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The Stitching Fairy
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| Moving Right Along |
| 08.30.05 (5:05 am) [edit] |
Doing projects for holidays that are months down the road often makes me feel out of sync. Here I am stitching for Halloween and it's still August and hotter than Hades out there. And yet I find myself wondering why it's not cooler and why are the trees still green??? LOL It's the same when I stitch Xmas stuff in the fall, where is the snow and candy canes? Okay I'm weird...but I find that I stitch these items to get me in the mood for a holiday, but in order to have them ready I have to work well in advance of it and that lends to the time bending personality disorder. I'm not really ready for fall or winter (ick) but I am always ready for the fun holidays they bring. I've even been sucked into buying MORE Halloween decorations...I'm so addicted. Ah well...here I am enjoying the dregs of summer wandering in a stitching limbo of fall and Halloween and when Halloween comes around I'll be thinking of jolly men in red w/ little elf accomplices. LOL
P.S. Thanks to everyone for their ever kind comments (Isabelle, Susie, Anneke and San) I appreciate it immensely. I don't always have loads of time for blogging, but I *do* love reading everyone elses blogs! You all are inspiration to keep stitching away, cuz it's fun to stitch, but it's ever more fun to share it with people who appreciate it!
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| Questions and Answers |
| 08.25.05 (3:21 am) [edit] |
:D I finally feel like I'm getting back into the swing of things! I haven't been able to post this much for quite a while! :D
First off Anneke asked the name of the designer of the Marriage Tree. The designer is Raise the Roof Designs, she is located in Fargo, North Dakota. Her web address is: http://www.shakespearespeddle...
I love her designs, she's the one who designed Witchy Washy and Santa Clothes, that I stitched last year.
Stitching Bloggers Question: What’s the largest project you’ve ever done? What’s the smallest?
The largest project, in terms of stitches, I've ever done is the Blue Moon Coffee http://www.angelfire.com/art2... project, however in terms of difficulty the Oak Island Pirate Map http://www.angelfire.com/art2... was the most difficult.
The smallest was the Angel S that I did for San last Xmas. http://www.angelfire.com/art2...
Since I started stitching again last year I've done a variety of large and small project, but most have been what I would call medium sized. This year I've seemed to take on more larger projects, which is why it seems like I haven't gotten as much done. I love the small projects as they are fast and it is satisfying to have something finished in a flash, but the bigger projects are satisfying for the sense of accomplishment and determination it takes to finish them. Mainly I just stitch whatever takes my fancy and right now that's Halloween! :wink: :lol:
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| Quick Update! |
| 08.24.05 (6:26 am) [edit] |
:D I'm glad to report that my new project seems to be going faster than the last one. :) I love the fabric color, but am sure I will be sick of black long before I finish. :wink:
The cat is supposed to look a bit scary, but right now I think he has a big 'ol grin and is not intimidating at all. :lol: So far it's going well and easy! Not sure what I will do w/ it when finished. I think I might have a frame it will fit into, need to check that out. :) I'm already excited about decorating for Halloween and it's not even September yet. I don't know about where you live, but here some stores were putting out Halloween stuff in JULY. That's just wrong. :wink: They should at least let us finish up most of the summer first...ah well such is life!
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| It's Finished! |
| 08.22.05 (9:13 am) [edit] |
I finally finished the Marriage Tree! It looks great and I love the sentiment. The picture didn't turn out as good as I'd have liked, it looks better in person. And I'm not sure I like how it's signed, so I may change that, but otherwise it's good. It finished up fairly quickly, although the "commitment" letters were tricky. I haven't decided how to frame this one out yet, but want to get it done soon, I've been putting off framing and finishing things for a while and I've got a couple of things that need finishing. I'm thinking of dying some fabric again soon, I've got some new colors I'd like to try and w/ fall coming it might be a good time to do a few pieces.
I also started on Scaredy Cat from Hinzeit, I bought this last year and wanted to do it for Halloween, but never got it done, so now's the chance. It's mostly black or Onyx (Week's Dye Works), but I have a fun piece of fabric I'm using for it.
The rainbow on this was all 1/2 stitches, that was interesting to do. I've never done several rows of just 1/2 stitches before. It was more challenging than it would seem. :wink:
Greg finally finished the clock he was working on and now he will have to get it finished out. It is very clever the way he set up the colors on this one...
He divided the numbers up and did green (go), yellow (caution) and red (time's up). I thought it was very clever and especially for a clock. :) He's working on a mini sunflower right now, but is still locked up w/ his bikes most days. I'm sure he'll get more stitching done when the bug hits him. :wink:
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| Broccoli Tops... |
| 08.11.05 (6:12 am) [edit] |
that's what this pic reminds me of. I finally got through stitching the green top of the tree on this project. It's been slow going but what w/ moving, etc. I'm not surprised. I love the blue fabric I'm using w/ this one, it goes well w/ the rest of the colors in the project. I'm hoping now that the broccoli top is done that the rest will move faster, we will see. I am looking forward to starting on some Halloween projects, but realized today that in a way I'm glad I'm not stitching any right now. It just makes fall come too fast... It's hard enough to go into a lot of stores when it's searingly hot outside and see the fall decorations, but stitching them when I want summer to linger just a while longer just wouldn't be a good thing. Here is a progress pic:
The tricky thing in this stitching was not to get off on the count so that the embedded letters came out looking like they were supposed to. It is definately a fun project and I love the colors, so bright and cheerful.
Greg still isn't stitching. He's too lost in his bike room for that right now. Maybe soon I miss watching him stitch. :)
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| Stitching Blogger's Questions |
| 08.04.05 (3:47 am) [edit] |
I'm back and working hard! It seems it always takes a few days to get caught up at work when you've been gone for over a week! We got moved just fine and are trying to settle in, that's the difficult part. I lived at my old place so long that the new place doesn't feel right as yet. Got to get those routines going. :wink:
I am working on my latest project, but don't have an update pic yet. It's going slower than I had hoped, but I'm not surprised. I'm sure I will pick up steam in the next couple of days, cuz stitching is making me feel more normal after the move. Greg isn't stitching anything right now, he's too busy organizing his bicycle room, fussing w/ this and that and getting it just the way he wants it. :)
I saw a couple of SBQs that I thought would be fun to answer so here they are:
What is your most unique/interesting stitching quirk? (This could be something concerning the way you stitch, how you organize your stash, etc.)
I have greatly enjoyed reading about everyone else's quirks. :) Mine are, I only like to stitch at night. Occasionally I stitch during the days (on weekends) but for the most part I only like to stitch at night. I find it quite relaxing to stitch for a couple of hours before bedtime, but have trouble sitting for hours on end during the day. This is one of the reasons it takes me longer to complete projects. :wink:
I also only like stitching on hand dyed fabrics. Once I got started on them I could never go back to white or cream fabric. Which leads to the next SBQ...
Have you hand-dyed your own fabric? Why or why not? Would you like to try to do so?
Yes I have hand dyed my own fabric, tons of it! I love hand dyed fabrics, but found that I couldn't afford to pay what the shops were asking for them. And since I am quite a crafty/artsy person I decided to give it a try for myself. I first tried dying w/ RIT dye, but found it didn't give the colors I liked and was difficult to work w/. Then I found a supplier that carried DYLON cold dye. I LOVE the stuff and have dyed many yards of fabrics w/ it. I love experimenting w/ color combinations and have created some great pieces that have added a lot to my (and Greg's) stitching projects. I have found that getting back into cross stitching has fulfilled a lot of my artistic needs. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed being crafty and from dying my own fabric to creatively finishing them it's just been a lot of fun. My only wish is that we had great LNS around here...there was one, but unfortunately she went out of business last fall. She gave me a lot of great ideas and inspiration. I suppose I will have to do a "road trip" to find another great one...it's worth it though to be able to see items first hand. :)
Hope the summer is treating everyone well!
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What I'm Stitching
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