CJC – 7th finish of the challenge, a Christmas ornie and some WIP updates

Let’s start with the finish, really should have posted this last week, but just didn’t have the time. The Crazy January Challenge (CJC) finish is the cross stitched part of the wall hanging mail organizer I’m making for my mum. Now I just have to sew on to some fabric and make it into a wall hanging. Should have it in the mail for my mum next week (fingers crossed)

I also finished my Christmas ornament for March last week, it’s a Liz Almond design which was in the free Christmas design booklet which came with The World of Cross Stitch issue 170. I used Madeira Decora and Silk floss in green, red and gold, and some red Gütermann beads, and stitched it on plain old 16-count white aida. The pics aren’t great for this one, so I put in two (excellent logic, no?).

I’ve also been working on two WIPs.

Mostly it’s been my Sleepy Hollow Sampler by Raise the Roof. I really do love this one and can’t wait to finish it and frame it. There is still quite a bit to do, the story excerpt at the bottom and of course the border, but every single stitch is a joy!

This last one it’s been a while since I worked on, it’s the Stitcher’s Sampler. It’s a little slow going as I’m having trouble making the changes I want to it, but I’ll get there eventually. At least all the borders are done now.

February Christmas Ornament Complete

Finished stitching my Christmas Ornament for February today. I chose a design from Issue 34 of The Gift of Stitching (the 2008 ornament issue), figured it’s about time I started stitching designs from all those back issues 🙂 The design I settled on was Gingerbread House Ornament by Olive Dyck of Olive Hope Design.
I used some of my hand dyed Polstitches fabric stash, Summer Breeze I think, 28 count evenweave. And I made up the floss colors from my own stash; the two browns of the gingerbread house was Weeks Dye Works Cocoa and Chestnut, the tree was done in Dragonfloss Holly Leaves and Wood Elf, and snow/frosting in Kreinik Very Fine Braid (#4) 032. The candy-cane was done in DMC Blanc and 321, and the yellow of the moon and windows was Madeira Silk 0114. The beads (supposed to look like Smarties on a gingerbread house) were various from my collection of Gütermann Beads and cheapy ones I picked up on Abu Dhabi, not entirely happy with them, but it will make for a fun and colorful ornament.

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Tune back next month for the March ornament, this time from Issue 35 of The Gift of Stitching.

Stitchy Saturdays – A Finish and Some Progress

I thought I’d take a leaf out of my friend Kell‘s book blog and instate Stitchy Saturdays here at Wikkid Woman. All in the name of getting some structure into my blogging and life 🙂 So for this first Stitchy Saturday I have a finish to share with you and some progress on other pieces.

My finish was started on Day 12 of the Crazy January Challenge, Lizzie*Kate’s All You Need Is Love. I stitched it on 25-count fuchsia lugana evenweave, and used my own floss choices, you can see them below:
Brown text and cupcake and heart outline – Madeira Silk 2008,
Cream on cupcake and inside heart – Madeira Decora 1523,
Flowers – Dragonfloss 201 Sweetheart,
Leaves – Dragonfloss 206 Wood Elf,
Variegated text and swirls at bottom– Dragonfloss 115 Hugs with Stitches,
Framing the A and bottom square– Dragonfloss 113 Greetings.

Now I just need to find the perfect frame, I know what it looks like in my head I just have to find it in real life 🙂

As for my progress, the one I have worked on the most is Raise The Roof – Sleepy Hollow Sampler. I just LOVE stitching this one, it’s so sketchy and atmospheric. I started stitching it on Day 5 of the challenge and have finished most of the middle motif now. I’m really enjoying the specialty threads, the GAST seems a bit wooly (maybe that’s just me, but I love the texture) and the WDW is just lovely too.

Another piece which has seen a little progress is the wall hanging I’m making for my mum. I finished the motifs on either side of the text and started a flower border thing at the bottom, but then I decided I don’t like the houses on either side and I’m gonna frog them and just have a flower border above and below. This was my first start of 2011 and it’s one I need to finish pronto so I’ll be picking it up again shortly.

January Biscornu and Christmas Ornament finished

Another couple of finishes, my biscornu and Christmas ornament for January. As I mentioned before the ornament will not be finished ‘finished’ for a few months, I plan on having a finishing day once I have a few more stitched up.

The biscornu is a Faby Reilly freebie design. I stitched it on some of the 16-count zweigart cream gold flecked aida I got for the wedding project, I’m amazed I still have some left although there isn’t much now. For floss I used two different DMC colour variations, and a blue Madeira silk. I also used some Gütermann Beads (9/0-9904) at the end of the flakes and around the edge. It took an awful long time to bead the edge, but it think it was worth it. Predicable I’ll be doing a Valentine’s themed biscornu for February, just have to decide on a design now. I have done one, but it’s for an exchange.

My Christmas ornament was a freebie by The Sampler Girl, it’s called Christmas Eve Flight and can be found on her blog. I stitched it on 32-count flax Belfast linen, using Weeks Dye Works – Chestnut for the reindeer, Dragonfloss – Blood Ruby for the text and 2 DMC Colour Variations for the snowflakes.

First cross stitch finishes of 2011

I have my first two finishes of 2011. The first one is a long time coming, I’ve spent almost exactly one year on it.

It is of course the Emily Peacock ‘HUG’ cushion.

It still needs to be made up into a cushion, but I’m leaving it until the hot water bottle cover and wall hanging is stitched so I can have a finishing day with Paul’s nan and get them all done. I haven’t actually bought fabric for it yet, in the instructions they use pale pink cotton, but I was thinking maybe a fuchsia silk fabric (I was eying some up at Abakhan the other day). I’m so relieved it’s done, it’s been hard going from start to finish really, the big stitches and the block colors really drove me crazy, it made it so boring to stitch. It looks great finished though, and once it’s a cushion it’ll look even better. Now I just need to finish ‘KISS’ so I have a match set, that thought is the only thing which will make me finish it. As mentioned before, this was stitched on 11-count aida using the charted DMC floss.

My second finish was far more fun, and quick. I started it as part of the Crazy January Challenge, it was my day 6 project I believe.
It’s a Lizzie*Kate design called Time for God, which I stitched over one on 32-count linen so it would be the perfect size for a bookmark. I had seen a fellow Crossstitchforum member do it, and was immediately inspired. It will be a gift for my SIL’s mum, who will be 60 in the next few weeks. She is the only person I know who is christian (not just Christmas and Easter), so I just knew I had to stitch this for her. I used the charted Weeks Dye Works with this design, and the fabric was DMC 32-count Raw Linen.

I have a couple of other finishes too, but the pictures for those will have to wait until they arrive at their new homes.

I’m off to do my Happy Dances

Crazy January Challenge 2011 – DAY 6

A bit late, but here is my project for Day 6. I started Lizzie*Kate’s Time for God design. Inspired by a crossstitchforum member I’m stitching it over 1 on 32 count linen (using the listed Weeks Dye Works), making it the perfect size for a bookmark. Once it’s finished it’ll be a birthday present for my SIL’s mom, who is turning 60 in the beginning of February. She is very religious so I thought this would be the perfect present for her, hopefully she’ll like it (and hopefully I’ll have it done in time).

Sorry about the bad picture, but you’ll see more of this one soon enough.

Now over to the Day 7 update…

Crazy January Challenge 2011 – DAY 5

As mentioned previously I started ‘The Sleepy Hollow Sampler’ by Raise the Roof Design yesterday. I’ve chosen to stitch on 32-count flax colored Belfast linen, using the specialty threads in the chart, namely GAST (Gentle Art Sampler Threads) and WDW (Weeks Dye Works).
I started stitching in the evening yesterday, and it was a joy to stitch, I’ve started from the middle and I’m working my way out 🙂 Reallyt didn’t want to put this particular project down, it’s not even like I can pick it straight up after the 15th, have 3 projects which need to be finished by the end of January so they will get prioritized. Oh well, just means I have lots of stitching to look forward to 🙂

Here is a not so great picture

Today I’m thinking it’s time for a Lizzie*Kate Design, check in tomorrow to see which one 🙂