ABC Heart

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Date05 Mar 2018
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Comments4

Here is my lovely ABC Heart!

This was an old freebie from DMC. I don’t see it on DMC’s website anymore which is too bad, it’s such a nice design!

I stitched with Caron Waterliles Silk Cherry and Chili on Picture This Plus Truffle. (the fabric is pinker than the picture shows-I need to try to get a better picture). I am just so pleased with how these colors go together! Cherry and chili could almost be extensions of each other.

I’m also working on July for Joyful World. I love the bright fun colors in this month after the browns in October.

I started this sweet little Abby Rose design too. It is a house and flowers. Normally I avoid houses. But I really liked the colors in this one so I got it. Turns out, the called for colors are nothing like the picture so I picked things I had on hand to create the effect of the picture.

I’m not sure the roof is dark enough gray to make a contrast with the house. Hmm…

Unfortunately the chart is really hard to read. The house is mostly two colors charted with “3” and “5”. The rest of the chart is equally difficult with almost all the symbols being the same “tone” if you know what I mean. (You know how ASCII art uses different tones of keyboard characters to make a grayscale picture? Well if this chart were ASCII art, it would be all one shade.) I might have to color it or come up with some other way to work with it or it will be fraught with mistakes. Not off to an auspicious start, but I still love the design!

 

February Smalls Update

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Date26 Feb 2018
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Comments18

My smalls this month are terribly out of season but at least they are done in time for the Smalls SAL! (If you are interested in visiting the other participants in this SAL, please visit Heather at Stitching Lotus!)

I succeeded in finishing this little design from Victoria Sampler’s Beyond Cross Stitch Learning Collection.

This is Evergreen, number 4-2, where I did three sided pulled stitch (very pretty and satisfying!-it’s the border just inside the gold border) and hemstitch. This is my first time cutting anything! Scary! And I made a few mistakes. More than a few. Or maybe one that snowballed into a collection of mistakes. But there was no turning back once the linen was cut so I kept plowing on and fudged it a bit here and there. I don’t think it’s too bad but I think I’ll try it a second time to make it perfect.

My second small finish is October from the Joyful World calendar by Snowflower Diaries. I made a lot of changes to this one! For one thing, I swapped October and September, as I explained in a previous post. I used satin stitch for the ground, replaced the flying birds with another flower, and I turned the apple into a pumpkin.

I am quite happy with how this one came out, but I have been working on October since…well, probably last September! And I am so tired of it. I must be because I immediately moved the q-snap and put the first stitches in on…JULY!

My alphabet heart is coming along, but I got off by one somewhere and I decided to fancy up the X. So I’m picking out what is wrong and redoing bits…it’s going to take a little bit to get it right, but I really want it to be right! Maybe I can show you next time.

Two Quickies in a Long Post

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Date17 Feb 2018
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Comments4

Sometimes I’m just really irresponsible and I don’t do my plan but follow my whim. I did that this week and started up this DMC alphabet heart, which was an old freebie that I’d share if I could find the link, but it seems to have been removed from the DMC site. Here it is so far, half done!

I’m stitching on 36 ct Truffle from Picture This Plus using a combination of Caron Waterlilies Chili and Cherry. Sounds delicious! Chili Cherry Truffle! Perfect for Valentine’s Week, not perfect for Lent! Let me just say again, how much I love Waterlilies silk. It is fantastic to work with, and so, so, so pretty.

The chart actually asks you to use 3 shades, combining them over each letter to get an interesting gradation. Maybe I’ll do that someday, but I have so many gorgeous silks in my stash, I really like to find projects to use them on, and this is the perfect kind of project for overdyed silks! Sorry DMC, but thanks for the pattern!

Earlier I promised that I would also show you some over one. Here it is, Snowbirds by Country Cottage Needleworks, Just Cross Stitch Christmas 2014. I’m using the closest color match for the fabric I had in my stash, 28ct pearl gray Quaker linen, which is a linen-cotton blend. I’m totally cheating on this one and loving every minute of it. See me stitching continental tent stitch 2 over 1?

So…why? Well, I bought this issue for this chart, after seeing it made up at my LNS. But I’m so lucky, my LNS is Attic Needlework. And they just love to present all these fabulous designs in teeny tiny versions! I go in there and fall in love with all these dainty little works stitched on 52/60 or 40, or over one on 36 ct, or whatever. Evidently that had been the case with this design because when I started to stitch as over 2 I thought, whoa, this is enormous! (it isn’t, but it is bigger than the shop model was). Now, I always have a fresh Christmas tree with little floppy branches, and if I made it full size over 2, it would be a big ornament. I need little ornaments. So I picked it out and set right back again over one. But that was tedious, so I switched to tent stitch, and I’m happy. It’s so cute!

I think sometimes we need projects where we have to work hard towards perfection in spite of frustration, to hone our skill and make a beautiful work of art. But other times we need projects that are just fun and easy, to play around and experiment with techniques while enjoying a quickly finished product. Do you agree? Or are you all perfectionists out there? 🙂

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About me:

I am an “old” stitcher and a new blogger. My grandma taught me to cross stitch when I was 7 and I’ve had a project (or many!) going since then. While I appreciate (and would like to try) all needle arts at the moment, I mostly cross stitch and I really enjoy learning specialty stitches for counted embroidery. A lifetime ago I studied French and art history but now I fit my stitching around a busy life raising 5 young kids with my wonderful husband. Thank you for spending some time at my blog!

2018 Stitch Alongs

2018 Stitch Alongs

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