Sunday Status

Progress on  Tree Frog...lots of the first green done...

Progress on Sunny Thought... this one is coming along quite quickly...

And now back to watching Defiance...

'til next week, keeping stitching happy!

Sunday Status and LCE

One more week... another status...

Tree Frog has some progress, still working on first color green:

And just for the record, I have abandoned using the railroad method to keep threads laying nicely.  I decided to go for speed over perfection, although given the nature of the piece it wasn't a tough decision.  Although now when I have a twisted stitch, I can't just ignore it, I have to try and get the threads to lay a little nicer by fiddling with it using my needle as a sort of laying tool.  By the way, I am liking the stretcher bars very much.  They are so light.  And there is no adjusting the tension or having to move the q-snap to a different spot.  Q-snaps are still my go to frame for travel projects though.  I have taken this one out of the house, but it is a bit awkward, and it just barely fits in the backpack I use to carry it.

Introducing the new small project... I've had this little kit in my stash for quite awhile.  It is called Sunny Thought by Dimensions.  Interestingly, it is on a small plastic mesh instead of fabric.

I've finished the first color so far.

As you can see, I didn't grid it as usual, since it is so small, but I did have to use a spare bit of thread to do a quick line on two sides to mark the gridline points to help with stitching the separate areas.  Should be cute when it is finished.

 Now for the LCE (life changing event)... I am active duty in the Air Force, and after 22 years it is time to retire from the AF.  Friday was my last duty day...yay!  Tomorrow is the start of my terminal leave (aka using up all my accrued vacation days).  After the terminal leave is done, I am officially a military retiree.  Then I really having to figure out what to do with myself next.  I have to look for a job, since even though military pension is nice, it just isn't enough to pay the bills and keep a family household going.  So, the job search begins.  And I am going to have to learn to dress myself to go to work, no more just throwing on the uniform everyday.  I am very happy and scared at the same time.  One good thing is, until I get hired somewhere, I have more time to stitch and stamp.  Stamping may have to be a priority while I am prepping for the Stampin' Up convention in July.  After that though, I can get back to stitching until my fingers go numb.  8)

'til next time... happy stitching (and stamping)!

 

 

Sunday Status

I finished the small Bloom, here she is:



completed small Bloom

 This is such a nice little take anywhere project.  I plan to do this again, with overdyed floss and linen fabric, maybe in a light blue background or a natural light beige color.  I might even try doing french knots in the center, or even beads.  Ooh, beads... wonder how this would like done completely in beads...hmmm.

Made a bit progress on Tree Frog:

 I finished the border, did the orange and red-orange parts of the frog's eyes, and started on the first color of green.  With this project, I have been trying out the railroad method of getting the threads to lay down nicely.  I am liking how it is looking, it does make a difference, but it does significantly slow down the rate of stitching.  We'll see if I can stick to it, or if I decide the slow down isn't worth the result.

I might have had a bit more progress, but I took some time this week to work on a special card.  We had the retirement ceremony for my First Sergeant this past week.  She helped me out of a really tough spot recently and I wanted to let her know how much I appreciated it.  I planned on cross-stitching a small flower motif to put on a card.  I found out her favorite flower is the tiger lily and her favorite color is green.  Tiger lilies don't exactly lend themselves to a simple cross-stitch motif, so I had to change direction.  I found a super cool pop-up pattern on-line, and this is what I did with it:

 

 

I'm happy it turned out so well.

And since I am on the subject.... I am also retiring from the Air Force.  I have only 5 duty days left!  Yay!

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!

 

Venturing into new territory...

I have decided to give the stretcher bar type frames a try.  The fabric that came in a kit that my son picked out only has 2" margins, which will not work very well with my usual Q-Snaps.  Besides that, the bonus will be that when it is finished it will already be mounted on the frame and ready to hang up in his room.  This is the kit he picked out when I asked him if he wanted Mommy to make something for him:

 

Tree Frog Among Leaves

I've watched several YouTube videos on stretcher bar frames, so I know how to assemble the frame and mount the fabric.  I just ordered the stretcher bars and thumb tack kit from Nordic Needle.  Now comes the wait for my order to get shipped to me.