like.

First up, here's a pic of the fabric and a portion of the thread I'm using, Caron Waterlilies Salt & Pepper.  The fabric is very lightly dyed, I was actually impressed that the difference in colors was visible in this picture.

Next up is the center of the piece.  Basically the "body" of the butterfly.

And this is where it is now:

The bottom part is done.  I'm going to start on the eyes and get the filament out of the way, which, if Colombina was any indication, will be the most annoying part of the piece.  Luckily there are less stitches around the eyes that need the filament than on Colombina.  I'm hoping to get enough done today that I'll have to bore you with yet another post tomorrow!

Project Stats:
Pattern: Anthera
Pattern by: Fire Wing Designs
Started Stitching: November 13, 2012
Fabric: 28ct. hand-dyed Evenweave
Floss: Caron Waterlilies 2 over 2, or 3 over 2 with black filament
Percentage: 33.85% complete
Stitches: 1,212 out of 3,580 complete

Colombina: Third Post

I've been a bad, bad girl.  I started two other projects while I swore to myself that I wouldn't start any until after I had finished one.  So this will be a quick post as I have tons of things I want to finish by the end of the year, and less time to do it in.

On the other hand, I'm incredibly close to finishing Colombina.  Here it is after I completed one side:

And here it is right now:

No, your eyes are not deceiving you.  I have not completed the last curl.  Why, you may ask, am I posting with the project being merely 79 stitches from being complete?  I'm glad you asked, I ran out of thread!  Can you believe it?  :(  So off I go to buy one more skein, and while I'm at it I'm going to order an extra skein of the color I'm using for Anthera, just to be sure.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Colombina
Pattern by: Fire Wing Designs
Started Stitching: September 28, 2012
Fabric: 28ct. hand-dyed Evenweave
Floss: Caron Waterlilies 2 over 2, or 3 over 2 with silver filament
Percentage: 97.84% complete
Stitches: 3,579 out of 3,658 complete

So we'll see what happens first, will I get far enough on Anthera to post before my thread arrives to finish Colombina?  I feel like I'm writing a cheesy cliffhanger for a television show.

Colombina: Second Post

I'm sorry I've been a bit dark recently.  Honestly I was working on sewing a Halloween Costume, which, in hindsight, I realized I should have taken progress pictures and posted those.  Unfortunately I did not.  Anyway after that was finished for last weekend's party, I lost my job on Tuesday, so needless to say, Not much has been done.

Here's what I got done on Colombina before all the chaos of Halloween costumes and employment issues.

I've done a little bit more, the two curls closest to the center on the left hand side.  I'm planning on getting this done next week.  Without work to hinder me, I should get it done rather quickly.


Project Stats:
Pattern: Colombina
Pattern by: Fire Wing Designs
Started Stitching: September 28, 2012
Fabric: 28ct. hand-dyed Evenweave
Floss: Caron Waterlilies 2 over 2, or 3 over 2 with silver filament
Percentage: 73.23% complete
Stitches: 2,679 out of 3,658 complete