Cross-stitch projects update

Tree Frog is nearly complete, but I have gotten distracted and it has been put off to the side for awhile.  First I did a small owl pattern that I found a picture of on google images, that I charted out from the picture.  Here is how he turned out:

I plan on framing it using one on my old hoops and gluing a ruffle type ribbon, in the same color as the heart, around the outer edge.  It will be a gift for one of my crafting friends.

Next, I pulled this out of my UFO stash.

Actually, it was someone else's unfinished project that I bought at a thrift sale some years ago.  I'd put it away, because I'd only worked on Aida and the even-weave fabric intimidated me.  Now that I have experience with even-weave, I decided to pull it out and give it a try. I took a look at the stitching that had been done, to see if I should frog it or just pick up where they left off.  The answer to that question is definitely frog it.  Take a look at the back, pre-frog:

It was obviously someone's first attempt at cross-stitch. They'd used knots to anchor the threads, and there was mid strand snarls left in place.  The stitching did not follow any real discernible pattern.  And as I was picking out the stitches, I discovered not all the crossing stitches leaned the same direction.  Oh, the horror.  Once I finished frogging, I put the fabric into my q-snap.  At first I couldn't get the q-snap c-clamps to go on because it kept getting caught on the 7 count Klostern fabric.  So I cut some strips of fabric from an old t-shirt to cover the fabric and the c-clamps went on easy after that.  And yes, I said 7 count fabric.  It uses all 6 strands of floss at once.  With such big stitches, the stitching has come along quite quickly.  I am about 90% complete. 

Happy Stitching!

My Big UFO and a couple quick projects

Here is My Big UFO:



Innocent Guardian - in progress

 

It is a Dimensions kit that I started approx. 10 years ago, as a gift for my Mother-in-Law.  The main stitching went well enough, but I got very frustrated with the immense amount of backstitching and French knots.  I hit a point where the color listed for a section in the instructions just didn't look right.  I contacted the company to see if there had been any modifications to the pattern, specifically the color choices for the backstitching.  I did not get any reply.  So it got put away for awhile.  Now that my MIL lives with us, I have to take advantage of when she travels since she still has no clue I'm making this for her.  She is gone for 2 weeks visiting family in Florida, so out comes the UFO.  I finally just changed the color that was causing my issues.  Now I'm making progress again.  We'll see just how much I can accomplish while MIL is gone.  Then it will get packed away until her next trip.  I will certainly celebrate when this one is done.

I've completed a couple small projects:

The sunflower and bee is a small kit that I picked up at Michaels in SLC.  A nice easy project that was fun to stitch.

I happened across this little project while doing a Google images search.  The original border was a bit awkward, so I modified it.  This little guy took only 3 hours to stitch up. Here is the pattern I drew up:

Tree Frog progress has slowed but not stopped.

Also, I have two more additions to my stash.  Again a Google Images search led me to these.  Both are from an Ebay store named Stitching Addiction.


Morris' Flowers and Foliage

Dandelion

I was very excited to find the dandelion pattern.  I've been looking for a realistic looking pattern of a seeded dandelion for quite a while. There are exactly100 colors in this one.