Embroidery Project with Cross Stitch- Papillon 2009 SAL, Castles in the Air, Part 1

Delicate, Light, and rather Elegant!

I’ve never been one for samplers, but lately, the email groups that I’m part of have chatted about Papillon Creations’ 2009 Stitch Along Mystery Sampler, Castles in the Air.  You are supposed to use the 10 charted colors and choose 11 colors on your own to finish off the color chart. I took to the challenge and sought out  fabric, thread and beads that I had on hand and decided to join in.

This is my Mystery Sampler after completing Part 1. I purchased both the cross stitch version and the specialty version of the SAL. I decided to stitch the specialty version simply because I LOVE EMBROIDERY! Surface embroidery is still my all time favorite needle and thread creation, and this SAL has been surprisingly enjoyable.

The photos don’t show all the ‘bling’  and glitter that really is on this canvas. I used a ‘Vintage Gold’ metallic thread as my one specialty thread. It’s a black with a gold twist wound around it. All in all it gives this part, the Formal Garden, a look of wrought iron. I just love it!

I love this pinkish color. I think these flowers look like hibiscus.

I didn’t keep the original 10 colors assigned. Yes, I know… I cheated. I changed the blues to match the other colors that were free choice. My new ‘peacock blues’ match the hues of my other choices now.

This is the photo that I sent in to be uploaded on Papillon Creations website. Hopefully, my Part 1 will show up here soon.

Your life needs fun. Go ahead, have some fun!
smiles,
alicia in Hawaii
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Cross Stitch Project- Update 1, Seasonal Dragons “Summer”, Patricia Allison Chart

Hot Summer Action!

This is the progress of the Summer Dragon after 1 month of stitching! (off and on stitching, not 24/7 stitching…) I feel really good about the progress and I don’t think it will take much more time to finish it up, (less than the 1 year I originally thought it would take). Most of the stitching is in this first page, the other pages are mostly borders of flames…not that the flames are easy, but they certainly aren’t large, monster bodies of teeny tiny quarter stitches all of the same hues! LOL

In person, the black crystal is shiny and shimmery. It’s all stitched with filament added to black and other dark colors. The dragon is very intricately shaded. Bravo to Patricia Allison! This is a fantastic chart! I love every detail of it!

To stitch up this Bad Boy, I’ve had to take to some creative aids. I’m colorblind and simply CANNOT tell where I’ve left off if I just use a simple pencil to scratch off the chart. I also HAD to enlarge this chart. There is NO WAY I can see the itty bitty marks for the zillion quarter stitches in this chart. NO WAY! I’ve employed the needle holder, all threaded, Mag Eyes…with a 7.0 magnifier…yes, it’s the one I use for micro mini stuff, a TON of different colored pencils, mega charts and two scissors…one I use as a ‘pointer’.

I’ve found out a secret though…and I will be using every bit of it to tame the next page of this moster Summer pattern… I WILL WIN and tame the Summer Dragon! Muwahaha!!!

Your life needs fun. Go ahead, have some fun!

smiles,

alicia in Hawaii

Cross Stitch Project- Seasonal Dragons “Summer”, Patricia Allison Chart

Sparkly filament, dark threads…and great linen!

Great Dragon Fun!

My Birthday was April 7th. I decided to take the gift money given to me by my wonderful teacher friend, Joann, and spend it on this wonderful chart.

I ordered the chart online, on my birthday April 7, from Clare, Clare’s Celtic Cornucopia, http://www.celticstitchery.com/. Normally, I would purchase from my local store, but my store, as well as several online stores don’t seem to have the “Summer” dragon listed with their suppliers. Clare has an easy to use site, great descriptions, a detailed shopping list/cart and an easy checkout. She also answers email quite quickly and is very helpful.

I had almost all of the threads and filaments required for this piece…enough to at least start it anyway. (I have the little Kreinik sampler boxes of just 10M each of lots of colors…thanks to a wonder artist hubby that bought them while we were still displaced out of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.)

I created my own thread board with some foam board, a magnet strip, and lots of loaded needles!

Wonderful Hubby took me to Fiddlesticks, our Local Needlework Shop, for my birthday outing and he picked out a great linen for this piece. We opted against the grey the model was stitched on and went with the complement of red…GREEN. He loves getting art supplies, and even though we have zero money, he bought me some great supplies there with HIS birthday money…(his BD is March 22) Clare was so nice to send me the supply list via email so that I could shop for my birthday. I didn’t have to wait for the pattern to arrive in the mail!

The pattern arrived Friday, April 10 in the late afternoon. I got busy with marking off the linen…and getting to the chart. After ONE FULL DAY of stitching on Saturday, I got this first little stone dragon done in the edging.

Whoo hoo!!!!! It’s stitched on 32ct. linen, over 2 threads. The holes seem very, very tiny. After stitching up the majority of the stone area, I decided that the thread was too bulky. (The pattern calls for 2 thread and 1 filament.) I’ve decided to reduce the stitching to 1 thread and 1 filament. Hopefully, the coverage will be satisfactory. Everything there that is stitched, aside from the greys, are blended with some type of shiny filament. I can’t ‘capture’ the sparkle…but believe me, it’s there!

To give you an idea of HOW FAR ALONG this all is within the BIG picture…

…did I mention that took me ONE FULL DAY to get done?

😉

Money well spent for LOTS of ENTERTAINMENT TIME!

Your life needs fun. Go ahead, have some fun!

smiles,

alicia in Hawaii

Cross Stitch Project – Hawaiian Flower Ornaments, Bird of Paradise

Teeny Tiny Stitches…

This design comes from this “Hawaiian Christmas” leaflet. The photos on the leaflet are so small that I basically had to stitch it up blindly and hope the flower was what I wanted in the end. I haven’t been able to find any info on the leaflet to link to…maybe it’s no longer in print.

Close up, the photos are dime sized at best. I plan to stitch the Bird of Paradise, the Yellow Ginger… and maybe a plumeria or hibiscus.

My plan for these were to make ornaments but I found that Westex ornament frames are in short supply and maybe even obsolete. So…plan B.

I stitched this one on 18ct. white aida. The chart is rather simple and it stitched up in 2 days for me. The backstitching was more confusing than difficult because the leaflet really didn’t define the areas very well. It makes a cute little finished design. I followed the DMC floss color chart so my finished item is different than the leaflet cover since the models were stitched in Bates.

I’ve given the task of framing or finishing to my hubby, John. I requested round Koa wood frames with enough depth to insert glass, fabric and backing. If that doesn’t manifest, then perhaps he’ll make a wooden box. The box lid will have to have 3 circle inserts to frame the 3 flowers I am stitching to complete this ‘set’.

I am almost done with the backstitching of the Yellow Ginger. I will post that when it is done.

Your life needs fun. Go ahead, have some fun!

smiles,

alicia in Hawaii

Cross Stitch Project – Mill Hill “Kitchen Collection” Cupcake and Mixer

Shiny, shimmering, glorious beads!

I love my local needlework shop, Fiddlesticks Hawaii. They brought these kits in for me…just to tantalize my addiction to stitching. 😉

Each of these were lots of fun to stitch up. The colors are just…well…”fun”. There is something about them, that when viewed in person, make them almost mesmerizing. Here is the Mixer. Kit is Mill Hill, “Kitchen Collection”, Mix It Up. Design by Debbie Mumm.

Here is the Cupcake. Kit is Mill Hill, “Kitchen Collection”, Lil’ Cupcake. Design by Debbie Mumm.

The one area that is not that much ‘fun’ to tackle on these projects is that little strip of red or green below the main picture. That can get rather tedious and it is very easy to make mistakes there since the greens and reds are scattered so. I started each of the projects there…at that boring band. I saved the fun stuff for last!

I also stitched and beaded at the same time. Some folks like to complete all the stitching first then return to do all the beading. These projects are so small… I didn’t think it would hurt to bead while stitching along.

I have the other kits in the Mill Hill Kitchen Collection and as soon as I finish up the Elephant I am stitching up, then I’ll continue with the rest.

…maybe I’ll make the Toasty Toaster

…no…maybe the Bowls…yikes! So many to choose from!

Your life needs fun. Go ahead, have some fun!

smiles,

alicia in Hawaii