Christmas Present stitching

These are what I stitched for my boyfriend for Christmas, oddly enough. He got other things as well, but this is the stitched component of his present. I was a bit rushed for time (having to post them in November to get there by Christmas!).

They are both little cheap kits I got at my local craft shop. They came complete with little frames (stitch'n'frame variety).

Just gotta get Valentine's Day stitching done now!

Egyptian Royalty - part three

ANOTHER FINISH!

And just so we can see how they look together:

Yay!

I was upset to find, when I went back to my local LNS yesterday, the orange fleece remnant had been sold. However there was some white, so I will make some snowmen instead I think (at least until some orange comes to hand again). Until then, I am also working on a new chart. Again from a magazine (Cross Stitcher (UK) Jan 2004 edition). This one is called Willow Pattern design, and is apparently a representation of a very famous, and very old, chinese tragic love story. I'm up to here so far:

Next time I post I'll include the little story that goes with it, but for now I will include something else I am working on, and which is almost finished:

It's from the Bookmark Collection, from Told In A Garden (Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum). It was supposed to be stitched on sage green aida, but not having any to hand, I am using DMC 3032 to stitch the background, which is almost complete now!

More later. (Including freebies)

Egyptian Royalty - part two

I've been working steadily on my Egyptian duo. Tutankhamun is officially finished now, and Nefertiti isn't all that far off completion:

Still have a bit to go on the gold, and then back stitch plus a little symbol off to the side but she's almost done.

Yay!

More halloween stuff after this I think. I saw some lovely orange fleece material in the bargain bin yesterday at my local LNS and thought it would be great for use as a soft halloween pumpkin, or a series of little ones! Just got to hope it's still there when I go back (I didn't buy it when I first saw it).

Egyptian Royalty

As I was browsing my collection of patterns for something new to stitch, I came across two little Egyptian patterns, and one large one. While I'm not that keen on the large one, I fell in love with the two little ones, and despite not being freebies (they come from Britain's No.1 Cross Stitcher Magazine, October 2003 issue), I thought I would take a break from holiday-based stitching (having done a whole ONE in that direction, i.e. the Jolly Jack-O-Lantern), and do these instead.

So I am starting with Tutankhamun, and after he is done, I will move on to Nefertiti. What you can't see from the scan above is the gold thread. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to scan very well, but truly it is very shiny and rather lovely.

As usual, I will do an update photo soon!

Lookie what I made!

FINISHED!!!!

I still have to sort out a frame for it, which I plan on doing very soon, and when that is completed, I will post the final photo of my Jolly Jack-O-Lantern!

I'm unsure what to start on next - possibly a christmas ornament? Will have to go look through my collection of freebies and bought charts to see what I can find that is nice and small and won't take very long (time is limited at the moment).

Update to 'Jolly Jack-O-Lantern'

Here we go again - a few more hours of stitching on my freebie, and I'm up to here now:

He's looking more pumpkin-like now at any rate! I'm up to, I think, about 7 hours stitching on him. A few more hours and he'll be done!

Update for my "Just Because" cross stitch

As I said in my last blog entry, today I started a new cross stitch - just because - and so here is part one of it! This is what I did in about four hours:

This one is a freebie (having stated previously that I LIKE stitching freebies, I intend to do precisely that). You can find it here: http://crochet.about.com/library/weekly/aa100700.htm . It is actually a filet crochet pattern, but I thought it would make a cool cross stitch pattern too, and so far it seems to be looking pretty good. I know it's months yet until Halloween, but I like to get in early (never really succeeding, but good intentions and all...).

I will post an update when next I have one!

Having a mini-rant about freebie cross stitch vs non-freebie cross stitch + WIPS

Why do people automatically assume that because you prefer to stitch freebie patterns, you must be a troll????

(for those that don't know, as I understand it, a 'troll' is someone, in the land of cross stitch, who tells on people who have illegal copies of copyrighted non-free charts on their sites, to the designers whose charts are being infringed upon)

For anyone interested - designers included - I AM NOT A TROLL. I just like freebie charts. It is because of freebie charts that I tend to buy copies of non-freebie charts. Freebie charts give me a chance to see if I like a designer or not. If it weren't for freebie charts, I wouldn't be such a fan of the likes of Lizzie*Kate and Dragon Dreams (both of whom I have bought copies of non freebie charts).

I appreciate the designers more who offer freebie charts, even if they are only one or two a year (in the case of The Prarie Schooler), or every month (in the case of Vermillion Stitchery), because I like the'try before you buy' mentality.

In this blog, I will primarily be stitching freebies, but I will also stitch the odd non-freebie.

Now, onto actual stitchery-things.

I still haven't finished the Orchid. I've been struggling with it for months. To be honest, I don't know that it is much more advanced than the last time I posted a picture of it, so I won't include one just yet. The flowers that I said would be 'so easy and quick' to stitch, are turning into a right pain, because they are quite finicky!

Other things - like all stitchers everywhere, I too have a WIP box (Works In Progress).

I've decided to include some scans of things I found, and which I promise to finish soon enough (although tonight I will be starting a new chart just because!):

(Oddly enough, though, none of the WIP are freebies.)

This is from Donna Kooler's Cross Stitch Designs book. It still has the backstitch to go, but apart from that, it's pretty much done. It is one of the coaster designs.
 

This is a lovely african elephant and its baby, from a British cross stitching magazine. I've a long way to go on it yet, but one day I'm sure it will get finished. The red boxy thing at the edge is part of the 'frame'...

 

March Stitching, Continued....

Here's how I'm going on the orchid. I've had to restitch it on 14 ct aida, as the 18 ct I originally started it on was too small for doing 3/4 stitches (at least for my eyes, anyway). It still has a way to go, but the hard stuff (the leaves) are done at least. The rest (the flowers) are just finicky but won't take too long I hope. Given it has to be finished pretty much by Monday, I still have some hard stitching ahead, but when it's done, it's done, and I'll be glad.

Photos of quilt to follow, I promise!

Toodles....

March Stitching

Here is what I am working on currently. It is an "Early-Purple Orchid". Given I started a few hours ago, and I'm working on 18ct cream, with lots of fractional stitches, it's coming along rather nicely. It's from the Cross Stitcher Magazine's book of Country Flowers in Cross Stitch, by Debra Page. 

Apart from this, I have been working on a quilt I started last year for winter. I'll upload some photos in my next blog entry. I've never made a quilt before, so it's all quite new to me. But I made a promise to myself that I wanted to make a quilt that was fairly traditional in more ways than just the pattern. So what I have done is made the quilt from scraps, which is fairly normal, except that these scraps are from a rag bag from my local thrift shop. These rags were once clothes. They make for fairly hard-wearing fabrics, as well as some rather interesting patterns. A friend of mine, who is a quilter (and a very good one), said that she liked "the originality and ingenuity" of it. So I have a quilt with pockets, buttons, and seams, for the most part. It's a very long way from being finished, as it's meant for a queen-sized bed, but I hope by Winter, that it will be far enough along to be able to sit under while I work on it!

Anyway, more on that later!

Toodles....

Welcome to my craft blog for 2010

Welcome to my craft blog. I've not done this kind of thing before, but I thought it would be nice to have a place to share my works in progress, my finishes, and my general successes (and failures too!)

Design - Happy New Year 2010

Designer - Lorraine Clarke (Cyberstitchers)

(http://www.cyberstitchers.com/free_patterns/pattern/happy_new_year_2010)

Fabric - 14 ct aida

Threads - DMC colours of my own choosing

I hope to update this blog semi-regularly, but life has a habit of getting in the way!

Anyway, as the picture says above - Happy New Year 2010!