Tuesday, March 21, 2017

La Belle Dame - update

Woo hoo!  I've finished another page on La Belle Dame...  To be accurate, it's 2 pages of the pattern but the bottom page is only 462 stitches (6h x 77w).






No, that's not a needle minder in the photo - the magnet's not strong enough.  It is strong enough to hold my pattern page in place while I'm working though.

For the record, the pages I just finished were 27 & 35 out of a total 40 pages.  That means that I have 4 more full pages and 1 partial page left to right plus the 6 stitches high partial pages across the bottom left to do.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Christmas Stitching Challenge






Well, there's nothing to report on my Christmas stitching - I haven't done any.

I have been working on my La Belle Dame...  Since I haven't finished a page, I haven't rotated to any other project, Christmas or otherwise.





In other news, I am making a start on adding listings to my Etsy shop, XedStitches.  I just finished sorting out the items I need to list:  magazines, leaflets, books, kits, etc.  There is a lot!  Not only do I have a bunch of cross stitch stuff, there is quite a bit of quilting and sewing too.

I currently have 222 items for sale in my shop and by the look of my office area, I'll be close to doubling that!  (whew!)

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Diamond Painting

I know, it sounds so cool, right?  Unfortunately, they aren't real diamonds (sigh).  Also, there's no paint involved.  I consider that a good thing...paint's too messy.

I heard of diamond painting on the HAED FB page.  One lady on there was doing a HAED in this medium rather than cross stitching it.

I thought it looked interesting so I bought myself a kit.  The one I chose was a simple, inexpensive one (not a HAED) just to see if I liked this craft.

It came today!  It came from China and wasn't supposed to be delivered until at least March 9th so getting it 8 days early was a bonus.  I unpacked it and here it is:


The "diamonds" get attached to the front of the canvas, which is sticky.  You can see the color key on the right side of the canvas.  For this particular kit, the diamonds only go on the trees, not the ground.  The pink thing peeking out on the right side, is the grabber "pen" for the diamonds.  If you look closely, you can see that there is a clear plastic sheet covering the canvas - that gets peeled off to expose the stickiness.

Here is a close-up of the "diamonds".  They are small, about 1/8" (2.5mm).  These happen to be round, but I know there is a square version, too.  If you click on the image for a larger view, you will see that these are numbered 741 and 742.  These numbers correspond to DMC color numbers so ordering your own supplies just got simpler!


I got this kit on Amazon.com.  If you were to look for suppliers, the best places appear to be:
Please note:  If you order complete kits from the China suppliers, the images are NOT LICENSED.  That means the artist's work is being ripped off and they are not getting any compensation for their art.

Ordering supplies, the canvas, diamonds, tool, etc., is perfectly fine but please make sure you order the patterns from legitimate sources (your local needlework shop, designers' websites, etc.). 

If I enjoy doing this and like the way it looks, I might do a few of the cross stitch patterns that I own in this  medium rather than stitching them.  I would do the ones I like but not sure I'd ever stitch this way.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

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Finish It Up Challenge






Well, I made some progress on my challenge list, even though I didn't finish a goal.

I did some hand quilting on my bulls-eye quilt this past month.  As I said, I didn't finish it but I did have to move the hoop so that's something.

Here's the quilt:


...and here's a close-up of the quilting:





The thread is a red, white and blue variegated Sulky.  It looks less "patriotic" than it sounds.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy