Friday, September 07, 2018

Bleeding Heart - finished!

Another finish! No progress photos, I didn't bother taking any as I was working on this. This is Bleeding Heart by Nora Corbett with a bunch of changes. The overall look is still pretty similar to the original charting, but with tweaked colors and materials.

First up, the pictures!
She's stitched on Daybreak Belfast by Crafty Kitten.





And now, the changes!

Overall changes:
- Changed all beads except the largest one to Delicas.
- Wings were charted in regular DMC - I changed to 100% metallics.

Color changes - cross stitch:
(Changed blue areas of pants to blue-grey to tone it down a bit, removed blends.)
317 to 930
351 to 3832
587 to 932
3341 to 3833
3761 to 3753
317/597 to 931
597/3761 to 3752

Color changes - backstitch:
645 to 632 (skin, cuz who tf backstitches skin in grey)
830 to 632 (in wings)
830 to 304 (in bleeding hearts)
900 to 304 (in sash)

I was going to change the bleeding hearts to a more candy red or dark pink, but it didn't look nice, so I went back to the charted colors. Mostly. Haha. :D

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Mini Mandala Mystery 05 - finished!

I'm definitely on a Chatelaine kick this year. Lots of stitching and lots of finishes! Gotta hurry up since my wife bought me FIVE more Chatelaine charts for my birthday...

As always, the pictures are terrible but I did my best to show a bunch of different angles!





As usual, I made some small changes (beads, threads, blah) so I could use materials from my stash instead of buying anything specifically for this pattern.

I also made a few changes to the design itself. I didn't like the backstitching in the vined corners, so I replaced those with a bicone inside a beaded square. And the tiny square gardens in the corners of the specialty stitch path were a boring solid green, so I replaced them with a mini version of the central motif using Jessica stitches and beads. I think they came out really cute! Oh, and I left out a bunch of random backstitching that didn't add anything to the design.

I'll be going back to Mushroom and Fern Mandala, and maybe working on a couple of smalls by Hands on Design that I barely started if I get tired of fancy stitching. :3

Wednesday, July 04, 2018

Mini Mandala Mystery 05 and felt ornaments!

I haven't been posting recently but I've definitely been stitching! This is Mini Mandala Mystery 05 (aka MMM05) by Chatelaine. Yes, I'm really into Chatelaine this year! I picked up the chart during the recent sale and I'm already pretty close to a finish.

This is a terrible picture as usual. The fabric is Pomona by Chromatic Alchemy. :)


Not cross-stitching, but my wife and I started working on a vintage felt ornament kit (about 40 years old!) that her mom gave to us a while back. The outer package was in terrible condition so I kind of expected the contents to be gross, but it was perfect on the inside!

We made the poinsettia and pear, and they honestly look better than the cover photo. :)


And here are some detailed shots of both sides.


I made felt ornaments from a kit as a kid, and I was surprised that this vintage kit was pretty much exactly the same in terms of materials and construction techniques. I ended up getting a modern kit since we were enjoying these so much, and they're still the same even now. Well, I guess felt ornaments aren't rocket science. :p

Monday, June 11, 2018

Crab - start & finish!

Small projects are so satisfying. :)

This is Crab from Seaside Series III by JBW Designs, stitched on 30ct WDW Garnet with DMC B5200. As you can see, this fabric is noooot colorfast - I got a tiny drop of water on the left side back when I first purchased the fabric and it made a huge spot. It's a lovely fabric but I'm surprised that such a 'mainstream' dyer is selling stuff that's so easily damaged by moisture.


Anyway, cute design and a quick stitch! Next, I'm moving on to the last piece of the Dream of the Sea set by Hands on Design. Of course, I left the biggest part for last... :p

Monday, June 04, 2018

Farm Fob - start & finish!

Small start and finish today - Farm Fob partial kit by Lizzie Kate. The sticker on this suggests that the retail price was $15 (for chart, fabric, ricrack, beads) but I'm pretty sure I got it on clearance for a buck. There's no way this is worth $15.


I used the DMC conversion, which honestly looks better than the cover photo... and since I think this finished project isn't very nice either, just imagine how gross the model looked. The colors are so boring and uninspired and I feel like I should have made an effort to change/improve them more than I did, but eh. The motifs are boring too. The cow and pig didn't even have eyes charted, which was incredibly creepy.

Anyway, it's done and I'm glad it's done. And I'm extra glad I didn't spend $15 on this!

Friday, June 01, 2018

Tis the Season - start & finish!

I've had some nerve/tendon issues with my arm so I haven't been stitching much, but I did manage to start and finish Tis the Season by Blackbird Designs in May!


It's stitched with random threads from my stash instead of the pricey silk threads, and I made a bunch of small changes to adjust spacing to my liking. Still thinking I want to redo the snowflake near the bottom that's too close to "etre" but I dunno...

There's supposed to be a snowflake border along the top right, but I chose not to do it (at least for now) because it was very same-y all the way across and I didn't like how it looked. I may go back and add something else later to help square up the entire design visually. Or not. Maybe I'll take out the two half snowflakes above the cardinal (and the two at the left and right borders too?) instead.

Anyway, it's done for now and I'm going to let it rest before making any more changes!

Next up... stitching a bunch of minis in June, I think! I already have a small bag full of mini sized projects that I've been itching to get to. Time to DO IT. :p

Wednesday, May 02, 2018

Beaded Dragonfly Tile - finish!

It's hard to believe, but it's done! I started this project over five years ago, when it was still a new release. It spent most of its time chilling in the WIP basket while I worked on other, easier projects, but now it's finished.

I kind of don't know what to do with myself now. I thought about going back to Mushroom & Fern right away, but I think I'm a bit Chatelaine-d out for the moment. Probably going to start something new and relatively easy to give myself a little break before getting back to it. :p

Anyway, here's the beaded beauty!


And some close-up pictures.
This is the part where you pretend not to see all the cat hair. :p

 
 


It's stitched pretty much as charted, with a few small changes to backstitch colors for the buds, and I left off the white beads at the base of the tall grass because I like it without them. Oh, and because I stitched on black, I used the variegated silk that was used for the inner border of rhodes stitches in place of the black outer border.

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Beaded Dragonfly Tile - again!

I think this is my oldest WIP, at least of things I actually plan to finish. (I think there's a HAED that's even older, but... nah.) Anyway, this has been in the works for more than five years now, aka way too long, so it's time. For real. Look how close it is now!


This is a pic from yesterday afternoon. I finished the outer border (aka jessica stitch hell) this morning and I'm starting to backstitch the flower buds. Unfortunately, I think I need to remove all the old backstitching (and some of the new) because I'm not satisfied with the color. It's too light to stand out well against all the pinks in the flowers, and since I've already spent five years on this, what's another day or two?


It's hard to see but the double buds in the corner are stitched in a slightly darker color than the single bud near the top of the picture. I might want to go even darker to make it pop more. I mean, why spend all this time on buds with 10+ colors in them if they end up looking like blobs?

Of course, there's still a billion over-one dragonflies and a ton of beading left too...

Monday, April 16, 2018

Iris Flower Panel - post #5 - Finish!

All done! This was finished over the weekend. :)

As usual, the pictures aren't that great, so you have to pretend it's nicer than it looks. The fabric is PTP Truffle so it's a slightly pinkish light brown. The iris was converted to shades of purple (original was blue) and all threads are random stuff from my stash.


I actually feel like the bling in the top section is a little too much. Those round crystals are overkill. Just one at the top would have sufficed. Oh well, they're already on there so they're staying.


Finally, the two siblings are together! It might be hard to see, but the orchid has bicones in place of those five clear round crystals on the iris, which looks better to my eye. There's just one large clear crystal at the very top and it's the same size of the five on the iris. The large top crystal on the iris is even bigger and it looks unbalanced.


Well, I can always change things out later if I feel like it! For now, I'll enjoy the finish. :D

Next up, Beaded Dragonfly Tile. For real this time. Already made some good progress over the weekend and I'm pumped to keep going!

Monday, April 09, 2018

Iris Flower Panel - post #4

I think I finished all the over-one in this design. Someone slap me if I ever consider doing a pattern with this much over-one again. (Um, never mind all the other Chatelaines I've started... haha.)

Overall progress:
(Really close to finishing now! Just some specialty stitches and beads, I think!)


Close up of my terrible over-one stitching. I tried full crosses this time instead of tent/continental because it looks a little neater, but... eh. It's still pretty bad. Not a fan of over-one, honestly.


I wonder if I can finish this week! Lots of Jessica stitches to go and I'm bad at those too. :p

Tuesday, April 03, 2018

Iris Flower Panel - post #3

Quick update! I've been stitching a little bit every day, and it's amazing how much progress I've made just by paying attention to being consistent. :)


Next step will be finishing up the iris leaves, then getting back to the over-one garden in the middle. Definitely don't want to leave that all until the end!

Monday, March 26, 2018

Iris Flower Panel - post #2

Quick update on the iris panel!


The over one in the central garden is slow going, so I'm alternating working on that and doing some of the easier parts. I completed the iris (converted to purples) on Friday and then moved on to the little onion dome at the top.

Here's a closeup of the iris:


The empty spaces are for beads. :)

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Iris Flower Panel - post #1

I'm on a roll with doing whatever I want this year, haha. I started yet another Chatelaine project, the Iris Flower Panel. It's a companion piece to the Cattleya Orchid Flower Panel I finished a few years ago. I decided to start this one when I ran across the kit in my 'future projects' box. Plus I've decided that irises are special to a fictional couple I enjoy writing about, so... this is for them. Haha.

I'm converting the iris at the bottom from shades of light blue to a darker purple color, because a) I like purple and b) my couple's irises are purple sooooooo...

Anyway, I started on Sunday! Here are my progress pictures for each day.

 

Yes, I went a little crazy today. Took a day off work and pretty much stitched all day. Let me tell you, it does wonders for your stress levels... I feel better than I have in ages!

The fabric is PTP Truffle Belfast - it's a little pinker than the photos show. Should be a really nice contrast for the purple iris. :3

Monday, March 12, 2018

Mushroom and Fern Mandala - post #4

Still going! I've tried editing the pictures to get the colors to show up correctly, but this still isn't very accurate. It's much nicer in person - the pictures are washed out and weird.

Working on finishing up the large diamond shaped border (so many eyelets aaaagh) and adding the little triangular bits sticking out at the points and sides. I'm also slowly adding the backstitched meadow around the center medallion. Very slowly...


And because I DO WHAT I WANT, I started beading the center! Again, the colors are horrible and it's much more vibrant in person.


I don't see myself putting this down any time soon, so look forward to more mushroom in the future. Hopefully I'll actually get to some mushrooms soon. :p

Tuesday, March 06, 2018

a couple of finished items!

I forgot to post a couple of little ornaments I made recently. :)

Yes, these are bad pictures as usual!


On the left is a mini mushroom pattern by Chatelaine that used to be a freebie. I think I finished the stitching last December when my wife was away on a business trip, and then I made it into an ornament last month. And on the right is the Father Winter ornament by Teresa Wentzler, which I made a long time ago and finally turned into an ornament at the same time.


Closer look at the mushroom, since I apparently forgot to post it here when it was done! The beads are random stuff from my stash, but I think all the threads are as charted.

Monday, March 05, 2018

Mushroom and Fern Mandala - post #3

Help, I can't stop working on this. :p


A more detailed look at the top corner:


I'm going to keep working on the outer border and the backstitched grass and stuff around the central medallion. Maybe I'll start adding beads to the very center as well, since there's a lot. Gotta see if I have any q-snap extension bits and figure out how far out it's safe to bead...

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Mushroom and Fern Mandala - post #2

After taking a little break to work on Dream of the Sea, I bounced right back to Mushroom and Fern Mandala. It's so much fun because there are lots of little details in each area, so if I get tired of one type of stitch, it's easy to move on and do something completely different.


As you can see, I'm really bouncing all over! The heavy backstitching around the central medallion is going to be the most challenging part, so I'm taking lots of breaks to work on the border outside of that area. There's so much variety!

I've also decided to couch the curly light green ferns and the pale blue scrollwork in the points of each diamond instead of backstitching them. I don't like the look of backstitching with heavy thread at all, and it's especially bad with light threads on a darkish fabric like this. Unfortunately, it's very time consuming and it's so easy to make mistakes or tangle up the threads. Oh well, as long as it gets done eventually, it's fine. :)

This will continue to be my focus so I'm sure my next update will be more of the same! Might even start adding some beads since I never leave them until the end on a Chatelaine. I love beading but I think even my brain would explode if I tried to do it all at once!