Mystic Stitch - Page 1 complete

Woop woop! Page one of my Mystic Stitch chart is complete!

Yaaaay!

Well, page one and a bit of page two as the last column went over onto the next page.

I'm so pleased with how this has turned out. And I really enjoyed working on it too. It got a little stressful when there was 900 colours in one square D: But yes, woohoo!

Now that I have completed one page I am going to take a break for a little while. It's going to sound a tad dramatic...but I don't want to suffer burn out with it. And ideally I'd like to stitch it in complete page blocks.

♥

2013 - My year in stitches

I wonder how much stitching I have managed to do in 2013?

These are all the things I have stitched, or finished stitching this past year ^^

Flower Fairy card - cover kit from a magazine

Cat card - chart from Cross Stitch Crazy

Riolis kitten kit

'Welcome to Counted Threads' - kit from the Cross Stitch Guild

Blackwork Welcome sampler from Itch to Stitch magazine

Home is where the cat is - The New Berlin Co.

Sampler tote from the Cross Stitch Guild

Keyring kit and bumble bee badge both from CrossStitcher magazine

Bird House Sampler from Cross Stitch Gold

Antique Animal Sampler from Elizabeth Designs

Owl keyring kit from CrossStitcher magazine

Fairy Tale book by JCA

Stag tote from What Delilah Did

Vintage rose kit from Mollie Makes

Spooky the Cat from Just Cross Stitch Halloween Special 2013

Jackalope from Storyland Cross Stitch

Berlin Roses cushion front kit from Anchor

Ring O'Roses from Laa Laa Land

Laurence the Fox from CrossStitcher Magazine

**I think this was from The World of Cross Stitching**

Wow! A lot more productive than I thought! Let's hope I can do just half as much in 2014!

♥

Feeling nostalgic

So, the other day I was trying to think of a way to make my stash a little tidier and not as spread out around the house...which resulted in me just looking through all my stash and dreaming of one day having the time to actually stitch it all ^^

I also 'found' my three UFO's. Even though I'm turning in to something of a serial starter I actually only have three UFO's, something I'm quite proud of. One is of Disney's Stitch (just need to do the background) and one is a HAED QS (so much to do!). The one that bothers me the most though is a design from Mystic Stitch...

When I first started getting seriously into cross stitch a few years back, it seemed as though everyone was stitching a HAED. I mean everyone. I didn't really follow any blogs back then, but the forum sites that I visited were full of HAED threads. It felt like you weren't a proper stitcher unless you were stitching, or had stitched a HAED. It was like a rite of passage. So I looked at the designs on offer...and none really appealed to me....what was I to do?! I also had the problem of no printer! So I would have to buy a physical chart and have that sent to me. It was as if the fates were conspiring against me. I would never be a true stitcher.

I finally came across a site that not only offered printed charts but would also 'kit-up' the chart for you. However, I could find still find no HAED designs that really appealed to me...and the thought of how much of a commitment stitching one of these was was a tad daunting... I did find a design that I liked though...it was by Mystic Stitch but it was still suitably epic.

It arrived and I stitched and stitched and stitched my little heart out for months and months and months and this is how far I got...

It was so disheartening :( It was also very messy on the back and the front wasn't that great either. I didn't have enough stitching experience really to take on something like this. But it has always played on my mind that I just left it and never even made an effort to stitch more...

So I decided that now was the time. I had another look at it...and it was just too messy to continue...I found stitches that I had only worked one arm of the cross and some of my stitches were not all going in the same direction..oh it was just horrible! D:

There was more than enough fabric for me to start over, and I was going to grid it all out and work just one 10x10 block at a time...but I found some magic guide aida that was sale....so laziness won out (as always...)

I've been stitching for maybe two weeks? And this is where I am :)

Not too shabby eh? It's also a lot neater and much more enjoyable that when I originally started it ^^

I will probably finish the first page and then work on something else for a bit so that I don't get bored with it.

♥

Ring O'Roses - the saga continues!

Again, long time no post ^^;

I have finished Ring O'Roses, my chunky cross stitch cover.

On my previous post on this project, I mentioned about the trouble I was having with the background blue colour. Well, I ordered some more from Sew & So....and they were the same as the ones from Hobbycraft...that is to say different from the ones I originally got from Sew & So... D:

I carried on...and you can see how very, very wrong it is :(

So there was nothing to do but un-pick all the darker blue and stitch it all again with the new, lighter blue...

If I'm honest...I prefer the lighter blue so it's not that much of a disaster really ^^

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I hope everyone has a very happy Christmas!

♥

Made by mother

My mum is really good at making stuff.

Over the years she has made me many awesome cardigans.

Very recently she has gotten seriously into crochet and is forever making me little things - circles, mandalas, bookmarks, hearts, elf ears (she insists they are leaves, but clearly they are elf ears).

The other day she gave me something wonderful. It was supposed to be a Christmas gift, but my mother, she lacks the patience, so she 'had' to give it to me...

Isn't he fabulous! I think he will be called Francois.

♥

Ring O'Roses

Of my two new projects, I decided to stitch 'Ring O'Roses' first.

It all came down to laziness in the end. To start the deer cushion meant that I would've had to get the sewing machine out to do the edges of the fabric...and I was just feeling far too lazy for all that ^^;

I had forgotten one very important thing though... I HATE attaching things to scroll frames. It is just the most tedious thing ever and it takes so long for me to do. But I got over it and this is where I'm up to ^^

Yes, so hold on ^^; I didn't start this yesterday...sadly I don't have magical stitchy powers. I started this last weekend, which is how I've managed to get so much done. My post from yesterday was a scheduled one... so the 'time-line' for this project has gone a bit messy ^^;

Anyway, it's coming along nicely. I'm not 100% happy with the coverage. I don't know if it's my tension or the count of the fabric...but it looks a bit 'holey' in places. I've used the count specified in the instructions so it must be my stitching. I'm sure it will look lovely at the end ^^

I'm finding it very enjoyable to stitch as the holes are so big! Very little concentration is required *lol*

I've come across a small problem though! I have ran out of blue wool T___T

Ahh, the very trauma of trying to get more of this blue. There is a wool shop near my nan's that sells tapestry wool, so yesterday I went there and they no longer had it on display. But my mother, ever one for a scene, asked if they still stocked it..out comes the shop lady with some crates full of little bags of tapestry wool that we had to search through...they didn't have the colour I needed, but after such a fuss had been created I felt obliged to buy some anyway. We then headed to Black Sheep and whilst we were in the area I asked to go to Hobby Craft as I know they sell tapestry wool. Success! I get home...and to my eyes...the new wool is a different blue to the blue I have been using even though they are the same colour code. This morning I stitched a few rows using the new wools...and the difference is minor...but I can tell. I would say they are two distinct shades of blue. Soooo I won't be able to finish stitching this today, which was my aim :( I'm going to order some more from Sew and So (which is where I got the original blues)...if they are different again..well I'm just going to lose my sh*t D: *ahem*

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

In other stitchy news! I have decided to join Zeb's (Keep Calm and Cross Stitch) Just Nan Stitch-a-long! I really like Just Nan designs and I've managed to amass quite a few this year (two more on their way!), and it was my aim to stitch one next year anyway, so joining the SAL will give me some extra motivation and I'll be able to see all the lovely things other stitchers do too! If you want to find out more about the SAL or to join please click the link above for more info. There is also a link in the side-bar too!

I have often seen the Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe mentioned in blogs but I've never actually gone and had a look around. Kitten Stitching recently made a post about a give-away that was being held over at the Victorian Motto Sampler blog and a design caught my eye! Such pretty designs! I can't wait to see more of what they do *___*

I've entered the give-away myself - if you like what you see enter too! Maybe one of us will be lucky :)

♥