Sunday Status + life stuff

Another week gone...

I got some done on Tree Frog, not much though, still working on the first green:

Sunny Thought is coming along... got all the x-stitching done, so now onto the backstitching and a few French Knots. 

I've been thinking about changing up the design a little bit.  The sentiment block is supposed to be cut out like a picture frame and a slip of paper with "Smile" printed on it to be placed in the frame.  I'm considering filling in the section that is supposed to be cut out of the "frame" with a lighter color and stitching a sentiment in.  I'm thinking something like "Live in the Sunshine" or "You are my sunshine".  I will have to see if I can make that come out good.  If not, I can always remove the changes and go with the original design.

I also gridded out a project that I've had stuffed away for quite awhile.  It is the free pattern from Golden Kite designs:

 

I downloaded this some time ago, got it started and then put it away.  It was still in the hoop, so that is an indicator of how long ago that was.  I had only gotten one length of the first color done, so I pulled out those few stitches, removed the hoop and spent about an hour ironing it to get the hoop marks out.  Then I gridded it, and tried out one of my q-snap configurations; that is the creases you see in it now.  I am having a little trouble deciding on whether to use q-snap, stretcher bar or scroll bars on this one.

While I was on the Golden Kite website to obtain a fresh copy of the Rose pattern, as I had lost some of the pages, I came across a pattern that really spoke to me, and it was on sale, so I ordered it.  It is called Garden of Delights:

I so love that it is a repro of an actual tapestry.  It is gorgeous!  This one will certainly be a long-term project.  Adding another one to list.

The other craft thing I did this week was to buy some more DMC floss.  Now that I have my floss organized, I have an accurate inventory of what I have and what I need, including needs for future projects, all on a spreadsheet.  I love Excel.  So when I saw Joanns was having floss on sale 3 for 99 cents, and I also get an extra 20% off for being military, I bought floss to fill in any gaps in my stash and prep for future projects.  So, Friday I was at Joanns buying the floss, and the next 2 days incorporating the new floss into my system.  Which reminds me, I haven't explained my system yet.  I should start drafting that post tomorrow.

My major non-craft activity was prepping for the swimming pool.  We decided to install an above ground swimming pool this year.  It will give something for Alex to do during summer break.  Our backyard is landscaped in river rock, which it quite popular in this region.  That means we had to clear the rocks out of the area we plan to put the pool.  It was a bit of work but we managed to get it done in 2 days.  Here is what it looks like:

 

Tomorrow we are going to pick up the pool and the filter system from Walmart.  We picked up 20 (50lb) bags of sand from Lowes yesterday.   We'll need to get 20-30 more bags.  Once we get a good sand base put down and leveled, then a pad on top, we can start setting up the pool.  Jason has to call about getting a tanker to come by to fill up the pool.  City ordinance forbids filling pool from the house water system.  Besides our water pressure sucks, so filling with the hose would take a week. 

Hopefully, everything goes well, and we're swimming in our pool by the end of the week.  Keeping fingers crossed.  Now I just have to find a swimming suit I feel comfortable in.  ugh.

Sunday Status

Over the past week, I finished gridding the fabric for Tree Frog, and yesterday I got it mounted on the stretcher bar frame.  At first, things weren't going so well as I was having trouble getting it to go on straight and even.  This was especially important since it will stay on the frame once completed and get hung up in Alex's room.  And if it is not straight and even, it will bug the crap out of me every time I look at it.  So, after struggling with it for a while, I had an idea, which worked beautifully.  I used regular sewing thread and ran basting stitches, first on the center lines.  Then I measured to half the length and width of the frame from the center lines, and ran basting stitch all around the perimeter.  I used these basting lines to keep it straight and even as I was tacking it down.  The one thing I did have to just let go of, was keeping the distance between the tacks the same.  It just wasn't happening.  So, I figure I can glue a strip of cloth around the edge to cover the tacks, and walla, ready to hang up! Here are some pictures to show you what I am talking about.

 

Once I pulled the basting stitches out, I put painter's tape down the sides to cover the ends of the EZ-Count.  If I don't do that, my floss is constantly getting caught up on it.  If I use a grime guard, that covers them, but since I am not planning on making a grime guard for this frame, the painter's tape works very well.

 Progress on Tree Frog:

I am moving right along with the orange border.

Progress on small Bloom:

Since I generally work on this while on my breaks at work, or while waiting to be seen at an appointment, it is coming along sort of slowly.  It is a great take everywhere type of project.

 

Now it's back to stitching!

Finished Max's Moon!

Max's Moon is done! Here he is:
 



Max's Moon finished

 

 He is sooo cute!  The piece turns out so well, but I do have to say that the pattern was the worst pattern I've ever worked with.  Very hard to read.  Hand-drawn symbols, and the back-stitching lines sometimes blend into the grid -lines.  I am glad to be done with it.  Good thing it turns out so well, that it was actually worth it.  I'm thinking this one will be the first that I am going to try the lacing method for mounting.  I may have to get a mat specially cut to the exact size needed to border the stitched area.  Once it is mounted, I'll have to measure it to see. 

I also got around to prep-ing the small Bloom project from C-SN May 2011:

small Bloom stock photo

 

I used the ez-count guidline that I pulled from Max's Moon to grid this piece. 

 

Took me less than 10 min to do.  Normally you go across and back once with each piece, which makes it really easy to pull out when you're done, but being such a small project, I used a single strand for each axis.  If you are interested in seeing how the guideline is installed, I took a few pictures of the steps, and am planning on doing up a tutorial soon. 

 

I've decided to first try it with basic white aida and pick out my own DMC colors.  I chose 989, 791, 922, 891, 208, and 726.  I'll see how it turns out.  Then I'll try it on linen with over-dyed floss.  I have 2 pieces of Cashel on order, in lavender and a pretty light green.  I'll be adding the specialty floss to my next order. 

 

I've also started gridding up the Tree Frog project today.  It is pretty easy as long as I have something white behind the black fabric.  Waiting on the stretcher bars I ordered for it to arrive, so until then, I'm just working on the grid... and the tutorial.

How much is too much?

How many projects is it normal to have on your "projects to start" queue?  I currently have 15 or so.  Once I finish up Max's Moon, I plan on starting on a pattern from Cross-Stitch and Needlework magazine (C-SN) May2013 called "Sharing my home". 

  

"Sharing my home" stock photo

 I also plan on starting a 1 or 2 or 3 more projects, and depending on which one is more portable, one will be for "on the road" work, and the others for "at home" work.

My "projects to start" list, in a rough semblance of order to start:

- Sharing my home (C-SN May 2013)

- Tree Frog Among Leaves (Dimensions kit)

- Bloom - small (C-SN May 2011)

- Bloom - large (C-SN May 2011)

- Rune Sampler (Dracolair pattern)

- Compass Rose (Dracolair pattern)

- Noel (Herrschners)

- Who Me? (C-SN May 2009)

- Berries (C-SN May 2013)

- Apples (C-SN March 2013)

- Grapes (C-SN March 2013)

- Pears (C-SN May 2013)

- Swan (Mystic Stitch)

- Paladin (Firewing Designs)

- Pussywillows (DMC free pattern)

 

I'm sure this list will change as things progress along.  In fact, the 2 Dracolair patterns were added to the mix just yesterday.  I was searching online for the best price for the Lap-Stitch Mini-Mini frame, and stumbled across the Compass Rose pattern and fell in love with it instantly.  So, I ordered it.  Later in the day, I pulled up their website and showed it to my hubby.  He noticed another pattern on their site called Rune Sampler which he fell in love with.  So, I am ordering that one too.  I am going to try setting up a smallish rotation set for projects at home.  I'll be limited to what I fit on the frames I have or have ordered recently.  This may also help me pull out the few UFOs I have in my stash.  I still work full time, and work on my bachelor's degree as life allows and spend time with my hubby and our son (Alex is currently 6 years old), so I do have to be realistic on how much I can get done.  It is quite a ways off, but I so look forward to being truly retired and having oodles of time to stitch.  A girl can dream, right? 

The new serger I ordered arrived via UPS today.  So, this weekend, I can work on binding the edges of the fabrics I have gathered for my projects so far.  I broke my old serger a couple months ago.  I was making a grime guard for the Q-snap configuration I had assembled for Max's Moon and the last step was to serge the edges on the part of the seam allowance that sticks inside.  Due to the elastic ends sticking out, it was just a bit too thick for my serger and one of the thread arms got so out of alignment that it keeps popping the top cover off.  I was so mad at myself.  I looked into getting it repaired, but the closest authorized Babylock dealer and service center is a 2.5 hour drive.  So, between the time, gas, and cost of repair (which is never cheap), I decided it just wasn't doable now, and ordered a new basic Brother serger.  A basic serger will be fine, since mostly all I do with it is bind edges of cross-stitch fabric.

 

Tomorrow we are making a trip to Las Cruces (about 1 hr away) to get some high density foam from Joanns to make some cushy seat cushions for my MIL's kitchen table chairs.  We opted to use her chairs and my table.  The backs on her chairs are better for my hubby's back, but the seats have no cushion what-so-ever. So we are going to have to make some.  With my husband driving, I will have time to work on Max's Moon.  Maybe even finish.  If that happens, I'll start on installing the ez-count guidelines in the Tree Frog fabric.  Never tried doing that in a vehicle before, so that will be an adventure, and with black fabric too.

 

good night and keep stitching!

 

I'm done!

Grid complete!
 

The above is a picture of the aida cloth for my next cross-stitch project with the gridlines put in.  I used the Easy-Count Guideline, which I love.  I learned about it in 2010, while I was deployed to Iraq, and have been using it since.  It is somewhat tedious to put in, but it is sooo worth it. 


The fabric is 14ct black aida and is being prepped for the Noel pattern I ordered from Herrschners.  Here is what it will look like: