Pixies Officially Done

My Nora Corbett Pixies, Bluebell and Ivy, are both officially done. I posted many months ago the stitching was done and this weekend I pulled them out to finish off the beading. I just have to say they are gorgeous!!

Bluebell by Nora Corbett

Bluebell by Nora Corbett close up

Ivy by Nora Corbett

Ivy by Nora Corbett close up

I didn't change too much with the patterns that I can remember. I did add a Swarovski crystal to Ivy's dress though to add a little extra bling. Other than that they are both stitched on white 32 count linen and were both a joy to stitch!

Business Trip

Well technically it wasn't a full on business trip, but I went to the island for my sister's graduation from university. For those of you not familiar with the area, the island refers to Vancouver Island, which is a really gorgeous place.

Before (and after) the grad my mom and I found some time to run into a brick and mortar cross stitch store!! Turns out the store was right next door to the hotel we were staying in! For those of you whom are curious what store that was it was The Stitcher's Muse in Nanaimo B.C. ( http://thestitchersmuse.com/shop/en/ ) We did walk away with a few things in there and I could have spent hours in there but we were rushed due to a tight time table. I will for sure be going back next time we are on the island!

Just Nan Patterns "High Hopes" "Bluebird Alphabet" and "Christmas Cheer"

Teacups Cross Stitch Patterns

So I am pretty excited. The World of Cross Stitching's issue 217 has a preview of my teacups and tea bag gift tag cross stitch patterns that will be published in issue 218! The release date for The World of Cross Stitching is June 19, 2014 in England.

The World of Cross Stitching 217 preview for issue 218

It is still pretty surreal seeing my patterns being published. I get excited seeing them in print and can't wait to see more in the future!

Canada's 2013 Christmas Stamps

I was shocked to see that Canada's 2013 Christmas stamps were cross stitch related! Or as they said embroidery but that's close enough. Normally I don't collect stamps but these seemed like a no brainer :)

6 Pages Done on Cinderella!

YAY!! I just finished the sixth page of my Heaven and Earth Design Cinderella! I wanted to have the six pages completed before the new year. I was stitching gong ho on this piece and averaging 800 stitches a day until I hit a wall with 100 stitches left. I just finished it up tonight :)

Again this is a HAED. Artwork is by Ruth Sanderson and it is stitched on 18 count aida. I have 34,200 stitches so far in it and not at the half way point just yet.

I have been working on other projects, but alas, I cannot show them yet because they are secret. Hope everyone is stitching lovely Christmas items too! Tonight I am going to finish one more ornament for an ornament exchange so it can be sewn together in the morning and sent off on Thursday. Happy Holidays everyone from your northern Canadian friend! :)

Free 2013 Christmas Ornament

Here is a Christmas Ornament cross stitch pattern I have designed for all of you. It uses the leaf satin stitch some of you used in the September Free SAL. Use your imagination and choose your own colours! Make it fun and personal! The red dots can be either petite beads or French knots.

Free 2013 Christmas Ornament. For Personal Use Only.

This pattern would be perfect for a quick ornament to stitch as a gift. You could also stitch it on a linen bag or make it into a Christmas card!

Section #4 September Free Stitch Along

Hi everyone, sorry for the week delay of the 4th section of the stitch along. I can't believe how exhausting it is taking care of a cat and kittens. We ended up finding a foster home for them where they will all get fixed, vaccinated and good homes to go to. On to the final section of the SAL now!

Each specialty stitch is done using 2 threads. The grid lines in the following diagrams represent the threads of your fabric.

For the eyelet sections of this project you will bring your needle up through the odd numbered holes and down through the middle for every even hole then up through the next odd. Pull tight to achieve a hole to create your eyelet.

For this satin stitch bring your needle up through 1 and down through 2 then up through 3 and down through 4. Continue until you have done all five lines.

To create the leaf you are going to bring your needle up through 2 and down through 1 then up through 2 and down through 3 then up through 2 and down through 5 and continue this until you have created your leaf.

For the fan leaf you will bring your needle up through 1 and down through 2 then up through 1 and down through 4 then up through 1 and down through 6. Continue this until you have finished the fan shape.

For the straight petals go up through 1 then down through 2 then up through 3 and down through 4 until you have finished the petal. Continue until you have done all 4.

For the diagonal petal go up through 1 and down through 2 then up through 3 and down through 4. Continue until your done the whole petal. Do three more.

September SAL Section #3

It is time for the third instalment of the September Free Stitch Along!

If you were able to do section #2, section #3 should be easy for you. It is a variation of the Satin Stitch, just now creating texture and a different shape.

*Remember for the diagrams below, each line represents a thread of your fabric, and all stitching is done using 2 threads.*

Leaf Corners:

Bring the needle up through 2 and down 1 then up 2 and down 3. Then bring needle up 5 and down 4 then up 5 and down 6. Then up through 8 down 7 up 8 and then down 9. Bring your needle up 10 and then down 2 to create the stem. Rotate diagram and repeat steps to do the other two leaves in each corner and finish off with a French knot.

Acorns:

Basic cross stitch 3 stitches then bring the needle up through 1, down through 2, up through 3, down through 4 and so on until you finish up through 9 and down through 10. Finish off with a French knot on top then move onto the next acorn.

Leaf Sides:

Bring needle up through 1 down through 2 then up through 1 and down through 3. Move one thread down and repeat the same and continue doing this until you reach the bottom. Flip the diagram upside down to create the upwards stitch.

September Free SAL Section 2

For all of those who are participating in the September Free Stitch Along here is section #2. I am releasing it a day early since I will be out of commission for a few days due to wisdom teeth surgery tomorrow. If you have any questions I will try my best to answer them as soon as I can.

Section #2 of "Tiny Autumn Sampler" Copyright Lasting Allure Designs

In this section you will be stitching a Satin Stitch in the empty spaces between your cross stitching. A satin stitch can be worked in many other shapes, it is a stitch used for filling in areas. You will be using 2 threads for this area. Here is a diagram of how you will work this stitch:

Square Satin Stitch Diagram

 The lines in the diagram above represent the threads of your fabric in the area (When you're cross stitching you're counting up 2 and over 2 but for this step forget about that rule). When you have finished the stitch it will be the same size as your 2x2 blocks of cross stitching. You will start in the 1 position and bring your needle down to position 2. Then you will bring your needle up through position 3 and down to position 4. Then up through position 5 and down to position 6 and so on until you finish filling in the blocks.

Your piece should now look something like this:

September Free Stitch Along

Autumn is definitely in the air right now, well at least at night time, but days are becoming shorter and the leaves are slowly starting to change colour ever so slightly.

With fall time in my mind I decided to offer my readers a challenge. During the four weeks of September I will be releasing certain parts of the following design for those of you interested in stitching it! The autumn sampler is a mixture of cross stitch and specialty stitches to help some of those interested in dabbling in embroidery.

"Autumn's Tiny Sampler" Copyright: Lasting Allure Designs

The design is pretty small and each section will only take an hour or two of your time to stitch. However I feel the small project will help some who may want to learn some specialty stitches without being overwhelmed. With each section released there will be a few diagrams to help you stitch the pattern.

The first section will be released on Tuesday and all of the other sections will be released on the following Tuesdays. I encourage all of those who are stitching the pattern to change the colours up or use special threads and to post links in the comments section below so we can all see what you have done.

For those of you who want to get a head start you can get your fabric and floss ready. You will need:

• Stitch Count is: 40 stitches wide by 40 stitches high
• 32 count linen (28 is ok but you won't get very good coverage...and this project MUST be done on linen to be done properly)
• DMC colours: 741, 742, 780, and 3011
• I recommend using a Qsnap or hoop

If this stitch along goes well I will consider doing more!

Joan Elliott's Victorian Lady

I had originally started cross stitching Joan Elliott's Victorian Lady the night the digital Cross Stitch Collection magazine came out, but the school course I was taking at the time made me abandon this project for a while. It was pushed to the side and forgotten about for a few months...until now.

Joan Elliott's Victorian Lady

I am in love with all of the colours in this cross stitch pattern. It just fits my style so well so she will look amazing hanging on my wall. Her skin is done 1 over 1 to create more of a layered look, the only portion of the skin done so far is on her arm between her sleeve and glove. I have managed to stitch her arm tonight and plan on working on her a bit more this week. There is three other ladies that go with the Victorian Lady but I think I will only stitch the Edwardian Lady who is all blues and holds the same flowers that are found in this pattern. I just love the way Joan Elliott shades her designs, the folds in the dresses are amazing!

New Patterns!

Sorry I haven't blogged in a few weeks. I was away house and cat sitting (and I think it is safe to say I would love to have a cat in my life after house sitting these two lovely cats!) for an entire month. During those four weeks away from home I managed to design two different patterns.

Peppermint Avenue by Lasting Allure Designs

I submitted this to a couple magazines but unfortunately missed the Christmas deadlines. It is now available through my Etsy site as well as each individual house for those who only want to stitch one. The stitch count is 200w by 80h and would make a lovely fireplace mantel piece or wall hanging for Christmas.

Another pattern I designed:

 This pattern is Halloween Tree. It has a combination of 2 over 2 and 1 over 1 stitching. I realized I didn't have any Halloween patterns and thought I should change that! I have a few more Halloween patterns in mind to design this month as well as a few more Gingerbread ideas!

Joan Elliott's Victorian Christmas Lady

This lovely Victorian Christmas Lady pattern was given to me by a fellow stitcher from the cross stitch forums I belong to. She decided she wasn't going to get around to all the patterns in her stash and decided to give them to people who would enjoy stitching them instead!

"Victorian Christmas Lady: by Joan Elliott

I received her in the mail on Friday afternoon and raided my stash that night. I have spent a total of two and a half days on her and still haven't lost interest! I think she will be a nice sister piece to my Christmas Angel that I am oh so close to finishing!!

July 17 2012 Update

In order to keep the pattern in great condition I am working from photocopies and keeping the magazine portion in a plastic sleeve to reduce exposure to my hand oils so I can have the pattern for many years to come in case I want to stitch it again!

I will admit it, I am addicted to Joan Elliott's patterns. Including the two patterns mentioned above I also have all four element goddesses and Cinderella to do! Not to mention all the gorgeous flower fairies!

Mad Hatter and Cupcake Cross Stitch Patterns

I struggled with designing this Mad Hatter cross stitch pattern for a long time. I had the top section completed but struggled on making the pleats in the skirt and making it look realistic. Today I sat down and forced myself to finish and this is what I came up with:

She sits prettily with a dazed look on her face while sprinkling some sugar into her tea cup. I used beads for the sugar and she has a few more beads in her hair, her vest and the trim of her dress.  There is also details stitched with Krienik #4 very fine braid for the trims of her sleeve and her hat's ribbon and other areas.

And here is the finished cupcake cross stitch design I have done:

My favorite color combination was used here. Aqua and pink go together to make this romantic cross stitching of a cupcake and some chocolate bon-bons. A sprinkle of white beads are used for the sprinkles ontop of the blue icing. It is a very cute little cross stitching that I think would look amazing in my kitchen!

New Project

I was cleaning the patio room (Which is technically my crafting and creating room but I prefer working in the media room with a TV) and I came across a Mill Hill book. I flipped through it and saw some wonderful patterns in it. People who have read my previous posts will know I love beading and cross stitching so this book allowed me to combine the two of my loves and create a new project.

So I picked out some of my own seed beads (non Mill Hills) and found some pretty Swarovski Crystals from my stash and a loosely followed a pattern from the book and this is what I came up with:

It took me roughly 3 hours to do it...I did it in between cooking dinner and watching those crime shows like Dateline and 48 Hours. I think it turned out rather lovely. Still don't know what to do with it though, perhaps maybe I will turn it into an ornament or maybe a little purse. Any ideas?

Stitchy Bug has Returned!

YAY! My stitchy bug has returned after going AWOL this past few weeks. I had to put down my HAEDs and pick up my Joan Elliott's Christmas Angel for me to start stitching again. Also helped that the Canucks have been sucking the past week and I have become bored while watching, Sunday night's game wasn't too bad but the two previous games were horrible...Anywho...The past two days I have worked some on my angel and I think I am growing more and more in love with her every day!

I was able to finish the bottom part of her dress and add the red band along a portion of the bottom, I then decided I wanted to work on a big chunk so I went to her wing. The wings are very sparkley in person. All the back stitching is done in #4 very fine braid and when my lamp shines onto the wing it just makes me want to add even more of the sparkles! Close up of wing:

I am going to Vancouver this Friday for a few days to visit family. I plan on taking her and working on her a bit while stitching with my mom and auntie. It seems kind of fitting since I started this project while visiting my nan two Christmases ago. Its kind of funny though how she is on my case about finishing a cross stitching project but little does she know her Emerald Mermaid she wanted me to do for her is all complete! I am so excited to give it to her on Friday night :D Its not framed yet so we are going to look for places down in Vancouver to do that or just bring it back here to get done.

I really have to resist my temptation for starting Joan Elliott's Cinderella though! My nan was able to find the magazine and has it waiting for me at her place. She also has a stash of linens and some DMC that's available for picking over....There is also Micheal's in a 10 minute drive radius of the house! Must control myself!! I will for sure pick up my colors but I have to lock them away!

Emerald Mermaid

Here is my latest almost finish. I plan on working on the beads this weekend and hopefully be able to call it another 2012 finish.

She is Emerald Mermaid by Mirabilia. My mom had done the upper part of the garland in her hand then put her away for a few months. I then decided I felt like starting a new project. I picked this up off of the table and decided I would finish it. The stitching part took me about two weeks to finish it all up. I took over from where my mom started her on February 17, 2012. It then took me about two weeks of stitching to call it done. I put it away for a few weeks while I did other hobbies but I came back to her this weekend and decided that I will finish her all up.

This project was started for my nan. She had bought the pattern over two years ago expecting my mom or I to do it for her. We don't know if she remembers buying it so she will be in complete shock when she gets it for Mother's Day all framed and ready to hang!!

I want to note that the pattern calls for two spools of #4 very fine braid...I only used half a spool of it. I like using long lengths of it to prevent the back from getting bulky with all the startings and finishings. It did take a little longer to stitch but I figured I would have been using the same time with constantly finishing off and starting a new thread. For fun here is a picture of the back of my work!!

I am now considering doing this pattern again but switching up the colors so that way there are two different ones in the family instead of two of the same ones. I also plan on doing Mermaids of the Deep by Mirabilia as well since the colors are all very similar and complement one another so well. I already have everything for that project!

Update time!

Wow sure has been a while since I last posted. I have been super busy with moving to a new town and getting organized and back into the swing of things! Moving isn't easy and doesn't allow a lot of down time or creative time. Over the past month or so I have been able to get a few things done though and I wanted to share how much I have done.

This is the progress I have gotten on my Christmas Angel by Joan Elliot:

She is coming along nicely. I spent a total of 4 days stitching the update in between organizing everything for the move and I think a couple more days of stitching she should be done! It is a pretty fast stitch if you are able to dedicate a couple days to it. I am just excited to start adding the beads! :D My goal is to finish her by late October...but we shall see how that comes along..I may get distracted once again!

Because of all the reds and greens in her I got a little bored. I kept messing up in areas so I had to put her away for a little while. I then decided to pick up my first ever project on linen that I started about 4 or so years ago. It is the Flower Faerie by Barbara Baatz. My mom has been on my case about completing her since it was one of those projects I HAD to start right away. So after unpacking I had found my mom bought all the missing threads so I didn't have an excuse to not finish her. This was how far I had gotten before I stopped for 3 years:

And after 2 days I was able to complete this much:

I have done a bit more since I took this picture, but not enough to post an update of it just yet. I love all the colours in her and she is going to look so beautiful when she is done.

I have a craft fair coming up at the end of November so I have also been working on new products to be sold there. I have been doing a lot of bead weaving lately and would like to share my newest additions to my collection.

They are very blingy. I love how from afar they look as if they are high-end gem encrusted gold but when you look closer they are just made of beads! They are perfect for the party season that is approaching. If you are interested in purchasing them you can see if they are still available at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LastingAllure


And one last thing I have been working on are my own cross stitch patterns from my paintings/drawings. I hope to have a pattern up for sale in the next month or so so please check back to see if my current project is up! I promise you it is very pretty and will have beads and sparkles!

For now though I must go do some chores so I can get back to being creative! Happy weekend everyone.