Siux

Siux - August 17th

As I said last week I wasn't going to post another picture of Siux until she was entirely finished.  The good news is last night just after 11pm I put the last couple of stitches into the piece so she is now finished.

I am very happy with the outcome of this piece as it was taken from a sketch and I converted it into a cross-stitch pattern for myself.  I am so looking forward to hanging this on a wall so that I can look at it and enjoy it. There is one more picture that I want to take of her and that is when the sun is shining to really see the glitter in her wings.  Her entire wings have blending filament as part so I really want to see what she looks like in the sun.

Siux - August 29th

I really enjoyed working on this piece as it does have a lot of meaning to me.  The picture was drawn by Gerry Vail for me and he also helped me with the picture that I used for this pattern.  I needed something without a background so he did one for me with no background which I really appreciated.

It was such a great feeling seeing her come alive over the last few months and I am happy to say that I finished her in just under 5 months.  Of course it would have been faster without school, other projects and work getting in the way but at least it is now finished.

It is the long weekend so hopefully I will find a bit of time to sit and stitch.  Have a safe and happy long weekend.

Siux and Something new

Now I have been asked by a few people what is the status of Siux.  Well, there isn't going to be a picture of her until I have completed her.  I have done most of the stitching but have an accent that I am currently working on so want to wait until it is done.  I am really hoping that I will be able to get all of the stitching done this week as I want to have Siux totally completed by the end of the month.

So what I decided to do as a break from the glitter is to start another new project and this is the progress on it when I started it.  T

Of course the first day of stitching doesn't show a lot of results on the piece and that is also because I spent a lot of time just looking at the pattern and deciding where I wanted to start stitching and what colour I wanted to do next. The pattern is going to probably be changed a bit as I stitch it as I decided if a colour really looks right or not.

I am hoping that over the long weekend I will be able to find some time to stitch onSiux so that I can see one finished and the other one with some progress.

It is now time for me to get some work done so that I can hopefully find a bit of time later today to sit and stitch.

Siux after the weekend

Siux - Aug 11th

 As I said on Tuesday Siux was going to go into hiding until the end of the weekend and will here she is after a few days of getting a few stitches done on her. 

Yes, she is the project that I have been focusing on over the last few days but I also finished the final assignment for a course and that did take some time.  Most of this work was done Wednesday evening and then this weekend.  I am very happy with the progress that I have made and now am seeing that the end is coming.  No it isn't going to be in the next couple of days but at least I am now seeing the end of this piece.

Siux - Aug 17th

I didn't work on Siux as much as I would have liked this weekend but at least I was able to make some progress on her.  The face took a lot of time because there were a lot of single colour stitches that had to be done and had to be ended off.

Now I am working on an area at a time and am seeing some good results quickly now.  Hopefully over this next week I will be able to find some more time to work on her and again see some good progress.

I have also picked up my crochet hook in the last couple of days and have finished a couple of preemie hats which is great.  Now I just need to continue to craft like I did in the past and I will feel better about a lot of things.

School is also finished as I submitted my final assignment on Friday and that was for a certificate so that means no more classes for a while.  The certificate was 20 months of hard work but I am happy to say that I will have my Fundraising Certificate once I get the mark for the final assignment.

Now to try and relax for a bit and I think I might pick up my crochet hook for a while this evening.
 

Siux progress

August 10th - Siux

Well I found a little bit of time over the last couple of days to put a few stitching in Siux so am feeling better about her.  Yes it has been a challenge to find the time but I decided that each evening I would sit and stitch for an hour or so and that is what I have been doing.

Of course the areas that I have been working on are the areas with a lot of colour changes which is something I really don't like doing.  At least now I am seeing that the effort of all the colour changes have been worth it so far.

August 12th - Siux

I am also really working hard on getting this pattern finished as I already have a few other cross-stitch patterns waiting to be worked on.  I am one of those that normally has a couple of patterns ready to go but right now I have about 5 or 6 patterns ready to be worked on once this one is finished.  The next pattern is going to be another one that I was able to create using my software program.

Finding the passion to work on this project again has been great.  For a while I hadn't wanted to work on it and not sure why but glad that I am finally getting back at it.  Maybe just seeing that if I worked on an area at a time instead of a colour at a time makes a bit difference.  I had been working on a colour all over for a while and that showed no real results.  Now that I switched and have started working on areas at a time I am seeing the results again.  Yes it still means that some other areas get a bit of work but not like before.

So now I will not be doing another post about Siux until after the weekend so until then she is going into hiding.  I am going to continue to work on her but I think it is time that she disappears for a few days from the screen.  I am also busy with an assignment for school right now so not sure how much she will actually be worked on until the assignment is completed.

Now off to work on the assignment so that I can stitch tonight.

Siux finally seeing changes again

Siux - August 8th

So as the heading says I finally got back to working on Siux because it had been left alone for far too long.  I decided that this past weekend I would sit and see if I could make a bit of progress on her because I am looking forward to seeing her completed.

I was able to make a bit of progress on her but again not as much as I would have liked.  I am going to try and make more progress this week because now I seeing that even a couple of hours can make a difference to her appearance.

Siux - August 10th

Besides working on Siux, I have been doing a little bit of knitting and crocheting but nothing worth showing lately.  The biggest thing I have been working on is making some granny squares for an afghan that I would like to complete soon.  The project was started on July 31st and currently I have 14 of the 20 squares completed for the afghan.  The squares are almost 10 inches square that is why I don't need to many to complete the afghan. 

Having a bit of time to craft has been a challenge lately as work has also taken up more of my time as well as trying to finish a course that I am taking.  The good news is the course is over on the 19th of August so maybe after that I will have a bit more time to craft.

Now it is time to work on the final assignment for school and then maybe this evening I will be able to find a bit of time to craft but that all depends on other demands on my time.

Siux finally seeing some time

Siux July 1st

As you can see I have finally started working on Siux again.  I haven't put a lot of time into her but at least I am finally seeing some progress on her again.

Last night I was at Stitch Night at Gitta's and decided that I was going to work on this project so that I could see how much I could get accomplished.  Sure I didn't get a lot done but at least it is something considering I haven't worked on her for a while.

Now besides Siux I have been working on the pieces for the animals as well as some baby hats and granny squares.  I have been trying to focus on a project but have to admit that the bouncing around on the various projects has helped.  Of course it means that I don't have a lot to show for progress but at least I am getting bits of projects done.

Siux July 10th

I am really hoping that through this month I will be able to make some more progress on Siux as I would like to see her completed.  I think if I can sit and work on her for a couple of hours at a time I will be happy because I will then start to see progress on her.  The other thing I have decided is I am going to work on an area at a time instead of a colour at a time.  See when I work on a colour at a time I don't feel like I am making a lot of progress because the colour is all over the piece.

So work is now calling so need to get some of that done and then I will see if there is some time to pick up Siux or another project tonight.

Siux a little bit more

Siux - May 11th

I haven't been doing much crafting this month and you can really tell by how much Siux has changed since the 11th of the month.

Work has taken quite a bit of my time so haven't been able to craft as much as I would have liked.  I am also working on a gift so cannot post about it until it is finished and the person has received it.  I hope to have the gift finished by early June and then I should be able to get back to cross-stitching a little bit more.

 On the second picture you can't see that her wings are actually now getting some sparkle added to them.  I wanted to give the wings a bit of a difference so have been adding blending filament to the wings.  It is going to take a bit of time to get the wings done but I think it will look really nice once they are completed.

Siux - May 27th

Besides work, I have also started another course and it looks like it is going to take quite a bit of my time through the middle of August.  I have been trying to figure out a schedule for getting all the assignments done as I have 7 assignments and 4 or 5 blog entries that must be posted for school.  No the blog entries I write here don't count for school.  The good news about the course is once I have finished it I will have my Fundraising Certificate.  The certificate has been a lot of work but I have really been enjoying doing it as it has given me a chance to look at a charity differently than normal.

Well it is now time for me to get to work so that I can get things done today and then maybe see if I can at least find a little bit of crafting time tonight.

Siux is appearing

Siux - April 21st

So what have I been up to lately? 

I have been busy with work which has meant I haven't been able to spend a lot of time working on my blog but I have been able to find bits of time to work on my cross-stitch design which is making me happy.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been able to find bits of time to sit and stitch on this project and make little bits of progress.  The progress on the wings was really slow as they needed quite a bit of editing while I was stitching.  The pattern when I designed it just had too many colours so have been working on removing and editing colour selection.  The other issue was I just couldn't get into working on more purple for a while.

 

Siux - May 11th

So this weekend I decided that it was time to sit down again and focus on making a bit of progress.  The first thing I needed to do was to put the final stitches on her wings and then I could get into other areas.  After completing the wings on Friday I just wanted to stitch to see how much I could get done this weekend.  So Friday and Saturday I worked on her and finally I am seeing some good results.

I didn't work on her at all yesterday as it was Mother's Day.  Hopefully this week I will be able to make some more progress on her as I want to get this piece finished soon.  The other big part of this project is going to be adding some glitter to her wings because I think they need a bit of something.  That might be what I work on part of this week so that I can see how it looks.

So besides working on this piece I have also been crocheting a little bit as well as working on a couple more cross-stitch designs.  Yes my designing is ahead of my stitching right now so need to focus on stitching for a little bit.

Today is another day and I am hoping that I can continue to see Siux come to life.  Time now to work a bit and then sit and stitch this evening.

Weekend Progress

Siux - Thursday event

This weekend I did spend some of it sitting and working on my cross-stitch Siux.  It felt very good just being able to focus on one project for a while without too many distractions and wanting to work on something else.  

With this being a three day weekend it meant that I could easily spend at least one day working on a project and that is what I did.  Friday was my day to sit and stitch and not worry about the emails or anything else that needed to be done.

Siux - Sunday evening

I am happy with the amount of stitching I was able to do because normally I would be doing other things and the stitching would be left for another day.  As you can see on the Sunday photo I am getting to the areas of the wing that I will need to make colour decisions on.  These decisions are going to be done on a nice sunny day when I can sit and look at the floss colours and make the decisions.

I am going to continue working on this project because I would like to get completed quickly so that I can show the artist the completed cross-stitch when I see him next.  Yes I know I am a little crazy but I have to admit having a deadline also helps me get something completed instead of putting it down and starting another project.

Besides working on this project on the weekend I went out and picked up the missing floss for some of the other projects that I have designed.  I am going to get all the floss for these projects ready so that once I finish this piece I can start the next one.  I have already chosen which project is next as it is another piece of artwork but by a different artist.

Time to now head off and get some work completed so that I can once again spend my evening stitching.

Stitching continues

Siux as Tinkerbell by Gerry Vail

Here is what I have been working on this week.  It is a pattern that I did from a sketch that Gerry Vail did for me.  The picture is one of his characters dressed up as Tinkerbell because he knows how much I love Tinkerbell.

This is the pattern that I did at the beginning of April but it won't be able to be published because of course this picture looks too much like Tinkerbell and she is a licensed character.  At least what I am doing is getting my own copy which means a lot.  It is showing me that I can take a picture with permission from an artist and do patterns from them.  The biggest thing is that the sketch or picture have to be originals because of license and copyright issues.

This picture was taken Thursday evening before I was able spend most of yesterday working on it.  I hope to post a picture of this piece at the end of the weekend to show much much more I have been able to get done on her.  It does take a bit longer when you are using your own pattern because you are the one that is making all the decisions on if a stitch should be a certain colour or something else.  As I make all of these decisions I have been modifying the pattern so that I will have a record of what the actual piece is.

Yes this is one of the patterns that I am currently working on besides Scarlett and Cirque des Cercles so do have a lot on the go.  I also have a couple more patterns ready to be stitched and one of them is from another artist and it is an original drawing so will see how that goes.

Now it is time for me to turn off the computer and do a few other things before I pick up my needle and do some more stitching tonight.  Siux is coming to life so I need to continue making her more than just a wing and part of a face.