Flight of the Butterfly
Or maybe it's "plight" of the butterfly...hmmmm... Been working away steadily on this one and it's coming along nicely, when I remember to do *half stitches* and not whole stitches in their place. LOL
I've pretty muched stitched all the bright color there is on this project. There is some reddish color on the left side but that's about it. I have to say that these colors are a bit boring, but the technique is very interesting and a bit challenging. You can't just whip across to one side and back to the other. But I seem to be in the mood for challenging so I'm enjoying it. FYI it also has a lot of blended threads so if you don't like those then this isn't the project for you. And it has an interesting mix of thread density. Some are 3 threads, some 2 threads and I've even stitched one set that was 4 threads thick. I'm assuming that the designer was going for 3D texture along with the sketched look. But it does make it difficult to use the needle that comes with it. I'm using a larger needle than I normally would for 18 count fabric to accommodate the varying thread amounts. Other than that I found the perfect frame and matting for it so I'm looking forward to the finishing. :D
Speaking of finishing I am in the process of working on the finishing for my houses project, but it's a secret that I hope to share next week. (Fingers Crossed) :D
Okay, bye for now from the frozen tundra! Have a great week!
Finally the Finish!
Greg did this pumpkin project for me WAY back in the fall and I never got around to making it into a pillow, I was lazy. Then
Lili sent me a wonderful Xmas gift with lots of nifty patterns, some fabric and the most beautiful little Halloween project AND the fabric to finish it into a pillow. So now I had 2 pillows to finish
and still I was lazy. Finally I finished the Family Medley and it needed to be made into a wall hanging so that was the capper to get off my butt and get going. So I did. Yesterday I made 3 pillows and one wall hanging AND I even did some stitching. I know, I know it's amazing isn't it? Don't worry it won't happen again for 7 or 8 months. LOL, LOL
Lili's Pillow:
Isn't it SOOOOOO pretty? She picked the PERFECT fabric for to go with the project! I just LOVE it! And it turned out so great, no troubles with making it, just as easy as could be. :D Thanks so much Lili, I will always treasure this!
Greg's Pillow:
Greg helped me pick out the fabric for this one. I just fell in love it (way back in the Fall) and it does go perfect with his stitching. :D Thanks for making this one Greg! :X
Family Medley:
I found the fabric for this one in a little town about 50 miles away. I was shopping with my mom and there it was and it seemed so perfect for this project. It's not as well sewn as some of my projects (sadly out of practice) but still it works and has a homey feel that will work in the spot I want to display it. :D Greg got the hearts for this project from the stitching shop up the street, they add just the right touch. I decided to leave off the birds I didn't think it needed them. :D
My new project is Travel Memories from Dimension. It's an interesting project, small 5x7 and mostly done in half stitches.
I just loved the cover picture of this it's so pretty and antique looking. So far (knock on wood) it's been fairly easy. I am a bit leery of the half stitches, not sure why but as I think this will make the project go faster but I always get weirded out by something different until I've tried it. ;) The thing I liked about this kit (and I DO NOT LIKE kits in general) is that everything was nicely sorted and easy to separate. I labeled little baggies and put the threads into them. The chart is fairly easy to read, although they could've used a few more colors to mark the symbols. I think because it's small it makes it easier. My NEXT *NEXT* project will be the challenging one, but let's not talk about it yet. ;)
Here's my work as of this pic:
I actually have finished a lot more, the black outline of the butterfly and the pen so it does go quickly (when you don't make mistakes). I had to frog about half the butterfly when I realized I had put in one too many lines.
Here's an update of Greg's bicycle:
It's coming along nicely and would probably be finished but he's been distracted by other things, like shoveling snow. (don't ask) ;)
Well that's it for now! We got another 6 inches of snow yesterday (lucky us) and so it's definately feeling wintery and blah. I am ready for Spring. :D Have a great week!
Why Does This Fabric Look So Funny?
This is what I asked myself when I started my new project and then I realized, it's cuz it's 14 count and I've been working on 16 count for the last 7 months (it might've even been 18 it's been so long I forget). ;) The holes in the fabric suddenly seemed weirdly large, even after a couple of days stitching on it I still haven't readjusted. Now I understand the reaction people who are stitching on small count linen/evenweave have about 14 ct aida. LOL, LOL
I am now working on Family Medley by Heart in Hand. It's a simple little project that I am not moving along very quickly on because I am lazy and haven't really tried very hard to go any faster. LOL
Once I put some effort into it it won't take that long. And I love the sentiment behind this one. I have something more complex lined up next, which should be fun. :)
Greg is working on The Journey by Dimensions. It's a nice bicycle project that says "It's All About The Journey" I like it, very bright and cheerful. :D
You can't tell but the fabric has a sort of cloudy day effect to it that is very sweet and compliments this one nicely. He always does a great job with his projects.
I'm glad it's Friday and that we have a 3 day weekend, the last one until May, so I will try my best to enjoy it. :D Even though we are supposed to get 6-8 inches of SNOW. But I have dediced to be evil and wish for it to go south and miss us (yes I am bad and I'm not sorry). ;)
Hope you all have a great weekend free of ice and snow. :D
Get Out Your Shoes!
Your Dancing Shoes! That's right it's time to celebrate! I have officially FINISHED! (Well, on Saturday, but who's counting!)
I'm done, caput, finito! It was sort of an anti-climatic finish, as they often are, but it was nice to be done. As soon as I was done I took pictures, sighed with relief and made Greg help me clean up all the thread mess that I created these last 6 months. LOL, LOL
Pictures:
It's so weird to see all the blocks filled in... And as I predicted this last block was just easy, I could've finished sooner if I had taken the time to do it. But things like, oh work, got in the way. LOL
We had a busy weekend, we decided over Xmas to get some new book shelves for all our sundry collections and they were delivered on Saturday and well as a cable upgrade, both about the same time. It was busy at our place for a while. LOL
Anyway I just wanted to show off our snazzy new bookcases that *match* our old computer cabinet. Which now has an honest to goodness working computer in it. LOL For months that computer cabinet had our old non-working computer in it and was just a junk catcher. Now it is actually functional.
Despite the bookcases being a bit bigger than the old shelves they aren't as deep so it seems more spacious back there. :)
Well hope y'all are having a great week! Let's hope for no snow!
Happy (Just Past the) New Year!
I hope everyone had enjoyable Christmases and New Year's! Christmas here was quiet and New Year's was even quieter cuz we got 8" of snow on New Year's eve. Talk about a shock to the system, it just kept coming and coming and coming, like the Engerizer Bunny. LOL Fortunately we aren't big partiers so we didn't miss any celebrations, but I felt bad for those that did. Weirdly enough it's been so warm that a lot of the white stuff has all but melted away....of which I am glad.
I got lots of nice gifts, some from far away (Lili and San thanks a bunch). And since my birthday is January 2, I also got a second round then. It was so great I felt really overwhelmed by all the nice things I got from Greg this year. :)
I also finally got busy and finished the next to the last block of my HOHRH! And I'm nearly done with the LAST block. Sooooooo close!
I love the angel in this one, so pretty and the willow trees. It all turned out very nice.
Here's an overall pic:
I can't believe it's nearly done. I'm in shock! I won't know what to do... LOL
Here's what I have done on the last block:
This one was the easiest that I've worked on, the letters are just simple and the small motifs are fast to get through. Plus I love the saying even if it is a bit morbid. :)
And we have a frame for it, but the darn thing is HUGE! I think we are going to have to scale it down or it just won't fit our place. I just hope the fabric fits in the opening or we will have to start from scratch...actually we are contemplating that anyway just to get the whole thing a bit smaller. I'm sure it will all work out though cuz the idea for the frame is great and Greg did a great job designing it, I just didn't realize how big it was going to be. LOL Like I told Greg I just really wanted to show it off, but got carried away...big surprise there. LOL
I already put all my Xmas decorations away and even had to get a bigger tub for them (thanks to Greg for that! :D) and of course since I was putting some away why not just get out the Valentines stuff. LOL What can I say I love holiday decorations. And I have fun projects that I stitched last year and the year before that I can put out which is so great!
Well not much to say I guess except I hope everyone is having a great week! Now off to read more blogs!
Labels: new year
