June progress

I haven't been keeping up with weekly posts. Hopefully I can do monthly posts instead. In June, I did the June flower of the month, Wild Rose.

Around June 14th, I started my first HAED, but had to stop because I realized that my evenweave isn't even. My 10x10 grid squares looked more like rectangles. I didn't want my finished piece to look stretched, so I ordered new fabric and have to patiently wait.

Mini Maleficent - Heaven and earth designs 

I started on Dandy Wishes until the new fabric arrives, but I had to stop this one too because I don't feel the blue fabric is dark enough. I like the bright blue used in the model. 

Dandy Wishes - Just Cross Stitch Magazine

Since the Dandy Wishes wasn't working out, I started on Mason Jar Lineup by Dimensions. I worked on that from June 16th through 21st.

Mason Jar Lineup - Dimensions

On June 22nd I started on Frozen by Eromas 78. I'm doing this for the "Freezing into a puddle" challenge on Facebook. It's for my 3 year old daughter. I worked on this through the end of June.

Frozen - Eromas 78

Cross stitch progress May 11 to May 17

Last week I didn't get as much stitching done as I would have liked. Towards the end of the week, I was preparing for a camping trip. On Friday afternoon, my 19 year old daughter and I drove 2 hours away to Bowdon in South Georgia. We camped 2 nights and left Sunday afternoon. I did a little bit of stitching Saturday morning. Here's my progress on Perception by Elizabeth Almond.

Perception by Elizabeth Almond 

I'm kind of getting frustrated with this Perception, so I think I'll switch back to the Green Flip-It Series by Lizzie Kate. Last time I worked on it, it looked like this... 

Green Flip-It Series by Lizzie Kate 

Hopefully I can get a good bit of it done this week.  On Friday, I'm going to go to Jo-Ann and stock up on floss. Regular price is about 40 or 44 cents per skein. They are having a 2 day Memorial day sale, 3 for 99 cents and I hear that there will also be a coupon for 20‰ of your entire purchase. This will make them about 26 cents per skein! Woot woot!

Last week's progress (May 4 - May 10)

This week I finished up my May flower of the month, Lily of the Valley. I did the border first and forgot to leave spaces where the leaves overlap into the border. Instead of ripping out all of those border stitches, I just stitched over them with the green. I don't think it's very noticeable.

Also, up until this month, I had been using three stands of floss, as recommended in the pattern. I decided that three strands looked too messy. This month I switched to two strands. I think it looks so much better! I wish I had used two from the beginning!

May flower of the month designed by Ellen Maurer Stroh

Flowers of the month designed by Ellen Maurer Stroh 

Last week's progress (April 27 - May 3)

For the last few weeks, I've been rotating projects on Monday of each week. Last week on Monday, I wasn't ready to give up on "Perception", so I just kept in going until May 1st, which is when it was time to start on the May flower of the month.  This month's flower is Lily of the Valley. I forgot to take a picture of my progress on Monday morning. Below is my progress as of this morning. (Wednesday - I'm a couple of days behind this week.)

"Perception" by Elizabeth Almond 

Flowers of the month by EMS Designs

Last week I bought a cheap scroll frame and lap stand from Jo-Ann's. I had a text for 60‰ off one item. I made my husband go in with me so that we could each buy one part. It ended up being only around $15 for both. That was a great deal if it worked! It seemed very flimsy and I couldn't get my fabric nice and taught. I took those back for a refund and ordered an all purpose floor stand that will clamp onto a scroll frame, q-snaps, regular hoop, etc. (I currently use q-snaps.)  It was only about $20 on Jo-Ann's website. I also ordered a magnifying floor lamp. They both arrived today and I'm happy with both so far! I'm trying to get used to doing two handed stitching now that I have my stand. :) 

Last Week's Progress (April 20-26)

I finished the breast cancer piece and bought a frame for it. I just need to press it and frame it. I made a mistake in the border. I forgot to leave the open squares around the inner edges. It would have looked better, but I'm definitely not going to rip all of that out! It looks fine the way it is.

"Pink Ribbon" by Ellen Maurer-Stroh

On Tuesday I started "Perception" by Elizabeth Almond. When I first started doing all of that back-stitching, I was thinking, "What have I gotten myself into!?" I wasn't enjoying it at first, but once I got going, I started enjoying it more.

"Perception" by Elizabeth Almond 

Perception is the first "blackwork" piece that I've ever done. I was very tempted  to do a very large blackwork SAL called "Save the Stitches" by Elizabeth Almond, but I figured I'd better do a smaller one first before I jump into a giant one! So many people have done very beautiful renditions, but April's "Save the Stitches" is my favorite! 

Last week's progress (April 13-19)

Last week I was working on the breast cancer cross stitch for my cousin. I ran out of the green color that goes around the border, so I was delayed a few days until I was able to get another skein. Then I started stitching with 2 strands of thread instead of 3. I had used a whole length of 2 strands, and then as I was threading my needle again, I noticed it. I had to pull out all of those stitches and start again with 3 strands. Ugh! Below is my progress on it. I will probably get finished today or tomorrow.

During the few days that I couldn't work on the breast cancer piece, I started on my Green Flips by Lizzie Kate. I got 2 finished and started on a 3rd. They're so cute! I decided to change a couple of colors because I didn't feel that they looked very good. I'm using the DMC conversion, so maybe that's why it didn't look just right. I'll explain all of my substitutions when I post my finish. 

I was a bad girl and ordered 2 of the Celtic Ladies by Lavender and Lace, but I was good by ordering the from eBay and saving a few dollars. I might join a L&L SAL on Facebook with one of them. It starts July 5th. 

I joined a Summer/Winter challenge, also on Facebook. It starts June 22nd and if I complete my chosen project by September 22nd, I'll be entered into a drawing for a goodie bag. The design I chose for this challenge is a freebie found at this website. Below is my printed pattern. 

It originally printed on one page, but the symbols were too tiny for me to read it. I opened the image in paint and cropped it in half. I printed each half on a full sheet of paper. Now I can read it much better! I already have some fabric that I can use for this and have about half of the colors needed. 

This will be for my almost 3 year old, Madison. She loves the movie Frozen! She always waves her hands around and says she's doing magic like Elsa. 

Have a good week! :) 

Last week's progress (April 6-12)

This past week I finished the Garden Pleasures cross stitch that I was working on. I still need to frame it or finish it in some way.

I used DMC floss for all except 2 of the colors. I used Dried Thyme and Raspberry Parfait by Gentle Arts Sampler Threads. This is my first time using anything other than DMC.  I'm not very happy with the way the Dried Thyme looks. To me, it looks more brown than green, and the Raspberry Parfait looks more pink than red. Below is a picture of the leaflet, showing how it "should" look.

Can you see how the leaves are supposed to be two shades of green? Mine doesn't look like that. The dress and flowers are supposed to look red, but mine look pink. Also, I personally don't see what makes these threads worth the high price! They are about $2 - $2.50 each for 5 yard skeins, and must be ordered online since I don't have a shop nearby that sells them. DMC floss is 38¢ - 44¢ each for 8.7 yard skeins and is available at several stores nearby. I didn't notice any difference in quality. Their website says... 

 "Working with overdyed floss is a fun experience. We developed ourSAMPLER THREADS^TM and SIMPLY SHAKER^TM threads especially to give new pieces an aged appearance. The thread colors are muted; the color variations per strand are subtle."  

The color variations are so subtle that I can hardly even see them. If you can tell the difference and can afford them, go for it. I can't tell the difference and can't see spending the extra money, so I think I'll stick to DMC for most of my projects. I've already purchased some Weeks Dye Works threads for the Cornwall Cottage Sampler. I hope I'm happier with that investment! 

Four years ago, I started on a breast cancer cross stitch for my cousin in Kentucky. I was stitching it while she was going through her chemotherapy treatments. She didn't want anyone to know about her cancer, but her mom (my aunt) told me anyway. I had to pretend not to know.  I wasn't able to tell her good luck, or that I was thinking about her. This was my way of sending her good thoughts. As I'm notorious for not finishing things, this one didn't get finished either. I'm going to finish it and send it to her. My aunt confirmed that it's no longer a secret. 

The breast cancer design is a freebie by Ellen  Maurer-Stroh of EMS Designs. After I finish this one, I was going to do Welcome Spring by Little House Needlework next, but I think I'll do the Lizzie Kate Green flips. I just can't wait to start on them!