Weekend Update

I am almost positive I did not stitch anything from Thursday night until this morning. That doesn't mean I wasn't crafty, however. I spent part of a drippy, dreary Saturday at The Crafty Framer in Largo, talking with Peggy and Lexy about getting some things framed. The rest of the day I spent pin stretching items with Lexy.

I have a number of finished projects that are sort of languishing in paper towel rolls, waiting for frames. Obviously the Pelican and Elemental Cosmos are among those. I discovered a 12X12 black frame I picked up a while back as a clearance special at Michael's, so I needed a foam board to use to complete it. Into that went Elemental Cosmos. Still not sure where I will hang it, but it is ready.

I also got quotes for the Pelican, a project called A Room With a View that is a lighthouse cross stitch, and a piece I did called Always Kiss Me Goodnight (pictured below, pin stretched) that I purchased at the 2013 Market Day sale at Crafty Framer. I completed the project just a month or so after the sale, and there it sat, all rolled up, waiting to be remembered.

We also talked about the FAST event that is next Saturday, and called and recruited a fellow stitcher and veteran of FASTs past, to come and join us. Lexy will not be able to make this FAST (boo) but she will be there in spirit.

Pin stretching a 28 ct piece of fabric, as I learned, can be tricky. It does not take a lot to throw the design off center, or pull it out of true. My first attempt was not very successful, so I went home and removed all of the pins. Last night I gave it a second attempt, paying a LOT more attention to detail and trying very hard to keep a straight row of pins. It isn't perfect, but it does look better than it did.

Also, I managed to acquire more Kreinik #4 Very Fine Braid 001 and Kreinik Blending Filament 032. I bought all that Peggy had, just in case. So now I can get back to the mask (I hated knowing I needed colors even though I could do other portions of the project).

Pelican - Completed

So, I stayed up WAY too late last night finishing the border (and the single irritating French knot) but here it is. The recipients have already seen it and approved. next project is a Mardi Gras mask from Just CrossStitch magazine.

Pelican - Update 6

Good weekend of stitching. I am almost all-but-backstitching away from completion. And a French knot.

Also, he has joined the witness protection program.

Pelican - Update 5

Now the bird has a butt, and some feathers!

Pelican - Update 4

The backstitching portion of this project has officially begun. With the completion of the head stitches, I wanted to get some of the back stitching out of the way. This project has a copious amount of it, so knocking a little out here and there will definitely speed things along.

Pelican - Update 3

Fresh off my trip to Las Vegas for the OAUG Collaborate 14 conference! Learned a lot of interesting things and I am itching to make time at work to get to them.

However, this post is about stitching, and the light at the Venetian Resort, in the room, stunk to high heaven. On top of being very busy with sessions at the conference, the light made it extra difficult to get any quality stitching completed.

That does not mean I have not tried anyway. My pelican, as you can see, finally has a head. I guess this isn't bad for 3 weeks of work.

Pelican - Update 2

So far, so good. Slowing down a bit, as the colors are starting to come in clumps of half dozen or so, or forming long, narrow bands and alternating. But the 28 count fabric was the right call - this pattern has plenty of quarter stitches in it.

Pelican - Update 1

My next project will be the Pelican pattern from the July/August 2013 issue of Just CrossStitch magazine. The design is by Angela Pullen. I will be putting this pattern on 28 count white. The browns in it, to me, look green, and I am having an issue finding where to start again after I stop off since the colors are very very similar to my eyes.

I started the pattern on Thursday, March 27, 2014. I wanted to get a fair amount stitched before posting so it would look like something other than random pixels.