Lara's Loose Threads

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T11:40:00.002-06:00

I did manage to get some stitching done in 2009, but not as much as I would have liked. I haven't even done as much over my winter break as I had planned, although I did get around to rinsing a bunch of hand-dyed fabrics and washing some small projects so I can do the final finishing. I mostly finished stitching one small ornament from a kit I got in a grab bag a while back, but I'll post a photo when it is totally complete.

Goals for 2010? To finally finish Halloween Fairy and Catherine of Aragon! I am still hoping to make a dent in some of the old kits still sitting in my organizer bin but a lot of those are pretty big projects. Maybe I'll try to get the smaller ones done first so I'll feel like I've accomplished something. :)

Halloween Fairy update

2009-10-26T11:53:00.001-05:00

I can't believe it has been so long since the last update of Halloween Fairy, but then again, I haven't worked on it much! Over the weekend I finished all of the top half of the chart and worked some more on the skirt:

Another fall finish

2009-09-16T13:15:00.002-05:00

This is another fall design from the Just Cross Stitch Fall/Halloween issue -

I used a great small piece of Silkweaver hand-dyed fabric that was perfect for this design. I'm in their Fabric of the Month club and I have the "surprise me!" option, so I never know exactly what I'm going to get. When I first saw this piece I wasn't sure what kind of design I would be able to use it for, but it ended up being just right for this one!

First of the JCS fall/Halloween designs done!

2009-09-02T23:27:00.002-05:00

I actually finished this last weekend but I'm just now getting around to posting the photo since it has been a very busy week.

It was nice to be able to finish a small project since I've been slowly (VERY slowly) working on two larger projects for about a year now. Plus I was finally able to find a good use for this one small piece of needlework fabric that was just begging for a design like this! Of course, working in those lovely autumn colors has really made me wish that we could skip September and just go straight in to October.

Two years!

2009-08-25T18:54:00.002-05:00

Today is the second anniversary of this blog, which I've basically been using as a journal to keep track of past and current stitching projects. Eventually I should add some quilting and costuming, but I don't have nearly as many examples of that as I do the cross stitch (and a few other types of needlework). And to celebrate two years, maybe I'll do a little stitching tonight! Several of the designs in the new Halloween issue of Just Cross Stitch are calling me...

Spring (and the four seasons) is done!

2009-08-10T12:39:00.003-05:00

Here's the final photo for the spring quarter of the Four Seasons design:

And here are all four sections together:

I still haven't made a final decision on how I'm going to complete these - I'm flipping between a quilt or four thin, black frames - so for now they will sit in my "waiting to be finished" basket!

Spring update

2009-07-28T14:42:00.003-05:00

Lots of stitching on Spring was done this weekend because it was just too darned hot to do anything else.

Given the horrifically high temperatures forecast for this weekend, I'll probably be able to finish it!

More stitching on Spring

2009-07-20T09:12:00.002-05:00

I actually did some more stitching on Spring from the four seasons design!! The photo isn't great since I was trying to do it indoors (at night) without a flash, but you can see I got quite a bit done over the weekend if you compare with the photo from earlier in the month.

Spring update

2009-07-05T19:04:00.003-05:00

Here's an update on the (slow) progress on the spring quarter of the 4 seasons design I've been working on. Below is a test of the macro function of the new little camera I got for my birthday this year. :)

More stitching!

2009-05-25T18:09:00.006-05:00

Wow, I'm on a roll... I've actually managed to stitch about three days out of this month! BTW, I did eventually find the mission Anchor black floss mentioned in the previous post. It was tangled all over the living room!

I finished the outer part of Catherine of Aragon's skirt last weekend and I started the "Spring" section of the 4 season design I've been working on for the past few years (Fall, Winter and Summer here).

A little more progress on Catherine of Aragon

2009-05-06T18:21:00.004-05:00

I managed to get a bit more done on Catherine's skirt last weekend. In the process of setting up my stitching space, I noticed that my bobbin of Anchor black was missing... I suspect a feline culprit (and I still haven't found the floss). Thankfully I had some extras since I stocked up during a sale a while back!

Catherine of Aragon March update

2009-04-03T21:29:00.002-05:00

You can't see a whole lot of difference between this one and the last update, but I *did* get a little more work done on her skirt. I've figured out one comfortable stitch place in my apartment, but I still need to rig something up in the other room. Still experimenting.

Way too long

2009-03-01T17:32:00.003-06:00

It's been way too long (a month!) since I last posted, but unfortunately it has also been way too long since I did any stitching! I really need to start a couple of small projects that I can work on here and there, since the only two WIPs I currently have are quite big - Catherine of Aragon and Halloween Fairy. Time to start flipping through my patterns, I guess. I really want to start on the Book of Ink Circles, but that's another large design so it will need to wait until one of the other two is finished!

Catherine of Aragon update

2009-01-31T15:35:00.002-06:00

These are the photos that were supposed to be up over a week ago!

I finished the brown around the left side of the skirt and began working on the black and brown parts of the right side. I'm hoping to get some more work done on her tomorrow but I might end up doing my taxes instead. The sad part is that I'm not even expecting a refund.

Finally, some stitching!

2009-01-19T15:20:00.002-06:00

But no progress picture right now, gotta charge the camera batteries. But I did actually put needle and thread through fabric yesterday and will today too. I've been working on the dark part of Catherine of Aragon's skirt, which actually stitches pretty fast. The golden parts are going to take longer, I think, but I'm hoping to get her finished in the next month or two. I'm going to be very, very busy between now and mid-March, but I'm going to try to make a little time to stitch since it really helps keep me sane!

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T19:27:00.004-06:00

My stitching really fell off the pace at the end of the year, but I'm hoping I'll pick it back up in 2009. I think I've worked out a good space to stitch in my apartment, so that should help. My goal of working on some old kits didn't really happen, but I'll go ahead and set a goal for 2009 - finish the two relatively large designs I have going (Catherine of Aragon and Halloween Fairy) and try to finish ONE large kit project. We'll see if that happens!

Christmas ornament

2008-12-03T16:28:00.001-06:00

I haven't been doing a whole lot of stitching lately, but I did manage to finish this design from the 2007 JCS Ornament issue. I've left the buttons off for now, but I might add them in when I do the finishing.

Halloween Fairy update

2008-11-10T15:00:00.002-06:00

Not a whole lot of progress, but she's gotten some backstitching and some beads since the last image I posted.

Geez, a whole month since my last post...

2008-11-01T22:06:00.002-05:00

And not much stitching has been going on. With my move and just being really tired at the end of a day, I haven't put a needle through thread in several weeks. Halloween Fairy is out and calling to me so maybe I'll get some work done on her tomorrow, (even though we're past Halloween now). Time to pull out last year's JCS ornament issue and start a small design too!

Latest pumpkin

2008-10-01T19:33:00.002-05:00

The pumpkin theme continues... Another design from the Just Cross Stitch Halloween ornament issue:

I stitched it on a scrap of 22-ct fabric, over one, with DMC floss.

Yet another pumpkin

2008-09-07T14:23:00.003-05:00

I'm beginning to think there is a 'pumpkin of the week' trend starting here.

This is the "Pumpkin on Gingham" design from the Halloween ornaments in Just Cross Stitch magazine. Obviously I didn't stitch it on gingham, but I did use up another little square from the 2 yards of that natural 28-ct evenweave I bought a while back. I've used it for a lot of designs since it can have a rustic or papyrus look to it, but there is still a lot left! I also haven't added the beads yet, since I need to head to the LNS and get them!

I'm working some more on Halloween Fairy - specifically the backstitching on her head and shoulders and doing some more of the metallics. Not much progress to show though.

Halloween ornament and Fairy progress

2008-09-03T14:32:00.003-05:00

First up is the "Spooky Tree" ornament from Just Cross Stitch:

I used DMC floss instead of the over-dyed the original was stitched with.

And here is the first photo of Halloween Fairy from CSN Magazine:

I'm using a hand-dyed Silkweaver 32-ct linen. I think this is the largest thing I've done on 32-ct linen, and it is going a little slower then my usual 28-ct evenweave projects!

Pumpkin from last week

2008-08-24T19:03:00.002-05:00

This was the little project I worked on last week:

It's from a chart by Pamela Kellogg. There is a small goof in the vines above the pumpkin - I put an extra space in and only discovered it way too late to fix it. Since it didn't really mess up the design (other than making the vine slightly more egg-shaped instead of round), I didn't bother to rip everything out. I also left out the "harvest" lettering since I'm hoping to find a cute charm or button, perhaps of a crow, to put in there.

I started Halloween Fairy yesterday, but I'll wait until I get some more done before I post a picture.

Catching up with recent stitching

2008-08-22T11:05:00.002-05:00

I haven't done a whole lot of stitching over the past week or so because I was sick but I did finish up this gingerbread house from the Just Cross Stitch 2007 Ornament issue. I should have used a different fabric so the roof didn't blend in as much, but it isn't quite as bad in reality as it is in the photo. The photo quality isn't too good either since we've actually had clouds and rain here and the light wasn't great. I substituted beads for the ornaments on the tree and for the eyes on the gingerbread man but I wish I had some smaller beads for the gingerbread man because those big black beads almost make him look stoned or something...

I'm almost finished with a pumpkin design and then I'll probably do some of the Halloween ornaments from this past issue of JCS. Halloween Fairy is also calling but I need to lay out the beads, metallics and threads with some of my fabrics and see if I like any of them for the design. I have a hand-dyed light purple linen in my stash that might work, but we'll see.

Summer is finished!

2008-08-04T13:52:00.002-05:00

How I wish the actual season of summer was done... but I'll settle for this.

Three of four done!

I worked a little more on Catherine of Aragon's skirt, but I think I'll start something else in addition to working on her. I hear some Halloween designs calling me, but I have to decide which one is screaming the loudest.