A TW Finish!!

I’m really happy with this finish.  I’ve done several TWs but honesty didn’t think I would do another until I was talking with Will about his Masters degree in Religion.  He basically studied ALL of them and I asked him if there was one that was his favorite (he is a multi-faith reverend).  When he said Egyptian mythology, an idea was born!

I knew of Teresa Wentzler’s Egyptian Sampler and I knew that I would stitch it for him.  That was 2.5 years ago and its finally done!  I’ve found some errors in this, but I’m choosing to consider them “unintentional personalization.”  I had trouble tacking the rays down and keeping them straight.. but considering that I spent about 8 hours fiddling with them, they are as good as they are going to get!

This hasn’t been washed yet. My giant tub of orvus was tossed when I moved and had to order some that should be here early next week.  I’ve found a local framer and picked out where this will hang in our home… right above his statues of Anubis and Wapawhets and other Egyptian objects.

TWs are certainly a lot of work and of all of them that I’ve stitched (non fantasy and no dragons) this is quickly turning into my favorite!

Now… what to stitch next?  I’ve got some ideas, but whatever I pick up will be smaller and less complicated!!

Beaded Stocking

So over a year ago I was in Nashville and some friends took me to visit their LNS The Stitchin Post. I saw models of a set of 6 Mill Hill beaded stockings. Alas, they no longer had the kits stocked. 

A few months later I thought about them and did a web search and found them on Amazon!  Two days later they arrived at my door step. 

I grabbed one as a travel project for a trip over Fourth of July weekend. I finished the stitching during the trip and did the beading when I got home.  It’s so cute!

At some point I need to get some felt to add a backing to this as well as The Mittens! I did several years ago. 

I’m committed to finishing my TW Egyptian Sampler this year so maybe working in the rest will be “easy” stitching after finishing the complexity (and dreaded back stitching) of a TW. 

Ornament and TW Updates

HI…  Even though I’ve been quiet on the blog, I have been doing quite a bit of stitching!

Here is my progress through yesterday on my Teresa Wentzler Egyptian Sampler.  I think my husband, who I’m stitching this for is finally starting to get what goes into cross stitch!  I’ve been working on this, on and off, for about a year and a half.  I’m happy to say that I’m more than halfway through with a long way to go!  I’m happy to have finished the frame all the way around and the background in the arch.  A little tedious but not as bad as I thought it would be.  When I started doing the background I had to pull out the staff and the flail on the middle figure but it shouldn’t take much to add those back in now.  I’m loving stitching this!

I spend the week of Christmas with some family and kitted up a Victoria Sampler ornament from the 2015 Just Cross Stitch Ornament Edition to take with me.  When I travel I like to take something small.  There were some errors in the pattern as published, so for some of this I was just on my own.  Plus the accessory pack that I ordered had two different sized stars!  I contacted Thea at Victoria Sampler and she sent me the correct button size.  I love the little gingerbread man buttons!

So for now, I’m just going to keep on working on Egyptian Sampler and ignore all of my other WIPs.  I’d love to finish it up this year.  🙂

Ra Smiles Upon Me (Egyptian Sampler Update)

Here is my latest update on Teresa Wentzler’s Egyptian Sampler.  Its beautiful!  I love the colors and the subject matter.  I’m not really “into” Egyptian stuff, but my DH is so I’m doing this for him.  Since my last post, I’ve finished stitching and backstitching the border and the scarab, finished stitching the falcon (still needs backstitching) and started stitching Horus.  Please forgive the below par photos.   My camera battery is dead and I took these pictures in low lighting with my iphone.

I’ve also recently finished the VS Pennsylvania Hearts of America.  I have one of these for every state I’ve lived in:  New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Indiana!  I lived for a summer in Denver during college, so I might try to find Colorado and do that one too.  I received mail there, so it counts, right?  I’ll do something with these someday…. when I’m sure I’ll not move again.

The story on the Pennsylvania one is a little bizarre!  I searched for the pattern on google and saw it offered for sale on Amazon.  I thought that was a little weird, but bought it anyway.   When I opened the kit to stitch, I found that the border was already partially stitched – about 15 stitches in the upper right hand corner!  I guess someone started it and didn’t like it and put it up on Amazon.  I finished it and here it is!

 

I welcome all comments!

My Stitching Mojo is Back!!!

I haven’t done much stitching for the last couple of years.  One night, my fingers were feeling bored, so I picked up my Lizzie Kate Living with Charm Banner and reasoned that it was easy stitching and that I could finish the last three words pretty quickly.  So off I went and finished it!  This is the only larger project that I’ve finished in YEARS.  I am so excited to have it done and still love it!  I stitched this with all DMC and didn’t attach the little charms that come with the pattern.  If anyone would like the gently used booklets that include the charms, just e-mail me and i’ll put them in the mail for free.

I was so motivated by a finish that I decided to pick up a Teresa Wentzler design!  I’m not a big fan of dragons, but I like most of her other designs.  My husband loves egyptian stuff, so I started Egyptian Sampler.  I had forgotten how much dreaded back stitching her designs have….  not my favorite thing.  The thing with TW is that when you get to the finished products, the back stitching is so worth it.  So…. here is my new start!

So shortly after starting this, I put my christmas tree up and realized that my husband needed an ornament like every other member of my family has.  This is based off Victoria Sampler “Humour” Virtues ornament that you can download for free on the Victoria Sampler website.  I stitched, finished, and put it on the tree last weekend.  I bet I’ve stitched at least 20 of these virtues ornaments over the years for friends and family.  I like how each one has a different design but all of the ornaments obviously look like part of a set, but each one has a different family member name instead of the virtue in the design.  So…. here is Will’s ornament photographed on the tree! The fabric is actually white, even though it doesn’t look it in this picture:

So now that is done and I’m ready to get back to Egyptian Sampler!

Just Nan Limited Edition Tin – Snow

I just finished up a spur-of-the- moment, completely unplanned project!  I was going through my stash and ran across a Just Nan Limited Edition Tin and decided that it would intimidate me no longer…  I bought it a couple of years ago not because I’m a big fan of cardinals, but more because I liked the fabric color and the snowflakes.

Here is how the tin turned out.  This is by far my best ever attempt at joining twisted cording and honestly, I think it was just an accident that it turned out KINDA good.

Here’s a side view.  The sides of the tin came pre-decorated with paper on the sides.  I added the top, the twisted cording, and the ribbon along the lid edge.  I love the little jewel center.  The gold round exterior and the interior red bead came separately and you thread them together when attaching them.

This kit also came along with a pattern for a little needlebook accessory that matches. The pretty interior wool came with the kit and the directions were to attach the wool to the stitching using a blanket stitch. I’ve done decorative blanket stitches (thousands of them, I would venture), but never use them to join fabric. They are a little rough, but the OUTSIDE of the needlebook looks good! Its a tiny little mitten!

This design was stitched so that it folds over so that the back of the book matches the front.

And here is the interior….

Here are the two of them together.

I have enough of the pretty blue fabric (Weeks 30 count “Sky”) that I can someday stitch the round top again and finish it as an ornament…. someday.  The top was actually stitched TWICE already, since I wasn’t happy with it the first time round.  The stitches looked bunched up and uneven… partly because this fabric is a little hard to work with (I prefer something stiffer), but mostly because I used a needle that was too large.

A New Altoids Tin!

For almost as long as I’ve been stitching, I’ve used an altoids tin to hold things like small scissors, needles, detailors, miscellaneous buttons or thread, or whatever. A few years ago, I used a freebie pattern, the “Good Friends” name tag from Victoria Sampler to cover my altoids tin. I was just kind of messing around, not expecting that I could do it and have it look good, and this is what I ended up with:

Well, its been everywhere and somehow, while eating strawberries, I managed to stain the fabric (not sure how this happened) and then noticed how dirty it was and how loose the beads were, in addition to the stains…

I decided this was a perfect excuse to make a new one! I copied the pattern I had used for my name tag, which was borrowed from the Victoria Sampler Lavender Herbal Sachet pattern and stitched it with stuff from my stash. I made sure to use a full cross stitch to attach the beads, which I’ve never done before, but figured it would keep the beads more securely fastened and upright than just a half stitch.

When I went to get a new tin, I was disappointed that I didn’t see any tins that had a white bottom, like my original tin had, so realized that I’d have to cover the bottom in addition to the top.

I kind of wish I’d taken pictures as I went, but didn’t, and this is what I ended up with!

The top is padded with a thin cotton batting and trimmed with ribbon. The sides are covered with silk fabric borrowed from a kit. I wasn’t happy with how it turned out, so I covered it with some trim. 🙂 The bottom is just felt.

Its definitely not perfect, but I’m happy with it! I haven’t decided if I’ll do anything to the inside yet or not. If anything, I might put some sort of magnet in the lid to hold needles. I figure one of the many flat magnets from various businesses I have on my fridge will do the trick.

I have done quite a bit of work on Alpine Seasons, and will post when I completely finish the border that I’m working on.

Drawn Thread Perennial Border Finished!

What a fun stitch!  Each little bunch of flowers was a satisfying finish…  some great colors and some specialty stitches along the way!

I’m thinking this would be great with an octagon mat cut, and I also think I’d like to hang it from a corner, so it’s a diamond shape on the wall.

I’m on to make a big push on Alpine Seasons!

A New Family Ornament

I stitched and finished a series of ornaments for my family a couple of years ago.  They are based on the Victoria Sampler Virtues Ornaments… I just replaced the virtue in the pattern with the name of a family member.  Since I have a new neice, I stitched this ornament for her earlier in the week:

Here are the others that I’ve stitched over the years… each one for a family member is different (note, Casey and Carly aren’t family members!). You can find my finishing tutorial here.

Sweetheart Tree Finish and Opinions Needed!

I finally finished up the Sweetheart Tree Stitcher’s Favorite Biscornu last night!

I modified the back, as I normally do if the back is a repeat of the front. I also usually like to do a beaded edge on my biscornus, but I had some leftover teeny buttons and decided I wanted those on the corners, so just stitched up the edges without beads. I’m pretty happy with it! I also stitched up the matching fob as part of the 2009 Christmas Ornament Project:

So…. my brother and his wife are having their first baby girl (after 3 boys) later this month and I was suddenly struck by the desire to do a birth sampler for her. Her name will be Sadie Grace and she’ll be my first neice. So, of course, I immediately thought of the Victoria Sampler Heirloom Birth Sampler and remembered that I had started it many years ago and just never finished it. I had started it for a boy, though, and as you can see from the pics below, the “leaves” in the rose wreath at the top are a teal color, and the rest of the color on the piece is a matching teal.  If it had been started for a girl, it was charted with pink leaves with matching pink for the rest of the sampler. I would want to use peach or lavender for a girl, but I’m wondering if I can get away with just using either of these colors for the rest (would replace the teal band, which is just ribbon woven through the hemstitching).  Leaves ARE green/teal, afterall, but I would need to find a way to tie in the peach or lavender used in the rest of the piece to the top wreath.   One idea is to do an additional ribbon rose in the center of the wreath in the right color.  Pulling out the leaves that are already stitched is just not an option….  I’d have to take out the beads too, and I think the fabric would just look terrible…  I’m trying to find a way to NOT have to start over.   The fabric here is actually platinum, but it looks much lighter in real life!

All opinions/advice are appreciated… even if you think I need to just start over!