Guardian Spirit: Week 3

Well, good evening everyone! How are you all doing? I wanted to show you my progress on Guardian Spirit this week, because lo and behold, we have a face!

I know, right?! She's looking amazing,if I do say so myself. I'm loving the gloss in her hair, earring, lips and cheeks, it's so lifelike. Speaking of which, there's also a whole complete feather, and an earring! I can't wait to backstitch them to give them extra pop.

Stitching the face was... interesting, to say the least. I was so close to the project that I couldn't see the whole picture and I kept thinking it was going to be a disaster. And there were times when she looked, well... absolutely terrifying:

I showed the above picture to my husband as he was passing by one afternoon and his eyebrows shot all the way to his hairline. Thankfully, however, she turned into this beauty:

So I am very pleased!

Today is a holiday here in Spain, so we made the best of it and drove over to the national park nearby to go on a hike. We chose a trail that goes along the mountainside, with the sparkling blue Mediterranean sea just to your right. 

The trail finishes off in a small cove that's perfect to sit in and have a picnic. We even got to feed some curious sparrows that wanted to share our meal. The weather was beautiful, a real spring day in the middle of winter. All in all a great day. Picture time:

How is your week going so far? I hope you're enjoying it and have some crafty project or other between your hands! Until next time, happy stitching :)

Guardian Spirit and Needle Minders

Hello everyone! I've finished week 2 of Guardian Spirit and wanted to show you all where it's at:

Now, it might not look like a lot of progress, but as my very Irish and poetic husband put it: "that is one big head!" And it really is! So. Many. Stitches. But that's ok, because I'm loving it.

In fact, this is one of the most fun (funnest? Most fun? I may be an English teacher, but this one always floors me) projects I've ever done, and one of the reasons I love it is that it's so diverse. Like, I'll pick it up and think, "What am I in the mood for? Stitching the frame? A feather? A half-stitched sky? A big old head?". There's so much possibility it's impossible to get bored! It's awesome.

Needle Minders

In the cross stitch supplies side of news: I have new needle minders! 

Story time: one of my best friends, who used to be my colleague and also happens to be a chronic illness spoonie, and with whom I've spent a lot of evenings complaining about Life in General and also binge watching Netflix, just came back from the States. She was there visiting a friend of hers, and that girl was nice enough to let me ship some needle minders to her house (thank you, Rachel!) So my friend brought them back with her, because she is amazing. 

And you guys, just look at these:

Aren't they the cutest thing ever??? I'd had these in my Etsy wish list for a very long time, and I'm so happy to actually own them! One of the cat minders is for my mom, though we don't know who will keep which yet.

And there's also this hobbit door, with an adorable fairy that the seller sent for free:

What can I say? I'm in love. 

Disney

Also, in case the needle minders weren't already wonderful, my friend went ahead and spoiled me with not one, but two Disney dolls!

Ariel because The Little Mermaid was the first Disney movie I owned and binge-watched as a child, and Rapunzel because it's probably my favorite of the modern Disney movies, apart from Frozen of course. 

And with that rambling post (are you still there?) I'll leave you with hopes that you've had a great weekend, and enjoyed your stitching :)

Happy Mail and Framing

I got some happy mail this week that I'm excited to show you! I've purchased two kits from eBay that are different to anything else I have, so here goes:

Chistmas Morning by Oven

I have bought my first ever Russian kit! Check it out:

Christman Morning by Oven

I've wanted to stitch a robin for a while because they are one of my favorite birds (we can blame The Secret Garden for that), and browsing eBay I came across this little beauty. And get this: this is a Russian kit, shipped from Italy by a Greek girl. How cool is that? The price for the kit was very good, and for once the shipping costs more than reasonable, probably because it was shipped within the EU. 

The inside of the kit was different to Dimensions: the threads were from a brand I've never heard of before, and they were rolled up in a way I've never seen. The aida is very light and thin and airy, and feels like it's very good quality, so absolutely 5 stars out of 5 for this wonderful kit!

Wintry Wolf by Dimensions

This is a kit that I've had my eye on for a very long time, because it was among the first Dimensions kits I ever saw, and the expression on the wolf's face is so serene and candid, it really spoke to me:

He reminds me of Two Socks from Dancing with Wolves. Anyone else?

Now, the reason why I want to show you this kit is that it is unlike any other kit I've ever seen. For starters, there's no Aida! It comes with a very soft, thin cotton fabric that is printed:

Have you ever seen anything like this before? This fabric isn't evenweave... I have no idea what it is. Obviously we're supposed to cross stitch on top of the little crosses, but notice the background forest: that's they way it's going to look in the finished piece! And have you noticed the eyes?

Reading through the instructions, we're supposed to fill that in with satin stitch. And as for the lines over the trees, that's not backstitch: it's couching. Now, I'm familiar with these techniques because I used to embroider a little, but isn't it funny that this would be in a cross stitch kit? It'll be an adventure to say the least, so I'll pick this one up when I want a challenge.

Framing Ivy

Last but not least, I have framed Ivy! I chose a very creamy, soft wood imitation frame that I thought would go well with Ivy's colors, and then I did my very rustic DIY framing process:

Which is to say that I draped the fabric over the back of the frame, and stitched it up with very long stitches until it was nice and tight:

And here she is, all stitched up and framed and ready to go:

I'm delighted with the result, and think the frame works with the color of the fabric and Ivy herself, and is subtle enough to make the design pop. So I'm a happy camper!

How are you all doing? I hope things are well for everyone and you're enjoying your projects! Until next time, happy stitching :)

Project starts and a change of mind

Have you ever had a crush on someone that seemed absolutely perfect, and  so of course you projected all the qualities you wanted on to them, and then that person opened their mouth and you realized that it would never work? Yeah... That's what happened to me this week with a cross stitch project (I'm not crazy I promise). Let's start:

Morning Lake

Morning Lake by Dimensions

I don't know if you remember, but for a while now I've been wanting to stitch Morning Lake by Dimensions as a companion piece for Whiskers and Wings, because in my imagination the kitten lives in a wooden cabin. Coincidentally, Morning Lake was also the first Dimensions piece I saw and fell in love with, over a year ago. So there was a lot of history between us, let me tell you. That's why I was so excited to start it this week, and I did.... and I hated it.

The process was just... No. It was mostly half stitches, with 3 or 4 threads, and combining thread colors, which you would have thought would be fun but oh, my goodness. It nearly drove me insane. I spent three days on it, and on the fourth I decided that if I had to stitch another abstract leaf or a piece of sky I was going to hurl the project out the window and eat somebody. Which is my crazy way of saying that I don't think landscape pieces are for me. Here is where I left the project off in disgust:

Don't get me wrong, I still love looking at it and the finished result, but I think that I just don't have the patience to work on a piece that doesn't have a person or animal in it. Isn't that a funny thing to discover about oneself? So I don't know if I'll be working on it slowly on random days, or if this one's a hopeless case, but for now it's stashed away in my crafting cupboard.

Guardian Spirit

I wasn't the least bit remorseful however, because I went right into my stash and pulled out this beauty: 

This is a knock-off of a very old Dimensions pattern called Guardian Spirit (which I don't think you can find anywhere anymore), and if you've been reading my blog for a while you'll know that it is right up my alley, because I love all things Native American. I fell in love with this design on the spot, saw a couple of finished pieces online, and knew that I had to add this to my list of projects. I received it some weeks ago, and I just fell in love with the pattern. I mean, just look at this:

Just look at those geometrical fabric patterns combined with the falling hair and the folds in the fabric! My fingers were itching to stitch this as soon as I saw it. And the colors!

So rich, so beautiful. I can't get over them, I just can't. After Ivy, I don't mind hunkering down with a nice, long project, and this will be just the thing. Judging by the size, I imagine I'll be stitching this for about 3 or 4 months. This is where I'm at so far after three sessions:

Because the project is so big, I don't know if I'll be updating my progress weekly as I have been so far, or just whenever it makes sense visually. We'll see how it goes I guess!

Robot Vacuum

I know what you're thinking: What? But I just couldn't finish this blog entry without mentioning the newest honorary member of our family, our robot vacuum:

Have I mentioned it's PINK? Or "rose gold", as the marketing team would have it. I've named her Cinderella, because she's clearly a princess (seriously, it's pink!) but she's still cleaning our floors. Yes, I watched too much Disney growing up (and who am I kidding? I still do).

Do any of you have one of these things? We're delighted we got one! Our cats are not as thrilled with it as we are, and there is a serious rivalry going on, where both of them will follow it permanently around the house and pounce on it. There have been some hilarious moments and the robot's ok, so I think it's a win-win! 

How is everyone doing? I hope you've had a wonderful weekend so far and are ready for Monday again tomorrow. Thank you in advance if you take a minute to say hello, I love reading all your comments! Until next time, happy stitching.

Ivy: Finished!

Well, we can thank the flu for this turn of events, because Ivy was finished in little over four weeks! Here she is in all her glittery beaded glory:

Isn't she the prettiest? Sigh. I can't stop looking at her. Which was not the case when I finished her, let me tell you. That day I was so not in the mood for beading, but I really wanted to finish her, so I beaded her with a vengeance ("con rabia", as we say in Spanish, which roughly translates as "with rage, in anger")... And I finished the beads in only one day! What can I say? I suppose even cross stitchers can be Temperamental Artists!

Before I show you some close-ups, I want to explain what materials I used for the "special effects" for anyone interested:

Metallic Threads

The beautiful, glittery wings originally called for Kreinik, but as usual I did my own thing. I compared colors online and got these Chinese threads instead, which may I say did the work beautifully:

One is a sky blue, and the other a dark coal blue, if that is even a thing. I was very happy with the result to be honest, as I think I got the colors right, but as you can imagine working with these metallics was absolute hell. I'd heard horror stories online about working with metallic threads so I was expecting trouble, and let me just tell you, those people were not exaggerating!

Beads

I played it by ear too when it came to the beads, and I went into my stash from my long-gone beading days. Again, I looked at the original Mill Hills, compared them to what I had, and picked the best candidates:

I mean, not perfect, but not too shabby either. They're pretty and glittery and they did the job well.

Photos

And now for the close-ups, for anyone still reading! 

So much fairy dust everywhere! And I love the little detail beads on the shoes... contented sigh. What can I say? I love this little pixie and I'm sure I'll be doing more!

I hope everyone is having a good week with plenty to keep with busy, until next time, happy stitching :)

Pansy the strong

This is a special post dedicated to my mom, because after a twenty year break, I got her hooked on to cross stitching and now we're long-distance stitching buddies! She's been working on Nora Corbett's Pansy for the past couple of months but she was struggling with the backstitching, so when she flew over here a couple of days ago, she brought the project with her so that I could backstitch it. So I went ahead and did the backstitching, and I washed and iron it and, Honorable People of the Internets, I'm proud to show you my mom's first project in over 20 years:

She doesn't like fairies so she didn't stitch in the wings. In her mind, she says that this girl has fashioned a beautiful umbrella out of flowers to keep the storms of life at bay, and that even though she's had some trouble, she still looks gorgeous and is an absolute princess. I thought that was a very sweet idea to come out of this project, and I'm glad she shared it with me.

I particularly love the rain dripping off her umbrella... it's absolutely lovely and gives it a magical touch:

And I also love the brilliant colors of this pixie, those pinks and purples just make me happy! As you can see, my mom's also been using plain white aida and the beads she had on hand: like mother like daughter I suppose!

Thank you for reading, and as always happy stitching :)

Ivy: lessons, brain fog and flares

Hello everybody! Here I am with another progress update, and a very satisfying one for me personally, because Ivy is finished except for the wings:

Isn't she just so pretty? She's looking delightfully human, and I have to say I rather like it (believe it or not, I'm not a big fairy fan). However, I do feel like the design would miss out a lot if I don't stitch in the wings, so I will probably do so!

This week of stitching has actually been pretty hard, and I don't just mean cross-stitch-wise. To begin with, we were extra busy with my in-laws, who are the sweetest couple alive, but the extra activities just pushed me over the edge and of course my fibro flared. Which in turn triggered the brain fog (in case someone doesn't know what brain fog feels like, it's basically this: you try to think, but your head is full of molasses. You try to walk, but are trying to walk through molasses). And the brain fog basically meant that I made a lot of counting mistakes, so Ivy's skirt is actually riddled with mistakes that I tried to fix as I went, but because I couldn't think clearly it was like drunk-stitching, which depending on your mood can be as hilarious as it sounds. I even confused one color for the other (honestly, don't ask...) and had to undo three whole sections, and let me tell you something, that stuff takes so much time. Insert big existential sigh.

And then to top it all off, thanks to Spanish Flosstube, I learned that the fabric that I buy at my local shop, the fabric that most sewing shops in Spain carry, is not actually aida. It's called "Panama fabric" and it does not have perfectly symmetrical squares: depending how you stitch, the stitches will come out rather flat or slightly elongated. Which is why poor Ivy over here looks a little bit squashed.

But anyway. Every cloud has a silver lining, am I right? And the good thing that came from all this is that now I know something new about cross-stitching, and I got to spend extra quality time with my cats!

And we got to visit a nearby cafe that we'd never been to, with beautiful views over the golf course:

So all in all, I can't complain. I hope everybody is having a good week and enjoying something stitchy! See you next time and until then, happy stitching :)