A Mother's Pride: Third Post - Complete

I love looking at cross stitches before the the back stitching goes in.  At first it just looks like a blob of colors running into each other...

Sometimes you can make out certain parts of the project, but once you get that back stitching in...

BAM!  It finally looks like something, and you have a completed project on your hands!

It took over two years and losing, then finding, the chart, but finally, it's all finished.  Yay!

Project Stats:

Pattern: A Mother's Pride

Pattern by: Dimensions

Started Stitching: June 15, 2010
Finished Stitching: December 5, 2012

Fabric: 18ct. Ivory Aida

Floss: Kit Floss various over 1

No Late Knight Snacking: First Post

Well, I've already finished the two colors that I said I'd do on No Late Knight Snacking.  That took me a lot less time to do than I anticipated.  I did have a small portion already completed, I was showing my cousin's daughter how to cross stitch, I gave her white Aida cloth and I was playing with this.  But even with the small amount to the left of the eye complete it only took me until 8 pm after yesterday's post.

On the left the front of the pamphlet for the project, on the right, my progress pic:

I'm using the same fabric I used for Messy... but MINE! to keep the same feel for both of them.  I'm toying with the idea of using silver blending filament in all of the knight's armor.  I found that the Kreinick blending filament works much better than the silver sewing thread I had used on Colombina and the black thread I used on Anthera.  I might also add some sparkle to his helmet plumage.

I also think I'm going to give the knight a nose and mouth.

Project Stats:
Pattern: No Late Knight Snacking
Pattern by: Dragon Dreams
Started Stitching: November 22, 2012
Fabric: 28ct. DMC Linen
Floss: DMC 2 over 2, or 1 over 2 Kreinick #4 Braid
Percentage: 39.73% complete
Stitches: 809 out of 2,036 complete

What I did find interesting is that there are less stitches in this entire piece, 2,036, than are left on A Mother's Pride, 2,176.  But I won't let that stop me!

A Mother's Pride: Second Post

One color, two symbols, down and one/two to go (oh yeah... and back stitching):

I'm torn right now.  I really want to finish this up, but I'm a little tired of beige and brown at the moment.  I'm tempted to take a day or two off to work on No Late Knight Snacking... but this is SO close!  The more I think about it the more I think I will.  I will only do two greens on it before coming back to this.  A Mother's Pride will get finished!

Project Stats:

Pattern: A Mother's Pride

Pattern by: Dimensions

Started Stitching: June 15, 2010

Fabric: 18ct. Ivory Aida

Percentage: 80.81% complete

Stitches: 9,162 out of 11,338 complete

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.