Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Bride's Tree Ornament #3: Wishes

I'm not posting, but I am stitching, honest! Well, between Stardew Valley sessions and working on our neverending translation project...

But I'm catching up on my monthly projects, and here's the Bride's Tree ornament I should have finished last month. On to the next... after doing March's hardanger SAL. :)


Sorry about the wrinkles, this is fresh off the hoop. :p

This one is called Wishes, symbolized by a basket of flowers. I especially like the rose under the basket, and I kind of wish there were more roses instead of the glove and plant trimmers. I debated leaving them off but my wife said no, and since I'm making these for her, she's the boss. :p

Now I just need to resist a new start and get back on track with my monthly stitching...

~~~

ETA: I completely forgot that this cutie fits with the Smalls SAL! Since this was ornament #3, I somehow convinced myself that it was finished in March, but I did it all this month. :3

Thursday, April 07, 2016

South Seas Mermaid post #10 - finish!

Ahh, all the beads are finally in, and South Seas Mermaid is complete!





And some beading closeups!




Yeah, definitely glad I didn't attempt this on Belfast!

And my usual bit of info!

fabric: 
Crafty Kitten - Sunset Garden (Cashel/28ct)

Changed all blended threads to single DMC colors:
167/676 becomes 729
335/3860 becomes 316
356/758 becomes 3778
772/927 becomes 524
3607/3609 becomes 3608
3609/3860 becomes 223

I also changed 844 (black triangle) to different colors depending on the area stitched:
469 in the seaweed
3768 in the tail and green/pale fins
(kept as 844 in the back/pink fins)

Aside from that, my only other changes were doing the skin over-one and the usual recharting to smooth out the transitions between the skin colors. Oh, and a few small bead substitutions, like I didn't want any of the yellow-green beads in her hair, so I replaced them with other bead colors that were already used in her hair. Basic stuff like that. :)

All in all, a pleasure to stitch and bead! Loved every moment. :)

Monday, April 04, 2016

South Seas Mermaid post #9

Beading in progress! I usually don't take pictures of in-progress beading, but since my wife wanted to see how far I'd gotten while she's at work, I figure I'll post the pics here too. :3


As you can see, I finished her head and the streamers off to the right side and started with her body and back fin. There are a LOT more beads to add along that fin, and I'm definitely glad I went with Cashel on this project! There's no way the beads would have fit on Belfast. I haven't had to leave out any beads at all so far, and I'm sure I won't have to, considering how dense the beading is along that back fin!


And a zoomed out shot so you can see just how far there is to go. There's tons of beads in the seaweed as well as the remainder of her body and tail.

It's a good thing I love beading! My favorite part of any project, to be honest...

Friday, April 01, 2016

South Seas Mermaid post #8 & goals!

Fun things first! I just finished the skin on South Seas Mermaid, which ended up taking a lot longer than expected. Not because it was difficult - I've stitched projects with a LOT more over-one skin - but because I was massively distracted. By what, you ask?

Don't play this game, it's a life ruiner.
(Just kidding, totally play it, it's amazing!)

But somehow, between farming and hanging out with all the nerds in Pelican Town like it's a full time job, I did manage to finish all of her skin! It only took... eleven days, I think?



Next up is a good wash to fluff up the stitches a bit before beading. Well... maybe a test wash of the corner to make sure the fabric won't lose any color, and then a wash if it's appropriate. I don't think I've tried washing Crafty Kitten fabric before, so I want to be extra careful.

Oh, and goals! I worked on this project exclusively all March, so obviously I didn't meet my goals, but that's okay. My real goal is to have fun stitching, and I definitely managed that!

April goals are:

- finish South Seas Mermaid!
- catch up on the hardanger SAL
- stitch #3 of the Bride's Tree Ornaments
- and a stretch goal, stitch #4 of the Bride's Tree Ornaments

Also farming. Lots and lots of farming...