October's Posts
I swear I'm going to plan to get better about actually posting these things when I'm supposed to!
WIPocalypse question:
Are you a Halloween or Christmas stitcher? Um....well...neither really. I stitch a lot of gifts that I happen to give out for Christmas just because I normally have them finished around that time but I haven't really stitch much that's 'Christmasy'. The exception to this, at least for this year, being Miss Emma's stocking.
IHSW:
Well, as always it was a lot of fun to get to see my wonderful crafty ladies. ^_^ I got soooo close to finishing Emma's stocking. I managed to get the bottom of the stocking started before and worked on getting the absolute bottom outline done before I got off for the day. My goal was to have it finished on Sunday (because I set unrealistic goals for myself all the time) but I didn't finish it till the 22nd. It now needs to be washed/ironed and the interfacing put on the back. Once that is done I will take pics and post them for you all to see and admire.
SFS:
$0. I found a $25 Visa gift card that Joseph had given to me for my birthday when I asked for $$ for stitching supplies. I actually had asked for a Hobby Lobby gift card and Mom was with him and told him to get me a Visa one so I could use it else where or on stuff other than crafting supplies if I wanted. She's so smart! ^_^ So I went to JoAnn's recently and spent about $15 on it on 2 packs of size 28 needles (total of 10), 28 ct evenweave, and a pack of (2) needle minders because I didn't want to take the time to make them/purchase the materials. I almost picked up a pair of small stork scissors but I didn't need a 3rd pair to lose. I'm going to have to go back (or got to Hobby Lobby) to buy cording to finish off the TW Byzantine Ornaments that I'm working on but I figured I'd go when I had more done.
Other stuff:
Yes I finally finished Emma's stocking!!! Start date was 6/19 finish was 10/22 - 55 days total (give or take a few). I averaged about 287 stitches/day (not that I always stitched that many) with a total about 15,797 stitches but I probably missed a few along the way so I'm not sure how accurate my total is.
Stitching total break down by month:
* June - 5,281 (12 days)
* July/Aug - 2,923 (18 days)
* Sept/Oct - 7,593 (25 days)
What is left to do for 'total completion' of stocking:
* Wash/iron stocking
* Iron on interfacing to back to protect stitches/keep items from being snagged when put in stocking. This step isn't in the instructions (or provided in kit) but I had some for a different project that I ended up never working on and figured it would be a good idea.
* Sew together stitching & felt to make stocking
* Hand sew on braided yarn hanger (already braided and good to go)
* Wrap up gift and give to Sarah/Jason/Emma
As you can see still a lot to do before it's truly complete.
So you might be asking yourself: "Krystal - you just finished stitching Emma's Stocking, what are you going to do next?!"
Answer:I'm going to Disney World!
Not really,although I would love to go, I'm starting on TW Romeo & Juliet. After working on it for a day though, and talking to my ladies about linen and how VASTLY different it is from Aida, I decided I wanted to try out evenweave too. Hence the purchase of it from JoAnn's.
Then, because I wanted to do another TW pattern, one that is quick, I decided to pull out my TW Winter Collections book and pick one of the Byzantine ornaments to do. I must say I LOVE evenweave! It's stiffer than the linen so as I work I don't feel like I'm constantly pulling the fabric out of wack and thus mess up my stitching when I go to frame it, and yet I can easily do 1/4 stitches on it (something not so easily done on Aida)
I think from now on (if given the choice) I will use evenweave for any pattern that uses specialty stitches/not full cross-stitches. Of course, that is assuming I can get pretty colored evenweave when I need/want it for any project. Other than that I might just stick with Aida and buy linen when I need to.
Don't get me wrong, I love the look and feel of the linen, and will no doubt use it again, but some of the holes aren't the same size due to the nature of linen and I don't like feeling like I'm constantly pulling the fabric further out of place even when I stitch carefully. That being said, I know I will just love my R&J once it is done, framed, and hanging on my wall.
So for this month I have 1 finish and 2 starts! I'm glad to be back to stitching something for me that I don't have a deadline for and even if I do have a self-imposed deadline to have R&J finished by the end of next year, I won't feel too bad if life gets in the way and I end up NOT finishing it.
It was also my Mom's birthday on the Sunday 26th, and so Thomas and I sent her flowers to be delivered to her school on Friday 24th. Finding flower arrangements that I like isn't always easy but I came across the COOLEST roses!!! FTD was having a discount on these rainbow roses and I saw those and thought 'she'd probably love those! They're sooo different!' Now these roses come in all sorts of color combinations (purple/white, blue/white, purple/pink, etc) but the only ones that were discounted were the rainbow ones. My Mom had been having a crappy week so far which prompted the delivery to the school. Then I was afraid she wasn't going to get them on time so I was sitting on pins and needles the entire day till I could talk to her at 4 pm when she left to go home. She said they got them without any issues (the nurse brought them down since they were delivered to the front desk) and she loved them! Dad even commented on how different they were when he helped her remove the tie holding them all together and he hardly ever comments on flowers and such, assuming he notices them at all.
October 27th:
Start of Byzantine Ornament design # 1
I will probably do a few of this particular design in different colors: blue, purple, or red instead of green. Might even do some of the other designs as well and play around with their colors. But I'm going to keep the golden outlines as I like the look of the golden with the different jewel like tones of the other colors. I say gold, but really they're different shades of tan. Yay for TW blended colors! ;)
Outer border finished, page 1 inner border (with bleed over onto page 2 & 3) started and finished. Start of balcony!
October 29th: 225 stitches - 5hrs work
Balcony finished and start of building's wall. I went ahead and took out the red guidelines since I didn't really need them anymore.
Out of the 10 needles I started with I have 8 left, which is why not every symbol has a threaded needle on it. 1 I lost (at some point) and the other one I bent...somehow. And I don't mean just a little and I can use it still. The eye of the needle got bent! Like at a 90 degrees! I tried straightening it out some but the eye is crushed and twisted. :(
I found my pincushion upside down on the couch so I think something got set on it, or maybe the dog stepped on it, I don't know! Makes me sad since I kinda needed all 10.
So this needle is going to be used to frog stitches when necessary and I'll have to purchase another pack of 5 at some point.
So there you go, all caught up on the happenings of this month. Till next time, happy stitching!!
Also - bonus points & virtual cookies to those who caught my Supper Bowl win reference ;)
WIPocalypse question:
Are you a Halloween or Christmas stitcher? Um....well...neither really. I stitch a lot of gifts that I happen to give out for Christmas just because I normally have them finished around that time but I haven't really stitch much that's 'Christmasy'. The exception to this, at least for this year, being Miss Emma's stocking.
IHSW:
Well, as always it was a lot of fun to get to see my wonderful crafty ladies. ^_^ I got soooo close to finishing Emma's stocking. I managed to get the bottom of the stocking started before and worked on getting the absolute bottom outline done before I got off for the day. My goal was to have it finished on Sunday (because I set unrealistic goals for myself all the time) but I didn't finish it till the 22nd. It now needs to be washed/ironed and the interfacing put on the back. Once that is done I will take pics and post them for you all to see and admire.
 |
| IHSW progress |
$0. I found a $25 Visa gift card that Joseph had given to me for my birthday when I asked for $$ for stitching supplies. I actually had asked for a Hobby Lobby gift card and Mom was with him and told him to get me a Visa one so I could use it else where or on stuff other than crafting supplies if I wanted. She's so smart! ^_^ So I went to JoAnn's recently and spent about $15 on it on 2 packs of size 28 needles (total of 10), 28 ct evenweave, and a pack of (2) needle minders because I didn't want to take the time to make them/purchase the materials. I almost picked up a pair of small stork scissors but I didn't need a 3rd pair to lose. I'm going to have to go back (or got to Hobby Lobby) to buy cording to finish off the TW Byzantine Ornaments that I'm working on but I figured I'd go when I had more done.
Other stuff:
Yes I finally finished Emma's stocking!!! Start date was 6/19 finish was 10/22 - 55 days total (give or take a few). I averaged about 287 stitches/day (not that I always stitched that many) with a total about 15,797 stitches but I probably missed a few along the way so I'm not sure how accurate my total is.
Stitching total break down by month:
* June - 5,281 (12 days)
* July/Aug - 2,923 (18 days)
* Sept/Oct - 7,593 (25 days)
What is left to do for 'total completion' of stocking:
* Wash/iron stocking
* Iron on interfacing to back to protect stitches/keep items from being snagged when put in stocking. This step isn't in the instructions (or provided in kit) but I had some for a different project that I ended up never working on and figured it would be a good idea.
* Sew together stitching & felt to make stocking
* Hand sew on braided yarn hanger (already braided and good to go)
* Wrap up gift and give to Sarah/Jason/Emma
As you can see still a lot to do before it's truly complete.
 |
| Finished bottom of stocking w/ back-stitching & beads/button |
Answer:
Not really,
Then, because I wanted to do another TW pattern, one that is quick, I decided to pull out my TW Winter Collections book and pick one of the Byzantine ornaments to do. I must say I LOVE evenweave! It's stiffer than the linen so as I work I don't feel like I'm constantly pulling the fabric out of wack and thus mess up my stitching when I go to frame it, and yet I can easily do 1/4 stitches on it (something not so easily done on Aida)
I think from now on (if given the choice) I will use evenweave for any pattern that uses specialty stitches/not full cross-stitches. Of course, that is assuming I can get pretty colored evenweave when I need/want it for any project. Other than that I might just stick with Aida and buy linen when I need to.
Don't get me wrong, I love the look and feel of the linen, and will no doubt use it again, but some of the holes aren't the same size due to the nature of linen and I don't like feeling like I'm constantly pulling the fabric further out of place even when I stitch carefully. That being said, I know I will just love my R&J once it is done, framed, and hanging on my wall.
So for this month I have 1 finish and 2 starts! I'm glad to be back to stitching something for me that I don't have a deadline for and even if I do have a self-imposed deadline to have R&J finished by the end of next year, I won't feel too bad if life gets in the way and I end up NOT finishing it.
 |
| Aren't they pretty?! |
Ignore the mess behind the flowers - looks like Dad was working on something at the table when Mom took the picture for me.
TW project pictures!
October 22nd:
Day 1 of prep: all thread/fabric is collected - working copy of pattern made - fabric put on Q-snaps - needles open and put in wrist pincushion let the prepping begin! All horizontal guide lines complete!
October 23: 28 stitches - 1 hr work
Day 2 of prep - vertical guide lines started & finished, starting stitches put in, journal entry started
October 24-25th: 451 stitches - 7 hrs work
Work on the outermost part of the border of R&J started after purchasing the missing color
October 27th:
Start of Byzantine Ornament design # 1
I will probably do a few of this particular design in different colors: blue, purple, or red instead of green. Might even do some of the other designs as well and play around with their colors. But I'm going to keep the golden outlines as I like the look of the golden with the different jewel like tones of the other colors. I say gold, but really they're different shades of tan. Yay for TW blended colors! ;)
October 28th: 382 stitches - 6 hrs work
Outer border finished, page 1 inner border (with bleed over onto page 2 & 3) started and finished. Start of balcony!
October 29th: 225 stitches - 5hrs work
Balcony finished and start of building's wall. I went ahead and took out the red guidelines since I didn't really need them anymore.
Aannnd that's where I'm at so far! About 1,119 stitches in and about 18 hours worth of work on R&J. I'm not bothering to count stitches or keep track of time for the ornament outside of how many days it takes me to stitch it.
So, we shall see if I meet my self-imposed deadline of next years finish for R&J. There a LOT of blended threads/color changes in the part I've already done! 10 different color symbols just for the balcony!!
The inside of my binder has an index card in one corner (attached by one of the alligator clips holding my floss chart to the front) with only the blended color symbols, their colors, and the pre-threaded needles. The other side has ziplock sandwich bags (I need to get snack bags I think) with the symbol/color combo written in sharpy along with R&J so I know that it goes with that project if it were to fall out. I then place the extra thread for that color combo inside the bag so I have it when I need to make more for the needles. I'm going to reuse the bags for other projects if necessary - I'll just mark out the R&J ones when I do so.
Out of the 10 needles I started with I have 8 left, which is why not every symbol has a threaded needle on it. 1 I lost (at some point) and the other one I bent...somehow. And I don't mean just a little and I can use it still. The eye of the needle got bent! Like at a 90 degrees! I tried straightening it out some but the eye is crushed and twisted. :(I found my pincushion upside down on the couch so I think something got set on it, or maybe the dog stepped on it, I don't know! Makes me sad since I kinda needed all 10.
So this needle is going to be used to frog stitches when necessary and I'll have to purchase another pack of 5 at some point.
Also - bonus points & virtual cookies to those who caught my Supper Bowl win reference ;)
You have gotten so much done, and it all looks so lovely. I can't wait to see the finished stocking, I put interfacing on all of mine too, it just seems safer.
ReplyDeleteYeah I figured it seemed like a good idea with the stocking since it's going to have things in them. :)
DeleteYay for finishing the stocking! It's about time you got stitching for yourself again (look whos talking) ^_^ I love your new starts, and by the speed you're showing you do as well. Now we all have our 'big' TWs started, that's really exciting and I can't wait to see yours grow! I also love how organized you are with your stitching, I still need practice on this part...
ReplyDeleteHahah well I normally don't stitch for myself so it's a nice change. ^_^ Hopefully my stitching but for R&J doesn't fade too quickly. The fact that there are sooo many color changes/confetti stitches is different but in a good way. :)
DeleteHoly cow I have missed so much and I'm not even up to date on blogs! I'm incredibly jealous of all you have been doing!
Delete