Being Good, Blocking

Last Saturday, I had colds so I stayed home the whole day being good by finishing all the backstitches on Morning Lake.  Isn't it funny that I had to be sick just to finished it?  :-D

Here it is being dried:

Now, all it needs is some ironing and then framing:

And I also have some progress on Tropical Fruits, not much, but still progress as they say :-D

Last week's:

As of April 4, 2011

And this week's:

As of April 11, 2011

Also last week, I did post this photo of my doily project which was unwashed and unblocked:

Last Sunday, I washed it and blocked.  Kim asked what blocking is all about.  You can find here the explanation.  But in short, it is the method of “molding” or "stretching" your finished work into the shape that you desire.

I used this styrofoam as my blocking board where I cut my needle organizers from:

Here's the doily being blocked while still wet after washing:

I thought blocking is as easy as 1-2-3.  But it is not.  I think I've spent more than 30 minutes trying to get the perfect shape and yet, to my eyes, it is still not what I wanted.  I counted all the pins I used, it's 96 pieces!

Here it is now on the table and you can now see it's true shape unlike when it was not blocked yet:

With lights on

Without lights

 My mother put the candles as decoration.  Maybe I will try to look for candles with contrasting colors.

Thanks for reading this week's update.  Take care everyone!

Some Flowers In Bloom, More Threads and Morning Lake Update

Almost finally, all the crosses in Morning Lake are now finished.  Now, have to do the backstitching.  Oops, I did again!!!  I know, I know, you must be saying "there you go again Toni, leaving the backstitching til the end".

Some time ago, I posted in some of the forums asking fellow cross stitchers for tips and techniques on how to make backstitching easier on my life.  And almost everyone said that I should do it as I go along.  But I really dreaded that stitch, so here I am again, leaving it til the end.

Crochet-wise, here are some more flowers.  I'm thinking of making it into a shawl instead of scarf.

On white background (sorry for the wrinkled towel)

On black background

Now, I have to stop adding more flowers on it for the meantime because I have to do these, also into a shawl, as a gift for my sister:

They are the same flower pattern except I change the color motif and used the threads above.

After I finished my multicolored shawl and my sister's, I will also make one for my mother with this color combination/threads:

And then when I finished all the shawls, I don't know what my next project will be, but I already bought these threads (all the threads I posted here are Canon made by Coats).  I'm crazy I know, but I'm happy so it's okay :D

By the way, while browsing for more threads, I saw and bought these Boye hooks at a steal...all 7 pieces at P100 (US$2.25), and if you will look around the net, one Boye steel crochet hook costs $1.99.  These are the old Boye hooks and I've read somewhere that it's better than the new ones.  I just can't remember the difference.  I am not sure how old these hooks are but they are in good condition.  You can also see in the box that they were made by Boye Needle Company, whereas today, their new hooks are now being made by Wrights.

It's really very dangerous to my wallet having the needlecraft stores so near our place.  They are just a five-minute, or less, drive from our home.  Good or bad?  You decide...  But for me, it's good, good, good!  Indeed, very good!!!  :D :D :D

Morning Lake Progress

There's not much progress but I will show it anyway:

And this is the reason why I'm so slow on my Morning Lake.  I am going to make this into a scarf.

I went crazy again and bought these crochet threads.  Some of these are very similar in shades that it's hard to see the difference in the photos.

Last Saturday, I've met with a friend-cross stitcher, Nina, and here are her gifts to me:

A Lizzie Kate design

Another Lizzie Kate design

Card she stitched for me

Isn't it awesome meeting fellow cross stitchers...  Although it was the first time we've met, it feels like we've known each other for so long.

Happy stitching everyone!

Morning Lake Update & Tropical Fruits

I am sad because I wasn't able to beat my goal of finishing the Morning Lake end of February.  Maybe it will take me another week or two to finish the piece, and it has some backstitching that will take me forever to do.  Here's my progress on it:

After this one, I will start a new chart, a request from my mother because she said that our kitchen wall is so bare it needs some decoration.  Here's my next project which I will do along my Homebound.

It's a pattern published by DMC Philippines.  And here are the materials for it:

The fabric is 18 count off-white Aida.  The chart calls for 51 colors and the finished size will be 15.25 inches width by 11.55 inches height if done on 18 count.

That's all for now.  Happy stitching!  :-)

Some More Stitching Goals

Though my goal for this year is to finish some of my UFOs, I think it's a MUST that I should finish all of my WIPs.  I have three, two small and a BAP.

Butterflies

I am going to give this to a friend and I have set a deadline that I should finish it this January.  But it has so many backstitches that I know I will dread doing.  Let's see if I can be a good girl and meet my deadline.

Morning Lake

This is how it should look when finished:

My progress

Homebound

This is a cross stitch conversion of a masterpiece painted in 1936.  You can see the details of the painting here.  The pattern has a different title than the painting.  I am doing this on 16-count Aida and the finished size will be 26.25 inches x 20.125 inches.  It consist of 12 pages of pattern, A3 size.  It has 48 colors of DMC threads and total skeins of 200.

Here's my progress

I am hoping that I can finish it this year.  I will try to follow this stitching schedule:

Monday to Friday - WIPs
Saturday and Sunday - UFOs

Right now, I am doing my best not to start another pattern or kit, though so many are calling my name.  I really, really wanted to trim down my UFOs and finish all my WIPs.

That's all for now.  Have to go and clean these:

My work tools

Thanks for reading and take care everyone!

Some Things That Make Me Happy

Here are some cross stitch kits that I requested my brother-in-law to purchased for me which he ordered from www.123stitch.com. I actually received these last month, but it is only now that I've got the time to post here.



Morning Lake - finished size will be 7 inches x 5 inches on 18 count Ivory aida:



Overlook Cafe - finished size will be 7 inches x 5 inches on 18 count white aida:



Amaryllis in Bloom - finished size will be 4 inches x 8 inches on 18 count beige aida:



Single Rose - finished size will be 4 inches x 8 inches on 18 count beige aida:



One Will Never Do - finished size is 5 inches x 7 inches on 14 count white aida. I've already finished this one and given to a friend. This is such a small project but it took me more than a week to finish because of the specialty stitches, stitches that I love to hate like lazy daisy, french knot, and my best enemy - BACKSTITCH!



Finished project:



Framed:


Until next time and thank you for reading. Take care everyone :-)