Back to Black Bear

I dug out the Black Bear cross stitch that I hadn't touched in apparently four years. Whoops. Anyways, this is what it looked like the last time I played with it.

And this is what it looks like today.

I went from being very pleased to firmly irritated very quickly. Those trees on the right hand side should be over two stitches to the right. Somehow I lost count whilst putting in the sky and that threw everything off in the tree tops. And of course I didn't figure it out until trying to flesh out the last large tree before the faint tree line across the bears back. *sigh*

So what has to happen now it I finish all but the last large tree and then sort of fill in the spaces for the last tree, omitting a column of stitching that's 2 stitches by maybe 20 stitches. After that, I'll have to alter the stitched frame around the whole scene.

If the kit had clear DMC labels on the floss, I'd probably rip out that upper corner and restitch it, but it doesn't. So now it's either throw it away in frustration, which I'm not a fan of, or work around the problem. Thus stitching becomes a metaphor for life.

FuzzyHusband suggested that I pull out a small kit and work it up just so I could do a small thing to be happier with. I took his advice and started this snowman.

Just a few more cross stitches to fill him in and then the back stitching and French knots. I will also say that Ellie makes it very difficult to do hand work. This is her current, and favorite, position these days.

That's all for now. I need to get back to catching up with laundry and get the leftovers from dinner put away. See you next weekend!

A Mini Tutorial and Two Stitching Updates

I've been putting together a tutorial for minis to share with some friends.  I thought I'd share it here because it's lots of fun and it was a creative project.

First I'll get the stitching photos out of the way.  I'll link to the previous week's images in the name for easy comparison.

Black Bear is coming along nicely.

I did get the background trees in the middle of the piece going this week.  I also finished a chunk of clouds in the sky and started on the tops of the foreground trees on the right side.  The bear's face got filled in too... because I got tired of seeing a faceless bear.

The Aragon Blackwork did get the lower right motif outline in place this week, and its surrounding crosses.  I also stitched the right side pattern, started the upper left motif, and purchased a larger frame to make it easier to work on.

Now for the tutorial!  Here's how to make mini bolts of fabric and fat quarters.
You will need:

- pieces of thick cardstock, I used the backs off legal pads, cut to 7/8 of an inch by 2 inches.  I painted the ends of my bolts white, but that's optional.
- strips of appropriate fabrics 4 inches by 22 inches; if you're cutting from a fat quarter, just cut a 4" piece the length of the fabric.
- scissors for paper and fabric (a rotary cutter and mat would make things go faster)
- a ruler
- tacky glue
- clothespins for clamps

 Fold your fabric strip in half, wrong sides together, so that you have a rectangle 2" x 22".  Put some glue on your bolt .

Press one end of your fabric to the bolt and begin tightly wrapping fabric around the bolt.

 When you've reached your desired thickness, trim the remaining fabric off (save it for cutting fat quarters!), fold over the cut end, and glue it to the bolt.

 Clamp in place with clothespins.

As a note, if you have a light fabric and don't care for the dark card showing through or didn't want to bother with painting ends, use a white piece of card instead.  I had a small white piece that came folded inside a real life fat quarter, but only one piece.  That's why I opted to paint the ends of brown card.

For the fat quarters, neatly stack your leftover ends from the fabric bolts.  Cut two inch strips first.

Then cut 1.5 inch pieces off of those strips.

 This way to can create multiple fat quarters at once!  It saves time.

 Another note, I folded one mini fat quarter into a small square, like they come at JoAnn's and some other fabric stores.  You could also fold the fat quarter in half, roll it, and tie it with a piece of thread.

 Maddie and Nugent decided they would pose with some finished bolts.  If you poke the photo, Nugent is peeking out from around the bolts on the left.

I have many more bolts to make since I've got a mini quilt shop in mind.  There will also be baskets to display folded and rolled fat quarters in eventually.

I hope you've enjoyed the tutorial.  It was nice to play with minis again... it's been too long.  See you next week!

Happy Mother's Day and A Tale of Two Bears

First off: Happy Mother's Day Everyone!  I hope today is filled with happiness and fun.  :-)

Now to the bears...

Here's the first one:

The Black Bear cross stitch has rolled out of UFO hibernation again.  The only post I could find about him was back in November 2009.  He's come in and out of hibernation a few times since then.

Here's a picture from July 2010:

This one is after I'd started stitching this week and thought to take a picture.  Whoops.  But at least I have a reference from earlier in the week.

I took this one this morning, after stitching until 1 a.m.

To make working on this huge piece easier, I make "working copies" of the chart, i.e. ones I can scribble on, and have been shading the stitches in when I've completed them.  I don't do this on the real chart in case I mess up where I'm scribbling.

Just to make it easier for me to know what I'm supposed to be doing, I started using a different color of pencil every day.  I hadn't been doing that initially, but I find it easier to keep track.  Taking time to shade in the stitches does slow me down a little, but that means fewer mistakes to frog and re-stitch.

The blue pencil is everything from 2010 and a little bit I did whilst we were in Michigan last summer.  I couldn't get comfortable enough there to work on such a big piece.  Orange pencil is this past Thursday, and part of Friday until I had the brilliant idea to switch colors.  I moved on to green for the rest of Friday.  Pink is yesterday.

I'll be choosing another color after this post and will spend quite a bit of today stitching.  I figure I'd better stick with this guy as long as I find him fun.  He's been neglected for far too long.

My goal for this piece for next week's blog entry will be finishing the pine trees on the left of the piece and moving into the background trees that stretch across to the "closer up trees" on the other side of the design.

I do have a second BAP stitching project going, but it's a completely different style.  I started the blackwork piece I kitted up two years ago... finally.  But I figured out I'll need the frame I've got the bear in to hold it before too long.  Using a regular hoop for the moment is fine, but once I get the center sections done, I'll need the Bear's frame so I don't damage the center stitches.

This is what I've done, as of Thursday.  There will be a total of four large motifs around the little motif on the left.  It's actually the center of the piece.  An elaborate border goes around the edges.

Unlike the Bear, I'm only working with three floss colors.  I'm hoping to finish the lower right-hand motif's outline by next week.  Bear is my main focus though, so really any progress here will be nice.  I like to rest my brain with this design since I don't have to really have to worry about "getting lost."  Symmetrical designs are nice that way.

Now for the other bear!

In case you didn't know, the name Artan translated to "little bear" in English.  Well my "Little Bear" was having fun this morning.  He loves fresh flowers... which can lead to lots of spilled water and petals all over the house.

One of our neighbors brought me a sweet little bouquet that was extra from the high school's prom.  (She's the faculty adviser for the prom committee and thought I could use a pick-me-up, which was really nice.  I'm hoping I feel up to spending more time with her this summer.)  Artie was in seventh heaven!

The best part is the flowers are all tucked into the plastic tubes that florists use for corsages and single cut flowers.  No water to spill!  He's already knocked them over twice today so he could get better sniffs.  :-)  I can keep refilling the tubes until the flowers wilt.

Well I'm off to pick a new colored pencil and start working on Black Bear again.  I hope everyone has a nice week!

Multiple Projects in Different Media, Me? Never! ;-)

Stitching and hooking. That's what I'm doing currently.

First is a piece that will become an ornament for my stitching guild's ornament exchange.
I have some buttons to sew on in a few places. Then I can turn it into an ornament.

Next is the first of two hats I have to make. One for FH and one for his best friend. Anything that can be considered geeky I have to make two of. It's about like giving gifts to children. This hat pattern is based on H.P.Lovecraft's Cthulhu. I bought the pattern from this nice lady on Ravelry.
I'm about 60% of the way through it. I needed something to keep me occupied while I was waiting for the yarn shop to be open so I could buy:

The colors I needed for Baby Beau's vest. I will hopefully be starting on that either tonight or tomorrow.

I've started another stitching project that I do not have a picture for yet since there are only 120 stitches in place. It's base on stained glass window designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. I'm working it up for my dad.

To sooth the lack of picture for that project, have a look at a piece that's in hibernation (pardon the soon-to-be obvious pun). I started it last summer (2008) for FH and got about this far before the kit ran out of the dark grey and black I needed to finish filling in the bear.

Luckily I figured out which DMC color I needed for the grey. Now If I can just get done with all the other stitching and such. It's easier to rotate between one stitching project and minis. It's harder when there's lots of non-mini projects. Not to mention that I will eventually have to get back to the period clothing. I was all too happy to put most of it away when my parents came for a visit in September and I've gleefully not drug it back out. ;-)

That's it for today. I've got to get back to it.