Wedding Sampler framed!

 Hey Everyone!

Just a couple of minutes ago I finished framing my Wedding Sampler!

Now I just have to wait for August so I can enter it in our county fair.

That’s all I have for now.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Wedding Sampler…nearly finished

 Hey Everyone!

I have the Wedding Sampler finished…nearly.  I ran out of beads!  ugh!  I’ve ordered them already so I can finish it once they get here. It needs about 20 more beads in the bottom border.

As you can see, I’ve already “signed” the piece.  It will not be showing once I frame it.  It will be straight as well when framed.  The beads are causing some slight, temporary warping while it’s still on the scroll frame.

I have also worked on rearranging my craft room while I was working on this, and I will be making a separate post about that…later.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Wedding Sampler…more progress

 Well, I’ve made a little more progress on my wedding sampler—enough that I have to roll my scroll frame!

I had to rip out my name from the previous photo, ‘cause I somehow was off-center with it.  If you’ve ever had to frog over 1 stitching on 32ct., you can understand how painful that was.  I even managed to cut one of the fabric threads as I was ripping out stitches.  I fixed it, and unless I use a magnifying glass, I can’t see it.  For anyone who wants to try to spot it, it’s in the middle of the “a” in “Marie”.

As you can tell, I could have stitched a little more before rolling the scroll frame, but on the columns I stopped where I will repeat the stitching to extend the pattern downwards.

Happy Stitching!  

Stacy

Wedding Sampler progress

 I’ve been making good progress on the TW Wedding Sampler that I’m stitching for mine & hubby’s anniversary.  It will be 30 years in August which is the pearl anniversary.  I think it’s appropriate that this has a bunch if cream colored beads on it.  Based on how far along I am, I should be able to finish it, including framing, before our anniversary.  Ideally, I want to enter it in our county fair in early August and have that be the first time he sees it.  He takes great pride in all my craft endeavors and loves to see the ribbons I earn.  Here’s the photo of my progress:

I did have to modify it from the original as both of our names were too long to fit without putting the surnames on a second line.  That means I have to extend all the borders.  Thankfully, I was able to spot that there is a repeat in the greenery/ribbon border so it’s not as difficult as I expected.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Answer #1 - Cutting in Hardanger

Carla asked:
"I will be doing some fancy stitching on TW's "Tea Scene" that requires some cutting, I would really like to see how you have figured this out please."


Carla,

Hopefully, the pattern has lines indicating where you should cut the threads.  For the actual cutting, you'll want some small, sharp scissors that will fit easily in the holes of the fabric.  I think the scissors that I use are manicure scissors.  If there is a lot of cutting, like on the photo below, you will need to take a break because your hands will probably start to ache.  Well, at least my hands did.  I have fairly large hands and those are such tiny scissors, my hands hurt from holding the scissors rather than the actual cutting.

For a good tutorial on Hardanger, you can go here.  There is a great diagram showing where the cutting lines should be. 

Here is one of my completed projects that has quite a bit of cutting in it:

This pattern is from the booked Stitched Elegance: Enhanced with Hardanger from Stoney Creek.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

A thoughtful post...

This post is full of my thoughts while stitching.  In particular, with regards to TW's 12 Days of Christmas.  As my loyal readers know, 12 Days has been the focus piece in my rotation.  Every other time I've rotated, I've switched back to this one so that I would eventually get it finished.

Well, 12 Days got it's turn again last week.  It was time to work on Day 10: 10 Lords a Leaping.

Since the borders are done over 2 using blended colors, I've been cutting long lengths of each color then threading 6 needles with all the blended strands.

I started by doing the borders for Day 10 and had threaded needles sitting there so I thought: 
"I find doing the borders boring, so I'll just do as much as I can on the Day 11 & 12 borders with these threaded needles."

When I finished using up the pre-threaded needles, I thought:
"I'm so close to finishing the borders, I might as well get them done.  I'll backstitch them too 'cause I hate backstitching."

After I'd finished the borders, I thought:
"The holly in the corners is easy to do, so I'll do the holly on all three remaining days."

With the holly all done, I thought:
"If I stitch the 'of Christmas' for each of the 3 days left, I can discard that page of pattern."

After I threw away the "of Christmas" part of the pattern, I realized that I didn't enjoy the lettering due to all of the backstitching, so I thought:
"If I get all the lettering done, I'll only have to do the inside area for each day.  That will speed up my progress when I rotate back to this project."

Once I'd finished all of the lettering, I started working on the center of Day 10.  It was going along so quickly, I thought:
"Hmm, why don't I just finish the other 2 days as well."

After all that thinking, 12 Days of Christmas is DONE!

Now I'm heading back to my craft room to see what my next rotation project will be.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

12 Days of Christmas update

As those of you who follow my blog know, I have designated the 12 Days of Christmas as the focal piece in my rotation.  That means, every other time I rotate, I work on this one.

Well, I just finished it's most recent turn with the completion of day 7!  I am enjoying working on this project, but am relieved to be taking a bit of a break from it.  I know backstitching serves a purpose, but after finishing off one of the "days", I've had enough BS (backstitching, lol) to last me awhile!

Here's the photo of my current progress:

As you can see, I did make a start on the border of day 8.  This is due to the blended colors being used in the over 2 borders.  I cut identical lengths of the two colors needed and then combine each of  the six strands with the six strands of the other color and thread them into six needles.  I stitch with the blends until all six needles are used up.  I'm not sure this paragraph makes sense, but that's what happens!  ;-)

I don't know what will be next in my rotation, 'cause I called it quits for tonight.  Guess that means I'll be surprised at my next stitching session.

Happy Stitching!  To those in the US, I hope you and your families have a blessed Thanksgiving!!!

Stacy

Pinterest ~ WIP ~ Animals

Yes, I know that's a wide range of topics that I'm planning to cover!

First of all:  Pinterest.  Unfortuately, I've discovered that evil website.  ;-) 

Just kidding about it being evil...addicting does apply though.  If you would like to follow me on Pinterest, you can find me listed as stacy27c.

Now here are a couple of ideas that I discovered on Pinterest and have actually done.  The first is an ornament that I did as a small present for my niece's wedding.  The curls are created by slicing the wedding invitation up.  The only thing that I did differently from the original post is to use a knitting needle to wrap the paper around.

The second is a box made out of paper strips.  I actually made this to hold the ornament.  The post for that one I think is in Japanese but easy enough to see how to do it.  I used scrapbooking paper to make mine.  It took two sheets of 12" x 12" paper.

 


Next comes some WIP progress!  I worked on what is now my focus piece:  12 Days of Christmas from Teresa Wentzler.  I finished off Days 5 and 6 which puts me at the half-way mark!

Since that was my goal for this turn in my rotation, I've put it aside for a bit and my randomizer chose Rapunzel from HAED as my next WIP.

And now for the animals mentioned in the title.  I live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest of the United States.  On the way home from church last week, my husband and I were treated to this sight:

For those who might not know what these lovely creatures are, they are Roosevelt Elk.  These are all cows (females) and calves.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Sad stitching news

[insert tears here]

Sad news for the stitching world. Teresa Wentler is giving up designing! You can read about it on her website:
http://www.twdesignworks.com/

Happy Stitching (well, try at least)

Stacy