Cherished Teddie - Japan FINISHED!!!

I didn't think it would be this easy to stitch up.  Even the backstitching wasn't as bad as I had fears.  I'm not saying I liked it either, but it's finally done.  Now I can wash it and store it away with all the other projects I've made for myself that I haven't framed.  I think I need to do something about that.

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).

More ornaments done

So I've got 3 more ornaments done for my Christmas project.  That makes 7 so far.  Only 15 more to go.  At least to stitch anyway.  I've still got to stitch the names and year on the backside, sew together and stuff.  Hopefully I'll get them all done in time.  This whole Christmas present project has taken up a lot of my time that I'm getting tired of it.  And I'm having to restitch 2 of the Zodiacs because the grid lines wouldn't wash out.  I've got one of them done but I still have one more to do.

Twilight Balloon Flight - update

So here's my latest update on this project.  I'm doing this for my mom and yes, she has seen it.  I'm doing it on 18ct Aida 2x1 full.  I got the pattern from patternsonline.com.  I've got one more row of pages to do.  That's 3 full pages and one skinny column of stitches down a 4th page.  Then I've got to add all the strings for the little balloons.  I don't think I'll have it done by her birthday but maybe for next year (I've already got something planned for mother's day).  It's in desperate need of a wash so I might do that before I start the last pages.  I actually finished the last page at the beginning of June but I'm just now getting around to taking a picture.  I think it's only been 4 years so far . . . .

Cherished Teddies - Japan update #2

This project has been much easier than I expected, especially with all the quarter stitches that had to be done.  Every time I pulled the project out and said I should get an update pic before I start stitching again I would just tell myself I'll do it later and then I start stitching.  Well, it's done . . . sort of.  The regular stitching is done and I only have the backstitching left to do. 

I hate backstitching so I'm happy to put it off for awhile so I can redo a couple of the Zodiac projects because the gridlines wouldn't wash out.  I'm having to redo the snake and rooster that I had done on the dark green fabric.  I tested the marking pen on the red and dark blue and it came out just fine so I thought it would be the same for the dark green as well.  I was wrong. 

Once I finish those I will get back to this one to do the backstitching and finish up so I can start another project.  I love starting new projects.

Cherished Teddies - Japan

I got a book called Cherished Teddies Around the World and it has a bear for a lot of different nations.  I loved it and thought I'd stitch them all.  But which one to start first?  I thought I'd do them in order of the nations I've visited.  I'd start with Japan, because I was born there.  Then the USA, because I live here.  Then Mexico, because I've visited there first.  And finally Canada, because I've visited there too.  And that's about it.  How depressing is that?

So . . .

I've decided to make it one of my "bucket list" items to visit all the places represented by these bears and then stitch up the corresponding bear to hang on my wall.  I doubt that I'll get to all of them but at least it's worth a shot.

Here's the book:

I'm doing the Japanese Bear first.  This is what it's suppose to look like:

This is how much I've got done so far (14ct Mint Aida, 2x1, full):