The Heir

Finally The Heir is finished, Terrence Nolan of Dimple Designs, stitched on Jaded Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie.

I was only stitching on this one when our youngest (age 5) did good at swim practice. That was the deal he and I worked out to get him to try at practice. He went from swimming last year to completely forgot what to do in the water this year. I am a happy momma that now he is swimming a 25 yard freestyle and working on learning his other strokes. Now the discussion with him is after framing will I hang it in his bedroom at our new house. I told him I will hang it near his bedroom, but he keeps asking for in his room. One day I am going to end up giving it to him for his own home. That is a long way down the road.

There were a few conversions on this one. I am not going to put it up on the conversion page though. They are fairly easy. First was removal of the seahorses. The pattern calls for 32 count fabric mostly 2 over. I have never stitched that small and always convert to a 16 count with 1 over. Well the seahorses were stitched 1 over on the 32 count. this would make them too large on the 16 count and they wouldn't fit properly or look the right size. Second I removed some bubbles trailing further at the bottom. I just didn't like the way the bubbles got larger again rather than trailing off to smaller. Third backstitch on both their fins I did in a purple Kreinik beading filament. Not sure what color it was in my stash and had lost its label. Lastly, the harder of the conversions was I removed the head piece. Anywhere I came across a color in his hair that was for the 'crown' I just made it a black thread instead.

Waiting on the fabric for my mother in laws Christmas gift to arrive from across the pond still. Everyday that goes by adds more and more stitches to my daily completion count. The pattern is about 56,000 stitches. My dear husband says if I don't finish it in time we can just give it to her for her birthday, but I am a goal finisher. Speaking of goals this is finish number 8 for the year only 2 more to go to meet my goal for the year. Off to work on Queen Mariposa until my fabric arrives. Happy Stitching!

Started Christmas Gifts

Since I have finished three Mirabilia's already this year, I have decided to re-evaluate my goal of finishing five cross stitching's this year. My new goal is to make ten. Five for myself and five for Christmas gifts. Here is my newest start:

This is Green Bike by Alessandra Adelaide Needleworks. I am stitching it on the Silvermist opal with Krienik #4 braid in my sisters favorite color. This will be her Christmas gift. I am doing the same one in red for one of my other sisters gift. So far, I have used 3 1/2 bobbins of tread. Now I am out and both LNS are out too (because I purchased all of them). They are on order so this has to sit to the side until more thread comes in.

While that is sitting aside I started my Mum & Dad's gift:

This is after one day of stitching. Hoping I can push this out in about a week. After I finish it for them I would like one for myself too. My wonderful husband picked out this fabric while at the LNS this past weekend. It is Zweigart Aida 18 count smokey white. The fabric is so soft and easy to work with. I have enough that I am going to stitch Mirabilia's Red with a purple conversion on it. I picked up the pattern on a facebook group it is called Texas Panorama by Bestitched designs by bev.

Lastly I took the plunge and started The Heir by Terrence Nolan, Pangea by Dimples Designs. Our littlest boy really wants me to stitch this one. He was not doing so hot at swim practice. Not even trying. So, I cut a deal with him. If he swim goods that evening then I will work on 'The Boy Mermaid' as he calls it. If he doesn't swim good then I don't work on it. For the last two weeks it has worked.  I am stitching him on Jaded. Here is how far I have gotten:

This is the HARDEST pattern I have ever worked on. Full of confetti. But it is looking gorgeous. I have taken out the 'crown' that is coming off the back of his head.

For the first time I have more than one stitching going at a time. How do you stitch? Do you rotate? One at a time? Or, Whatever you feel like that day?

Coral Charms by Nora Corbett

Last night I finished Coral Charms. I was so delighted to finish my third cross stitching this year. My goal was five this year; may have to revisit and increase my goal. The conversion on this one was simple and manageable. I added simple eye lines and lips to give her more of a face. Coral Charms is stitched on Monet 16 count Aida by Picture this Plus fabric. The conversion can be found on the Conversions Tab at the top of the page or click here.

I finally received my fabric from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie. I am not fond of writing bad reviews. So, I will start with the good. Stephanie is very quick to respond to questions. I sent an email after three weeks of no update to ask when my fabric would be ready, and received a response with in a few hours. Here is the pictures of what I ordered from her website.

Jaded                                                       Silvermist

Both of these look to be pictured on some sort of linen fabric. The Silvermist is on opalescents.

The fabric was ordered in Adia on March 15; shipping notice was received on April 12. It took a month to get the fabric. When the fabric arrived the envelope was in pretty bad shape. The corner was ripped up and I was concerned that the fabric was damaged. (If I was shipping I would have put it in the padded envelope which is the same shipping cost.) Open the package and nothing was damaged. Thank goodness. I had been waiting a month and needed to get started on the Silvermist fabric for Christmas gifts this year, and did not want to wait another month. All of the fabric was in one bag. My personal preference is separate bags for storage with their project. That is neither here nor their. Just cost a little extra for me to get big ziplock bags for each. The fabric is very stiff. At first I thought maybe it is just the Silvermist because it is opalescents, but the Jaded was stiff as well. Not as ridged as the Silvermist but stiffer than my other hand dyed fabrics I have received recently. Finally here is what my fabric looks like:

What are your thoughts of how what I received compares to the online pictures?