Cherish Teddies - USA Bear FINISHED!

So every time I picked up this project to start stitching I told myself to get a progress pic . . . but it’s just so cute and easy that I just wanted to be stitching it.  So here’s a finished picture.  It was really fast and easy until I got to some of the backstitching.  It was really hard some times to tell if a line was backstitch or a grid line, especially the thicker 10x10 lines.  I eventually had to look at the finished picture on the booklet and see where my piece was different.  Once I figured that out I could match it up with the pattern and see the lines.

Cherished Teddies - USA Bear

So I'm stitching the Cherished Teddies International Bears based on the country I've been to.  I started with Japan since I was born in Okinawa.  I've now started to work on the USA bear.  Unfortunately the only other countries I've been to are Mexico and Canada so I'm going to have to start visiting other places if I want to stitch more of the bears in the booklet.

Here is what it is suppose to look like:

I'm doing it on 14ct Lt. Oatmeal (Fiddler's) Aida in 2x1, full stitches.  This is what I've got done so far (it's 2 hockey games worth of work):

Carcassonne update

I told myself that I couldn't start another project and until I'd finish something I've already been working on.  So . . . I pulled this project out and I've got plans for it when done.  I need to change the colors in the "C" because I didn't like what I picked when I made the pattern.  Hopefully I can pick something that will work.

14ct Aida, 2x1,  full

Winter in the Village - update

My goal was to finish 2 more buildings on this project this year.  While I finished the Toy Shop (I'm not counting the backstage buildings) so I've only got one more to do to meet my goal for this project this year.  I might revise that to finish the project if some other projects go well also.

Behold the power of backstitch

As I was doing the backstitch on the toy shop for my Winter in the Village project I was really blown away with how much of a difference it made.  When I got to the bottom and one window and toy soldier were finished but not the other ones you can really see the difference.  Take a look.

Dad's Flower Pot - HAED custom

Since I have been working on the large project for Mom (Twilight Balloon Flight) I have been trying to find a large project to do for Dad.  I got the idea of taking one of photos and making it into a pattern and surprising him with it.  But what if I picked one he didn't like?  I talked to him about this idea and he was for it.  I let me pick the picture he wasnted done.  I then had Heaven and Earth Designs create the pattern.  It was expensive but they do such great work that I wanted it to turn out the best that it could possibly be.  It's 89 colors and a pain in the ass to do but I'll get it done eventually.  Dad said he didn't want to see it while I was working on it so I told him he had to stay alive until I was done.  He said that if he died before it was finished I should put it in his coffin...finished or not.  We'll see.

25ct Magic guide Eavenweave, 1x1 full stitches

Here's what it should look like:

Here's what I've done so far (top half of page 1):

Chinese Symbols - #1 done=Love

So the first of my Chinese Symbols are done.  I'ts LOVE on 14ct Solo fabric from Silkweavers.com.  I love their fabric.  I've got a bunch more and I figured I could do about 1 a month.  The threads will all be DMC rayon/silk and it's not the easier thing to use.

14ct 2x1 full