firstly progress on the kit
and then the decision on the ongoing project now the TW angel is completed?
You know I was tempted to stitch it again, change the orientation on the fabric and see how she came out with the width shortened and the side elongated. Maybe another day but not just yet!
I had a plan for a bigger takes across a few more days than the mini kits. A mid sized kit, but today I am just not feeling it.
Perhaps tomorrow I will settle into something.
and just in case this is the day you would like to make a donation I am going to start with the links to the donations options.
Just Giving Page no one has used that yet, you could be the first! (little update, you could be the second thank you Alexandra)
Alzheimer's Research UK page that is showing the correct combined total so far
Facebook donations page this one only shows the donations made via facebook.
if you are visiting from outside the UK I expect the pages will work something out for your preferred currency or you could fins a charity in your location that is either helping those with the condition or researching it or both and donate to them. This challenge and all the crafters participating in it is as much to raise awareness as it is to raise money. Money is useful too.
As for the stitching, made a start on the new kit.
And as for the other well the backstitching made a big difference and the issue with the material, well I rather like it.
To clarify this is a Teresa Wentzler design. One of the free ones you can find on line. It is my second small free design of hers, the first I finished as a book .
This one is 49 stiches wide by 62 high. And basis mathematics would tell you that is a rectangle which is taller than it is wide. However, the piece of material I chose to do it on is linen not even weave. It is an offcut and I am wracking my brain to think what "large" project it is from. Why? Because when I started and I started with the bottom edge then up the side and someway up the side and well something felt off, I assumed it was my counting and started on a wing.
As I progressed it became obvious that the warp and weft on this linen did not balance out and the actual length of the width was slightly larger than the actual length of the height even though the stitch count was correct.
I could have stopped, but I was enjoying the physical action of this stitch so I thought well it will be interesting to see what the impact is.
And this is it.
Jeanne Love's Angel.
The wings are much more curved, there is a very circular cosy cuddle feeling to this angel and baby. I like it, I think that I like it more that the way it would have been on more compliant material.
Now I am going to be a bit lazy, naughty of me when you have stuck with the post this far, well at least I hope you have, as I am adding a picture of the details of this design rather than try and type it all out or paraphrase it. It is pretty special.
You can probably find the full thing plus the pattern if you google it. Thank you for making it this far.
and the first project requiring backstitching is finished. I made a few small changes. The holly leaves I did in green to make the stem stand out from the robins beak. I added the gold blending filament to the mid grey to backstitch the fur and pop pom on the hat.
The backstitching was a lot of fun, because it made such a big difference bringing the dog to life. There were some stitches that were splitting the Aida squares and not going into the holes but I forgave it that for the results.
Less sure with this one if it will go into the card that came with the kit or not, what do you think?
So to do the more complicated backstitch on the ongoing project next or make a start on the next mini kit pulled from the bag?
Hmm next mini kit is a double, two separate designs of the same character and like the dog intended to go into cards. Contemplating stitching them both at the same time, I have done that before on "twinish" kits, or do one after the other. Trying to decide delayed starting and I went back to the backstitching.
Grey for the wings and baby's blanket and green for the green parts of the edge pattern.
It has made such a difference on the wings I am looking forward to seeing what the other areas look like with the backstitching. I think I will do the blue parts next.
and all ready for day 8 backstitching.
I am rather late posting and yup its going to show up as the early hours of day 8.
I started the morning of the 7th and got the cross stitching done on my additional project.
Has anyone recognised it ? Its not that easy as there are issues which I will explain in detail once it is all done.
Made progress on kit number four.
Then put it aside to do "stuff" with the intention of picking it up during BBC's Strictly Come Dancing. Which I did, I stitch during everything but the dancing.
firstly the finish of Fantastic Fox, a cross stich based on Lee Holland's illustration and converted to cross stitch by Fiona Baker and in this instance stitched by me!
This shaped frame works much better than the one for the cat and might get used. As I am not sure you can tell from this picture where the gold blending filament is...here is a close up.
yup in the butterfly wings.
so six days, three kits completed
I had not made the kit selection on the basis of which could easily have some gold added, but as the thought has now occurred to me as you may have noticed I will see if I can add a bit of sparkle to each challenge project.
to stitch for day 5 of the Alzheimer's Research UK crafting challenge. CLICK HERE for details of the challenge and links to the donations options. It all makes a difference.
The kit project is ready to backstitch.
some progress on the other project, including adding a bit of the gold filament. It is overpowering the subtle tones at the moment but I think that it will be OK once the magic backstitch happens.
I hope to see you here again tomorrow, there may be reduced progress and or a late posting as I am going to be a Lady wot Lunches with my BFF tomorrow.
the Alzheimer's Research UK crafting challenge which I am approaching with cross stitch.
I did a bit more on the new kit after yesterdays update so this was todays starting point.
this was already stitching up fast and the outlining with the darker orange made filling in with the lighter shade a lot of fun.
I had reached the blue half stitching just before the BFF SAL session with my friend and the pause to backstitch that project. The I went back to blue half stitches and reached this point at the end of that session.
The blue is not that easy to see but it is leaving space for some further cross stitching, this is going to be another pattern where the backstitching makes all the difference. It has been a very productive day four.
oh and the other project, it has had some added stitching post BFF session, and I may have got a bit carried away with doing that and lost track of time, hence a rather late update. Just before that picture a reminder that if you want to support the charity links for making donations can be found by choosing the Donation Link label at the bottom of this page.
cross stitching finished last week, this week for the back stitch in two shades.
Black and cream and cat all done
I did wonder with the cat being less busy ( we left off additional leaves and stuff at the top of the pattern) if the busy shaped frame that came in the kit would be OK afterall.
An audition of the frame and
Nope, I don't like them together the curve of the frame does not echo the shape of the cross stitch sufficiently for my taste. I expect I will find something I do like for that frame at some point as it is nice, just not with the cat.
I am giving this a separate post to the challenge update because it is a thing of its own.
I did use some of this evenings session on the current challenge kit, I will let Roni explain that perhaps.
We did settle on what we would be starting next session.
Click HERE to pop to my BFF's blog for her update.
First kit as finished as it is going to be for now I dipped back into the bag for the next kit. A small kit from Cross Stitcher that I am quite sure I bought in a charity shop. Probably for 50p. Crafting stuff for 50p is pretty much irresistible.
I have had it for some time and I think it was an older kit to start with because a) it came with a needle and recent ones don't to help keep costs down I expect and b) it did not come with a pattern, recent ones have the pattern in the kit and in the magazine, older ones just in the magazine.
Lack of pattern not that much of an issue as there is a picture and it is geometric.
It is for a pin cushion so also came with a bit of material and a lot less wadding that I consider to be required for a pin cushion. The Aida is 18 count, so smaller than the last project.
Made a start and recalled there is a progress chart in with my charity pack. Which acts as s reminder this challenge is to raise both awareness of and hopefully funds for Alzheimer's Research UK.
first two colours in and a touch of orange
That would not last. As I added the next colour I started thinking about changes. Leaving off some elements and adding others. Well adding a bit of gold blending filament ( I have a little bit of that to use up) as I had managed a couple of stitches with it in the heart in the first project.
I quite like how it turned out, I have not as yet finished it into a pin cushion, I might not do that at all, perhaps it might become a scissor keeper or I could do it again and make it a biscornue
you can see how I changed the pattern in this picture.
So onto the next one which I expect will span the rest of day three sewing time and into day four and possibly day five as part of four will be BFF SAL and backstitching a cat.
If you want to make a donation at this point then you can do so via the links on the First Day Post any amount is appreciated.
of the challenge.
I did do a little bit more on each project yesterday so my starting points were
and
today I focused on the kit, initially I was not all that keen on this and was just stitching it out of my stash. However, as things progressed I started to like the flower edging.
it was even better as the backstitching went on
Now this is where I am stopping with this, The original had words in the middle and came with a pink hoop to frame it. I am going to leave it like this and at some point in the future it may get something in the middle, perhaps it will be on hand should I need a wedding sampler or something of that sort.
So then I still had a bit of time, you will see I am posting this a bit later today so some light brown stitches in the linen project.
Links to the donation pages can be found under the donations label at the bottom of the page. I won't be adding to every post just occasional ones as I go.
