Kittens and Butterflies

 

42 needles on this one! This is, of course, pre- (most of the) backstitching...

... and here it is all done! A good amount of french knots, but nothing too obscene (not like the lighthouse at the very least!). I changed the number of strands from 2 to 1 for the french knots on the butterfly antennae and the eye highlights because two strands was just looking way too large.

I've already transcribed the piece I'm planning on doing next, but I'm going to have to upgrade my second analysis program to also be able to understand quarter stitches. Hopefully I'll be able to get the first stitches in that one before the end of the day.

Beacon at Rocky Point

59 needles on this one! That's actually a lot more than I thought before I went and counted them.

The backstitching is really important on this one, especially on the house. There're a lot of details on the house that don't show up without it.

And omg all the French knots! They were all supposed to be done with two strands. Which looks fine, except I'm pretty sure that the picture on the front of the kit was only done with one. I mean, my French knots are pretty tight, but the ones on the picture were even smaller. I did switch the seagull's eye from 2 strands down to 1 though, because it just looked derpy with a huge eye!

I have to figure out now what my next piece is going to be. I thought I might do the Mario map next, but I'm kind of wanting to do another smaller piece. I'm going to have to dig through my (extensive!) stash and see what piques my fancy!

Golden Retriever Puppies

Just haven't felt like taking pictures lately, but I have been stitching. This piece took almost exactly 4 weeks from start to finish.

Pre-backstitching:

And post:

It's not the most striking of differences on this one, but it obviously does add some dimension to it. Back to the lighthouse!

Herb Wreath

It is done!

Wow, that was a lot of backstitching. But I keep telling myself it was worth it!

While I really like the end result of this one, I feel like it would have been a lot more enjoyable had the pattern not been so horrible.

But it's done now! On to the next one (which I may have already started last weekend when I just didn't want to do anymore backstitching for a bit).

Tree Frogs

Brought a small kit with me on Christmas, decided to get one last finish before the year ends. The bright colours were fun, and once again I'm reminded just how much backstitching brings out the picture.

Robin Redbreast

He is done!

And with plenty of time before Christmas.

I'm going to try to find an appropriately-sized oval hoop for this one for finishing.

Pretty Roses, Robin Redbreast

I picked up a selection of magazine freebie kits from the thrift shop a month or so back, and they were perfect for making sure I didn't fall asleep at my work conference! I only ended up getting the one done, which I picked because it was the most aggressively pink of the lot and wanted to get it over with. I was having trouble getting a picture of the finished stitch that wasn't either very yellow or very blue, so this'll do for now.

Also got a bunch done on Robin this weekend. He's really coming along. I'm pretty sure I'm already done with at least one colour.

Puss in Boots - Latch Hook

Took some time off after clearing out my WIP pile to play some video games, then picked up a mystery latch hook from the thrift store that I decided I wanted to do.

The colours were kind of annoying on this one actually: there were several colours that could have been interchangeable (what's the difference between vanilla, honey, and spice?), and the yarn counts were off for some colours because they included extra. So I did the best I could (especially considering it didn't come with a reference photo) and I think I got the colours correct.

I think the kit is from Caron, but maybe it's just not available anymore, because I can't find it on their website. 

And I've already got my next stitching piece gridded up and ready to go on the scroll frame. Wonder what it could be!

 

Elegance

She is done!
I hope!
I'm pretty sure I've got all the backstitching done and that I didn't miss any, but I always have a sneaking suspicion that I've forgotten some.

I feel like the belt could be better, but considering I spent an entire evening on just the belt itself, it's as good as it's going to get. The right side is a stitch too high I think, but oh well. Plunging that cording was hard enough the first time - pulling 20 strands doubled over through a hole in 18 count aida was not something I wanted to do more than I absolutely had to.

DH says that we're definitely going to have to finish this one and put it on display.

Treble Clef - Latch Hook

Was browsing at my local Michael's this week. Unfortunately, their cross stitch selection is 1 - small and 2 - never changing. I've kept from caving and picking up a latch hook previously... but this time I wasn't strong enough!

These kits don't come with the hook, but I've got a half dozen picked up from various thrift shops, so that wasn't an issue (though I did have to spend a bunch of time to find where I'd stashed them).

One problem with this kit was that the picture on the front of the box was not the same as the pattern inside. I don't know how easy it is to see in the picture, but there are six colours: white, black, blue, dark turquoise, turquoise, and light turquoise. You can see on the bottom that they've got the turquoises fading into the white, with the lightest turquoise next to the white. At the top though, the pattern has the middle-turquoise next to the white fading into the dark turquoise, whereas on the picture on the box the top uses the light and medium turquoises. Not that big of a deal, but I prefer the colours on the box, and there wasn't enough of the light turquoise left to just go ahead and copy the box anyway.

English Springer Spaniel

Made this as a thank-you for someone. It's still wet in the picture, and the thread ends are SUPER visible because the aida gets slightly see-through when it's wet. It will be hooped and hopefully dropped off sometime this week.

Provence Market

It's done! And I totally forgot to take a picture before the backstitching went in on the top half :(

I ended up working the last sky colour in rows, and I don't know about you, but it looks super obvious to me.

I'm glad this one is finally done though: I'm really looking forward to putting in some work on Elegance.

Silent Treatment

I needed to finish something, so I did this one last night. "Quick" little piece that took me probably about 4 hours. Yes, cross stitching takes a bit of time!

Wonderful Windmill

It is done! Pre-backstitching:

And post:

It looks a whole lot better in the second photo, not just because of the backstitching, but also because it's still wet (making the stitches plump up and the colours a lot more vibrant) and the picture's taken in a different lighting.

This was due for a birthday on the 27th, so I made that deadline, but unfortunately the recipient lives 2+ hours away and the 'delivery service' that I was going to use to bring it to them went for a visit yesterday.

I'm going to have to get a frame for it, and send it off the next time they go to visit.

The Guardian

Before backstitching...

And after! It is finally done! It's still wet (I rinsed it to wash the marking pen out), but I'm not going to be able to iron it until I can find my iron! I also need to have a go at it with some actual cleaning solution, since it's got stains on the left and top from being neglected for so long. Next I'm going to be working on either Provence Market, or Elegance... not sure which, I'll probably leave it right down to the wire which one I'll pick up next.

Have some close ups (for some reason the castle just didn't want to come into focus properly)!

Blow Bubbles

I've been working on this one at work on my lunch breaks, which is why there haven't been any WIP pictures. I'm pretty pleased with the cross stitches, not so much the backstitching on the letters. But it's not like it was that much work.

There were a LOT of French knots, but I actually think they came out pretty good. The worst part about them (and the backstitching) is anchoring the thread on the back. I'm not going to lie, there's more than one knot on the back of the piece.

Dachshund Blues

Didn't I say it would be done on Saturday? And I didn't even do any work on it last night. Above is of course the before and after backstitching. And as always, the backstitching really makes the piece pop, picking out the details. I like the whiskers on the left cat, where they change from black to white depending on the cross stitch colour in the background. It's a nice effect.

I'll probably be returning to The Guardian now, because I really do want to get that piece finished since it's been sitting so long.

Belle Fairy Tale Dress

She is completed! I am really pleased with how she turned out. The stitching to embellishment ratio was a lot better for me compared with the ribbon bouquet I did earlier this year: I finished the ribbons and roses all this morning (and a bunch of that time was waiting for the Fray Check to dry).

Some close ups:

Twilight Silhouette

It is done! Before and after backstitching:

There's a lot more fairy dust after the backstitching. There were a lot more French knots than I thought going into this. I didn't think there were quite that many French knot stars.

The French knots actually weren't that bad. It was the blending filament that was the worst. It was trying to curl up on itself, so it would knot easily when being drawn through the fabric, but it also needed three strands at once, which meant both that it was even more prone to knotting, and the three threads always wanted to sit in the needle at different points because of the curling. I ended up doing one strand at a time, and just doing all the backstitching thrice.

The black backstitching I did the same thing with, but for a different reason: most of the black was one strand, but there were a couple places where it used two strands (the sparkles) and four strands (the curls on the wing tips). I didn't want to have to come back and lock down a new set of threads, so since there were so few places with more strands and they were so close to where the single strand stitches were supposed to go, I just did those with the single strand as well, just going over the stitches multiple times to make up the weight.

The difference in colour in the black cross stitches worked itself out, so I'm pretty confident in saying that the thread faded from me handling it. Unfortunately - though the cross stitches now match - the black half stitches were done a lot later and weren't handled near as much... and they're a lot darker still. I'm hoping washing the piece evens everything out.

Also, I'm sure I've probably missed at least one blade of grass (it was hard to keep track as I went), but oh well. It's done. I'm not going back now. So there.

Christmas Kittens #1

I have to say, I'm not really all that pleased with how this one turned out. Part of it is fractional stitches on aida I know, but it just feels... messy. This was the first of three free patterns in this month's World of Cross Stitching.

First without backstitching:

Looks like a reindeer without the backstitching. And here he is with:

It's hard to tell that it's a bird on his head. He's also supposed to be smiling and my mouth came out more like he's trying to be super serious. Also, apparently my French knots (switched to colonial knots halfway through, then switched back to French) just don't want to be consistent tonight.

Oh well, free kit. Good to practise with.