Small and Late IHSW!

Well first of all you guys need to kick me in the pants!! I had no idea that the spectacular Jo had offered to put $10 toward getting a piece framed! Her entries don't show up in my reader. Nor do Daffycat's. I hope there aren't more people not showing up -- if so, I'M SORRY!! I just thought you all were quiet posters, lol! But now that I know people are hiding from my reader (LOL) I can google the blogs. If I've been missing anyone else, let me know. I may have to create a bookmark folder so I know I'm checking them all! :)

BUT YAY I can get something framed! I have e-mailed a local framer for info regarding FFVII options. We'll see if she breaks the bank. I hope not, 'cause then I can get FFVIII done too! And then I can really call my home The Home of a Needleworker! :D

And now, IHSW! I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get anything done this weekend as it was the Fall Festival and I'd be out of the house quite a bit. I got something finished even though it was technically finished before, haha. I got the felt backing sewed on, yay!

Front & Back

I think next time I will leave the edges straight omygoodness! That was some crazy stitching all around there. I'm not sure orange was the right choice but I think orange and black for Halloween and that's how that happened. I'm not so good at floss tosses, I suppose. And of course after I stitched the back on, took pictures, and admired her I realized I forgot to stitch her little cape ribbon on!! Aaaa. *facepalm* It'll be an easy fix as long as I'm super careful...

She was stitched on black 14-count perforated plastic in six colors plus the orange blanket stitch for the edge. I backed her with a piece of black felt. She's modeled on my chopstick lamp and is 3.5" tall. You can find the wonderful pattern on Carolyn's blog, along with a whole bunch of others! :D Also her dA has more!

Now I'm off to catch up on everyone's posts~ I'm sure y'all will have productive fingers again this week, much more than mine, haha. :D

Blog Hop #9 and #10

Okay, I missed Blog Hop #9 but I'm sneaking it in here anyway. ;)

What are your must-have stitching tools and aides? Other than your trusty scissors, of course. Is there a problem you have had when stitching that you created your own solution for, or have you purchased a tool that helped?

I'm gonna go with something kinda alien here -- the dual monitors on my computer. I like to make patterns so having the extra screen real estate is SO USEFUL. I can have one monitor devoted to the pattern maker and the other devoted to a browser full of reference pictures, or at least the one reference picture to compare with.

In terms of more normal tools, I suppose I would have to go with painter's tape. I'm quite hopeless when it comes to sewing so binding edges seems to be beyond me (I'm trying though!). I keep a roll of the lovely blue tape around to keep my edges (and sanity) from fraying away.

What’s your absolute least-favorite thread to work with?

I'm going to have to go with... metallic! Why, why must it separate! And twist! So many twists! I can't say that I've ever had it knot up on me but that might make me want to toss it in a fire so perhaps that's a good thing. I don't have any problem backstitching with it but Heaven forbid I try to do cross stitches! It's impossible to "railroad" metallic. I haven't tried thread heaven yet so maybe it will be the answer to my woes but until then! It adds so much to a piece with all the little sparkles it throws out so I can't hate it...

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October TUSAL

October TUSAL!

I am timely this time! :D There's all the little flosses from Halloween Witchy Kitty and a random bit of string that was on a shirt. Also, my sparkly pencil, the eraser (that packs down the floss, btw), and a basic pair of scissors!

Sorry there isn't a C&H backdrop. Instead, we have my stitchy table. The little sewing box was a gift from my boyfriend's grandfather. When he gave it to me, I had zero idea what it was for as I didn't do any stitching at the time. Dangling above is a tiny wind chime that tinkles if I even look at the lamp wrong, haha. And the shamrock potpourri heart to keep it company. If you look on the table to the left of the jar, you'll see a pair of stork scissors my grandmother gave to me. They're quite old and so much more awesome than anything else I've tried. They do need a good sharpening though!

:D! Productive fingers for you all!

Possibly Another Halloween Kitty

Hooboy! We finally have Internet at our place! I spent quite a while catching up with blogs; I hope I got everyone! Blogger still likes to "hide" posts from me once in a while.

Well, apart from having Internet, the electric company was out replacing poles in the corn fields so we were without power for a few hours over a couple of days. What better time to stitch, right~? :D

It's a raaaaainbow!

Wait, that's not stitching...

...

Turns out, having no electricity also makes good time to work on rainbows. I decided to take the opportunity to wrap my floss from FFVII up on bobbins instead of letting them get all tangled up in the baggies. I'm not very fond of pink but I like that my box is different from the usual white / clear ones.

I need more floss.

Cute Level: MAX!

And here's what I worked on! I apologize for the abysmal photo; the camera refused to focus and get the colors right at the same time. Anyway, this super cute kitty was a freebie pattern made by the wonderful Carolyn! I seem to have a thing for Halloween kitties, especially witchy Halloween kitties. She has a whole series of these little guys in various adorable outfits on her blog and dA.

I made a few changes to the pattern as I didn't have all the colors listed. I chose a medium gray for the body, a darker gray for the outline, and black for the cape and hat. I like gray kitties with green eyes, so that was another change. I also stitched the hat buckle in gold metallic because all witch kitties need bling. Another change (not shown) was the bow. Because of the cape edit, I decided to make a little bow out of extra floss.

This was my first attempt using perforated plastic (and stitching on anything black!). I'm harboring some mixed feelings about it! I think my main trouble was not having a needle the right size. I had to really shove it through the hole even though it was 14-count! Also, it was a little uncomfortable to hold. Otherwise, it's awesome. I like the stiffness. Even if I left it as-is, it could've been considered "finished" but I can't let the world see the back of my stitching now can I?

I had an idea how to finish it using felt for a backing. I started stitching it on with a blanket stitch and then for some mysterious reason, decided there was too much felt and cut it to size. A size too small! Aaaah. I have tons of scrap felt (yay for being a teacher's kid -- all kinds of crafty access) so all I have to do is rummage out another piece and not get so crazy with the scissors.

Shh, I'm hiding.

I'm in the middle of fall cleaning and had tossed that camo jumpsuit out of the closet I was working on. I turn around and there's Peanut, happy as can be, making a little Kitty Nest and enjoying life.

Until the next time, enjoy the rest of your week and may your fingers be productive~

TUSAL, Blog Hop #8, FINISH (yay)

Aloha! This is gonna be a busy post with a blog hop, TUSAL, FFVII squee-age, and whatever else pops into my head!

First up, September TUSAL, sporting another Calvin & Hobbes cover!

September TUSAL

Most of the additions were black. Lots of black. All squished down. :D If you're doing the TUSAL, don't forget to link back to it on Daffycat's blog! Like I have been doing, whoops. :)

Nextly, blog hop #8! I've missed having these, haha.

• What has been your favorite project to stitch? (either finished or in progress)

Well, I wasn't expecting such a difficult question! I have pieces that I absolutely adore finished but as for the stitching of them, the honors would have to go to this piece:

Southwest Spirit

I found this piece in a thrift store back in 2010 with the border and a bit of the background started. All of the floss was included in little floss-a-way baggies and the pattern was in pretty decent shape. It smelled horrible. I had to wash it at least twice because I was nearly overwhelmed with cigarettes. Admittedly, I purchased it mind of picking out all the stitches and using the fabric for something else. My mother saw it though and really liked it, so I decided to finish it up. I am glad I did because it was so much fun to stitch! My absolute favorite part was that little brown pot on the left. It was also the first piece I ever stitched on a floor stand and that may have contributed to the love, haha. It's so much easier to stitch using both hands.

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Lastly, lastly....!! IT IS TRULY FINISHED. It even gets the Super Special "finish" label!

"We may be retreating, but... we're still victorious."

And then sadness. I washed it and while there was no bleeding (thank goodness!), the creases will not iron out! Argh. I may have to block it or perhaps someone can suggest some sort of magic to get those darn things out. I totally feel Annie's (via The Crafty Pixie) frustration over stubborn wrinkles.

Technical Details

• Chart designed with KG-Chart and featured 10 colors originally. After stitching, I realized that two of the lighter blues were very, very similar so I replaced one with the other.
  
• 1 over 1 on white 22 count (hardanger). Black 2 over 1.
  
• Finished size: 11" x 6" (26.5cm x 15cm) -- need to double check this; I'm not exactly sure it was 6" high.
• Started: April 1, 2012, Finished: September 20, 2012. Roughly ???? hours.

Lessons Learned
(hopefully)

• Tweaking chart forever works out for the better. Getting the colors down to reasonable amounts was the best thing ever.
  
• Confetti the transitions even more. Stop going diagonal!
  
• Doing the colors in half-stitches worked AMAZINGLY. I was able to see the colors and decide if they were acceptable and if there was a mistake, half-stitches are so much easier to pick out. It also makes it easier to do the top leg.
• Black one line at a time, working up makes for the best "fill".
  
• Need to devise a better way of keeping track of the time spent on these. I have no idea how long it takes me to actually stitch them.
• Wash fabric before stitching to get out stubborn wrinkles. Bah.

action shot!

size comparison

I probably should've used a bigger piece of fabric... Oops. It will make framing interesting, I suspect. As for framing, I am not even going to attempt these guys. I'm taking them to a local framer where I can spend a few hours hashing out matte, glass, and frame preferences and then watch them suffer with my lack of fabric on the sides. I'm really a huge fan of the framing done by Jill at Rensel Studio but I don't think I can afford her, haha. Such fantastic work though!

Oh, and I actually washed FFVIII. Yes. With all those reds. I sort of cheated though. I fished out the colors in the chart and stitched them on a little scrap of fabric and then washed the little scrap. Nothing happened on the scrap so I figured I'd be safe washing the big piece, but let me tell you, I held my breath as I submerged that in the sink, ahahaha. It really, really needed a wash after being on the stand for five months and then a drawer for a year. It turned out sublime so this is a deliriously happy post instead of a woebegone gloomy post.

I think I'm (finally) typed out! I hope you enjoyed (or at least had tolerated amusement at) my very excited excitement. I hope you have productive fingers in the next week as well!