Tag Archives: cross stitch

08

Sep. ’20

My weekly crafty update

With the new month, I have new things.  But this week saw me enjoying the following:

A Stitch in Time, I got another diagonal done.

A Stitch In Time
Aimee Stewart
Heaven and Earth Designs
25 Count, 1×1
9/5/2020

With my cross stitch, I use the tiny decision app to pick what to work on. This time it chose A Stitch In Time. I love working on this but I need young eyes so I primarily work on it in the morning or early evenings when the light is good.  Once I finish a diagonal then the tiny decision app picks my next project.  Because we started a new month this last week, I got to start a new project. This is a new thing I’m doing.  I have a lot of patterns and kits sitting around waiting for me to do.  By a lot, I mean probably about 65.  Some of them are all kitted up and some of them are not.  Anyway, I was watching something on YouTube and from something someone said, the idea of dying with all these unstitched projects made me sad. For some reason I wasn’t sad if I had a ton of WIPs. I was sad to not have stitched on these projects.  For quilting, and knitting, I can only have so many WIPs going on.  It seems once I have more than a certain number, I get twitchy and anxious.  I don’t know why. I guess my brain can’t take that many WIPs for those kinds of projects.  I realized that this is not the case with cross stitch.  Cross stitch takes forever for me. Mainly because I love big projects like full coverage Heaven and Earth Designs.  One of those working all the time, will take me over 3 years to do. So if I wait until one is done before starting another, it would take forever to get through and stitch all the projects I have.  So I decided it doesn’t matter how many I have going on. I get so much joy stitching on the projects that I love that I decided to start a new project each month.

 

September new start
Too Glam to Give a Damn
14 count, 4×1
9/5/2020

Too Glam to Give a Damn
14 count, 4×1
9/5/2020

For September, my new start is Too Glam to Give a Damn.  Luckily it’s a small one. I picked this in August and took the month to go through my stash, pick fabric and pull floss.  In this case, I also purchased floss from Joanns.  It’s pretty much called for colors with the exception of Kreinik gold. You don’t see it here as I’ve not stitched anything with the gold yet but I could not find Kreinik gold anywhere.  And I didn’t want to buy it from amazon.  So I just used the DMC gold in a skein.  The fabric is mystery fabric. I believe I won this from a giveaway from the Hobbies Up To Here podcast gals a year or so ago.  It’s perfect for this dragon fly.

New Start for October
Ariadne
Heaven and Earth Designs
No details yet
9/5/2020

And on September 1, I asked Siri to pick a number from 1-65 and it picked my October start, Ariadne. I will take the month of September to kit it up.  Because it’s a Heaven and Earth Design and full coverage, it will take a lot of Floss. I believe it’s around 98 colors.  But I will not kit up the whole thing, I’ll just buy the floss I need for the first two diagonals.  Even though I’m only buying floss for the first two diagonals, it’s important I buy all the floss for a particular color.  For example, let’s say I need 3 skeins of DMC 333 (which is a beautiful purple, if my memory is correct), I will buy all 3 skeins now even though I will not need all of the skeins in the first 2 diagonals.  The reason is because I will want to make sure all 3 skeins come from the same dyelot.  I’ve seen a lot of flosstubers (cross stitch channels on YouTube) try to match skeins and then you’ll see a line from where the old skein was next to the new skein.  With DMC, it’s not that big of a problem as long as you are working on the project in the same time frame.  But given that this will probably take me years to complete, I wouldn’t want to grab a skein 10 years from now because even DMC colors change from time to time. Most cross stitch patterns that I’ve seen usually indicate how many skeins you’ll need.  If your pattern does not, then you’ll probably just need 1.

~happy stitching.

Melanie

 

 

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18

Aug. ’20

Cross Stitch: HAEDs

Tsuru Kame
Artwork by: Haruyo Morita
Heaven and Earth Designs

HAED is Heaven and Earth Designs. Sometimes referred to as HAEDs for the plural version. If you are familiar with HAEDs, you’ll know this is another sort of crazy. Just like how I adore big quilts I enjoy big cross stitch. HAEDs are full coverage projects that can have over 100 different colors. This is the first HAED I ever bought and I bought a paper copy. Later Pattern Keeper came to be and I bought the PDF version so I could add it to PK. I’m still on the first page and probably at the 5th diagonal.  I’m in no rush to finish this project.  I believe I started this in December 2018 when I was up north visiting with family. It’s in a hoop so it was relatively portable.

Tsuru Kame
Designer: Haruyo Morita
Heaven and Earth Designs
8/18/2020

Like my other HAEDs or full coverage pieces I am stitching on the diagonal using the park method.  I have recently stopped doing the waste method because the floss hanging off were driving me a bit insane. ok. Not insane but it wasn’t cute and I didn’t like it. I’m slowly removing the waste floss as I get to them and eventually all the floss left will be parked floss. This is on 25 count, 1×1.
I’ve been using an app on my phone called the Tiny Decisions app. If you watch Flosstube this isn’t new and a bunch of people use this when they don’t have a plan or can’t decide what to do next or want to work on projects at the spur of the moment without having to FEEL like working on it.  Anyway I have 8 started projects and I generally only work on about 4 of them during my rotation. Well I’ve been sad about not working on the others. And was a bit bored with my rotation. I wanted to work on something but didn’t know what.  So I entered all the projects onto my Tiny Decisions app and Tsuru Kame was the first project it selected.  My goal is to work on each project until I finish the diagonal. There are some projects that I don’t actually work on the diagonal so I’ll have to figure out those projects appropriately when I get to them.  But for now, here’s Tsuru Kame with another diagonal done. It took about 3-4 days to get through it.
~Happy Stitching!
Melanie
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28

Apr. ’20

Cross Stitch: Titania, Queen of the Faeries, an update

Last week, Titania was my xstitch project of the week.

Here it was last month:

Titania
Mirabilia
3/29/2020

And here is what it looks like when I put it away last night.

Titania
Mirabilia
4/26/2020

A lot of progress has been made. This is about 700+ stitches added and it’s growing.

I am enjoying working on this more and more.

This week I’m working on Gamer again and time just flies on by. It felt like such a short time ago since I last worked on it. I hope to get a lot of stitching done this week.

Stitch on my crafty friends!

Melanie

 

 

Posted by . Categories: 2020 Crafty Goals, Cross Stitch. Tags: , , . 3 Comments

20

Apr. ’20

Cross Stitch: A Stitch in Time, an update 04/2020

So I have a rotation of cross stitch projects and in general, I work on a project for a week then on Sunday switch to a new project. I have 4 projects in rotation.

  • Gamer
  • Snowman
  • A Stitch in Time
  • Mirabilia – Titania

Gamer is my priority project so when I am working on Snowman which is a small 6″x6″ I also have Gamer on the frame for me to put a few stitches in each day.  That way I’m able to work on Gamer for 2 weeks and hopefully get this finished faster. This last week I was working on A Stitch in Time, by Aimee Stewart and is a Heaven and Earth Design.

Before:

 

 

A Stitch in Time
2/23/2020

And how it looks now after I’ve worked on it a week before I put it away…

A Stitch in Time
4/19/2020

I must have forgotten to take a picture and update you on my March progress but it’s coming along and I’ve gotten it on the frame that Mama’s Bukid used to be on.

Happy Stitching!

~Melanie

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29

Mar. ’20

Day 17 at home

Today is day 17 and I’m finding it difficult to stick with a schedule. I normally work from home so that’s not my problem. My kids are home all the time but they are older and do not require as much from me as they would if they were younger.  Last week I was supposed to be on vacation. But with everything going on with the stock market I worked for most of it.  I was able to get off early in the day and do various things but not nearly as much as I wanted to.  I’m okay with it. But life will be more hectic next week as we finish up one quarter and start another. So I need to figure out how I want things to be.

In the meantime, here’s what I’ve been working on:

Knitting – I’m still knitting on my morning socks and almost daily I’m able to knit a couple of rows on Ricky’s Weasley Sweater. But those pictures are no fun. Just a little bit longer and bigger than the last picture. I will try to take pics this week since the month is ending and I want to take end of Month pictures. My real knitting love is this hat:

Harriet’s Hat
3/29/2020

I ran out of the white yarn and luckily I have a friend who’s knitting the same hat with me. As soon as she is done, she will be dropping off (social distancing being kept) her leftover white.  In the meantime, I just love looking at it. I am still working on my mix wave cowl, water lily top, etc. Basically I’m doing my daily and weekly knitting. Mostly.

For cross stitch, since I finished Mama’s Bukid I started working on Titania by Mirabilia. I started this a long time ago – 2018 – and only did a bit on it. I hated working on it. Really hated it. I had never worked on linen before. Before this, I didn’t realize that there were different fabrics and every Flosstube I watched was talking about how great linen was. So I kitted this project up with linen and did not like it. I couldn’t see the holes and they were uneven. It was awful and sat in a box for 2 years. Every once in awhile early on I would take it out and try for a bit but it’s been in complete timeout this last year. This time I started working on it again and while I can’t say I love working on it, I am better at it and it is now doable.  I am loving what I’m seeing and it was my focus xstitch project for this week:

Titania
Mirabilia
3/29/2020

Here’s what it will grow up to be:

 

I finally finished this dress:

LAFS: Megan Dress

I’m not totally in love with it but it makes a great house dress. This is my second real dress but the first time with set in sleeve, gathers, my first time with darts, and a bunch of other things, I am really happy with how it turned out and how I can wear it. I plan to make skirts and other dresses one of these days.

On the quilting front: It’s harder to take pictures. I finished putting together this inner top –

2012 Southern CA
Quilt Run
Area One
Mystery quilt

I know the picture is not the finished top. It was harder to take a picture it because it is just too big.

2012 Southern CA
Quilt Run
Area One
Mystery quilt
3/29/2020

Here it is on my bed. I plan to do a small border – maybe about 5 inches all around.  I am loving it but put it away for now.

Here are some other things I’ve been working on here and there…

I bound a few mats that I had practiced quilting on the Q20. Here’s a table runner. I picked up the top at one of our guild’s treasure hunts for, quilted and bound it. Now it’s gracing my table.

More practice on the Q20

Fun stuff.

Hope you are doing well during this time. I’m up and down and tend to stay offline when I’m not doing so well.  I also try to remember that things are not so bad, people experience and survive much worse than being stuck at home with all the crafts, and I try to be very grateful for what I have and where I am.  It’s still hard and there are a lot of sad things going on. Stay strong, friends.

Love always,

Melanie

Posted by . Categories: 2020 Crafty Goals, Cross Stitch, Knitting, Quilting. Tags: , , , , , . Leave a comment

22

Mar. ’20

I’m alive and healthy

Just wanted to drop by and let you know, I’m okay and my family is okay.  I’m not part of a high risk category but my family and I are self-quarantining because we can. I work from home mostly and the 2-day a week job I was commuting to before was moved to virtual support which is what I do normally.  Today is day 11 for me and it’s helpful to take the dog on walks and say hello to the sun every day.  For awhile, it was raining and every time it stopped I would rush outside to breathe fresh air and take the dog out.  It’s no fun taking her out when it is raining.  I can say yesterday was a difficult day. It was my son’s 15th birthday and he was happy to stay in his room and play on his computer. The rest of us got on each other’s nerves. I isolated myself from the rest of the family in my office/craft room to avoid tensions rising higher.  Today is a much better day.

Since last I posted, I got this done!

Mama’s Bukid – Farmland 2
It’s finish!
3/22/2020

 

Hope you are staying safe and keeping your sanity!

Always,

Melanie

 

 

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24

Feb. ’20

Cross Stitch: A Stitch in Time, an update

Last time I posted a picture here, was when I listed my 2020 Cross Stitch Goals.  Here is a picture from the beginning of the year.

This project is part of my rotation.  I switch projects every Sunday in this order: Mama’s Bukid, Gamer, Mama’s Bukid, A Stitch in Time.  Yes, I do Mama’s Bukid every other week because it’s my priority project and I want it done soon.  It’s also my longest xstitch project and I’m really sick of it.  So, the sooner I’m done with it, the sooner I can frame it and give it to my mother.  Anyway, I stitch a little bit every week night.  Lately, my week nights have been full of things that take up my time and I haven’t been able to spend as much time as I want so I do an hour or so here and there over the weekend.  Here’s where I finished at yesterday:

A Stitch in Time
2/23/2020

Because there is so much confetti, I’m only able to do about 55 stitches an hour.  It sounds like I’m a really slow stitcher but with color changes for every single box, there’s no way to do it but slow and steady.  It was difficult to do anything on this this week as I was overwhelmed with the complexity and how slow I am  at it.  But I persevered and was able to get 400 stitches done this week.  My goal was to do 1200 but it’s just not possible given the amount of time I’m able to devote to this project.  Some may say I have too many projects and that I should probably work on one project at a time but that’s just ridiculous!

Happy Stitching!

~Melanie

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17

Feb. ’20

Cross Stitch: Mama’s Bukid, an update

Mama’s Bukid
2/15/2020

Here is where I’m at with Mama’s Bukid.  When I finish this set of columns, I will be finished with this project.  I’m so excited I can hardly stand it.  But I’m putting it away.  I can almost taste the finish that’s how close I am. I’ve been working on this project for a week and it’s not my favorite project. If I force myself to keep working on it, I will not pick it up at all.  I know myself.  So, I will work on “A Stitch in Time” this week and next week… I will stitch a bit more on this project and maybe, I’ll have a finish.  There’s a lot of full coverage as I get to the bottom of these columns and as a result, I’m not certain I’ll be able to finish in a week.  It may take another 2 weeks of stitching.  Either way, I’m okay with taking a break on this and moving onto one of my favorite stitchy projects.

 

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