The Garden Fairy

With a little down time this month I have been able to work on a new pattern for my Etsy shop! We bought a bunch of flowers a few weeks ago and it inspired this idea for a garden fairy who prances around the garden planting flowers and seeds.

Garden Fairy ©Shannon Wasilieff 2015

She is full of beads and has hints of Kreinik #4 braid in her. She will definitely glisten and dance in the light. I am going to stitch her on Aerial by Picture This Plus.

Carousel Horse Cross Stitch Designs

These beautiful carousel horse cross stitch designs are currently available in issue 227 of The World of Cross Stitching. They contain some Kreinik #4 braid that adds some sparkle to the designs. Some people have exchanged the Kreinik French knots with beads and they look equally as stunning. I have seen a few stitched on hand dyed fabric and that just adds an even more whimsical feeling to them.

(c) The World of Cross Stitching issue 227, 2015 Designed by (c) Shannon Wasilieff

There are 6 different designs. I think they would look gorgeous stitched together and made into a wall hanging quilt. Or you could flip 3 of them so they are all going the same way and stitch them in a long strip and make it into a 3D decorative pillow or put them around a round box.

The World of Cross Stitching issue 227, Designed by (c) Shannon Wasilieff, 2015

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!

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.

French Princess Shoes

Here is a little sneak peak at my latest cross stitch design.

Twelve Princess shoes sit on the gold and jewel adorned shelf waiting to be worn. The pattern was designed with my love of the Brother's Grimm Fairytale "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" in mind. In the cross stitch pattern I have incorporated beads and Krienik to add small details to the French inspired princess shoes.

Along with this bigger project, a bell pull pattern and a small gift tag pattern are also available.

Bell Pull:

 Gift Tag:

These patterns are for a more advanced stitcher or someone looking for more of a challenge. Quarter stitches and color changes are used to create the gold framework and the shoes of each pattern. The patterns will be available in the next couple of days and can be found on my Etsy site.

My 30 Day Designing Challenge, Day 1

I have been frustrated as of late for my lack of inspiration and motivation when it comes to designing cross stitch patterns. Today as I worked on a pattern I decided that I was going to challenge myself...30 patterns in 30 days. This will give me motivation to finally finish some ideas that are already started and to chart ideas that are in my head.

Each pattern won't be posted until I am 100% happy with the product and if it is something that I would like to stitch myself. Most will be small patterns but I am going to try and get 1 or 2 bigger projects finished.

Day 1, Design 1&2:

Sweet Petites Cake Stands

Ladies Night, Happy Hour

I will be missing a couple of days at the end of the month so some days will have 2 sometimes 3 designs. Feel free to leave suggestions down below for what you think would be fun to do. And as always please feel free to join in on the challenge!

Little Drummer Boy

An opportunity and a new challenge presented itself to me yesterday afternoon. I offered to design a little drummer boy for a customer who was having difficulties finding a detailed cross stitch pattern. She said that she had looked everywhere and the only ones she came across were the quick 2 hour projects, and that just wasn't going to do! I was happy to design her a little drummer boy, not only for her but for others who are having difficulty finding something more advanced!

Here is the little cutie:

The Little Drummer Boy by Lasting Allure

He is designed using 20 colors of DMC and measures 45 stitches wide by 79 stitches tall. And surprisingly there is no sparkles in him! Which is unusual for my designs but I think he is going to look just as good stitched up and the sparkles would have over powered such a small design. There are a few quarter stitches in him but that was unavoidable due to the scale of the design and wanting to get his delicate tiny hands and nose perfect without them becoming blocky. Back stitching was also used to help create details such as the hair poking out from his head dress and the rope details on his belt.

Some of you may notice the the antique mauve and pine green combination are one of my favorites to work with! I wanted to give it more of an antiqued look and what better way to do that than using dusty colors?

New Collaboration and Update on Marie!

Sorry for such the delay in between posts! I meant to post last week but plans had changed abruptly and I ended up leaving a couple days sooner than planned to go house and dog sit for the week. Once I got to the house though I barely had access to the internet so instead of playing with the router all night and day I decided to be a bit more productive!

I am happy to announce an experimental collaboration with artist Janna Prosvirina. She works mainly in watercolor and focuses on fairies and fantasy art. You can find her artwork here. Her work is beautiful and I am glad she has agreed to work with me in creating gorgeous advanced cross stitch patterns! She herself used to cross stitch as well and has approved the layout of the patterns and is happy with the professional look I have come up with for the patterns. Here is a small taste of the designs I now offer. You can find four other designs plus the following ones for sale at http://www.etsy.com/shop/LastingAllure

Midnight Masquerade

Summer Moon

Fly With Me

 Along with the addition of these patterns I also managed to get a potion of Marie Antoinette done.

I just have a small section of the pink to complete and then I can move onto the blue of her skirt. I am really looking forward to getting the dress all complete and getting all the beads onto her! She is just going to be stunning.

I hope everyone is doing well! I am going to go look at everyone's blogs now to get caught up on everyone else's projects! Happy stitching everyone! :)

Shannon