Faces of Faery 88: Fourth Post

I have actually been working on Faces of Faery 88.  I did notice the other day when I put the WIP pic next to the original pic that my evenweave cloth doesn't appear to be so even, the stitched image is taller than it is wide, and the stitch count is square.  A little annoying, but it doesn't look bad.

This pic, I was just adding more fleshy colors to her face and more of her neck is visible, plus her eyes are getting some stitches as well.

And, as I knew I would, I got tired of flesh tones and did the purple with the most stitches.

It kind of looks funny now.  The dragon's been white for so long it seems weird for him to be that dark purple.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Faces of Faery 88
Original Artist: Jasmine Becket-Griffith
Pattern by: Heaven and Earth Designs
Started Stitching: October 4, 2013
Fabric: 28ct. White Evenweave
Floss: DMC 1 over 1
Percentage: 83.01% complete
Colors Stitched: 54 of 89 complete
Stitches: 25,568 out of 30,800 complete

I recently got my shipment of fabrics from Picture this Plus that I ordered back in July.  I know, that was a while ago, but I did order a lot of different colors, and I didn't need anything quickly.  In it was the fabric for The Wolf.  I might work on that eventually, but maybe not until next year.

Dragon Boo: First Post

My apologizes, I've been absent again.  At least it's not as long as last time.  I got caught up on a few books, then my cable modem died so I had to purchase a new one, then get it set up with my internet provider.

I don't normally do very many seasonal pieces, but then I saw this one, and there are four more.  I thought they were cute.  And looking at the other three that goes with it, Dragon Love, Dragon Noel and Dragon Hoppy, and how small they are, I just couldn't resist.

I first changed the lettering for the "Boo" from regular black to the black high luster.

And so I added in colors that I found in my stash.

Then I had to buy two colors, I ran out of the light green, and I couldn't find my glow in the dark white, yep, the little ghost glows in the dark!

Now I just need to do the back-stitching and I'm not really in the mood to do it, so I'll finish it up next month.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Dragon Boo!
Pattern by: Dragon Dreams & X's & Oh's
Started Stitching: October 5, 2014
Fabric: 28ct. Eek! Cashel Linen
Floss: DMC 2 over 2, Kreinik 1 over 2
Percentage: 100% complete, minus back-stitching
Stitches: 1250 out of 1250 complete

The Lion: Third Post - Framed

I framed The Lion a while back, but just forgot to take a picture of it, and post about it.

I'm hoping to be able to frame the rest in a similar fashion.  Which, I will, unless the frame gets discontinued, I guess I should stitch the rest quickly so I can frame them similarly.

Just a short little post, but one project completely finished.

Nocturne: Fifth Post - Complete

I, once again, had the desire to clean up my WIP page.  This time I had some success!  I pulled Nocturne out from it's drawer and within two nights I completed it, makes me wonder why I took so long to finally finish it.

It's always interesting going from 28 ct stitching to 14 ct.  I always feel like the stitches are way too big, especially when I'm doing 14 ct on 28 ct.  I start thinking, maybe I went over three instead of two.  And toward the end I actually did on two stitches, but I caught that before I even crossed them.

And as I've been doing with this piece I've taken a picture one dragon at a time.  First dragon:

Second dragon:

Third dragon (and complete):

So, one off of my to finish list, and one added to my to frame list.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Nocturne
Pattern by: Fire Wing Designs
Started Stitching: May 29, 2013
Finished Stitching: October 3, 2014
Fabric: 28ct. Lunar Cashel Linen
Floss: DMC & Weeks Dye Works 2 over 2
Percentage: 100% complete
Stitches: 8,799 out of 8,799 complete

Faces of Faery 88: Third Post

Look at me go!  I'm trying to be a better blogger.  Or at least write a few more posts than I have so far this year.

So I went onto the greens on the dragon, and her eyes.  Oh, I also stitched the white, which is kind of hard to see.  I decided to take a picture after I doubled the number of colors I had stitched, so here's 20 colors completed:

Then I finished up all the green, and did a random pink when I found I was missing two greens:

I just realized that I took this picture after I had doubled my color count again, now I've stitched 40 colors, and those 30 colors I stitched were only about 4% of the overall design.

I'm going back to fleshy colors, and maybe finishing the colors in her lips, at least until I get tired of fleshy colors and go to purples and blues in the dragon.  The greens are really the only confetti heavy section of the piece, there are a few more spots here and there, but it should be smooth sailing from here.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Faces of Faery 88
Original Artist: Jasmine Becket-Griffith
Pattern by: Heaven and Earth Designs
Started Stitching: October 4, 2013
Fabric: 28ct. White Evenweave
Floss: DMC 1 over 1
Percentage: 70.60% complete
Colors Stitched: 40 of 89 complete
Stitches: 21,744 out of 30,800 complete

Faces of Faery 88: Second Post

Well, I've gone over the halfway point on Faces of Faery 88, however, I've only stitched 10 colors.  I kept taking pictures meaning to post and then just kept telling myself I'd post when I took the next picture.  I finally am posting.

This is where I hit 50%  More flesh tones.

Then I added one more color, and took a picture.  I decided to take the picture here since I was going to work on a drastically different color.

I added two blues and black.

I'm continuing to work on this mostly.  I've been playing with a few other things that I need to post about.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Faces of Faery 88
Original Artist: Jasmine Becket-Griffith
Pattern by: Heaven and Earth Designs
Started Stitching: October 4, 2013
Fabric: 28ct. White Evenweave
Floss: DMC 1 over 1
Percentage: 66.47% complete
Colors Stitched: 10 of 89 complete
Stitches: 20,474 out of 30,800 complete

Completed Project Add: Cross Stitch - Magnetic Puppies

While I was working at Michaels, the first time, I ran across a cross stitch book with a bunch of puppies in it.  I thought it would be fun to make two Dachshunds for my sister. She had two, a short haired girl (who just recently passed away) on the left and a long haired boy on the right.

There were two problems with my plan.  One, the Dachshund in the book was just brown so I had to change it into a black and tan.  Two, there wasn't a long haired Dachshund pattern, so I took the Cocker Spaniel pattern, shortened the legs, lengthened the body and tail, and changed the color.

And viola, here's the outcome:

I figured it'd be best to make them into magnets.  So I got some cross stitch plastic, stitched them, cut the plastic down, then added a self stick magnetic backing.

I've actually made four sets of these.  Two for my sister, her fridge died and she forgot to take them off and the people who took it away took them with it.  And two for my mother (at the time I originally made them, my nephew wasn't born, so these were her only grandchildren, or grandpuppies), she lost one set, but found it when she moved and gave me back one set, so I now have one set as well.

Original Pattern: An Encyclopedia of Puppies - Modified Dachshund, Pebbles
Pattern by: American School of Needlework
Original Started Stitching: March 2005
Original Finished Stitching: March 2005
Fabric: Darice 14 ct. White Perforated Plastic
Floss: DMC, 3 over 1
Percentage: 100% complete
Stitches: 614 out of 614 complete

Original Pattern: An Encyclopedia of Puppies - Modified Cocker Spaniel, Rocky
Pattern by: American School of Needlework
Original Started Stitching: March 2005
Original Finished Stitching: April 2005
Fabric: Darice 14 ct. White Perforated Plastic
Floss: DMC, 3 over 1
Percentage: 100% complete
Stitches: 985 out of 985 complete

When my mother told me she'd lost the one set I gave her, she told me to just give her the new set as a Christmas present.  I thought, it's kind of boring to know what you're going to get so I decided to make a new magnet for her.  The new magnet I made was an Irish Setter.  Growing up, my eldest "sister" was an Irish Setter.  My parents got her about 4 months before my human elder sister was born.  I didn't like the coloring in the pattern, I thought it looked too light, so I just changed it to darker DMC colors.  I've only made one of these at this point.

Original Pattern: An Encyclopedia of Puppies - Irish Setter, Heidi
Pattern by: American School of Needlework
Started Stitching: November 2009
Finished Stitching: December 2009
Fabric: Darice 14 ct. White Perforated Plastic
Floss: DMC, 3 over 1
Percentage: 100% complete
Stitches: 1,157 out of 1,157 complete

I haven't been able to find a webpage for the company or the book other than used versions, so the link goes to Amazon.com, for now.

The Red Fox: First Post - Complete

This is on the of the projects I started, and completed, during my long absence.  It is the piece that goes with The Lion.

I don't have a whole lot to say about it, except I stitched it on 32ct. Woodland Lugana by Picture This Plus.

The first color:

The rest of the colors in the foxes:

 Then I added in the rocks:

Now some foliage:

And finally the backstitching:

Project Stats:
Pattern: The Red Fox
Pattern by: Gloria & Pat
Started Stitching: April 9, 2014
Finished Stitching: June 28, 2014
Fabric: 32ct. Woodland Lugana
Floss: DMC 2 over 2
Percentage: 100% complete
Stitches: 5,169 out of 5,169 complete

So, that's it.  PTP had their Christmas in July sale, so I finally bought a bit more fabric, including the fabric for The Wolf, which will be the next one of these you see.  Hopefully I'll also have another post of Faces of Faery 88 by the end of the week, and I might also have a completed project add for tomorrow.  Whee!  So much posting after so long.  'Till then!

Faces of Faery 88: First Post

Where the heck have I been?  I do apologize for my absence.  I have been doing some stitching, not alot but some.  Mostly a little bit here, and a little bit there.  I do have a few progress pictures to post, quite a few framed pieces to post, but we'll start here.

I think this may be the most popular Faces of Faery out there.  What can I say, I can't blame people for wanting to stitch it, I love it too.  I like working on charts that others have not done before, but this one I couldn't resist.  You may have noticed my love for dragons, hence my decision to do this particular one.  There are other Faces of Faery out there, specifically 221 & 174, that aren't charted that I'd love to do.  There are a few more I like; 95, 180 & 78, but not nearly as much as the first two.

This chart is 6 pages, two of which are hardly worth mentioning.  So I decided, since there are so many large chunks of color, to stitch all 6 pages simultaneously cross country.  Since it's easiest, at least for me, to start with the largest quantity of stitches, I went with the color that had over 6,000, yikes.  It was a flesh color.

However, the two large chunks of the color were very... VERY far apart, so I did a little bit of the second most color, 939, to make sure I counted correctly.  I did, yay!

Then I finished the rest of the 939.

Ahh... there's the little guy.

I guess I could have posted there, a whopping 10,523 stitches done, but I was being lazy on the posting and didn't.... I'm sorry.  However, I did two more colors are here's where she is right now!

She's starting to really come along.  I don't think she's going to be put away quite yet.  I'm enjoying it too much.  We'll see how long it takes me to get bored.  I promise I'll be better about posting for the rest of the year.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Faces of Faery 88
Original Artist: Jasmine Becket-Griffith
Pattern by: Heaven and Earth Designs
Started Stitching: October 4, 2013
Fabric: 28ct. White Evenweave
Floss: DMC 1 over 1
Percentage: 44.73% complete
Colors Stitched: 4 of 89 complete
Stitches: 13,778 out of 30,800 complete

A Request:

Now despite my recent absence I have a request for my friends over in the London area, or just someone in the UK that can tell me weather.  My parents are going on a trip next week and will be staying in London for a few days.  I'm insanely jealous!  I was hoping to be able to give them a bit of information on what weather they may end up encountering.  You don't have to be too specific, but just generally, hot/cold, humid, rainy, stuff like that.  Thanks in advance for any information.  I'm sure they'll appreciate it.

Compass Rose Dragon: Third Post - Complete

After Rahenna graciously sent me the Kreinick thread I needed I was able to finish stitching Compass Rose Dragon.  Thanks Rahenna!

Here the thread is added in the center of the piece.

And the backstitching is in.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Here Be Dragons - Compass Rose Dragon
Pattern by: Dragon Dreams
Started Stitching: January 26, 2014
Finished Stitching: February 22, 2014
Fabric: 28ct. DMC Linen
Floss: DMC 2 over 2, or 1 over 2 Kreinick #4 Braid
Percentage: 100% complete
Stitches: 1,744 out of 1,744 complete

The Lion: Second Post - Complete

I am pleased to announce the first finish of 2014.  I thought I was going to continue on with Nocturne, but I was a little tired of blue swirls so I went back to a quick project, The Lion.

Two more browns were added in this picture.

And the greens of the grass in the background.

Now it's time for the backstitching.

You may have noticed that I changed the words at the bottom.  Originally it said "The Lion".  As I looked at the other patterns that were the same style I noticed it was about a 50/50 split on if they have "The" or just the name.  I decided to make them all similar.  And since there were two in each picture, I opted to remove the "The" and add "Cubs" at the end.

Project Stats:
Pattern: The Lion
Pattern by: Gloria & Pat
Started Stitching: January 9, 2014
Finished Stitching: February 14, 2014
Fabric: 32ct. Ancient Lugana
Floss: DMC 2 over 2
Percentage: 100% complete
Stitches: 4,631 out of 4,631 complete

I was going back and forth between doing The Wolf or The Red Fox next.  I know what color fabric I want to use for each, and since I have the fabric for The Red Fox, I'll probably be doing it next.  Even though I actually want to do The Wolf more.  But I've told myself I cannot buy any fabric until PTP's Christmas in July sale.

Nocturne: Fourth Post

While adding items to my WIP page, I had another urge to finish up some of the "easier" items and get them off the page.  This time I was drawn to Nocturne, and now, one more round of color is complete.

Here's the first wing:

Second wing:

And the last wing:

So now there's just one more color left.  I might keep going on this just to finish it off.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Nocturne
Pattern by: Fire Wing Designs
Started Stitching: May 29, 2013
Fabric: 28ct. Lunar Cashel Linen
Floss: DMC & Weeks Dye Works 2 over 2
Percentage: 74.21% complete
Stitches: 6,530 out of 8,799 complete

Compass Rose Dragon: Second Post

I got as far as I could on Compass Rose Dragon.

A couple of days ago I finished up the darkest and lightest greens, and did the remainder of the yellow.

Last night I did more of the greens, then finished up with them and the navy blue today.

I still do not know where my vintage gold Kreinik thread is, so I'll put it on hold for now.  Once I find it, I'll finish it off along with the back stitching.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Here Be Dragons - Compass Rose Dragon
Pattern by: Dragon Dreams
Started Stitching: January 26, 2014
Fabric: 28ct. DMC Linen
Floss: DMC 2 over 2, or 1 over 2 Kreinick #4 Braid
Percentage: 98.52% complete
Stitches: 1,720 out of 1,744 complete

Compass Rose Dragon: First Post

Finally, I started working on the second half of the Here Be Dragons charts, the Compass Rose Dragon.  To see the front page of the chart pack just go to the original post for Here Be Dragons.  I was cleaning up the piles of thread and realized one pile was for this, I decided to stitch it before putting the thread away.

I  actually got quite far today.  I started with the compass part, the blues, and the yellow middle.

Then added the reds and the red of the compass.

And finally the rest of the compass except for the navy blue outer circle since the entire thing is back stitched in navy blue, so I'll do that color last right before I start back stitching.

Now it's time to continue on to the dragon.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Here Be Dragons - Compass Rose Dragon
Pattern by: Dragon Dreams
Started Stitching: January 26, 2014
Fabric: 28ct. DMC Linen
Floss: DMC 2 over 2, or 1 over 2 Kreinick #4 Braid
Percentage: 57.68% complete
Stitches: 1,006 out of 1,774 complete

The Lion: First Post

So this was my first new start of the year.  I wasn't going to start anything, but I just couldn't help myself.  It's a cute little picture of two lion cubs.  I don't usually do cute like this, but I just liked it.  In fact, I like most of these little guys created by Gloria & Pat.  This one is The Lion, and since lions are my favorite it is the first one I've decided to do.

I was part of the fabric of the month club with Picture this Plus until they abolished it just last month.  So I have quite a few little swatches of 32 count Lugana.  I found one that I thought this would look good on, Ancient.

I did the color with the most stitches, they are quite clear already.

Next I added two darker colors.

Then two lighter colors.

That's where I left off this evening.  My wrist was starting to hurt when I was stitching so I decided to quit for the night.

Project Stats:
Pattern: The Lion
Pattern by: Gloria & Pat
Started Stitching: January 9, 2014
Fabric: 32ct. Ancient Lugana
Floss: DMC 2 over 2
Percentage: 50.05% complete
Stitches: 2,318 out of 4,631 complete