Dollhouse?? Framed

I picked up my framed piece yesterday and am so pleased with how it looks:



The same framer did my other two pieces and luckily for me they do it for a reasonable rate. I know framing is expensive but I do think that if you put all the costs into the materials and then the time it takes you to complete the piece, it is well worth paying the extra and getting it framed. I have decided that at the end of the month I will get my oldest piece framed as it's been bothering me how the colour of the fabric has changed over time and it now looks like I used cream aida instead of the white. That will only leave one more item that is finished and needs framing. I just want to do it one at a time instead of giving my hubby a heart attack as I do love my cross stitch and don't want him to feel bothered about it it costing so much.

I also finished one item. Okay finished sewing but not actually complete. My daughter lost her first two teeth awhile ago and I wanted to do something special for her next ones. It's a tooth fairy pillow that will have a pocket for her tooth to go into.


Started: 30 July 2011
Finished: 17 August 2011

I need to make the pillow and as my hand sewing skills are really terrible, I will have to borrow my MIL's sewing machine. I have decided to wait awhile to do it as I will hopefully be starting an advent calendar tonight and it will also need sewing once done. I also have about four projects that I want to start soon, and as I always sew around the edges to stop fraying, I will use the opportunity of using the machine to do it alot quicker than it takes by hand.

My third door is progressing nicely but I have decided to put it on hold for awhile so I can concentrate on the advent calendar and my Dragon and Castle.



And here is the above mentioned Dragon And Castle progress:



It is the most complex design I have ever done and I have a feeling it will be a long WIP. It has alot of colour changes never mind the colour blending and then on top of that it has half and quarter stitches. The patten calls for 14 count aida but I think it would of been easier and neater if I had done it on evenweave. I have enver used it but I have got 1meter sitting in my basket for a few Joann Elliot designs I want to do. I have had to put them on hold as my glasses don't work well since my eye ops and I need to go for new glasses before I even attempt to use it. I have a feeling once I get the hang of it I will never use aida for any design that uses fractional stitches.

I am having difficulty with something I am wanting to make. It's my daughters last year in her kindergarten as next year she will be going to school. There are four teachers and I am wanting to make them bookmarks as christmas / farewell gifts but all the free patterns online don't call to me and I am looking for any recommendations of books that have good bookmarks patterns in them. Hope someone can give me some ideas.

Much Accomplished

Boy has the last month been productive.

I finished the birthday cards for my daughters party. In total I made nine of them and I must say as much as I love the pattern I was rather glad to be finished with it. Not sure a pattern is suppossed to be done that many times.



I finished the backstitch on the Apple Harvest pattern:



Boy was it a lot of backstitch but I must say that I always think it's worth it in the end because it adds things that is needed to really bring out the details in things.

I also finished the backstitch on the two doors:



My daughters school has a fundraiser every year. I am on the decorating committee and I offered my services to make the table numbers. I designed this after finding a heart chart on the net.



I have handed in the sample and am waiting for a yes or no from the "bosses" and even though I have to do 31 of these, if they let me know soon, then I have worked it out that if I finish one every two night I will get them done with time to spare.

I also took two pictures of projects that I started but for some reason when I took the pics off my camera they weren't there. The one was quick and I only have the backstitch to complete and the other one is the biggest and most complicated project I have started so far. The pics will have to wait for the next blog post as it's too dark to take them now.

Hopefully I will also have a pic of one of my FO's framed too.

Birthday Cards

I have been doing much stitching but not much progress it seems.

I have been working on a list of projects that I want to make and will sometime upload it to the blog but for now a quick update.

I am making my daughters birthday invitations. I have to make 9 and have finished 3 so far.



As I said not much progress and I am itching to start something new but the birthday is on 9 August and I need to finish these up awhile before so that they can go out in time.

I made the cards and envelopes myself so they are not perfect but I am pleased with them.

Progress Pics

I am so pleased with cross stitch at the moment. It's my daughters 7th birthday in about a month and a half and I had no idea what to do for it. We decided to do a party but that was all. Then yesterday I asked her if I should sew her cards and then we can make the cards ourselves with pretty board. We looked through magazines and she chose a picture of a tea cup. I asked her if she was sure that it was what she wanted and she was adament. I didn't think it was appropriate until I realised that she had just given me the theme for her party. We are going to have a Tea Party!!!

Now I just hope that I can stitch five invitations with time to send them out and get rsvp's back.

My main project at the moment is a set of four doors that I am making. I have completed one up to the point that I need to do the backstitch.



The following is a picture I took the day of my last post and the second one is the progress I made up to today. I would normally have finished it today or tomorrow but I think the cards are going to be keeping me busy for awhile.



I am also busy with another Smiley Bears that is almost finished. It is called Apple Harvest and I am just completing the backstitch and it will be finished and I can begin another big project.



And lastly here is a project that I finished about a year ago. It's a Smiley Bears and I think it is called First Letter. I really need to get it framed asap as I see the fabric is yellowing and it is looking worn.

Welcome

Well if you have come across this, then welcome to my new blog.

I guess the first place to start would be to introduce myself.

My name is Monique and as shocked as I am, I find myself 29 years of age but in just over a months time I will be 30!!! Goodness I still remember feeling like 21 would never come.

I have one daughter who turns 7 two days after I turn 30 and I can't believe how quick she went from a baby to 7. My husband and I celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary last month.

I started my love of cross stitch purely by accident. I think it was my 16th or 17th birthday and a aunt obviously didn't know what to get me and ended up getting me a kit that was butterflies that you turned into cards. Lets just say I never turned them into cards because all I had for reference was the instructions that came with the kit and I messed it up so bad that I don't even think I finished the second one.
My other aunt saw that I enjoyed working with it and on my next birthday or maybe christmas she got my a pocahontas kit. I spent every free moment between school and my weekend job and loved it. It was not perfect but I did finish it. I must say that it's sad to say that I have no idea where it has disappeared to after so many moves since then. I would of loved to be able to look at it after so many years.
My next project was a actual clock. I was 17 turning 18 when my (than boyfriend, now obviously my ex) wanted to do something really special for his mom for christmas. We shared the cost of the materials and I sewed the clock and then he built the frame and put the clock together. She said she loved it but I was never sure. It would be interesting to know if she still has it hanging up in her house.

I met my husband when I was 21 and didn't do any cross stitch until my daughter was born. I want to eventually make the whole set which is I think about 6 patterns but I did the first two when she was born.

The first one is Smiley Bears Wedding



The second one is called Smiley Bears Ballet.
This one is my favorite one simply because it was the hardest. I am not sure you can see it in the photo but the skirts on the bears are made with french knots. Every square on the bottom skirts arefrench knots instead of a X.



I have not done alot of stitching since then but I have managed to finish another Smiley Bears picture and have almost completed another one. Plus I did a dolls house and now I am busy one a set of four small designs.

I will leave pictures of those for the next time though.