Year of the Rooster redo

Here's the redo for the Year of the Rooster.  14ct light blue Aida, 2x1, full.  Now I'm done stitching them . . . . again.  Hopefully I won't run into any problems when I try to frame them that would cause me to restitch one again. 

Year of the Snake - redo

So here is the first of the ones I've had to redo because the gridlines wouldn't wash out of the dark green fabric.  It's the Year of the Snake.  The other one I have to do is Year of the Rooster.  Everything is the same as last time except the fabric is a pale blue (so I could use my blue grid pen which I KNOW will wash out).

Chinese Zodiac - ALL FINISHED!!!!!

I can't believe it.  I'm all done stitching the Chinese Zodiac characters for my family.  All I've got to do now is paint the frames, frame them and stitch and assemble the xmas ornaments I'm making.  I might actually be done months before xmas gets here.  And the best part is I'm not having to scramble around finding the money to buy gifts.  They'd already be done.

Here's the last one.  It's for me.  Year of the Dog.  14ct lavender Aida, 2x1, full.

Year of the Pig

My next to last finish.  Yeah!  It's the Year of the Pig on 14ct Mulberry Aida, 2x1, full.  I thought it would look absolutely wonderful on this fabric but it didn't turn out as well as I would have liked.  I think a lighter fabric would have been much better.  I don't know how I'm going to do the frame for this one.  It's for my niece and her room is all in red.  I'll figure something out eventually.  I only have one left to do and it's mine so I can take all the time in the world . . . but I'm not.

You know the feeling you get when you get so close to finishing a project.  Suddenly, a project that you once dragged your feet through gets faster and easier to do.  You become hyper-focused on the project and excited to finally see it finished . . . and the chance to start something new.  That's how I feel about this one.  I'm almost done with the next one after only working on it for 2 days.  I could finish it tonight.  Then I've got a bunch of small ornaments to do (although they have a lot of backstitching on them which I hate) and then I'm done with the stitching part of this xmas gifts.  I can't wait to dive into the painting again.  For some reason I don't feel like painting while it's super hot here.

Year of the Sheep (4) FINISHED!

This is my last Year of the Sheep and it's finished.  AND I changed the colors.  I think it turned out better than the rat that I changed colors but I should have picked a darker brown for the color and inside the ears so the transition stands out more.  I also should have used a darker brown for the backstitching.  I'm still happy with it and I'm not going to nitpick about it.  Now I only have 2 left to stitch.

14ct red Aida, 2x1, full

Ornaments Xmas 2012

So I've been thinking.  Dangerous I know.  What I've been thinking about is the Chinese Zodiac projects I've been stitching up.  I'm pretty sure that some of the guys (okay probably all of them) will not be that enthusiastic about getting 'em for Xmas presents.  I thought about what would make this better so I was thinking about things I got for xmas.

One of those things was each year I had a Grandmother who would buy an ornament and tape it to the outside of our gifts.  When we opened the gift we could put our new ornament on the tree.  She always tried to find something that we were interested in.  One brother got a lot of drum ornaments because he played.  I got a lot of dance stuff.  Another brother got a lot of music stuff.  Nothing really exciting but when we looked at the tree it was nice to know some of those ornaments were yours.

One year, as we were taking down the ornaments my mom started sorting them in different boxes.  We were to get all our own ornaments to hang on our own tree.  We were all moved out of the house so we could have our own tree.  It was nice to get a shoebox full of ornaments that I could shift through.  I don't remember what gifts I got with each ornament but sometimes I could remember what ornaments my siblings got just by looking at mine.  And every ornament was a memory of my grandmother.

So . . . I decided to stitch up ornaments for everybody and stitch their name and year on the back.  They might not like those any better than the Chinese Zodiac, but maybe many years down the line when they have a shoebox full of ornaments (if my parents or my siblings decide to take up the tradition) they might have a memory of me to hang on their tree each year.  "Oh this one!  My Aunt Gwenn made it for me."

I got this idea right at the end of June and thought for sure that someone would have a "Christmas in July" sale.  Sure enough 123stitch.com did.  I moved a bunch of ornament books to my cart but ended up getting some of them at the local store (full price for everything I got was still cheaper than the sale with shipping).  I didn't get all the books but maybe I'll pick up more later.  I did have 12 xmas patterns that someone in college had given me.  These first 4 designs are from that collection.

So while I only have 3 more Chinese Zodiacs to stitch I now have 18 more ornaments to do.  And, yes, I'll be doing one for myself as well.  I want something to remind me of this crazy year.  I got waste canvas to stitch their names on felt for the backing and it will be my first time using that but I'm looking forward to it.

Here's what I've done so far:

Year of the Snake (3) FINISHED!

Here's the last of the Year of the Snake.  Still 14ct Aida, 2x1 full.  I thought it would look better on the green than it does.  Maybe when I wash the white lines off it will look better.  I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to paint the frame for this one.  I have time to experiment.  I only have 3 left and that includes the one I'm doing for myself.  I'm actually getting really excited to finish these and start to get them frame.  I still have a lot of the frames I need to paint but I can't wait until I'm finished with the whole project.

Year of the Monkey

Here is my latest in the Chinese Zodiac series.  It's the Year of the Monkey.  14ct 2x1 full on light blue Aida.  I did change the hair from blonde to dark brown.  This one is for my niece and she has dark brown hair.  This pattern didn't have a nose on it like all the other ones do so I added one anyway.  It just looked too weird without one and I didn't want people to look at it and think I forgot the nose.  I wish I wouldn't have save this one until towards the end because of all the 945 stitches.  I'm getting really tired of that color and this was almost too much for me.  I persevered and finished it but it was a struggle at times.

Year of the Rat (3) FINISHED!

This is my last Rat to finish.  I changed the color scheme to a gray instead of blue since it's for a little girl.  I don't think it turned out as well as it could.  Instead of looking through all the grays in the color spectrum I picked 3 that I had already pulled for the kit.  And for some reason I think it looks more like a boy that a girl. 

It's done on Mulberry 14ct 2x1 full stitches as usual.  I also stitched most of this up with only 1 functioning eye.  Due to eye problems I wasn't allowed to wear my contact in the left eye.  Fortunately that eye is used for distance and my right eye is used for close up stuff.  Still, my depth perception is off and sometimes I was hard to get the needle to come up in the right hole.  Only 5 left to go.

Year of the Tiger (2) - FINISHED!

I'm getting closer to my goal.  This is the second and last Tiger I have to stitch up.  It's done on 14ct Pewter Aida 2 x 1.  I used this fabric for another guy and didn't like it.  This time I didn't find it so thin and flimsy.  I also found a nice groove when stitching the Tiger parts up and it went very smoothly.  I'm getting pretty good at these guys.  I have 6 more on my list after this one but I just finished one of those today at lunch.  I'll have to scan it and post the picture on that one later.  That means I have only 5 left to do.  Two of those are singletons so it will be nice to have something new to stitch with these guys.

Year of the Dragon (3) - - A Happy Accident?

So I've stitched the last of my Dragons (thankfully) and with this one I couldn't decide if what turned out was a happy accident or a terrible disaster.  I had stitched all the flesh including the legs before I stitched the body.  I just wanted to be done with that color because I'm getting tired of it (7 more to go Whoo hoo!).  I did the pink belly part and those confetti stitches, but I decided to do the confetti color in the surrounding area before I did the bigger block of color. 

Unfortunately I must have gotten interrupted between looking at the pattern, deciding what to do next and pulling the corresponding color.  What I pulled was the color for the big section . . . which I ended up using for the confetti stitches.  I didn't realized my mistake until I finished and went to grab the color of the bigger section and realized that was the color I had just used. 

So . . . the orange main color should be small confetti stitches around the lower body, the muzzle outlines and around the eyes in the headdress.  The dark red/coral color should have been the main body color (which I did in orange) instead of the single confetti stitches.  Once I made the mistake in the lower half I had to leave myself a note on the pattern to switch them up on the headdress.  You can go look at a previous one to compare.

On one hand I think it looks great.  I think it gives more definition to the headdress but the pink belly next to an orange body (which should be dark coral) looks a little off.  I have a couple other characters that are going to the same family group so I've decided to change the colors up a little bit so everyone's not the same and for those it will be easy.  I have 2 dragons going to my sister and niece but I couldn't figure out how to change the colors without it being a disaster.  So maybe I got lucky.  I wasn't going to mess with the Snake's colors either but now maybe I can work something out.  What do you think?

Year of the Sheep(3) finished!

Here's my next Chinese Zodiac finish.  It's the third Year of the Sheep and I still have one more to do.  This one was done on Platinum 14ct Aida (2x1 full) and I don't remember the brand.  I'm not sure I like it.  It feels very thin, almost like paper.  It feels like it will tear at the slightest tug; even though it doesn't.  I love the color Platinum so I'd use this color again for other projects but I'll have to find out what brand this is so I avoid it in the future.

Year of the Rooster

Here's my next Chinese Zodiac finish.  It's the Year of the Rooster, 14ct green Aida, 2x1 full.  This one was very easy to do and I think my stitching is getting neater after each one.  Not that it was messy to begin with, but there's just more uniformity to how they look.  I'm hoping my orange paint for the frame will match this one and not clash.  Otherwise I guess I'll have to use the yellow paint.

Year of the Rat (2) finished

Here's the second one of these done on light blue Aida, 14ct, 2x1 full, as usual. I have one more of these to stitch up and then I'm don with this guy. It was really easy to stitch up except for when I wasn't paying attention. I'm now a full month ahead of schedule so I think I'll take a break for awhile and work on something else.

Chinese Zodiac frame #1

So I started painting the first frame for my Chinese Zodiac project. I've found that I like painting. It find it just as soothing as cross stitch even though I'm not very good at it. I'm hoping I'll get better in time.

I wanted to create a plaid pattern on this one and I was very proud of myself when I laid the tape down. When I took it off I was disappointed. It looks more like tire tracks than plaid. I'm going to have to rethink which one I match it up with.

Year of the Dragon (2)

Here's my second Year of the Dragon. It was easier to do the second time around than the first one. I'm still undecided on whether I'm going to do the last Dragon on black or probably white. I'm now half way through stitching all of them. I'm also ahead of my planned schedule by 1/2 a month now. I don't know if I'll start the next one right away or take a break because I'm getting a little tired of the 945 for the face and body.

I've also finished painting the first of the frames. That post will come next.

This one was done on 14ct Jade Aida in 2x1 full stitches. And here it is:

Year of the Snake (2) finished

Here's my latest finish. It's the Year of the Snake on Navy. I still have one more of these to do. It was much easier to stitch this second time, not that it was really hard the first time though. According to my list I'm done for the month of April. I planned out 2 a month so I'm ahead of schedule. I could take the rest of the month off from this design . . . or I could start the next one and get even more ahead of schedule.



I've been only working on these while in the office at work. I'd sit at my desk on my breaks and lunch hour to stitch. Unfortunately, lately I've been interrupted a lot so I wasn't getting much done. I decided I would work on them at night while at home. I think that's why I got ahead of schedule. I'm thinking if I worked on them at work and at home at night I could do one a week. At that rate I'll be done with them the week of he 4th of July.

I'm really toying with that idea. On one hand I'd love to get these done sooner rather than later so I have time to plan and paint the frames, etc. Also I would be finally done with them so I could spend my stitching time to work on something just for me. After all that was my plan for this year (to only stitch things for me) since I've spent so much time stitching things for other people. There's so many projects I want to do besides the ones I've already stitched.

On the other hand I might get bored with doing almost the same thing week after week. I might start making a lot of mistakes. Or I might end up putting them away for awhile only to find I'm almost at of time to finish them come Christmas time. I was under the gun last year for the box I painted. And a year before that when I did afghans for everybody. I hate leaving things to the last minute. I never feel like I did my best when I work that way.

Lately I've really had a stitching bug going. There's nothing else I want to do besides stitch. Maybe I should ride that out and work on these projects while I still want to. I've got a small vacation coming up and I know I'll be taking my stitching along and I wonder if I could start and finish one in that trip. Or maybe even finish 2. We'll see.

Year of the Dog

So here's my Year of the Dog. It's done on 14ct tan Aida 2x1 full stitches. I have to do two of these but the second one is for me so it will be last. By then I might be sick of these designs so I might not do it all. We'll see.

Year of the Sheep (2)

Here is my first repeat. It's the Year of the Sheep on Lavender 14ct 2x1 full. I was wondering if having to do repeat ones would make me more likely to make a mistake and I almost did with this one. I almost forgot the little guy's tail. Thankfully I remembered. I'm going to have to be more careful with the next repeat.

Year of the Ox

Here's my latest Chinese Zodiac finish. It's for the Year of the Ox. I only had to do one of these so I'm done with this character. It did it on the light pink Aida (which once again doesn't look pink unless it's with something white) 2x1 full stitches as always. It was a nice easy change of pace from the Dragon evn though I hate working with brown thread because it seems to knot and tangle up so much.