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.

Dachshund Blues

It's getting close now! You can easily see where all three cats are now. Four colours left to go, then the backstitching. This will almost probably not be done by tomorrow night, but it should be finished on Saturday I should think.

Dachshund Blues

I'm not sure if the keyboard is supposed to be part of the dog, or if it's just resting on her back. I'm going to say that it's not actually part of the dog, so that I can say that the dog is complete! Except for her collar. And the one white stitch for the shine on her nose. But those are left on purpose (there aren't very many green stitches, so I'm leaving those until near the end, probably just before the backstitching).

Dachshund Blues

It's a lot more obvious now where the dog is! I also may have been a little bit optimistic when I thought that 1/4 was already done last time, either that or I just didn't get as much done today.

Dachshund Blues

When the spouse is away... there's no one around to remind you that there are plenty of WIPs already started and you should really be working on those instead of starting on something new.

At least this one's not that big (I think this is already a good quarter of the cross stitches done), and I don't see any reason why it won't be completely finished before hubby gets back in a week. So at least I'll have something to show for it!

Wedding Bouquet - Day 13

It is completed! I was just going to do the ribbons today then move on to something else and finish the beads tomorrow, but I was feeling like I could handle the beads as well, so I went ahead and finished it off!

There were a couple places that I noticed that I missed a couple of the cross stitches, but they're not really noticeable and where they were, it would have been very awkward to get the stitches in around the ribbons.

The completely-pink one just down from centre was one of the twisted roses I was having trouble with... didn't turn out too badly. 

The two tone spider web roses (just up from centre, top right corner, bottom middle) did turn out REALLY nice looking. I think the light one in the centre is probably my favourite of all the flowers in the entire piece.

The beads were used as separators for the date; on the lace edges; and on the white doodlies as small buds, centres for the bigger buds (french knots), and centres for the fully-bloomed doodlies.

I hope they like it!

Wedding Bouquet - Day 12

I don't think I want to do the ribbon embroidery... I've been procrastinating. Either that, or because I HAVE to do it before the deadline (just over a month away), it's feeling like too much pressure.

Either way, I didn't get it done this weekend like I'd hoped. I got all of the flat-petal flowers in the middle done, though. After that, there're some more white snow-droppy small guys on the bottom by the fern leaves and on the left on the stems, another set of pink doodlies on the gladiolus-looking stem in the top left, a set of three of the middle-sized roses on the left next to the snow droppy guys and one in the middle above the bottom-most star, then just the spider web roses and the beads.

I have to say, I think I may have had a little bit too much fun switching quickly back and forth (because it's fun to use Windows Photo Viewer as a blink comparator simulator) between the last picture of Bouquet and this one... it was like 'Empty Space'... 'Kabloom!'

I took a closer look at the beads that came in the kit... pretty sure they're plastic, so I picked up some beads at Michael's today to use instead. I got the ones with a pearly-sheen (the ones in the kit were flat white), and I think they should look better than the ones that came with it; give it a bit more of a shine.

I did get some small bits done on the Geisha and the Autumn Tree while I was procrastinating, but not enough to justify a whole post (plus, it was late when I got home and didn't really want to go through the hassle of grabbing a photo). We'll see what this next week brings!

Wedding Bouquet - Day 11

Dammit Reddit, you waste so much time! I could have gotten so much more of this done tonight if I didn't get stuck reading random threads!

I had a bit of trouble with the larger peach roses on the right too, which probably contributed to me wanting to waste time on Reddit. Only five more of those to do, though at least... I thought I disliked French Knots... those roses are even worse.

Wedding Bouquet - Day 10

Stitching should now be complete (even the supporting threads for the spider web roses). Now I just have to wash out the guideline marks and flatten it a bit, and I can start on the beads and ribbons!

I'd accidentally done the heart between the names one stitch too low... I considered leaving it because I wasn't sure if I'd have enough pink for the flowers, but once I finished with the web lines, I went ahead and frogged it to redo it.

Wedding Bouquet - Day 9

All the stitching done but for the last bit of back stitching (I think). The little bit of lace in this quadrant and the names... then I think wash and iron, and then the beads and ribbon after that, just in case.

Wedding Bouquet - Day 8

Got distracted by video games, didn't get the quadrant quite finished. Oh well. Still got a good chunk finished.

Wedding Bouquet - Day 7

More leafy bits done today. Hoping to have this third quadrant done by tomorrow. There are a lot of large leaves, so it may take longer than the previous sections.

Wedding Bouquet - Day 6

Officially half done the stitching now. Finished off the lacy section at the top. Would have been farther, except I had to rip out some of the lace on top since it was off by one stitch.

Wedding Bouquet - Day 5

Just the one length of thread done today (doing the grey-green lace). I was working on this model for the last couple of nights:

So didn't have near as much time for stitching as usual. But that's done now and will be off to it's actual owner tomorrow.

Wedding Bouquet - Day 4

Got all but one colour done in the second quarter (the green-grey for the lace). This is working up a whole lot faster than I thought it would. It's not unreasonable that I might be finishing it up next weekend.

Wedding Bouquet - Day 3

First quadrant done (but for ribbons and beads of course). Without the flower petals, it kind of looks like I just decided to try out some random stitches on the cloth. The five blobs near the center are flower centers, and there will be a rose in the empty space between them.

I really liked doing the zigzag back stitching on the ribbon at the bottom. Too bad there's no more of that; it was fun.

Wedding Bouquet - Day 2

Coming together faster than I expected. I mean, I still have a bunch of back stitching to do on this section, but the cross stitching is moving along quickly (and from what I understand, the ribbons should take almost no time relative to the floss). I'm going to try to finish off each quarter as I go (but for the ribbons and beads), just so I don't have to keep taking it in and out of the frame.

Wedding Bouquet - Day 1

Bad day turns less bad when there's mail. Doesn't look like much yet, but it's nice to have it started. This one has a due date, so it's moved right to the front of the queue as soon as it arrived.