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!

Petite Point Christmas Ornament

Feel free to call me crazy, but I have been bitten by the petite point bug! My mind is about to explode from all of the petite point projects I want to do. For those of you who don't know what petite point is, it is basically cross stitch but instead of working 2 over 2 threads on linen, you're working 1 over 1.

"Poinsettia Purse" done 1 over 1 on 32 count Cream

As you can see the petite point makes the design look more like it is painted onto the fabric and makes the project looked very detailed.

The idea for the project is to turn it into a small purse Christmas Ornament. I am going to play around with some beadweaving for the "frame" part of the purse in gold beads with a Swarovski crystal bead closure. The bell is a 24 karat gold plated charm that I have had laying around for a while waiting for the perfect project. I am also going to add a beaded fringe to the bottom. The reverse side has a small bow and garland with the year and my initials, which I am currently stitching right now.

Joan Elliott's 2012 Christmas Angel

Has been a few days since I last updated. I wasn't able to work much on her due to being unmotivated. Technically it has been 5 stitching days so far spent on her, with two of those days spent on the 1 over 1 on her skin, first time ever doing that and I have got to say I am really pleased with the results!I may just have to suffer through this every time on skin here on out!

I always seem to have a problem stitching with flesh tones and the finished stitching looking lumpy and bumpy, so I decided to experiment with this technique and see if I would have better results. I just love how the skin looks painterly in a way, and looks more delicate and feminine. It was really weird when I switched back to working 2 over 2, the stitches felt way too big even though I am working on 32 count! 

I now have some ideas for 2013! Call me crazy if you would like but I think I plan on stitching one of Nora Corbett's Pixies one over one using petite Mill Hills and half stitches of Krienik. Oh the ideas in my head!