Thursday, March 31, 2011

Cross stitching

Status on March 2th
This week I decided to pick up a cross-stitch project that I haven't worked on for quite a while and see what progress I could make on it.  I had forgotten how many pages were in this pattern but am making progress.  The cross-stitch is Paradigm Lost by Long Dog Designs and the pattern is 12 pages. If you want to see the completed piece click here and scroll down the page to see it. 
status on March 25th

So you can see that I have made some progress this week and it is over one thread so it does take me a little longer to do it than if it was over 2.   The motif that I am currently working on is large so it is taking me some time to get through it but am just about half way through it.  I am not going to complete the motif at the bottom as I want to continue working towards the right so that I can complete another page.  This week I was finally able to say that I have completed one page of the pattern.

Status on March 31st
I'm not taking this piece with me this weekend so that once I put it away tonight I won't be working on it again until sometime next week.  That's ok because I will be working on a couple other projects this weekend and look forward to seeing how much of them I actually get done.

One piece I am looking forward to doing is the Exclusive Round Robin that is being held tomorrow night at the Gitta's Getaway.  I have seen the completed piece and am excited to actually work on it.

I better get organized so that I can sit down for a while this evening and see if I can get a bit more of this done.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Crocheted

Preemie hat
I just looked at the calendar and realized that I have been quiet for a few days and realized why.  I haven't been doing a lot of crafting lately so haven't had much to write about.

I did sit down a couple of nights ago and crocheted a preemie hat.  It wasn't very hard and it was quick to stitch up which was great because sometimes I would like to see some quick results.  Now that this hat is done I have trying to think of what other colours, or themed hats I could make out of this pattern.  I know that I can make these quickly and have lots of yarn that I can use for these.

Besides working on this hat I have looked at my name tag for the getaway and realized that the getaway is next weekend and I haven't finished my name tag yet.  I guess that is something that I need to focus on over the next couple of days so that it is ready.  I will post a picture of my name tag on Friday once I am there.

Time to try and get something done but I do know that tomorrow I am going to work on a cross-stitch that hasn't been worked on for quite a while.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

My biscornu

After stitching on the 15 sided biscornu and also on a bunch of the other biscornus I decided it was time to try one of my own. 

I have worked on my name tags for the Getaway for two years now and always used parts of other patterns to come up with my name tag but for my biscornu I decided to grab some paper and start working on a design that was something that I thought up and not parts of other people's designs.
After some thought and some problems I came up with a design that I thought would work so I sat down to start stitching it.  Now I have come to realize why so many designers want to stitch their own design first before any one else sees it.  I started with a design that I thought would work only to discover that when I started to stitch it there were problems with it.  So after taking out parts of the pattern and rethinking it I came up with the final design that I was happy with. 

So the biscornu that is posted here is what the final results were and now to sit down and rechart it.  I did see a problem after I stitched it all but that will be corrected when I rechart it and hopefully I will restitch it again with a different colour.

Now my challenge is to find some charting software that will let me chart the pattern on lines and not just between lines.

Friday, March 18, 2011

15 sided biscornu - completed

The 15 sided biscornu is now finished and I am extremely happy with how it turned out.  Considering I had never made one before it was an experience but I really enjoyed it.

Here are pictures of 
what it looks like finished.  I only ran into one challenge and that was I was running short of beads while putting it together but I worked around that.  I was happy that I checked how many beads I had left before doing the final side of joining as I just spaced my beads a little differently on some of the squares without any real impact to the finished piece.

I have started working on the mauve 15 sided biscornu but haven't done a lot of it was I am also stitching on the 2 sided biscornus that I want to make.

Kathrin posted the finishing instruction this morning and now I am looking forward to going to the Needleworkers Marketplace and Getaway in two weeks where I will pick up some more patterns for another 15 sided biscornu.

I enjoyed being able to make this biscornu and also being able to help Kathrin.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Stitching Biscornus

It is starting to feeling to feel like spring here in Toronto but the calendar only says March so not going to get too excited about the weather but will enjoy it will it lasts.

I am back to stitching and have completed stitching 2 small biscornus and have already started on the 3rd.  I haven't put either of them together as I want to wait and put a bunch of them together at once.

Both of these are just over 30 stitches square so they really don't take a long time to stitch.  Also the fabric is 25 count evenweave so that is making it easier for me to see and therefore quicker to stitch.

I love making biscornus so figure if I have some around they will make wonderful gifts for people that I know.

The biscornus are going to be different colours and am only going to make a maximum of two of each colour with my goal of 24 biscornus.  Maybe that seems like a lot but at least I will have them around and then will really figure out what I am going to do with all of them.  I was able to find a lot of free patterns for simple biscornus on line so that is where all of these patterns are from. I would like to design my own biscornu at some point so maybe by the end of this project I will have designed one.

As a knitter, crocheter and cross-stitcher I have lots of things that I could put on a biscornu so maybe I need to just sit down and start figuring out a design that I can use. 

Before I can do my stitching for today I need to get a bit more stuff done for work and then I will pick up my needle again and stitch.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Tartan progress

As I said in a previous post I was going to work on getting the pattern done so that I could see what it looks like.  I spent part of the weekend and Monday evening stitching and have completed as much as I am going to do on this piece.

completed tartan
As you can see it is a lot different than the original picture that I posted and that is because I have now finished it in both directions and added another colour to it.  I think next time I do this I will add the red in both directions instead of just one direction but it was fun trying it out.

I have also started stitching on some biscornus that I want to make so should be able to take some pictures of them soon.  Considering I am making a few of them I am going to stitch a bunch of them and then put them together so you will only get pictures of the squares as I complete them.

This week I think I am also going to work on a baby afghan for a bit so that I change my hand movements so that I don't have to deal with any pain from one type of craft project.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Patterns 14 & 15

Now that I have finished stitching all 15 patterns for my 15 sided biscornu I can't wait to finally put it together. These two patterns were fun to do and now I have to wait patiently until next weekend before I can start putting it together.
Pattern 14  
Pattern 15

I am going to keep myself busy over the next week as I want to work on my tartan and I have a few other projects that have been calling my name lately. I have wanted to stitch some biscornus so have figured that maybe now I can start working on them as well as working on my second 15 sided biscornu.

Yes I am stitching a lot more than I have in ages and am really enjoying it. I do need to figure out what project I am taking to the getaway to work on. Hopefully one of the projects that is calling my name will be the project that goes with me but I know that I will probably end up taking a couple of projects with me.

This weekend I am enjoying some relaxing time with my husband. My stitching and some crocheting is also close by so that I have things to do. It's so nice taking some time to re-energize yourself and also to think things through which have been pushed to the back of the mind for a while. Even the simple things like taking a relaxing walk has been great this weekend. Right now just sitting and looking out a window and watching the world go by.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Stitching

Last night I went to the stitch night at Gitta's and have to admit it was a lot of fun.  We were offered a class on learning to do a tartan using our name and birth-date. 

So I had to try something different and of course decided that I would take this class and see how I did.   Being a leftie sometimes comes with it's challenges  for stitching but this was one stitch I was able to do without any problems at all but of course it's a half cross so it was easy just getting the back to look correct was my challenge.  The tartan should be basically reversible when it's done and of course because I do petit point I wanted to do the continental stitch and that wasn't what I was suppose to do.

So here is a picture of what my tartan looks like so far.  I will show you the back once it's completed.

Yes I still have lots of work to do on it but it is fun to do once you figure out the colours and number of rows for each letter in your name and the rows for your birth-date.  So I hope to work on this a bit more over the next few days as I am looking forward to seeing what it looks once I have added the rest of the colours in both directions.

Name tag progress:
I am still working on my name tag for the getaway but should be able to get it finished soon but think I will wait until next week to finish it.  I want to do some other stitching this weekend.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Weekend results

So this weekend I said I was going to work on the mauve 15 sided biscornu but I didn't pick it up like I had planned.  Instead I worked on my name tag as I do need to get it finished.  The good news is I am getting close to getting it done so then I can focus on other projects instead of it.

I did pick up my crocheting and did about 5 rows on one of the baby afghans but still have a long way to go before it's finished.  So you can see that this weekend didn't turn out how I planned but at least I got other things done that I needed to do.

My weekend wasn't a waste as I got a couple of things done that I needed to do for work so am happy about that.  Now to see what else I can get done this week as I am taking this coming weekend off and enjoying some much deserved time with my husband.  Yes I will be crafting some but it's the me time that I am going to enjoy.

Now I better get to work otherwise I won't get the things done that I want to accomplish this week.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

2 to go

As I said yesterday I was going to sit down and complete the two squares that Kathrin posted yesterday.  Well after a nice dinner last night I decided it was time to sit and stitch for a little while.

pattern 12

pattern 13
I am so looking forward to seeing what this looks like once all the squares are done and it is all put together.  This 15 sided biscornu has been something that I have enjoyed and it has actually got me back stitching more than I have in quite a while.  Next weekend I hope to be able to get the other two patterns and then get them stitched and ready for assembly.  The colours are different than I normally work with so I think that is something else that has helped keep me interested.  Now to see what the next biscornu looks like.

Today I am not sure what I am going to work on but I hope to be able to sit and stitch either tonight or tomorrow.  If I do I will post a picture of the new squares once I get a couple of them stitched. 

Besides stitching I am busy working on a few other projects so hope that over this weekend I will be able to make some progress on a couple of them but will see how I progress.  Of course I ended up with two baby afghans on the go so going to see which one I pick up and work on for a while.

Friday, March 4, 2011

2nd biscornu

For all of those that e-mailed me privately and also for the comments here I have decided on the colour of the second biscornu that I am going to work on.  Thanks for all the comments.

Choice #1 - Mauve


I really appreciated the answers that I got because I was actually thinking that if people didn't help me decide I was going to end up working on both of the biscornus at the same time and considering everything else I am working on that isn't such a good idea.

This weekend I hope I will actually sit down and start this one but first I have two squares to do on the original 15 sided biscornu as the patterns have been posted so my goal is by tomorrow night to have those two squares done.

Name tag update:
My name tag is coming along and if I keep working hard at it I should have it finished before the last minute which was my concern.  I still have a few hours of work on it so hope that in the next two weeks I can say it's done.  (No promises but I do need it done by April 1st as that is when I need to start wearing it).  Yes, Gitta's Getaway is under a month away and I am now starting to get excited about it.

Well I guess if I want to get everything done I better get off the computer and actually start working on something.